Why does it have to be such a blue kiss?

Hi!

It's been a while since I've done a Sunday Stamping mani, and this weeks theme was to use a colour combination you've not used before. I had to think hard, but eventually decided to use pink and blue and a design inspired by Mod Nails. I left off the bow from her design, as I only have white ones, and replaced it with a stud, and moved the designs around a bit. The polishes used were OPI Pink Friday and Sally Hansen Insta Dry Blue By, and the glitter was China Glaze Snow Globe. The kisses were from two Bundle Monster plates and an Essence plate, and the stripes (first time I've got them straight!) from MoYou Pro 01. Oh, and I went back to almonds which I think suits my curvy bendy nails much better when they're long.

I like this as a colour combo, and I wouldn't have thought of it if it wasn't for the challenge. I love how challenges continue to push me, even if I'm not always happy with the result! This time, I was though. Happy Helly.

Hx

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The sun has got his hat on!

Hi!

We seem to have had an uncharacteristic run of good weather in the UK last week, which was very welcome after a thoroughly soggy winter! So, I celebrated by digging out the remaining untried colour from the Models Own Polish For Tans collection from the three I picked. This is Bikini, a white based neon yellow which in the bottle just looks like lovely, neon perfection. Oh how wrong could I be. This is a devil of a polish and by the third nail I wanted to throw it at the wall. I very nearly did, but managed to restrain myself and add some thinner, which didn't help at all. It was streaky, gloopy, lumpy, thick yet somehow still craptastic enough to flood my cuticles and make a complete mess. I struggled through two coats before giving up and slapping some China Glaze Fairy Dust on top in the hopes it would improve. Then I had to clean the bugger up. I have been trying really hard to be neat with my clean up lately, really making an effort to get good lines and crisp cuticles, but f&*k me it wasn't easy! I then stamped some sunglasses from Cheeky CH37 to distract from the lumpy mess a bit more, and managed to smudge that too. This mani was not meant to be! I endured it for a day, and then it came off because I was too cross and every time I looked at my nails, it made me grrr.

I want to give Models Own the benefit of the doubt with this, but I had similar issues (though not as bad) with Beach Bag from the same collection, so I'm pretty sure I didn't just get a bad bottle. I took it off and replaced it with a Mentality matte polish that just glided on like butter, practically applied itself. If an indie can get it so right, how can a mainstream brand get it so wrong?

Have you tried any of the recent Models Own releases? Have you had formula issues? I'm keeping this polish for nail art purposes, but you can bet your rarest OPI that it will never grace my nails as a full mani again!

Hx

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GOT Polish? Red!

Hi!

What a bad blogger I am! I promised you this post yesterday but I'm a day late again - at least it's only a day this time and not a week! I'm doing a part-time job three mornings a week (only temporary at the moment) and it's knocked me out of whack a bit. I will try to be better I promise! Anyway, this week's Golden Oldie Thursday is bought to you by the colour red, and I decided to be brave and try out a Robin Moses design. If you haven't heard of Robin Moses, google her, youtube her, stalk her on Instagram because she is awesome! I also cracked out the acrylic paint which I bought years ago, tried once and then threw into the nail art drawers when I couldn't get them to work to fester ever since. Impatient, moi? Anyway, I think I will need more practice since my lines were a little thick (and a thinner brush, maybe) but not too bad for a first (ok, second) go. The polishes I used were Nails Inc King Edward Street and China Glaze Fairy Dust in the negative spaces, along with black acrylic paint.

You can see the Robin Moses original here. I don't think she has anything to worry about...

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

Hi!

On Friday last week, I spent a lovely day getting sunburnt seeing the animals at Whipsnade Zoo with my 6 year old's class. Their topic this term is Africa and so our agenda for the day was to see as many of the African animals that the zoo houses, and so I had to had nails to match! It was hard to resist putting penguins on my nails, as they're one of my favourites that the zoo has to offer but in the end I settled for a skittle comprised of cheetahs, tigers, giraffes, zebras and snakes! We had an amazing day, and I especially loved the giraffes - they're just beautiful, and they had babies! Adorable, and I'm totally jealous of their eyelashes! I wasn't allowed to take any pictures while we were there, but I'll try to get some of the animals from the school website when they go up. In the meantime, here are the nails! I'll list polishes below, because there were a few. Stamped with a mix of Cheeky and Bundle Monster plates.

So: cheetah was Barry M mocha stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black, tiger was Barry M Mango sponged with Crabtree and Evelyn Snowdrop and then stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black, giraffe was China Glaze Kalahari Kiss stamped with BM 313 in Barry M Mocha, zebra was Crabtree and Evelyn Snowdrop stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black and the snake was China Glaze Rare and Radiant stamped with BM 215 in Konad White. Lot of polish, but it was worth it!

I loved my zoo nails, and the kids got a kick out of them too! Talking of the kids, I better go and grab them from school!

Hx

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Stained Glass Springtime

Hi!

This week's adventures in stamping theme was spring, and I thought I'd try out a new technique. I blogged a while ago about some sheer tint-esque polishes I made, with this technique in mind. The idea is that you stamp a pattern on a white base, and then "fill in" the image using these sheer polishes and a little brush or dotting tool, making it look like stained glass (or leadlight). Because they're sheer, the colour will only show over the white and not the black stamping lines. For a first try, I'm quite pleased with how this manicure came out - I used MoYou XL Pro 06 and pink, raspberry, purple, yellow and green home made sheer polishes. The unstamped nails are China Glaze Keep Calm Paint On, which is my favourite mint and as such has gone a little gloopy. I love it so much though it finally made me order some thinner!

It's not perfect but for a first go I don't think it's too bad! And a little bit of wonk adds to the charm ;)

Hx

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GOT polish? Neon!

Hi!

I've had a bit of an unintentional blogging break for a few days, but I'm back with this weeks golden oldie for you, and the prompt was neon. I've been loving a bit of neon lately but for these nails I went for pure trash and I love it! My neon was a mini Orly in Hottie - a bright pink that looks slightly coral toned. I think it would have been brighter if I'd used white undies but I knew I'd never get it even with the chevron French tips, and that the overlay of fierce animal print would hide any visible nail line - this was three coats and the VNL was a plenty! I accented it with zebra stripes and leopard print (with glitter - China Glaze Glistening Snow - because it just needed to be more in your face...) I think this is possibly one of the loudest manis I've ever done! And I'm helping out at my sons school today...perhaps I should have changed it! I had to shorten my nails a little because of a break and I thought it was the perfect time to try the chevron tips. They're not 100% but I really like the shape.

What do you think? Tacky or timeless? I think I know the answer...

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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GOT Polish? Totally Tropical!

Hi!

Today's Golden Oldie theme was tropical, and I thought I'd try my hand at a little stamping decal again! My golden oldies were China Glaze Peachy Keen and Color Club Poptastic (should have used Flip Flop Fantasy really!) I also used Milani Gold Gems and Sinful Colors Paris for a little glitter gradient. Don't look too closely at the decal, it folded over at the edge and smeared a little bit. I will perfect them one day!

Fits the tropical bill, no? I loved the gradient despite the little decal accident! I really can't wait for summer, I can't stop cracking out the neons! My pedi is even neon in readyness for real flip flops!

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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A sparkling Minty Moment

Hi!

In the name of self satisfaction, I went for two of my favourites for this manicure - mint and glitter! Add a bit of holo-y shimmer and I'm a happy Helly. It was a simple mani, but so sparkly and happy making, and isn't that what it's all about? The base is Lilypad Lacquer Minty Moment, which has such pretty holo sparkles that just lean pink, and I accented and reverse glitter gradiented (totally a word) with China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara, perfect silver glitter with blue flecks. Mine has thickened up quite a lot, which means it's full coverage in one coat and perfect for a lazy gradient like this, just use a fairly dry brush and a light touch, brushing from cuticle upwards and building up gradually.

This will be my last post for the month of March - this year is zooming by! Check out my Instagram for my monthly mani favourites!

Hx

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GOT polish - purple!

Hi!

I've had the mani for the purple Golden Oldie Thursday prompt planned for what seems like months! I've had some purple nail art feathers knocking around in a my kit for ages, but never been brave enough to use them. I'm not gonna lie, they were faffy, and hard to apply, but the result is so pretty! My purple polish is China Glaze Creative Fantasy, a purple jelly with an odd but not unworkable formula. I used three coats of Creative Fantasy, and the nail line you can see here is not visible to the naked eye. The fathers are stuck on with lots and lots and lots of topcoat, on top of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud. the edges are a little raised, and although they've lasted through washing dishes so far I don't think they'll last the day, more because they're catching on things than anything else!

Faffy? Yes. Worth it? Totally! Would I do it again? Probably not...

Hx

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GOT Polish? Orange!

Hello!

This week's Golden Oldie Thursday is bought to you by the colour orange! The orange in question is Nails Inc Hampton Court Palace Gardens. I teamed it with some OPI Pure Nail Lacquer Apps that I've had hanging around for a while and China Glaze Riveting in a simple reverse glitter gradient. The apps were quite simple to use, but I had a mare with this manicure and spilled polish everywhere (bye bye cute new jumper that I'd only worn twice), so it didn't last long although I really loved it.

When I googled to check if I needed to topcoat the apps, the press picture showed them as pink with yellow peacock feathers, but they most definitely aren't pink! How odd, but I love them anyway. You might have noticed I have a little thing for peacock feathers ;)

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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Tri-Polish Tuesday - Pink, Brown and Grey #2 - Chocolate box!

Hi!

As it's Valentines week, I am going to try to fit my challenge posts into the theme too! I thought this design looked chocolate box-y and since reduced chocolate the day after v-day is probably the best part I thought it fitted! I used OPI Skull and Glossbones, China Glaze Dance Baby and Barry M Mocha, and the accent is a mix of OPI Pink Yet Lavender and a heart glitter polish I've had for yonks.

I need to work on my lines, they've been a bit wobbly lately!

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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Tri Polish Challenge Red, Orange and Yellow #2 - My nails are on fiiiiiiiiiiiiiire!

Hello!

It's Tuesday and therefore Tri-Polish day! I was so pleased with these nails, I did them while watching Catching Fire (HUUUGE Hunger Games fan) - appropriate, no? I followed this tutorial, except I used a striping brush to drag the colours through, and added a bit of China Glaze Electrify to the very tips - also appropriate as it's From their Hunger Games collection. The black is A England Bridal Veil, bed Barry M Blood Orange, orange Barry M Mango and yellow is by Miss Sporty. I was actually stopped in the street asking about these, AND someone mistook my nails for enhancements for the first time ever. Can you say pleased as punch? Unfortunately I had a mishap with the photos and these were taken after a day of wear, so please excuse any scruffyness at the tips.

Right hand - I think the middle finger is my favourite!

I was quite sad when I had to take this off! But I think it would look great in other colours too so I'll be trying that soon ;)

Hx

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