Without the dark, we'd never see the stars...

Hi

Late post from me tonight, today has been a horrible ending to a pretty shitty week so I'll keep this short (like my stupid nails). Today;s Adventures in Stamping theme was to use a pink base but instead of a pink creme I chose some simple stars over this glittery raspberry pink texture polish, Luna by Rimmel from their Space Dust range. To be honest, while this is textured the sparkle is so much nicer with a topcoat, but just one thin layer and you don't lose the finish completely. I stamped some simple silver stars with Cheeky CH5 and Barry M Silver Foil.

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GOT Polish? Texture!

Hi!

Another one from before the break today, and in fact it was before the mini-break that lead me to shorten my nails a little a few weeks ago. I had intended to do some nail art on top, but the tip of my middle finger broke off before I had a chance, so for the first time ever it's a no-nail-art GOT polish from me! The polish is Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Sour Apple - my love for this kind of green is never ending!

Short and (hopefully) sweet today, lots of little things seem to be conspiring against me at the moment and I'm in a bad mood! Plus my cat has been missing since Monday and I'm really worrying about him. I'm sure he's got stuck in someone's shed or garage somewhere, he's that dopey but he knows which side his bread's buttered and he's always usually home for dinner. Here's hoping he finds his way home soon :(

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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GOT Polish - Pastels!

Hi!

It's been a bit of a Barry M fest on the blog this week! I'm continuing the theme with today's Golden Oldie Thursday challenge which was pastels. I used Barry's first textured range (which I bought and loved but only used once...) in skittles and then stamped sweeties, ice cream and cake over the top. Perfect springy pastels! The colours pointer to pinkie are Ridley Road, Kingsland Road, Atlantic Road and Station Road. I love the textures on these, they're not too much that they're too rough but they're bumpy enough to notice. They remind me of the old woodchip wallpaper I had on my bedroom wall as a teenager!

I do love a bit of a skittle anyway, so it was no surprise that I loved this mani :) Next week's GOT theme is coral, and lord knows I have a lot of those!

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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OPI Brazil Beach Sandies - Sandy Skittles!

Hi!

I have a thing for OPI mini sets. I'm not a huge OPI fan *LeGasp* but the minis are just so bloody cute I usually can't help myself. And even if I don't end up using them (more often than not...) they're a collectors item, right? And if I do use them and end up loving them I can get them full size. Yes, that did actually happen with a couple of the Pirates of the Caribbean ones so there. Anyway, with their new Brazil collection, OPI released two sets of minis, one with mini versions of the regular range (the Copacababies), and a liquid sand/texture range, which is only available in minis, the Beach Sandies. I had to have the Beach Sandies and when they arrived I thought they'd be perfect for a skittle. Pinkie to index we have: You're So Flippy Floppy (yellow), Samba-dy Loves Purple (purple), What's a Little Rain Forest (blue) and I'm Brazil Nuts Over You (hot coral pink). They all have really pretty shimmer that makes them really special. What's disappointing is that they only come in minis. It made me not want to do a full manicure of each of them, because they'd run out far too quickly. If they were available full-size, I'd want Rain Forest and Brazil Nuts at least. I think they'd make perfect summer pedi colours too (says the girl still rocking her sparkly Christmas pedi...)! I used two coats, but still had VNL in some lights so you might need three (or nude undies) if that bothers you.

Aren't they just yummy? I love the jewel tones, they're so bright and clear and just perfect. Full size please OPI!!!

Hx

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Lacquerdaisical Violets Solves Everything

Hello!

Following on from my epicly long post introducing Lacquerdaisical's thermal polishes here, today I am sharing their awesome glow in the dark, textured polish - Violets Solves Everything. Yes, you read that right, glow in the dark, and textured. AND purple. AND awesome! Violets Solves Everything is a purple textured polish with violet shimmer that almost gives it a metallic sheen. The finish is gritty but not rough - I find some textured polish seems a bit too scratchy but this isn't the case here. Of course, if you're not a texture fan a couple of coats of topcoat smooths it all out, but I chose to wear it plain.

The glow in the dark aspect works best if you charge it in sunlight or under a black light - seeing as this is England and January sunlight wasn't an option, but I did have a brainwave and used my LED gel lamp to "charge" it, and almost blinded myself! I wasn't expecting it to glow quite so much! The glow lasted a good five minutes after charging just for a few seconds and is easily the brightest glow in the dark polish I've ever tried.

The texture of this was fairly thick, but as long as you leave a little extra drying time in between coats you shouldn't have a problem and it doesn't take long to dry, like most textured polish. I think this is a really unique polish in the indie scene, and I've not seen anything else remotely like it!

Lacquerdaisical polishes are available to purchase in the UK from their Facebook page for just £2.50 for 5ml or £6 for 15. Bargain!

Hx

The product featured was a PR sample provided to me for free for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own and 100% honest. Please see my disclaimer in the tab above for further details.

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Palate Cleanser of the Week - Rimmel Space Dust Total Eclipse

Hello!

Today's Palate Cleanser of the Week is another textured offering, this time from Rimmel. Their Space Dust polishes are glitter polishes with a textured finish and come in 5 shades. Total Eclipse has a black base with green flecks that shift to purple in the bottle, but sadly not on the nail. Still, it's very pretty with or without topcoat, and I think it would be fab as the base for galaxy nail art (which I suck big hairy balls at, so maybe I should try it again...) The swatch below shows two coats of Total Eclipse with topcoat only on the index finger.

I'm sorry my pictures aren't great, I really struggle when there's no natural light but I promise I'm working on it!

Hx

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Palate cleanser of the week - Beauty UK Grit Effects Fabric

Morning!

I hope you're not all as stressed as me right now! There's something about this time of year that sends my blood pressure soaring! Anyway, what better excuse for a soft, pretty polish to chill me out and calm my nerves. It was either that or a bottle of vodka... Beauty UK Fabric is from their Grit Effects textured range, and while the rest of the range are matte, this pretty soft pale pink has irridescent pink and blue shimmer running through it, making it just that little bit more special. I thought it was going to be terribly sheer, but I used just two coats for these swatches.

Fuzzy shimmer - yum!

This is a great polish, easy to wear, fairly neutral but just with a hint of something special. The only thing I found was that after a days wear it looked a little bit grubby. I guess the pale colour and the texture worked against it that way. But I rectified that by festive-ing it up with some stamping, which you can see over on my Instagram!

I hope you're not too stressed! I'm off on a sticky-tape hunt, wish me luck!

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 28 - lines!

Hi all!

I must say, I'm rather proud of this manicure! I didn't want to just go for stripes for the 'lines' prompt, so I made a stamper decal using Konad S6, Konad Black and Barry M silver and gold foils. I paired it with black and gold studs, and gold and black studs on the thumb (Models Own Bora Bora and gold studs painted black!). I had a few bubbles and a wrinkle when I applied the decals, but I actually think in this case the foil polish was quite forgiving and it didn't look horrendous. Well, I hope it didn't!

Possibly my favourite mani of the challenge? It's high up there at least! Not long to go now...

Hx

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Totally tropical...

Well it seems that finally here in the UK summer has arrived. And by summer I mean it is hotter than the devils asscrack. Nice bit of imagery there, yes? Anyhoo, I'm not complaining, and in fact I decided to celebrate the heatwave with some totally tropical nails! I'd been wanting to do this for a while, and when my lovely friend Ashley from One Nail To Another posted her version it was immediately bumped up the to-do list!

I started out with a gradient comprising of 4 different texture polishes. The base was one coat of Beauty UK's new Grit Effects in Kensington - a sparkly champagne nude. I then sponged on 3 Kiko Sugar Mats - imaginatively named 639, 640 and 641 - a pale peach, pink and corally-orange. Who knew texture polishes were so good for gradients> Because of the texture they kind of blend themselves, easy peasy. Cleanup wasn't so easy though, especially as all the polishes I used were sparkly. But what's a bit of glitter herpes between friends, right?

Once the gradient was dry (didn't take long) I stamped on a palm tree and painted a little island underneath. No topcoat, obviously, or I would have lost the texture. Still insanely sparkly and summery though. I am in love!

Now I just need a lurid-coloured cocktail, a beach to drink it on and a hot man to serve it to me... Dream on, dreamer...

Hx

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Adventures in Stamping - World Earth Day

Hi loves,

This weeks challenge prompt for Stamping Sunday was World Earth Day, which is tomorrow. I had no idea what to do, so I looked through my plates and found a bamboo-leafy kind of pattern and freehanded little pandas. The base is Models Own Bora Bora, an addition to their Hed Kandi collection which is meant to be textured. While it is very glittery and pretty, the texture is very fine - no more than a full coverage glitter. I do love it though, and can see me using it a lot (I always say that though with almost 700 polishes it rarely happens...) I stopped at two coats, although if you were wearing it alone you'd probably need three. The stamp is from the Gals Fairy plate 37.

Isn't he cute?

Hx

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Purr-fect claws...

Morning!

My little darlings were up bright and early this morning, so I thought I'd squeeze in a blog post! This manicure was requested by one of my lovely followers Wendy from Wendy's Delights when I swatched the Born Pretty QA40 plate, so always happy to oblige I gave it a go! I used a textured polish, Nails Inc Old Compton Street Leather Effect as my base, and stamped with Konad Special Black polish from QA40 and CH2 for the animal print. Looking back, I think had I double stamped with silver before the black under the stripes it would have looked awesome!

I've amassed quite a few textured polishes it seems, and was wondering if a comparison post would be of interest? Comparing the different brands and their texture level perhaps? Maybe I'll get around to it!

The kitty stamping plate is avaiable from Born Pretty Store, and remember to use my discount code NBL91 for 10% off your whole order :)

Have a purr-fect weekend!

Hx

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Studded Skittlette - Born Pretty Store Review

Hi!

It's been a while, again! We all know technology hates me, and my camera decided it wasn't going to transfer the pics I'd lovingly taken with it onto my computer. But I threatened it with a sledgehammer bought a new USB cable and it seems to be working again...

So, I'm back with a rather kick-ass mani, even if I do say so myself! The lovely Daisy from Born Pretty Store sent me an awesome nail art wheel full of studs to play with, so play I did! The wheel contains 12 little compartments, each containing a handful of studs of various shapes, sizes and colours. The lid turns so you can take out one group of studs at a time, which is useful if you're clumsy like me because if you dropped it you'd only be chasing around one compartments worth of tiny studs!

I like the variety I got in my wheel. There are: 3 different square studs (silver, gold, and a slightly smaller bronze colour), 4 different round studs (tiny gold one, medium black ones and larger ones in silver and gold),  rings in silver and gold, large silver stars, gold hearts and gold petal shapes. I think the stars might be a little big for my nails, but you can use these to decorate practically anything, not just nails.

I decided to create a skittle mani using some of the gold square studs and neutral colours. For this manicure the polishes I used were Color Club Nomadic In Nude, Seventeen Rock Hard Nail Effects Grey (textured polish), Beauty UK Slate Grey and a black striper. I used topcoat to attach the studs, although you could also use nail glue (I can never manage to not stick my fingers together though...)

As you can see, I can fit 4 of these studs down the length of my middle nail, which I was pleased with. I loved the finished look and got lots of compliments :) Look out for these in lots of future looks because I loved it and they were so easy to work with! They're a bit heavier than glequins or normal rhinestones, so I did have to be a bit more cautious when placing them, but so worth it. And as I was able to remove them carefully with an orange stick, I'll be able to use them again!

The studs are available from Born Pretty Store here for just $4.89, and they have a huge range of other studs and nail art goodies too. And of course you can use my discount code NBL91 for a further 10% off - and delivery is free to! Huzzah!

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Barry M Texture Nail Art

Hello!

Day 20 of the New 31 day challenge was texture. Now if you want to see the horrific caviar bead fail I had, check out my instagram...instead I'm going to show you three of the new Barry M texture polishes :) Cheating? Just a little bit... Cheeky? Well, that's why you love me ;)

Barry M bought out four texture polishes, along with four new Gelly shades for the spring. As soon as they were available to order from Superdrug, 3 of them went in my basket. I didn't get the yellow at the time, although I've regretted it and I will go back for it! I've got swatches of Ridley Road (pale, mint green) and Kingsland Road (pale pink) and then some stripey stripes with baby blue Atlantic Road too.

First up, Kingsland Road. On it's own it would be a perfect baby pink, akin to Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream. It took 2 coats to get the opacity you see here.

Next, Ridley Road, yummy mint green, not dissimilar to Barry M...Mint Green... Again, 2 coats.

Then I added stripes with Atlantic Road, baby blue, very Blueberry Ice Cream-ish.

I love these polishes! The texture reminds me of woodchip wallpaper! I was singing this song all day when I was wearing it (showing my age now, but it could have been written about me ;) )

What do you think of this texture trend? I'm loving it!

Hx

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