GOT polish? Valentines!

Morning!

This weeks Golden Oldie Thursday theme is Valentines, which fits nicely with my theme week! I based my idea on a cute design by Nicole at Nail Polish Wars and busted out the crackle polish! I started with a base of Essie Mojito Madness, then marbled it using the cling film/saran wrap method and Essie Bikini So Teeny (basically paint a coat of the polish over your original colour, then dab some off with scrunched up cling film). Once that was completely dry I painted a coat of Barry M black crackle on my ring finger and cut a stencil out of tape for the heart on my middle finger.

I think I should have used a purple instead of lilac, but otherwise I'm happy. And it was pretty simple too. Win win.

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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Adventures in Stamping - favourite colour combo!

Hello! Happy Stamping Sunday ;)

This week's theme was to use your favourite colour combo. I couldn't decide between mint and gold and pink and gold, so I got greedy and used both! A girls prerogative, right? It turned out quite nicely, actually. I was pleased with the outcome anyway (and it's not too similar to this pink and gold mani I did a few weeks ago, or this recent mint and lilac mani - reminiscent, but not identical ;) ) I used OPI Elephantastic Pink and Essie Mojito Madness, stamped with Pueen 37 and Barry M Gold Foil, and the glitter gradient was done with Milani Gold Gem FX, W7 Gold Dazzle and Nails Inc Glamour Glitter.

There are so many pretty images in the Pueen Love Elements set, I have a feeling I'm going to be using them rather a lot in the coming weeks! They stamp so perfectly too - happy Helly!

Hx

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A little of what you fancy does you good...

Well would you look at that, 2 posts in two days you lucky sods!

Seriously, I seem to have misplaced my blogging mojo a tad. I just don't feel like my nails, designs or pictures are good enough to post. So when I manage to get a mani exactly how I want it, I post that shizzle straight away!

I felt like using mint and lilac for a bit of a skittle, although I've been trying to plough through my untrieds, I indulged myself came up with this. Essie Mojito Madness and Bikini So Teeny, Hare Polish Bisbee on the ring finger, a splash of gold stamping and I chucked some teardrop rhinestones on there for good measure. I love the depth of the Hare, seriously gorgeous. I'll definitely use the Essies again soon too, although it does seem a shame when I have so many untrieds and I've already worn these at least twice...maybe I need to buy more mints and lilacs...

Have you ever lost your mojo? How did you get it back?

Hx

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April Tri Polish Challenge day 4 - going out with a bang!

Morning!

We've come to the end of the Tri Polish challenge for this month, and I'm going out with a bang! This manicure is pretty much perfect for me - bright, gradient, stamping and glitter - who could want more! I made a sideways gradient (for the first time - why hadn't I done this before?) on my ring and middle fingers with Essie Off the Shoulder and Rimmel Sky High, and topped it with some animal print stamping (zebra from Gals GA32 and Cheetah from Cheeky CH2. On my pinkie and index fingers I just painted a single colour and added a bit of a reverse glitter gradient using Barry M Silver Glitter and Revlon Stunning.

And here are my four manicures for this month - isn't it interesting how different you can make the same three colours look?!

Next month's colours are red, blue and grey, and I've chosen my polishes already! Come over to Crumpet's Nail Tarts if you want to join in!

Hx

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April Tri-Polish challenge day 2 - Sex on the Beach...

Morning :)

For the second day of April's Tri Polish challenge I decided on an orange-pink gradient. (It works in a sex-on-the-beach, so why not on the nails?) Than in keeping with the beach theme I added a turquoise accent nail, some fine gold glitter (Nails Inc Glamour Glitter) and stamped on some tropical flowers from GA31 from the Gals Fairy set. We even had some sunshine when I took the pictures. Voila!

Now if only I was really on a beach with a cocktail in hand...all donations to the Helly-needs-a-holiday fund gratefully received...

Hx

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April Tri-Polish Challenge day 1 - a spotty and a stripy...

Morning!

So I didn't do any better at blogging last week did I? But I had a lot of fun with my boys while the big one was off school - swimming, shopping, baking, and general tomfoolery! And the baby starts pre-school this week! NOOO! This means I am getting old and just no.

Anyway, back to the nails. The colours for this month's tri-polish challenge hosted by the Crumpets Nail Tarts over on Facebook (join us, we don't bite...) are pink, turquoise (not blue) and orange. I'm usings Nails Inc Candy Orange, Rimmel London Sky High and Essie Off The Shoulder - a choice I may possibly regret as none of them are as opaque as I thought they would be... For the first manicure of the four I just sat down with my colours and went at it with a striping brush and a dotting tool. Enjoy!

Hx

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NOTD - Valentines stamping

This week's We Stamp on Sundays mani theme of course was Valentines. I decided to try stamping over a gradient...I actually loved the gradient I created and wish I took a pic before I stamped on it because that wasn't quite as great. For the gradient I started with two coats of Essie Luscious Lips, then sponged on Barry M Strawberry IceCream, MeMeMe Playful, Models Own Pink Blush, and a little China Glaze Mrs Clause to the tips. I stamped with Color Club Hot Like Lava and SdP-C02.  Because of the length of my nails and the colour of the tips under the stamp you can only see the hearts on the design, but there are actually wiggly lines top and bottom that you can only just see. I should have stamped over a lighter base, but I still like it. One thing about the Color Club foils - they stamp great but are a pain in the behind to clean up!

There are so many hearts and valentine images on the few plates I have, I just wont get time to use them all! I have one more valentine mani planned, but as it's the one I'll actually be wearing on valentines it'll be a little bit less garish! Just a little bit, mind...

Hx

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NOTD - Multi-tasking pigments

Hi!

If you're anything like me you have a ton of eyeshadows you'll never use up, especially loose pigments and powders. I came across this post by Beauty's Bad Habit and I knew I had to try it. I love it when I find an alternative use for a product. I have an entire crapload of loose shadows that are super old (I'm talking 10 years plus, Edit - actually closer to 15 fuuuuuu... from my first ever job as a Saturday girl in a pharmacy, the only make-up they carried was Miners and every Saurday I used to buy something with some of my wages, I can't bring myself to get rid of these!) so expect to see these on my nails a lot. For this mani I actually used a Models Own loose eyeshadow in Gold, over Essie Wicked (an ebay bargain).

It's a really simple and really effective mani, Beauty's Bad Habit has a picture tutorial, but here's a quick Helly-explanation for you. 1. Base coat. 2. 1st coat of your chosen polish. 2. Add the second (or third if it needs it) coat of your colour. As you do each nail (so it doesn't have a chance to dry) place a bit of your loose pigment at the base of your nail, I used an orange stick for this. 3. Tilt your nail downwards over something that wont get ruined (I used a plastic bag) and blow the powder across your nail. Repeat 2 and 3 on all nails. Once colour is dry blow again to remove any excess, then add top coat. Once all that is dry wash any left overs off your hands, or like me leave it to the morning and wake up with a sparkly face :) Done!

My favourite nail.

 And bonus pic, Ollie saw me taking pictured of my hands and wanted one of his taken too. Excuse the dirty nails, he's a boy, he attracts dirt like I attract the loonies on the bus (seriously, why do they always think it's ok to talk to me?), what can I say.

Will you be trying this? Even though I have at least 6 loose pigments I'm going to order a black one from Models Own (50% off on their website with the code FIFTYFIFTY. Good luck getting it to work though) so I can do red with black. Don't think I'll ever get bored of this :)

Hx

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Pink Wednesday - Strawberry nails!

Hello!
I am a bit sad because last week I missed pink Wednesday for the first time since I started blogging! I still wore pink last Wednesday but because of my puter issues I didn't get to post it. I'll save it to show you another time maybe...I didn't like it much anyway...

This week I LOVE my pink Wednesday manicure! Maybe it's because it'snot actually all that pink...but the accent nail is so it still counts. I hope you're ready for a LOT of stamping posts from me - I finally got the first set of Bundle Monster plates! I love them so much and I already want the second set :) The first mani I did was with some of the star patterns (which I'll show you tomorrow) but then as soon as I took that off I went for the strawberries! The beautiful Grace from Oooooh Pretty inspired me with her version, but I kept it to just an accent nail and did a few things differently.

The red I used for the stamping and the majority of nails is Miss Sporty Red Tango, which is quite a vampy red that stamps really well and is opaque in 2 coats. On the ring finger and thumb I used 3ish coats of Essie Luscious Lips (are all Essie brushes really stiff and thin? And are all the polishes rather runny? I know I'm cack handed but even with thin coats it pooled terribly) and stamped the strawberry from BM05 randomly.

Rare sighting of the right hand...

Loving this :) Super cute and super easy. I'm finding these BM plates a lot easier to use than my fauxnads. Thinking of treating myself to a Konad special white polish...and maybe the new plates...

While I think of it, my base coat is running out and I'm on the hunt for a new one. I'd like one to help with my terrible peeling nails if anyone has and recomendations? I'm currently using Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Daily Nail Program, and it has made my nails grow better, but they still peel quite badly. I'm also considering a gripper base coat, like Orly Bonder or CND Stickey - anyone given them a go? Also, would I be able to use the anti-peeling base under the grippy one, or would that defeat the object? So many questions!

Hx

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