Purple Crumpet Spring Challenge - Day 12, Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 

When all at once I saw a crowd, 

A host, of golden daffodils.

I started with a coat of Collection 2000 Sparkle Top Coat and then painted the stems with Barry M Spring Green and Me Me Me Impulsive and a small brush. Then I used Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, Miss Sporty Taxi and Natural Collection Antique Coral for the flower heads. I daffodils are my favourite flower, and if I ever get to walk down the aisle it will be with a bunch of daffs in my hand, so I'm sad I didn't do them justice on my nails. But you get the idea!

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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Ho ho ho!

Santa nails inspired by the beautiful grace at OooooohPretty. I did mine a little different to hers, using MeMeMe Pin Up as the base, then using a big dotting tool and Wet n Wild french white to make a fluffy looking border to the jacket. Then I used Wet n Wild Black cream and a small brush for the belt, and Barry M Gold Foil and a small dotting tool to make the buckle.

Cute!

Anyway, I'm off to be because I have the standard Christmas flu and actually can barely move my head. Breathing though your nose is totally optional anyway, right? Or at least I will be going to bed once this Barry M Croc Effect crackle does it's thang...

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - Day Inspired by a book

I could not for the life of me decide what to do for this challenge. First off I thought of doing Mr Men nails, but I think I've had enough fails during this challenge and that was sure to be one. Then I thought of Where's Wally (Waldo in the states I think) and just doing red and white stripes, but to make them even I'd have to use tape and I've run out having wrapped 11tybillion Christmas presents for my sons pre-school. Then I went and stared at the boys bookshelf for 30 minutes (in the dark since they were in bed) and still came up with nothing. Then I found this little guy and knew what I had to do...

Blurry pic is blurry, soz!

I used Barry M Spring Green, Me Me Me Impulsive, Rimmel Cranberry Zest and my gold Essence striper. How cute is he! I almost don't want to take him off :(

Inspired by fashion nails coming tomorrow :)

Hx

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Yesterday's Pink Wednesday for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness month I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and devote some Pink Wednesdays to the cause. I've not done a PW for a while, and actually enjoyed wearing this colour yesterday.

It's a colour I've used before but if I remember tightly, I only blogged about it once I'd shattered all over it, so here is a clearer picture. I used 2 coats of MeMeMe's Playful and then drew on little hearts near the cuticle with my dotting tool and Collection 2000 French White. Simple but pretty, although I have to admit the hearts on my right hand looked like a 4 year old did them and were 3 times the size of the left hand ones, so I covered them over again and just had dots on that hand.

The colour is leaning a bit old lady, it needs to be a teeny bit lighter I think, but it is still a soft and pretty creme, great formula, easy application - I used 2 coats but could have gotten away with one. Unfortunately I wrecked it by going swimming but that just lead to the awesomesauce I'm wearing now and will show you tomorrow!

Happy (late) Pink Wednesday! If you stand on your tiptoes you can almost see the weekend :)

Hx

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NOTD - MeMeMe Pin-Up + Elf Dark Navy Funky French

Another two polishes ticked off the list! I wore this one a few days ago. The MeMeMe polish is one of their old ones that I picked up in Savers a while ago - it's in the old style bottle but the brush was still good - not like their new mega-huge perfect-nail-in-one-swipe brushes, but still good. I don't wear red often but I have no idea why as I like it on my nails. 2 coats and it was super shiny so silly me didn't use topcoat (I'm dangerously low and don't want to buy any) and there was major tipwear at the end of day one, so I covered it with thin french tips in ELF Dark Navy and eeked it out for another day. Both polishes are definitely keepers.

ooh...shiny...

I don't know how many reds I have in my collection, but it's not as many as the pinks or purples. Are there any you'd recommend? I have been swatching on nail wheels and reds are next on my list to do, so I'll show you that soon.

In other news, I've broken my no-buy. Well sort of. My other half got a fantastic new job yesterday, and today I reached a milestone with my weight loss (I've now lost 10% of my starting weight!) so he treated me to two new polishes. Collection 2000 Hot Looks polishes are two for £1.99 in Superdrug at the moment and he treated me to Milkshake and All That Jazz. I've been craving a nude but don't have any in my untrieds so I'll wear Milkshake soon!

Hx

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I really do Lily Love You

Hello!

I told you yesterday that I blinged up my OPI-ish silver shatter mani, and this time it was with an O.P.I polish - I Lily Love You from their new Nice Stems collection. As soon as I saw this polish I wanted it, and I was lucky enough to find a bottle on ebay for just £4.99 with postage of 50p! I thought it would be completely fake, (especially as he had very little feedback) but I think it's a genuine bottle and the guy selling it didn't realise what he had (he must have come to his senses a little because they're now £6.99 and postage is more, but that's still a good price. Here is a link to the seller I bought it from, if you're interested). But he was absolutely lovely, had great communication and the item arrived quickly. If it is a fake, I'm not too bothered. I'm not a nail polish collector, I buy the polishes I like based on the colour not the brand, and I buy them to be used. And believe me this one will be used a lot!

Sorry for the bad picture, I just can't get the lighting right unless there's some sunshine and I didn't get a chance to take a sunny pic yesterday. But you can see some of the different sized flakies and they're so pretty! The base is sheer pink so that made the silver shatter almost mauve.

Again, sorry for the bad pic, and the crackle polish perhaps wasn't the best one to chose to showcase it layered with. But never fear, I will be using this lots so there will be loads and loads more pics to come!

Any requests or what I should layer it over or do with it?

Hx

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Pink Wednesday - Check out her Mom's boob job! They're hard as rocks!

Or - how to dupe OPI...kinda...

I recently went on a search for a dusty pink polish, something in the same genre as Sparrow Me The Drama from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection. It seems that UK polish brands don't do dusty (apart from Beauty UK Smokey Lilac - can you please do a pink version!), but I found Playful from MeMeMe which is pretty similar, perhaps a little darker. Sorry about the badly lit swatch...

This polish was a dream to apply thanks to the super wide brush. I think my nails are pretty average in width, so someone with slimmer nail beds would struggle  but for me it means perfect coverage in one stroke on most nails. I did 2 coats but if you're clevererererer you'd get away with one.

Then, because OPI bought out their Silver Shatter with the Pirates collection, and because all the cool kidz are doing it I added a coat of MUA's silver Nail Quake, Shattered Ice. I believe the OPI Silver Shatter  has sparkly bits in while this is matte and sort of like brushed chrome, so it isn't a dupe at all, but it's all I have! I was going to pit some silver glitter over it too but can ypu believe I don't have a silver glitter? How did that slip by unnoticed? Anyway, I added something else instead eventually, but I'll show you that tomorrow...

Look at my poor index finger on my right hand :( Was veery sore for a few days.

I've had a few breaks on my nails, just as they were a nice shape again. The middle finger on my left hand was super square until yesterday when I chipped the corner. And I broke the index finger on my right hand so badly it bled. Ouchie. It's always the thumb and index finger that end up breaking and peeling. Waiting for the Nail Envy to kick in...

So that's me for another pink Wednesday. Don't forget to check out the other pink ladies at http://onwednesdayswewearpink.com/ and you can now follow us on twitter @pinkwednesday

Hx

PS just under a week to enter my giveaway - link in the sidebar :)

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Haul - the holo hunt is over...for now...

Hi!

I have been very restrained over the last few weeks. My last haul was on the 7th of May and until last week I hadn't bought any polish. I was aiming to not buy any until the wedding I went to was over, and I only bought two polishes before then. And I only did then to try and get a good silver stamping polish for the wedding, and the Miss Sporty polishes were on offer so I couldn't pass the other one up! Then, since I didn't spend as much as I thought over the weekend I treated myself over Monday and Tuesday and this is what I found.

 L-R: Miss Sporty Red Tango, Beauty UK Pink Explosion, Me Me Me Pin Up, Revlon Strawberry electric, 2true Shade 8, Miss Sporty New Black, Miss Sporty Blueberry (I think), Beauty UK Smokey Lilac, Primark (no name), Barry M Dusky Mauve, Barry M Mint Green, Marks and Spencer Rainbow, Collection 2000 Hot Looks BMX Bandit, 17 Lasting Fix Mint Choc Chip, Fine Detail brushes from The Works, Lush Ltd Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter

And the holo, in all it's glory. Sure, it's no GOSH holographic, but it's a linear holo and I lurve it. It's was £7.50 from M&S.

I wore it for a day travelling so didn't get any pictures, but I will wear it again soon!

This weekend I'm going on a hunt for the MUA crackles, and more Miss Sporty since they're two for £1.99 in Superdrug (I can't believe I've lost my Superdrug Beauty Card already *headdesk*) and I want to see which ones are good for stamping. Then I might possibly make a small china glaze order (just saw Lubu Heels swatched, OMGeez) and then calm down again! Although, apart from M&S Rainbow, none of the polishes cost more than £3, so I haven't been tooo naughty.....

Hx

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