Keep on cracking! China Glaze Cracked Medallion swatch

Hi!

So, apparently crackle/shatter polishes are now rather passée, hence being able to find OPI and China Glaze shatter polishes in pound shops and discount stores which is where I picked this up. But I still love them, and Cracked Medallion is different to any other shatter polishes in my stash so I had to have it, and for the bargain price of 99p. They're not that different to textures, really, and you get an interesting effect for minimal effort. Here I used one coat of Cracked Medallion over black, and topped with two coats of topcoat to smooth it over.

I don't care if it's soooo 2012, it's a pretty effect in a pretty colour. I think crackle's downfall is that it can look pretty yukky if it isn't applied properly, but when done nicely I think it looks great. So neener neener!

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 33!!! Freestylin'!

Hello!

Well, I made it! I am chuffed I completed the challenge on time, posted every day and even got a few good manicures in there! Go me!

Our final challenge was either a recreation of someone else's mani , or to go freestyle so I combined a bit of both with some #33DC skittles. I started with a base of China Glaze Electric Beat on all my nails (leaving a half moon on the middle finger). A simple glitter gradient on my pinkie, with Barry M Silver Glitter and Dollish Polish I Triple Dog Dare Ya! and a thin coat of OPI Silver Shatter on my thumb framed my recreations on the ring, middle and index fingers. The ring finger sports a Nailasaurus waterfall, as seen in the challenge by Brandy's Nailtastic Blog, Fingerfood, and Glam-madam. The polishes used were China Glaze First Mate, and Blue Years Eve, Models Own Feeling Blue and Rimmel Your Majesty. The middle finger was inspired by Sarah at Penny Pinching Polish - a half moon with added leopard print, because why the hell not. This one used Blue Years Eve and Your Majesty. And my index finger was another Nailasaurus design, as seen by Nailaddict, Ros and Brandy again (and I loved my original version so much, I wanted to do it again!) I used the same colours as I did for the waterfall, and I think the addition of a couple of shimmery polishes really adds depth.

So, that's it! Which of my 33 manis has been your favourite? My top 3 were the 3 colour gradient and pattern, Indian and new technique, with my South American Macaw coming in a close forth. 

33 day challenge. Done.

Hx

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NOTD – Shattered Neon

Hi!

Today I'm showing you a neon shatter mani. Nope, I'm still not bored of the shatters! For this mani I used two coats of OPI Alpine Snow as my base, and then freehanded diagonal stripes in Color Club Poptastic (pink), Chelsea girl (blue), Twiggie (green), and Almost Famous (yellow). Once it was dry I use MUA Jailbreak over the top. And then dinged it. Oops...

Still liked it. How awesome would it look with OPI Spotted over the top...I can dream...

Hx

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NOTD - Nails Inc Basil Street and OPI Gold Shatter

Nope, I'm not bored of it yet! And OPI's Gold Shatter is the best gold shatter I've tried (and I have a few...). It's so easy to apply, gives just the right amount of cracks and sparkly! Even though this was a pretty simply manicure I couldn't stop looking at my nails. Shame it only lasted a day :( It's a combo I will DEFINITELY wear again, and I very rarely if ever wear the same combo twice.

Firstly, Basil Street on it's own. This in itself is a great nude, if it didn't give me such bad lobster hands.

Simple sparkly goodness :) Going to slap it on over my current mani to hide the chips ;)

Is shatter still doing it for you?

Hx

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NOTD - Next Oh So Nails Metallic Green and Barry M Croc Effects

Hello loves, how are you all? I hope you had a fab Christmas :) Mine was a bit miserable to be honest, and I'm not feeling any better about the New Year :( But at least I have some pretty nails to show you :)

This is a polish I picked up in Next in their January sale. I had some gift cards to spend from Christmas but of course the only think I could find was 2 polishes. It always goes that way though, doesn't it! Metallic Green is a green/gold/bronze duochrome and I lurve it. I haven't really jumped on the duochrome bandwagon, yes they're pretty but they don't excite me. BUT for just £1 (usually £2.50) I had to have it. My pictures show 2 fuss-free coats. For accents I thought that Barry M's croc effect shatter would look good with the green metallic, but I can't get this polish to work. Unlike normal shatter you layer it over tacky polish and it takes a good few minutes for the cracks to appear and I have tried everything, thick coats, thin coats, blobby coats, smooth coats, doing a little dance for the polish Gods. Nothing. It looks awful on me. Plus, it's like wax crayon to remove, smeary and yuck.

Like it? I'm gutted I ruined it with the crackle. Bad Barry M! Have you man aged to get the croc crackle to work for you? I'm totally meh over it :( I should have stamped instead...

Will have my NYE mani tomorrow, although I have no plans I've gone for a glittah bomb. Even though I have blue fingers atm. Non-acetone remover and blue polish don't mix.

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - day 27 Inspired by artwork

I decided to stamp again and recreate Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe Pop Art Image. The plate I used is Fab IV by FabUrNails Shop. The base colours are 2 coats each of (pinkie to index) Beauty Uk Yellow Peril, Models Own Pink Blush, 17 Lasting Fix Mint Choc Chip and Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours 344. I stamped with Metallic lilac, silver and metallic blue stamping polishes from FabUrNails and Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours 320 on the ring finger. On the thumb I used Yellow Peril again and topped it with W7 Earthquake red.

The plate was so easy to use and there are a lot of fun patterns! Can't wait to use it again :) The Middle pattern would look great in silver over black.

Tomorrow is inspired by a flag. I'll give you a clue - my surname is England... ;)

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - Day 21 Inspired by a colour

Earworm alert!

Since I had a few gold polishes that I hadn't tried yet (namely the Nails Inc Metallic) I decided to be inspired by gold for this challenge, and do a skittles mani of different gold polishes. On my little finger I used I coat of Barry M Gold Foil Effects (yes I caved and got it, not tried it for stamping yet but I may do tonight for the inspired by a song challenge so will keep you updated!) THe on my ring finger is 2 coats of Collection 2000 Hot Looks Parma Violet topped with 2 or 3 coats of ELF Golden Goddess. Middle Finger is Nails Inc Magnetic in Big Ben. Index is Parma Violets again with Beauty UK Disco Nights (gold shatter) and thumb is Barry M Gold Foil with 3 coats of W7 Gold Dazzle.

I really like this, it was easy to do and is quite eye catching. Although more often than not when people notice my nails they don't say anything - so not sure if that's a good thing!

Just wanted to say a few things about the Barry M gold foil. I wasn't sure on getting this as I've seen pics of it on other blogs where it looks streaky and uneven and just plain awful. Now I know my nails aren't the best, far from it in fact, but I found it easy to apply, not streaky or brushstrokey and it does look foil-y. This was one careful coat. Admittedly on my thumbs where I have a little bit of splitting it didn't look quite as perfect, but still pretty decent. So if like me you've been put off by bad swatches then don't let it deter you too much. And if you spend £6 on Barry M in Superdrug at the moment you get the new Lilac Foil Effects polish for free. I didn't spot the croc effects polish yet though...

What do you think of my Goldfingers? Another earworm? Oh, go on then...

Hx

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31 Day Challenge day 7 - Black and White

Howdy!

Today's mani theme is black and white nails, and to start with I had no idea what to do. Polka dots? Zebra stripes? Both of those are covered later on in the challenge, so I thought I'd do some stamping. I looked through my stamping plates and found a keyboard image - perfect for a black and white theme. So, I duly painted all my nails with 1 coat of Wet n Wild Black Creme, except the ring fingers which I did with 2 coats of Wet n Wild French White for accents. Then it all went horribly wrong. Could I get the blasted stamp to work? First time it transferred ok (not perfect but I could have patched it up) but totally wonky, and then every time after that it just wouldn't work. I think I need some pure acetone for cleaning plates inbetween stamps because I'm sure the moisturising ingredients in polish remover play funny with the stamp. Anyway, instead of having crappy stamps or none at all I reached for a trusty fail-mani-saver. Good old crackle. I actually LOVE this look, it got lots of compliments and it's held up through a day of intensive housework with just a little tipwear (which is a good thing because I had a meeting tonight and didn't get time to change it...). I used W7 Earthquake white and MUA Jailbreak crackles, then Seche to shinyfy it. You definitely need topcoat over white crackle or it looks like you've been at the tip-ex.

Excuse the cat hair *shakes fist at fluffy fiend*

This would have been a super fast way to get a  really striking mani if I hadn't faffed around with the stamp. Somehow I can never get WnW Black Creme to stamp well, although I've seen it used successfully on other blogs. Well I ended up loving this anyway, so it seems I'm not over crackle yet. I think it looks great when done properly.

Hx

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Crackle isn't over just yet...

Bored of crackle? Barry M have released a new "Croc Effect" crackle. You apply it over slightly tacky nail polish rather than completely dry, and it takes about 3 minutes for the effect to appear.

It looks quite good, I wont be rushing out for it, but if I happen to see it in the shops I'm sure it might fall into my basket ;)

Have a peek at the video, see what you think:

http://www.barrym.com/make-up-tutorials/video-tutorial.asp?vid=113

Is crackle over for you or will you give this a try?

My 31 day challenge post will be up this evening!

Hx

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Halloween Week v.1!

Boo!

So, Halloween is a week away, and I decided to do some Halloween inspired nails. I have a few ideas, so I'm creating a little mini-series! I wont be posting every day, as I don't change my nails every day. Some of the ideas I've come up with myself, and some I've seen on other blogs and shamelessly stolen adapted to suit me!

First up is something simple but that I really love the look of, and it's a classic Halloween colour combo. I started with my green Depression Awareness mani as the base and topped it with a thick coat of this neon orange crackle by La Femme Beauty. I picked this up on a market stall for £3 but you can pick it up easily on ebay and Amazon.

You do need thick coats of the crackle because it isn't completely opaque. And it needs top coat because it's very chalky without it. I love how the glitter peeks through the crackle though! What I didn't love was removing it using the foil method. How is it that every time I remove a glitter this way I discover a sore spot on a cuticle that I didn't know I had? Ouch!

What Halloween designs do you have planned?

Hx

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NOTD - I don't wanna see your Peacock...

Hi!

Today I have a fail of a polish to show you. I swear it wasn't my fault, I wanted to love this polish, I love the colour but it wasn't to be. 17 Fast Finish Peacock is a pretty turquoise metallic. But that is where the "good" points end. Firstly, it was super sheer. 4 coats and there was still VNL under some lights. Secondly, the colour just didn't suit me, not the polishes fault I'll admit, but I think I was expecting more teal and less green. Thirdly, 17 weren't joking when they called it fast finish - it was too bloody fast! After the first coat the polish started drying on the brush before I even got it anywhere near my nail so it was draggy and streaky and a pig to apply. There were even a few lumps in there. Ew. But, I somehow managed to get sheet marks and wrinkles, even though I didn't go to bed until at least 2 hours after I finished painting. Finally, I got a duff brush. I was pretty unhappy with this mani from the word go, but I wore it for a day and didn't have time to change it last night, so to be able to bear it another day I did what I do best and shattered all over it.

A coat of MUA Nail Quake in Broken Arrow and order was restored. I even think it looks kind peacock feathery, doesn't it? And I got lots of positive comments on it at playgroup today. I swear all the other Mums think I'm bonkers. They might have a point...

Hx

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NOTD - New Boots 17 Crackle Topcoat

Hullo!

Just a quick post tonight to show you this new crackle polish from 17 at Boots. They already had a mediocre gold crackle topcoat (which you can see here and here), and now they've released a purple and, most exciting for me, a black with gold glitter! Seriously I nearly wee'd a little bit when I saw it (ahem, I do have a life, kind of...) The purple is pretty, with a kind of golden shimmer to it by the looks of the bottle, so I don't have anything like it and I'm sure I'll be adding it to my extensive crackle collection shortly, but I had to have the black one. Here it is layered over China Glaze Peace on Earth, a yummy golden metalic olive green that I've had for ages and never worn. Shame on me, it's lovely. I left the ring finger plain, coz you know how I love me an accent nail.

Odd texture at the tip of my ring finger here...not visible IRL

I do like this combo, I think it looks kinda snakeskin-esque, and the topcoat crackles well, but I wish I'd put a more visible colour underneath. I bought No 7 Poolside blue (with my £5 off No 7 voucher which is Boots current promotion) and the OH said on the way home I should put the crackle over that. I didn't agree but I wish I had now. Oh well, you live and learn.

Talking of Boot's promotions, thought I'd just mention just some of the ones I saw while I was there. If you buy 2 things costing over £4 from Collection 2000 you get a third free, there's the No 7 £5 voucher when you spend a certain amount (£5 I think?) and with any two purchases of 17 products you get a free Summer Nudes palette, consisting of two eyeshadows, a lip colour and a cream blush. It's actually a nice sturdy little palette, I picked up my polish and a lipstick for £2.29 (also on offer - the original price is about £3) and got the palette free. Bargainous.

Picture credit - boots.com

So, I said this would be a short post but I've rambled on as usual. Happy Sunday everyone, I hope Monday treats you well!

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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