Palate Cleanser of the Week! A England Dancing with Nureyev

Hi!

I've not done a Palate Cleanser of the Week for a while, I can't help but faff! But this polish I just had to wear plain, as soon as it arrived! I don't even know how to describe other than simply beautiful, but I guess I'll have a go. Dancing with Nureyev is a purple toned saphire blue holo from A England's Ballerina collection. But that's not it, it almost has a violet duochrome look in certain lights. It's so prismatic and sparkly, I stared at my hands for more than an acceptable amount of time while I was wearing this polish. And the formula is perfection. Smooth and buttery, I used two coats out of habit but you could definitely get away with one. And it doesn't feel thin and show every ridge and bump on the nail like some holos can. I've talked enough, look!

So beautiful even the sun shined for me!

Hx

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Holo haze

Hi!

A-England recently had a sale, where all of their polishes were £6 instead of £9, so of course I had to indulge! While I was checking my stash to see what I already had I stumbled upon this neglected beauty and had to wear it immediately! A England Tristam is a deep dusty midnight blue with holo. Need I say more? The formula is perfect, it could be a one coater if you're not a clumsy oaf like me and it stamps well too. The holo particles are smooth and not rough at all and it removes super easily and without staining - which for a blue this deep and pigmented is a rarity. Best blue ever? It's definitely a contender. I decided to stamp some leafy goodness from the Pueen buffet set and Color Club Blue Heaven.

Now of course, I wear a holo, the sun gets hidden by a thick layer of sahara desert haze. I'm not even kidding, most of the country has been covered in a cloud of Victorian-esque smog and where I live has been quite badly affected (not as bad as Paris though...) So I had to enlist good old Mr Flash to show the beauty.

In essence, this was a fairly simple mani, but I sometimes just need something simple. I went for eyesearing next though, which you can see on Tuesday!

Hx

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Irish Roses

Hi!

I have no idea if Irish roses are an actual thing, but this week's Adventures in Stamping theme was St Patrick's Day (which is tomorrow) and I wanted to use this image from my new MoYou Pro XL 10 plate (I went for 3 XL plates and they are awesome, I made the right choice!) so I merged the two and got this! The base is a holo gradient (obviously the best kind)  made up of A-England Princess Sabra and Saint George, with Nubar Reclaim sandwiched in the middle. I then stamped with Barry M Gold Foil and heart shaped roses, and added OPI The Man With the Golden Gun 18k gold leaf topcoat on the accent nail.

I didn't realise the sun washed the stamping out so much, so here's an indoor pic too.

Princess Sabra alone

And the gradient before I stamped

I don't actually celebrate St Patricks day, I don't think I ever have, even when I was a student and it was any excuse to get wasted have an alcoholic beverage. I might make myself a Shamrock Shake tomorrow though, because we can't get them here in the UK and they just sound awesome! Will you be celebrating? Have fun and be safe whatever you do!

Hx

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Valentines Week! My Patchwork Heart

Happy Valentines Day!

For my final Valentine mani this year, I challenged myself and went freehand, and I think it paid off. I really love this patchwork design! I started with a coat of China Glaze Dance Baby on all of my nails, and then added a second coat to my pinkie and index. Once that was completely dry I sketched out the heart and patches using Barry M's white nail art pen and filled the sections in. I used Dance Baby, a-England Briar Rose, Barry M Prickly Pear and Above The Curve Rain Kissed Strawberries. While this was drying I added stripes of white and Briar Rose to the other nails and then went back over the lines separating the patches to neaten them up and add the "stitches". Patchwork hearts. Done.

I hope you've enjoyed Valentines week! I actually haven't, but I've had a rough couple of days and all I want to wear is black. Maybe next week should be moody black week...

Whether you're celebrating or not tonight, have a great evening!

Hx

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Valetines Week - Love Letters

Hi,

Later post than usual from me as I am not well and feeling very low. But I wanted to keep up with the theme week, so I'm gonna make this quick. I've seen this design floating aroud but I have no idea who did it first, so if it was you let me know and I'll credit you. I started with Glitter Gal Light as a Feather as a base, then stamped the image from Bundle Monster 311 in Color Club Halo-graphic. This didn't show up so I stamped again with a-England Briar Rose. I like the double stamped effect, it almost makes it look distressed or vintage. The envelope was freehanded with Halo-graphic and sealed with a Briar Rose love heart.

I think I should have done the envelope the other way around, but other than that I liked it.

Tomorrow, the GOT polish challenge gets the Valentines treatment.

Hx

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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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33 Day Challenge day 26 - something from Pinterest!

Hi!

It's not often I pin something and then recreate it in the same day! But, I loved this so much that I did just that, albeit unintentionally. I'd pinned this manicure by Love, Varnish, Chocolate and more earlier in the day, and when I sat down and checked which challenge mani I was due to do that evening, the gods were shining on me and I went for it! I used a different stamping plate, but the polishes used were the same - China Glaze Exotic Encounters and A England Saint George for the stamping (from Bundle Monster 404). My version isn't as perfect as Deborah's lovely original, but I still liked the combination and it's one I'd use again.

Are you a pinner? You can follow me on Pinterest here!

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 21 - Europe!

Morning!

As soon as I saw the prompt for today, I knew I wanted to do Moulin Rouge/Paris inspired nails. You know what having a solid idea in your head means, in my case anyway. Fail. It's not too bad, but the stamping didn't come out as well as I hoped. I used A-England Bridal Veil as my base, which is a lovely polish but mine has a bad brush, which should have been an omen for the rest of the mani I guess. The accent is Sally Hansen Gem Crush Lady Luck and stamped with Color Club Hot Like Lava (and freehand stripes), with a mix of Bundle Monster and Pueen plates. I wish the stamping had come out as vibrant as the stripes, or that I'd used a stamp for the stripes so that they matched. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, non?

I'll definitely try this again, with a more opaque stamping polish. I need to find a good red for over black...

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 13 - Chinese

Monday, bloody Monday...

Today's theme is Chinese and I have to admit today I took the easy way out, albeit unintentionally. I had planned a red and gold Chinese skittlette, with a bit of stamping, a bit of freehand, some glequins and some glitter but I got a bit carried away with the stamping! I sat down to stamp the first nail, and liked the look of it. So I stamped the next nail, and the next. Before I knew it I had a full stamped mani and my glequins were left in the pot. At least I like it! The base is the perfect A-England Percival and it's stamped with Barry M Gold foil and an unnamed Essence plate.

I really love the combination, and will have to remember Percival looks this good with gold for some Christmas manis ;)

Hx

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HoloWeek - holo + clouds = AWESOME!

Evening

Firstly, an apology! I couldn't do it - posting every day for a week has proved a bit of a stretch for me. I had the mani and the photos ready but time to actually sit down and write the blog post eluded me yesterday. So sorry for that, but hopefully today's post will make up for it!

So, usually holo polishes plus a cloudy day is not a match made in heaven, so i decided to disprove that theory and do a cloudicure! I believe the originator of this style was the awesome Jane at nailside, and it really is easy peasy, but stunning, nailart. All you need is two or three different polishes. And that's it. Seriously easy! I've done it twice before (here and here), but when it works, it works!

For my holo version I used just two colours, A-England Tristam and GOSH Holographic Hero. Tristam is my first and only A-England polish and I love it. I will be getting more when my bank balance is a little more healthy. So probably never... Anyway, I started with a single coat of Tristam on each finger baring the ring and thumb, created the first "cloud" with HH and then the second "cloud" with Tristam again. This was reversed on the accent nails. Spot the deliberate mistake on my right hand...

HoloWeek continues with some more stamping tomorrow, see you then!

Hx

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