Ahoy there!

Hi!

Well, look at me posting twice in a week and stuff! I really liked these nails and so I thought they deserved a post. They were inspired by my new phone case, which I bought from Born Pretty Store, and I just love it. I love all things nautical and particularly anchors, and the design was really easy to recreate. I used all Barry M polishes in my base; Huckleberry, which is a super pale blue, and I then dabbed on Damson and Matte White with scrunched up clingfilm to get the mottled background. I actually wore it like this for a day before adding the stamping, from Cheeky's Summer collection. Pictures ahoy! Please excuse the odd shape of my index finger, it has a patch on it which is making it flatter than usual, if that makes sense! They'll all be going back to almonds shortly!

And before the stamp...

I loved the subtle effect, and think I got a pretty good match to the phone case! Funny where we find inspiration sometimes :)

Thank you for all the lovely comments on Sunday's post, it means a lot.

Hx

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The sun has got his hat on!

Hi!

We seem to have had an uncharacteristic run of good weather in the UK last week, which was very welcome after a thoroughly soggy winter! So, I celebrated by digging out the remaining untried colour from the Models Own Polish For Tans collection from the three I picked. This is Bikini, a white based neon yellow which in the bottle just looks like lovely, neon perfection. Oh how wrong could I be. This is a devil of a polish and by the third nail I wanted to throw it at the wall. I very nearly did, but managed to restrain myself and add some thinner, which didn't help at all. It was streaky, gloopy, lumpy, thick yet somehow still craptastic enough to flood my cuticles and make a complete mess. I struggled through two coats before giving up and slapping some China Glaze Fairy Dust on top in the hopes it would improve. Then I had to clean the bugger up. I have been trying really hard to be neat with my clean up lately, really making an effort to get good lines and crisp cuticles, but f&*k me it wasn't easy! I then stamped some sunglasses from Cheeky CH37 to distract from the lumpy mess a bit more, and managed to smudge that too. This mani was not meant to be! I endured it for a day, and then it came off because I was too cross and every time I looked at my nails, it made me grrr.

I want to give Models Own the benefit of the doubt with this, but I had similar issues (though not as bad) with Beach Bag from the same collection, so I'm pretty sure I didn't just get a bad bottle. I took it off and replaced it with a Mentality matte polish that just glided on like butter, practically applied itself. If an indie can get it so right, how can a mainstream brand get it so wrong?

Have you tried any of the recent Models Own releases? Have you had formula issues? I'm keeping this polish for nail art purposes, but you can bet your rarest OPI that it will never grace my nails as a full mani again!

Hx

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We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

Hi!

On Friday last week, I spent a lovely day getting sunburnt seeing the animals at Whipsnade Zoo with my 6 year old's class. Their topic this term is Africa and so our agenda for the day was to see as many of the African animals that the zoo houses, and so I had to had nails to match! It was hard to resist putting penguins on my nails, as they're one of my favourites that the zoo has to offer but in the end I settled for a skittle comprised of cheetahs, tigers, giraffes, zebras and snakes! We had an amazing day, and I especially loved the giraffes - they're just beautiful, and they had babies! Adorable, and I'm totally jealous of their eyelashes! I wasn't allowed to take any pictures while we were there, but I'll try to get some of the animals from the school website when they go up. In the meantime, here are the nails! I'll list polishes below, because there were a few. Stamped with a mix of Cheeky and Bundle Monster plates.

So: cheetah was Barry M mocha stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black, tiger was Barry M Mango sponged with Crabtree and Evelyn Snowdrop and then stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black, giraffe was China Glaze Kalahari Kiss stamped with BM 313 in Barry M Mocha, zebra was Crabtree and Evelyn Snowdrop stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black and the snake was China Glaze Rare and Radiant stamped with BM 215 in Konad White. Lot of polish, but it was worth it!

I loved my zoo nails, and the kids got a kick out of them too! Talking of the kids, I better go and grab them from school!

Hx

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Why did the banana go to the doctor?

Because he wasn't peeling well! Ba-dum, ching! Joke courtesy of my 6 year old, his first joke that's actually been funny! I'm thinking of getting him a joke book now he can read a bit better, but I have a feeling I'll regret it... Anyway, on to the nails! There is a reason for the banana themed puns, banana nails! this week we could choose between two themes for Stamping Sunday over in AIS, and me being me, I went with both. The first was a re-do of an old theme, pulsating pink and purple (you can see my first attempt here on uber-nubs, almost two years ago!). And the second was positive and negative, so I simply flipped the colours on two nails. The base colours are Barry M Grapefruit and Color Club Pucci-licious, and I stamped with Models Own Pukka Purple and Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Speedy Sunburst. The stamping plate is Cheeky CH42. I need a brighter pink that stamps over dark bases, but otherwise I like this design. My nails are a nice shape now so I face a dilemma - keep them this length and shape, or grow them and almond them again. The problem with growing them is that any longer than this and some of them start to curl under and go funny - much like that awkward growing out a bob hair cut stage... Anyway, I've chatted far too much! Nails!

I've neglected the blog far too much this week, but I have had a busy one. I have a picture polish, last week's GOT polish challenge and awesome zoo nails to post in the next few days!  Yep, I said zoo nails! I went to the zoo with my sons class on Friday, so of course my nails had to match! Not so sure I'll be matching them to the sunburn I got while I was there though...

Hx

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When I met you in the summer...

Hi!

Today's Adventures in Stamping Sunday theme was summer nails, and I decided to go a bit beachy. I used to live in Cornwall and it was a few minutes drive in any direction to get to the most beautiful beaches, but now I'm pretty landlocked and I miss it. So what better way than to bring the beach to my nails! I used sooooooo many polishes for this manicure - starting with one coat of Barry Greenberry Gelly and then two of Seventeen Turquoise from their new Juicy Neon collection. To me, they don't seem very neon, but pretty summer polishes none the less. I then added a dabbed on coat of a blue glitter by Technic called Mermaid before letting that all dry with a coat of Poshe. The accent nail is Models Own Bora Bora and ELF Golden Goddess. Once that was ready I stamped seashells from Cheeky plate CH 38 in Konad white on the accent nail, and Barry M Gold Foil on the blue nails. In hinsight, I should have used white, or maybe blue, on the "sea" nails, as the stamping is hard to make out. I tehn added more Bora Bora and Golden Goddess to imitate sandy tips. It is really pretty, even though the stamping errs on the subtle side!

Pretty and sparkly summer nails!

I have a very exciting post scheduled for tomorrow morning, and you'll definitely want to check it out so see you soon!

Hx

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GOT Polish? Blingggg!

Hi!

This week's GOT polish theme is bling! Now, I can bling it up as much as the next glitter addict, but I went for a bit of subtlety. Just a bit mind. I used Rimmel Turquoise Sky as the base, with Maybelline Knitted Gold and Sinful Colors Paris on the accent nail. I stamped two nails with Cheeky XL C and Barry M Gold Foil, and then finished with some small square studs from Born Pretty Store.

I actually really love this, and might try something similar when my toes need changing in a few days...I've only ever stamped my toes once and it was a disaster, so maybe this time it'll make it to the blog! I've not posted my toesies in a while...

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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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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Adventures in Stamping - Favourite flower

Hi!

The first Adventures in Stamping Sunday challenge was to base your mani on your favourite flower. My favourite are daffodils (hurry up spring!) but I don't have a daffodil image in my plate collection (is there one?) so I improvised. The image I used from Cheeky CH12 could be taken for daffodils if you squint, and I used green and gold to simulate the colours. The green is from a set by Royal Cosmetics that I got for Christmas (it's nice enough, just has that lovely smell - you know it aint 3-free...) and Barry M Gold Foil for the stamping. The glitter accent is Milani Gold Jewel Effect with a fine gold holo glitter on top.

I didn't think I'd like this mani, but I actually really do. I had it in my head that green and gold would be too festive, but it really does remind me of spring. The green isn't a shade I'd normally choose for myself either, but it actually suits me somewhat. You learn something new everyday...

Hx

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Mavala Angel Violet Diamond - Let the Christmas nails begin!

Hi!

Now I've completed the 33 day challenge, and caught up with samples and swatches I needed to do, I can finally just do the nails I want to do for a while. And that means some Christmassy nails will be coming your way! Not all of them, mind you, but I thought I'd better show you this one quick before they sell out! I was browsing Beauty Expert and feeling very scroogelike when I spotted these cute Mavala polishes, encased in a little box with angel wings, ready to hang on the Christmas tree and had to have one. I needed the Christmas spirit! I chose Violet Diamond, as I didn't have any other glitter similar in my collection (and because it goes with my Christmas tree, which is silver, white, gold and black!) I actually thought it was a full cover glitter, but it isn't so I layered it over Barry M Lilac Foil, and combined with Orly Au Champagne and some snowy stamping for my first Christmas nails of the season.

Mavala Angels are available from Beauty Expert for just £3.83 with free delivery here, but they only have the silver one left now so be quick!

Have your nails gotten festive yet?

Hx

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Adventures in Stamping - Tone on tone

Afternoon polish lovers!

It's Sunday and that means it's Adventures in Stamping time. This weeks theme was tone on tone, so we had to create a mani using different tones of the same colour. I chose green, and used Sinful Colors Kissy as the base (lovely, greeny blue jelly base with green and gold flakies) and stamped with Color Club Perfect Mol-ten, a green foil. The stamp I used was Cheeky CH10 to give it a sort of under the sea/mermaid/fish scales look. I love the result. I was going to try something to fancy it up, with some glequins or loose glitter, but I left it plain.

Here's a swatch of Kissy on it's own. It really is lovely. It's of the same ilk as OPI Catch Me In Your Net, Zoya Charla or the UK Dupe Accessorize Mermaid, so if you have any of those you probably don't need this one. On the other hand, if you don't have any of those, this one is cheaper ;) Also, these kind of polishes have a tendency to stain, so be careful there. I hope I've avoided this by using a sheer nude underneath but we shall see when I take it off later! I will report back...

Actually for once I'm pretty pleased with these swatches, I do think they give a true representation on the polish. Now if only I could figure out a way to bottle the early morning sunshine for all of my photos...

Hx

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