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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April Tri Polish Challenge day 3 - You've been framed...

Morning!

Day 2 of April's Tri polish challenge, and I'm not sure how I feel about this one... The idea was good, but I'm not so sure about the execution. I started with a base of my turquoise (Rimmel Sky High) and used the cling film technique with Nails Inc Candy Orange (reversed on the accent nail). I was hoping for something a bit more jewel-like, but I kind of got mud. Then to fit in with the gem stone theme I painted a frame with a gold striper - thinking that as it was an antique-y sort of gold it would look like a cabuchon set in old gold...hmm not sure if I got there to be honest. It was ok in bright sunlight, but we don't get much of that in good old Blighty so I think it was a bit of a fail...

I think the accent nail looks better, maybe I should have done them all that way. Or maybe I shouldn't have used a muted gold for the frames. Or maybe I should have done something different altogether...

Hx

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Tri Polish Challenge - day 2

Morning!

Second tri polish challenge mani for you this morning! Just a quick reminder, the aim basically is to create 4 different manicures using the same 3 polishes, and this month's colours are green, coral and purple. This time I created a saran/cling film base with China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On over white. Then I added a little butterfly decal that I made using my coral and purple polishes, Natural Collection Antique Coral and OPI Parlez Vous OPI.

I'm hopefully going to make a tutorial on how to make the decals over the weekend, if it's something you'd be interested in? They're really easy! Not something I'd usually wear actually, but I'm trying to encourage spring to hurry up!

Hx

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New 31 day challenge day 9 - saran wrap/cling film

Helloooo

Today's theme was to create a cling-film (saran wrap to stateside readers!) mani. There are a couple of ways of doing this apparently - you can paint your base, let it dry, paint another colour on top and then lift some of the top colour off with scrunched up cling film to make a marbled effect, or you can paint your base and let it dry, then "sponge" another colour on top using scrunched up cling film. I did neither of these though, starting with a white base, then adding blobs of neon pink, blue and yellow on top and then squishing them down with the cling film so they merged a bit. I really liked the effect, and used it as a base for a later challenge, so you'll be seeing it again!

Hx

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Teal Tuesday - Teal for Ovarian Cancer Awareness

Hello!

Did you know this Friday is National Wear Teal day, in support of Ovarian Cancer Awareness? Well now you do! There are a group of bloggers who do a teal mani every Tuesday, which I've watched with interest but never could commit to, so when I saw Gnarly Gnails post about it on Facebook I wanted to join in for this special Teal Tuesday. We are teaming up with Teal Toes in support of Ovarian Cancer Awareness to coincide with National Wear Teal Day. Now don't worry, I'm not gonna subject you to my feet. Summer has not been kind to my tootsies and I have horrendous tan lines. Seriously, I could go out barefoot and people would still think I was wearing flip flops. But I did brave some teal on my fingers :)

I used 2 coats of China Glaze Exotic Encounters, a slighly dusty dark teal, over two coats of basecoat (these sort of colours hate me and stain me blue for weeks). On the accent nail I used 2 coats of Nubar Gem (pretty taupe holo sparkles). Then over the teal nails, I tried the cling film/saran wrap technique. But what is this crazyness? I hear you cry. Well, basically, you wait until the base colour is completely dry, paint a layer of a contrasting colour over the top (I used a Miss Sporty shimmerly gold) and then immediately pat it off using a scrunched up bit o' cling film and you are left with a pretty, marbled effect.

I didn't realise how awful my cuticles were until I was editing the pictures. I took them on the go (at a farm with my kids actually) and didn't have my usual cuticle pen or any lemony flutter with me. Apologies.

Check out the other awesome bloggers taking part :)

Hx

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