2013 revisited!

Hi!

I thought since another year is over and all that I'd review the year for my favourite manis and such! This might be a bit of a long, picture heavy post I'm afraid! I did consider splitting it into categories - stamping, nail art, swatches etc, but then I thought I'd do it chronologically so that I could see how I've improved and progressed over the year. Hopefully...

January started with the new 31 day challenge. I didn't blog much of it, due to technological issues (my laptop hated me for a lot of the first half of the year), but I did document it over on Instagram. Here are my picks from January!

Purple glitter placement

Duochrome and stamping combo

Freenhand holo hearts using Color Club 2012 Halo Hues and Revvvolution

Holo gradient and stamping

February, my birthday month, and March, which saw me dip into Crumpet's Nail Tarts tri-polish challenge, which is having a revamp for the new year. I'm going to make an effort to join in more often and not forget!

Textured stripes with Barry M's pastel textures

Tri-polish stripes

The first time I layered up my dots for a fishtail effect

 March was also when I got my first Cheeky plates and fell in love with China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On. I had to sneak in this neon gradient too, with one of the British high street polishes of the year, L'Oreal Confetti.

Keep Calm, Paint On

Hooray for the British High Street!

April and May were quiet. My technological issues were over but I had nub issues and my blogging mojo was lacking.

Totally tropical tri-polish

Barry M nail art pens were a hit!

Feathery nubs

My nubs were at their naughtiest (and shortest) in June and July, but it didn't stop me developing a love of summer brights and skittles.

Hare Bisbee. Perfection

Basket weave

I felt like a Disney Princess with this on my nails!

I adore these sparkly Kiko Sugar Mat polishes

More princess nails!

It was now that I got my grubby little paws on a bottle of lush pink Duri Rejuvacote. I've spoken at length about this product, and quite frankly I'm evangelical about it. It's sorted my nails out once and for all (I hope!) And you can tell almost straight away from August onwards that my nails were happier. For more info on Duri and what it's done for me, have a look at this post that I dedicated to it and all it's wondrous qualities.

Dollish Polish Penny...Penny...Penny... -it all started with a big bang!

Wavy stamping

A combo of stamping, loose glitter and a perfect indie glitter

September saw the start of the Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33 day challenge, which beside a few reviews and the odd Sunday Stamping offering, took up the majority of the next ten weeks and produced some of my best (and poorest) nail art.

Autumn inspired Sunday stamping

Matte and shiny tape mani - tape is my nemesis

MoYou stamping plates, where have you been all my life? <3

October and November, and on the nails grew...and on went the challenge...

Ikat and dreamcatchers, perfect combo

My macaw. I named him Nigel...

The Nailasaurus' Nimbus Nail Art - one of my most popular posts ever, thanks to her linking to it on her blog. Thanks Sammy!

Winter is coming!

My most favourite gradient evah!

Stamping over foils

Stamping decals and studs

What does December mean when you're a nail art enthusiast? Chrimbo nails of course! It also meant my nails were long and strong enough to be shaped into almonds, something I thought 'd never achieve!

Meet the almonds!

Quirk Candy Land. Love.

Zig-zag skittles

Matte flakies, glitter and owl stamping. This mani was a hoot!

 So, there we have it, my favourite manis of the year, and I hope you can see progression! I think I can - my photographs are better for the most part, and my nails and cuticles are neater, thanks to better clean up and solar oil! I think I'm most proud of the length I've nursed them to - from sad little nubs to long strong talons in 4ish months.

It's funny how you associate things that happened or what you were doing when you were wearing a certain thing, with polish and clothing. I have to say, 2013 has been rather cruel to me and my family, and everytime something bad happened I can remember exactly what was on my nails. But I can remember the good too, including working with some lovely people (including Kerrie from Quirk and the ever lovely Debbie Crumpet), none of which would have been possible without nail polish. I love this little community!

Happy New Year my loves.

Hx

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Meet the Almonds!

Hello!

So, I did it! After um-ing and ah-ing for over a week, with one thumbnail almond shaped and lonely I bit the bullet and shaped all of my nails into almonds! I've wanted to try the shape for a while, but I never thought I'd be able to get my natural nails long and strong enough to handle it. But, thanks to Duri Rejuvacote, here they are! I think I was putting it off because I know it's a weaker shape, and more prone to breaks and tears, but I know that if I do have a bad break and I have to cut them all down, I'm confident that they wont take long to get back to their former glory, thanks to Duri. The shape isn't perfect, but I'm hoping it's something that I'll perfect over the next few weeks as I get used to them. So far, I'm in love! I think they look elegant and cute, and they make my podgy fingers look less sausage-esque. And that's got to be a good thing.

I kept my first manicure simple, so I could revel in the shape a little for a while! I used 2 coats of Rimmel Salon Pro in Beige Babe and the accent finger is 2 coats of a Pretty (from Poundand) leather polish - which is a lot more sparkly and a little bit greener than my pictures show. I know I say this a lot but I am in love! With this manicure, and my nails, at long last!

My final 33 day challenge post goes live tomorrow, with my old nail shape as I wanted to finish the challenge before I filed them, but after that it's almonds all the way! What do you think, I hope you like them! Any particular nail art you'd like to see on them? Of course, there are some Christmas manis coming your way soon too!

Hx

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My wonder product - Duri Rejuvacote saves the nail!

Hello!

Time for a long overdue post today. Hopefully you've noticed that my nails are in much much better condition lately, and are growing stronger and longer. (If you hadn't noticed, have a look here and here and compare!) I've always struggled with peeling nails, especially on my index fingers and thumbs, and to some extent my middle fingers too and over the years had tried lots of things to get them stronger, just so I could get the indexes in particular past the end of my fingertips. I'd tried so many treatment basecoats from the likes of Sally Hansen, Nails Inc, Orly and various OPI Nail Envy formulations, which worked for a while and then stopped. I'd tried Biotin supplements - great for my skin and hair but made little difference to my nails. Moisturisers and cuticle creams/oils, all of which made me feel good but again did nothing. The peel on my left index finger was so bad that I couldn't cut the nail any shorter and still had about 2mm of split at the tip. I'd all but given up hope of ever having anything other than naughty nubs. Until lovely Nicole from my birthday group suggested I try Duri Rejuvacote. I'd heard it was good, so I read some more reviews online and struggled to find any bad ones. I found a US ebay seller who'd ship it to the UK for around £6-7 (much cheaper than UK sellers at about £12, and cheaper than Nail Envy) and ordered a bottle.

Well, hallelujah! It only bloody worked, didn't it! Now I really hope I'm not jinxing myself here but I've been using it exclusively since the end of June and, I hope you'll agree, my nails are so much better. The peels have all but grown out (I still get a teeny bit on my left index but it's literally a tiny edge), my nails are so strong and grow like weeds! The instructions say to use one coat as a base coat, apply nail colour if you want and then apply as top coat every day. After seven days remove the whole lot and start again. I just use it as a base coat every time I do my nails (normally every other day at least) and sometimes double up on my naughtiest nails and apply two coats to those, making sure I wrap the tips properly. I started seeing results after just 4 days, and now I wouldn't be without it. The best bit? After using it like this for 4 months, I'm still only on my first bottle, and still have a good few weeks left. The polish left in the bottle has gone a little cloudy, but it hasn't thickened or gone gloopy so well worth the very affordable price tag. I have a second bottle waiting in the wings already ;)

Now, a before and after - speaks for itself really!

 

I couldn't be happier! Now I just have to perfect filing them all the same and I'll have my dream nails :)

Have you found your holy grail? what would you recommend for peeling nails? Not that I'm switching any time soon! While this is working I'm sticking to it!

Hx

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