31 Day Challenge - Day 16 Tribal Print

Well, I don't know what kind of tribe this comes from, but it looks kinda tribal to me. I didn't want to do Aztec, but this to me looks more Egyptian :/ Oh well, I like it anyway! The colours I used were OPI Designer...De Better, Nails Inc Copacabana (Orange) and Essence Nail Art Striper in Ocean Breeze, orange and turquoise rhinestones and Seche. In these pics I hadn't put any topcoat over the rhinestones, but I did later to make sure they lasted until I took them off.

Tribal enough? Not sure!

Tomorrow (or maybe the next day...) GLITTAH!

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - Day 14, Flowers

Hi everyone

Since it's November and it was Rememberance day the weekend, I went for a super simple flower manicure and did poppies. I used Mavala The Elle grey as the base and did the poppies with a dotting tool and the red from the Beauty UK Wild Child Set. The black centres were done with the black from the Beauty UK Midnight Minx set, and it was all topped with Seche. They turned out a little more "blobby" than I expected, but that's ok. My 4 year old knew they were meant to be poppies so I hope everyone else can too!

Lest we forget.

Tomorrow is delicate print so I'm off to look through the stamping plates!

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - Day 13, Animal print

Day 13 of the challenge is Animal Print, but I've done leopard and zebra before, both freehand and with stamping. So I chose an awesome pattern from a Bundle Monster plate - snakeskin! I used MUA Shade 23 for the base - an army green. I usually really like MUA polish - for just £1 you can't beat it but I had issues with this one. The formula was great but the brush I had was scratchy and uneven. This meant that when I applied the second coat, no matter how dry the first coat was it scratched a big groove down the whole nail. Annoying! A coat of Seche sorted it thankfully, and then I was onto the stamping.

I used Miss Sporty New Black, a pretty shimmery grey (which I need a back-up of...) and a silver metallic stamping polish which I won from Sarah Louise at Spellbinding Nails' giveaway (are you sick of hearing about it yet?). What a difference a specific stamping polish makes! Honestly, this was the best polish I have ever used for stamping, and it's making me want to invest in some Konad special polishes, or at least black and white. This one is from Fab Ur Nails shop, I also got a metallic purple and blue and they have a huge range of colours at really great prices. They also have holo and magnetic polish, and stamping plates too so check them out. I used the Miss Sporty first, and then the silver on top. You can't see the grey behind the silver very much, but it did give it more texture and depth.

If I do this again I might use the grey on top of the silver instead. Or I might use gold. I just need to find me a good gold stamping polish...this could get expensive...

Flowers tomorrow - this didn't survive cleaning the bathroom this morning...

Hx

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31 Day Challenge day 12 - Stripes

When I won Sarah Louise's awesome giveaway, I couldn't wait to try everything these Essence stripers. I've never used specific striping polishes or Essence polish before and I can say, colour me impressed. Easiest. Nailart. Evah. I used two coats of a deep racing green by Miss Sporty (number 470, if anyone's interested). Another good polish from Miss Sporty, I've never been let down by these polishes. Took 2 coats and was a little thin, but dried nice and shiny and handled well. Then I used the purple, gold and teal stripers (I also got a pink) in alternate stripes and topped with Seche.

Loved this mani, what do you think?

Tomorrow - animal print. Rawr.

Hx

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31 day Challenge day 9 - Rainbow

Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain!

I used:

Violet - Singul Colors Amethyst
Indigo - Barry M Indigo
Blue - Barry M Cyan
Green - Barry M Spring Green
Yellow - Barry M Yellow
Orange - Nails Inc Candy Orange
Red - Barry M Bright Red
Collection 2000 Sparkle Top Coat, Seche Vite and a sponge!

Sorry the clean up is appalling! As you can imagine it was a leetle messy!

Hope you like my rainbow nails, I really do!

Hx

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31 Day Challenge day 8 - metallic

Metallic nail polish seems to be the big thing this season, with Barry M releasing it's foil effect polishes, the magnetic polishes being metallic and metallic duochromes from the Models Own Beetlejuice collection. I was quite surprised then, when I walked into my local Tesco pharmacy to see three limited editiong metallics from their make-up range Barbara Daly. And as luck would have it, they were on a three-for-two a few weeks ago. For today's mani I used two of these polishes, Amethyst and Starlight. Amethyst is a smokey metallic purple and Starlight a beautiful champagne gold foil. I used two coats of Starlight, a coat of Seche and let it dry completely, then used masking tape, pinking scissors and Amethyst to make the zig zag.

I really love these colours. I've had Amethyst on my toes for about 3 weeks and it's only just now showing any sign of wear. Well done Tesco and Barbara Daly for being so on trend!

Can't wait to show you my rainbow nails tomorrow!

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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31 Day Challenge day 6 - Violet!

Hiya :)

Today I have an awesome polish to show you, but you'll have to take my word for it due to the lovely weather and my appalling camera skills. Yes, it's a holo! I took "violet" to mean purple and chose Glitter Gal Dark Purple 3D Holo from my recent swap with Jasmine of Colour Coated. Thank you so much Jasmine! Unlike my other holo, a silver from M&S, this one looks ok when there's no light bouncing on it, just a pretty shimmery purple. Formula was a bit of a pain, as I think holos tend to be, but I got it even enough in two coats and added Seche to make it shiny. It didn't last long though :( my left index finger peeled completely off! So I am already wearing my black and white nails for tomorrow :)

Anyway, pics!

Blurry holo is blurry!

What do you think? I really really REALLY want Glitter Gal Light as a Feather, it looks awesome! You can see jasmine wearing it here *drool*

Hx

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31 Day Challenge day 5 - blue, I think...

Teal. Is it blue or is it green? I can't decide, but I chose some teal-blues for today's manicure, even though Mr NN said it was green I like it so I'm sticking with blue!

I've been enjoying wearing plain colours the last few days but fancied a change so glittered it up a bit. I used 2 coats of Rimmel 60 Seconds Sky High to all but my ring finger and thumb, then topped it with 2 coats of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Teal. For the accent nails I used 3 coats of Wet n Wild Fast Dry Teal of Fortune and topped it all with my beloved Seche. I got the Kleancolor and WnW from an awesome swap with Jasmine at Colour Coated :) Thank you Jasmine! I am going to use another of the polishes she sent for the next days challenge ;)

I'm not taking this off today - it hasn't chipped and I want to give my nails a break from the acetone - they're in okish condition right now but I can see some peeling starting. Also we're going to a fireworks display tomorrow and I think this is appropriate! I bought a new base coat today - Sally Hansen Nail Quench as I think it's lack of moisture more than anything that's causing my peels. Trying to moisturise as often as I can and I think it's helping too.

So anyway, since I'm not doing day 6 yet I'm going to try and get an October faves post up tomorrow :)

So, what do you think, is it green or is it blue?

Hx

PS Be safe if you're heading to fireworks over the weekend!

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31 Day Challenge day 4 - green!

Onto day 4, and it's green nails. I have a few greens in my untrieds and I went for Suzi Takes the Wheel from O.P.I's 2011 fall collection. According to Scrangie it's "a very, very grey light green" and I think it's super pretty. It's warm, which suits me, and has satisfied my craving for Essie Da Bush. This is two coats plus Seche, although it was super shiny on it's own, and there is a little bald patch on my left index finger so I should have done 3 coats. Shhh, I wont tell if you don't....

Do you like it? I am really growing to love murkey shades like this. Give me a dusty purple or a muddy red over a neon anyday :)

I've not got a nail wheel of greens today, I probably only have around 8-10 greens, but I quickly compared Suzi Takes the Wheel to two other similar colours in my collection, Models Own Grace Green and MUA Shade 23. Definitely not dupes, but I also definitely don't need all three!

Off to do my blue nails for tomorrow - it's a sparkly one!

Hx

P.S I won an awesome giveaway, I'm so happy! If you don't follow Spellbinding Nails go and check her out, she's a sweetheart!

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Halloween Week 3 - I've got my eye on you...

Boo!

I was so so excited last week, as I won a giveaway hosted by the lovely Joy at Okay Now Joy which included a glow in the dark polish! How exciting! I've not seen any GITD polish here, apart from a rubbish one that I bought in Tesco which doesn't work and washes off in warm water! I never in a million years thought it would arrive in time for Halloween but I was amazed to see it sitting on my doorstep when I got back from taking the boys to playgroup yesterday (which gives me hope that the polishes I sent to Jasmine in our swap will get to her soon!). Anyway, I couldn't wait to get playing with my new pretties and this is what I came up with.

First I used two coats (though it could have used three) of No7 Beautifully Black, a small silver glitter in a black/charcoal base. Pretty enough, but nothing to write home about. I have to say I am disappointed in these polishes, and I would never buy a full price one (thank goodness for £5 off No7 vouchers...). The formula isn't great, the coverage is a bit pants and after painting my nails late last night I had a chip halfway through this morning even though I'd done nothing strenuous. Now they're looking a little tip-weary and even though I love my cute eyeballs I'm itching to take it off. Anyway, after that I added two pairs of eye balls to each nail (3 on the thumb) using a large dotting tool and Wet n Wild French white, before going over each eyeball with a dot of the Glow in the Dark pumpkin polish.  This polish has teeny iridescent glitter in it, which really makes the eyeball stand out! Then the black pupils were done with a smaller dotting tool and Wet n Wild Black creme. Topped with SV to smooth it out and this is the result.

And here it is glowing! Colour me impressed! I got a bit of a shock when I woke up at 4am for a wee...

You would not believe how hard it was to get this pic though...

And here is what I won from Joy - Pumpkin Polish with hex glitter and crescent shapes, Fuchsia Blacklight Pumpkin Polish, Glow in the Dark glitter and Wet n Wild Correction Tape :) Happy Helly :) And look that the post-it with a QR code that links direct to Joy's blog! How super clever is that!

Thank you so much Joy! These polishes will be cherished!

Halloween is just 3 days away, think I might squeeze in 2 more themed manicures, and then start the 31 day challenge (I already have an exciting red polish lined up!)

Fun fact about me - I cannot for the life of me pronounce the word "pumpkin", it always comes out as "pun-kin" no matter what I do! My little boy says it the same way, but he is only 4 so he has an excuse!

Hx

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Halloween Week 2 - Spiders!

Boo!

I've seen this manicure, or versions of it on a few blogs, but this is my take. I used 2 coats of Beauty UK Blue Shimmer for my base and Miss Sporty Blueberry to stamp the spiders from BM13. Then I added a blue rhinestone to one spider on each nail and topped with Seche vite (yay I have a new bottle :) ). What do you think? I really like the colour combo, even though I had trouble getting the spiders legs to stamp and had to paint a few in with a wee brush.

Be warned, this next picture was taken pre-cleanup and cuticle cream to show a twitter friend quickly - but you can see the stamping more clearly.

Since I decided to do this yesterday afternoon I've had this in my head, anyone remember it?

Spider in the bath, spider in the bath, there's a creepy crawly creepy crawly spider in the bath! I know he's only there because he wants to have a laugh! I thought I put him down the drain but now he's climbing up the chain, spider!

Hx

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NOTD - MUA Shade 1 + cat nail art

Hello

First off, I just want to say something about the looting and rioting In London and around the UK over the last few days. I'm a Londoner born and bred and though I no longer live there it is still very close to my heart, and the majority of my family are still there. What I've seen on the news and heard from friends and family is utter mindless devastation, livelihoods are being destroyed and people's lives are being put at risk. If you or anyone close to you are in any of the affected areas please stay safe, don't get involved and put your trust in the country's emergency services that order will be restored. I fear we haven't seen the end of it yet, so please please stay safe.

On to something less somber (although I'm really not feeling it today). Another Monday means another PAA theme and this week it was animals - which meant either animal print or an actual animal. I'd been wanting to use this cute little cat stamp from my BM plates and had an idea to create a silhouette against the moon. I started with two coats of MUA shade 1, a dark almost black blue with gorgeous blue sparklez. Can you blieve this polish is only £1? It could have been opaque in 1 thicker coat but I did two thin ones because I'm neater that way (still not all that neat I know...) Then I swirled a mix of Barry M Blue Moon, Natural Collection Topaz and Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom with a large dotting tool and painted the moon on my ring fingers. A coat of seche (as the moon was very thick) and 20 minutes later I tried to stamp on the cat using Wet n Wild Black Creme. The first stamp, which I tested out on paper came out perfectly, but after that do you think I could get the image to pick up properly? Gah, every time half the head was missing or it didn't have it's tail. So in the end I ended up half stamping, half freehanding with a little nail art brush. I filled in the eyes as well, because silhouttes don't have eyes... And then tipped the accent nails under the cat so it looked like it was sitting on a wall. Here's the result. A little messier than I anticipated, but I still love it.

Close up of the accent nail in shade, excuse the TC over the cuticles. Funny how you only notice after the photos have been taken...

Blurred to see the sparkle a wee bit

What I used L-R: OPI Nail Envy, MUA Shade 1, Natural Collection Topaz, Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom, Barry M Blue Moon, Wet n Wild Black Creme, Seche Vite

Hope you like it, and please please stay safe where ever you are.

Hx

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NOTD - Molten Copper funky french

Hello :)

My (sometimes) lovely OH (sometimes) likes buying me little presents on his way home from work Quite often these are food-based as he works in Central London surrounded by lovely little delis and cake shops, but since I'm currently embarking on a weight loss program (don't like the 'd' word, too depressing - check out my weight loss blog link in the sidebar) he's trying to be more creative. He's not very good at it, bless him. Once, he bought me a lighter with a silly cat picture on it (I don't smoke, have an electric cooker and rarely use candles, and don't like silly cat pictures unless they're LOLcatz. LOLcatz don't count). Another time he bought me a pair of slippers, which he thought were monkeys (we have a monkey thing) - they were dogs, I don't wear slippers and they were £18 (most of my shoes don't cost £18) at Kings Cross station. Occasionally, he hits gold, but on this occasion, he hit copper...

Accessorize Molten Copper to be precise, which is an orange-gold glitter in a clear base. It has a consistency comparable to the Barry M glitters - opaque enough in a few coats but quite gritty when dry. And a pig to remove! For this reason I decided on an accent nail and funky french on the rest. The base colour I chose for the funky french fingers is Rimmel 60 Seconds 850 Hard Edged, which you can win a bottle of in my giveaway! It's a pretty maroon colour. I was hoping for duochrome but it's barely there on the nail. Still pretty though.

See, it teased me with duochrome...

...but didn't live up to it's promise. A few glitters escaped into the seche too.

I should wear more glitter. What's a shit-ton of polish remover, tin foil and cotton pads between friends?

Any other Accessorize polishes I should have? I only have two.

Hx

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NOTD - Lemon and Lime

Hi!

Today I have a Rimmel I <3 Lasting Finish Fruity scented polish to show you. The colour on this one is lovely, soft buttery yellow, a little streaky and uneven but three coats sorted it (come on, it is a yellow) and actually looked good against my skin. But oh my days the smell! DO NOT BUY this polish if you're only interested in the scented aspect. It smells less like lemons and more like rotten melon. Thankfully, it's a not a strong scent and with top coat I could only smell it if I really tried. I'm not sure how dupable it is (Barry M Lemon Ice Cream might be close) but it is unique in my stash otherwise the smell alone would make me get rid. And I never get rid of polish!

Anyway, this is three coats of Lemon Drop, plus some fimo slices and lots of Seche Vite.

I wore this for two days but by the middle of day two I was picking at the fimo. Think the other half got one in his dinner....

Anyway, what do you think of scented polish? Bit of fun or silly gimmick?

Hx

PS Click the link in the sidebar to enter my giveaway!

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NOTD - Cherries!

Hi! Just a quick post to show you the nails I created today for the facebook group Polish-aholics Anonymous, which I joined ages ago but never plucked up the courage to post anything or join in the chat! I don't know why, I'm so lame when it comes to things like that. Anyway, every Monday the members have the opportunity to do a themed mani, and this weeks theme was fruit. I had the idea for this manicure in my head for a while, so I thought I'd grab the bull by the horns and give it a try. So glad I did! The colours I used were Barry M Berry Ice Cream as the base, 17 Fast Finish Ruby Dazzle for the cherries (with a dotting tool) and Barry M Spring Green for the stalks (with an old eyeliner brush). Topped with Seche.

Really simple and I love it. I posted it in the group and got some lovely comments too :) My two index fingers (which both have bad splits) chipped really badly throughout today, and usually I would take the whole mani off and do something different, but I just took the polish off the chipped fingers and redid them, that's how much I love it!

One last thing before I go to bed, I've made it to 100 followers! I am absolutely amazed that people want to look at my carcrash nails and read my unfunny ramblings, so thank you! I want to get a couple more polishes to add, and then hopefully my giveaway will be up tomorrow evening, or Wednesday morning. Thank you again! And if you follow me and I haven't followed you back (I do try to, but blogger doesn't co-operate most of the time sometimes) then please email or tweet me your links, the details are in the "Contact" tab above.


Night loves, today has been a  good day for me, I hope it has been kind to you too :)


Hx

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NOTD - Nautical Nails!

Hello everyone!

Today I have more stamping to show you :) Don't worry, tomorrows post wont be another Bundle Monster manicure I promise! For this manicure I used Barry M Blueberry Icecream for the base, Miss Sporty Electric Beige for the stamping on thumb and ringfingers and sponged W7 Gold Dazzle and ELF Golden Goddess on the base of the accent nails and tips of the rest. Topped with Seche, that's a lot of polish! The image plates I used were BM08 for the anchor and BM 12 for the chain.

Left thumb

Left hand

Right thumb

Right hand

It's not perfect - I would have been better to use gold for the stamping, I made a mess of my cuticles (sorry Grace!) and there's glittah everywhere but I love it all the same. I wanted a paler background and bought Barry M Blue Moon today, so maybe I'll try it again someday :) It lasted 2 days with only minor tip wear, but I've changed it tonight none the less. S there'll be a new mani tomorrow mall haul post coming up over the weekend hopefully. 

Hx

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