Tara's Talons! Get Nailed UK Indie style!

Hello!

Today I have some swatches from a UK indie brand, Tara's Talons. Tara launched her brand at the start of the year, and since then has gone from strength to strength selling her pretties! Today I have two polishes from the Underwater Wonder World collection to show you, Where the Mermaid Roam and Neptune.

Tara describes Where the Mermaid Roam as a limited edition hand made matte blue polish, and I think it is very appropriately named! It's such a pretty, shimmery ocean blue that would make a great base for some water-themed nail art or stamping! I would describe it as a satin finish - semi-matte without topcoat, but looks gorgeous glossy too. It is sheer - for the swatches I used 2 coats over Models Own Feeling Blue on all fingers except my pinkie, which is 4 coats on it's own. Saying that, in this instance, sheer doesn't mean streaky, and the application was smooth and easy.

And I just had to take a couple of pics with flash to show you the shimmer (damn you British gloom!)

Next up, Neptune. Tara describes this as limited edition hand made matte grey polish with glitters in gold, green, bronze and blue. Again, this one has a semi-matte finish, but I would recommend a good topcoat otherwise, as with all glitters of this type, it can be a bit bumpy. Don't let it put you off though, as the shimmery, metallic base looks just stunning and has such depth when it's glossy. I used two coats here, but if you were careful you could use one and easily get away with it ;)

All of Tara's polishes come in 5ml or 10ml bottles - and look at the cute packaging!

Mini (5ml) polishes cost £3.50 and the 10ml £6.50 and can be purchased on Tara's Talons Etsy store or at www.tarastalons.co.uk and Tara has been super lovely and given you lovely readers 10% off with the code SAVE10 at either store. She also has some nail art and pampering goodies available! What are you waiting for!

Hx

The product featured was a PR sample provided to me for free for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own and 100% honest. Please see my disclaimer in the tab above for further details.

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Winter is here...

Brrr!

So, the clocks have fallen back, we've had our first snowfall (just a few flurries, but it totally counts!) and it seems winter really is here. Which is a good thing really as that was the theme for adventures in stamping this week! I got a bit adventurous with some layering and a glitter accent. I used a base of Sally Hansen Eel Skin, a lovely mid-grey creme and then topped my accent ring and thumb with Dollish Polish You'll Shoot Yer Eye Out, Kid. There's a bit of a story behind this one, I don't think it's meant to have the gold stars in. At least all the swatches I've seen haven't had gold stars in but I bought it (very cheaply) from a lady who'd had an accident with the original bottle and had decanted it. I'll ask her one day but for now, I have gold stars. I did have to fish for the snowflake glitters, which was a bit of a pita, but it's totally worth it. So pretty! I then stamped this wintery foresty tree-y scene from Bundle Monster 407 in Konad White, and sandwiched it under a thin layer of Models Own Indian Ocean for the pretty shimmer. In LOVE with the fairytale-like result!

Ready, Steady, Pic Spam!

With flash. Dat shimmer!

Now, I'm facing a bit of a dilemma. I broke a corner off my thumb nail a few days ago, and rather than filing it all down I shaped it into an almond and kinda fell in love with it! But now, do I do the rest of them, or do I let this grow out and file it back to square? My nails are long enough to have short almonds now, and I've wanted to try them for a while but I know it makes the nails weaker and I'm not ready to lose the little bit of length I've managed to get for the first time ever. So, what would you do? I asked on Instagram yesterday and the majority or people said go for it... Maybe I will after I've finished the 33 day challenge - I've been working ahead and only have 3 more to do so we'll see how the thumb fares in the meantime!

Are you a fan of winter? I love my fairytale winter nails, just not so keen on the cold!

Hx

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Sunday Stamping - over an orange base

Hello!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but it's the Easter holidays so I have two little devils home from school! I'll try to get a couple in this week, promise!

The theme for this weeks Adventures in Stamping challenge was over an orange base, which leaves it pretty wide open for what you want to do, right? Wrong. No inspiration. So I sat and looked through my new Cheeky plates and just found an image I wanted to use, and plunked it over Sinful Colors Cloud 9 (Sinful Colors are now available at Boots UK peeps! Go go go!). I stamped with Color Club Revvvolution and GA28. The shimmer in Cloud 9 is so pretty, although I don't think it suits my skintone :( Maybe it's too cool toned, I prefer coral-y toned oranges. And as for the fruit, I'm allergic. Anyway...

I'm not even sure what this image is...random and pretty!

Hx

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NOTD – What a difference a Konad Special White Polish makes...

Good morning!

Since I haven't blogged in a while, I have lots and lots of manis to show you that I've worn over the last month or so. I've written about half of them in draft and will schedule them in, with a few new mani's sandwiched inbetween - so you might see my nails go from claws to nubs and back again a few times!

I treated myself to a Konad Special White polish a while ago now, because I was sick of thinking of a great idea for a stamping mani only then having to scrap it because of not having a white polish that stamped properly. I was always a bit reluctant to buy Konad polish, since you can't use it like normal polish, only for stamping, but I can now say it is so worth it. The white especially, and I will be ordering a black soon. The difference, even between this and what I considered a good-for-stamping regular polish is incredible – opacity, dry time, how well it picked up on the stamper. Yep, I'm a convert. I now want a red and blue konad polish too, and that's just for starters...

Anyway, you know I said I wanted it because I was sick of thinking of a great idea for a stamping mani only then having to scrap it because of not having a white polish that stamped properly? Do you think I could come up with an idea for a mani once this arrived? Law. Of. Sod. But I eventually went for this – Finger Paints Grape Gumball (which I won in a giveaway, thank you Ashley!) with a floral design stamped in white. Grape Gumball is super pretty, it has all these teeny flecks of iridescence in it that are just lovely.

The stamping was so good I got asked twice if they were nail wraps. Pretty chuffed :)

So, seriously, if you can never find a white polish that stamps well just splash out on the Konad. I got mine for £5 for 11ml plus a couple of quid postage on ebay, so really it ended up cheaper than all the other white polishes I've bought and tried for stamping...lesson learned.

Hx

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NOTD - Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom + Stamping

Two posts in one day? You lucky buggers!

Ahem, anyway. Here I'm showing you my current manicure. Shamefully I lusted after Beauty UK Glam Nails Frozen Kingdom for weeks before I got my paws on it, and it's been sat in my untrieds ever since. Bad Helly. And I really don't know why I waited so long to use it. It's a lovely off-white with gold shimmer and an occasional hint of pink. Sounds a bit old-lady-ish but it really isn't. It was a bit of a pain to apply, but it's white so I'll let it off. 3 coats and it was even enough to not notice any booboos (mostly from my sloppyness) with a bit of stamping. I chose this full-nail leaf-vein pattern from BM something or other and Miss Sporty New Black - dark grey with a little shimmer.

Pretty!

The OH was out when I did this, and when he came home he said he thought they were nail wraps because the stamping looked "too crisp and perfect"! I don't think it looks perfect at all, but I'll take whatever compliments I can get!

I really like this stamp, and it was easy to use. It didn't take me long to do this mani at all, which is a relief as I have had a few stamping fails lately.

What do you think? What's your favorite stamp image?

Hx

PS giveaway is still open! There's a bottle of Beauty UK polish up for grabs, so click the link in the sidebar!

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Cold, shiny, hard plastic...

Happy Pink Wednesday everyone, I don't think Ill ever get bored of trawling through Mean Girls quotes to find titles for my Wednesday posts :)

Just a quick post today because I'm in a foul mood and I don't want to neg everyone out, so less talk more pictures.

I used 2 coats of Stargazer number 508 (I hate it when brands don't name their polishes) which was a pig to apply and after 2 coats I quite frankly had enough, even though it needed more. It's a pretty colour though, sort of a milky-cream-pale yellow with shimmer. Are all Stargazer polishes like this? I'm hoping not. Then I crackled it with MUA's Nail Quake in Shock Waves and topped with Seche.

Then this morning I added a coat of Collection 2000 Nail Care Shimmer Top Coat, which I'd hoped was a dupe for China Glaze White Cap. I think with maybe a few more coats it might be comparable, but I liked it at one coat so left it at that.



Hope you like it! I've made it through 2 days with very little chipping and a teeny bit of tip wear which is a miracle for me. Even so I'm in need of some nail therapy so will probably change my nails tonight. Hopefully I'll be in a better mood tomorrow too...

Hx

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