31 Day Challenge - Day 25 Inspired by fashion

I went for something simple for today (again teehee) and recreated a trend that I was into this summer on my nails: colour blocking. Basically you combine bright blocks of colour, and I chose orange and purple for this look, painting one coat of Nails Inc Candy Orange before taping off halfway dow the nail and using Barry M Bright Purple for the tip end of the nails. I apologise for the picture, I wore this for a day and a half (including for putting up my Christmas tree which wrecks my nails and cuticles) before I remembered to take a pic just before I took it off.

Short and sweet today :) Tomorrow is inspired by a pattern, so I'll be trying out the new Barry M Lilac foil for stamping.

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - Day Inspired by a book

I could not for the life of me decide what to do for this challenge. First off I thought of doing Mr Men nails, but I think I've had enough fails during this challenge and that was sure to be one. Then I thought of Where's Wally (Waldo in the states I think) and just doing red and white stripes, but to make them even I'd have to use tape and I've run out having wrapped 11tybillion Christmas presents for my sons pre-school. Then I went and stared at the boys bookshelf for 30 minutes (in the dark since they were in bed) and still came up with nothing. Then I found this little guy and knew what I had to do...

Blurry pic is blurry, soz!

I used Barry M Spring Green, Me Me Me Impulsive, Rimmel Cranberry Zest and my gold Essence striper. How cute is he! I almost don't want to take him off :(

Inspired by fashion nails coming tomorrow :)

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - day 23 inspired by a movie

Hello! I decided to have a little fun with this manicure and based it on Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - the original 1971 version. I used No 7 Cheeky Chops (which is much more pink than my pictures show) as the base on all my nails apart from the thumb, stamped candy canes on my little finger, lollipops on my middle finger and sweeties on the index. On the thumb I created a golden ticket using Barry M Gold Foil and a chocolate brown from Primark, and then coated my ring finger nail in hundreds and thousands! I wore this all day yesterday and was out Christmas shopping and I got a few strange looks! And my 16 month old son kept trying to eat the sprinkles...

The hundreds and thousands didn't annoy me as much as I thought they would, but I still picked them off while I was out running last night! I stuck stuck them into my topcoat and pressed them in, before using two thick coats of seche to seal them in.

Tomorrow is inspired by a book day, and I had such a hard time coming up with something. But, the idea I settled on came out really good, and is super cute! I'm really happy with them, so see you tomorrow!

The end is in sight...

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - Day 22 inspired by a song

The song I chose was Set Fire to the Rain by Adele. I kinda wish I went with my other song choice now, but maybe I'll save it for another day!  I ysed one coat of Essence Multi Dimension Must Have (I was curious about Essence polish so picked this up on Ebay and it's great! Will search out more) on all fingers except my ring and thumb. Then I used my silver holo polish, M & S Rainbow to paint on raindrops. On the ring finger and thumb I painted a base of Barry M Gold Foil before sponging Maybelline Orange Couture, a Beauty Uk red from a box set and Nails Inc Tate to make flames. I topped that with Nubar 2010 and then stamped with the Barry M Gold Foil (brilliant for stamping :) ) the feathery pattern I used for my peacock nails, because I thought they could pass for flames too ;)

Oooh oh oh ooh oh, your rain is on fire....oh wrong song...

Holo raindrops :D

Before I ruined it with the stamping lol

I can't wait to sho you my inspired by a movie nails :)

Hx

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31 Day Challenge - Day 21 Inspired by a colour

Earworm alert!

Since I had a few gold polishes that I hadn't tried yet (namely the Nails Inc Metallic) I decided to be inspired by gold for this challenge, and do a skittles mani of different gold polishes. On my little finger I used I coat of Barry M Gold Foil Effects (yes I caved and got it, not tried it for stamping yet but I may do tonight for the inspired by a song challenge so will keep you updated!) THe on my ring finger is 2 coats of Collection 2000 Hot Looks Parma Violet topped with 2 or 3 coats of ELF Golden Goddess. Middle Finger is Nails Inc Magnetic in Big Ben. Index is Parma Violets again with Beauty UK Disco Nights (gold shatter) and thumb is Barry M Gold Foil with 3 coats of W7 Gold Dazzle.

I really like this, it was easy to do and is quite eye catching. Although more often than not when people notice my nails they don't say anything - so not sure if that's a good thing!

Just wanted to say a few things about the Barry M gold foil. I wasn't sure on getting this as I've seen pics of it on other blogs where it looks streaky and uneven and just plain awful. Now I know my nails aren't the best, far from it in fact, but I found it easy to apply, not streaky or brushstrokey and it does look foil-y. This was one careful coat. Admittedly on my thumbs where I have a little bit of splitting it didn't look quite as perfect, but still pretty decent. So if like me you've been put off by bad swatches then don't let it deter you too much. And if you spend £6 on Barry M in Superdrug at the moment you get the new Lilac Foil Effects polish for free. I didn't spot the croc effects polish yet though...

What do you think of my Goldfingers? Another earworm? Oh, go on then...

Hx

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Day 20 - the one where Helly doesn't fail at watermarbling...

Whoop I didn't fail! I actually LOVE these nails and I'm actually gutted I have to take them off :( But now I know how to do it I can always do it again. I used 3 china glaze polishes, Peace on Earth, Jolly Holly and Ruby Pumps and I think it looks really festive. I might recreate this for Christmas day, although Christmas eve I'll be staying in a hotel room so it might have to be earlier. Sorry about the messy cuticles, I couldn't find my clean up brush anywhere, and I stupidly dipped the first two fingers without taping them up. I was just too excited! Haha.

Things I learned:

1. Use tape. Seriously.
2. Find clean up brush BEFORE you start
3. Don't accidentally drink the water you used...I'm not kidding...
4. Take better pictures

So, it's a mess but I love it! This was the last of the "patterns" section of the challenge, so tonight I start on the "inspired by" part with inspired by a colour. What to chose!

Hx

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31 Day Challenge Day 19 - Galaxies

I wasn't looking forward to today's challenge. I've seen galaxy nails on lots of blogs and it's never really tickled my pickle, and that's the way I feel about it on my nails. I loosely followed this tutorial. For the base I used 1 coat of Beauty Uk Black, and one coat of Accessorize Aztec (Orly Space Cadet dupe, so I thought it was fitting!) THen for the colours I used a pale green and blue from the Beauty Uk Urban Girl set, Rimmel I <3 Lasting Finish Purple Pulse and Lemon Drop, and a Beauty Uk white for the sponging. Then added some dots in white for stars and sponged Collection 2000 Sparkle Top Coat randomly on top. Seche to smooth it out. Including base and top coat that's 10 polishes! I don't think they look much like galaxies, but take a look:

The lesser spotted right hand...

What do you think? Galactical enough? It's watermarble day tomorrow, and you know what that means? FAIL TIME!

Hx

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