NOTD - Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum, We're Nubbin' It

Hi loves,

So, while wearing the beautiful OPI Suzi and the Seven Düsseldorfs that I showed you yesterday I had a little accident. I was moving some tables at work and broke my middle fingernail on my left hand right down :( It was the first time in a long time that I've had a break that wasn't due to a peel, and the nail was pretty strong, it was just a silly accident. At least it showed my nails are getting stronger though, just need to get rid of the damn peels, which I suspect are bad at the moment because of my general health not anything I am doing wrong. So, we're back to super nubs again, and I didn't even manage to get the nail that I broke even because the break is too far down. The nails on my right hand are ok, and the big ridge on the middle finger where the nail came off has all but grown out, so you might see a bit more of righty for a while!

Anyway, I was feeling pretty fed up, and I didn't even bother removing my polish that night - I just trimmed all my nails down and left them. Then when I got home from work this morning, I had a lovely package waiting for me that cheered me right up, from one of my gorgeous birthday club ladies. She managed to grab me a sweet mini bottle of Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum the last time Dollface opened her shop. Thank you so much hun! Expecto Patronum is probably the only indie polish I have ever really lusted for - sure there are others on my wishlist but I'm quite happy to let them sit there. I had to have this one.

I used two coats of Expecto Patronum over one of OPI Alpine Snow, with a top coat of Poshe. I don't know if you could get it to opacity on it's own and I didn't want to try - I've only got a mini! I'm not wasting this baby! My teeny tiny nails look like spearmint polos! I know what I'm going to be buying later...

And say hello to righty. Cue slightly awkward hand pose...

Ah, isn't she beautiful? I have been spring cleaning (OK, I know it's nearly autumn, I'm either really late or super early...) this morning and it's already chipped quite badly on two fingers :( I'm going to have to be inventive and try to make it last another day though because I really don't want to take it off! I can't stop looking at my nails :)

Like I said, I don't have any other indies (apart from one Lynn, but she doesn't class herself as an indie, she's a higher being or deity or something. Anyway, do you have any recommendations for ones I should check out? Preferably one that ships to the UK for a reasonable rate and will leave me with enough money to feed my kids with* after a purchase...

Hx

*Just re-read this, and it sounds like I feed my kids money, and had an image of them chowing down on a bowl of 50p pieces for breakfast.. They don't, but I need money to buy food to feed them with. Just thought I should clarify...

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NOTD - Super Shiny Suzi

Hello!

I recently treated myself to the OPI Germany collection mini set, or Ger-mini's if you will. I'm developing a bit of a thing for OPI mini sets...I can see a fair few going on my Christmas list. Personally, I think I'll be lucky to get a satsuma and a bit of coal this Christmas but a girl can hope. Anyway, as soon as the set came I had to try out Suzi and the Seven Düsseldorfs, the purple from the collection, and blimey is it pretty. I have a lot of purples, so I don't tend to look at them much, thinking I'd usually have a dupe. But this is just that little bit different to the rest of my collection to make me want a full-sized bottle. And by god was it shiny! I don't think I have a shinier polish. And seeing as my collection is about to hit 500 polishes (hopefully tomorrow, I'm doing the nail-mail dance) that's saying something. If you like shiny purple polish, this is one for you. And if you don't like shiny purple polish, what are you doing here? Go back to whatever hole you came out of!

Here are the swatches. These pictures are 2 coats, no topcoat. NO TOPCOAT PEOPLE!

It's rare these days that I wear a polish plain, but these was too gorgeous to adulterate with anything other than pure love. I might like this polish a little bit...

Hx

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Adventures In Stamping - Poisonous or Toxic

Hello!

This week's Adventures in Stamping theme was Toxic or Poisonous - now, I know I have a fair few plates but compared to some in the group (I'm looking at you Sarahpedia) my images are quite limited. But I was surprised to find that I had quite a few different skull-like images, some toxic looking bubbles and some hypnotic patterns that done with the right colours could be classed as toxic. I went for this little skull image (although I think it's ended up kinda cute rather than toxic...) over a green and orange crackle combo. The green is Color Club Twiggie - yummy neon green and the crackle is La Femme Orange crackle, which is a really great crackle polish and super bright. I used a coat of poshe to smooth it out then stamped the image from SdP D18 with Konad special black polish. I had to fill in some of the fine lines with a fine nail art brush because it didn't transfer quite properly, but it didn't matter too much.

Cute or toxic? Bit of both? I couldn't quite bring myself to wear this one out, it was just a bit too garish for me...would you wear it out? I ordered a set of the OPI Ger-mini's and they came yesterday morning while I was wearing this, so that might have had a part to play in the lack of longevity this manicure had too...

Hx

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Best of British Weekly Round Up 9th September

I didn't manage to add my link to this in time this week, my poorly laptop decided it wasn't going to connect to the internet without being plugged in to the router instead of wireless and by the time I'd sorted it it was too late! But it doesn't mean all the other British lovelies haven't been busy! Have a peek, and if you're a British nail blogger and you want to join in  next week, click the image at the bottom. Happy browsing!

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Lou is back from her holiday and is showing off her new Chanel Nail Polish in a rare glimpse of the British Sunshine
Emma accidentally signed up to two nail challenges this month, so there will be lots of posts up on Imagination In Colour, including herAntique Nail Art post, amongst others!
Sam at Polished Art produced a special Teal Tuesdays manicure for Ovarian Cancer Awareness.
Lyndsay from Pie's Eyes went under cover this week with her Camouflage Manicure and liked it so much it stayed on most of the week with the addition of a matte topcoat.
Claire from nuthin' but a nail thing is all over the 30 Day Challenge and kicked off Day One with a Ladybird Manicure to cover off "RED".
Ruth relives school and tries to 'do the math' with her Blackboard-inspired nails this week!
It's been a busy week over at Polished Criminails, so let's take a look back at the last 7 days of the 30 Day Challenge!
Jo decided to take on the 30 Day Challenge this Month and is having tons of fun painting her nails a different colour every day!
September is Polycystic Overy Syndrome (PCOS) awareness month what better way to raise awareness than a manicure! And that is just one of the manicures on Enigmatic Rambles' blog this week!
Wendy from Wendy's Delights has made her own Water Decals for the September Polish Day themed Geometry
Charlotte from Charlottes-nails tried out some crayon nail art for the start of the Fall Into autumn Challenge.
Lucie from Lucy's Stash is experimenting with the 'ikat' pattern featuring Zoya Designer polishes! Check it out here!
Steph from Never Mind Suzie may be far away on her holidays so here's her holiday nails hope you're having a great holiday Steph
PrettyKittyClaws has had a blog makeover and did a Tape mani with the new KiKo holographics!
This week Nada turned 19 and to celebrate she did birthday nails!!! Enjoy this wonderfully simple manicure!
Laura at She Who Does Nails has been working on the 30 Day Challenge and particularly liked her piano nails!
The 31 Day Challenge started on The Crumpet this week, as did another awesome Giveaway featuring indie polishes
Kerrie's 300 follower giveaway over at PishPosh and Polish is still running and while you are there you should check out her Geometric Nail Art
Kerry does fimo for back to school with China Glaze Ruby Pumps!!
Sarah Louise creates some cheeky Bactiera Monsters , don't forget to enter her 2000 follower giveaway =D - Good Luck xox
Vic has done her first leopard print mani but it's orange, blue and gold. Leopard print nails are her new favourite but she's on a mission to never use the 'normal' colours.

Hx

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NOTD - A very important day...

Hello!

Today was a very important day in my household. We've been preparing for months, but I've still spent the last few weeks in a frenzy shopping for shoes, getting hair cuts, buying uniform and ironing name tapes into every thing down to the last sock. Yes, my eldest Oliver started "Big School" today! I had to do some nail art to mark the occasion and this is what I came up with - chalk board nails. Of course, they don't use chalk boards at school any more, in fact the first thing Ollie had to do when he got there this morning was use the electronic whiteboard to mark down whether he was having a packed lunch or a school dinner, but chalk board nails were much easier (and more catchy to say) than electronic white board nails...

I used one coat of Wet n Wild Black Creme to start, then sponged on some grey and white to make it look "dusty" and give it a bit of texture. Then I used a white striper to do the designs - deliberately choosing one that isn't quite opaque so it looks a bit "chalky". I topcoated with Poshe to seal in the design before adding a matte topcoat. Tada! Chalkboards :)

I even tried the right hand, it's a bit more wobbily! J.A and O.R.J are my boys initials - Jake Andrew and Oliver Reginald James (the middle names are family names - explains a lot...)

I was pleased with how they turned out, but spent my time in the playground this morning when dropping him off and this afternon when picking him up hiding my hands in case the other Mums thought I was silly...which I am...but they don't need to know that just yet!

And here is a pic of Ollie in all his finery this morning. He was so excited! but typically the only thing he would tell me when I picked him up was that he had mashed potato, red wibble wobble jelly, cucumber and chicken for lunch... I hope not all on the same plate!

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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Adventures in Stamping - Something you've learned from Adventures in Stamping

Hi guys,

So I haven't posted much this week. I'm feeling a little bit sad and truth be told I just haven't felt like it much :( I'll try and cheer up for you!

Anyway, this week's Adventures in Stamping challenge was to use some tips, skill, ideas or whatever that you've learned from the group. I decided to do a mani using lots of different images and colours to create a pattern based on a pretty shirt I got this week. Every week the pictures posted in the group inspire me to try and create an awesome mani using more than one image. Ok, so this wasn't awesome, but I guess I'll settle for cute! I started with a base of Stargazer 508, awful formula, pretty colour. Then I stamped some birds and dragonflies from HB34 using China Glaze Riveting, Barry M Lilac Foil, and Color Club Perfect Mol-ten, Foil Me Once and Lumin-icent. The birds turned out more like blobs, but you get the picture...

And the top I based it on, didn't realise you could see my bra through it quite so much...

So there it is! I love Adventures in Stamping, I know that if I'm  struggling for inspiration I can just trot on over and be inspired in a second, so thank you to all the awesome ladies (and guys!) for sharing your amazing talent!

Hx

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