Nail stickers FAIL

Before I really got into nail art I started buying bits and bobs off ebay. These are possibly the most awful stickers. They came in a strip of 20 and you cut them out and peel off the backing strip. Ugh. They're such a PITA to cut around, I really couldn't get much closer without chopping the bloody thing in half.

 I remember now why I've not used them since the first time! Maybe its just me :/ They were ok for last night though, but didn't last much longer than that (pretty much washed off while I was doing dishes this morning) This is them over Color Club's Antiquated.

See how ugh they are!

In other news, I've signed up to take part in the 3 Nail Challenge hosted by the lovely ladies over at Mateji. It starts on September 1st and will be my first ever challenge! There are lots of other talented bloggers involved too so be sure to check them out. I've got a great idea for the first theme!

Participants:

Mateji ustvarjata

Purple Glitters

Mimi's Vanity Box

Nailing Nail Art

All Stars Could Be Brighter

Moonchild

Taya (Starts later)

Beauty By Shortylegs

Deja (A bit differently)

Imagination In Colour

Krystalmer

Colourful Bottle

Nail Crazy

The Nail Buff

Beauty By Suzi

Gin Shivers

Ina - Hysteria of Decay

aydii* - Girl With Pink Lipstick*

Nails By Tinks

Red & Gold!

My OPI Muppet Collection keeps growing. This is the gorgeously rich red of Wocka Wocka. I kinda understand now why so many people rave about high end polish BUT I would only get them via ebay or cheaper outlets as that way I'd get more for my money.

I decided to tip my Wocka Wocka with Beauty UK's Gold Crackle. I kept it simple because I'm mesmerised by how shiny Wocka Wocka is!

Nubbies!

Apologies for the weekend's silence, my boyf and I seem to have been out more than at home this week!

I had a bit of a casualty with my thumb nail this morning so cleaned off my weekend polish (color club's foil me once) and trimmed down all my nails.

So now I'm scouting for some inspiration, and will be back later tonight with whst I come up with

Sugar Strand Mani

Since Jacki at Adventures In Acetone did her version of the sugar strand mani I couldn't wait to try it.

You need a fair bit of spare time for this one, and it is quite messy.

I started out with ELF nude as a base. On a plastic pocket I pooled some polish, I did two colours at a time. You need to let the polish get a bit tacky, so that when you dip a dotter in and lift it creates the strands which you then lay over the nail. I used ELF Mint Cream, Collection 2000 Hot Looks Parma Violet and Siren and NYC Lemon Cream and Orange.

I enjoyed doing this, it reminds me of being a child and splatting paint off a paintbrush.

Sparkle!

I appologise for my lack of ELF swatching, looking after my niece has meant no time for that so those post will be back next week.

This week for Thursday night nails I went for something easy. 3 coats of ELF Black, then added a top coat. When it was all dry I layered on my Hedy's Manishma Beyond Opal for a holographic touch.

I have 3 of the Hedy's holographics which I haven't used enough. I think they're great and such good value.

Thanks for dropping by, if you want to stat updated please hit that follow button.

What's Better than a sparkly red polish??

The answer is a sparkly red polish named after my favourite Muppet of course!!

Animal-istic is a gorgeous red shimmer by OPI. Regular readers will know that I'm a cheapskate Student so can't really afford top range polishes but this one I HAD to have. So to ebay I went, and got myself a bargain...well 3.

See I only paid £5.80 for Animal-istic and I found Pepe's Purple Passion for £2.94 and Wocka Wocka for £5.95.

The problem I now face is finding others from the collection at such bargain prices!

Makeup by ELF, Brightening Eye Colour quads

Hey guys! My first attempt at swatching my makeup. Tonight I'm bringing two of my eyeshadow quads, this is the product page of the ELF website.

One of my everyday colours is the ethereal pallette. Its swatched here on some card(the second of each colour is with primer) - I will get a better swatch soon. After doing the other swatch for tonight I managed to leave a HUGE red blotch down my arm from rubbing too hard with makeup wipes.

This is the silver lining pallet, I love the lilac shades.

So tomorrow I'll get the rest of my eyeshadows swatched ready for you.

Don't forget Olwyn's night owl discount, code HOOT30 will get you 30% off when you spend £20 or more.

A little something different -My ELF cosmetics collection

Hello lovely readers. I do hope you had a wonderful weekend.

I know my blog is usually all polish but after wearing the rhinestones all weekend my nails need a breather. So since praising eyeslipsface.co.uk in one of last weeks posts I decided to empty my make up bag and show you all the fab goodies I've bought from them.

W7 Sparkletinis - Press Release

The lovely PR for W7 sent me a nice email with these sparkly beauties! (It came as a .pdf so I just copied and pasted....such a techie ha!)

Shake n’ Stir Sparkletinis

Once again W7 has upped the style stakes with its new cocktail inspired range that promises to add dazzle and glitz to your nails in seven fruity new colours. The seven tantalizing shades –Strawberry Daiquiri, Purple Rain, Shirley Temple, Blue-Tini, Mojito, Fluffy Duck, Sunset Island – add a juicy pop to the fingertips and are the ultimate garnish to any look.

Strawberry Daiquiri

Strawberry Daiquiri – every good girl has a cheeky side – glaze on a couple of coats and let the mischief lead the way.

Purple Rain

Purple Rain – a deep cosmic lacquer that’ll stir up some trouble this vibrant shade is sure to make the heavens open.

Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple – this mouth watering and juicy rich shade will make any outfit explode with colour.

Blue-tini
Blue-Tini – shimmering like a tropical ocean this deep blue varnish is fit for the Queen of the seas.

Mojito

Mojito – for minty fresh nails so cool they transform any girl into a superstar.

Fluffy Duck

 Fluffy Duck – a sunshine yellow with flecks of gold, let your talons breathe fire with this scorching shade.

Sunset Island
Sunset Island – this vibrant orange will have your taste buds tingling and will add a zing to any look with a coat or two.

W7 Nail Varnish - £4.95

W7 is available within selected New Look & Peacocks and various online stores

I LOVE Purple Rain, I think it'll be absolutely lush, I think Fluffy Duck will also be on my wishlist!

Smashbox Cardiff Launch day photos

Today I had the privilege of attending the launch of Smashbox Cosmetics in Boots Cardiff. It was absolutely wonderful! The store was very busy when I got there at 2pm for my appointment with the lovely Smashbox Crew rushed off their feet. I took my perch and was treated to a full facial makeover. 

I'll let you in to a little secret readers,I'm 28 and I've never EVER been to a makeup counter to have my colours or makeup done. I've kinda just gone through life trying out different products and finding what works for me.

After my make over I had the opportunity to have photos taken by Steven Khan who has taken  photos of some of my favourite celebs (you can see his work here).  

My favourite product today was Photo Finish Hydrating Foundation Primer. It has made the makeup last a LOT longer than my usual foundation. I love the look and it's definitely something that I'm going to try to recreate at home. You can see my photo after the jump and the list of products used. I didn't pick anything up today but went home with lots of tips and a wishlist as long as my arm!

Smashbox Cosmetics is available from Boots stores, Boots.com and Smashbox.co.uk and the event is on until Sunday in Boots, St Davids Centre 

Purple rain baskets

Ahhh I adore this polish because of it's name!

Two coats of Collection 2000's Purple rain (on top of a base coat) gives a lush shimmer.

I've wanted to try the basket weave style for a while so using a white nail art pen I drew on the lines, shakely I might add!

My ring finger is nice and sparkly covered in purple rhinestones.

My pinkie needs a bit of rescuing since the top coat managed to smudge the side!!

I hope you've enjoyed these. I'm going to the Smashbox Cosmetics launch photoshoot day tomorrow so will report back over the weekend.

Beaded mermaid

Turns out the definitely not caviar manicure is a bit of a pain in the butt. I am undecided whether I like it or not, maybe it's because of the colour. The green is slightly off what I thought it was. The beads were part of some freebies I got from an ebay seller.  

Today's post is sponsered by the letter L and the number 9

I maybe 28 but I have little intention of being a grown up any time soon.  When I heard Elmo was going to be on British tv and radio this week I was beyond excited. So this weekend I bring you Sesame Street!

It wasn't easy. There are a lot of colours and some I mixed. I really need to get some nail art brushes since most of this was done with a dotting tool.

I started with 2true base coat, my pinkie Oscar the Grouch is made with a blend of Yashali Green and ELF white. ELF white and black make the eyes and ELF chocolate for his eyebrows. I used a black striper for all mouths.

Bert is on my ring finger. Made of an old NYC yellow (i114a) for his face, for his nose I mixed the yellow and an NYC orange (i112a). Eyes and mouth same as Oscar, the striper was also used for his brows and hair

Middle finger is Earnie's place. NYC orange, a black striper for his hair, eyes and mouth as before. For his nose I used the orange and added a touch of red.

Cookie Monster is on my pointer, NYC Water Street Blue. Eyes and mouth as before.

Elmo is my thumb. Collection 2000 Hot looks Red (the name has rubbed off the bottle).His nose is the same as Bert's and eyes and mouth are the same as all.

My right hand is a mix of all dots since my freehanding isnt as good with my left.

So there we have it. I love the idea of putting characters on my nails, and the half circles make it easier than a full nail I think. My task this week will be to make lists of who I want on my nails. Got a suggestion? Drop me a comment.

As always if you like what you see, please subscribe for more updates. Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Summer Neons

Regular readers will have learnt two things about me, the first is that I'm Welsh snd the second is that I go to the pub on Thursday. Tonight is no exception AND we've had a bit of sun today so I just had to go neon!

After a base coat I painted all my nails white with my trusty bottle of ELF White. If you have never shopped with ELF before I really recommend them. £2.50 for a bottle of polish is a steal because of how lush they are. Visit them here (This isn't a sponsored ad or anything I just love them, my make bag is 85% ELF products).

Ok so when you're white is dry it's neon time. The white really helps the colours pop. I love the gradient technique ever since I saw it over at The Nailasaurus. I do mine slightly differently though. Instead of mixing on foil/plastic I paint straight on to the make up sponge. Once there's enough on the sponge I just dab onto the nail, building up colour. Be prepared to get messy. Polish will get everywhere but it's nothing a cotton bud can't solve. I sometimes use a remover soaked cotton woll ball held in a clothes peg (I know, it sounds mad but it works! I read it on a stamping blog.) My neons are from Primark, I'm using Orange and Pink and also in the set was green and yellow.

Once you've achieved the desired intensity you'll notice the polish is s bit bumpy. That's solved with a top coat.

So there you have it. As always thanks for reading, if you want to keep updated hit that follow button. If you have sny hints or tips I'd love to read them!

Striping tape manicure

Well this is another look that I love... but that I just CAN'T master. This is the third attempt I've made since getting my tape and is the best so far.

After a base coat I used Fearne for Boots pale pink for the tips. 2 full nail coats and a third coat from about half way to the tip. The middle stripe is ELF Bubblegum. I used the side of the brush to go across the width of my nail. The 'cuticle' layer is Collection 2000 'Hot Looks' in Siren.

So with a tricolour nail I took my striping tape, magenta between Siren and Bubblegum and silver between Bubblegum and Pink. I use a small nail scissors to cut the tape, I always cut more than I need and place along the edge of the blended colours. Sometimes I use a tweezers to help control the tape too.

Top coat keeps it all in place.

So here it is, the lesser of the 3 striping evils. Like most things it is just going take practice and patience.

If you've any tips I'd love to hear them.

If you have enjoyed reading and would like to keep updated then you can subscribe using the button on the right.

Smashbox Cosmetics Cardiff Launch - Press Release

Ladies, something a little different from me today, but something I hope you'll be interested in. 

I LOVE make up, almost as much as I love nail polish. and was excited to hear that Smashbox Cosmetics would be joining the stands at Boots, and even better they're going to have a stand in Cardiff. To celebrate their new stand the company are having a launch event that you can read more about after the jump. 

Sparkly flowers

Tonight I'm going out (there's a surprise) so I wanted to wear something fresh looking.

After a base coat I did two coats of 2true shade 11, it's a nude but it's a darker nude than my ELF nude which would have been better.

Once dry I used a makeup sponge to sponge on NYC's Water Street Blue to my tips. I love this colour.

Once dry I added a coat of ELF Twinkle which is a clear polish with tiny glitter. To make the flowers I used a dotting tool. Creating 5 spots with a medium dotter and then a tiny dottter to pull the dots to the center. I then used the medium dotter to add in some dots up the side of the flower. A top coat finishes off the design.

So there we have it, much better than last nights fail.

Monarch f(n)ail art

This is another style that I've been putting to one side because it terrified me.

So after a base coat I used 3 coats of Wet n Wild Xplode E74409, an orange polish with a subtle gold shimmer. Once dry I added a coat of  Stargazer polish, it's an orange  polish with gold glitter. The orange is very light so doesn't alter the other polish but adds in the glitter. 

Once dried I diagonally painted a black tip using ELF black. Then I used my black striper to add a curve at the cuticle and the lines to join to the tip. Then I added a curved edge.

Once the black was completely dry I used a dotting tool to add the white spots using ELF white. Then once they were dry I added a topcoat.

Well. It's ok. I think the black is too far up my nail and my lines really need better definition.  BUT I tried and with practice I'll get it.

Blossom Nails

I am often in awe of what the wonderful ladies of the nail polish blog universe can turn their hands too. I sometimes struggle with translating the final images into steps in my head. 

That's when I head to youtube.

This morning in a quest for inspiration I headed over to youtube and pulled up a nail art search. I stumbled across CutePolish's tut for cherry blossom nails and fell in love with the design. So I gave it a go!

While mine are no where near as proffesional looking, for a first attempt I'm happy..well aside for the smudges from my black striper after adding top coat.

For this look I used Yashali Mint, ELF Fluro Pink and Bubblegum pink, a black striper pen and base and top coat. To make the blossoms I used a medium sized dotting tool.

I am determined to work on my freehanding. I think I'm still a little heavy handed at the moment but I'm sure I'll get it right soon.