NOPI - Selena Polka Dots & Bows

Today I'm sporting some polka dots and bows on my nails, a cute combo I can never resist. I used Nicole by OPI  - Selena from the Spring 2013 Selena Gomez collection as a base. It's a very pretty peachy pink, exactly the type of colour I'd go for. The only thing letting this polish down is the formula. I found it to be very streaky and I needed 3 coats to cover up patches, I don't know if that was just my bottle.

The bow is made up of black and silver loose pieces of hex glitter and for the polka dots I used Barry M Black and a doting tool.

Here are the other Selena Gomez collection polishes I received. More manis to follow:

 

Nicole by OPI polishes are now available at Superdrug stores nationwide and retail for £7.99.

For more information, visit nicolebyopi.com, follow on twitter @NicoleByOPI and become a Facebook fan.

 

piCture pOlish - Jade

Today I have another piCture pOlish beauty to show you. This colour is perfect for Summer and its fast becoming one of my favourite greens.

Jade is described as "a bright pastel turquoise shade with a pretty silver shimmer". It's a bit more on the green side than it is blue but it's a stunner nonetheless. The subtle shimmer in it makes a change from all those pastel cream shades of jade I already own.

For this mani, I paired Jade with some white polka dots because I love the combo it creates and added a Born Pretty Store white acrylic bow for extra cuteness.

piCture pOlish can be purchased directly from their website - picturepolish.com.au. They do international shipping. You can also purchase it at various etailers throughout the world. Check out their Network page for more info. You can keep updated on any piCture pOlish news via their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

Spring Swallow with Fake Nail Tattoos

Hi Everyone!

I know it's been a very long time since I've posted anything! Life happens and I won't bore you with the details. I still won't be able to post as regularly as I'd like but I really missed doing my nails and wanted to show you the mani I did with these nail decals/ tattoos sent to me by "Fake Tattoos".

Fake Tattoos is a Scandinavian company that specialises in temporary body and nail tattoos. The tattoos come in sheets of paper backed by plastic. They apply a lot like water decals other than they don't have to be dipped in water prior to applying. You just peel the plastic backing off, apply the image to the nail and press or carefully rub with a damp paper towel. The tattoo will transfer onto the nail and voila!

I created a mix and match mani using the swallow image. I used one of my favourite greens for spring - Essie Navigate Her as well as China Glaze Polarized on the ring finger to add a bit of sparkle. For the thumb, I opted for various sized polka dots in pink and white.

You can order Fake Tattoos directly from their website. They offer free worldwide shipping!

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

Jade +Teal = Mix + Match

Can you guess which blogger today's mani is inspired by? Of course you can! She has the most perfect nails and her designs are always fantastic and inspiring - it's Amy Grace from The Polished Perfectionist.

I didn't have all the polishes or the stamping plate that Amy Grace used so I chose the following products instead. By the way, how amazing is CG Atlantis? Can't believe this is the first time I'm wearing it!

pinky and thumb: Rimmel London Misty Jade
ring: Nails Inc Electric Teal, BM221, Konad Special Nail Polish in White
middle: one coat of Nails Inc Electric Teal, two coats of China Glaze Atlantis
index: OPI Alpine Snow, Rimmel London Misty Jade, dotting tool

Thanks for reading and commenting :)

Nude Polka Dots & Bows

So I posted this mani a few days ago on Instagram and although it's extremely simple and easy to do, I received quite a lot of positive feedback.

The base colour is Color Club Best Dressed List, a warm caramel toned nude. I've been wearing quite a lot of nude polish lately. I just love how elegant it looks. I stamped using Born Pretty plate m59 and white polish. If you would like to buy any Born Pretty products, you can use discount code VA7J61 for 10% off.

Sorry about my upside down watermark in that last picture. Just noticed I rotated it after watermarking! Lol!

Thanks for readings :)

Violet Pink Gradient Dots

I really enjoyed doing this gradient dot mani inspired by Sarah at Chalkboard nails. It's been on my "to do" list ever since I saw it last year but as usual, I've only just got around to it! It's such a simple mani but I really like the way the dots start fading from the violet into the white.

I used a violet pink Forever 21 polish (no name) which I got as part of a set of five polishes for $3. I had never used Forever 21 polishes before but for this price I couldn't help myself, plus all five colours were really pretty. The white is OPI Alpine Snow.

Boyish Chic Polka Dots & Bows

Today I have yet another review for you guys - Born Pretty m-59 stamping plate. I find this plate, consisting of cute bows, hearts and snow flakes very versatile, probably because it has some of my favourite images. It's round and the same size as regular Konad or Bundle Monster plates (unlike the m71 which is the only other Born Pretty plate I've tried).

As you'll probably know from my previous review, I have had good experiences with Born Pretty stamping plates although I have purposely chosen small picture plates as opposed to full nail plates to avoid problems with image size and full nail coverage, etc.

The images are well engraved and detailed, thus transfer with ease onto the nail. This plate retails for $2.99 and I would definitely recommend if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to Konad. To purchase this plate or any other items on the Born Pretty online store, you can use my discount code - VA7J61 - to get 7% off.

The base colour for this mani is OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam which I received in a swap. This grey toned muted periwinkle packed with silver glass fleck shimmer was my favourite colour from the Holland Collection. For some reason it looks much more grey'ish than blue on me so I shall have to use 3 coats next time.

I used the polka dot image on the plate and kept with the theme on the remaining nails too. To keep the mani quite soft and subdued, I chose a complementing silver polish - Barry M Silver Foil. I liked the final result of contrasting feminine and masculine qualities - bows and polka dots yet they look boyish and muted!

Polkadots & Bows

This week I tried acrylic paint for the first time. Well, I did try it once before a few months ago but it turned out to be such a disaster that I immediately removed that mani! I know a lot of girls find acrylic paint easy to work with and can do amazing things with them but I did have trouble with them to start with! After a few attempts on a nail wheel, I managed to draw these little bows and I am happy with how they turned out.

The dove grey polish on the accent nail is Essence Got A Secret and the other nails are OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender, a light violet pink from the Hong Kong Collection Spring 2010.

Chromatic Pastels

Back in November, I posted this mani called "Chromatic Neon Dots". A metallic foil base topped with colourful neon dots. Since then, I've received a lot of positive feedback on my IG feed for this mani so I decided to recreate it but this time with softer pastel dots.

I still prefer the way the neon dots look against the silver, they are obviously much brighter and stand out more but it's toned down cousin isn't so bad either.

I used Stargazer Chrome Silver #232 for the base and the dots are a mixture of pastel coloured polishes ranging from Jessica Samba Parade to Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, to Rimmel London Misty Jade.

(Haha, the reflection on the bottle...me in my house sweater! Lol!)

Thanks for reading and commenting :)

Retro Dots

Time for some polka dots! I just love everything about polka dot manis. They always look great and are extremely quick and simple to do with no major drying time between layers.

This is the last mani I did before I went on holiday, thus the reason my nails were still short. I haven't filed them right down in a while so they are quite long at the moment. I guess I'm giving the long nail look another go, until I break one, scratch myself or do something idiotic like that.

I went a bit crazy with the dots for this mani. I just started layering smaller dots over larger dots and when I finished, maybe because of the colours I used, it looked quite retro to me. I used Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream as my base colour and for the dots I used Color Club Best Dressed List and OPI Alpine Snow.

Here is what Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream looks like on it's own! It's such a gorgeous blue. In fact, I really like all the colours in the Barry M Ice Cream collection.

60's Red Polka Dot French

A nude and cherry red polka dot French. That's what I wanted to show you guys today! I thought it was very retro and 60's looking, hence the post title :)

Since I've been back, I've been so busy that my nails have been naked for a few days! I managed to finally paint my nails last night with a Speciallita polish I recently received in a swap and I will post that as soon as I've posted these last few manis I did before I went on holiday!

For this mani I used Nails Inc Elizabeth Street, a creamy nude shade with the slightest hint of rose. I use this polish very often as a base for funky Frenches! The tips and polka dots are Nails Inc Victoria, a dark cherry red which is much darker than what you can see in these pictures but as I just applied one coat over the tips, it looks lighter.

Thanks for reading and commenting :)

Sweet Cherries of Mine

Time for a little bit of nail art! I've got so much stuff to post for you guys and I wish I could post everyday but I'm so busy at the moment :( Good thing I have quite a few swatches and manis which I did over a weekend a couple of weeks ago, so I'll keep posting some of these until I run out!

I had been wanting to do a cherry manicure for ages as they are incredibly cute. However, my first attempt was so disastrous and disappointing that I had to remove it straight away! I drew cherries on all the nails and I just didn't like the look! It was a bit of an overload especially as I am really into more toned down and discreet (not too discreet) looks now!

That's when I came across a picture on Tumblr by a girl called Victoria. She did a cherry mani but only on her accent finger! I can work with that! I spent about an hour looking at all her designs! She is so talented and her stuff is seriously amazing, check out her page!

So, this is the second attempt. I like it much more! I'm even impressed that those cherries came out quite "cherry looking"! I'm so bad at freehand that I was half expecting them to come out looking like plums!

The red is Boots 17 Knockout Red and the white is OPI Alpine Snow!

Chromatic Neon Dots

Today I have something a little more colourful and lively to show you. Not that the weather calls for it but I've had it on my list of manis "to do" for a while so why not do it on a super dreary, rainy day?

I first saw this mani on Mad Manis and Deniz also did an amazing version. The silver makes the look quite robotic and futuristic but the neon polka dots add a little fun to it. I had a little trouble keeping all my dots in line as I miscalculated the space still left on the nail. Random dots are so much easier to do!

I used 2 coats of Stargazer chrome silver #232 and various neon/ bright coloured polishes for the dots.

Lebowski hasn't made an appearance on here in quite some time, here is a recent photo of him playing with his snake (wow...that actually sounds quite dirty!)



Polka Dots & Pearls

I didn't leave this lovely soft baby pink alone! Oh no! I had to go play around with other colours and bits & bobs!

Is this too girly? Baby pink, baby blue, and assorted pastel dots covered with pearls? Maybe it is but I love swaying from one extreme (very dark vampy hardcore colours) to another (pink, pastels, rhinestones and pearls), depending on my mood :-)

It's not the most "wearable" mani but I just added the pearls for the photo. It would still look really pretty with just the pastel polka dots.

Peachy Teddies!

Hi everyone! I was meant to post these earlier today but didn't really have the time. So, here is what I added to my peachy Stargazer mani from yesterday - some striping tape, some dots and some fimo teddy bears :)

I wouldn't really wear this mani for more than a few hours because the fimo can get really annoying, especially as I don't like to seal it with a top coat! It's super cute for a picture and that's mainly why I did it, but I got a few funny looks outside :/

What do you think? Would you wear an OTT mani like this outside?

And here is Lebowski's face when he saw this mani:

Pink Wednesday!!! - Hello Kitty

(This is a scheduled post, I am currently on holiday)
Although I do love Hello Kitty, and there are hundreds of different Hello Kitty nail art out there to inspire me, I've never actually the cute little kitten myself.

I'm not very good at drawing, when I was a kid I couldn't even colour inside the lines, Lol! So I wouldn't attempt anything too complicated, that's when I came across a design by Kayla Shevonne a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was really great. Click here to see her tutorial. I also originally saw a similar post by Rina which you can find here.

These looked amazing but still easy enough for me to give it a go. Kitty's eyes weren't dry enough when I applied a top coat of SV so it looks like she is crying a little..Lol

I used Ciate Cupcake Queen for the base colour and Jessica Samba Parade for the dots.

NOTD: Going Dotty over First Mate

I wasn't too sure what to add to this mani today because I didn't want to ruin such a lovely navy blue and I wasn't really in the mood for nautical type manis. That's when I remembered that a couple of week's ago I came across a very simple but great idea by Rebecca and then again a similar version by Deniz - check out their posts! I used GOSH Metallic Purple and MUA shade 13 for the larger dots :-)

And Rebecca was right, it's hard to come up with names for dotted manis so I went with "Going Dotty"...Lol!!

(Apologies for the picture sizes, my camera had different settings for each of the pics and I only noticed when I had taken all the pics!)

Pink Wednesday!!! - Polka Dots with a Kick & Color Club In Bloom!

For today's Pink Wednesday I am actually going to show you a mani I did a couple of weeks ago. My nails were still a little long back then and I had them filed in an oval shape - won't be doing that again anytime soon!!! I don't think it suits me at all, I'm more of a square gal! Lol!!

Anyway, onto the mani... I used Color Club In Bloom as the base colour, a true creme Barbie pink with the tiniest amount of shimmer, almost undetectable. Visible in the bottle and on the brush but doesn't translate to the nail!
I then taped off diagonal and "V" shaped sections of the nails and used Rimmel London 60 Seconds Black Out before using a dotting tool to create white larger dots and pink smaller dots. I got the inspiration for this mani from Love4Nails YouTube tutorial. Check it out, this lady is extremely talented and her nails are beautifully long. I wish I could keep mine like that but they would snap in a blink of an eye!

And here is how In Bloom looks like on its own: