Inspired By Underwear...

Hello lovelies!

Today's mani is inspired by one of my favourite underwear sets. Hey, we can't help what inspires us, right?! This little set is made by Freya and it is just so pretty - I love the mix of colours and thought they would translate nicely onto my nails! .You can buy the set here.

I had a good flick through my swatch book to find colours that matched as closely as possible, which I think I succeeded in! For this design I used Ciate 'Mojito', Barry M 'Dragon Fruit', Nicole by OPI 'I Can Teal You Like Me', and China Glaze 'I Sea The Point'. I was worried that the pink and lime green polishes would struggle to cover the dark blue base, but luckily they are pigment heavy polishes so I didn't have any troubles! I topped it off with my all time favourite topcoat HK Girl by Glisten & Glow.

L-R: I Can Teal You Like Me / Mojito / Dragon Fruit / I Sea The Point

I'm not too happy with the brush strokes on this, especially on my ring finger, but it's all practice! If anyone has any advice on brush techniques please do pass it on to me - I'd be very grateful!

Inspired by my pants! :)

Overall I'm pretty pleased with these ones, even though it's a little on the messy side, I love the colours and the fact that I can match my underwear to my nails makes me happy!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Pond Manicure using OPI Sheer Tints

Hello my lovelies!

Today I have a pond mani for you all! A pond mani is essentially a jelly sandwich (a layer of glitter between two layers of sheer polish), only instead of using glitter you create a simple design using polish - for example dots, flowers, hearts, etc.  Adventures In Acetone has a great description and tutorial that you can find here if you're looking to create your own pond manicure. I have seen some lovely pond mani designs using various sheer polishes, however since my collection is somewhat lacking in the sheer jelly department, I chose to use my OPI Sheer Tints.

OPI Sheer Tints
L-R: I'm Never I’m Never Amberrassed / Be Magentale With Me /
I Can Teal You Like Me / Don't Violet Me Down

I haven't properly explored the possibilities of OPI Sheer Tints, which is a shame because they are so versatile. The tints come in four different colours, but the beauty of these is that they can be layered to create many more colours and effects. When I first got my hands on the collection I layered them over a plain white base and blended the colours on my accent finger to create the effect below. The tints can be layered as many times as you wish in order to reach the opacity/colour that you're after. The downside to this, however, is that more layers = more bulge on the nailbed, and it can be difficult with regards to drying time. The consistency is also very gloopy (almost syrup-like), so I find that applying a few thinner layers works much better than one or two thick layers.

OPI Sheer Tints (please ignore all bad things about this photo!)

For this manicure I built up the colour of the tints without any base, which gives them more of a jelly appearance. Between each layer I stamped flowers randomly using the image from the circled area on the below stamping plate made by Essence, a brand that can be found in most Wilkinson stores in the UK (and online). These stamping plates retail for around £1.50, which is pretty good value! Obviously the quality isn't as good as other brands such as Konad or MoYou, but you get what you pay for!

Essence Stampy Designs - found here.
Can also be bought at Wilko in the UK!

Here is the finished look:

Stamped Pond Manicure

I started by stamping onto bare nails, then applied a layer of tint. After it had completely dried, I stamped again, then another layer of tint (etc., etc.) After four layers of tints I added one final stamp on each nail to make the pattern pop. Finally, I finished it off with a coat of Barry M's Plumpy Topcoat, which makes it super shiny and, well, plumpy!

Step One - one stamped image plus one layer of tint per nail

Step two - repeat as many times as you like!

Here are the bottles of tints as a comparison:

Index finger - "Don't Violet Me Down" / Middle finger - "I'm So Ambarresed" /
Ring finger - "I Can Teal You Like Me" / Pinkie finger - "Be Magentale With Me"

Macro shot of ring finger

It almost looks 3D - so much depth!

Pond manis have a subtleness about them that I love

What do you think of this look? 

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Monochrome Glam! - Black and White Nail Art Design

Hello polished lovelies!

Today I have created something that I've never tried before - a monochrome mani. I've always been reluctant to try a simple black and white colour scheme for fear of messing it up - those crisp lines and sleek designs are so intimidating!. A monochrome manicure is the height of sophistication, glamour and chic - three words which certainly do not apply to me! But I've always loved the look, so here it is:

The finished product!

My palette for this one was simple: Rimmel 'Black Out', Barry M 'Matt White', Ciate 'Amazing Gracie' and Barry M matte topcoat.

L-R: Barry M Matte Topcoat / Rimmel Black Out / Barry M Matt White /
Ciate Amazing Gracie / Essence Black Stampy Polish /
MoYou Stamper

Ciate Amazing Gracie - available here for £9

I clearly haven't taken advantage of the Ciate Mini Manor advent calendar that I got in January as I had no idea how gorgeous 'Amazing Gracie' is! It's a barely-there nude with a sheer finish. You can hardly even notice it on the nail under stamping, but it is perfect for laying down before working on your 'negative space' as it is so natural looking. I applied two coats to this mani. I love it! 







I wanted to incorporate negative spacing and stamping into this, as it adds a feeling of delicacy to the look, don't you think? The stamping design is from Cheeky Jumbo Plate 10 'Happy Nails' and is wonderfully intricate. For a matte manicure, always remember to add your favourite non-smudging topcoat first to protect the design - something that I didn't do here. My design was so neat until I added the dreaded matte topcoat which instantly smudged black into white, so frustrating!

Cheeky Stamping Plate #10 - Happy Nails is available here

Monochrome Glam!

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. I don't know if the matte finish really works in this (Mr Polished seems to think it doesn't), but I think everything is better mattified! I'm not sure I can pull off the monochrome look (certainly not for every day wear anyway) but I am really enjoying creating my own designs, finding my own style and understanding what works for me.

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Pastels and Neon Confetti

Today I have a lovely fresh mani to celebrate spring! I've incorporated some gorgeous pastel shades with funky neon accents to give this look a real 'pop'. Pastel shades aren't something that I wear often, although I don't know why - they are truly lovely for this time of year; the sun is starting to shine, the weather is getting warmer, the nights are getting lighter and the baby birds are starting to sing! I love spring, and I'm definitely going to be featuring some pretty nail art in the coming weeks to show my appreciation!

In this mani I used a variety of pastel shades (including a couple of untrieds). Polishes used are: Barry M 'Kiss Me Quick', 'Prickly Pear', 'Sky Blue' and 'Matt White', Nails Inc 'Marylbone Road', and Claire's 'Surfer Chick'.

L-R: Barry M Prickly Pear / Barry M Matt White / Nails Inc Marylebone Road /
 Barry M Kiss Me Quick / Barry M Sky Blue

 Obviously we all know that Barry M products are lovely, and I find that Prickly Pear, Matt White and Sky Blue all have a great consistency - they are opaque in two coats and leave a smooth finish. I'm still getting used to their 'Speedy' collection, and if I'm honest I don't think that Kiss Me Quick is that quick at drying. Maybe I'm just a bit too impatient as I totally rely on the likes of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry, Seche Vite and HK Girl to keep me sane! I think this collection might be giving a slight false sense of security to ladies who think they can go to the loo a little too soon after they polish their nails, but maybe that's just me! What I do love is the colour and the brush of this polish. Barry M always succeed in their pink polishes, and this soft pastel shade is no exception. Another amazing feature of the Barry M Speedy range is the new flat brush which makes application a breeze! 

L-R: Prickly Pear / Matt White / Marylebone Road /
 Kiss Me Quick / Sky Blue

Two coats of each shade. No topcoat.

Barry M's Speedy collection is available in Boots and Superdrug (£3.99)

I loved the cute polishes on their own, but I felt compelled to add one of my new hex glitter topcoats into the mix. Introducing: Claire's 'Surfer Chick'! I spotted this in Claire's Accessories a while ago and thought that it looked interesting, so the other day I decided to go ahead and buy it. No matter how long I put off buying polish, I always seem to convince myself that I need more!

LOOK AT THE PRETTY!

This polish contains different sized neon matte glitter hex shapes in blue, pink, yellow and purple. As with most large glitter toppers, the application isn't the best and does require some strategic placement to get the desired effect. I found that brushing the polish onto a paper towel and then picking up the glitter (minus most of the clear base) was a good way to evenly distribute the hexes.

L-R: Claire's Surfer Chick / Barry M Plumpy Topcoat

 Another addition to my topcoat family is the new Barry M 'Plumpy' topcoat, which has been released to compliment their 'Gelly Hi-Shine'. This topcoat promises to give nails the 'plumped up gel finish they deserve', however it does need more than one coat to achieve this look. As it is not fast-drying, Plumpy is a topcoat for patient people (of which I am not!) I do LOVE the name, though!

Surfing into Spring!

As you can see, the glitters kind of clumped in the middle of my nail, however this is just a polish that takes a little practice to get used to. I definitely think that this will be a staple topper of mine for the spring/summer months as it is just so girly and bright! I may have to browse the Claire's polish stands a little more, as I'm impressed with my first purchase!

What do you think? Have you got any polishes from Claire's? 

I'd love to hear your thoughts =)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Pink, Black and Gold

It's a day for blog-writing it would seem! I'm on a roll today, so please bear with me while I upload all of the posts I've been working on over the past couple of weeks.

I've always loved pink - anyone who knows me will understand that if a product is available in pink, then that's the one I will buy. My nail polish collection is largely dominated by pinky tones - glitters, gels, cremes, neons, sheers - I have them all in pink. But alongside loving pink, I also like to be a bit edgy. I'm not a super-girly type of girl; I don't spend hours doing my hair (it's lucky if I even brush it...), I very rarely wear make-up, and I can't remember the last time I wore a pair of heels. So I like my manicures to represent my personality as well as how much I love the colour pink. Therefore I bring to you *this mani*, which I put together (quickly, as you can see from the clean-up job...) a couple of weeks ago.

I wanted to incorporate a shiny black polish with gold stud accents to contrast with the neon pink polish that I chose to use. This is completely my own design, which isn't something that I'm used to doing! I find a lot of my inspiration on Instagram, and love recreating other ladies work to practice my skills. My next step is to create more individual and original designs, but this was a first for me.

L-R: Ciate Ladylike Luxe / Models Own Dinky Pinky / Models Own gold glitter / Barry M Black /
Studs from Boots

For this mani I used my favourite neon pink by Models Own 'Dinky Pinky', Ciate 'Ladylike Luxe' for the gold, topped with Models Own gold glitter, and Barry M 'Black'. I find that Barry M 'Black' tends to be somewhat dull without a super shiny topcoat, so I chose to use Glisten&Glow's HK Girl Fast Drying Topcoat, as it always leaves such a jelly-licious plumped up coating! The studs were bought from Boots. 

Ugh, my clean-up around the middle finger is terrible!!

LOVE these colours together!

I just want to give a quick overview of a couple of the polishes in this mani:

Models Own Dinky Pinky is a fabulous neaon, it's not so 'in-your-face' that it's unwearable, but it certainly does pop! I find the consistency to be perfect and it glides to an opaque coverage in two thin coats. Although it doesn't exactly compliment my skin-tone, that's fine by me because pink!

Ciate Ladylike Luxe is a polish from their 2014 'Mini Manor' advent calendar. When I first tried it out I really wasn't that impressed, however I have found it great when used as a base for glitter and for adding detail over black (as seen in the picture below). The golds in this mani are somewhat muted and dull, but it tones down the brightness of the pink which is definitely needed.

Please ignore the off-centre pinky stud placement!

I absolutely loved wearing this mani. Every girl needs a bit of bling in their life, right?!

Thanks for reading!
Helen x

Ikat Design

An Idiot's Guide To Nail Art, by Emily Draher

Hello polished lovelies! 

It's been so long since I posted anything that I'm starting to actually feel guilty for not writing about all of my latest manis! I really wanted to write this blog as an online diary of my journey through the land of all things nail related - more for myself than anything else, although I will be overjoyed if I start to get regular readers. If you're out there reading this, then thank you so much!

I recently got my hands on Emily Draher's (AKA @The Lacquerologist's book – An Idiot’s Guides To Nail Art, which I just realised I have never actually written a blog post about. I’m going to sum it up here – you need this book in your life! Emily has presented her designs in such an accessible way, the pictorials are clear, concise and consistent, and the range of nail art is fantastic. From a simple French manicure (with a modern twist) up to water marbling and freehand nail art, this book honestly has it all. I’m currently using it as my ‘go-to’ for techniques that I haven’t yet tried/need to practice at. It also has wonderful sections on the biology behind nails, nail and hand care, nail art products and tools, and an invaluable list of online retailers, blogs, websites and sources to find further information. You can buy this book now here on Amazon for £11. 

Now, onto the mani! The front cover of An Idiot’s Guide To Nail Art is a fresh looking Ikat design, using a cool green polish. I knew as soon as I saw this book advertised online that I wanted to buy it and instantly recreate the iconic Ikat design that has become so popular in nail art and fashion over the past year. I used a slightly different colour scheme to Emily, deciding on two untrieds from by ever-growing collection: NYC ‘Summer in NYC’ and Ciate ‘mojito’. I also used my sturdy favourite black and white polishes from Barry M. To add a little accent to my non-Ikat nails, I chose to place some black studs that I bought from eBay on them (I love studs!)

L-R: Barry M - Black / NYC - Summer in NYC / Ciate - mojito / Barry M - Matt White

Although I was following the tutorial from the book, I found this design quite difficult to recreate. In hindsight my designs were too large and the green is almost lost because of this. Also, this was my first time attempting any sort of ‘brush work’ using my nail art brushes, and as you can see it leaves a lot to be desired! Finally, my clean-up is atrocious, although I partially blame the lack of light when I was actually doing this design (I have since bought some bright lamps to put in my nail art corner, so now I have no excuses!)

I really like Ciate's 'mojito'. It's such a shame there's not more to be seen in this design!

I love the black studs - they really pull this design together.

I think I am definitely in need of practicing my Ikat skills, and need to not be so excited when using a brush! I love these colours and they are going to be a firm favourite of mine in the summer months. NYC is a brand that I haven't really explored, but I am loving their fun and affordable range- perfect for budget-conscious folk!

Thanks for reading!
Helen x

It's been forever since I posted any #nails but here is a quick #dotticure using the gorgeous Barry M Silk Collection. This is 'Poppy' and 'Pearl'. Hopefully going to get some more manis up this weekend as all of my photos are on my camera. Going to be a nice weekend of blogging! 😊 #nails #nailart #barrym #dotticure #bow #cute #notd #craftyfingers #love

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1xhLLF3

A nice simple grey and pink mani. Love these colours together! #nails #NailArt #mani #craftyfingers #barrym #pink #grey #simple

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1E65Ggl

A new camera and some simple stripes

It was recently my 27th birthday, and my boyfriend got me a lovely new (pink!) camera to help me with taking photos of all of my nail art. So, using my pretty new camera, I captured these nails that I did on Friday night.

I love grey and pink together, and the white stripe down the centre of each nail helps the colours to compliment each other perfectly. I'm really pleased with how these turned out as usually I have a few issues with striping tape! For some reason I never seem to be able to get the stripes to be central, straight, or neat in their execution, but these ones pleasantly surprised me!

To celebrate my birthday and our one year anniversary, my boyfriend booked us a surprise holiday to Cornwall, where we stayed in a beautiful cabin overlooking a stream and the forest. It was totally secluded with absolutely NO mobile signal and had a gorgeous hot tub on the porch. I couldn't have asked for anything better and it was such a relaxing holiday. Here's a quick pic of the cabin that we called home for the week!