Rainbow Tips!

Hi guys!

Today I have a fun French manicure with a twist to show you!

Rainbow French Manicure

This mani is super easy to create and didn't take very long at all. I started out with a coat of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' then added a coat of Jess 'Fresh' iridescent glitter to give the finished look some flakie goodness. I then simply painted the French tips using a range of coloured polishes (see below for details) and finished with a quick-dry topcoat. Et voila!

Colours used are (left - right): China Glaze 'Sexy Lady'/ Nicole By OPI 'Teal Me Something New' / NYC 'Summer In NYC' / Barry M 'Damson' / NYC 'Lexington Yellow'

I added a 'splat' design to this manicure using MoYou London Princess plate #09 but I definitely prefer it without. What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

NEON WEEK: Radial Gradient and Stamping

Hi!

I've been *loving* the weather here over the last few days and today we saw the temperature reach 30 degrees Celsius which is lovely! I'm so glad I have a neon theme going on at the moment because it's complimenting the sunshine wonderfully :)

 Stamped Neon Radial Gradient

Today's nails include a technique that I have only tried a couple of times - a radial gradient (where the gradient works outwards from the centre of the nail, rather than horizontally or vertically across the nail). I found it really difficult to get consistent gradients across all ten fingers, but I'm pretty happy with the results anyway. I added a pretty circular-style stamped image, and of course I had to stick some sparkly gems on there too!

The polishes used for this were all Models Own - 'Bikini' (yellow), 'Sun Hat' (pink) and 'Pukka Purple'. I used Pukka Purple and Bundle Monster stamping plate #BM-618 for the design. Oh, and a sprinkling of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' was added to the gradient.

My left hand came out better than my right hand (even though I'm left handed...)

FYI my stamping is *meant* to be off-centre...

A bit blurry but look at the pretty Fairy Dust! <3

Hope you like them :)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

**Review** Colourful Loose Glitter - BornPrettyStore

Hi guys!

Today I have a super sparkly review for you that makes me happy inside! BornPrettyStore very kindly sent me some of this mixed loose glitter* to play around with, so of course I covered my nails with it! I don't do subtle.

ALL OF THIS FOR ONLY $0.99!

This is a rainbow filled pot of glittery goodness! The diamond shaped glitter comes in a pot full of green, blue, silver, gold, pink/purple, white, black, clear and bronze pieces. Phew!

I wanted to create a similar effect to my glitter framed nails from a little while ago, so I started with a base of Rimmel 'Black Out'. Then by applying a coat of Rimmel 'Clear' polish, I began placing the loose glitter onto my nail using a small dotting tool to position the pieces. The glitter lay flat on the nail and was easy to trim with cuticle clippers in order to get a close fit. Another thing I liked about this particular glitter is that there weren't any clumps of uncut diamonds, which is an issue I've had with other glitters. Plus, after two heavy coats of topcoat the glitter was just as shiny as when I started and almost smooth! It's a big bonus for me that the glitter pieces didn't dull after a topcoat was applied, again as this is a problem I have had in the past with other glitters.

 

Because there is simply no such thing as too much glitter, I decided to add a coat of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust'.

I'll just leave a few pics here to show you the mini disco ball from a few angles :)

I couldn't stop admiring my nails when I wore this

I even managed to do my left (dominant) hand!

A bit blurry but still pretty :)

The finished look

Get lost in the sparkles...

Born Pretty Loose Glitter and China Glaze = ALL OF THE SPARKLE!

I hope you like this as much as I do. And *PLEASE* go to BornPrettyStore.com, pop a few (amazingly priced) items into your cart, enter my exclusive code CESH10 to receive 10% discount, enjoy the totally free international shipping, and enjoy playing with your goodies when they arrive. I promise you'll be back for more!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

*Items provided by BornPrettyStore for my impartial review

Monarch Butterfly Manicure

Hi everyone!

Today's manicure is inspired by the beauty of butterfly wings! Monarch (butterfly) nails are super popular in the nail world at the moment. I've never tried it before but it was surprisingly simple and the effect is stunning.

Here is the finished look:

Monarch Butterfly Nails

I wanted to keep with the colours of a typical monarch butterfly using a gradient of yellow through to deep pink (which is meant to be red, but I just can't resist pink!). I decided to use my new favourite yellow polish - China Glaze 'Sun's Up Top Down', along with Seventeen 'Orange Soda' and Nails Inc. 'Notting Hill Carnival'.  Of course nothing is quite complete without a sprinkling of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust'!

L-R: Sun's Up Top Down / Orange Soda / Notting Hill Carnival / Fairy Dust

I began by creating a gradient from the corner of my nail, then added the detail using a small brush and black and white acrylic paint. Finally, I gave it a good coat of Glisten & Glow 'HK Girl', which is still in first place as my favourite quick-dry topcoat.

How cool would it be if butterflies were sparkly in real life?!

Monarch Butterfly Manicure

Sparkly Gradient Monarch Butterfly Nails

 One day soon I *will* have the skills to make my striping neater and more consistent, but until them I'm still very happy with how these turned out :)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Fairy Dust and Framing

Hi lovelies!

Last weekend I bought my first ever bottle of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' - I was so excited when I got home that I tested it out straight away. I haven't seen another glitter like it - the specks are so fine and yet super holograpic - it truly is a spectacular topper!

China Glaze - Fairy Dust

Not content with just Fairy Dust, I added extra sparkle to this mani with Nicole By OPI 'Awesome' as glitter placement around my nails, framing them.

Nicole By OPI - Awesome

I chose Barry M's 'Black' as my base, and added one layer of Fairy Dust over the top. Then, decanting Awesome onto a piece of paper, I picked up the glitter using a dotting tool and created a frame around each nail. I love how this turned out and was actually very quick and easy to do!

I topped this all off with two layers of Barry M 'Plumpy' to make it as smooth as possible, although the glitter did start peeling at the edges after about 12 hours. For someone who changes their manicure daily, this isn't so much of a problem, but if you want extra staying power on the glitter make sure to use a small amount of nail glue to keep them in place :)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x