Monday 27 May 2013

How to blog.

How I do some nail art.


Following my first ever video on how to stamp using MUA Nail Polish, I decided to do a how to post. My camera is good for photos, but I found it hard to do the video, but as I said it was my first ever! So anyway back to this post. I wanted to share with you, how I do some nail art designs, and I hope it inspires you to try. I will warn you now there are a lot of photo's coming up, and I'll explain each one as I go. I hope you all enjoy :) The first one is using Striping Tape, as I did for my nails inspired by The Great Gatsby.




Textured Nails are the new big thing, but as I don't think I would wear it that often, as I don't like plain nails. So even though Zoya and Orly had some beautiful colours, they were far to expensive for my budget. Barry M also have a range now, but only pastel colours. So what I came up with, is so cheap, and you can do any colour you have in your nail polish collection :)






I wanted to do a stamping how to, even though I did a video. The photos are much clearer.





The final how to is Patchwork Nails. I've always wanted to try this design, and was so pleased with how it came out, I think this will be my next manicure :)



I hope you all liked this post, and that it helps you in any way. If you have any questions, comment below and I'll answer them :) Or just let me know what you think. I'm no way a nail art expert, but learning along the way.


Tracey
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Saturday 25 May 2013

Great Gatsby Nail Art

Nail Art inspired by The Great Gatsby


Saturday, and time to do another nail art design :) I wanted to something different today, so decided to copy the nail art I did the other day on nail sticks that was inspired by The Great Gatsby. I used  MUA nail polishes in Shade 10 and Stormy Skies, and some striping tape cut into small strips.



First I painted two coats of Shade 10, and let it dry completely, so when I used the striping tape it wouldn't pull the base colour off when I removed it. It was quite fiddly getting the striping tape in the right places, and making sure that each nail had a different design on them, and I cut enough tape to do both hands, but did one hand at a time. Once all the tape was stuck on the nails, I painted two coats of Stormy Skies, and on the second coat, while it was still slightly wet, carefully removed the tape with tweezers. Let it dry, and top coated it. The finished result is wicked :)


Would love to hear what you think, or have you done a design that was inspired by The Great Gatsby?


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Friday 24 May 2013

Sally Hansen Bargains

Sally Hansen Nail Polish


Hello, just a quick post today as I managed to get some more Sally Hansen nail polish :) Two from Poundland, and two from a market stall for £1 each. Went shopping for school shoes again, and wasn't looking for anymore polish, but these colours jumped out at me and I just couldn't pass on them lol. I haven't had chance to swatch them yet, but when I do I will add the photos to this post :)


I'm loving the High Definition, they have a wicked shimmer, and somewhat a two toned colour effect.



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Monday 20 May 2013

Collection 2000 Water Marble

Collection 2000 Water Marble


Just a quick post about Collection 2000, now known as Collection. My selection of Collection 2000 nail polishes came from Cosmetic Fairy. I bought them originally just for water marbling, but as my nail polish collection has grown, I never got round to trying them out, until today :) I chose six different colours, that complimented each other well, and tried two different water marbling patterns. This polish worked beautifully in the water. Spread really well, and didn't dry too quick. I'm very happy with the results. So take a look :)


Would love to hear what you think, or even if you've tried this polish for water marbling yourself :)

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MUA Nail Polish

MUA Nail Polish


My first MUA buy was the single eye shadows, when MUA was first in Superdrug. I also bought bronzer, face powder, blusher and mascara, as back then I had only just stopped biting my nails. But since then I must have bought every shade of nail polish in the old style bottle :) So when MUA announced they were revamping the bottle I was excited. I had bought some of the newer colours in the old style bottle, and at first was only planning on buying the colours I liked, Lush Lilac and Bold Blue. But, as MUA nail polish is a great buy, and Superdrug have a 3 for 2 offer, I bought more :) as well as three magnetic and two Mystical Glitter. The Love Heart Collection water marble really well, and I was keen to see how the normal polish would. So after swatching all the new bottles I have, and a few old ones, I tried water marbling. Also tried with the Mystical Glitter, and Magnetic, just to see. The results were fantastic :) The newer £1 bottle works better than the old one, although the polish will still spread in the water. Mystical Glitter and Magnetic were just as awesome :)







Now just look at how awesome these water marbling designs are, using the Magnetic and Mystical Glitter :)


Now I'm no water marbling expert, but I know that not all glitter polishes spread well in the water, so I was happily surprised when these did, and the two colours compliment each other beautifully. Trying the Magnetic polish was just out of curiosity, as obviously you use the magnet on the lid of the bottle to create a pattern, and water marbling with them, you don't need to use the magnet. Was really happy that all three colours spread so so well in the water, and the final outcome is the design looks somewhat metallic. This is a must for a manicure soon :) 
Would love to hear what you think, just comment below :)

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Sunday 19 May 2013

Nail Art Give Away :)

Nail Art Give Away :)


Yes that's right, I'm doing a give away of a selection of nail art bits :) I know I haven't been blogging for that long, so its only a small giveaway, as this is all new to me :)  I thank each and every one of you who have followed me, or even just looked. I'm having so much fun sharing my manicures and other nails bits with you all. So that's the reason behind this give away. It's open to everyone in the UK ONLY.




To enter just follow me on twitter and/or  bloglovin, also by liking my Facebook Page :)

Wishing you all luck :)

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday 18 May 2013

New Goodies :)

New Goodies :)


Just a quick post to share the new nails bits I got today, as part of my last ever haul.  I was expecting three bits, just waiting on delivery, the other two were items I wasn't planning on getting, but for the price couldn't leave in the shop ha ha. I got two nail plates from a web site called Light in the Box, from China. As I've said before, I love skulls, so chose two plates QA3 and QA4 with skull designs. Delivery was 16 days. Came packaged really well, I mean the box was so big, I wondered what was in it, wasn't expecting the plates to be inside! Haven't used them yet, but will very soon :)


As I wasn't happy with the yellow polishes from Cairuo or Maybelline Colour show, I bought another by Laval in Ultra Yellow. Thought it would be a sheer polish, but to my surprise its somewhat creamy. Streaked when applied, like most yellows do, but a really bright in your face colour, just what I wanted :)








The last two things I got, as I said earlier wasn't planning on getting. Took my youngest daughter to the shops to spend her pocket money, and we was in the Pound shop, when I noticed a brand new make up display. All types of make up, eye shadow, face power, blusher foundation, and of course nail polish. A brand I have never heard of  SUHADA. The nail polish came with two 9ml bottles, a colour and top coat, in a range of colours, in a pretty designed box. For £1 I couldn't walk by without looking lol, so I bought two. A French Manicure Set and a Nail Care Set, as for the colours, there was nothing shouting out buy me, and I have a rainbow of colours already :) When I get round to using them, I will do another full review.






Let me know what you think of my last buys..


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2true Salon Shine Nail Polish

2true Salon Shine Nail Polish


I have totally run out of room to store nail polish now lol, but so wanted to try these new polishes from 2true. So today as Superdrug still had their 3 for 2 offer, I took advantage and got three :),  my last ever purchase for nail polish. Looked myself to see if anyone else has reviewed them, and haven't found anyone. So I'm happy to be the first :)
I wasn't sure how these would compare to the Barry M Gelly Hi Shine, so I got three colours I wouldn't normally chose, but still liked. Unlike the other 2true nail polishes these ones do come with names.

Mila, Taylor and Nicole.

Swatched with one coat.

Nicole is a very deep and beautiful shade of purple, bit like grapes lol. Taylor is a mid range pink, but not too bright. Mila is a bit darker than I was expecting, and as I wouldn't normally wear orange, think this one would make a nice rainbow, with other colours. But its still a nice shade. No streaking when applied, and one coat seems enough, but I reckon two would make them really pop. Has a wicked shine when dried. No top coat applied. I wouldn't say they are the same as the Gelly Hi Shine, so I would so recommend getting them :)

Nice size brush.


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Fire and Flames Water Marble

Fire and Flames Water Marble


Hey :) hope your all well, I'm great. So excited as I got some new goodies to review. But first to today's manicure. I did mention last week that I had two designs in mind for my nails. Chose one of them for last week (Saturday nails blog) and have just finished the other one :). I've always wanted to to a fire/flame design. I love Tigers, skulls and flame designs. So I decided to try a water marbling a flame. Took a while to chose what colours to use, and ended up using a few different brands, La Femme, MNY Maybelline, Beauty UK, Wet n Wild and Accessorize. 

Le Femme Tangerine, MNY Red, La Femme Black, Beauty UK Yellow, Wet n Wild Clear and Accessorize  Ivory Lace.


I used Ivory Lace as a background colour. Beautiful colour alone, but what a pain to apply. So so streaky! Applied three coats, still wasn't that happy, but didn't want to spend all day painting with one colour lol. In a cup of room temperature bottled water I dripped tangerine, red, black, yellow, tangerine, black, red and clear, and carefully drew thin wavy lines. Its a good job no two fires are the same ha ha, but I'm pleased with the out come :) Let me know what you think.








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Friday 17 May 2013

Barry M nail polish

My favourite Barry M nail polish


Hey :) hope you are all well. Wanted to share with you all, my favourite Barry M nail polishes that I have. Now I love a bargain, but am also willing to pay a bit more for a nail polish, and with the new ones Barry M comes out with, I have to get :) Started with the crackle, bought the black and white, and loved them so much also got the blue and pink. With my collection slowing growing, I was looking for something different, and got myself two Barry M Chameleon nail polishes. Then a lovely coloured glitter, and finally two of the new Gelly Hi Shine, and when I purchased these I got a free polish too :) Now as with all Barry M polishes, the have great coverage with one coat of polish, and all of these are no different. The Chameleon ones are a beautiful metallic colour, that makes me not want to put a top coat on the change the colour lol. Gelly Hi Shine just rock, awesome bright and funky colours. 

Free polish, Magenta Glitter, Blood Orange and Pomegranate.

Chameleon Lilac and Chameleon Pink.

All swatched with one coat.


I put a top coat on the Chameleon to show the change, but beautiful, with or without. Gelly Hi shine speaks for itself :) The free polish is a wicked blue/turquoise colour, and shimmers beautifully. All nice to apply, no streaking, just an awesome polish.

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Thursday 16 May 2013

CR Cairuo Nail Polish

CR Cairuo Nail Polish


Hello :) I got the nail polish I was waiting on yesterday :) Cairuo, a brand I have never heard of before. I was looking for a bright yellow nail polish, as I wasn't really impressed the Maybelline Colour Show in Electric Yellow. Looks nice and bright in the bottle, but once painted on the nail turns a mustardy colour. So was looking on ebay for a brighter yellow, and came across this set of six bright nail polishes by CR Cairuo. Coat £5.99 with £2.99 P&P. Looked for a review on them, but found no one had on these colours, just some others by the same brand. They are a nice looking polish, with coloured lids matching the polish colour, but sadly the yellow wasn't as bright as I was hoping for. But still a nice lot of colours.






The only thing that puzzled me was the names lol, yellow is yellow, so why it has a sticker saying orange I can't explain. Which made me see if I could find the others to see if they too had different names. My search paid off.....they have apart from one. Not sure why they have different names, when they are the same colour, unless it a different supplier. I'll tell you the other names now, just in case you would like to buy these. Starting the the names on mine, and the other names I found.
26-Orange also found as Bright Orange.
30-Rose also found as Shocking Pink.
28-Strawberry also found as Fuchsia.
23-Green Tea also  found as Summer Green.
17-Blueberry also found as Sky Blue
15-Orange also  found as Sunshine.

As a polish, it was nice to apply. The yellow, as I think most are, was very streaky. I wouldn't say they are scented, but didn't have a normal nail polish smell. It was some what perfumery. Not the nicest of smells, but not overpowering either. 

Swatched with one coat.



Swatched with two coats.



A beautiful set of colours, just a shame the yellow wasn't as bright as the others. The blue was the only one that seemed to dry slight matte. What do you think? Let me know if you have any polish by Cairuo, and what you think of it. 

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Wednesday 15 May 2013

Thread Nail Art

Thread Nail Art


Hello again :) I was sitting down yesterday, trying to think of something new to do as a nail art design. Something that as far as I'm aware no one has done before. Was harder than I thought lol. Then suddenly I remembered years ago when I used to do cross stitch, I still had some metallic thread that I won, and had never used. So that was my idea. Thread nail art. Painted four nails, two black, and two white. Cut different colours of metallic thread and tried random designs. 

Hardest cross stitch ever! But I love Tigers :)



Metallic thread.

Random designs.


The first two, after painting with top coat, I laid the cut pieces of thread at different angles. The second two, I wanted to see what bunching the thread together and dropping it on the nail looked like. Pretty pleased with the outcome, and most probably needs more practise lol, but still a nice idea. Let me know what you think :)
Have new polishes arriving soon to blog about :) so till then, have a great day xxx

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Monday 13 May 2013

Full Nail Art Stickers

Full Nail Art Stickers


Like most things I have, these join the group of bits I've seen, bought and not used yet lol. I saw a video on You Tube, on Bling Nail Art Stickers, and immediately went onto ebay. Found a pack of 12, full nail bling stickers for £8, free P&P. 

Some designs I like more than others, but still a nice buy. Looked easy on the video I watched by Tartofraises, who also has an English channel, Cutenails. But I think the reason I haven't tried them yet, is as I know it wont be that easy ha ha. The others I have were from my favourite bargain place :) Poundland. I got one of each different design, but these are more foil and sparkly. By Pink Tease.




Not sure when I will use these, or even if I will do a full nail manicure, or cut them into strips. But something I will look to do in the future. I just wanted to share them with you. So stay tuned :)


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Saturday 11 May 2013

Saturday nails again :)

Saturday nails :)


Hello all :), yes its Saturday and time to do my nails again. I had two designs in mind, free hand nail art and a water marbling design. I didn't know what one to do this weekend lol. Tried them both on my nail wheel, and  decided to leave the water marble for next Saturday. So back to this weekends nails. A rainbow leopard and white zebra design, with rhinestones.

Blue, Wild Thing, Crush, 313 and Electric Yellow


I chose these colours as I thought they all went well together. After a base coat, I painted two coats of each colour, on each nail. As I'm still practising my free hand nail art, I stamped the Leopard print, using Cheeky plate CH2. I stamped the whole nail, then swiped the top of my nail, at an angle, using Le Femme white nail polish. Painted the zebra design with black acrylic paint, and a striper brush that I cut down, to make even thinner. Used top coat to stick coloured rhinestones to each nail. I matched the rhinestones to the colour of the nail polish. Topped with Sally Hansen Intsa-dri 30 second top coat. Done :)





Sadly no sun today, but when it does appear, I will take another photo. Would love to hear from you guys, let me know what you think :)  


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Look how pretty the sun makes then look :)



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Friday 10 May 2013

Make your own Nail Wheel.

Make your own Nail Wheel.


Hello again :). Just thought I'd share with you, what I have just made, and the items I used. So if you want to have a go, you can make one yourself. Nail wheels for swatching nail polish are so expensive in the UK, well to me anyway, and although I ordered two fan type ones at a special one off price, I knew I would soon use them all and need more. So even though the initial cost was around £5, I can make enough nail wheels to swatch my entire nail polish collection! So its cheaper in the longer term.


Fan swatch wheel, with 50 nails.



First thing I looked for was really cheap clear acrylic nail tips. Found some on ebay, 500 for £1.89, and free P&P. An English seller, ordered them Tuesday, got them Wednesday!! Today at the shops, I bought some double sided sticky tape, super glue with a brush applicator, cocktail sticks and white card. I started by sticking each nail to a cocktail stick, using the super glue. The brush applicator makes it so much easier, less likely to end up sticking something to your fingers lol. Left them to dry, and cut two strips of card the same length. covered one piece with double sided sticky tape, and then one by one stuck the cocktail stick to it, just leaving the acrylic tip over lapping. Put double sided tape on the other piece of card, then stuck the two together,making sure it was stuck everywhere. Not so much a wheel lol but still glad it worked. Took about an hour in all to make. So when I have more spare time, I'll make more :) Hope you all enjoy this. Let me know what you think....

Clear acrylic tips.


Acrylic tips glued to cocktail sticks.


Finished :)


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Maybelline Colour Show

Maybelline Colour Show


Just a short post today. Saw these nail polishes the other day whilst in Superdrug. So today, had to go shops to pay bills :( and as Superdrug are doing a 3 for 2 on all make up, thought I'd get some, as these are good for water marbling, and I have a design in mind and needed a bold yellow. Was also after black and white, as I'm running low on those colours lol, after looking at my entire collection, you wouldn't think so, but use these two colours a lot. 
As my local Superdrug is small, wasn't expecting to get the three colours I was after, but got two of them so not bad. Took me ages to decide on a third, as it would be free. Picked up a nice pink, blue and glittery baby pink, closed my eyes, and the one that ended up in my basket would be the third bottle lol. So my three buys  were, Electric Yellow, Winter Baby and Sugar Crystals. 

Electric Yellow, Sugar Crystals and Winter Baby.


Still want to try a black in this brand, so being naughty lol, have just bought from ebay,  MNY- Maybelline New York, in black(677) as these ones are numbered, not named. Might get Wet 'n' Wild Xplode Clear Nail Polish too, from Cosmetic Fairy on ebay, as this is just the best clear polish to water marble with. That's all for now, off to have a go at making my own nail wheel :)


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Thursday 9 May 2013

My nail polish collection :)

My nail polish collection :)


Now I haven't counted how many I have, did try once but lost count lol. I didn't start out to get this many bottles of polish, and when I view them (as you'll see in the photo I've taken) I'm shocked myself at the amount I have! When I first started buying, I stored them in a three drawer plastic storage unit, it was my youngest daughters for her toys, but my collection grew so quickly, I gave it back to her :) and bought some pretty pink trays from my local pound shop, and took over the dining room table, as we only use it at Christmas time. Ended up buying more trays as well lol. At first I stored them in brand names, but was a pain to find a colour I wanted to use. So the other weekend, I got my youngest daughter, (she's 8, and I have four children) as she was moaning she was bored, to help me arrange them into colours. Took us over 2 hours!! I've kept my Glow in the dark, Holographic, Magnetic and Glitter together, but all the others are in colour order. Now this was a pain at first too lol, as before I knew where the brands names were stored in the trays, so when I did my first manicure after changing them all around, it felt strange. Its taken  me a while to get used to the change. Hope you like it :)

At least 500 bottles!



Greens, reds, blues, browns, black/white/grey, pinks,magnetic and glitter, oranges, holographic and glow in the dark, purples, yellows.
As you can see I have no more room for anymore!  But never say never lol.........


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Wednesday 8 May 2013

Salon Shaper Nail File

Salon Shaper Nail File


I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before, so I apologise if I have, but I used to bite my nails, for over 30 years! Woke up one morning and just stopped, and now I wish I had stopped sooner. Anyway when my nails got to a length that needed filing, I always used the traditional emery board file. Now they have grown nice and long, and when I think they are just a bit too long, using an emery board to file them down, as I wont cut them, takes me a good few hours. I wanted something that would be quicker, but still without cutting them. Saw a battery powered file in my local pound shop, and thought I'd give it a go. It takes 2 AA batteries, and only came with one attachment.


Wasn't sure how well it would work, but on pressing the button, the attachment whizzed round, but still didn't have any real effect on filing my nails. The only thing it seemed to help on, was the patches on my nails. So I use it to smooth the patches. I just happened to be looking on ebay, when a recommended item came up, it was for the Salon Shaper. Another battery powered nail file but with 5 attachments, for 99p, and 76p P&P, from a Chinese seller with great feedback, and fast delivery. So I ordered it :) Came really quickly, even before the expected delivery date! Its a similar style to the first one a bought, just a bit longer. came in a cute light purple carry bag, with the attachments and instructions. Works really well, files my nails down nicely, buffs them, and even a cuticle remover.

Attachments left to right: Cuticle remover, Felt cone, Small grinding barrel, Large grinding barrel and emery head.





Have you got anything like this? Please let me know I'd love to hear your views :)

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Nail Art Pots

Nail Art Pots of Goodies


I have quite a few pots of nail art accessories. Glitter dust, glitter, lace chips, crushed shells, micro beads, and many more. They were thing I saw and liked so bought them lol. But as yet haven't used any of them. But now that summers on the way, and no more need for gloves to keep my hands warm, I'm planning on changing that, and doing a new manicure every Saturday using these little pots of goodies :) Don't no what one I'll use first lol, but I wanted to share these with you. All purchased from ebay, mainly from HK, as they are so much cheaper from there, which is good if your buying but also on a budget.





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Nail Art Goodies :)

Nail art Stickers, Rhinestones and Fimo pieces


Hello all :) Just a short post today. I'm going to share with you, the last of my nail art accessories, (least I think so lol). Again, things I've seen, thought looked pretty, so bought them. Have used rhinestones, and some nail art stickers before, but not very often. The Fimo canes come in all sorts of different shapes and designs, but I like the flowers and butterflies best. But still to use these on my nails. I bought the ready cut fimo pieces, as I knew trying to cut really thin slices myself, would result in a trip to A & E ha ha. All these items I'm about to show you have all been purchased from ebay, apart from the butterfly fimo pieces, and the colour shapes pictured with the rhinestones, they came from Poundland. 








Would really love some feedback. Let me know what you think of my blog, and if your enjoying it.


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Outdoor Girl Nail Polish

Outdoor Girl Nail Polish


By now if you've read my posts, you might think I live in Poundland lol. The truth is that I have over 500 bottles of nail polish, and if I'd thought about, should have started this blog ages ago. So as you can guess I haven't used all the polish as yet, and having to sort them out so I can share them with you. I will take a photo of my whole collection, and how I store them, very soon. I love a bargain, and on a budget, so nail polishes that only cost £1 are right up my street :) I wanted a set of pastel nail polish, I prefer to get them as a set if I can. On a shopping trip with my daughter, wasn't expecting Poundland to have anything new, but to my surprise they had a complete set of pastel nail polish by Outdoor Girl. I could have jumped for joy lol, but didn't want to embarrass my daughter! 12ml plastic bottles (that are the same shape as nail art pens). 6 colours in total, and I got them all.

Simple names, but beautiful pastel colours. The other Outdoor girl they had where wicked and shimmery, but only 3 shades. I love anything that sparkles :)



Now as I've said before my fave colours are blue and pink, so these had to get these two, even though I think it looks pink, the colour on the bottle says purple! Not normally a green kind of girl, but it's so shimmery I couldn't leave it all alone in the shop.

Pretty pastel tones, would make a nice Easter nail art :)



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Tuesday 7 May 2013

Jesses Girl Nail Polish

Jesses Girl 


I have another lot of nail polish to show you lovely people. Jesses Girl, from my other favourite place Cosmetic Fairy. I'm not sure how available this nail polish is in the UK, possibly only online. But its very affordable at 65p for a 10ml bottle. For a range of bright, bold and beautiful colours. 



Nice to apply, swatched with one coat of polish. So good coverage. Would look nice with two coats, and thinking even adding a matte top coat to make something different, as the colours are so bold. Only a slight bit of streaking with the lighter colours, Mermaids Lagoon and Cupcake Frosting. Overall though, I would totally recommend these nail polishes. Not sure if there are other shades in this range, let me know what ones you have. 

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Hedy's Manishma Nail Polish

Hedy's Manishma Nail Polish


So today I would like to share with you a great find from Cosmetic Fairy. A brand of nail polish, called Hedy's Manishma. I have never heard of the brand before, but there were really cheap. In a range of wonderful colours, and even holographic. The colour ones were 49p each, and the holographic were 75p each. Great price to match these cute bottles. Only small bottles though, but worth every penny. Holographic is 6.6ml, and the others 6.2ml. Some of the colours seem very sheer, and would need quite a few coats to get the bottle colour on your nails. As you can see in this photo, took 5 coats just to get this colour!! Not the strongest holographic quality , but a nice polish all the same.



You could get away with two coats of polish, with the darker red shades and Silver Metal. Moon Bean and Pink Opal, would need a few extra coats, if you were after the bottle colour. But these two shimmer nicely, and Pink Opal is very iridescent in light, with a two toned colour effect.

These holographics would make a nice top coat, however will change the colour of your base nail polish, If your after a shimmer effect, with a subtle holographic effect thrown in, then buy these if you can.  If you have got these, or heard of this brand please let me know in the comments below, as its only due to me looking on Cosmetic Fairies web site that I came across them :)



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MNY-Maybelline New York

MNY-Maybelline New York


These little 7ml beauties were another of my bargain buys. Not sure what shops sell them, as the newest Maybelline polish is called colour show. I know these where first released a few years ago, so maybe that's how I got them so cheap. My local pound shop (not Poundland lol) had a box full of random nail polish. Looked through it and picked out some really nice colours. Think this polish would be good for water marbling, as its quite runny. Also, I wasn't sure till I got home, but it looked like a matte top coat. It was :)
So I went back and got another, as a girl can't have too many matte top coat nail polish lol. I think its easier than buying a matte colour polish. But that's down to preference. Anyway, Not sure if they where aware of the pricing, as the first 4 I bought was only charged £1, but then I was charged £1 each. Cheap so wasn't worth arguing about, as I wasn't sure of the real retail price. Sadly these nail polishes have no names, just numbers.


A beautiful metallic looking blue, very bright pillar box red, shimmery light brown, in your face orange, gun metal grey, glittery dark brown and matte top coat. Have you got any of these nail polishes? 


2 True Crystal Nail Polish

2 True Crystal Nail Polish


2 True is a brand of make up that is sold only in Superdrug. They cost £1.99 each, but you can get any three  items for £5.00. There are only four colours in this nail polish, that come in shades, sadly no names. Its beautifully shiny and sparkly, somewhat glittery, but I would say micro glitter. Glides onto the nails nicely, so not like normal glitter nail polish, that you find yourself having to dab on. No streaking, and no need for any form of nail art is needed over these. They are just awesome on their own. But again that is a personal preference. 

Shade 1 is a lovely shade of blue, shade 2, a nice bright red, Shade 3, a gorgeous green, just right for Christmas time, and finally shade 4, a beautiful, beautiful purple. This one is my favourite from all four colours.


Swatched with one coat of polish, shame the sun wasn't shining to show the full shiny effect of these nail polishes. I will try and get another photo, as I really want to share their beauty with you all. If you have these, please comment below, and tell me what's your favourite colour, and what you think of them, as a cheaper range of polish.


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Monday 6 May 2013

Sally Hansen Nail Polish

Sally Hansen Nail Polish


My selection of Sally Hansen Nail Polish, has come from Poundland, and Cosmetic Fairy. Thankfully at last a British web site that sells nail polishes that I thought would only be sold in the USA, and when I see them in Poundland, I get them buy them lol. The Xtreme Wear I mainly got for water marbling, saying that though, some are such beautiful colours to paint your nails. Blue it, for example is such an awesome colour. The Insta-dri was for stamping, and works very well. High Definition, again such beautiful, striking colours. Painted over black makes them change again.









Left to right: Must have Iris, Glow, Poppy, Bright and Beaming.


I will add a photo of all my nail polish collection. I must have close to 500 bottles!! But a few more blogs to do till then :)


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Eye Shadow nails

Eye Shadow nails


I saw a nail art design by Robin Moses using sparkly eye shadow called Disco Easy Party Nails. Was inspired to try this myself :) The only bright coloured eye shadow belonged to my youngest daughter. It was the MUA Poptastic Palette. She let me use it to try on a nail wheel to see how it looked, and until I could get my own lol.


Not a bad result, and used Jessie's Girl in Fire Fly as a top coat. Now as this wasn't loose eye shadow, it still came out well. I looked on ebay and found some loose eye shadow pots, by Constance Carroll Glitzy Eye Dust, 6 in all for about £3. But when I got them 2 of the colours where the same :( so I only ended up with 4 colours. Found another 2 in Savers for a £1 each by Collection 2000. But I was also after some bright neon eye shadow, and as I knew the compacted ones also worked, I got a cute little palette by W7.


So now I had my own :) I couldn't wait to try the design I'd seen Robin Moses do. Wasn't only using eye shadow, which you use foil glue to help stick to the nail, but some free hand nail art stripes too. So earlier this year, when we had snow, I had a go, and took the photo outside, with my hand over the snow. Was really cold, but made such a beautiful backdrop, for such a pretty nail art. Take a look :)



I admit I went a bit crazy with the stripes lol, once I got going I couldn't stop ha ha. But all in all I was very pleased with this one. I normally keep my nail art on for a week, and do a new one every Saturday. Didn't want to take this off!! Let me know what you think :)


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Fluffy nails

Fluffy nails :)



Hello again :) can I just say what a glorious day it it here today in the UK (about time lol), so anyway, when MUA came out with their range of fur effect, I was super excited. A fine textured fluffy powder, to make a velvet effect on nails. The only thing I was disappointed by, was the range of colours. Was hoping for a full rainbow. I bought the two colours I liked the best, Boo Boo Fluff, a beautiful bright blue, and Fuzzy Fluff, an awesome bright pink. If you haven't guess by now my favourite colours are blue and pink :)


Still wanting more colours in this effect for nails, I started searching on ebay. Found a seller in HK, selling 16 rainbow coloured nail flocking powder, even came with free tweezers, and cost £2.50....bargain. The delivery was fast :) Wicked colours, but some seemed to have more flocking powder in than others. So I might not get a full manicure with these, but was planning to use them for smaller nail art designs, and for the price its still good value. Not sure if I would use some of the colours, but you never know........



Have a few designs in mind with these, especially now the weathers changing. So keep checking :) One design I have tried already was  red fluffy love hearts. Take a look....



After painting my nails with Collection 2000 Hot Looks in Candyfloss, I stamped red love hearts using Cheeky Plates CH5, a small amount of top coat in each nail,  and then carefully added the flocking powder. Didn't top coat, as this ruins the effect. Was dubious when I got my hands wet, but was so amazed that they dried instantly, not ruining the design. Used the foil method for removal, check out my post Easy foil polish removal

Would love to have some feedback from you guys, so please feel free to comment :)

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Sunday 5 May 2013

Revlon Nail Polish

Revlon Nail Polish


Total bargain buy :) All my Revlon nail polish, I have bought from Poundland. Out on a shopping trip to get my youngest daughter some new shoes for school, I thought I would just look in Poundland to see what new bits they had. To my amazement, quite a few nail polishes. As well as their own brand Chit Chat, they had Revlon and Sally Hansen. My local shopping centre has 2 Poundland shops, so I always look in both lol. So today I will share the Revlon I bought. The Sally Hansen will be another blog. 


From top left to bottom right: Sunshine Sparkle, Preview Pink, Lilac Pastelle, Stormy, Electric Pink, Emerald City, Make Mine Mango, No Shrinking Violet, Ruby Ribbon, Tangerine and Powder Puff. Total bargain for £1 each, when you think in Superdrug they are £6.49. So I picked up all the colours they had. 






These are all with two coats of polish. Preview Pink and Powder puff are so sheer, that with Powder Puff I painted it over a white polish base. Could see the matte suede finish better. Lovely polishes to apply. If you ever see these for £1, grab them lol


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Nail Foil

Nail Foil


Hello again, so today I want to share with you all my collection of Nail Foils, that I purchased  some time ago, from ebay. Was unsure how well they would work, but to my surprise :) they did, and really well. My nails where a lot shorter when I first tried them, and with so much other nail art around, haven't really tried them on my long nails. But now the sun is making an appearance, I might just have to use them again. The colours are vibrant, shiny and even holographic. 



Rubelite Fire and Fuchsia Fantasy, are very similar in colour, but have different patterns. Rubelite Fire is more swirly, Fuchsia Fantasy is straight lined shapes. Peacock Dazzle and Azure Lights, are the same colour foil, again with different patterns. Azure Lights gives a straight line effect, where as Peacock Dazzle, has a patterned one. There are 1.5m of foil in each roll. So enough to do your nails many times. I also wanted a patterned foil, there came on strips of card, and are only 1 m long.






These are a bit more difficult to apply, as you have to make sure you paint your complete nail with enough foil glue, and when you place the foil on your nail, you don't get and folds or creases in it. Where as the other foils, you paint you nail first with a nail polish that's close in colour to the foil your using, then paint with the foil glue (starts as a blue colour, and dries clear. That's when you know its ready. About 5 mins) place the foil on top and press into the nail. When you take it off, if there are gaps you can go back over with the piece of nail foil, but this you can't do with the patterned foil.











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Saturday 4 May 2013

Saturday again, time to do my nails!


Saturday again, time to do my nails!

So today my blog is a week old, and I'm having so much fun, but sadly not showing up in Google search yet :( If you did find me that way though, please comment and let me know. So every Saturday, I do all my chores, and then its nail time lol. Normally I have something planned, so I know what I'm doing on my nails. But today, I couldn't make up my mind! Then I remembered a photo that a friend of mine put on Face Book. A beautiful bunch of flowers, that as soon as I saw, I was inspired to do a free hand nail art. I tried it first on my nail wheel.

Although I think they both look pretty, I did prefer the darker background. Comment below with the one you like best. Anyway I painted my nails with a base coat, I use Superdrug's 3 in 1 base coat, then 2 coats of La Femme in Black, and Rimmel Matte top coat. Matte black is just beautiful on its own, but I matte my nails as I think it makes painting with acrylic paint easier. I'm still not great at free hand nail art, but do practise, and am getting better :) When acrylic paint dried, I used La Femme top coat, then Sally Hansen Intsa-dri. An awesome glossy top coat that really is touch dry in 30 seconds!!!





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Easy Removal of Glitter Nail Polish

Easy Removal of Glitter Nail Polish :)


Now I'm not keen on Glitter nail polish, as its a real pain to remove, getting caught on the cotton pad, and going everywhere. So I avoided wearing it, until I found this awesome and easy way to take it off. The only extra item you need is aluminium foil.


I cut my cotton pads in half, then you just wrap them around you nail.



Then wrap the foil round and scrunch the top.




I do one hand at a time, I did once try doing both, but it was so difficult to do anything lol, my Husband said I looked like a Borg, from Star Trek!!





Leave for about 5 minutes. For the next bit I videoed it, so you could see just how easy and awesome this method of glitter polish removal is :)






I don't just use this method for removing glitter polish, I use it every week. So easy, saves on nail polish remover and cotton pads. I was so amazed that it worked the first time I tried it, I just wanted to share.

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Friday 3 May 2013

Striping Tape and Acrylic Paint

Striping Tape and Acrylic Paint


Was intrigued by nail art striping tape, so had to get some. The bundle I got had a multitude of rainbow colours, black, white, silver and gold. My first attempt at using them failed miserably. So thin and broke easily, and when I lost the end, oh my it was impossible to find it again! So put them away, for a while. Till I was ready to try again. I wanted to try a stained glass window effect on my nails, using acrylic paint, as I find this easier to work with than nail polish when painting designs on my nails. I got my acrylic paint from an art shop called Rymans. http://www.ryman.co.uk a brand called Royal and Langnickel.
99p for a 59ml bottle, I think this is just the right size. Was treated to some for Christmas :)









Its a nice quality paint, just the right consistency, not to thick or runny, and paints well even over black nail polish. So after sometime I decided to give the striping tape another go, and try a stained glass window effect. Painted my nails with two coats of La Femme Black nail Polish, and when it was completely dry, cut strips of the striping tape. This time round found it much easier to work with. Not sure if that's as I was cutting the strips, so I had them all ready to use, instead of as I needed them. Placed them on my nails in a sort of criss cross pattern, and painted a different colour acrylic paint in each gap. Carefully pulled the striping tape off to reveal a thin black line of polish separating each colour block. Easier to do this way, than trying this free hand. Top coat to finish, and job done :)



I wanted to get some neon acrylic paint, but was very hard to find all the colours I wanted, for a price that suited my budget. I found these cute little pots from Cuddly Buddly . By DecoArt Americana, 6 little pots for £2.69, and £1.60 p&p, and all the neon colours I was after. My daughter eldest daughter bought them for me as a surprise :) They are wicked neon colours.




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Let them eat cake!!

Let them eat cake!!


Just for something different, I want to share with you, just some of the cakes I made. Self taught, and from (when I was growing up) watching my wonderful Mum, who sadly is longer with us. Started out as a hobby, and making cakes for family, then started to get friends ask if I would make a cake for them and their family. So really took off and kept me busy. Anyway I wont waffle on anymore and just let you look at them :) Quite a few photo's coming up :)


























Hope you enjoy looking at these, as I enjoyed making them :) back in the day lol.
But its all about nails now....

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Thursday 2 May 2013

Allura Caviar Nail Beads

Allura Caviar Nail Beads


This is just a quick post. My daughter saw these when she was shopping today, and bought them for me as a surprise :) Allura Caviar Nail Micro Beads. They where from Poundland, and it's the thought that counts, not what they cost. That's how I've brought my four children up, so must be doing something right lol. They are nicely packaged, 12 little bottles of micro beads. Some bottles have more beads in than others, but then I can't imagine someone sitting there counting each tiny bead that goes into each bottle lol so I don't mind. :)

I know it looks like each bottle has the same amount in, but this is only as I laid them down to take the photo in the beautiful sun we had today in the UK :)

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Pride of London Nail Polish

Pride of London Nail Polish


Shopping at my local market a while back, I came across a new stall selling nothing but nail polish :) Oh my I was in nail polish heaven lol. Prices ranged from £1 to £3. Now everybody likes a bargain, so I started looking at the cheaper price range. Never heard of the brand before, Pride by London. Nice shaped bottles, a bit similar to OPI. 15ml of polish, so worth every pound. Ranged from pastels, brights, shimmery, creams, neon and metallic. Sadly no names just numbers. I got 7 metallic, 2 shimmery, 3 brights, 1 pastel and 2 neon. 
Brush is a nice size, and nice to apply, no streaking, and hardly any smell :)






If you find these anywhere, I'd love to know. As I think I am the first person ever to review them :) Treat yourself if you do see them, as they are worth every penny :)


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Glow in the Dark Part 2

Glow in the Dark Part 2


Yay, today I got the replacement purple Glow in the Dark nail polish, that I was waiting for. Was also sent some nail art brushes as a gift :) so even better.. Took another photo of all 12 together, and couldn't wait to swatch them. Smell is a bit strong, but I suppose that's the Glow in the Dark properties of the nail polish. Not to bad to apply, couldn't see and real streaking. The colours are nice and bright, and some have silver glitter in them. More green shades, compared to just the one blue, but for the price, I'm happy with this buy. There are no markings or labels on the bottles, so I can't say what ml they are, brand or name/number of each colour. I have left the nail wheel in the sun, and will leave it there for a good few hours. I hoping the natural UV rays will help them glow in the dark. Will take another photo later regardless of the outcome. But fingers crossed that do will glow :)




I'll post the outcome photo here later tonight. So keep checking back :) Till then I hope you all enjoyed this post.

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The sun didn't really have much effect on the glow in that dark that I could notice. So held up to a light for about 5 mins, then my arm started aching lol. Not a bad glow for such a short time. Im happy with these nail polishes :)

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Wednesday 1 May 2013

Cheeky Stamping Plates

Cheeky Stamping Plates


Today I'm going to review Cheeky Jumbo Stamping Plate A, and CH12. It's the only jumbo plate I bought from the 2012 collection, along with the 2012 set of 26 plates, from Amazon. Out of all the jumbo plates Cheeky had, jumbo plate A was the only one that had the most designs I liked. The puzzle design being the one I had been looking for, for ages. The set of 26 plates are all nice and have many different designs, from animal print, hearts, squiggles, dots to french tip designs. I'm reviewing plate CH 12, flower design as I saw a great idea with one of the flower patterns :)


The puzzle was stamped over Beauty UK Posh Polish Amethyst, which is super sparkly :) using MUA black polish. I'll review the other Posh Polish I have soon. As soon as I saw the flower pattern on CH 12, I knew exactly what I was going to do. Painted my nails with MUA All Nude, its like an off white colour, then stamped the pattern, again using MUA black (its great for stamping, just a shame they are not making that shade anymore) and filled in each flower using pastel acrylic paints. Might try this again and fill in the flowers with neon colours :) just right for the summer ( if we get one here in the UK lol) Cheeky have bought out a 2013 collection of Jumbo Plates, I like the Happy Holidays one :) Full of designs for all holidays, Christmas, New Year, Easter......


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Chit Chat Nail Polish

Chit Chat Nail Polish


Chit Chat is a brand of make up sold in Poundand. I bought the glitter nail polish, and four from the colour range that I liked the best, Blue, Purple Lime and Pink. The colours are nothing out of the ordinary, and look very muted in the bottles, however as soon as they are painted on to nails they come alive :) They are so bright and punchy, in your face colours. Nice to apply, no streaking, you could possibly get away with just one coat. I swatched them all using only one coat. The glitters I got in Violet, Silver, Pink, Copper, Ariel and Gold. They have small and medium size glitter in a clear base. Swipes off easily when painted on nails, so best to dab onto the nail. The only thing I don't like about the glitter is the smell! It is so so strong and not very nice. But for a bargain buy of £1, and nice colours, I'll hold my breath when I use these lol. They do sell a rainbow glitter called Rio, but sadly Poundland didn't have this in stock. I was able to get one by Technic called Carnival from ebay. A different colour and size glitter, in a clear base. The only thing that I can see different with this glitter is the name. The bottle and smell are exactly the same as the Chit Chat glitters.












They nail polish just rock. If you can find them, then buy them :) 

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