Monday 30 September 2013

Tinsel nails

Glitter Tinsel Nail


Maybe a bit too early, but I saw a photo of the new Julie G Gumdrop nails polishes, as I they won't be available in the UK for a while, and my nail polish fund is on zero, I thought I'd have a go at making something similar. When I first saw the photo, it reminded me more of Christmas tinsel nails, than gum drop sweets. Just google image Julie G Gumdrop, and you can see for yourselves, as I didn't want to take someone else's photo.

So for mine I started out with my bags of loose glitter.



From these glitters I chose red, gold, blue, silver, green and pink, and painted the nails in a matching colour. With the seconds coat of polish, thats when I sprinkled the whole nail with the glitter. When this had dried, I lightly brushed the nail to remove any loose glitter, and then with a top coat just painted across the tip of the nail, and sprinkled another colour glitter onto it. Done this with all six nails, and top coated each when glitter was dry. And here's how the came out....





 
So sparkly and just reminds me of Christmas. Messy too lol, so if I did this on my own nails, I would use lip balm on the skin round my nails, so the glitter wouldn't stick and make cleaning up a whole lot easier!!
Would you try this for a Christmas Nail Art? Does it remind you of the festive season?
Thanks for reading :) Have a great day....

Tracey
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Saturday 28 September 2013

In Memory of My Mum's Birthday

Nails for My Mum <3


I'm here again :) and for those of you who are in the Adventures In Stamping Group on Facebook, will most probably know that I have been waiting on the Rockstar 1 plate from MoYou London. As soon as I saw this plate back in August I wanted it, not just for the other designs (which are me down to a tee) but this one design I knew I could do an awesome design in memory of my Mum's birthday. Sadly the plate never came in time and I did another nail art for my Mum, but was still planning the original one when the plate arrived. 



 This design was done with the water decals I got a while back, and the base colour is Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Lavender Cloud.
So today the postman delivered my MoYou Plate :D Happy was just one word to describe how I felt!! Late but worth the wait :) This post is later than normal for me as the nail art I was planning took me 5 hours!!


MoYou London Rockstar Plate 1

Just wicked images on this plate, admittedly a lot larger than any images from my other stamping plates, but amazing all the same. 
Now without drifting away from today's nails too much, I'll quickly explain that I was a carer for her, and moved next door to look after her 24/7. I did this for just over 9 years, right up until she passed away in January 2000. Thirteen years may have passed, but it's still like yesterday. I had a tattoo done the same that is on her headstone. 




Not exactly the same, but as I said earlier as soon as I saw one image on this plate, I knew I needed it in my life lol.
So here's the finished design....






Base colour is Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Crinoline. I stamped the rose, took out the words 'rock& roll' and painted in Mum with black acrylic paint. Then filled in the rose and leaves with Sinful Colors, Sugar Sugar (red) and Envy (green). Now you can see why this took 5 hours. I'm so happy with this, just a shame the sun had gone by the time I'd finished, and even though its later than first planned :)

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks for stopping by :)

Tracey
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Friday 27 September 2013

Leather Effect Polish

Next Leather Effect and Claire's Leather Look Polish


So last night my daughter came home from shopping with a present for me!! She works in Next, and saw that they had a new range of nail polish in stock. Leather Effect, price £3.00 for a 9ml bottle. The one she got me was in black, called Black Window. I was keen to try this out and also compare to the Claire's Leather Look Polish I got the other week for £1.00, also a 9ml bottle in black.
So lets get started..... Photos first :)

Next Leather Effect - Black Window










Claire's Leather Look - Black










Next Leather Effect was almost opaque after one coat. I did two and the application and coverage was good, drying time was pretty quick. Dries with some shine, a nice leather effect look for the price of this polish. The one from Claire's took three coats, and is still not as dark as the Next one. Application was good, dried a bit slower and has a more grainy, textured feel, and a different leather look. Over all though, both these polishes are nice, but I do prefer the one from Next so if you are after a cheaper Leather look polish I would recommend this one. I asked my daughter what other new polishes Next sold, and she said the Leather Effect comes in Red and Black, and they also had some Matte Glitter polish, all £3.00 each.  

To compare them with each other, I got my hubby to take a pic of my thumbs :)
Left Next Black Window. Right Claire's Black

I hope you like this post, thanks as always for reading. What do you think of Next polish?

Tracey
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As I will be taking this off for my normal Saturday Nails tomorrow, I saw a photo on Facebook from the Nail It Magazine of some rainbow feather free hand nail art. It looked amazing and I thought I'd try it myself. All done with acrylic paint and a thin detail brush, and  Miss Sporty Gloss Top Coat. Let me know what you think...

On top of Next Leather Effect. 




 On top of Claire's Leather Look


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Thursday 26 September 2013

Beauty UK Gel FX

Gel FX Polish from Beauty UK


Hey all :) I'm so so excited today, as I will be reviewing three new polishes in the Posh Polish range from Beauty UK. This time they have released six awesome shades of Gel FX polish, spot of for this time of year. Autumnal, going into Winter, Christmas and the New Year. There is a shade to suit everyone in this collection. 
Gel FX Posh Polish, a super high gloss finish and plumping formulation to make your nails appear fuller and give you a salon finish gel manicure. Beauty UK have pulled it out the bag again :)
The names of these polishes are inspired by exotic flowers, so we can all have a little bit of sun on our nails as the colder weather approaches!!

Midnight Iris - an intense and mysterious dark inky blue.
Crimson Rose - a deep dark velvet red with hits of burgundy.
Pink Orchid - the essence of pink rich with berry coloured undertones.
Blue Himalayan - colour of the ocean with the waves of intense electric blue.
Cafe Cosmos - cushioned by the colour of the clouds in the grey winter sky.
Poppy Red - vibrant red exploding with festive spirit.


Left to right: Midnight Iris, Crimson Rose, Blue Himalayan, Poppy Red, Pink Orchid and Cafe Cosmos.


Now don't these look absolutely awesome! A gel finish manicure without the need for a trip to the salon, in the comfort of your own home, and without the need for a UV lamp. Ticks all the boxes for me.. 
The three colours I'm reviewing today are, Midnight Iris, Blue Himalayan and Poppy red. 
So lets start :)



 Blue Himalaya, Poppy Red and Midnight Iris


Now for the swatches :)

Blue Himalaya






Applied beautifully and a two coater polish. A wicked shade of blue, which seemed to change from indoors to outside, blue to a purply blue. But still looked lovely. The shine was amazing, no need for a top coat! A beautiful colour for all the year round. 


Midnight Iris






OMG I'm in love with this colour! Such a dark and seductive blue. Again a two coater, an amazing shine, no top coat used. Hats off to Beauty UK for this one, great to apply you can see brush marks, but they disappear as the polish dries. The drying time seemed quite quick too :) I could see a Winter nail art right away with this colour. So I got out my Beauty UK Olympic Silver, and stamped some snowflakes. Just take a look at this :)




A bit early I know, but I think this looks awesome :)
Last but by no means least.....

Poppy Red



Again a two coater, awesome to apply, dried pretty quick. Amazing shine. But the colour!!! Oh WOW so so bright, vibrant and sexy, just a beautiful shade of red. Just right for Christmas! I bet Crimson Rose is amazing too, and these two together would look wicked.

So all in all I was really impressed with these polishes. All lovely to apply, quick drying time, and one amazing shine. Definitely a Gel finish. Any of these would be a great purchase for anyone who's after a gel effect, or a super shiny finish. Either way these polishes have WINNER written all over them :)
These polishes are priced at £3.49 each, and will be on sale in Superdrug stores nationwide and from Beauty UK from this weekend.
So what do you think, will you be getting any, and if so what colours?
Thanks for reading, and have a great evening :)


Tracey
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These polishes were sent to me by Beauty UK for review, and this is my honest opinion on them.

Sunday 22 September 2013

Blog Your Heart Out Award


I have be nominated for this award by the lovely Life in Lacquer. You can imagine my surprise at this nomination, I had no idea this award existed, yet along I'd be nominated for it!! :)

As part of this award, I have to answer these questions and nominate another five blogs.
So here we go......

1. What/who encouraged you to start blogging?
I have always been creative, starting out with cross stitch, then on to making and decorating celebration cakes. Then I stopped biting my nails, about 5/6 ish years ago, and as they grew longer I got into painting them. Then saw all this beautiful nail art on Google images, and thought why not!! So got more confident and started sharing my photos on Facebook. Got great feed back from this, and then started my blog.

2. How did you choose what topic(s) to blog about?
From nail polish reviews to nail art I try.

3. What is something that most people don't know about you?
I was a carer for my Mum.

4. What three words describe your style?
Bold, bright and different.

5. What do you like to do when you are not blogging?
Watching TV, listening to music. Looking after my 4 kids. Sometimes this happens all at once lol.

The five blogs I'm nominating for this award are:

So if you have been nominated, please answer the same five questions I have, and nominate another five blogs.

Thanks for reading

Tracey
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Saturday 21 September 2013

Second Blog Giveaway

End of the Month Giveaway :)


So for all you lovely people, I've decided to do another blog giveaway. There will be four winners this time, and only for UK residents, due to postage regulations. A selection of nail polishes, loose glitters and nail art bits :) :)

Here's whats up for grabs....

5 Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear


  4 Crayola Scented Polish


 10 Glitter pots


 Nail Art Accessories
This giveaway will run from today until mid-night on the 29th September, and I will contact each winner by the 1st October by e-mail. For more info, please read the terms and conditions at the end of the widget. Just enter below and Good Luck to you all :) :)

Tracey 
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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway from Confessions of a Secret Shopper

Confessions of a Secret Shopper

Advent Calendar Giveaway


The lovely Louise at Confessions of a Secret Shopper is have an Advent Calendar Giveaway. Up until a little while ago, when I first read her blog post I was totally unaware that at Christmas time there were beauty advent calendars and not just the chocolate one's for kids, and bigger kids!! So you can imagine my amazement at these. Four different calendars up fro grabs from Ciate, Benefit, Latest in Beauty and Lancome/L'Oreal. This giveaway is open internationally :)

This is the Ciate 2013 Advent Calendar:


How amazing does this look. Not sure if I could wait everyday to open a new window. I would know how my kids feel when they want to eat all the chocolate from theirs and I say no lol.

Anyway head on over to Confessions of a Secret Shopper and enter this fantastic giveaway yourselves :)
and Good luck...

Tracey
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Barry M Gelly and Foil Stamping

Barry M Gelly and Foil Effect Polish


So it's Saturday again! Time is going so fast, before we know it Christmas will be here!! Anyway today's manicure was created by using two of Barry M nail polishes. Gold Foil Effect and Gelly Polish in Blood Orange. I wanted to try out my squishy stamper again, as the past few attempts with it have failed, and I have heard so many people love theirs I wasn't prepared to give up. I have had the Barry M gelly for a while, but never used it! Not until today, and oh boy am I glad I did. What an awesome red! Could get away with one coat, but I did two, was a breeze to apply, with a nice size brush.






Lightbox with no lamp on.

Garden, before the rain!

I wanted to show you the change from inside to out. As I said one wicked red polish! I then used Cheecky Stamping Plate CH14 for a floral design, which I stamped in Barry M Gold Foil Effect. 


CH14



Just an amazing combination. These two compliment each other so beautifully. Yay! I got my squishy stamper to work, and I can see now why so many of you love it. Just amazing to stamp with, and the Foil Effect was a breeze to use for stamping too!

Lightbox no lamp


Lightbox with lamp

Garden, just started raining :(



I'm loving this design, and keep looking at my nails :) 
Do you like these two colours together? Have you done something like this yourself?
I love hearing what you guys think, and as always thank you for stopping by :)

Tracey 
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