17 by Boots ~ Crackle Top Coat

Hiya,

Today I'm showing a couple of quick shots of 17's original Crackle effect polish in light of the two new crackles that have just come out.  Of the crackles/shatters that I own this is my least favourite, unfortunately.

This is over two coats of Rimmel's Black Cab.  On the index and ring fingers I'm wearing top coat, the other two without for a more matte finish.  I put a thicker coat of crackle on the ring and pinky fingers which has given very slightly better defined cracks.

To me, this crackle just looks really stringy :-(  Has anyone tried the new ones?  What do you think, are they worth a buy?

Lisa xx

NOTD: Gemstone Overcoat on Black

Hello!

Today I used my beloved Gemstone Overcoat by Andrea Fulerton over 2 coats of Rimmel's Black Cab.  Gemstone Overcoat really does look best over black, and my nails remind me of burning embers and crumbling autumn leaves!  Whilst I believe in carrying bright colours throughout the year (never is a pop of colour more cheering than in miserable weather!), I think I will be wearing this mani a lot in the cold, dark months to come.

From experience I know that I don't suit dark, demure colours, but I think the Gemstone Overcoat would give an amazing Autumn look over a dark green - what do you think?

Hugs,

Lisa xx

OPI ~ Be A Dahl-ia Won't You?

 Hello!

This is my first venture into the world of OPI!  £10.50 per bottle being insanely over my price limit, I splashed out a bit on the 'Nice Stems!' mini set for £12.50.  Still paying over the odds, and I have to fiddle with mini brushes, but I get to have a taster of a top polish brand.

Here I tried 'Be A Dahl-ia Won't You?', a lovely shimmery hot pink polish. 

I have to say, the shimmer is REALLY top notch!  I think the mini brushes let me down slightly in terms of application and an even coverage, but it is a beautiful polish.


I have a question to ask of fellow polishers, however: what polishes do you like to combine with 'I Lily Love You'?  I tried it over Be a Dahl-ia..., and I could see it was beautiful, but it didn't show it off to its best.

So please tell me, what are your base colours for ILLY?!

Thanks and hugs,

Lisa xx

Boots No7 ~ So Simple

Hiya,

This is the latest '£5 off' Boots voucher purchase - a nude colour called So Simple.  Honestly I'm kind of wondering why I bought this, since I like my nails to stand out... I think I figured it might look good as a base for Konad stamping.

This is 3 coats of So Simple.  Even though it's not my style, I do like it.  It's a nice shade and applies decently.  If you like understated nails, I'd definitely recommend.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Quick Pics: Uber-Sparkly Moony Mani!

This was my first ever mani colouring the moons of my nails.  Maybe it is just a tad (!) too sparkly; over the dark sapphire I added Facets of Fuschia, then painted a top coat of INM Northern Lights silver holo glitter over the whole nail.

Glitter or no, I do like the combination of lilac and deep blue so I may do this again!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Boots No7 ~ Stand Back!

Hello,

Yet another '£5 off' voucher buy!  I love the name of this one and could not resist the bright, happy blue. 

The flash pic shows how bright it is.   It is SO cheerful.  No application issues like a couple of No7 polishes, I love it.  Unfortunately this blue does not suit my skin tone at all - I am completely clueless about who suits what, but even I can tell this time.  How depressing!  I will still be incorporating Stand Back! into my manis though (perhaps as polka dots?), it's too nice a polish not to!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Boots No7 ~ Salsa

Hello!

Here is another of my Boots voucher buys... I am going to have to learn to say "no" to the offer of discounted £2 nail polish!  This time I chose the colour 'Salsa', a vibrant rusty/orange-tinted red. 

Firstly, another shot of my new engagement ring with the polish:

^_^  ^_^  ^_^

Sorry for the upcoming blurry bottle shots, I totally forgot about them!

Here are some marginally better pictures of the polish:

 

Above are, in order: flash, indoor night, indoor day.

I have two coats of Salsa on in these pics - this suited me well as I was dashing out the door, but there was a little VNL and I think the colour would be a lot richer with a third coat.

I have to mention... no application issues this time!  I've had issues with some No7 polishes but this one applied just fine.  I really like it, it's a beautiful colour.  Well worth spending your '£5 off' voucher on!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Engagement Ring & Facets of Fuschia!

Hello!

Today I am ecstatic to announce that I am engaged!!!!!  My boyfriend proposed to me on Thursday and I am currently the happiest girl in the land.  Truly I could not ask for a more wonderful man with whom to spend the rest of my life.

And so my first pic of Revlon's Facets of Fuschia is a very special one, as it shows off my engagement ring ^_^

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ^_^

OK, I'll try to put the soppiness aside and get down to polishy business.  Today I am showing you Revlon's Facets of Fuschia which cost £6.49 - expensive for me, but I've seen so many people blogging about it that I couldn't resist picking it up at Boots.

I love this polish so much!!  And I found a fantastic base colour to pair it with - 17's Midnight Sapphire, a very deep shimmer blue.  The pics show one coat of Facets of Fuschia over two of Midnight Sapphire.

It is difficult to fully show off the polish in a photograph; because of the dark base (and the glitter in Facets itself is set in a black-ish jelly) it's not an incredibly loud glitter look, but it is deep.  So beautiful.  I actually wore this mani a couple of days ago, took it off to try out a No7 polish I bought, then put it straight back on after a day.  I am in love!

Happy hugs,

A Newly-Engaged Lisa

Cheeky Choppy Polka Dots!

Hello!

While I was away with my boyfriend, my über-cheap 99p dotting tools from eBay arrived in the post!  As planned, the first polka dot mani I painted used No7's pink coral Cheeky Chops on a white base.

Oh-so cheery!  I added a reverse-color accent nail on my ring finger which I'm a little embarrassed to show you because of the state of my cuticles.  Better care is definitely needed!

What are your favourite polka dot colour combos?

Hugs,

Lisa xx

17 by Boots ~ Sweet Kisses

Hello!

This is just to quickly show you another of 17's Spring polishes (a little late I know, but cute polish is for all year round in my eyes!).  Sweet Kisses is a light, delicate pink:

As with the couple of other light pink polishes in my collection, it's quite hard to get an even, completely opaque finish.  I managed it here with 3 coats and a top coat to even it out though and, once I'd done that, I loved it!  The entire Spring set (pale pink Sweet Kisses, pale lilac Woo Me, grey Chaperone, brown/nude Forever) is so delicate and romantic.  They are firm favourites in my collection!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

17 by Boots ~ Bolt From The Blue

Hello,

Well, today is firmly a Nail Fail.  I have already mentioned in my 17 Pictacular that the formula for Bolt From The Blue is not good.  I was very disappointed because, when I was choosing polish for my birthday, this one jumped out at me as a colour that I REALLY wanted - an extremely light, creamy pastel blue.

However, I decided to give the polish another chance, being careful with my application and applying it as evenly as possible.  Here is the result:

You can see it in the picture and it's a lot worse in the flesh: thick and streaky.  The formula is gloopy and it applies terribly; if you're not careful the polish drags across the nail and spoils the mani, and if you want to even out the colour you need to apply so much polish it would never set properly - especially with the thick formula. 

17 have some amazing polishes (just check the aforementioned Pictacular) and I am definitely not put off buying their polish, but it's always disappointing to get a dud :-( 

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Boots No7 ~ Lucky Lilac

Hello!

This is another of my £5-off Boots voucher purchases (every time I think I'm free, they give me another voucher and I just have to use it >.<).  I adore the colour lilac so this was a must-buy at the discounted price of £2!  Here it is:

The first is a flash photo and the second was taken in natural light the next day after I added INM's Northern Lights silver holo glitter top coat (it looked REALLY nice, by the way).

I had the same problem with Lucky Lilac as I've had with the other No7 polishes; the application does not put you in a good mood.  They could really do with changing their brushes to something softer, as it is a shame - definitely, for me at least, a major criterion for adoring a polish is a nice application. 

All the same, after I'd finished applying it and added a top coat to even out the finish, it looked just lovely.  I didn't have my fave polish, 17's Woo Me, with me for comparison - being that 17 and No7 are both Boots' own brands and both pale lilacs, I thought they seemed quite similar.  So now I'm back home, I took some photos comparing the two.  Here we are:

I love them both!!  No7 describe their polish on the bottle as being 'Pigment Rich', and indeed Lucky Lilac is brighter and the more colourful.  It looks lovely, but I do still adore Woo Me's more delicate colour.  I am very happy to have both in my collection :-D

Aaaand Boots have decided to continue their '£5 off No7' promotion when you spend over a certain amount (I think it's £5?).  The new vouchers expire on the 23rd of October.  I already know what polish I'm getting with the voucher in my purse and I will be sure to show it here once I get it!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

New Polish, AKA Naughty Lis-Lis Spends Money She Hasn't Got

Hiya!  This is an in-between post to show off a couple of new buys :-)

Well, today I went into town to confirm my attendance at university... lectures start next week, eek!!!  As well as being a good girl and getting books from the library on French politics and the history of Paris, I went to redeem my latest Boots No7 voucher.  My choice was a very bright and cheery blue called 'Stand Back!'.  While I was in Boots, I spotted Revlon's new 'Facets of Fuchsia' - and after looking at the reviews on fellow polishers' blogs, I just had to buy it.  Unfortunately I couldn't see 'Starry Pink' though... is that just a US release?  Next to Facets was a polish called 'Smoky Haze' or something similar.  It was nice, but Revlon polish is really too expensive for me at £6.49 so I stuck with Facets.

I also spotted 17's new polishes.  I had the shiny mauve/purple one and the purple crackle in my hand ready to buy at one point, but the new shades aren't really my style and I'm kind of getting over crackles, so common sense kicked in and I put them down.  I will show you 17's original crackle polish on here though in case you want an idea of their formula before buying the new ones.

Aaaaand... I went to posh local department store Fenwick to gaze at their OPI collection.  Normally it isn't too hard to resist them, because their £10.50 price tag is insane!!!  But as I was drooling over 'I Lily Love You' my eyes wandered down, and there was the Nice Stems mini set for £12.50.  Still expensive, but yep, I bought it.  My first OPI polishes!

Here is a piccy of today's buys:



I want to wear my current delicate floral mani for as long as I can get away with it, but I cannot wait to try my new colours!!

I'll stop blabbing here, bye bye!

Lisa xx

Delicately Patterned Nails

Hello!

Today is definitely one of my favourite Konad stamping efforts.  I'm learning that different polishes have drastically different and unpredictable success rates!  I found that Rimmel's Azure (shown on its own here) worked well, and I used it to stamp the delicate floral pattern on Konad's m71 plate onto a base of 2 coats of Boots Natural collection's Sugar Mouse.

I think it looks beautiful!  Even though I'm a bit of an attention-seeker with my nails and would usually go for more standout colours, I am in love with this delicate mani.  I actually like the little bit of VNL as well... to me it just adds to the delicate look.  I'll be wearing this till my nails look tired for sure ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Rimmel ~ Azure

Hello, and sorry for my absence!  I am back from a week spent with my amazing boyfriend (very sad that it's over), and ready to get back to regular posting.

The polish I am showing you today is '198 Azure' from Rimmel London's 'I <3 Lasting Finish' line, bought for £2.99 from Boots.  It's a lovely metallic blue colour.  I'll go straight into the piccies!

(oops, my non-flash pics turned out blurry)

Here I am wearing 2 coats of Azure topped with a coat of Double Duty. 

Without top coat, the polish has slightly matte, cold metallic look which is fantastic.  You get an idea of the colour in the above flash photo.  With a top coat the colour warms up slightly and you get a richer hue.  Both outcomes look great! 

I do have a moan, however... about 20-30 minutes after finishing my mani I went to make a romantic dinner of microwave pepperoni pizza.  And during the removing-the-plastic-and-shoving-it-in-the-microwave process, the polish came right off my left thumbnail.  Do you think I allowed a reasonable amount of time for the polish to dry before touching anything?!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Notification of Silliness

So, when coming to spend a few days in a village with my boyfriend, I remembered to pack my camera like a good little nail blogger.  But, cleverly, I forgot to pack the USB cable so I could upload my polish pics. 

I might add some lower-quality webcam pics during the week, but proper pics and blogging should recommence on Wednesday or Thursday of next week - apologies!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Blue Rose Mani

Bonjour!

First of all, credit to Wacky Laki for inspiring me with her stunning nails!

My manicure is not nearly as good, but I am learning - and does anyone have any tips on how to get the best results with Konad stamping?  My stamper keeps either not picking up the design or only picking up part of it.  I found a tip online that advised gently filing the rubber stamper, and that did help, but I'm still getting patchy results.

Anyway!  The piccies!

Luckily the mani looks absolutely beautiful from arm's length, so I'm hoping that when I'm out and about people won't see the imperfections!  ;-)

For the base manicure I used Andrea Fulerton's French Manicure set in Bright White & Crème, £7.99 from Superdrug.  It's not my style to wear a plain French manicure, but it is a very good set and I enjoyed sprucing it up!  The rose print is from Konad plate m54 and the polish I stamped with is True Blue by 17.

I am writing this post on Wednesday night, because tomorrow I go to stay in a village with my lovely boyfriend for a few days!  I will be sneaking a few polishes into my bag just in case though!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Dry Marbling

Hello!

This mani was inspired by Gettin' Girlie's beautiful nails!  I followed the same tutorial by Enamel Girl.  Major compliments to both!

Knowing my creative clumsiness, I only made enough marbling for a couple of accent nails and used expendable polish.  My first attempt failed as the marbled polish wouldn't peel off the plastic!  I succeeded in the second attempt though (using thicker layers of polish and more pliable plastic) and here are the results:

I mixed 17's Mini Skirt (white), Sweet Kisses (pink), Bolt From The Blue (very light blue), and La Femme Beauty's Lilac Cream polishes for the marbling.  I painted all my nails with 2 coats of Andrea Fulerton's Bright White before applying the marbling to my left ring finger and thumb and my right index finger.

I adore it!!  My index finger got the best design in my opinion.  Next time I am definitely going to be more neat and careful when applying the marbling and cleaning up, but overall I am quite proud of myself ^_^

Have you ever tried this?  Link me to your marbling pics if you have!

Hugs,

Lisa

Blushing Polish & Kawasaki Rose

Hello!

This is just an in-between post - a dry marbling attempt will follow this afternoon!  Just wanted to show you another hobby of mine, origami...



Much love,

Lisa xx

Boots No7 ~ Cheeky Chops

Hello!

Today I will be showing off the second No7 nail polish I got for £2 with a '£5 off' voucher (see the other, Vivid Violet, here).  It is delightfully named Cheeky Chops and the colour makes me think of a blushing cartoon piggy!

I chose it because I thought it would look great in a polka dot design (since I just broke my no-buy and bought dotting tools on eBay).  And, in fact, rosy cheeks are the best way I can think of to describe this cheery pink polish, so well done to whoever named this at No7 Towers ^_^

Like with Vivid Violet, I got off to a bit of a bad start with the application - somehow the brush often either gloops the polish on or carries too little and drags the polish around the nail.  Also there was a rogue loose bristle that I had to pull out with tweezers.  However, once I'd applied 3 coats it was well worth the minor annoyance - you're getting 6 pics of this polish because it looks absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't bear to chuck away any photos!! 

Indoors with mild sunlight:

With flash:

Taken by my window:

I LOVE IT. 

The polish has a slight jelly look to it and is just so darn cheerful!  I like the look of it best in natural, weak English sunlight, but it looks amazing all the time.  I will definitely be wanting to use it a lot, and can't wait till my dotting tools arrive so I can show it off some more!

I CANNOT SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS POLISH.  I would even venture to say that it's worth its normal price of £7... bear in mind that I am a big cheapskate and normally falter around the £3.50 mark.

So what do you think... am I a girl of strange tastes or is this truly as nice a colour as I think it is?

Hugs,

Lisa xx