Tutorial ~ How to apply Full Nail Water Decals

Hello!

I have been a bit brave and made a video! It shows how to apply fiddly-yet-beautiful full nail water decals. It was only filmed on my poor Samsung Galaxy Ace, but hopefully the commentary guides you through!

The decals in the tutorial can be bought at YR Nails for £1.50; I bought them and am a happy customer!

Hope it helps,

Lisa xx

Liebster Award!

Hello!

I was very kindly nominated for the Liebster Award by Tara of Tara'sTalons! The award seems to be a sweet way of sharing and spreading the love of smaller blogs, which makes me smile and can only be a good thing! Copied from Tara, the way it works is that you:

- post 11 random facts about yourself
- answer 11 questions the person who nominated you has asked 
- ask 11 questions, and 
- link 11 blogs with less than 200 followers (not including the blogger who nominated you).

So here goes!


11 Random Facts about myself

1. I just left my job yesterday; I'm very sad but it had to be done.
   
2. Today I received some full nail decals from YRNails in the post, and can't wait to try them.
   
3. My family has a beautiful white tortoiseshell cat, officially named Vienna, unofficially called anything but!
   
4. I love the Sims 2; currently, Sim-Lisa is waiting for her husband to die so she can move on, start a business and become a White Witch!!!
   
5. I love watching Masterchef but do not cook at all.
   
6. I am 24 but have a Hello Kitty advent calendar, oh yes!
   
7. I have met Dita Von Teese twice; she is very kind and polite - she took the time to remember my name and photo before meeting me - and of course she is a great performer!
   
8. I lived just south of Paris for 9 months as part of my uni course.
   
9. I used to be a goth; I still love the lacy, romantic side, but can't stand skulls and spikes anymore.
   
10. My bedroom is an Absolute Tip.
    
11. I have very bad depression but am currently doing well and learning how to help myself; it definitely gets better!

11 Questions asked by my Nominator, Tara (thank you!)

1. Where did you grow up?
   Right here in Gateshead, North-East England!
   
2. What is the best thing about where you grew up?
   We're paired with Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and together we have an amazing culture, lots of history and the perfect mix of old and new.
   
3. If you could only use one range of polishes for a whole year, which brand would you choose?
   Barry M! They have a great range and are always coming out with new on-trend collections.
   
4. What is your party trick?
   I do origami and can make Inflatable Bunnies and a really cute bird.
   
5. Why do you blog?
   Well I've been pretty bad at it recently (sorry!), but mostly I love all things pretty and being enthusiastic about brands I've bought and loved.
   
6. What is your favourite animal?
   Cats! =^.^=
   
7. If you had to live in another country, where would you choose?
   Probably France because I speak the language and it would be good practise to live there again :-)
   
8. What blog is your favourite/gives you the most inspiration?
   I couldn't possibly choose because it's the pick-and-mix of everyone's amazing ideas that gives me inspiration!
   
9. What three famous/well known people (living or dead) would you invite to a dinner party and why?
   Marilyn Manson, because he's funny and clever. Prof. Brian Cox, because he has the same childlike wonder and enthusiam for science as I do. Jesus, to get his thoughts on negativity in the name of Christianity.
   
10. How did you get interested in nails?
    My mam bought me my first polish from the local pharmacy when I was very young! Somewhere between the ages of 6 and 9. It was a very "fake" pink by Laura Paige.
    
11. What is your favourite TV programme?
    At the moment it's Fringe, packed with intrigue, suspense and weird science!

11 Question for my Nominees

1. What do you have on your nails right now?
2. If you could choose a zoo animal as a pet, which would it be?
3. What did you want to be growing up?
4. What was the coolest thing you ever learnt/did in school?
5. If you could learn any language, what would it be?
6. Are you interested in makeup/fashion in general?
7. What is the best thing about your hometown?
8. What is the worst thing about your hometown?
9. What do you think the new Royal baby should be named (sorry if you hate the Royals!!)?
10. If you could only eat one thing for a week, what would it be?
11. If you could design a signature nail polish representing you, what would it look like?

And, my nominees!

Pretty Kitty Claws

The Teenage Shopaholic

The Nail Noodle

Crazy Polishes

JustTalkNails

PenguinsLeftGreenPolish

She who does nails

Nuthin' but a nail thing

Nail Pron

Pie's Eyes & Other Sparkly Stories...

Emma's Little Corner

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Sparkly Heart Bracelets!

Hello!

This is a quick break from my polishy posting to show off the bracelets I got from the website I work for! They are Shamballa heart bracelets in pink, blue, clear and purple and they are prettyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Regular readers will hopefully know that I only big up products that I genuinely love. I bought these bracelets myself out of my paycheque and, aside from being sparkly and beautiful, they remind me of my journey through recovering from depression.

They are on sale right here :-)

In polishy news, I have again been a naughty LisLis. I got the two Models Own polishes free with More magazine at the moment and am currently wearing Nude Beige (one coat!!) with an extremely glittery topping! Pics to come!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Barry M ~ Ruby Glitter

Hello!

First of all, some good news regarding my Sally's saga! The back story is that I ordered 7 polishes from them; they could only send 1 yet charged me the same shipping. Yesterday I received an email containing a very profuse apology and promising an immediate refund of my £4.75 shipping. I'm more than happy with that. Phew!

Now, onto today's polish! Barry M's new Ruby Glitter. I really shouldn't have bought it, but couldn't resist the combination of mysterious red sparkle and a 3 for 2 offer. Naughty LisLis.

Ruby Glitter contains larger borderline red/pink hex glitter and smaller black glitters. I chose to layer 2 coats over a deep plum, Nails Inc.'s Victoria. Here it is with top coat:

It's pretty!!!

I think a plum colour is really the perfect base for Ruby Glitter, but I would like to try it over a lighter colour to see the black glitter a bit more. It is really cool though, reminds me of cranberries with all the Thanksgiving talk going on!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Boots 17 ~ Wishing Star

Hello!

Today I have for you Wishing Star by 17. It's a new release and is labelled as a 'Dazzle The Night' polish. It costs £2.99 but Boots have a 'Buy 1, Get 1 Half Price' deal on cosmetics right now so I chose this along with a Models Own glitter which I am also excited to try!

I have lots of photos of Wishing Star because it changes in the light and it is GORGEOUS. It's champagne! It's green! It's lilac! It's foily! It's sparkly! It's vintage! It's party!

Heehee ^_^ I do rather like this polish. Shown below are 3 coats of Wishing Star in various lights.

Did I mention I love this polish?

Wishing Star looks like it would be incredible as a layering polish as well, so I will be trying it out over some colours soon!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

YRNails Water Decals

Hello!

This post is showcasing a couple of the water decals I bought from YRNails with my very first paycheque! It's a UK site and has lovely unique decals for £1 each, which seemed like the perfect way to treat myself despite my scary overdraft ^_^


This first mani is using my Lace Heart decals on accent nails - smaller ones on my ring fingers and larger ones on my thumbs. Lovelovelovelovelove...

And the mani I'm wearing right now features my Eiffel Tower decals on all nails! The base polish is 'Without A Stitch' by Sally Hansen which I bought today from my trusty market stall - I'd say it is a delicate latte colour and it is very chic! Voici mes ongles français...

Ohhhhhh la la!

Câlins,

Lisa xx

P.S. Sad-face update: I ended up filing a Paypal claim for my Shrieked water decals, which was upheld and Paypal refunded my money! As for Sally's, I have emailed their customer services twice now with no response.

Lisa's Happy-Face First Payday Post

Hello and welcome to the Happy-Face post!

Well, after three weeks of settling in and being very happy at my new job, I received my first paycheque on Thursday! I am so proud; I keep thinking about how far I've come and how much I've struggled to get to this point. I am still working very hard to stay mentally well and am trying to improve my life in tiny little steps; fingers crossed!

Mostly I need my wages to get me out of my scarily big overdraft, but I have allowed myself some treats! I ordered some water decals from YR Nails which I cannot wait to receive, and today I bought 5 lovely nail polishes. Superdrug has a 3 for 2 sale on all cosmetics right now (the cashier told me and I was like, *backs away from till and dashes to the make-up section*!), so I bought Barry M's Blackberry, Accessorize's Ladybird and Collection's Love Jewel. Then on my fave market stall I found two promising Sally Hansens for £1.99 each - Spectrum looks like a green-blue mermaid shimmer with a flash of purple, and Crinoline looks like Lavender Cloud except with a pink tint instead. I cannot wait to try them out but Ladybird might be first on my list!

Also with my wages I bought an alumnus membership to my university library (£20 for a year, so good!) so I can do the reading I couldn't do at uni when I was depressed. Language truly is my passion and I definitely want to learn more.

Aaaaaaand, I got some new clothes for an incredible price from Primark! I may show you them in another post, highlights are a loose pink knitted cardi and a navy blue polka-dotted dress that I feel really pretty in ^_^

Oh, and finally I got some jewellery from the site I work for that I have yet to pick up. I will definitely be showing you those as I'm very proud to associated with such nice jewellery!!!

I hope you enjoyed my happy-face post and hope also that it made up for the sad-face one!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Lisa's Sad-Face Online Seller Post

Hello!

This is a strange post for me to make as I'm usually very positive and enthusiastic about all the lovely nail treasures I've found. However, I've had a run of bad luck recently and wanted to share two bad online experiences I'm having. But I will be posting a Happy-Face post after this one because a lot of good things have happened to me recently too!

--------------------

Firstly, Shrieked. After noticing shares and pins of photos featuring their beautiful water decals, I found their Big Cartel store and purchased a set of Swooping Birds decals. That was on 12/10/12. I never received my decals and have not had a word of communication from Shrieked; nor have Big Cartel, who have contacted them twice on my behalf. I have now submitted a Paypal claim which will hopefully get me my product or my money back. So a word of warning to watch out for Shrieked.

--------------------

Secondly, Sally's. I know a lot of others got caught up in this too! They had a crazy-good deal with China Glazes priced at £1.30 and on 3 for 2! I bought 6 China Glazes and a bottle of Gelous, which all would have cost me £15 with shipping. Instead they massively messed up and ran out of the China Glaze so, without asking me, they just sent the Gelous and charged me over £10 for that and shipping - a price I never, ever would have paid for one bottle of polish! I emailed them 5 days ago asking politely for the shipping to be refunded, and I have yet to receive a response.

I think Sally's have really messed up here and shown themselves to be such a bad business. To a) sell to both retail and trade, and b) to put on crazy deals without having a live stock updating system is unthinkable really. But the terrible customer service is what makes it the worst!

--------------------

So, this is my Sad-Face post. Of course if anything changes I will update the blog (and clear the sellers' names if they come up with an amazing excuse for having messed me around!). Now enough negativity and onto the Happy-Face post!

See you in a minute,

Lisa xx

Happy Halloween!

Hello!

Well it has been a scary Halloween so far, as I had to have my blood taken and of course I went all faint! And sadly that is the extent of my Halloween fun as I don't do parties and I'm not sure I could get away with trick-or-treating at my age and weight ;-)

However, I did do two special manis over the past week for the occasion. The one I have on now is little devils stamped over a fiery sponged gradient! Here it is...

...and the other was spooky pumpkins stamped over bright, bright orange:

Woooooooooooooooo!

I did love experimenting with my nails for Halloween, but I can't believe I used to be a goth because I'm really wanting to go back to girly manis now! I guess my days of rebellion are over :-(

Hope you all have lots of fun today!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Barry M ~ Orange Web Effect

Hello!

For Halloween, Barry M have released a limited edition orange 'Web Effect' polish. From what I've heard it's the same formula as their Croc Effect, but nonetheless a cool idea. Recently they've had a promotion in Superdrug where you buy 2 Barry Ms and get a crackle/croc/web polish free, so I picked this up along with a Gelly and a Jewel :-)

I asked the lovely ladies in the 'A Brit of Nail Polish' Facebook group for advice on the best application, and I was told to apply it to touch dry polish with as thin a layer as possible, using the other side of the brush to brush off any excess. This worked and I got a good result, so thank you!! For my base polish I went for a very light pastel green, Absolutely Shore by Essie. Here is the result with top coat:

I wouldn't exactly call it a web, but it's still pretty cool! It does not suit my skin tone at all though, so I'm not sure if I will be wearing it long :-( Still, props to Barry M for all the great ideas they've been coming out with as of late.

Spooky hugs,

Lisa xx

Pinspiration ~ Pink, Lace and Ribbons

Hello!

For today's mani I remembered an amazing manicure by Red Sonja I have pinned on my Nail Inspiration board on Pinterest: pink nails, some French, some solid, with lace and baby bottle stamping. For my copycat mani I used Nails Inc.'s Power Pink (the one that came free with InStyle magazine) and replaced the bottles with Bundle Monster's full-nail ribbon design. Here it is!

I am so happy with this look and never would have thought of it myself. Thanks so much Red Sonja for the inspiration!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Gosh ~ Holographic Hero

Holo ahoy!

Ever since Gosh released Holographic Hero I've been popping in and out of Superdrug looking for it with no joy... until last week, when I spotted one lone bottle and snapped it up! It's great to see a holo polish on the British high street!

The bottle cap states in great big letters that this polish is "one night wear for holographic lovers" so I wasn't expecting much mileage. In fact after 24 hours I only had a tiny chip on my index finger which was easily patched up. This morning, 2 days after applying it, I had a big chip of polish come off my thumb but I needed a new mani anyway. So I am pleasantly surprised by the wear time!

You can't wear top coat over Holographic Hero because it ruins the holo finish, so I tried a "sandwich" technique I'd heard from other polishers: I applied 2 coats of HH, one of top coat then a final coat of HH. Here's how it looked:

Yaaaaaaay, holo goodness! The silver linear holo is beautiful and I was a very happy Lisa ^_^

And here it is the day after, still perfect and still shimmering away:

I am so pleased I managed to get a bottle!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Barry M ~ Pomegranate

Hello!

Today I am showing you Pomegranate, one of Barry M's new Gelly Hi-Shine collection. To clear any confusion, this isn't a jelly polish ~ rather, it gives a super-glossy opaque finish.

Pomegranate is a lovely rich red colour with just a hint of pink. The polish consistency is workably thick and you can tell straight away that it would be good for stamping (and I am going to be trying it out soon!). It dried super-fast making for a convenient mani! I applied 2 coats but could have gotten away with one with slight VNL.

So, here it is!

I really like this! It has such a professional finish. I would especially use this if I wanted to a great-impression manicure but didn't have time or energy to spend on my nails. And I'll definitely go back to buy more of the Gellies!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Barry M ~ Rose Quartz

Hello!

Today I have for you the second of my Barry M Jewel glitter purchases, Rose Quartz. This is a sprinkle/top coat glitter consisting of small silver glitter with a rainbow shimmer and larger rose hex glitter in a clear base.

For my photos I tried Rose Quartz over the following polishes:

Index ~ bare nail
Middle ~ Sally Hansen's Lavender Cloud (lavender-hinted white)
Ring ~ 17's Sweet Kisses (pastel pink)
Pinky ~ Nails Inc.'s Power Pink (bright pink)

Here is one coat of Rose Quartz:

And two coats of Rose Quartz:

Personally I think 2 coats is perfect and gives a ton of bling! Like Gold Mine, this cost me £2.99 and is brilliantly special and unique. I only wish they'd somehow made this into a full-cover glitter, now that would be something!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Barry M ~ Gold Mine

Hello!

Today I have for you Gold Mine, one of Barry M's new Jewel glitter polishes. It has lots of gold glitter pieces suspended in a black polish, and it is opaque in 2 coats! The glitter sits well in the polish so that it doesn't get obscured in the black base. It truly looks stunning. 

The photos show 2 coats of Gold Mine with 1 of top coat:

One thing is that, because of the nature of the glitter, the finish isn't super-smooth and I got a couple of bumps where the glitter didn't settle right.  A gentle prod with an orange stick and a second layer of top coat would do the trick though :-)

Gold Mine only cost me £2.99, and right now there's an offer on at Superdrug where you get a free crackle polish with every Barry M purchase over £6. Especially for that price it is truly a special polish, and I'm very excited by all the new trends Barry M has been unveiling recently! Keep 'em coming!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

A Little Haul!

Hello!

Yesterday I went into town to print off my CV for a job interview (eek!), and while I was there I was very naughty and treated myself to a few goodies!

Firstly I went to Superdrug, where for the first time I saw one lone bottle of Gosh's Holographic Hero! People are saying that it's not as good as the original one, but seeing a holo polish on the British high street was too great a temptation to resist! Also, I was delighted to see Barry M's new Gelly collection and two of their new Jewel glitter polishes on display. I chose the Pomegranate Gelly polish (but will probably go back for more) and the two glitters, which were Rose Quartz and Gold Mine. There was an offer on Barry M where you receive a free crackle polish with a £6 purchase, so I chose the purple one ~ honestly I don't use crackles anymore but will try it out, and if it's not for me I will try to find it a happy home ^_^

Next, I had a quick rummage through my trusty local cosmetics stall, and found two bottles of Sally Hansen that caught my eye. The HD polish is called Blu and the Salon Manicure one is Navy Baby, which has a beautiful shimmer in the bottle. I also bought a cuticle remover gel as I am desperately trying to improve the condition of my nails.

And finally I popped into Lush to look for the product that everyone's been talking about, Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter! Already I can tell you that the scent is heavenly. I am going to try my best to be consistent and apply this 2-3 times a day, and I'll let you know if it helps!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Some Stamping!

Hello!

Whilst I haven't always been able to keep up with posting here, I've still been experimenting with stamping and posting some pictures on Instagram. So I'll post three of my favourite attempts here. All have been done using Bundle Monster's latest set, the plates beginning with number 3. I would say that this set is the most invaluable part of my polish paraphernalia, without a doubt! There are so many beautiful designs to choose from and I've barely begun to try them all.

Rose-print nails:

Floral nails:

Paisley-print nails:

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Blue China Nails

Hello!

As a present for having gotten my degree, my lovely mam bought me some nail polishes! Included was the 'Urban Girl' set by BeautyUK which I'm sure she found in Superdrug. In the set was a blue-lavender polish, and the moment I saw it I knew what I wanted to try ~ a china pattern mani!

I painted my ring fingers white and the rest with the blue-lavender, then stamped in the alternate colour using the tulip pattern on plate BM306. The BeautyUK polish stamped way too faintly, but amazingly I found another polish in my collection that stamped to a good match! Here it is:

Thank you mam!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

W7 ~ Salt n Pepper

Hello!

I bought W7's Salt n Pepper when it first came out and was being talked about a lot in my Facebook groups ~ then wondered why I did, as I never seemed to want to try it on! I am wearing it for the first time today though, and boy am I glad that I bought it because it looks amazing! Salt and peppery indeed. The photos below show 3 coats, and the matte black glitter and the way it shows through each layer of polish is simply perfect.

Super happy with this!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Job Centre Interview Nails ^_^

Hello!

As I said in my last post, I have just been told I've been awarded a Third Class Honours in my French degree, and so am going out into the world to look for work! I had a Job Centre interview lined up before I got the news, and wanted to make a good impression with a "polite" manicure (even though people will show up in tracksuits, anything they fancy!) so I reached for Care to Danse? by OPI, the lovely lilac French shade. I built some opacity with a few coats and wore it alone rather than with a French tip :-)

The interview went really well, they were very friendly and gave me some useful help.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Geordie Nails, BA (Hons) at your service!

Hello!

This is just a little personal entry to say that I have been awarded a Third Class Honours degree in French! This is a massive deal because for a long time I have been struggling with depression and it is frankly a miracle that I made it this far. My university has been incredibly supportive and it's with their help and understanding that I managed to graduate. I am so so proud and happy.

So now I am about to venture into the grown-up world of work! I think having a job will do wonders for my mental wellbeing, as well as subsidising my polish addiction of course ;-) Time to get job searching!

Thanks so much for reading, and I'll be writing some posts to show my latest manis tonight!

Hugs,

Lisa

MeMeMe ~ Virtuous

Hello!

Now this is a confusing polish and a half! I got MeMeMe's Virtuous as part of my birthday haul back in June, and I'm just getting round to trying it now. On the website, the swatch looked like a cheerful yellow. When it arrived, it looked a mustardy colour. Looking at it in the bottle tonight, it looked like a weird Shrekky sludge. And on my nails, it looks a lovely pale olive!!! So strange.

Despite the confusion this is a really great polish. Like the other MeMeMes I bought, it has a fab formula, well-pigmented and is opaque in 2 coats. For this mani I added accent stripes in purple using striping tape.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Pinspiration ~ Framing and Stamping!

Hello!

After I applied Revlon's White on White yesterday, I was wondering what exactly to do with it ~ then I remembered this manicure by Kayla Shevonne that I'd pinned to my Nail Inspiration board on Pinterest! It comprises beautiful black-on-white floral stamping with a skilled freehand black border. For my own nails I decided to use a butterfly design from Bundle Monster's latest plates, then did my very best to paint a neat border! Here it is:

I really like the framed mani idea, and am pleased with the result, but the problem is that I'm a perfectionist ~ I just can't keep a scruffy-looking mani, and my "frame" is not nearly neat enough for my liking! Are there any tips for doing it perfectly?

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Revlon ~ White on White

Hello!

I am always on the look out for good whites that I can use as a base for my manis! I bought Revlon's White on White for £1.99 from my cosmetics stall, so well worth a try.

The below photos show 2 coats! If I were wearing the polish alone and wanted a perfect finish I probably would have added a 3rd, but you can get away with 2 and it's definitely enough if you're planning to use it as a base for more polish or nail art (which I was, and I'll show you tomorrow!).

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Sally Hansen ~ Lavender Marquis

Hello!

Lavender Marquis is the result of wanting to buy a polish, any polish, to cheer myself up lol. It looked pretty in the bottle but when I got it home I realised it's the kind of sheer pearl that I'm really not a fan of! Here are 3 coats:

Meh. I mean it's a pretty colour, but still all bland and wishy-washy. Will I learn my lesson about buying polishes for the sake of it? Doubt it!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Lavender Cloud, Stamped

Hello!

After I'd applied Sally Hansen's Lavender Cloud yesterday, I wanted to embellish the gorgeous polish with some stamping. I chose the curly flourish pattern from Bundle Monster's newest plates, stamped it in silver and added lilac foil hearts as little accents. It turned out to be a beautiful colour combination and a result I was in love with <3

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Sally Hansen ~ Lavender Cloud

New favourite polish alert!

Sally Hansen's Lavender Cloud was bought from my local cosmetics stall for a bargainous £1.99. As I've said before, I am a sucker for creamy shades, so this almost-white-with-a-touch-of-lavender was a dream to me.

The pros of this polish include: the amount of it you get in the huge bottle; the wide brush; it cleans up well around the cuticles with an orange stick, and it is OPAQUE IN 2 COATS! It's a miracle! As a con, the formula is a little runny - but once I realised I was done in 2 coats, I did not care at all.

Here are two photos in natural light and one with flash to better show the lavender hue:

Love, love, in love. Now I'm just deciding whether to stamp over it in lilac or silver.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Miss Sporty ~ 304

Hello!

Today we have polish number 304 by Miss Sporty (I wish they had names on the bottle!), bought for 99p from my local cosmetics stall. 304 is a very bright creme, red verging on the edge of pink I would say. It wasn't the smoothest of applications but I only needed 2 coats for a very standout colour. I then accented both my ring fingers with the lovely trailing flower pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM318. Here it is!

Simple but bold!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

W7 ~ Pink Pearl

Hello!

I found Pink Pearl by W7 for £1.99 on my local cosmetics stall. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be sheerer than sheer, but it had such ethereal pink flecks in it that I couldn't resist anyway!

The pics below show 3 coats of Pink Pearl on its own on my index and middle fingers, then 1 coat over a baby pink on the ring and pinky fingers. Photo 1 is in natural light, Photo 2 with flash.

I wish I could have photographed the shimmery flecked pink better, but it is really lovely over the base colour. Definitely a layering polish though! Normally I would avoid such a polish but the finish of this is so nice that I would go for it. Not a boring pearl!

Hugs,

Lisa xx