Pink Glitter Gradient Manicure

Hello!

Today's manicure is an extremely sparkly pink glitter gradient. I bought the Nicole by OPI Kardashian mini set a while back and never got round to trying Wear Something Spar-Kylie, so here it is!

For this mani I painted a coat of MeMeMe's Graceful as a sheer French base then sponged a little pink polish over my nail tips in case the glitter didn't fully cover them. I then sponged on Wear Something Spar-Kylie ~ the base is slightly pink-tinted which looks nice when sponged ~ and topped it with two coats of Seche Vite for a glassy finish.

A happy side effect of this manicure is that I found that sponging a colour onto your tips makes for a beautiful French manicure! I will definitely revisit this.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Floral Purple French

Hello!

I cut my nails short over the weekend as the cold weather really wasn't doing them any favours, so I will be experimenting with ideas for short nails for a little while!

Today's manicure is a purple French tip with white floral stamping over it. For the tips I used page reinforcer stickers as guides and painted further down than my natural nail tip - I have long nail beds and this makes my nails look nicely in proportion! I then painted a coat of MeMeMe's Graceful, a sheer French shade, then stamped over the lot using Konad plate m71.

I feel this French look is great for people like me with short nails yet long nail beds and long fingertips. When I cut my nails I'm only left with 1-2mm of white at most and it always looks a bit rubbish for a while!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Jade ~ Vestido de Gala (Again!)

Hello!

This weekend I wanted a quick-but-striking manicure in case I feel up to going out at some stage, and Jade's Vestido de Gala was my choice. Rich squishy berry purple with holographic sparkles, jelly finish but opaque in 2 coats, perfect!

This polish makes me think of spiced berry tea, a lovely connotation since it's so very cold. Brrrrrrrrr!

Thanks go to Sally Magpies who I won the polish from a few months ago ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Frills & Dots Manicure

Hello!

Today I tried a manicure idea that didn't work out too well, but I wanted to show you anyway :-)

For my base colour I painted 3 coats of OPI's Don't Touch My Tutu!, a sheer white shade. Then I stamped the ribbon frill pattern from Konad's m71 plate down the side of my nail. On the rest of the nail I stamped polka dots using this plate from KKCenterHK.

As you can see the fail is in my clumsy stamping! I didn't quite get the frilly edge aligned right and my dots are a bit haphazard. I still quite like the idea though so never mind, at least I tried!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Blossom Manicure

Hello!

Today's manicure is a revisit of this design I did a few months ago, inspired by a keepsake box I have which has silver fabric with a blue and pink cherry blossom print. This time I used my MoYou Pro 07 plate for stamping as this has quite a similar blossom pattern to the box. The polishes are the same though: Revlon's Metallic, Sally Hansen's The Sky's The Limit and Barry M's Grapefruit.

I'm considering asking for a couple of the new MoYou plates for Christmas as they really are beautiful and innovative, but I'm still a bit wary after my first order. People seem to be raving about the brand in stamping and polish groups, yet I know there have been a lot of order mixups and my Pro 07 plate is badly etched in places. I'd really like to hear more about other people's experiences so please do leave a comment if you have ordered from MoYou and tried your plate(s)!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Red & Polka Dot French

Hello!

Today I've continued to experiment with French manicures, this time with a vintage feel ~ cheerful red tips and polka dots!

I used page reinforcer stickers as a manicure guide (I like the very rounded look) and painted the tips with Models Own's Raspberry Crush, one of my favourite reds. I then stamped white polka dots over the entire nail using this plate from KKCenterHK and top coated the lot.

I'm glad to be venturing back into Frenches after avoiding the look for a long time, so I might be back soon with another attempt ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Accented French

Hello!

Today's manicure is a little different from my normal style. Normally I avoid French manicures as:

a) I can't do them well, even with tip guides, and
b) they tend to remind me of Essex-style false nails which I'm not a fan of!

However, I had the unexplainable urge to do a French with ultra-glittery accents and a decal to boot, so here I am!

For the French nails themselves I took lots of time for proper drying and to get them perfect. As a tip guide I used round page reinforcer stickers. My white was Sinful Colors' Snow Me White and my sheer was MeMeMe's Graceful. Both of these I recommend; Snow Me White gives great coverage and Graceful has a wide brush which is perfect for getting a one-coat even finish.

The glittery accents are Nails Inc's Marylebone, topped with a liberal coat of Gelous then Seche Vite.

The water decal is by YRNails, a UK nail decal store; I bought the love trees here.

I'm not sure if this manicure is to everyone's taste (I wasn't sure if it was to my taste!) but it's nice to experiment and to keep trying out new ideas!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Forest Animal Manicure

This post contains products which were sent to me for review :-)

Hello!

Today I'm very happy as I am back on my laptop after it being out of action since Sunday! The charger broke and I've been waiting for a new one, which my brilliant dad got for me. As a result I've had photos of this manicure sitting on my phone, and I'm very glad to be showing you after the little delay!

This manicure uses water decals I was sent from KKCenterHK: a gorgeous collection of woodland animals. As well as bunnies, chipmunks, squirrels and deer there are cute little apple, nut and storybook designs to complement them. I count over 60 decals on the sheet. Application was very easy; the decals are all individual so I cut roughly around them, placed them in water for maybe 40-50 seconds then slid them off the backing paper and pressed them where I wanted onto my nails.

For the manicure overall I decided to paint my nails a light latte colour, Sally Hansen's Without A Stitch, with glittery accent nails of Nails Inc's Noel Street on my thumbs and ring fingers. I added the adorable decals and this is the end result:

I love these so much! The decals are incredibly high quality and are just plain adorable. Thoroughly recommend, I'll be using these again in Winter manicures to come.

You can buy the decals here: http://www.kkcenterhk.com/Nail-Water-Decals-Animals/c106_147/p10723/N.NAIL-Forest-Rabbit-Bunny-Deer-Bambi-Squirrel-Hamster-Apple/product_info.html

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Chinese Blossom Water Decals

This post contains products which were sent to me for review :-)

Hello!

Today I have some more lovely water decals from KKCenterHK to show you. This is a sheet of 20 blossom tree designs, vibrant in colour and with little gold glitter accents in the heart of the flowers.

Application was very easy; I cut the decals out, placed them in water for about 30 seconds then slid them off the backing paper and positioned them onto my nails. The decals are all individual so I didn't have to be neat when cutting around them, and they're fairly large so they weren't fiddly to handle. They adhered to the nail smoothly with no wrinkling or seam line. Here they are!

My base manicure is Rimmel Star Studded over white to really show off the colours. They're romantic and really special!

You can buy the decals and see the full sheet here: http://www.kkcenterhk.com/Nail-Water-Decals-Festival/c106_145/p10356/N.NAIL-Chinese-Pink-Love-A-Peach-Blossom-Water-Decals-Nail-Art/product_info.html

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Bird, Glitter and a Diary

Hello!

Here's the diary bit (feel free to skip to the mani!) ~ If you read the little diary parts of my blog you might know that I have long-term struggles with depression and fatigue. Now I've had to leave my job. It's an awful, shattering thing to admit but I'm just not able to hold down paid work right now.

But, I have a tentative yet positive plan to get better. I've been lucky to have support from many parties and I'll continue to need that! There's a chance that my fatigue is part of my mental health issues and this means that, with a lot of work, I can get better. My goal is to get back to work and my dream is to eventually be able to work full time and pay taxes back into the system that's helped me so much. One step at a time! xx

~

Phew! OK, the mani! This is a repeat of a manicure I tried a little while ago and really loved. I painted my nails with Blueberry Muffin by Models Own with accent nails of the ultra-sparkly Maida Vale by Nails Inc. Then, on my middle fingers, I stamped the little bird from Cheeky's Home Sweet Home plate.

This really is a cheering-up mani! It got complimented by a lady at the bank (one of those many parties helping me), which always makes you smile :-)

Hugs,

Lisa xx