January Nail Art Challenge: Forest Creatures

Hello!

I'm taking part in clairestelle8's January Nail Art Challenge, and the theme for the 17th was Forest Creatures! Luckily for Christmas I received MoYou's Enchanted 01 stamping plate, which features a whole host of forest creatures in gorgeous leafy designs.

I chose Facets of Fuchsia by Revlon as my base polish for a deep, mysterious twinkle. I decided my forest creatures would be a curious bear and majestic owl, so I painted Konad White and Models Own Chrome Green onto the stamping plate for a contrast between the animal and the surrounding leafy design. I stamped more Chrome Green leaves onto my index and pinky nails as a border for my animals!

The next theme in the challenge is Clocks. It's maddening because I have a specific stamping image I want to use, but I can't find the plate and I think it's stuck down the side of some furniture somewhere. Oh noooooo.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

January Nail Art Challenge: Fave Animal and Gold

Hello!

I'm still very happily participating in the low-stress January Nail Art challenge by clairestelle8 on Instagram! This post shows you my entries for both the 10th and 13th of January, and you can see all my Instagram posts here ^_^

The theme for the 10th was "Fave Animal", and it's no contest... I love cats, especially our family cat Vienna, and also the cartoon kitty Pusheen! I happen to have her on a stamping plate I own, Suki 03 by MoYou, so she was the star of my mani. I started with a base colour of Lunar Grey by Models Own, stamped on a subtle background ice cream pattern in holo pink and topped it off with my Pusheen stamping...

The theme for today, the 13th, was Gold. I couldn't miss the opportunity to use my most ostentatious polish, The Man With The Golden Gun by OPI. It contains flakes of 18ct gold! I applied it over the bright Bermuda Blue by Models Own, and added a swirling pattern accent nail in gold as well...

See you soon with more manis!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Wavy French Tip Guide Stickers!

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

Hello!

Today I am back with another Born Pretty Store goody to show you ~ this time it's a pack of French tip guide stickers and I'm really pleased with the resulting manicures I've achieved from them ^_^

The pack contains 3 wavy shapes of French tip guide sticker, around 30 of each style. They're super simple to use - just start with either a bare nail or completely dry nail polish, then use the stickers as guides for where you want to paint your polish. You can do French tips, half-moons, patterns across your nails, whatever you fancy.

To test out the stickers I did two manicures! The first one is a half-moon manicure. I painted my nails with a layer of Chrome Olive by Models Own and let it dry fully. Then I took the single-wave stickers and used them as guides to paint the majority of my nails black, and then to add matte top coat. Here is the result, which I was quite proud of...

http://www.bornprettystore.com/sheet-wave-nail-french-manicure-edge-guides-nail-toes-p-23027.html

For the second manicure I did French tips using the super-wavy stickers, and ended up with a very cute peeking heart effect! I started with a completely dry base of Make Up Gallery's Pink Sherbet from Poundland, then used the stickers to add white tips. Here they are!

I hope you like these as much as I did ^_^ I'll be back soon with some nail art challenge manicures and more Born Pretty goodies.

And as always you can get 10% off your Born Pretty order with my coupon code, CMBQ10, and the stickers are also on sale right now for $1.59!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Tartan Water Decals

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

Hello!

Today I am reviewing a tartan water decal sheet from Born Pretty Store. I have Scottish ancestry so I love a bit of tartan, especially in the Winter!

I was sent tartan design #24 which is a strong and traditional red pattern. The decal comes as one sheet which you cut out to fit your own nails. The sheet is big enough to make 10 decals for small-to-medium sized nails, I would say.

Unfortunately I loved the pattern but had quite a bit of trouble with these decals. They were transparent enough to require a base colour. Also, when applying them, the pattern tended to distort and the decals break up a little at the fingertips. Here is the best manicure I could get using them (sorry for the photo quality, I was having issues with my phone!):

http://www.bornprettystore.com/colorful-grid-water-decals-stripe-nail-transfer-stickers-p-22023.html

I tried again to do another manicure but the result wasn't better! So these decals weren't for me. What I would recommend instead is that Born Pretty Store do multiple stamping plates featuring plaid patterns which work beautifully. Here are links to two that I was sent to review and loved...

http://www.bornprettystore.com/heart-diamond-grids-nail-stamp-template-image-plate-born-pretty-l013-65cm-p-19368.html

http://www.bornprettystore.com/nail-stamp-template-love-heart-plaid-pattern-qa84-p-14903.html

...and here is a tartan manicure I did with the second one, QA84, which I was very happy with:

I hope this review was helpful at least! ^_^

As always you can get 10% off your Born Pretty order with my coupon code, CMBQ10

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Lisa's MoYou Christmas Presents!

Hello!

I received lots of lovely nail goodies for Christmas, and amongst them were three MoYou stamping plates - Enchanted 01, Enchanted 13 and Hipster 02 - and a set of MoYou scrapers. Despite my blogging break I still had great fun trying them out, so here I am finally with three resulting manicures!

Enchanted 01 features forest animals and leafy florals. The detail is intricate and the animals are delightful! I started off with a polish I found in Poundland called Pink Sherbet; I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it turned out to be! I stamped on my designs of choice in Chrome Mauve by Models Own, and then I re-stamped the animals on top in black. My stamping wasn't perfect but I still thought the critters looked cute...

Enchanted 13 has intricate animal illustrations and leafy floral patterns in the same style as plate 01, but the theme is cats and dogs. I am a cat lover (specifically our family cat, Vienna) so naturally I wanted an all-kitty manicure! I also wanted to try out another Christmas present, Chrome Olive by Models Own, so I used that as my base and stamped the cats on in black. I ended up adoring both my presents - the polish had a gorgeous colour and finish, and the cats were beautifully detailed.

Hipster 02 is a fun plate with a variety of designs - the ones that drew me in most were the social media icons, fun little illustrations and a tartan pattern. I did this manicure to say "Happy New Year" on Instagram: a fun yet simple skittles of Models Own Colour Chromes (Chrome Red, Chrome Olive, Chrome Blue, Chrome Pink) topped with the Instagram icon!

I hope you like the results of my Christmas presents! I haven't stopped experimenting with them so I'm sure there'll be more manis to come ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

January Nail Art Challenge: Winter Berries

Hello!

This is my second post taking part in clairestelle8's January Nail Art Challenge! Here was my first post...

Snow and Ice

Today's theme is Winter Berries. My first thought was of holly, but then I came up with something a little different and more personal. Here in the UK we have a blackcurrant cordial drink called Ribena which is the staple of many a happy childhood. In the Winter months, when it's cold, I love to drink it hot! Delicious and comforting blackcurranty goodness.

I checked and blackcurrants are indeed berries, so for the challenge I recreated my favourite Winter drink using Vestido de Gala by Jade which is a rich, sparkling berry jelly glitter. To portray the swirling blackcurrant cordial I used a pattern from MoYou's Cookbook 04 stamping plate and Chrome Mauve by Models Own.

I quite like this mix of purples!

The next challenge theme is Favourite Animal, so hopefully I will be back with some purrfect nails...

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Pink Glitter Thermal Nail Polish

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

Hello!

Right now I'm spoilt for choice with ideas for my nails: I received some lovely Christmas presents, I'm taking part in a January nail art challenge and I have some exciting new goodies from Born Pretty Store to show you. Today's goody is especially pretty ^_^

What I'm wearing is a colour changing pink glitter nail polish! I love thermal polishes but had never seen a glitter one, and it turns out the effect is magical. The polish has a princess-like sparkle and colours to match, going from pale pink in the warm to hot pink in the cold. I took a photo outside after warming my nails up a little, and this is what it looks like in full glory...

http://www.bornprettystore.com/bottle-75ml-thermal-nail-polish-temperature-color-changing-nail-polish-p-22746.html

I'm delighted by it. The glitter is gorgeous, the colours are gorgeous and the thermal effect is nice and strong. It's a winner!

As always you can get 10% off your Born Pretty order with my coupon code, CMBQ10

Hugs,

Lisa xx

January Nail Art Challenge: Snow and Ice

Hello and Happy New Year!

I took a blogging break during the Christmas season and now I'm back! Sorry for the absence - I wasn't feeling up to writing full blog posts, but I still put some manicures on my Instagram which you can see ^_^

I'm trying to ease myself back into blogging with clairestelle8's January Nail Art Challenge! It's a low-pressure challenge with some lovely nail art themes as inspiration. I also have some lovely Born Pretty goodies to review for you.

The first challenge theme is Snow and Ice, which is perfect as I wanted to try something clean and fresh for the beginning of the year. My idea was snowy nail tips, which I realised by starting with a French base of Essie Mademoiselle and sponging on the indie glitter Snowfall by Sonnetarium, using page reinforcer stickers as a tip guide.

I get the feeling that my manicures will be simpler than others in the challenge, but I actually don't mind that! The next theme is Winter Berries and I have a simple yet hopefully unexpected idea for it ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx