Random Polish Pick ~ Forever

Hello!

Firstly, sorry for the couple of days' break in posting ~ I've been ill and spending a lot of time at my fiancé's, where we don't have an internet connection and so I can't update the blog.  However, I have still been painting my nails and have quite a few manis lined up to show you!

I'll start off with the mani I'm wearing right now.  This is another Random Polish Pick ~ ie., I closed my eyes, stuck my hand over my polish collection and chose a random polish that I wouldn't necessarily choose normally.  Great for breaking out of my comfort zone!  Today I chose 17's Forever, which I am extremely happy about ~ I adore all of 17's Spring Vintage polishes, but a pale delicate brown is not a natural choice for a girl like me who loves to stand out. 

To make the mani my own I did a gradient of Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat, done simply with a cotton bud.  I like to call this mani 'Iced Coffee'!

:-D I am really glad I got around to using this polish in a mani.  Expect more Random Picks to come!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

NOTD: Violetta + Gemstone Overcoat

Hello!

Just to start off with, the depressing North East Winter days are being considerably brightened by the continental market that is in the city centre right now!  I have already conversed in French with some stallholders whilst buying a crêpe with Grand Marnier, and will return to check out the French pâtisserie stall and also buy some roast chestnuts ^_^ Happy times!

Today I have two of my favourite polishes for the Winter combined: No7's Violetta and Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat!  I love the purdy flaky glitter over such a colourful dark purple.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

17 ~ Spiced Plum!

Hello!

Today I am showing you another new arrival from 17, a shade called Spiced Plum in their 'Supreme Shine' range.  Normally I don't pay much attention to the range because of the unfashionable bottles and that it's £1 dearer than 17's Fast Finish and Lasting Fix lines - and in fact I mainly bought this because of the name! - but I am so glad I did.

Here I'm wearing 2 coats of Spiced Plum.  In the bottle the polish looks more on the brown side, but once it's on your nails you definitely get the Plum part.  The wide brush is great and the polish looks lovely in consistency and shine!

Because it's an Autumn/Winter shade I decided to try it out topped with some flaky glitters - Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat and OPI's I Lily Love You.  Here they are:

Lovely!

Something weird happened when I applied the OPI: it dried cloudy and matte.  Does that happen if you don't let the polish underneath dry enough?  Someone enlighten me please!!

Hugs,

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

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

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

Glitter Gradient pt.2!

You know I mentioned I have Can't-Leave-It-Alone Syndrome?  Well, after trying and loving the purple glitter gradient, I decided to experiment with the couple of other glitters I have in my collection.

Firstly, as I said I would, I tried it with my INM Northern Lights silver holo glitter - but that was too fine, as opposed to W7's larger gritty stuff, and didn't do the glitter justice.

Then I tried with Bourjois' 1 Seconde pink glitter (showcased here) and that worked a bit better!  More subtle than the purple glitter but still very pretty.  I tried it out over five different colours, here we are:



Frosting!!  Here are close-ups of the individual nails:


Rimmel's Black Cab


Missguided's MissTique Teal Nail splash (I got this free with a magazine this Summer and it is BRILLIANT.  Beautiful colour, one-coat, formula smooth as a dream.)


Xtras' Lavender (seriously isn't a lavender, it's a baby pink :-/ )


Andrea Fulerton's Bright White, part of French Manicure set

17's Caribbean Coral

My personal favourites are over black and baby pink!

As an afterthought, I tried Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat over Rimmel's Black Cab... and it looked pretty great!  Here it is:



Tomorrow is Polish-aholics Anonymous' Monday nail art challenge - something movie/book/television inspired.  It'll be my first challenge and not feeling too confident, but I'll have a go!

Lisa xx

Blue Gingham Nails

Hello!

Right now I am sporting blue gingham nails.  They are really quite cute!  My left hand is slightly less neat than the right (I'm left-handed), but you can barely notice.  Good times.  Here are the polishes I used:

This is the Bright White from Andrea Fulerton's French manicure set (£7.99 from Superdrug, also includes crème all-over polish, subtle sparkle top coat and guide stickers) and the blue and silver nail art pens from Rio's pastel set (from Argos).

I had 2 coats of white as the base and used the thin brush of the blue polish to paint stripes and the pen of the silver polish to dot the intersections.  Here we are:

On another note... I kinda just broke my September no-spend.  I bought dotting tools on eBay.  But they were 99p!  For two!  With free shipping!

I am a bad Lisa indeed.  Once they arrive I'm going to have to wear polka-dot manis for the rest of my life to justify breaking the no-buy.  Oh dear!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

17 by Boots Pictacular!

Hello!

As I said in my first post, the polish brand I have most of is 17 by Boots. Their Fast Finish and Lasting Fix ranges are £2.99 each and they have a great variety of pretty colours! So, this post will be showcasing a few photos of my collection - enjoy!

Peacock (LOVE this shade, turquoise with a green shimmer):


Chaperone (again, love it - looks great with a subtle top coat of glitter):


Midnight Sapphire:


Caribbean Coral:


Ruby Gem (a REALLY nice, rich crimson):


Woo Me (index and ring fingers ~ my favourite colour ever!!) and Heart Beat (thumb, middle, pinky):


Royal Indigo (fantastic colour but a little 'demure' for me, doesn't suit me too well):

(click photos for full size)

The vast majority of my 17 polishes are wonderful, but I have to say that I own a couple where the formula seems to be a bit off and is streaky or gloopy when applied. Those polishes are Bolt From The Blue, Nightshade and Mini Skirt - has anyone else found this? I'm not sure if it's a problem with the entire shade or if I just got a bad bottle :-/ In any case this is still one of my favourite brands, mainly because you can get great, vibrant new colours for a cheap price.

I'm wearing Mini Skirt right now, paired with Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat (again!). Mini Skirt isn't really a polish I'd want to wear on its own for the above reason, but fortunately the flaky glitter looks beautiful over it. Here we are:

On its own (2 coats)...


... and with the Gemstone Overcoat!


*wiggles nails to gaze at the shimmer*

More posts and pics to come soon, thanks for looking!

Lisa xx

Gemstone Overcoat with Boots Natural Collection's Sugar Mouse

Hello again!

Following yesterday's post, I wanted to try Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat over a light shimmer. Sugar Mouse has a warm glow to it not unlike the flaky glitter in Gemstone, so I decided to try it with that. Here is Sugar Mouse before adding the Gemstone Overcoat...



I bought Sugar Mouse a while ago at Boots for the bargain price of £1.89. Unfortunately, despite its beauty it doesn't get used very much as I tend to go for more noticeable manis. It is quite a transparent polish so expect lots of VNL; I'm wearing 2 coats in this pic. The colour is a pearly white shimmer with a little bit of a warm pink/orange glow to it. Its name really does make a fitting description - sweet, innocent and sugary.

Then I added a coat of Gemstone Overcoat...



Close-up to better see the flakes...


Almost forgot a picture with the bottle of Sugar Mouse ;-)

(click on photos for full size)

I was right: the glow of Sugar Mouse and the flaky glitter have the same warmth, so the flakes blend into the polish giving a subtle look. It adds that little extra sparkle to the Sugar Mouse :-)

The only problem I have with the Gemstone Overcoat is that from some angles it looks a little gritty and uneven over the shimmer polish, even though the finish is completely smooth. I would definitely pair it with black polish if I wanted a stronger look, but the subtle pairing has its merits too.

Time to grab something to eat, see you soon!

Lisa xx

'Sugar Mouse' by Boots Natural Collection
'Gemstone Overcoat' by Andrea Fulerton at Superdrug

Andrea Fulerton ~ Gemstone Overcoat

Bonjour à tous!

Well, I had a wonderful day today. I met my lovely friend Carl and we caught up over coffee and a bottle of rosé wine in a French-speaking café, followed by chestnut crêpes at the continental market which happens to be visiting Newcastle city centre right now.

We also wandered the high street, and in Superdrug I was drawn to the Andrea Fulerton nail polish stand like a kid to a sweet shop. The brand seems to specialise in nail art and funky manicures, so there were lots of unique polishes to lust over. I couldn't resist buying the 'French Bright White & Crème' set for £7.99 (review to come); I've been wanting a French manicure set for ages and this one looked perfect.

But what really got me squealing was the 'Gemstone Overcoat'. It is a flaky glitter!!! I have seen flakies on my US friends' blogs but had never spotted them over here. It cost £4.99, which is pretty much my ideal price for a 'special' polish.

(click on photo for full size)

Each nail is topped with one coat of Gemstone Overcoat. As you can see, the glitter flakes have a warm sunset glow and apply quite densely. For comparison I tried it over a bright coral, a classic black, a shimmer turquoise and by itself.

The combination I like best is over black; the flakes look like glowing embers, very dramatic and pretty! I had hoped for a magical mermaid look over the turquoise and didn't get the exact effect I wanted, but I think it would look a lot better with a thinner, more sparse coat of the glitter. I think it would go well over a subtle pink shimmer as well.

Overall I'd say that this is a great buy; I will definitely be using it a lot to spice up my painted nails. Like the Glitter Gal holo in my previous post, it makes a great addition to a sparkle addict's collection - something a little bit different and special. It puts a smile on my face at least!

A bientôt,

Lisa xx

Polish by Andrea Fulerton at Superdrug