Cloudy Skies and Summers Day Manicures!

Hello!

It's been oscillating between cloudy and sunny here in the North East, so I've done two manicures to suit both! A "cloudy skies" look and a super-bright neon.

I used clingfilm to get the effect for my cloudy skies mani! I started by painting my nails with Barry M Earl Grey and letting them dry completely. I then painted a coat of white on top and, while it was still wet, I dabbed at it with scrunched-up clingfilm. This was the result:

For my neon mani I used Bubblegum by Models Own with matte top coat. This is such a bright polish that it's impossible to capture 100% in a photograph, but I tried my best:

Do you prefer one manicure over the other? Let me know!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Floral Inspiration ~ Nail Machine

Hello!

Today's manicure was inspired by Nail Machine on Instagram! Her mani was a hand-painted blue rose pattern with a gold-lined accent nail - just my style, and absolutely gorgeous.

I have found out through many attempts that, unfortunately, painting designs by hand with nail art brushes just isn't my talent. It always ends up looking thick and clumsy! Luckily I have many stamping plates with designs to compensate for this, and my MoYou Pro 17 plate had a rose pattern that would do the trick.

I started with the gold accent on my ring fingernail: using French tip guide stickers and Chrome Olive by Models Own I painted a thin, curved line. Then above that line and on the whole of my other nails I used an off-white, Cream Soda by Barry M, as my base colour. I then used my MoYou stamping mat to make decals, stamping the rose pattern in Cream Soda and colouring it in with three shades of blue.

Cream Soda isn't quite opaque so the roses ended up pretty undefined, but I am still happy with the floral look I ended up with. Apologies for the poor lighting - I'm still very tired all the time so it's been difficult to take photos at the ideal time of day.

Thanks to Nail Machine for the inspiration!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Flashback Friday Manicures

Hello!

Today I thought I'd do a round-up post of what I was wearing on this date during the years 2013 to 2016!

I actually have a new mani on my nails right now, but unfortunately I was so tired that I slept all day and didn't get to take a photo. It is a Japanese cat and blossom design over grey polish, and I hope to show it to you during the weekend.

So, 2016! On the 10th of March last year I was wearing cute flower stems over a glitter tips manicure. I used my MoYou Princess 11 plate and the glitter is Northern Lights by Models Own.

In 2015 I went outside my comfort zone with an attempt at a chic black and gold manicure. I used striping tape to apply the black, and the gold flakes are OPI's Man With The Golden Gun - easily the most expensive and silly polish purchase I have ever made!

In 2014 I was also wearing Models Own Northern Lights - I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or if the 2016 mani was a flashback! In any case I went for full coverage this time and applied a lovely singing bird water decal as an accent.

And in 2013 I had the striping tape out again, this time having it on my nails as part of the finished manicure. I was still taking flash photos in my bedroom at this stage.

Do you have a favourite? I hope you can see some kind of progression in quality from my 2013 manicure to now - I'm taking photos outside in daylight now, at least!

I hope to be writing again soon with that Japanese manicure.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Star Trek Uniform Manicure

Hello!

Sorry for being so quiet on my blog ~ I have lots of pictures of my nails up on Instagram but I've been too tired to keep up the full written posts. That said, I'm trying out designs on my newly short nails and wanted to show you this one!

I love Star Trek so I've done a half-moon manicure with glossy black and metallic colours representing the uniforms. My black is from Xtras and my colours are all Models Own Colour Chromes: Red, Olive, Turquoise and Grey. I used page reinforcer stationery stickers to create the curves.

I also added a MoYou Hand Tattoo for a technological finish to my mani!

I hope you like it!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Reverse Chrome Manicure

Hello!

Following on from my previous comeback post I did a new manicure in the "reverse French" style, using tip guide stickers to create that curve of colour at the base of the nail! This time I used my Models Own Colour Chromes for a futuristic look.

I painted my nails with the following polishes: Chrome Red, Chrome Olive, Chrome Turquoise, Chrome Pink and Chrome Grey. I then stuck my tip guides at the base of my nails and painted a layer of black on top.

 

This mani gives me unintentional Star Trek uniform vibes, and I adore Star Trek! The Colour Chromes are quite possibly my favourite Models Own collection and I just want to keep thinking up new ways to use them.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

A Touch of Glitter and a Diary!

Hello!

First of all, apologies for my absence! My blog has been quiet for a month but today I have a new manicure to show you and a little diary entry for anyone who might like to read it and find out a little more about me :-)

I have talked about this on the blog before but I suffer from depression with related physical and mental health issues. I've been unwell for going on 15 years now, since I was quite young! It's severe enough to be classed as a disability and has a huge impact on what I'm able to do day-to-day. Nail art is a great hobby which makes me feel a tiny bit fulfilled (and cheered up when I have pretty designs on my nails to look at and wonderfully lovely comments from readers). However, I do have periods of time where I'm not up to doing my hobby so much and I can't always predict when or how long those periods might be. Most of the time I can still manage to post on Instagram fairly frequently but I just had a week of wearing the same chipping nail polish and wasn't up to doing anything about it!

Fortunately I'm feeling a little better now so last night I cut and filed my nails to a nice new length (they were dry and damaged from that week of not looking after them), then I got out two of my absolute favourite polishes for a fresh mani! Blueberry Muffin by Models Own is the most gorgeous pale blue and Noel Street by Nails Inc is an amazing foil-like silver glitter. I allowed two coats of Blueberry Muffin to fully dry then used French tip guide stickers to add a sort of reverse French curve of glitter to the base of my nails.

The mani is a recreation of one I did a year ago, which I posted as a throwback on my Instagram while I was getting ready to sort my nails out. Here is the original, in pink:

I'm really fond of this idea and I hope you are too! With luck I'll be able to continue with blogging and painting my nails now ~ I still have some wonderful Born Pretty Store goodies to show you and I really will have to apologise to my BPS rep for such an awful delay.

Hope to be back soon!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

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

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

A Pair of Snowflake Manicures!

Hello!

Now that it's December I've started to go a little festive with my manicures, and today I have two blue snowflake looks to show you - Winter Butterfly and Shimmering Sweater.

For my butterfly mani I layered some stamping to get a snowflake-patterned wing effect. I started with a base colour of Blueberry Muffin by Models Own, then stamped on some snowflakes from one of my Bundle Monster plates. On top went the lovely butterfly wings from Nailz Craze plate NC01. As well as finishing with top coat I painted a layer of it between the two stamping designs, so they wouldn't muddle together.

Next I did a very shiny Christmas pattern mani! My mam chose the colour for this one; the result is nice and festive. I started with Blue Odyssey by Max Factor then stamped on the snowflake sweater pattern from my other Nailz Craze plate, NC03, using Holographic Hero by Gosh.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Metallic Hearts Manicure

Hello!

Last night I cut my nails short as I fancied a change ^_^ Whenever I do this I get the urge to have something cute on my nails, so this time I went for a blue heart manicure and darkened it up a bit since it's November!

I started off with a base of Sally Hansen's Navy Baby and used my Born Pretty Store BP-L013 stamping plate to add a pattern of little hearts. My stamping polish was Models Own's Chrome Blue. Here it is!

Apologies for the slightly late blog post today - it's a combination of me not feeling very well and there being less hours of daylight in which to take photos outside!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

A Sheer and a Glitter!

Hello!

Today I have two romantic, feminine manicures to show you - a French sheer and a pink glitter!

Mademoiselle by Essie is the latest addition to my collection of sheers. I have a real soft spot for French sheers and this polish does not disappoint! It's a beautiful pink with a touch of creaminess which builds as you add coats. It comes with a wide brush which, along with the nice formula, gives smooth and non-streaky coverage. Normally I would apply one or two coats as a base for nail art, but here are three to show off Mademoiselle in her own right:

*sigh* I'm in love.

Later I decided to use Mademoiselle as a base for a glitter mani. I applied two coats of the gorgeous Pink Fizz by Models Own, with a coat of Essie Stroke of Brilliance sandwiched in between them for a little purple glitter accent. Pink Fizz is such a gorgeous shade of pink so I was very happy!

I hope you like these manicures!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Neon Manicure with Flamingos

Hello!

It's nice and sunny today in North East England, and I thought the coral neon Shades by Models Own would catch the sunlight nicely!

I always think it's funny that Shades is from the Polish For Tans collection because I am the palest girl on the planet. But luckily I'm also happy to wear any nail polish, however bright! And this one is so bright it's actually distracting me as I type...

For my manicure I took some arrow-shaped tip guides I bought from Charlies Nail Art for 25p and did a geometric half-moon design, placing the guide sticker further up my ring fingernails for an accent nail. To embellish my mani I added a couple of MoYou's flamingo hand tattoos - it seemed like they would suit the summery tropical colour of the polish perfectly!

Is anyone else going bright for Summer?

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Cartoon Pop Manicure

Hello!

The latest manicure on my short nail inspiration kick is this cartoon look! I've done it before on longer nails and it's pretty simple to do - I painted my nails with the super-neon Pink Punch by Models Own, then used my Barry M nail art pens to draw a border and add a reflection gleam on my ring finger.

I've still got a couple of mani ideas lined up to try but I feel like I'm losing energy a little bit! But that's the nature of having chronic depression, and it has been very therapeutic to try all these ideas.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Shimmering Short Nails!

Hello!

I told you I was going to go short, and I did! And by a stroke of luck my first mani idea turned out really well. I have colourful, shimmering goodness to look down at; what could be more cheering?

This is a single coat of Models Own Northern Lights underneath some feather water decals. At first I was disappointed that the decals weren't opaque, but then I saw how the glitter shimmers through them. It's a captivating effect in the flesh, especially with the blue feather. An unintended success!

I thought I would dislike having newly-short nails at first, but I'm actually super happy. Change is good - I can spend some time rocking designs suited to shorter nails, and then of course they'll grow back again ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Misty Tree Manicure

Hello!

I'm about to cut my nails short for a little while, but I had one manicure in my head that I just had to get onto my nails first! Last week I reviewed stamping plate BP-L015 from Born Pretty Store and had this extra idea using the tree branch design on the plate. So the plate was sent for review and now I'm carrying onto personal use ^_^

I started by painting my nails in my favourite pale blue, Blueberry Muffin by Models Own. I then sponged on a quick gradient using Chrome Indigo, also by Models Own, and added top coat to smooth it out. I stamped on the tree branches and ended up with a nice bold, slightly gothic look!

(check out the extra bird on my finger!)

It's great to be sent something for review which has so much potential for further use. Thanks Born Pretty!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Subtle & Sparkle Manicure

Hello!

For today's manicure I took a neutral colour and set it off with a little added sparkle.

Utopia by Models Own is a very pretty, warm neutral which I hadn't yet used, so I was very happy to try it out today! I painted two coats and let them dry well. I then used page reinforcer stickers as a guide to paint silver glitter - Noel Street by Nails Inc - at the base of my nails. With some cleanup and top coat, my manicure looks like this!

I really quite like how this turned out! Apart from having to clean up the excess glitter polish with a cuticle stick and remover, it was simple to do and looks chic (in the opinion of someone who has no sense of style!).

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Neon & Geometrics Manicure

Hello!

To add a little extra something to my manicures, I bought a couple of inexpensive transfer tattoo sheets from eBay to use on my fingers and cuticles! This mani uses some silver triangles which were meant to make up a bracelet tattoo but that I cut and used individually.

For my nail polish I chose Pukka Purple from Models Own's Ice Neon range - nice and bold and bright! I stamped a geometric triangle symbol onto the base of my nails in silver, then I applied the tattoos onto my cuticles to match it.

I like this for the very reason that it's not my usual style at all. Normally I like delicate manicures and would avoid geometric patterns. So it's good to switch it up once in a while and be bold - especially with the addition of the tattoos!

Hugs,

Lisa xx