Lisa's Easter Manicure

Hello and Happy Easter!

My manicure for today features carrots and bunnies! I had a few ideas for bright pastel manis but none of them seemed right - then a bunny-fur colour with some cute stamping and decals came to mind and seemed perfect ^_^

My base colour is Barry M Almond; over this I stamped a carrot pattern in white using Cheeky's Home Sweet Home stamping plate. I topped this with adorable bunny decals from KKCenterHk and glossed it all up with top coat.

I love my bun-buns!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Rainy Day Manicure

Hello!

After my more serious post earlier today (I'm really glad I went for it), I'm back with a manicure befitting of the drizzly weather we were having this morning here in North East England!

For my manicure I painted my nails a pale blue, Barry M Huckleberry, with the exceptions of my ring fingernails which I painted with Filthy Gorgeous Opulence. It's a gorgeous full glitter, silver sparkles in a blue-tinted base which give a look just like rain showers. Unfortunately the glitter and the brand in general seem to have disappeared off the face of the Earth which is a crying shame.

Onto my middle fingernails I stamped on an umbrella from my Cheeky Home Sweet Home plate. A slick of top coat and away I went!

A nice little cheer-me-up for a rainy day :-)

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Heather Manicure

Hello!

First of all, bad Lisa news - I've not been well and it might be related to my liver and gallstones. I'm seeing my doctor today and hopefully will remain in one piece until my gallbladder operation next week!

On the bright side, I painted a new manicure yesterday and it's inspired by my mam. Hi mam!

I started off with one coat of Heather from Barry M's Silk Effect range, enough to give the colour but still stay a little sheer. Over this I stamped on Heather-esque flowers from Cheeky's Home Sweet Home plate using Models Own's Pukka Purple. I took a small nail art brush and added a little green onto the leaves then finished with top coat.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with a new manicure and to let you know that I'm still alive!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

AiS Sunday Challenge ~ Your Guilty Pleasure

Hello!

I'm taking part in the Adventures in Stamping Sunday Challenge again this week, and the theme is "Your Guilty Pleasure". Fellow members were talking about things like handcuff designs, but I am very proud to present you with the lamest, tamest guilty pleasure ever: cups of tea.

I'm currently losing weight and have a daily calorie allowance to stick to. This means I usually have fruit or herbal teas to be healthy ~ but when I've been good, my one biggest comfort is a nice, hot, sugary, British cup of tea. So for this manicure I did a mix of stamping and nail art using French tip guides to produce a dedication to my favourite guilty pleasure!

Photo taken in my back yard because I'm a true working-class tea lover, plus it was hard to find some good light ;-)

Here's a list of what I used for what:

Accent nails ~ Base colour is Sweet Kisses by Boots 17. Tea party text is Cheeky Home Sweet Home stamped in W7 Black, and teapots are MoYou Tourist 05 in Barry M Gold Foil.

Teacups ~ Sinful Colors Snow Me White with Barry M Gold Foil for the tea. China pattern stamping done with MoYou Mother Nature 05 and Models Own Cornflower Gleam. Hearts are Nailz Craze NC01 in Gold Foil.

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

Two Stamping Manicures

Hello!

Today I have for you two stamping manicures that didn't stay on long but were still quickly photographed. I bought a squishy stamper for the terribly cheap price of £1.52 (here is the link to it on eBay) and the change is taking some getting used to - my manis aren't quite perfect yet!

Here is the first manicure. I started with a base of Sally Hansen's Lavender Cloud and stamped on a blossom pattern in lilac from MoYou's Pro 07 plate. I then topped it with the birdcages from Cheeky's Home Sweet Home Plate. All the stamping in this post is done with Konad polish.

And for the second manicure I painted a base of OPI's I Vant To Be A-Lone Star then stamped on a floral pattern, again from MoYou's Pro 07 plate:

The problem with the birdcage mani is that the blossom pattern stamped on too "wet" and the birdcages were wonky. With the floral mani I made a mistake on my dominant hand and was too quick with the Seche Vite, smudging the whole thing!

How silly am I? Let's hope the next stamping attempt will go a little better.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Rainy Day Manicure

Hello!

The weather is being a little temperamental here in North-East England but I am hoping the heat is dying down a bit as we've had some rain and thunder in recent days! I was therefore inspired to do this "rainy day" manicure :-)

Don't my fingers look extra-chubby with short nails?! I am loving the change though.

The glitter polish is Opulence by Filthy Gorgeous (I seem to have monopolised Google Images with swatches of this polish of varying quality). The little umbrellas come from Cheeky's Home Sweet Home stamping plate.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Floral Manicure

Hello!

This is just a quick mani I did a while back that I really loved but ruined on my non-dominant hand! I used Barry M's Blueberry and my Cheeky Home Sweet Home plate (surprise surprise!).

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Glasses Manicure!

Hello!

Last week I got my first pair of glasses in about 12 years! I was nervous about getting them but am so glad that I did. The glasses make it look like an artist came along, added detail to everything and enriched the colours (not to mention that they make staring at my laptop a little easier on my poor eyes!).

So, this inspired me to trying out a very smart pattern on my Cheeky Home Sweet Home stamping plate. I received my first ever China Glaze for my birthday, Groovy Green, so this provided a base for my stamping. Here is the mani, modelled with my new glasses!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Cream & Rose Manicure

Hello!

On Pinterest I've been seeing absolutely beautiful manicures with hand-painted roses on a vintage cream base. Unfortunately I am not talented when it comes to freehand nail art, nor have I purchased my dream rose stamping plate pattern yet :-( But I used what I've got to have a go!

The base colour is OPI's My Vampire Is Buff. I used the funky rose pattern from my Cheeky Home Sweet Home plate, then dotted on some green leaves with an orange stick.

Doing this has actually made me want to get a bit brave and try the freehand roses. I'm sure it won't turn out as planned, but if it does I'll be posting the results!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Bird & Glitter Manicure

Hello!

I am currently wearing a manicure that I truly love and will probably be wearing again in varying incarnations ^_^

First of all, I ordered Picture Polish's Revolution from Sally Magpies and it arrived on Tuesday. It is a special base coat which allows for glitter polish to be removed like a normal polish, with no fuss or furious scrubbing. I'm still testing it out but will let you know my thoughts as soon as possible!

So, for this manicure, I applied two thin coats of Revolution to my thumbs and ring fingers and then painted them with Nails Inc's Maida Vale to make dazzling accent nails. I painted the rest of my nails with Models Own's Blueberry Muffin, a pale pastel blue-purple. Then, to my middle fingers, I stamped a little bird from my Cheeky plate. The result is this:

This is the happiest I've been with a manicure in a while! I think I could try different colours and little stamped images too.

What is your absolute favourite manicure to wear?

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Apple Pie Manicure!

Hello!

Today I'm showing you another of the Models Own scented polishes (Boots have them on 3 for 2 and I fell for it like the bad Lisa I am). This one is Apple Pie, a bright pastel green. Like the other polishes in the range it genuinely smells like it's supposed to - tangy apples!

I actually have a pie design on my Cheeky Home Sweet Home stamping plate so I painted 3 coats of Apple Pie and stamped away...

Délicieux!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Rose-Stamped Manicure

Hello!

Today I am showing you yet another Cheeky manicure (I could use this Home Sweet Home plate forever, I swear). My base colour is another new OPI purchase, Elephantastic Pink. It is a gorgeous pink and the perfect base for some roses, which I stamped on in white. Here they are:

Very cute and cheery!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Your Favourite Nail Art Technique

Hello!

My favourite nail art technique is really a no-brainer... stamping! So for today's challenge I once again got out my new Cheeky stamping plate and chose the coffee bean design for a caffeine-fuelled mani ^_^

My base colour was Sally Hansen's Without A Stitch, a delicate latte shade. I stamped on the coffee beans and added real gold flakes by way of OPI's Man with The Golden Gun for some espresso opulence!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Modern Floral Manicure

Hello!

I am back with another manicure using my new Home Sweet Home stamping plate by Cheeky. The inspiration was a little storage box I have in my bedroom which holds old penpal letters ~ it's silver with a pink and blue blossom branch print. Here is the mani, with the box in the background:

For the stamping I used Sally Hansen's The Sky's The Limit on my thumbs and ring fingers, and Barry M's Grapefruit on the rest. They're both amazing polishes for stamping and give a really rich colour! Again I have to say that I love my new stamping plate and there will be more Cheeky manicures to come!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Blueberry Muffin Manicure!

Hello!

This is another manicure using my new Cheeky 'Home Sweet Home' stamping plate; you'll be seeing a lot of them as I can't wait to try out all the designs!

One of the patterns is of smiling little muffins, which is just perfect as I actually have a scented polish by Models Own called Blueberry Muffin! It's a gorgeous light pastel on the border of blue and purple with a very pleasant scent - it is actually reminiscent of a blueberry muffin and doesn't have a chemical edge at all. I painted 3 coats then stamped on the pattern with Konad White... here it is:

...I think this is adorable! The nail polish obsessive in me now wants to get the rest of the scented pastels and match them up with the other sweet patterns on the plate >.<

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Delicious Skittle Manicure!

Hello!

I'm still overjoyed with my Cheeky Home Sweet Home stamping plate and decided to test out a mani using five of the patterns at once! I don't know if this was intentional, but included amongst the designs are five different fruits and veggies that correspond with the colours of the rainbow - perfect for a Skittles manicure with a delicious difference.

First of all you'll have to excuse the slight smudging - I tend to need a couple of practises to get my stamping perfect with new designs. I stamped using Konad White, and the colours I used are...

Tomatoes ~ Pomegranate by Barry M
Carrots ~ Missmatch by Missguided
Bananas ~ Orange by Cairuo
Garlic ~ Greenberry by Barry M
Aubergine ~ My Denim by Rimmel

And here's the mani!

I'm so cheered by this look! As well as looking great as a set, I'm inspired to do separate manicures showing off each design and colour combination. I actually have a banana-scented pastel yellow by Models Own, and what would be more perfect than to stamp the bananas over it?!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Cheeky Stamping Plate ~ Home Sweet Home

Hello!

Yesterday I was overjoyed to find that my very first Cheeky stamping plate had arrived in the post! It's called Home Sweet Home and it's part of their new 2013 collection. The designs are absolutely adorable, so much so that I want to try them all straight away - despite my first manicure being so beautiful that it'd be a shame to remove it!

For my first Cheeky foray I chose a light pastel green base colour by Essie (name a mystery, it might be Shore Thing) and stamped the birdcage pattern, with the key pattern on my ring fingers as accent nails. Here it is:

How cute?! I love the vintage, homely style!

Here is a picture of the plate showing all the designs:

(source: Amazon)

I have a million manicures floating around in my head and can't wait to try them all! You can buy Cheeky plates on Amazon for £5.99 each or in sets. I was silly and bought mine for a little more before they were listed on Amazon UK, but I'm still majorly happy and consider it one of my best nail art investments :-)

Hugs,

Lisa xx