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

Two Fuzzy Knit Manicures!

Hello!

Today's manicures feature one of my favourite nail art ideas to wear: knitted sweater nails! I wore the first one earlier in the week, and I liked it so much that I decided to create another one.

For the first mani I took a polish that I didn't really like when I first bought it, the textured pink Kingsland Road by Barry M, and used it as the base for something I knew I'd like ^_^ I stamped on a knit pattern in white using MoYou stamping plate Fashionista 03. This is the result!

For the second manicure I took my mini bottle of OPI Solitaire, a sparkling white textured polish that reminds me of crunchy snow. The bottle is definitely running out which is sad, because it's a perfect polish for Winter too. On top of Solitaire I stamped the sweater pattern from Nail Craze stamping plate NC03 using MeMeMe's Enigmatic. For fun I added a Hand Tattoo from MoYou! Here we are..

Both manis are warm and fuzzy and they genuinely look like textiles to me, which is what makes sweater manis so fun to wear!

See you on Monday,

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Pink Butterfly Wing Manicure

Hello!

In the past few days I've noticed a couple of butterfly wing manicures whilst browsing Instagram, and they inspired me to get my Nailz Craze stamping plate out!

For my colour I chose pastel pink, Rosehip by Barry M. You can go so colourful with glitters and gradients underneath your butterfly wings but I wanted something sweet this time! That said, I am thinking about trying a more colourful design next time and seeing if it works.

I stamped on my wings, used my black Barry M nail art pen to cover up a couple of gaps in the stamping (Geordie Nails is not perfect!) and I used a white glitter mix polish, Snowfall by Sonnetarium, to finish off the wing tips.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Sweater Manicure ~ Flocking vs. Glitter!

Hello!

Today I'm wearing a mani inspired by ChitChatNails - do check her out!

It's a Christmas sweater manicure done using the Fairisle pattern on Nailz Craze stamping plate NC03. My colours are Barry M Almond with matte top coat and a pink accent nail, and this is where I switched it up a bit! I bought a tub of MUA flocking powder maybe 2 years ago when it was a trend and have been wanting to try using it again. So my first pass of the manicure had a fluffy pink accent, like so:

Yeah, I think it's funky and I love it! I know lots of other people wouldn't though...

I realised that I probably wanted something more hard-wearing before I go to work tomorrow, so I switched up the flocking powder for Nails Inc Holly Place and matted it to go with my other nails:

My camera had real trouble photographing these manis - I think it's a combination of the colours and the pale Winter sunlight. But which accent nail do you prefer?

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Winter Jumper Manicure

Hello!

Welcome to my first sweater mani of the season! I broke out my Nailz Craze NC03 stamping plate which has a Fairisle pattern on it, and paired it over another clingfilm manicure using Blueberry Muffin and Cornflower Gleam by Models Own.

Raindrops are becoming a regular fixture in my photos! You know I'm an authentic Englishwoman at least!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Lisa's Little Nail Art Round-Up

Hello!

I am here with a mini collection of the nail art I've been doing lately! I haven't been well at all which is why I haven't been posting them individually ~ I'm in the middle of switching medications for my depression and it's a miserable, physically and mentally unpleasant experience. Hopefully things will get better soon. In the meantime, here are four manicures! Underneath the collage I'll tell you the details of how I did them xx

Kawaii Breakfast Manicure

This mani uses decals I just bought from YRNails and received in the post on Monday! How adorable? I paired them with complementary pastel shades from Barry M, also used in my fourth mani below ^_^


Pink Butterfly Wings Manicure

These were done using my beloved Nailz Craze stamping plate. My pastel pink is Barry M Rosehip (a favourite to use this week, I gave it a lacklustre review when I first bought it but feel I should retract that!). I stamped on the wings in black and for the white markings I used an indie glitter, Snowfall by Sonnetarium.


Reverse Glitter Manicure

This is an idea I'd tried once before, using French tip guide stickers at the base of your nails to create a reverse French glitter! My polishes were Models Own Pukka Purple and Nails Inc Noel Street.


Italian Ice Cream Skittles Manicure

This shows off the newer Barry M Gelly pastels! I'm wearing Rosehip, Coconut, Huckleberry and Almond.


Hopefully I'll be back soon :-)

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Pre-Op Manicure

Hello!

Tomorrow I have an operation to remove my gallbladder, which has been causing me much trouble and strife! I have to keep my nails bare for the operation, so I decided to do one last manicure before the day itself.

I'm feeling really overdramatic and scared about this perfectly safe, routine operation, so this is a "Thank you!" mani to my readers and followers in case, you know, I never come back. Geordie Nails is a small blog written by little me in my bedroom and I truly appreciate your visits and comments - especially when I'm not feeling well.

The mani uses my MoYou Scholar stamping plate to create the notebook lines and text, plus Nailz Craze plate NC01 for the heart. The white is Models Own White Light, the lines are Models Own Cornflower Gleam, the red is Barry M Pomegranate and the black is Konad Black:

So, I'll see you on the other side! (Maybe. Overdramatic chipmunk.)

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Rainbow Butterfly Wing Manicure

Hello!

I'm feeling terribly depressed today so here is a cheering-up mani featuring no less than 5 holographic polishes in a butterfly wing design!

The stamping plate is Nailz Craze NC01, the stamping polish is W7 Black and the holos are, in rainbow order:

Layla - Red Taboo
Layla - Coral Glam
Layla - Emerald Divine
NailNation 3000 - Parma Violet
Glitter Gal - Frappe

Oops, and the little dots are Holographic Hero by Gosh!

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

The Geordie Nails Giveaway ~ 1 week left to enter!

Hello!

This is just a reminder that the Geordie Nails Giveaway will close for entries next week, at Midnight going into the 31st of January! The prize is your choice of 2 beautiful stamping plates from Nailz Craze, so if you or anyone you know would love to win then do get entering! Here is the info...

Here are the plates in the Nailz Craze collection:

I've tried to keep the entries nice and simple, an easy giveaway. The Rafflecopter widget should be showing up below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck everyone and please do let me know if I've missed anything out!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Primark Spotty with Nailz Craze Hearts

Hello!

I was in Primark last Friday and noticed boxes of this Spotty polish for £2 each. I fell in love with Illamasqua's Speckled collection last Spring but, at £14 per polish, it was a little rich for me and I resisted. I figured that I may as well spend £2 to see if the Primark knock-off was any good!

Spotty is a mauve-ish colour containing two sizes of black glitter. I applied two coats and, as I've just launched my giveaway, I had to add some cute little hearts from Nailz Craze plate NC01 as accents ^_^

First off, this polish STINKS! Smelly to high heaven. However, the end result is a really very good take on the speckled polish trend. Despite the smell I'm happy!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

The Surprise Revealed ~ It's a Giveaway!

Hello!

Well I said that something nice would be coming to Geordie Nails in the New Year, and now I can reveal what it is. I will be hosting a giveaway starting this Sunday and the prize will be stamping plates from Nailz Craze!!

The butterfly wing manicure that I posted as a hint was made using Nailz Craze stamping plate NC01. I'm a really happy customer - Natalie's designs are intricate, original and made with love - and I very much wanted to share the joy with someone else too. The winner of the giveaway will be able to choose any 2 plates from the Nailz Craze Etsy store as their prize ^_^

The giveaway is now live!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Russian Doll Manicure

Hello!

I hope you're all enjoying the season! It is so scary that Christmas is only 3 days away ~ where has all the time gone?!

Today's manicure uses the Russian dolls from Nailz Craze's NC03 stamping plate. There was no better place to start than with the creator of the plate herself, so I used Natalie from Nailz Craze's Matryoshka manicure as a guide. The result shows that I need practice but I definitely wanted to show you anyway.

I used OPI My Vampire is Buff as my base colour, and Barry M's Gold Foil on my thumbs. I then stamped the designs on and used Barry M's black nail art pen to fill in the eyes and the dolls' dresses.

Do you think I need practice?! ;-)

I do a lot of stamping but it's much more difficult where you have a specific image, rather than a pattern, that you need to get just right on your nails. I found the best way to stamp the dolls was to stamp from the tip of my nails downwards ~ but I still need to learn how to get the doll straight and not leaning drunkenly to one side!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Another Sweater Manicure & Sneak Peek

Hello!

I am getting the urge to just do mani after mani with my Nailz Craze Fairisle sweater stamp because it feels so perfect for the weather! This time I stamped over Jade's Vestido de Gala, a sparkly and rich purple jelly.

SO SO COSY. The only gutting thing is that I've run out of Konad's white stamping polish and I'm using Sinful Colours' white instead.

I also have a "sneak peek" of some water decals I just received from KKCenterHK to review... I'm sharing a quick photo of them beforehand because I'm so pleased with them!

Birds! Romantic birds! And given the white roses are on black paper I'm hoping they'll stay opaque over a dark Autumn colour ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Fairisle Sweater Nails

Hello!

Today I have for you some jumper-themed nails, another manicure using a dark colour! This is so unusual for me as I adore my light and delicate colours; I think it's the sudden onset of Autumn that's had me craving a different and seasonal look.

For my base colour I used Revlon's Emerald City. I found this in Poundland so have no idea how old this polish is, but it's a deep green boasting a matte suede finish. The formula was great and, after two coats, I was indeed left with a matte finish with a rich green sparkle/shimmer to it. Over this I stamped my Fairisle pattern which comes courtesy of Nailz Craze stamping plate NC03.

After allowing plenty of dry time I then applied Rimmel's matte top coat. This spoilt the mani slightly as I lost that depth and sparkle from Emerald City. I wanted to protect the stamping but perhaps next time I'll see if it lasts without a top coat. Here it is:

So cosy!

I have heard that Starbucks are releasing their Pumpkin Spice Latte this week; I am dying to try it! I've also been buying some clothing bits and bobs for the new season including a lovely purple lace dress, a cardigan, a hat and some mini-boots ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Peacock Sparkle Manicure

Hello!

Today's manicure was inspired by an amazing Instagram polisher, thary_xoxo. She has lots of beautiful manis but the one that caught my eye was a twist on a glitter gradient, adding glittered feathers. You can see the original manicure here: http://instagram.com/p/Yq8MQPPh3G/

For my own version I started with a milky French base, Innocent by MeMeMe. On my middle two fingers I stamped the peacock feather design from Nailz Craze plate NC01. For my glitter I chose Royal Arcade by Nails Inc; I sponged it onto the tips of my unstamped nails then, using the edge of my cosmetics sponge, applied it along the lines of the feathers. Here it is!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Butterfly Holo

Hello!

For this mani I was already wearing Layla's Emerald Divine to cheer me up as I went back to work, so I decided to freshen it up with some butterfly wing stamping!

This is done using Nailz Craze plate NC01. I also used my Barry M nail art pens to do quick little white dots and to fill in where my stamping wasn't perfect :-)

You'll also see that I'm trying out a watermark on my photo, under advisement from very helpful fellow polishers! I hope it's not too intrusive.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Dandelion & Glitter Manicure

Hello!

For this mani I tried a variation on my last idea: having thumb and ring glitter accents, a sweet colour and a little stamped pattern. I kept the same glitter, Nails Inc's Maida Vale, and I painted the rest of my nails with Accessorize's Ivory Lace. For the dandelion clock stamp I used my Nailz Craze plate and Essie's Blue Rhapsody. Here it is:

I feel it comes second to the Bird & Glitter idea but Ivory Lace is one of my favourite colours, so delicate!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Inspired by Nature

Hello!

Today's challenge is to do a manicure inspired by nature, and I just had to break out my Nailz Craze plate and try my first butterfly mani! There are so many inspiring manis out there with a myriad of gradient and colour combinations, just like in nature.

For my base colour I chose Layla's Red Taboo, a gorgeous red holo. I stamped the butterfly design on using Konad Black then dotted on white spots to finish. Here it is, in natural light and with flash to show off the holo:

Eeeee, I love butterfly manis! Next time I'm going to try a gradient or duochrome.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Inspired By Fabric

Hello!

I happen to be very much a homebody and am usually found all warm and cosy in my jimjams! So for this challenge, I decided to use my pyjamas as my fabric inspiration. Weird? Not at all.

The stamping is the flower pattern from Nailz Craze's Russian plate, which I adore!

Hugs,

Lisa xx