Dozy Owl Manicure!

Hello!

In my water decal collection I have a few sheets of YRNails owls that always look cute on short nails! I chose the purple dozy owls since I'm a dozy sleepy Lisa, and I applied them over Barry M Cotton.

 I bought the decals from YRNails here ^_^

Zzzzzzz...

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Cheeky Owl Manicure!

Hello!

I'm continuing to come up with new designs to make the most of my short nails, and today I've gone cheeky! A winking baby owl paired with little polka dots ^_^

For my base colour I chose a teal, Misstique by Missguided, to match the wings of my owl! He's one of many cute owl water decals I have from YRNails. I stamped polka dots over the teal and left my ring fingers white for my decals. Here we have it...

I love my owls so much!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Dozy Owl Manicure

Hello!

Today's manicure perfectly encapsulates how I've been feeling as of late... sleepy, sleepy, sleepy!

I have a nice little collection of decals from YRNails and one of them is a dozy purple owl. To complement its colour I painted a French manicure where the bodies of my nails are white and the tips are lilac. For this I used Barry M Matte White and Seventeen's Woo Me.

I most definitely empathise with those owls! Zzzzzzzzzzz...

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Owls! Owls! Owls!

Hello!

I haven't been writing blog posts recently, and I'm sorry! I'm quite open on here about my struggles with depression, so what's been happening is that I started a Christmas job last Tuesday - but after only a few hours it was too much and I became physically ill. I had to go home and missed the rest of the week. It's been devastating; I'm in this awkward place where I feel too ill to work but am not going to get any better unless I push through. With fingers crossed it seems like I still have the job and will have that chance to get better.

Onto the nails! I ordered some more owls from the lovely YRNails because I'm crazy for them, and so here are 3 different manicures I've done using them as accents!

1. Baby Owls! These are the Excited Owl and Winking Owl as centre accents paired with a baby blue, pink and white skittle.

2. This is the Dozy Owl paired with purples to match the colours in the decal.

3. For World Mental Health Day (apt considering this post!), this is the Shocked Owl along with the holographic Layla Emerald Divine. Green is the colour of mental health awareness and I wear it with pride!

Hopefully write soon,

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Blue Owl Manicure

Hello!

This manicure uses these blue owl decals that I bought from YRNails; I can't recommend them enough because they're adorable!

I painted a blue skittles manicure using polishes that match the colours of the owls: White Light by Models Own, Huckleberry by Barry M and Stand Back! by Boots No7. I applied the owls to my white nails then top coated. Here are both hands:

They're so very, very cute. It's only £1.50 for a sheet of decals, go support YRNails!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Dozy Owls!

Hello!

Today I have for you some more of my YRNails owl purchases, this time the sleepy purple Dozy Owls!

To complement the decals I painted my nails a matching purple with Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy, except for a couple of accent nails which I painted with Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud and applied the owls on top!

Hoot hoot!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

YRNails Owls!

Hello!

Today I have on a fresh manicure using the second of my YRNails buys! Out of a ton of owls to choose from I picked the Happy Owl, a bluey-turquoise little fella. For my nail polishes I chose Blueberry Muffin and White Light by Models Own, and I wore the owls as accents over the white.

I can't even. These owls are beyond adorable and I'm going to get more kinds once I have the pennies. I'm the tiniest bit colour blind so couldn't tell what hue Happy Owl was before he went on my nails, but next time I'm going to pair him with a turquoise polish!

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

Heart & Sparkle Manicure

Hello!

One of my favourite manicures to do is sparkly accent nails paired with a decal or stamp, and I realised I hadn't worn one in a while! This mani uses YRNails' Lace Heart water decals which I recommend thoroughly ^_^

For my sparkly accents I used Nails Inc Marylebone with plenty of top coat to gloss it up. On the rest of my nails I painted two coats of a French sheer, OPI Bubble Bath. I applied my lace heart decals onto my middle fingers.

I feel pretty and girly and cheered up by the sparkle!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

The Frenchest of Manicures

Hello!

I fancied something quite sweet for my newly short nails so I decided to combine a glitter, a French sheer and some Parisian charm for this manicure!

I painted my ring fingernails with Nails Inc's foily pink glitter Holly Place and the rest with the milky sheer Innocent by MeMeMe. On my middle fingernails I applied these Eiffel Tower decals from YRNails to complete my French look!

I have been studying some Old French poetry while I'm trying to get better so this mani does quite encapsulate what I'm about at the moment!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Dragonfly & Glitter Manicure

Hello!

I think I've stumbled upon a look that I really quite like... a glitter gradient combined with little water decals as accents! This one uses my dragonflies from YRNails.

I just received a lovely parcel from Models Own in the post as I took advantage of their half price sale, and one of the polishes I chose was the lovely, holo-sprinkled purple glitter Southern Lights. Perfect for a gradient! I started off with a coat of OPI's Care To Danse as my sheer base, then sponged Southern Lights on top.

For the glitter gradient I did two layers of sponging and then painted a small amount of the glitter on top for extra sparkle. In retrospect I would have skipped the painting as I ended up with a very thick layer on my nails! But overall I am very happy to be able to look down at my nails and see sparkles and dragonflies ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Love Trees & Sparkling Gradient

Hello!

Today I decided to dig out the rest of my Love Tree water decals from YRNails and create a sparkling glitter gradient as a background!

My glitter of choice was 3D by Topshop ~ silver glitter with a lovely holo sparkle in a green-tinted base. I sponged it on as a gradient over a sheer French shade, plus a little light green dabbed onto my nail tips so that my nail line wouldn't be visible under the glitter. I then applied two sizes of the love tree decals to my thumbs and ring fingers as accents! Two coats of top coat sealed the decals and brought out the sparkle to its max :-)

Don't forget to enter my Nailz Craze stamping plate Giveaway if you haven't already ~ it ends at Midnight tonight!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Accented French

Hello!

Today's manicure is a little different from my normal style. Normally I avoid French manicures as:

a) I can't do them well, even with tip guides, and
b) they tend to remind me of Essex-style false nails which I'm not a fan of!

However, I had the unexplainable urge to do a French with ultra-glittery accents and a decal to boot, so here I am!

For the French nails themselves I took lots of time for proper drying and to get them perfect. As a tip guide I used round page reinforcer stickers. My white was Sinful Colors' Snow Me White and my sheer was MeMeMe's Graceful. Both of these I recommend; Snow Me White gives great coverage and Graceful has a wide brush which is perfect for getting a one-coat even finish.

The glittery accents are Nails Inc's Marylebone, topped with a liberal coat of Gelous then Seche Vite.

The water decal is by YRNails, a UK nail decal store; I bought the love trees here.

I'm not sure if this manicure is to everyone's taste (I wasn't sure if it was to my taste!) but it's nice to experiment and to keep trying out new ideas!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

YRNails ~ Love Tree Decals

~ Extremely happy news! As I've been photographing her beautiful decals, Lynz from YRNails has released a promo code for my readers to use for 30% off any order - just enter " GEORDIENAILS " when ordering on yrnails.com ~

Hello!

Today I am wearing my Love Tree water decals from YRNails over a new buy, TopShop's holographic polish Wistful. I was going to do a post about the polish first but, no matter what I tried, I could not get an accurate photo of the colour! Suffice to say for now that it is a lovely, truly holo, lilac-tinted pink. With the addition of the love trees it looks like such a romantic scene ^_^

So so romantic ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

YR Nails Decals ~ Cheesecloth Red Check

~ Extremely happy news! As I've been photographing her beautiful decals, Lynz from YRNails has released a promo code for my readers to use for 30% off any order - just enter " GEORDIENAILS " when ordering on yrnails.com ~

Hello!

As promised, after removing my questionable nail stickers yesterday I delved into my collection of water decals from YRNails for a brand new full nail design. I chose the Cheesecloth Red Check pattern that I've been wanting to try for ages, and here it is:

So, so happy! It's such a cosy, country design and it complements my skin tone really well. These decals apply much better than the thick stickers because they become pliable when you soak them in water. I applied them while watching Star Trek ^_^

I'll let you know how work is going - I seem to be enjoying it so far and the fact I can wear what I want on my nails is just a bonus :-)

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Outdoor Girl Nail Art Wraps

Hello!

Today I have on some nail art wraps by Outdoor Girl in a design called Plain Rose Choco. I saw them in Poundland and, even though I knew they weren't "proper" wraps, I loved the design so decided to give them a go.

There are a variety of sizes in the pack and the instructions are simple - stick the wraps onto your nails, smooth them down and file the excess off the edges with the nail file provided. As I mentioned, they're not true nail wraps, more like thick full-nail stickers with a good adhesive. Because of their thickness it was very hard to get them completely smooth on my nails, and so I have a lot of creases around the edges which annoys a perfectionist like myself! In addition to this, after I filed off the excess I was left with some tip wear and slightly ragged edges on some nails - the nail file was very coarse so that may have been the issue. After I applied them I added top coat and wrapped my tips. This wasn't mentioned in the instructions, but had I not done so I think the stickers would have started to lift up as I used my hands and nails throughout the day.

All that being said, I am still very much in love with the design. Here are my nails:

All in all the Outdoor Girl nail wraps are a cheap option that I couldn't resist trying out for the pattern. In future though I'll probably stick to my YRNails full water decals - in fact, I will gladly be peeling these stickers off tonight and replacing them with the YRNails!

In other Lisa-related news, I have a new job - yay! As usual I'm worried about my health and how it'll affect my ability to work, but I do like the job so far and am happy ^_^ It's a casual workplace so happily I can wear my nails as I like! Here is a quick pic of what I wore to my training day and first shift, Layla's Red Taboo holo:

Indoors at my workstation the rainbow holo really shone through and I kept looking down at my nails in between calls ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Tutorial ~ How to apply Full Nail Water Decals

Hello!

I have been a bit brave and made a video! It shows how to apply fiddly-yet-beautiful full nail water decals. It was only filmed on my poor Samsung Galaxy Ace, but hopefully the commentary guides you through!

The decals in the tutorial can be bought at YR Nails for £1.50; I bought them and am a happy customer!

Hope it helps,

Lisa xx

YRNails Water Decals

Hello!

This post is showcasing a couple of the water decals I bought from YRNails with my very first paycheque! It's a UK site and has lovely unique decals for £1 each, which seemed like the perfect way to treat myself despite my scary overdraft ^_^


This first mani is using my Lace Heart decals on accent nails - smaller ones on my ring fingers and larger ones on my thumbs. Lovelovelovelovelove...

And the mani I'm wearing right now features my Eiffel Tower decals on all nails! The base polish is 'Without A Stitch' by Sally Hansen which I bought today from my trusty market stall - I'd say it is a delicate latte colour and it is very chic! Voici mes ongles français...

Ohhhhhh la la!

Câlins,

Lisa xx

P.S. Sad-face update: I ended up filing a Paypal claim for my Shrieked water decals, which was upheld and Paypal refunded my money! As for Sally's, I have emailed their customer services twice now with no response.