31DC-D27 - Recreate One Of Your Old Manis

Hey y'all!

Today's prompt for the 31-Day Challenge has us revisiting our archives to recreate a look we've already done.  I had a hard time deciding between remastering a look I flopped the first time around or revamping a look that I got right, and ultimately decided that I had to recreate one that had a request for a tutorial which I never got around to.  I still haven't done the tutorial, mind you, but at least I'm dusting off the original look for another go. 

Zigzags and Confetti nail art - TPTC

*** This post contains items which were sent for review. ***

Hey y'all!

First off, I just need to say that ever since yesterday, I've had the song Trouty Mouth stuck in my head.  It's torture.  Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.  You may have figured out by now that I've really been having fun playing with the new stamping plates that MoYou Nails sent to me for review, because I've been on a bit of a stamping spree the last few days.  Today's Tri-Polish nail art is no exception, except that I also got to use three of the new polishes that I purchased from MoYou Nails as well.   The first Tuesday in August brings round a new set of colors with which to work, and I ended up with this look which has a bit of a circus feel to it.

Holo dot skittles - LNTC

Hey y'all!

Wednesday brings us back around to the Llama Nails Technique Challenge, and this week we're all making skittles, which is a reference to the candy and probably goes back to a manicure long ago where some lovely nail artist painted all of her nails different bright candy colors and decided it looked like fruity candy.  Anyway... my own creation for today's challenge is a bit of a fail on two fronts, primarily because even though I really did use different polishes on every nail (promise!) they all kind of look the same, and secondly because my stamping kind of sucks.  Here, look.

Neon Starbursts - TPTC

Hey y'all!

Today's nail art comes courtesy of Vic at Glowstars and Sam at FingerFood, both of whom are responsible for stirring up my need to throw some neon on my nails.   Since I currently only own one truly fluorescent nail polish at the moment, I had to improvise a bit, but I think the results are well worth it.  Still working under this month's Tri-Polish Tuesday colors of pink, blue, and yellow, I present to you this sparkly neon starburst nail art!

Birthday haul!

Hey y'all!

Since last Friday was my birthday and I posted my vacation haul, I figured it was only appropriate to follow that up today with my birthday haul!

To start, I figure you might want to see the nails I was sporting for my birthday.  Basically I was just playing with my nail foils and created this look.  Also, sorry for the crappy dry state of my nails - it was an afterthought to actually photograph what I'd done.  However, they're shiny and festive and I don't think it was a half-bad first attempt at foil nail art.

I will take what is mine with fire and blood - LNTC-3D

Hey y'all!

If you read my post on Monday for St. Patrick's Day, you know I teased today's post.  Can I just say how excited I am that this manicure is finally seeing the light of day?  Be forewarned, it's HUGELY pic-heavy, and for good reason!

When I read through the prompts for the Llama Nails Challenge and saw 3D, I had to have a good long think about what I would do, since I've used so many 3D elements in manis past.  Then I read that season 4 of Game of Thrones is coming in April, and this look started forming in my little head.  I wanted to pay tribute to Daenerys and her beautiful babies, so I have created a dragon egg manicure for you!  As a bonus, I've put together a little pictorial for how I created this look, so be sure to read through to the end if you want to see it.

Pink and Grey skittles - TPTC

Hey y'all!

Can I just tell you guys how grateful I am that this is the last of the pink/grey/brown Tri-Polish Tuesday weeks?  In March we move on to purple/blue/green, and that is SO much more to my liking.  Thankfully VD month coincided with the pink so that gave me a few timely excuses, but man, this was definitely a challenging set of colors!

The concept for this design actually only ended up being represented on one nail - my ring finger - and it came from a pillow pattern that I saw on Pinterest.  Each nail kind of evolved on its own after that, and well... the result is skittlemania!

Electric Cotton Candy (Faery Floss)

Hey y'all!

I'm back with another new technique, courtesy of the Techniques Challenge presented by Llama Nails.  This week our prompt was Sugar Spun Mani, so I created a candy-coated look with three bright colors. 

Llama Nails Holiday Challenge week 15 - Chinese New Year

Hey y'all!

Today is a remarkable day for me.  It is the conclusion of my first ever nail art challenge!  Oddly, it isn't the first one I've ended, but it is the end of the first one I started.  Confused?  S'okay, no worries.  Today's theme is Chinese New Year, so here's my digits!  My fingers, not my phone number.  Sorry.

Hey Swatch It! Quirk's Fantine

Hey y'all!

Today I just wanted to share a few pics of a gorgeous glitter topper I recently bought from the lovely Kerrie at Quirk Polish.  I actually purchased 2 glitter toppers, but as the second one is now discontinued I felt it would be wrong to tease you with it in a Swatch It post.

May I introduce you to the heartbreakingly lovely Fantine.

Llama Nails Holiday Challenge week 14 - Australia Day

Hey y'all!

Well, I'm a day late and a dollar short, and I apologize.  Yesterday a migraine took me out of commission and I couldn't stand to look at the computer screen, so posting was out of the question.  This of course means I'm backed up on 2 challenge posts, since I don't want to double-post to catch up, so yesterday's post is today, and today's post is tomorrow.  Make sense?  Nah, not for me either.  Anyway... Llama Nail's penultimate holiday challenge theme is Australia Day, which is celebrated on January 26.

via City of Greater Geraldton

Hey Swatch It! Belle Glamour's Harry Potter Collection Review & Swatches

Hey y'all!

Yesterday I teased the latest Belle Glamour collection, which I was so excited to get.  It's everybody's favorite boy wizard, Harry Potter!  Catriona has included six delicious shades in this collection, and a little birdie told me that she might consider doing some add-ons in the future.  Color me totally psyched!

Fair warning, this is going to be a huge, picture-heavy post.

From L-R: Bellatrix LeStrange, Golden Snitch, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Sirius Black
(because Bellatrix and Sirius should NEVER, EVER be put side-by-side!)

Tutorial time! How I cleanup shimmery cuticles

Hey y'all!

In my <sarcasm>copious amounts of free time</sarcasm>, I made a YouTube video after realizing that a lot of people have a very common problem - pesky shimmer and microglitter that won't budge out of the cuticle area.  After searching the interwebz and asking on Facebook, it was determined to be a relevant need for such a tutorial to exist, so...

Here's my not-so-revolutionary, but entirely effective method for cleaning the stubborn polishes out of my cuticles.  Hope you enjoy.

Mani Monday: Gradient dragonfly stamping

Hey y'all!

I wanted to share a really pretty mani that I created after swatching Belle Glamour's Vampire's Kiss this weekend.  I just fell in love with the color and knew that I wanted to put it into some nail art.  I also really want to work more on my stamping techniques, so this was a perfect way to practice.

Hey Swatch It! Belle Glamour part deux

Hey y'all!

A few weeks ago, I brought you a sneak peek at a new UK indie line, Belle Glamour.  Today I've got four more pretty shades to show you from that line, which is launching on January 24, but pre-orders are available on the website now!

Hey, Swatch It! Belle Glamour UK Indie swatch and review

Hey y'all!

So I'm very excited to be reviewing my first UK Indie polish today!  I received four shades from Catriona's Cosmetics Belle Glamour line of polishes, which will be officially launched on January 24, 2014.  In addition to selling some really pretty polishes from her own line as well as some other brands, she also sells hand-painted false nails and loose glitter.

There were SO many polishes to choose from, I really had to have a long sit-down with myself and figure out the best way to select a decent review sample.  In the end, I selected 4 polishes (3 shimmers and 1 glitter) across the color wheel.

Colors listed:

Sunlight in the Water (blue)

Grass is Always Greener (green)

Bloodstain (pink)

Amulet (purple)

Llama Nails Holiday Challenge week 7: Hanukkah

Hey y'all!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving break.  Here in jolly ol' England, business was much the same as usual:  chilly weather punctuated with days of "nice" weather.  By nice, of course, I simply mean I wasn't freezing my ovaries off.  It's officially December now, which brings with it a new nail art challenge and continuation of the existing challenge I've been working on for Llama Nails.  Doing two challenges at once will be interesting, and by interesting I mean "oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die."  The new challenge comes from the FB group Crumpet's Nail Tarts which is spearheaded by Debbie of The Crumpet, and is a really large group of nail enthusiasts.  The challenge is winter/Christmas themed and will only last for the month of December.  My first challenge nails will be posted tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to this theme as I have some great ideas for it.

Today, however, I continue on the path of the Holiday themed manis with this week's entry: Hanukkah.