Gothic Black and Fuchsia Nail Art - WIDW

Hey y'all!

So uhm... it's been a while.  My bad.  I had a rough month, and to be honest, I'm not sure I still have the blogging spark that I used to have.  I'm hoping that some time off will ease that and help me get back in the groove, but at this point I'm not going to make any promises to you or to myself.  Mostly this month has been consumed with me practicing my acrylic sculpting, going to the BeautyUK show in Birmingham to pick up some goodies for said acrylic practice, earning my certificates for hard gels, gel polish, and a few other nail procedures, and trying to clear out some old stuff from the house to make a little money and make space.  I'm also considering going into practice as a mobile nail tech, unless I can find a suitable position in a nearby salon first, so I am seeing my available free time starting to shrivel up and frankly that's what kept me blogging for the past 2 years (having a lot of time on my hands).  In any event... I have a few posts to finish off this month and the first of those is this WIDW look with Sinful Shine's Royal Flush - a gothic black and fuchsia look with studs.

Loose Glitter Gradient - What I Did Wednesday

Hey y'all!

I had a really hard time deciding what kind of nail art I should do with my swatch of Nail Pattern Boldness Allons-Y because it is just so beautiful, I didn't want to cover it up or take away from that sparkly goodness!  Ultimately while looking through my supplies I decided the only thing to do over glitter was add MOAR GLITTAH!

Hey, Swatch It! Nail Pattern Boldness Allons-Y

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Funny story... I am obviously not as organized as I should be.  I was rifling through my box of untried indie polishes to find a pretty one to showcase today, and I selected a polish, swatched it, photographed it, and put it away as I usually do.  It wasn't until I actually started editing the photos that I realized, I've already swatched this polish!  OOPS!  However, I think my swatches of Nail Pattern Boldness Allons-Y today look a bit different than they did back in May, so I'm gonna run with it.  Also, I have a macro shot this time, so... there's that. 

Chrome stamping over glitter bling nail art

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Once again, another holiday has completely snuck up on me, and for no good reason other than I've just been in my own little world, but that's okay.  Last year I was quite surprised to discover that Mardi Gras isn't a "thing" as we 'murkins know it in the UK, but they call it "Pancake Day" and the premise is pretty much the same.  I got my ingredients together over the weekend, and tomorrow I'll be griddling up some fluffy pancakes for dinner, because yum!  While today's nail art isn't exactly traditional for Mardi Gras, I think the festive flair and spectacular blingyness make it totally appropriate for living it up on Fat Tuesday tomorrow.

Avast Ye Bilge Rats Pirate Nail Art Challenge Day 3: Gold and/or Treasure

Ahoy, me hearties!

I'm back again for day 3 of the Avast Ye Bilge Rats pirate-themed nail art challenge, and today's prompt is all about the BOOTY BLING!  Today's manis will all be themed around buckets of doubloons, pieces of eight and any other beauties a freebooter might covet - Gold and/or Treas-ARRR!

Hey Swatch It! Octopus Party Ametrine Hour and Star Tar

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One of the greatest discoveries I made in the first half of this year was a new US indie brand called Octopus Party Nail Lacquer.  One of the few indie polish companies run by a dude, OPNL is also 5-free, cruelty-free, and vegan friendly.  Add in the fact that the selection has a lot of variety and style, and you've got the makings of a solid polish line.  Since the line was new to me, I purchased two different glitter polishes that really called out to me from Dave's Etsy store.

Freehand Jacquard and Corset nail art - LNTC

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Yesterday marked the Faff's one year wedding anniversary, and in good fashion, of course I spent a good part of the evening getting this post ready to publish while he took care of planting the evergreen sapling that was my gift to him (he gave me complete box sets of Heroes and Sherlock).  We're pretty low-key in this household, so festivities involved a "special" homecooked meal of slow-cooker steak in mushroom gravy and jacket sweet potato, a bit of wine, and some televisual feasting.  It's really, really, really hard to believe we've been married for a year now and that I haven't murdered him in his sleep.

Yet.  ;)

I digress.  Today's penultimate prompt for the Llama Nails Technique Challenge is Freehand design, and I was a bit flummoxed for ideas on this until I browsed my Pinterest inspiration board and remembered that I'd always wanted to give a corset nail another try.  Once that was set, the jacquard print fell into place and I had some nail art!

Abstract floral stripey nail art - TPTC

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For the final May Tri-Polish Tuesday, I've opted to save myself some grief and only use two of the three polishes in this abstract floral nail art, using some beautiful polishes that I picked up at M&S, labeled as a Downton Abbey trio, and a US indie from Nail Pattern Boldness called Clairvoyant Visitor.

Hey Swatch It! - Nail Pattern Boldness Allons-Y

Hey y'all!

Today I've got a pretty little glitter gem from Nail Pattern Boldness that I brought back from my trip home in March.  I actually purchased several products from this brand to show you, but I had been lusting this polish for a long time before I finally bought it, so I think it's only fitting that it gets to feature first.  Take a look at Allons-Y:

Hols Haul!

Hey y'all!

First off... today's my birthday, but I'm finally going to the doctor to take care of the lingering sinus and sore throat problems that we brought back with us from Texas last month.  As promised, I wanted to give you guys a haul post that trip, and today's your lucky day.  I certainly did quite the spree, beginning in January by online ordering things and having them shipped to Momma Faff's house.  By the time it was all said and done, there were a few too many boxes and she got onto me about it.  I couldn't help it - I needed things!  Anyway... the morning after we arrived, I sat down to the most wonderful breakfast of coffee and opening boxes, and managed to consolidate everything into one tiny pic that went on my Instagram feed immediately.