Sparkly Purple Negative Space Zebra Nail Art - WIDW

Hey y'all!

Welcome back to What I Did (with it) Wednesday!  We're officially mid-way through April now, and time doesn't seem to be slowing down for ANY reason!  On Saturday I showed you my swatch of Red Carpet Manicure's Diamond gel polish, a holographic glitter top coat that I applied over bare nails.  Today I'm back to show you the nail art that I've created over it, using two additional new (to me) products, because I couldn't wait to play with them!

Hey, Swatch It! Red Carpet Diamond

Hey y'all!

I told you yesterday that I would have a different kind of Swatch It today, and that's because this is my first-ever swatch of a gel polish on the blog!  Since getting my basic nail qualifications last autumn, I've been experimenting a lot with different enhancement and polishing systems, and I'm finally at a point where I'm ready to start showing and telling a bit more about my experiences on the blog, and hopefully soon on my YouTube channel.  After dipping my toes in the gel polish pool with doing acrygel overlays, I've been slowly collecting a few colors here and there, and this beauty was one of my special treats to myself from our trip to Texas last month - a Red Carpet Manicure Power of the Gem collection from my birth month - Diamond.

Hey, Swatch It! Octopus Party Witches Get Stitches

Hey y'all!

First off... happy birthday to me!  I am turning 39 for the very first time this year (because I will not be going through the door marked "40"), so that's pretty momentous.   I'll be giving you a recap of the birthday festivities on Monday, but today is all about the swatching.  Last fall, I bought several of Octopus Party Nail Lacquer's Halloween line, and I've already swatched all the full-size bottles I bought, but I also grabbed some minis because I wasn't sure if I would love them or not.  Unfortunately they've been sitting in my untrieds for 6 months now, so I figured it was time to show a little love.  The first one I have to show you is Witches Get Stitches.

#dressgate #thedress - What color are my nails?

Hey y'all!

When I woke up this morning, almost the very first thing I saw in my social media feed was referencing some huge debacle that the internet had while I was sleeping, about the color of #thedress and the two camps who saw it differently.  Over the course of the day, the rest of the UK picked up the debate and I decided I couldn't let it go without commemorating #dressgate with some nailart.

Multichrome Black Lace nail art

Hey y'all!

On Saturday's swatch I showed you a beautiful multichrome shifting polish.  While multichromes are certainly beautiful on their own, after a couple of days, even they can begin to feel a bit "blah."  Today I'd like to show you how a little bit of creative stamping can up your mani game and extend the life of a mani for at least a couple more days.

Hey, Swatch It! ILNP Peace (H)

Hey y'all!

Happy Saturday!  For today's Swatch It, I have another gorgeous Ultrachrome polish from ILNP, made extra special by the addition of a bit of holo sparkle!  This is the holographic version of Peace.

Hey, Swatch It! OPI DS Reflection

Hey y'all!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I've done a Swatch It Saturday for you!  I'm happily back today with a gorgeous holo from the OPI Designer Series, Reflection, and I think it's a perfect color for today's Hallmark holiday.  Check it out.

31DC-D14 - Holo

Hey y'all!

Happy Humpday!  Today's prompt in the 31-Day Challenge gives us Holo, short for Holographic.  There are a few different ways to go about achieving a holographic nail art look, but I opted to take the most traditional (and really, most fun) by selecting two indie polishes stacked with holographic glitter and pairing it with a neat stamping image.

Holo Leopard nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy Black Friday!  Today I have a quick and easy nail art look for you that will sparkle and shine without requiring too much effort from your food-coma'd state.  This leopard print is done in autumn/fall friendly shades, and doesn't take an art degree to pull off!

Hey, Swatch It! ILNP Black Orchid

Hey y'all!

Happy Saturday!  Last week I showed you Iconic, ILNP's rose gold holographic polish.  Today I have another holo from the Fall 2014 collection, and this one's a personal squeeing favorite.  Black Orchid is a dark eggplant holo gem that I just couldn't stop staring at!

Guest Post: Jenni of Nail Art Novice

Hey y'all!

Today's post ends this round of Faffy guest stars, and I could not have picked a sweeter blogger to fill the spot than this lovely lady.  Written by yet another of my UK nail blogger buddies, Jenni's blog has been incredibly good to me, as I believe I have won at least 3 prizes in various giveaways over the last couple of years.  Beyond just being a great giveaway piñata, she's a fellow geek and loves playing with new colors and techniques as much as I do!  I happily present to you, the Nail Art Novice!

Hello Fixin' To Faff lovelies! My name is Jenni and I blog over at Nail Art Novice. Ali kindly did a guest post for me whilst I was in Australia this summer, so I thought it was about time I returned the favour!

My mani today is an autumnal skittle-I absolutely love Autumn, it's my favourite season, I love the colours and the weather and collecting conkers and scrunching through leaves and all of it! I grabbed a handful of autumn-y colours and sat down to do this mani, sort of winging it as I went!

Hey, Swatch It! ILNP Iconic

Hey y'all!

Have you been enjoying the changing weather and the line of guest posts?  In the past week, I've definitely had to pull out my sweaters/jumpers and furry slippers, and cranking on the heat during the day.  Sadly, I also packed away all my flipflops and open-toed shoes to replace them with my boots.  On the plus side, this means I don't have to worry about shaving my legs for at least 4 months!  On the plus side, cooler weather also means that a lot of indie polish makers are releasing some fabulous fall and winter collections, and today's swatches are from just such a collection.  I picked up a few new ILNPs whilst we were in Texas, and today I want to show you Iconic.

Hey, Swatch It! ellagee LE Bling In The New Year Collection

*** This post contains items which were purchased at a blogger discount for the purpose of review. ***

Hey y'all!

With Halloween now past us, it's time to start looking towards the holidays and all the beautiful makeup and polish collections that come with them.  I have an exciting preview to show you for a collection that opens for pre-order TODAY!  While I was in Texas earlier this month, I connected with Laura of ellagee, and she gave me the opportunity to show you a trio from her new Limited Edition Bling In The New Year collection.

Guest Post: Kirsten of Geeky Owl

Hey y'all!

Today I'm handing over the reigns to the super sweet, super talented, and all-around super woman, Kirsten.  I fell in love with her blog because she's so innovative and relatable, and I fell in love with her personality because we have so many things in common, from our mutual obsession with Joss Whedon and Doctor Who to our shared anxiety disorder.  In addition to being one of my favorite nail bloggers, she gets to preview some of the hottest new beauty products at her posh day job - I'm totes jelly!  I am so happy and honored to be able to call this woman my friend, and to be able to share her work with you all today.  Please welcome the brains behind the Geeky Owl!

Aquatic Gradient nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  Today's nail art comes to you courtesy of me fiddling around in my untrieds again, where I noticed I had a sizable number of blues and teals accumulating, so I decided to pull a few out and make some nail art with them.  The result is this aquatic-feel gradient with an accent nail that I think ended up looking like octopus suckers, though it wasn't the intention.

Disney's Little Mermaid Nail Art - LNMBC

Hey y'all!

It's been a while since I did any nail art for the Llama Nails Movies/Books Challenge, but this week's prompt of Disney finally motivated me to do something I've been debating for a very long time - glitter placement.  After having a long think about my favorite Disney movies, I settled on one that is both a personal favorite for the music and which I felt I had a good supply of appropriate glitters to get the look I wanted, so, today's look is inspired by Disney's Little Mermaid.

Avast Ye Bilge Rats Pirate Nail Art Challenge Day 2: Oceans

Ahoy, me hearties!

Today we be look'n to the depths o' Davey Jones' locker fer inspiration, because, ye scurvy dogs, today's theme be Oceans!

Guest post for BG Polish

Hey y'all!

I'm guest posting today over at the home of my girl Catriona at BGPolish.  Check it out if you want to see a full breakdown and color pics for this stamped holo nail foil nail art.

Blue Me Over: Colour Me Crazy Challenge

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

Hey y'all!

I probably went a little overboard creating today's Blue-themed mani for the Colour Me Crazy challenge, but I'm okay with that.  It's got a little bit of everything - stamping, studs, rhinestones, gradients, striping tape, glitter, and holo!

Hey Swatch It! China Glaze When Stars Collide

Hey y'all!

Ever have a really miserable day/week, running behind, feeling all kinds of frustrated and stabby, and then stumble across something you'd "lost" and it makes everything just a little bit better?  Not like, fix-all-the-problems better, but more like hey-the-universe-gave-me-a-pity-frak better?  That's what happened to me when I realized I didn't have a swatch for you this weekend (because, reasons) and discovered a couple of swatch pictures I took a LONG time ago of a beautiful holo polish and it was enough to lighten a bit of my current load.  I bought several of the China Glaze Hologlam holos way back last year and although I've used them in some nail art I don't think I've ever posted swatches before.  So, here ya go:  When Stars Collide.