NOTD - Vintage Afternoon Tea Nails ft True Brit London Victoria

Hello lovely readers!

Hows tricks? So this post is a tad (okay VERY) late in going up, work has once again pretty much taken over life, making blogging regularly hard which makes me sad! Tis my happy place after all. But with a blissfully free weekend & an extra long one at that (yay!) I can finally rectify this situation & get that mojo flowing again :)

The mani I have to share with you today features another delight from the brand True Brit London which I did for Afternoon Tea Week earlier this month & which yes I am just blogging about now *facepalm* O_o....However being such a devoted & avid fan of this most delightfully British pastime, one week is simply not enough for moi & is definitely a tradition that should be celebrated & actioned as often as possible all year round! So in honour of that here are some Vintage Afternoon Tea inspired nails...

First of all...HOW did it take me so long to try foil french tips?! I am so in love with this slight alteration on a traditional french manicure but more on those later...Lets start with the gorgeous nude base colour of the mani shall we, courtesy of True Brit London's Victoria* from the Classic collection.

Victoria is one of those perfect 'my nails but better' shades. A gorgeous, milky, natural nude, it glides onto the nail beautifully creating a tres chic & sophisticated look. This was two coats applied for a lovely opaque finish.

Once completely dry I decided to add some french tips with a twist. Instead of the usual white I opted for the pretty champagne rose gold goodness that is True Brit London's Heirloom. Using some french mani guides, I painted the tips before removing the guides whilst polish was still wet. I am truly adoring foil french tips & can't wait to try with some pastel shades!

For my accent nail I couldn't resist adding a wee delicate teacup, it is an afternoon tea inspired mani after all! Using a thin brush I free handed the cup & saucer using white polish, a bit of Heirloom for detail & brown polish for my tea blend of choice! I'm partial to a spot of Darjeeling myself, whats your favourite blend?

Finishing it all of course with a nice coat of True Brit London Gloss Topcoat & that's it! Nails suitably ready to partake in some sophisticated tea & cake action!

I hope you liked the mani dolls! Thanks as always for reading. The pretty True Brit London range can be found online for £12.50. Don't forget you can get 10% off your order using my code TRULY10!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)

NOTD - First Class by True Brit London

Hello lovely readers!

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend. Productiveness is the order of the day down this end with this being the first weekend free I've had in yonks! Not only have I managed to get a number of errands/tasks done, I've also been able to grab some moments for one of my favourite pastimes & play around with my nail polish! Huzzah!

I'm excited to share with you some more pretty offerings from what I can honestly say is one of my favourite brands of the moment True Brit London. This new brand really is something special with their stunning packaging, quality formulas & fabulously fun patriotic Brit themed collections. I've already featured a few of their shades, namely Cream Tea, Knightsbridge, Lady Penelope & Heirloom. All stunning shades & today I have the equally fine First Class* from the Luxury Collection for you...

There is just something so supremely satisfying about a good deep burgundy wine shade...Berry tones sooth me greatly, I think its the Autumn vibes it gives off & First Class definitely ticks all the right boxes!

First Class is a rich burgundy red with subtle mahogany brown & purple tones. To add to the glam factor, First Class also has delicate pearl flecks running through the formula giving the polish a luxuriously looking shimmer finish.

Here I've applied two coats of First Class on top of the True Brit London Caviar Base Coat, a really lovely quality base coater as it creates a smooth, ridge free surface for the polish to simply glide over.

I love to combine gold with rich jewel tones like this, so for a touch of simple nail art, applied 3 dots of golden glitter in descending sizes starting with a large dot before finishing with a wee one using my double sided dotting tool.

Finish with top coat for added shine. There's another reason why I love this shade in particular, First Class also happens to be the PERFECT shade match to the colour scheme for my besties wedding in a few months. The fact that it has added sparkle is the cherry on top!

Hope you liked the mani dolls! True Brit London polishes are available to purchase online for £12.50, however you can get 10% off your order using my code TRULY10 :)

Thanks for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)

NOTD - Safari Theme Animal Print Nails!

Hello there lovely readers!

Hope you've all been well & enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Work was getting seriously hectic of late so my buddy Saf & I escaped to the coast for a few days of sun, sea & relaxation which was most welcome & needed. A couple of days spent soaking up the rays & enjoying good food definitely helped revive me again! :)

If you follow moi on social media you may know that for the past 3 weeks I've been rocking a Gelish mani on the nails. QUITE a feat for yours truly. I honestly didn't think I would last 3 days but I adored it SO much that I got as much wear as I could out of it. However the time came to eventually remove the gel & finally get back to polishing these nails! Huzzah! Girl was seriously starting to get withdrawal symptoms! O_o

So for my first polish fix in 3 weeks I've decided to go a bit “wild” with some funky Safari themed nail art incorporating both Zebra AND Leopard print designs as I couldn't decide which one to go for haha!

For my base I've used two coats of Nina Ultra Pro Rum & Reggae. Lets just take a moment to appreciate the fabularse name of this polish, I love it! Rum & Reggae is a cream beige nude, perfect as a base colour to do nail art on as it really brings out the design whilst still being a lovely neutral shade.

I then applied a sort of rough (okay VERY rough) zebra like design to one half the nail using a thin nail art brush & black polish. I personally feel the err rustic...“roughness” sort of adds to the wild wilderness theme going on here...okay I MAY have rushed it a tad O_o

On the remaining half of the nail I applied a few gold glitter splodges before adding the leopard detail by free-handing small C like curves around the gold with a toothpick to create the leopard spots.

I let the polish air dry a few minutes before going in with a coat of CND Air Dry topcoat, this is important otherwise the nail art may drag if top coat is applied straight away. And that's it! Hope you like the “wild” Safari design nails my lovelies! Roar!

Thanks for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

NOTD - Raspberry Ripple Marble Nails

Hello there lovely readers!

So after a few wee glitches, Summer seems to have finally graced us with its glorious presence & with it all its delights; picnics, beach trips, ice cream in abundance! Though I've probably gone & jinxed it right there O_o I love finding inspiration for nail art wherever I can, especially when it involves my other great love in life...FOOD.

Joyfully digging into a tub of Carte Dor Crema Di Mascarpone the other day, I managed to take a moment to pause mid shovel & admire the beautiful berry tones swirling through the delightful dessert & think "Oooh...marble effect!" So I decided to attempt a dry marble look using pink tones reminiscent to that of raspberry ripple...

I'm relatively new to the whole dry marbling thing. however it is definitely the more appealing nail art option for me compared to the daunting task of water marbling! Much easier, all you need is polishes, a quick hand & a toothpick!

Apologies for the quality of some of the pics lovelies, I did this mani in the evening & tried to capture a few of the steps of the dry marbling to show you as a kind of step by step tutorial! Hopefully it'll make sense ;)

To begin with I needed my base colour, I decided to use this adorable pink speckled polish from Ulta 3, a fab Ozzy brand that my dear pal Chelle sent over to me, which was part of their Easter collection & clearly saw them jumping on the speckled polish bandwagon! This is Bunny Bloom, an adorable pastel pink creme with both small & large black glitters.

I applied one coat of Bunny Bloom to each nail. Next is the stage where you have to start working a bit quick, so its best to do one nail at a time. After applying a second coat of Bunny Bloom, I then grabbed a random Beauty UK polish in a bright raspberry pink shade & applied two thin lines on top of the wet polish.

I then used No7 Snowflake, a (very thin!) white polish which isn't the best formula but I'm trying to be good & use it up in my nail art! I applied a line of white in between the two raspberry stripes.

Grabbing my toothpick, I quickly swirled the two colours together to create the ripple effect. The most crucial part of this step is to do the marbling with a VERY light hand, otherwise you'll risk going right through the polish to the nail bed.

Continuing until all nails are done, finish with a slick of topcoat to seal & you're done!

I decided to focus the design on the center of the nail but you can also marble the whole nail if you wish! In fact I may try that next using a different colour combo :)

I hope you liked the mani dolls, I'll try & capture (better!) the different stages as I do my nail art in the future so that I can feature some more mini step by step tutorials for you!

Thanks as always for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!