NOTD - The PERFECT Red Polish!

Hello lovely readers!

Red lips...red nails. Vintage & iconic, whether you're a loyal fan of one or go all out & love to rock both, there's no doubt that both are timeless looks that will never fade out. Its a mission in every girls life to find THE perfect red. Me, I'm still yet to find the perfect red lipstick...it may be a while till this task is accomplished seeing as red lips scare the bejesus out of me however, I am happy to say that my hunt for the perfect red polish may finally be over as I have discovered one that I've fallen head over heels in love with! And its brand Sabon who have delivered so perfectly...

Sabon is in fact a brand specializing in bath and body products, not so hugely well known in the UK...yet. I've heard on the grapevine that they plan to make their stamp here too which I am so happy to hear & they now have a UK website! I actually stumbled across this store on my trip to NYC last year & was drawn in immediately by the delightful scents & cute kitsch packaging.

After befriending the absolute sweetheart of an assistant, gosh I really miss how wonderful New Yorkers were during my time there & indulging in a complimentary hand pamper session in which a sublime selection of Sabon products were used, including scrubs & hand cream potions, my nail polish raider went in to overdrive when I spotted the bottles sitting so prettily amongst the bath products. Naturally I was in my heaven & I ended up taking this beauty home with me which goes by the simple title of Burgundy ;)

Regardless of the simplicity of the name every other aspect of this polish more than makes up for it, firstly packaging. Just look at that beautiful vintage bottle, wouldn't that look so pretty & elegant sitting on your vanity table? J'adore!

Next is the colour, what can I say its just the PERFECT vintage red for me, not too orange toned, nor too bright or too dark, just....PERFECT.

Finally the formula of the polish, which I absolutely love, it does veer towards the thin side, but I actually prefer this as it prevents any possible gloopiness & makes the polish so much easier to work with. Due to the consistency of the formula being such, you are left with a lush glossy almost jelly like finish to your manicure. This was 3 coats applied.

The finishing result...glossy, vintage pin up red goodness. You could even forgo topcoat however its always a good idea to finish with a thin coat at least for longevity. So yes, my hunt for the perfect red is over. Huzzah! You can find Sabon products as well as these beautiful polishes online but I believe there is now a store in Covent Garden...either way I will definitely be popping in again when I return to NYC in June! 

Do you have your perfect red shade? Thanks for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

What I Wore...Pirating

Hey there lovely readers!

Mixing things up a tad in between all the nail art action with a little "What I Wore" post for you today lovelies!

As you might know already if you follow me on social media (@Aysh_tmb) one of my current obsessions is the shopping app DEPOP, I'm forever going on about it & its become my go to place to browse first. I've found some amazing clothes/shoes purchases on there, all for bargainous prices, including a brand new Pyon Lolita coat for £40 & most recently a new pair of LE Irregular Choice loafers for a tenner! So yup, I am a hardcore Depop-er, send help ;)

Today's outfit includes another recent Depop purchase...some sleek new booties. I was after a pair of knee highs as my current ones were getting a bit worse for wear & came across this lovely pair from Next that seemed to fit the bill nicely.

They are made from sturdy leather which is great for battling the elements, lets face it in England thats a necessity as you never know when the heavens will open most unpredictably! A bit of a heel twas also a requirement for the height challenged individual that is yours truly & the length hitting to just below the knee is perfect.

The outfit itself consists of a vintage blouse with a bit of old age sleeve action going on that was picked up donkeys ago from a charity shop yet still remains one of my favs, I heart bell sleeves muchly, instantly transforming what would be an ordinary piece into something more feminine. It was a tad chilly (Spring where are you?!) so I threw on a trusty black t shirt underneath.

On top of that I threw on my Topshop velvet black playsuit, another fav, I always get lovely comments on this whenever I wear it, not only is it pretty, soft & BLACK (the goth girl is content) but its so darn cosy too! Except maybe when one needs to use the washroom & forgets until the last minute that you're wearing a one piece...*cue speedy panicked unzipping* O_o

Leggings were required to finish the outfit. All together the ensemble kinda bought pirate vibes to mind, but I managed to hold myself back from adding an eye patch to complete the look. Perhaps next time. Thanks as always for stopping by beauts!

Lotsa love to ya!

Easter NOTD - Minion Chicks plus Tutorial!

Hello lovely readers!

Happy Easter! Yay for four day weekends! If only every weekend could be so. Made a start on all the chocolate gorge-fest-ing yet? If not then get on it beauties! I hope you liked the Easter Bunny nail tutorial from my last post, I've managed to roll out one more Easter mani to share with you & this one was especially for my work colleague who has a thing for minions...who doesn't, those guys are adorable! Remember I told you I had some googly eyes lying around? Well here's how they come of use...

Minion chickies cracking out of their shells! Haha! Well it sure was different lets put it that way & went down well with aforementioned work chum so high minion fives! And my nails made jiggly sounds whenever I shook my fingers (which was often)...that was quite entertaining too. I'm easily amused.

Again I reached for my trusty Models Own polishes to create my minion nails, for the white shells I used Models Own HyperGel in White Light and Models Own Neon in Luis Lemon for the minion chicks themselves.

If you want to re-create this design then here's a step by step breakdown on how to do so!

Start with your white base, here I've used two coats of the Models Own White Light

Then grab your yellow polish & apply a horizontal strip of yellow across the middle of the nail using the polish brush

Now grab a finer nail art brush & using the same yellow polish, apply three triangles above the yellow line & three below, before filling in with more yellow polish

Because my yellow was so neon it kind of faded in to the white so to make the egg shell cracks more prominent I went over the edge of the yellow triangles with some black polish using a fine nail art pen.

Using the same nail art pen, apply a thin horizontal black line in the middle of the yellow

Then apply a thick large round circle of silver polish in the centre of that black line, this was an old Sonia Kashuk polish I had that was nearest at the time!

Then whilst the polish was still wet I stuck on my little google eyes which I had lying around...as you do! Of course if you don't have these then you can just add a smaller white circle of polish inside the silver before adding a black dot for the pupil!

To finish I applied a bit more silver around the rim of the googly eyes to help secure them before adding about two coats of topcoat just to make sure they stayed put.

And thats it! A fun yet quirky Easter mani...I am partial to bouts of oddness ;) Thanks as always for reading, have a fab Easter dolls!

Lotsa love to ya!

Easter NOTD - White Wabbits Tutorial!

Hey there lovely readers!

So I'm sure it won't have escaped your notice that Easter upon us, if the abundance of fluffy bunnys & cheeky chicks everywhere weren't a big enough giveaway then the lure of a four day weekend definitely catches attention!

Naturally I can't help getting in to the spirit of things by indulging in my favourite thing...nail art! As well as chocolate egg over eating...a skill I take most seriously. So I guess make that SECOND favourite thing ;)

Last year I created these pink Easter Bunny Booty nails which still make me giggle everytime I think of them. As cute as they were to wear they were also of course hugely impractical, but for the wee time they were worn the wabbits were dearly loved.

This time I decided to create some slightly better behaved bunnies, who instead of showing us their behinds, give us their best selfies smiles instead! :)

Easter time always makes me want to reach for pretty pastels & I had the perfect polishes to use  courtesy of Ulta3 who (along with many other brands I'm sure you remember!) released some speckled polishes a while back for the season each with delightfully bunny themed titles! 

On my thumb & middle fingers I used one coat of Blue Bunny a bright blue pastel creme with teeny black glitters as well as a few larger hexagonal ones. 

On my index & ring fingers I went for the pink offering using one coat of Bunny Bloom, a pretty strawberry pink creme with the same black glitters. On my pinkie I decided to go all white using Models Own White Light HyperGel which is what I also used for my rabbits.

Now to draw our bunnies! Here is a wee step by step breakdown on how to create your own wee wabbits...

Begin with one or two coats of your base colour, with these Ulta3 polishes I felt one was more than enough, especially as I'd be adding more polish for my bunnies

Start by drawing a round(ish) circle at the tips of your nails for the bunnies head using the brush that comes with the polish.

Then grabbing a finer nail art brush, dip into your white polish & draw on two ears above the head, if you want to make them floppy you can but I didn't have enough space. Fill in your two long triangular ears with more white

Then using some black polish & a dotting tool apply two dots next to each other for the eyes.

Next using a bright pink polish, here I've used WAH nail art pen in Pink & used the fine nib to apply a teeny nose & to fill in the inside of the ears with a smaller triangle.

Final step is to add those whiskers by simply adding three small strokes either side of the nose with black polish

For my pinkie white bunny I simply used the black & pink polishes to draw on a rabbit face a little differently, more comic book, rustic arty style? That's what I'm telling myself with anyway...

Not forgetting a nice covering of glossy topcoat & your cute bunnies are ready to hop :) I have some googly eyes lying around that I'm itching to use & I've just had an idea for what they might be perfect for so stay tuned for more Easter nail art... 

Losta love to ya!

Afternoon Tea Adventures - Marie Antionette Afternoon Tea at Pont St Belgravia

Hello there my lovely readers,

"Let them eat cake"...advice that I try to incorporate religiously in my lifestyle. Though there is no concrete evidence that she uttered these words, the quote is often associated with that iconic figure of class & extravagance that was Marie Antoinette, who like myself enjoyed partaking in the delightful pastime of afternoon tea.

NOTD - St Patricks Day Shamrock Nails & Tutorial

Hello my lovely readers!

Grabbed a cheeky midweek reprieve from work today & what better way to spend it than a trip to Hogwarts! The matey & I paid visit to the Harry Potter studios & had a magical time going in to full on geek mode, prowling through Diagon Alley, popping by Number 4 Privet Drive & sampling Butterbeer. Which was actually a bit of a let down! I was expecting liquid Werthers or something but it definitely wasn't to my taste haha! I'll be Instagramming some memories from the day so do pop by! @Aysh_xox

As promised I've thrown together another St Patricks Day mani for you, this time with some Shamrocks! You can check out my previous post HERE in which I've shown you how to create some Gothic Celtic Love Knot nail art in honour of the Irish holiday also :)

However if that design feels a bit too complicated then these sweet & simple Shamrocks are much more easier to do!

Whereas with the Celtic Knot I went down the dark gothic vampy route, with a deep Ebony Green & Antique Copper, which you know I LOVE, this time I felt some refreshing pastel & bright tones were called for. 

For my base shade I've used two coats of Models Own Apple Pie from their scented range, a beautiful creamy mint, so bright, cheerful & yes indeedy...delightfully apple scented! Yum!

Then for my Shamrocks I reached for an old favourite of mine Barry M Spring Green, a bright & almost fluorescent green that really pops!

Using a dotting tool I managed to fit on about three shamrocks on my index & middle fingers around the border & one large one on my pinkie. To create your shamrock just follow these simple steps...

Using a dotting tool or toothpick place two dots of green polish side by side

Then using the same tool, bring the two dots together at the bottom joining together to create a heart shape

Do two more of these underneath, this time making these two leaves face each other

Apply your stem using a nail art brush

Finish with a thin line of white polish on top of the leaves in the centres for added detail.

To fill up the nail a bit more I simply added a few strokes of green around the border creating some additional fauna using a fine nail art brush.

On my thumb & ring fingers I decided to use some heart shaped green rhinestones instead of polish to create some 3D  four leaf clovers for luck :)

Finish it all with topcoat & you have your Shamrock nails ready for St Paddys day! Thanks as always for reading & I hope you have a lovely one if celebrating!

Lotsa love to ya!

NOTD - Celtic Love Knot Nail Art Tutorial for St Patricks Day!

Already Easter is approaching! How do I know this? (apart from the abundance of bunny filled promos in every retail store) The arrival of Milkybar Mini Eggs of course! Whilst everyone goes crazy for those pretty pastel original mini eggs, I myself await eagerly for the white chocolate form, if you haven't tried these yet...RECTIFY.

Apologies, I digressed there, tends to happen when chocolate is involved. Before Easter however is St Patricks day! So prior to going all Easter obsessed with the nail art, I always love to do a mani or two to celebrate the Irish holiday, especially as green is one of my ultimate favs :) I've just remembered that I was in NYC for the St Patrick's day parade last year...sigh *reminisces* Twas a good day, the Irish sure do know how to put on a good show!

I wanted to challenge myself with doing something a wee bit different for my first St Patricks Day mani, so I decided to create this Celtic Love Knot design, which I'll show you how to do as well in 3 steps. Why I do this to myself I don't know. I must be a closet masochist!

However I exaggerate, despite the intricacy of the design, once you get the hang of it, it really is straightforward I promise you! After one or two FAIL nails, I was pretty chuffed with the finish. I adore Celtic designs & jewellery with their Gothic vibes & I thought it would be quite fitting for the Irish occasion. 

To start with you of course needed a green base, for this I reached for Models Own in Ebony Green, an absolutely gorgeous Gothic vampy green. I don't know...can a green be vampy?! But this one somehow manages it, I just LOVE it. Two coats applied leaves a divine glossy finish.

Now to create the Celtic Knot I wanted a pretty pale bronze gold for that Medieval feel & for this Ulta3 in Antique Copper was just perfect. Grabbing my Pure Color 10 nail art brush which is great for detailed nail art I got started with creating my knots...

To begin, you first need to draw a heart shape on to the centre of the nail.

Then starting from the centre of the top of the heart (where the two curves meet) draw a straight line going to the left, at a 45 degree angle, down till you pass through the left side of the heart. Then continuing from this point slowly bring up a curved line that goes through the heart again & up past the right curve at the top, stopping just above the middle of the top of the heart.

Now do the exact same thing for the opposite side, this time drawing a line to the right, then bringing up another curved line, all the way to the centre of the top of the heart, joining the two lines together at the top. Hopefully that made sense & if not then at least the pics can show you each step in detail!

I couldn't fit a knot on to my pinkie finger so instead just applied some green & yellow square stones in a row down the centre.

Finish with topcoat & you're done :) Needless to say for this particular design my left hand looked a lot better than my right & my patience was most definitely tested but I'm so glad I persevered as I loved the finish look & will definitely attempt again!

Thanks as always for reading! I'll try & roll out another, more simple mani idea for St Paddys day later on in the week so keep posted! 

Lotsa love to ya!