NOTD - Jewel Butterfly Nails

Hey there lovely readers!

Wowee its been a minute & then some since I've last blogged. As usual life & everything in between has been pretty chaotic & not all of it great. But...thankfully the winds finally seem to be changing for the better & whilst a bit late...I'm totally ready to get this year started properly.

NOTD - Poppies & Gold for Galentines!

Hey there lovely readers!

Florals you'll know if you're a regular reader, are my jam & I don't see this love going anywhere anytime soon! Speaking of love it is of course Valentines season, but moi? I'm celebrating Galentines with my gals! Today's nail art is for Galentines Day babes & features one of my favourite red polishes which was sent to me by one of my darling friends Chelle all the way from Australia! Which I thought perfect for the occasion.

Festive NOTD - Xmas Vintage Roses & Gold Glitter

Hey there lovely readers!

So Fall has passed us by far too quickly in my opinion & it seems that the natural way of things to go moving forwards is Christmas! Yup tis the season to be jolly which means nail art will be getting suitably sparkly around these parts, or I hope anyway! As usual it all depends on time but I do hope to roll out some fun festive goodness for the nails this year!

Disney Nail Art Series - Tangled!

Hello there lovely readers!

Ooooh its been a while since I've visited my Disney Nail Art Series hasn't it? Well lets rectify that shall we? Disney has consistently been close to my heart my whole life so I've loved recreating some of my favourite films in nail art form! You can catch all of my looks so far including Beauty & The Beast, The Lion King & more HERE.

This one today is for my darling Claire in particular who actually designed that header & mini caricature version of me up there at the top of the screen didn't you know? A super talented artist & absolutely lovely girl to boot, definitely do go check her out!

When I threw out the question on Twitter on what film to recreate next, Claire stepped forth & suggested Tangled! Even though this is one of the newer films, I was very cynical when I watched it as I am a hardcore Classic Disney fan but I actually loved it! If you're not familiar, the story tells the tale of Rapunzel whom we all know is famous for her long golden hair....

Disney Nail Art Series - The Little Mermaid!

Hello there lovely readers!

Ooooh I'm excited to share with you the latest addition to my Disney Nail Art Series as, closely following The Beauty and The Beast, this is definitely up there as one of my favourite Disney movies ever...it is of course...The Little Mermaid!

NOTD - Pointed Angles & Polka Dots!

Hello there lovely readers!

Today's nail art was one of my "extreme acts of randomness....just go in with a few magic spells and hope for the best" type designs & features a simple geometric style with pointed triangles & a few polka dots thrown in for luck. I find the combination of sharp pointy edges mingled with with soft round circles strangely satisfying 

NOTD - Bronze and Lace Nail Tutorial

Hello lovely readers!

Squeezing in a last Autumnal manicure for you beauties today! One of the things I've repeatedly told myself can definitely be considered one of the positives of moving has been that I've had to select only a few of my polish drawers from my stash to take with me...This naturally grieved me greatly at first, but it does mean that I'm getting usage out of many polishes that I would probably normally skim over in favour of my other more well know brands. See? Positive mental attitude FTW

This also includes finding myself reaching for shades that I would not normally choose, including this offering from OPI which I have for you today & goes by the name of Bronzed To Perfection

Normally, a shade such as this would not particularly grab me, but with its burnt orange brown tones it seemed the perfect colour to dig out for the season & I confess it has most certainly grown on me greatly.

A beautifully warm, caramel brown with coppery shimmer touches Bronzed To Perfection definitely screams Autumn vibes. As pretty as it is by its onesie I decided to jazz it up a tad with some lace nail art touches.

To recreate this lace pattern is super simple and its become one of my favourite quick nail art designs to do, just read on to see how you can create this design as well in a quick step by step pictorial I've put together for you....

After your base colour has dried, grab your nail art brush & some white polish and begin by applying a tiny V on the side of the tip like so...

Next, using a wee dotting tool, apply a curved row of white dots around your V.

Then grabbing your brush again, apply a curved line just above your dots.

For the next part of the design, again with your fine brush & polish, apply a row of small semi-circles along the top of your curved line...

See the pretty lace design slowly coming together? Next step is to apply a straight line in between each of your little curves as shown....

Then finally to finish your lace pattern, add on two little lines either side of the straight line.

This is an additional step you can skim over but I naturally couldn't resist adding a touch of golden glitter in between the gaps.

Finish with top coat and thats it! Easy peasy right?! I love doing lace details to jazz up my block colour mani's :) Do give it a go!

Thanks as always for stopping by beauts!

Lotsa love to ya!

NOTD - Chocolate & Gold Magnum Inspired Nails!

Hello there my beauts! Happy first of the month to you!

So there appears to be a recurring theme when it comes to finding inspiration for nail art lately....FOOD. Maybe not THAT surprising considering my devotion to sweet foodstuffs;) With those rare glimpses of sunshine that we've been graced with of late, so comes the inevitable temptation of consuming a yummy ice cream treat. Remember the Raspberry Ripple Marble nails from a few posts ago? Well this time it was whilst I was indulging in a decadent Magnum delight, that I thought the combination of rich dark tones & gold in the packaging would look equally pretty on the nails. So this is what I came up with...

For my base colour I used the vampy I Sing In Colour by OPI which was one of the shades from Gwen Stefani's collection. This is an intensely rich, almost black red shade, so hot & vampy, I absolutely love it! And I thought it would be perfect to embody smooth velvety dark chocolate tones. This is two coats applied to a gorgeously glossy finish.

For the gold touch I decided to use China Glaze Cracked Medallion crackle polish. Aaah good old crackle polishes, remember those? China Glaze's offerings were particularly awesome, with the polish formula crackling extremely well, leaving a really pretty effect. 

I still wanted plenty of that vampy base on show, far too pretty it is to hide, so I just swiped the gold crackle across the tip in a quarter moon. 

For a final bit of golden decadence I simply added a row of gold glitter dots along the curve of the crackle before sealing it all with my trusty CND Air Dry topcoat! 

Mmmm...Magnum anyone? I can predict the chances of me speedy gonzalez-ing it down to the freezer after this post is up are quite high & I suggest you all do the same so I feel less guilty mwahaha! ;) Maybe I should do a food nail art series? Any requests? ;)

Thanks as always for reading dolls!

Lotsa love to ya   

Halloween NOTD - Chanel Dripping Blood Nails...

Hello there lovely readers! 

So October is here at last in all its glory goodness which means one thing in my book...Halloween manicures! Amongst other stuff sure but yeah...its all about the Halloween nail funness to be had...until Xmas arrives that is! You can check out the Halloween manis I did last year HERE.

I thought for my first Halloween themed mani I'd go down the dripping blood route which is always fun...with a slight twist using an image I remember seeing on Instagram yonks ago using the Chanel symbol. So here we have some Chanel-esque dripping blood nails...

So my loves it turns out that free handing two backwards C's is actually pretty darn hard didn't ya know? So hopefully you can at least figure out that it was the Chanel symbol I was attempting here haha!

First up let me mention this absolutely scrummy nude base colour for my mani, Nina Ultro Pro in Rum & Reggae. I found this brand in Sally’s recently, on sale for just a few squids & there’s nothing I love more than trying a new brand of polish! And this does not disappoint, smooth formula, great brush & perfect application in two coats in the loveliest creamy beige I think it may be my new favourite nude!

I then grabbed a nail art brush & used OPI's I Sing In Color from the LE Gwen Stefani range. This also happens to be another bargain sale buy from Sally's. Whenever I pass one I always pop in to visit the sale section to hunt down any prettys! I Sing In Color is a stunning vampy red black brown gloss, perfect for blood tones...

After (rather abysmally) drawing my Chanel C's I then just used a dotting tool & some more of the OPI & added on 3 drips to each nails plus a few extra blood droplets.

Finish with a coat of topcoat for shine. I definitely need to practice my free handing C's but overall I'm still pretty chuffed! Can't wait to roll out some more Halloween manis! Will you be going all ghoulish on your nails? Thanks for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

NOTD - OPI Pure Lacquer Nail Apps Review

Hello there lovely readers!

Now I'm sure that it'll come as no surprise when I tell you that when it comes to nails, polish is my one true love! Those little bottles of prettiness just make me happy, you know how Scrooge McDuck has a huge vault of his moolah that he likes to dive into & swim around in? I have a similar recurring dream except instead of coins its endless bottles of polish!

However there are other quick & easy ways of getting fab looking nails nowadays, one such being nail wraps. I find myself having accumulated quite a few different ones lately so decided to on occasion give the polish a miss & try a nail wrap instead. The ones I have to share with you today are the OPI Pure Lacquer Nail Apps which I found on sale in Fenwicks & could resist picking up.