Morning All!
How you doing today? I've got a hangover haha! Too much gin last night by far. Have had some toast and LOTS of tea and am starting to feel vaguely human again. One of the good things to come out of last night is that I ordered the Models Own Fruit Pastel collection, and then forgot, so when I woke up this morning and checked my emails, it was a nice surprise! Lucky that's all I bought really. I once bought all my sisters birthday presents while under the influence and had them shipped directly to her, she got some strange things! Mind you I bought her a 'grow your own unusual vegetables' kit this year, and wasn't even drunk, I'm definitely a random gift buyer.
Also I was shocked to see that there were some of you lovely people that I'm not following! Hopefully I've rectified that now. If I've missed you, just give me a shout!
Another good thing to come out of last night was todays mani. The checkerboard mani I wanted to do came out all wrong, so after going online and buying some stamping plates so I can do that mani properly, I decided to go with dots instead. I feel like some of my nailart on here recently has been a bit lacklustre, and so I didn't want to post something that I wasn't totally happy with.
I wanted to make them a little bit different, so instead of redipping my dotter each time to keep my dots uniform, I loaded a decent amount of polish on the dotter and dotted straight down my nail without reloading it. Here's what I came up with:
The base for this mani is Nails Inc The Southbank, a perfect light grey to use as a base for nailart. As you can see, I've smudged my little finger at some point during the night, and my middle finger dots went a bit Siamese twinly, but never mind, that's life. My awful middle finger cuticle is starting to heal now, but am still painting it out so you don't have to witness it's ugliness. I believe I used two coats of The Southbank, but it could have been one because the formula is brilliant, and (due to gin) I can't remember haha.
This lovely fuschia is Nails Inc Devonshire Row. It's one of my favourite polishes, and I use it alot. You can see more nailart using Devonshire Row on my posts (here) and (here) if you like. It also made my All Time Top Ten Polishes post (link)
The yellow is Color Club Almost Famous from their Poptastic Collection:
Such a punchy bright yellow! I don't think I've been disappointed with any Color Club polishes I've bought yet. I think in celebration of Easter I may do a comparison of the yellow polishes I own, will see how the weekend goes.
And finally, here's the two polishes together, the sun's out at last, hooray!
So jolly! Just looking at this combination makes me smile, and now thanks to the wonder of nail art, if I feel a bit down, all I have to do is look down at my nails and cheer myself up again.
How about you, what's your favourite colour combo?
Until next time...
MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
Hi there,
Here I am again, have had a day off work today for a dentists appointment, so managed to get some cheeky mid-week nailart in. I can't wait until summer when I get enough light at night to let me post more than just at the weekends!
My index nail finally gave up the ghost, it got a big dent in the weak bit, so I've had to file all the other nails down to match. In a way it's a relief, because I was fed up of babying it along, and now it can grow back nice and strong again.
Also, it's given me a chance to show you that nail art isn't only for long nails!
I specifically haven't included any stamping here, because I think there'll probably be alot of that around at the moment. I actually saw some stamping sets in Claires Accessories today, so if you don't want to buy from the internet, then you can pop to Claire's to pick one up. There was only a choice of 3 plates, but knowing Claire's, they'll improve that if they sell enough kits. I think they were £9.00 (or maybe £12). I don't see them on their website yet.
I've tried to do a few different designs, to hopefully get your creative juices going, I know what it's like when you just have a bleugh day, you look at your polishes and no mojo...
I start with a semi-fail. I found a new shop in carlisle called Fun-2-Do, which has all craft stuff in it. They do have a website, HERE but not every item in the shop is on the site. So anyway, I was in there, and I saw some table confetti, it was little red hearts and they looked like they'd be good for nail art. I've also think I've seen them on Amazon HERE but I can't be definite they're exactly the same ones.
So I used them in my nail art and....
Oh no! They bleeeeedddd.... This is not good, I have a BIG bag of these! So I had to come up with something. The red I used is China Glaze Ruby Pumps, how pretty is it?! Two coats here. It reminds me so much of juicy strawberry jam. The pink is OPI Mod About You. You're going to see alot of that pink in this post, as it's my number one light pink. On my thumb I taped off to do the lines, but on the rest of the fingers I decided that was too much hassle, and just freehanded. A top coat of seche which was intended to make it look prettier haha.
I did do another look, that I decided not to go with, but I managed to topcoat it without bleeding it:
For that look I used Color Club polishes Antiquated and Hot Like Lava from their Foiled Metallics collection.
What I decided to do was to try to take the colour off them with polish remover. Initially I put some in a freezer bag with some polish remover. The idea was to swish them about a bit, rinse them off, et voila! Nice clean non-bleedy hearts. It didn't quite work out, the bag leaked, I lost a load while I was rinsing them, and all in all it was more hassle than it was worth.
It was much easier to give them a rub with a cotton pad dipped in polish remover one by one. Yes it seems like it might take longer, but actually it's not too bad.
So now I have silver hearts instead of red. So I have to come up with a new colour scheme. This is what I went with:
I messed up a bit, as I made the index finger stripe too thin, but hey, we're just experimenting here! The polishes I used were OPI Mod About You (I told you that you'd see it alot) for the light pink, and the darker pink is Nails Inc's Bruton Street. Both have lovely formulas and are topped off with Seche. I could have done with another coat of Seche really, because by the end of the day I'd lost a few hearts.
So these looks I actually did last weekend, and today I did another one. Well, it's two into one really, because there's step one, which is one look, and step two which is different.... I'll just get on with it shall I...
So, because I didn't get my tooth mended at the dentist (had to make another appointment, as it was apparently just a check up appointment that time, sigh), I thought I would go shopping to cheer myself up. And SOMEHOW found my way into Fun-2-Do again. I found some more hearts, and thought I would take a chance. These were the ones I got, they cost me £1.50:
Now, I couldn't find these on their website, or anywhere else for that matter, but as soon as I got home I tested them, and HOORAY they don't bleed! Typically of me though, I decided not to use the red ones today haha. I went for the gold ones, and a Butter London polish called Fiddlesticks that I bought before Christmas and havent used yet.
I thought I'd keep it clean and simple:
This does have a coat of Seche over it, as it dries to a matt-ish sheen. It's got a very similar glitter feel to ruby pumps, only much more magenta. Think raspberry jam instead of strawberry. Also here you can see how short my index nail is now.
Here's another pic as I loved this look so much:
This look worked really well in low light, as the hearts picked up any bit of light and flashed brightly every time I moved my hands.
Then of course, I got bored of being understated and stylish.
So I made another look with it:
To do this, all I did was used a ring reinforcer to mask off the top of my nail, I got mine from Amazon link HERE but you can buy them from lots of places. I then used my Color Club pink striper, also from Amazon, to draw some stripes on the ends of my fingers. I started with the middle stripe and worked my way out to try to get them even. I messed up one stripe on my little finger, but I think this look turned out be pretty, and perfectly demonstrates that short nails don't have to be boring.
And I STILL wasn't finished! I had one more idea. I got my trusty Mod About You out, and Nails Inc's Devonshire Row. The two went so well together, but what to do? Then I realised I hadn't done any dotty looks yet, so I got out my dotter and away I went.
This is what I ended up with:
Now the heart on my middle finger didn't come out exactly how I wanted, but you can still tell what it is, so that's ok. I topped it off with a coat of Seche. As you can probably tell I was starting to lose the light by this time. Probably a better represtentation of the colours is in this picture:
So there you see, on short nails and still pretty. I actually really like these two colours together, and they are going on my 'do this again' list.
And that's it! Which is your favourite? I think mine is the Butter London stripy one, but the dots come a close second.
Have you got any nailart planned for Valentines? Hopefully if you've been stuck for ideas I've given you a bit of inspiration. Please feel free to recreate any of these looks if you like them, and if you do, please give me a shout, I'd love to see!
Until next time...
MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
Hi everyone!
Back to normal blog posts again at last. I really enjoyed the nail art challenge, and have met some lovely new people because of it. A big thanks to the organisers Pink and Polished and Overpolished for organising it and doing such a great job.
This is a post I've been wanting to do for a while, I have probably about 250 polishes, which is a puny amount to some people, and alot to others, for me its not enough as I'm still missing some colours, and I don't have many of the 'famous' ones. I've finally managed to get the Layla flash black holo polish that I've been craving, and I can't wait for it to come. Nail mail is possibly my most favourite thing in the whole world! I've also ordered some nail art supplies, and a few experimental purchases, which I'll share with you if they're any good.
Quite a few of these polishes, being my favourites, will have their own post, and where they do, I'll link to them so that you can see more photos and probably nail art involving them. It was soooo hard to wheedle my favourites down to 10, and then put them in order. Unless stated, none have a top coat, and all have a base coat of Sally Hansen Continuous Treatment Growth base coat, just because it's the one I'm currently using up. It's taken me two days to do these swatches, how the big bloggers keep up I've no idea, there must be a knack to it.
So, I'm rambling again, without further ado, lets get on with it (imagine the Top of the Pops music here):
Aaaattttt 10:
NAILS INC WARWICK STREET
This is two coats. It used to only need one, but I thinned it out a bit too much. Very fast drying, and manages to be work appropriate with a twist. I imagine the finish to be how the new 'cement' line will look. You can see from the bottle that it's really cute red glitter in there. THIS is the link to the post where I first swatched it. Needless to say, a fab formula, which glides onto my nails, which is part of the reason I love it
Aaaaatttt 9:
JESSICA HOLOGRAM CHIC DISCO DIVA
This one nearly didn't make it into the top 10 because it's winter, therefore no sun to make it look good. I debated to and fro for a while. But it is one of my favourites, so deserves to be there, and holo is always a good thing. It comes with its own base coat, which I used. A full post including nail art on this polish can be found HERE and also on my dalek nails HERE
Aaaaattt 8:
COLLECTION 2000 HOT LOOKS MINT MOJO
This is one of only a few polishes that I've ever bought a back up of. The formula is lovely, but because I've had it a while I had to thin it, and got carried away. Therefore I had to do three coats instead of the normal two. Of course it will thicken up again eventually and it's so fast drying it wasn't really a pain to do. It's everything that I wanted Essies Navigate Her to be, without the yukky formula. Not a dupe though as this is paler and milkier. Superbly shiny as you can see.
Aaaatt 7:
NAILS INC DEVONSHIRE ROW
I love the formula and finish to this. You could easily get away with one coat if you have smooth nails. Mine are quite ridged so I did two to get a nice finish. Crazy reflections! I used it as a base for THIS nailart
Aaaatttt 6:
OPI MOD ABOUT YOU
For me, this is the perfect light pink creme polish. First coat is a bit streaky, the second coat is opaque perfection. Dry time is medium to fast. I used it as a base for THIS nailart.
And now we go into the top 5!
Aaaaatttt 5:
COLLECTION 2000 HOT LOOKS ALL THAT JAZZ
A lovely graphite grey shimmer, the formula to this is flawless. It virtually applies itself, again you could get away with one coat of this if your nails are smooth. This is two coats. I did a full review post HERE and I used it for my halloween nails, which were one of my favourites HERE
Aaattt 4:
NAILS INC ALBERT PLACE
Another one coater for smooth nailed people. I did two coats to get a nice finish. It's kind of the blue version to Devonshire Row, similar colour tones. It's the perfect sky blue, and I used it as the base for my skyscraper nail art tutorial HERE
Aaaattt 3:
NYC IN A NEW YORK MINUTE CANAL STREET
This was a super lovely online surprise buy. I did a full review HERE it's fast drying and lovely to apply
Aaaattt 2:
OPI MY BOYFRIEND SCALES WALLS
If you've been following me for a while, this choice will be no surprise to you. It's just off-white enough to be wearable, and for a white the formula is lovely. Similar to Mod About You, coat one can be a bit streaky, but coat two sorts that out nicely. I've used this one lots, and I did a comparison post to Alpine Snow HERE
And now we get to the numero uno spot.... I picked... drum roll.....
Number 1:
NAILS INC ELECTRIC LANE
Typically I picked a polish that's difficult to photograph! It's a holographic glitter topcoat. I can't imagine my polish life without this little magical beauty. I do own a backup of this, and I will need to use it soon as I'm nearly at the bottom of this one, which is unheard of for me. I've taken two pictures, as it's number one it's allowed, over Devonshire Row and Albert Place. You will see that it does change the colour of the polish slightly, but it also gives it a super duper glitter holo finish which I love. Removal isn't too bad for a glitter, but it still does take a little bit more elbow grease than a creme (of course). It glides on, but it does dry slightly matt. If you put a top coat on it really makes it pop. These pictures are taken without though. It dries in a flash too
You can see the holo awesomeness on my little finger - just love it!
Here's a lineup of all the polishes I've used in this monumental post, boy oh boy it's going to have alot of labels haha
These are my desert island polishes,the ones I would recommend to anyone starting out. They all have great formulas, and I haven't needed to do clean up on any of these swatches. If you see any of them for sale, snap them up!
I hope you've enjoyed this post as much as I've enjoyed making it. Do you have a top ten post? I'd love to see it!
Until next time...
MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
Morning All,
I know it's only 11am on Saturday, but so far this weekends going brilliantly! Finally I've finished my physio for my achilles problem, and she said I can try a small run, so off I went this morning, and it was awesome! They're are still a bit sore, and she said I can only go once a week at first, and not far, but it's soooo good to get back out in the fresh air and out of breath again. Also, that means no more Saturday working yaaaaayyyyy!!!!
But enough of me, onto the nail art, that's what brought you here, right?
Friday night is nail art night for me, and last night, I knew I wanted to do something stripy, but I wasn't sure which colours etc to use. So I went upstairs, tipped a load of polishes out of their baskets onto the bed and just picked about, and experimented on a nail wheel until I found a combo I liked. A very happy hour that was!
So here's the first look I came up with:
This is the look is was going for when I ended up with my Black Forest Gateaux nailart (LINK), I've finally sussed out tape manicures after some good advice from Sammy at The Nailasaurus (LINK).
She suggested I use Seche Vite over my base colour, wait five minutes, and then only lightly apply my tape, and then I wouldn't get the problem I'd had, which was my base colour coming up with the tape, and she was spot on!
Firstly I used a base coat, then a base colour coat of Nails Inc Devonshire Row. This is one coat, and that was enough, one coater, great formula, gotta love it. Then I taped off the top of my nails using a cheap Wilko rip-off of Scotch Invisible tape. I stuck the tape to my hand a few times first so it wasn't super-duper sticky.
Then I striped all the stripes completely in white. Firstly to make sure they were evenly spaced, and secondly so that the white base would make the yellow show up nicely, and for once, all my ideas worked out first time. If I were to to it again, I'd maybe be a bit more careful with my stripes, but that's just the perfectionist in me coming out. Heres another pic of it:
Now, as much as I like this look, I decided to do something different on my other hand. I went a bit more freeform this time. Like the last look, I did the whole design in white first, then went over some of it with the yellow. This is what I got:
This shouts 80's to me, and Inkynails13, one of my Twitter friends, called it Punk Tiger Nails, and I LOVE that description, it's just right! The slightly scrappy overlapping works in its favour I think. Heres another pic:
I actually want to try this design again in true 80s colours, black, grey and red, would be fun!
Here's the polishes I used:
I am really liking the fact that I've got a different design on each hand, but using the same colours to tie the two together. I think this might become a regular thing for me! Which one's your favourite?
So to carry on this super duper weekend, am off shopping, where I may happen to stumble over a polish or two...
Until next time....
MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
