Two Days Slow

Turquoise Ombre Nails

2012-01-17T15:11:00.000Z

Something a bit more challenging this week! If you didn't know, ombre means a colour that is graduated in tone, thanks google for summing that up so nicely for me. In this case I started out with Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in Stand Back on my middle nail and then mixed with white going towards my little finger and black towards my thumb.

If you're lucky enough to have 5 different shades of one colour you can just do it that way, painting one on each nail but I went for the cheaper, messier method. I love the results though, will definitely be doing this again in future!

Nails: Hello Kitty London ~ Light Pink

2012-01-09T12:43:00.001Z

After the mediocore results from the last Hello Kitty nail polish I tried I was much happier with this one. I've been wanting a pearlescent pink for a while so was happy to see this colour in the set I got. It still took me 3 coats to get decent coverage but I really love the colour. I'm not sure why but it made me feel like I had Barbie nails.

I did a bit of stamping over this one as well. I really need to practice more at getting all my stamps straight, that thumb is a mess!

Hello Kitty London Nail Set

2012-01-03T15:57:00.000Z

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great christmas and a happy new year. I'm back and feeling rejuvinated after a couple of weeks of relaxation and eating far too much.

I got some awesome gifts this year, including this Hello Kitty nail polish set.

It includes 5 polishes (Light Pink, Purple, Pink, Pink Sparkle, Clear Sparkle), some toe seperators and a nail file. One thing, it seems that this year any sets that come with plastic packaging like this, the individual items have been glued in! I've never seen this before but these polishes were and I bough a set of bubble baths and they were glued into their plastic as well. It's really annoying as it's a nightmare to get the glue off. Not a big deal, I know, but still....*rant over*

I decided to try out the pink first. Sadly, it was a bit dissapointing. The brush is really slim and unsubstantial so it's not the easiest to apply and the colour isn't very pigmented. So even after 3 coats it wasn't entirely opaque.

I'm not sure what's happend with my photo here, the colour looked fine when I was editing it but when I saved it, it's turned it more pale and peachy, it's definitely more pink in real life.

Nails: Technic ~ Be Dazzled

2011-12-19T23:51:00.001Z

My craving for glittery nails led me to buy some more new polishes the other week. I spotted this brand, Technic, in a discount beauty shop. For 99p a bottle I thought it was worth a try.

I got a couple as I couldn't choose make my mind up what colour I wanted. This swatch is 4 coats of Technic - Be Dazzled, a copper coloured glitter in a clear jelly. It could have done with a base coat colour underneath but I don't really have anything that would match.

I don't have a lot of experience with glitter polish but I don't think I could really be disappointed with this at 99 pence! Have you tried any of the other polishes from Technic, do you think they are worth looking at again in future?

Gingerbread House and Castle

2011-12-12T17:01:00.000Z

Here are my gingerbread creations for 2011! I made the icing too runny again, d'oh! So I couldn't do any nice piping. Maybe I'll finally have learnt my lesson next year.

I'm really starting to feel festive now and I have a real craving for mince pies. Hopefully I might have some free time next weekend to do some more baking.

Do you make your own gingerbread house at christmas? I think a lot of people seem daunted by it but it's not as difficult as you'd think, just quite time consuming. It's so rewarding though, it's definitely worth the effort.

Nails: Winter Evening

2011-12-07T22:07:00.001Z

The idea behind these is that it's supposed to be snow on a winter evening, I love how it came out, so pretty. I've had a real craving for glittery nails lately.

I used some old polish I had from Asda for the base, I really love the colour but you need at least 3 coats to get good coverage, I used 4 here. Add on 2 coats of glitter and a top coat that's a lot of layers, it was a nightmare getting it all off!

Here's what I used
----------
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails
Asda George ~ Ultra Violet
e.l.f. ~ Twinkle
Sally Hansen Mega Shine

Review: e.l.f. Royal Purple Nail Polish and Matte Finisher

2011-11-30T15:56:00.001Z

So here's the first review from my recent e.l.f. haul, I must say I'm really impressed with everything I've tried out so far.

All e.l.f. nail polishes are £1.50 each and they come in a pretty big range of shades. I picked up Royal Purple as I don't actually own any other purples yet. It has a nice consistency and was easy to apply although a little thin, I found I needed 3 coats for good covereage but I think you could get away with 2 at a push.

I also tried the Matte Finisher again, I'm really loving the matte look. I'm not really sure how this compares to other matte polishes as I don't own any, it goes on easily and looks great though. However, the matte effect does seem to lessen after about a day or so of wear, do other matte top coats do this?

Pictured above I have used the e.l.f. Matte Finisher and Sally Hansen Mega Shine alternately with e.l.f. Royal Purple as the base so you can see the difference between the two finishes.

The only real negative I found was that the plastic on the inside of cap of the Matte Finisher is crumbling a bit, leaving tiny black flecks around the mouth of the bottle (pictured below). This might be an issue if I'm going to be using this over a lighter coloured polish however for the price it's not really something I'd gripe over.

All in all I'm very pleased with the products for the money that I've paid for them and have happily been recommending e.l.f. to friends. I'm definitely going to be ordering more in future, I'm excited to see what offers they come up with for their 12 days of christmas promotion that starts tomorrow, details of which will be on their facebook page.

Vulpix Cross Stitch

2011-11-23T21:52:00.001Z

Oooh a non nail polish post! I've finally finished this thing, I think I started it about 5 or 6 months ago? That's actually not too bad for me...

I've always enjoyed cross stitch but since finding the Sprite Stitch forums and realising that I can stitch anything I can think of and not just the pre-packaged sets you buy it's really breathed a new life into it for me. Plus I love combining craftiness and geekiness!

If you haven't been on Sprite Stitch before you should definitely take a look, there's some great patterns, people and inspiration on there!

So now this one is done, what do you think I should stitch next? I'm open to suggestions :3

Nails: Rimmel 60 Seconds ~ 730 Silver Bullet

2011-11-22T10:31:00.001Z

Just a quick snap of my nails from the weekend, a plain swatch of Rimmel 60 seconds ~ Silver Bullet, as I didn't have the time/energy to do anything more fancy.

This polish is incredibly streaky, I applied 3 coats and it still wasn't entirely even. There was quite a bit of bubbling as well. Not all that impressive up close but it did look nice from a distance!

Nails: Chalkboard

2011-11-17T11:16:00.001Z

I was browsing Pinterest the other day and spotted these beauties - matte black nails with silver tips. I love the contrast between the finishes, textures and colours. Then I got hold of my first matte top coat at the weekend so decided to have a go at recreating them.

My scotch taping still leaves a lot to be desired, I think it may be that I applied the silver too thickly this time.

Here's what I used
----------
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails
w7 ~ Black
e.l.f. Matte Finisher
Barry M Nail Effects - Foil ~ Silver
Sally Hansen Mega Shine

Is anybody else using Pinterest? I absolutely love the whole concept of it, logging on to see a wall of beautiful images and collecting all your favourite things together. I guess I am a pretty visual person, I always tend to identify people online by their user pic rather than their name, which can get pretty confusing when someone changes their picture!

If you're on Pinterest feel free to leave a link to your boards, I'd love to follow you :)