Champagne Bubbles for New Year's Eve

The New Year is almost here. To prepare for the various celebrations in the next couple of days, here is a shiny, sparkly manicure!

For my Champagne bubbles nails, I used Boots No 7 Just Black on my middle finger and thumb. I stamped with Essie Good as Gold, the champagne bubbles image from the Messy Mansion image plate, MM02. The accent finger is painted with Nails Inc. Luminous Red Metallic. The bubbly glasses are from the MoYou London image plate 05 from the Festive Collection.

The pointer and little fingers are painted with OPI My Favourite Ornament from the Mariah Carey Holiday Collection 2013.

Hope you all have a great New Year's Eve!

Reindeers, Snowflakes and Snowmen

My last Christmas manicure of the year today.

For this manicure, I used the Deborah Lippmann polish, Lady Sings the Blues - a dark blue glitter polish. Its highly pigmented and even one coat would do, though I used two.

The snowflake images, which I love, are from the MoYou London image plate 03 from the Festive Collection, stamped with Essie Blue Rhapsody. The reindeers on the pointer finger are from the same plate, stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome. The snowmen are from the image plate GA33 from the Gals Fairy Set also stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and are enjoying the holidays!

Festive Food!

Food is an important part of any festive celebration - and the prompt for my Christmas Nail Art Challenge. And Christmas has so many foods that are eaten specially at this time of the year. This manicure celebrates some of these yummy treats - Christmas Pudding, mince pies, gingerbread men and sparkling wine!

The base polish is Revlon Hot for Chocolate. The little finger is stamped with gingerbread men from the image plate GA41 from the Gals Fairy Set with Essie Good as Gold. The mince pies on the pointer are also stamped from an image plate from the same set, GA47. The bubbly on the ring finger is from the Messy Mansion plate, MM02. The middle finger and thumb have a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top of the brown polish. The Christmas pudding is painted free hand with OPI Alpine Snow, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Quick Brick and Jumpin Jade. I finished everything off with top coat.

Russian Dolls

I have to apologise for my erratic posting lately - life has just been a bit busier than usual.
The prompt for my Christmas Challenge was Toys. And although I did think of a few ideas for proper toy themed manicures - I wanted a very adult manicure with plenty of bling! Which is why I chose this particular image and colour for the nails.

The gorgeous nail polish I have used here is Deborah Lippmann Good Girl Gone Bad. The stamped image is from the plate KD28. The stamping polish is Essie No Place Like Chrome.

It may be a very broad interpretation of the prompt and maybe its not particularly festive - but it would be a great look for all the parties, this festive season!

Christmas Traditions

There were many Christmas traditions to choose from, for my nail art today. So I picked Holly, because I love the beautifully shaped leaves with the red berries. And since a lot of the festivities revolve around the little ones in the family, I couldn't leave out all the excitement in hanging up those Christmas stockings and finding lovely little presents in them and under the tree!

For this manicure, I used a base of Revlon Gold Coin. I love these shiny, glittery polishes but really struggle with the clean up. I can't seem to get rid of some of the glittery particles - if anyone has any tips, I would love to hear them!
I stamped images from the MoYou London image plate 03 from the Festive Collection. The stamping polishes are Sally Hansen Insta Dri Quick Brick and Jumpin Jade.

Red and Gold Festive Nails

More festive nails today ...

For these nails, I used Nails Inc in Luminous Red Metallic. I did a glitter gradient on three of the nails with Butter London West End Wonderland and Revlon Sequins. For the glitter gradient, I painted on a thin layer of Butter London West End Wonderland starting at three-fourths of the way up the nail. Once dry, a second layer of the same polish halfway down the nail and a third coat just at the tips. When this was dry, I painted on the big glitter in Revlon Sequins on the glitter part of the nail. 

On the other two nails, I stamped an image from the MoYou London image plate 03 from the Festive Collection with Essie Good as Gold. 

Gingerbread Men

Gingerbread man on my nails today!

For this manicure, I used the polish, China Glaze Fast Track. I love this polish - its a natural beige but has a lovely sparkle to it. I stamped these three nails with the Gingerbread men image in Konad Black from the GA41 image plate from the Gals Fairy Set. The other two nails are painted with Revlon Hot for Chocolate. I painted the Gingerbread Man on the ring finger and thumb freehand with OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? The hand painted gingerbread man is decorated with chocolate buttons!

Woods in the snow and a snowman

The manicure today is my attempt at winter nature. I painted the snowman freehand. The trees are stamped and I dotted on the snow. The trees in the snow looked better in my head, I have to say! But I guess, you can still make out what I was going for!
For this manicure, I used a base of OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam. I stamped the trees with Revlon Hot for Chocolate from the MoYou London image plate 04 from the Mother Nature Collection. I dotted on the snow with Barry M Matt White and finished with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. The snowman is painted on with a nail art brush in Barry M Matt White.

Winter Lights and snowflakes

Some more festive nail art! For this manicure I used Barry M Gelly in Blueberry on three nails. On two of my nails I used OPI Don't Touch My Tutu with two coats of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top. The images are stamped from the MoYou London image plate 03 from the Festive Collection. The snowflakes are stamped with Essie Bohemian Rhapsody and the Christmas lights with Konad Black. Lastly, I used red and green polishes to dot on the lights before finishing with top coat.

The OPI Don't Touch My Tutu is a white jelly. I got it because I really liked swatches that I saw on other blogs. But even after three coats, you can still see the nail line and it does  not really go completely white. I am just wondering if it might be better to use it with a base coat of opaque white polish. I would love to hear comments from anyone else who has used this polish or similar.
I was planning to do the Christmas lights free hand but this image looked so cute, I had to try it first! I love the blue on blue snowflakes. I can't get enough of these snowflake images - you might see a lot more of these on the blog in the next couple of months!

Edited to add one more photo when I noticed how the nails shone with the China Glaze Fairy Dust in indoor light!

Candy Cane Nails

I think its time for some Christmas Nail art! Here are my candy cane nails ...

For this manicure, I used a textured nail polish, Essence Sparkle Sand Effect in me & my lover. The polish is definitely textured though not quite as much as the OPI Liquid Sands. Its a lovely sparkly colour, specially for the holiday season.
The candy canes are stamped from the MoYou London image plate 03 from the Festive Collection, with Essie No place Like Chrome. I debated between using a white or a silver polish for the stamping. In the end, I decided, silver was better to add some extra sparkle - it is a festive manicure, after all!

Try a Jelly Sandwich!

So I've been thinking of doing a manicure like this for a long time. In fact, I got this jelly polish months ago for this manicure but never tried it. I think its commonly called a "pond manicure" or a "jelly sandwich" with stamping or even a "stampwich".

This kind of a manicure is not hard to do, it just takes a bit of time because you have to wait for the layers to dry. I began with a base coat and then one coat of jelly polish. After this was dry, I stamped with the full nail image with the tiny hearts. Then a second layer of polish, a second layer of stamping and a third layer of jelly polish on top. Finally, I stamped the accent nail and used top coat on all the nails.
If you would like to try out this manicure, you don't even need to stamp between the layers, you can just dot on some polka dots with white polish. Just be sure to get a nice translucent jelly polish and wait for each layer to dry before adding on the next one.

Trees, Birds, Blue Skies ...

I have seen many manicures recently with birds or birdcage images and I have really liked some of them. I wanted to try one out with some images on the MoYou London plates. Here's what I came up with ...

For this manicure, I used a base of Boots No 17 Bolt from the Blue. I did a gradient with Barry M Cyan Blue and Gelly Blackberry. I stamped with Konad Black, images from the MoYou London plates 03 from the Mother Nature Collection and 04 from the Pro Collection.

I really liked this manicure. I loved the gradient to begin with - it does look a bit like blue skies, don't you think? And I just adore that bird image on the barbed wire!

Japanese Landscape

MoYou London has some beautiful Japanese images on their plates in the Suki Collection. The manicure today uses one such plate to create a Japanese Landscape.

I used a base of Color Club Silver Lake from the Girl About Town Collection. I stamped with the polishes, Konad Black, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Quick Brick and Rimmel 60 Seconds 830 Camoflouge. The images are from the MoYou London Plate 02 from the Suki Collection.

I liked how the colours go together to create a restful scene. It made me think of a pleasant, quiet morning with a Samurai practicing his moves under a tree!

Top Ten Polishes!

My favourite polishes change all the time and its really quite hard to pick just ten individuals bottles. So I am going to share with you, with some new manicures and some old, my top ten favourite categories of polish, whether based on brand or colour, in no particular order.

1. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Polishes: Not only are the insta dri polishes good to wear on their own, they are also great stamping polishes. They come in a variety of shades and finishes. They are mostly one-coaters, they are quick dry and they stamp very well.

Stamped with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Jumpin Jade

2. Essie Metallics: I love the Essie Metallics for stamping and use them very frequently. The ones I use are Essie No Place Like Chrome (Silver), Essie Penny Talk (Copper) and Essie Good as Gold (Gold).

OPI Get Your Number stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome

Stamped with Essie Good as Gold

3. Nude/Near Nude: A nude or near natural nail colour is a must have in every girl's polish drawer. Not only are they good to wear on their own, they make an excellent base for nail art.

OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

4. Pastels: I really like pastels for a pop of colour. These shades really make me happy and are a great pick me up.

Starting from the thumb, Sinful Colors Mint Apple, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Revlon Cupid, Barry M Gelly Guava and Essence Off to Miami.

5. Barry M Gellys: Not only are the Barry M Gellys great to wear on their own - they are one-coaters, quick dry and glossy! They also stamp really well.

Starting from the thumb, Barry M Gelly Blackberry, Pomegranate, Watermelon, Blood Orange and Plum.

6. Black!: You always need a good creme black - like a nude, its great to wear on its own and great as a base for nail art.

Boots No 7 Just Black

7. Textured: Textured nail polishes are a new favourite. I didn't think I would like them since I do like a glossy finish but I was surprised at how much I loved these. I love how they have a matte finish but there is still a lovely sparkle to them.

OPI Get Your Number

8. OPIs: As I have started using a wide variety of nail polishes, I have come to love my OPIs. The formulas are good and they have a huge range of colours and finishes.

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

9. Color Club Holo Hues: Everyone likes a Holographic nail polish! I only have a couple of the Holo Hues. And although I do like wearing them on their own, I love stamping with them.

Color Club Cosmic Fate

Stamping with Color Club Harp on It.

10. Top Coats, Base Coat/Nail Strengthener: When you think of favourite polishes, base and top coats may not immediately come to mind, but they are very important parts of a good manicure.
I am a loyal user of the OPI Nail Envy. It has really helped my nails to strengthen and get into better shape and I use it all the time as a base coat.
I have recently started using the Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat and I think its a great top coat to use, specially as an intermediate layer when doing nail art.
And I guess I don't have to say much for Seche Vite - the quick dry, super glossy top coat which has such a huge fan following!

What are some of your favourites? I'd love to know!

Guest Post at "Penguins Left Green Polish"

If you missed me yesterday, I am over at the lovely Nada's blog with a guest post. She's got a great blog with the cutest name! Thank you Nada, for the opportunity to share the post with your readers!
Here's a preview ...

Goodbye Sachin, you'll be missed!

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest players to have ever played Cricket! He is the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the first player to score a double century in a One Day International, and the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket. He is also a humble person, a devoted family man and sponsors 200 underprivileged children and supports other charities. He retired from Cricket on the 16th of November 2013 after playing his 200th and final Test match for India.

My manicure today is just a little tribute to him!

The Indian Flag on the thumb and ring finger has been painted free hand with Barry M Matt White, Essie Fear & Desire, Revlon Emerald and Barry M Black. The middle finger represents his blue jersey with the number 10, painted with Barry M Cyan Blue and Black. The pointer and little finger represent the green cricket field with the wickets and the cricket bat and ball are painted on Revlon Emerald.

Peacock Feather Nails - Holo on glitter!

I loved my last peacock feather manicure and I wanted to recreate that look but with a MoYou London image plate. And this is how it looks ...

This picture above is in natural light.

I used the same polishes as the last time. I used Barry M Navy as the base and then added the glitter polish, Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Mermaid's Tale on top. I stamped the peacock feathers with the holographic polish, Color Club Harp on It. The image plate is MoYou London Plate 03 from the Pro Collection. The images on their non-XL plates just about fit my nails and I had to double stamp it on my thumb.

This photo is with indoor lighting...

The way the holographic polish shimmered in the light is simple stunning. The last time I stamped with a silver polish and although I love that polish I stamped with, plain silver just does not have the shimmer of multiple colours like real peacock feathers. But the holo really brings this stamped image to life!

I even managed to get these last couple of pics in the sun. But this was on the second day, so you may see slight tip wear.