Neon Pink Flowers & Butterflies

Still with the spring summer theme here, even though the weather hasn't been able to quite make up its mind in the last couple of weeks! I still managed to photograph these nails in the sun ...

A Summery Pond Manicure!

I have really neglected the blog badly in the last few weeks but sometimes life just gets in the way ... So a new post today to celebrate the few sunny days that we've have had here lately - a summery pond manicure that I did sometime ago but didn't get around to posting earlier. Ever since I did my first  pond manicure, I have really come to like the subtle beauty of this type of nail art.

Pink Flowers!

I was really looking forward to using a couple of the Models Own Chrome polishes I got to stamp with, and they did not disappoint. I have used one of them here for the stamping. Also, I really wanted to try out the floral image on the BP 54 plate - I haven't used such a large floral image before and it looks very unusual and eye-catching, I think.

Colourful Leadlight Stamping Manicure

I got some of these Born Pretty Stamping plates specifically for Leadlight manicures, where you colour in the stamping with other polishes for a colourful end result. This is just one such manicure.
I have used a very pretty white polish with a gold shimmer for the base and the pink and blue polishes also have fine glitter in them. I don't know if my photos do justice to this shimmery gorgeousness but I did so enjoy wearing these nails!

Valentine's Day Manicures

The last Valentine's Day manicures for the year ... and since I'm late in posting, I have two instead of one!
First up, is a pond manicure, where stamping images are sandwiched between layers of jelly (translucent) nail polish.

Hearts for Valentine's Day

A pink manicure with hearts - just the thing for Valentine's day, right?! I thought I would add a bit to it though by filling in the hearts in different colours with the advanced stamping technique.

Keep Calm and Polish On!

I have been looking forward to using this image plate ever since I ordered it! And since it was from the Born Pretty store, I had to wait a few weeks for it to be delivered. But I really enjoyed wearing this manicure - it was worth the wait!

Lilac & Pink Roses Manicure

Lilac and pink roses for the Lilac prompt of the GOT Polish Challenge today ...

Black Stamping manicure on a pink copper duochrome

Today, I have a stamping manicure on a pink duochrome nail Polish from the Barry M Aquarium Collection. Barry M Mediterranean is a pink copper mix. I have it here as two coats over a black polish.

Neon Tortoise print! - GOT Polish

Its been sometime since I last posted. I was away from home for a few weeks and the last few posts were scheduled before I left. After I came back, we were all sick one after the other and I just did not feel like painting my nails - which is unusual! Also, I broke a nail and had to cut them off. And when I did this manicure, it seemed to me like I had lost touch with my whole paint-clean- photograph-post routine. So although, the manicure turned out all right, I am not too happy with my clean-up, pictures and other details like that - but hoping things will settle back into the old routine from the next one!

Coralicious Leopard Print for Golden Oldie Thursday

The prompt for the day is a Coral. I chose a very bright coral for my manicure today. And I thought it would be fun to add a leopard print to go with the bright nails!

It looks a bit red in the photos but the coral I have on here is Rimmel 60 Seconds 430 Coralicious. I love that name too! And this is the perfect summer polish - so bright and cheerful!

Gold Hearts on Red

Since Valentine's Day is almost here, I think its an excellent time to try out all those hearts images that I don't use as much throughout the year.  The image I chose for this manicure is from Konad M93. This Konad plate is one of their more recently released ones, which has larger images and they stamp great as always.
The gorgeous red polish is Layla Ceramic Effect 53 Killing Red. Although the gold flakies in this polish make it really beautiful and its gorgeous to wear on its own, I don't think I have been able to capture them that well in my pictures, unfortunately. They peek through quite prettily in between the stamping.

I stamped the hearts with Essie Good as Gold. And added the gold rhinestone on to the ring finger. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Models Own HyperGel - Swatches, Review & Stamping

(A word of warning - Very long and photo heavy post!)

All Models Own Products on their website are on a half off offer until the 4th of February 2014, to celebrate their Facebook page reaching 250,000 Likes. This includes their yet to be launched Hypergel Nail Polish range. This range will be launched in stores by mid-February. This is how Models Own describe their Hypergel range - "HyperGel! 10 brand-new mega-shine shades that are highly pigmented, long-lasting and chip resistant. Enriched with lotus flower oil, the gel-like finish gives the professional shine of a salon manicure. The collection is completed with limited edition colour caps, topped off with colour-matched high-shine swatches on the lids that reflect the gel effect finish of the polish so you can select the perfect shades!"

Delivery was extremely quick for me and came bubble-wrapped in a pretty box - I got it within one day of ordering. I have swatches and reviews for six of these new shades. And I also tried stamping with them to see how they performed. I have to add here that this is the first time that I have swatched so many polishes. Its only when you do it yourself, do you realise how difficult it is to take colour accurate pictures of the swatches! It made me appreciate even more how much great work some of the bloggers put in with their beautiful nail polish swatches!
The range is quite similar to the Barry M Gellys, in my opinion. The colours are gorgeous and the formula is good and easy to work with. The formula is generally thick but it does vary from colour to colour - some are thicker than the others. The thick ones are good one-coaters. But I think for the thinner ones, two thin coats give good results. All the polishes are super shiny and glossy and I loved all the colours I got. All my swatches are two coats without a topcoat, other then the stamped manicure, where I used top coat.

Inspired by water!

This manicure was for the Sunday stamping challenge in my Stamping group. It didn't quite turn out as I had imagined it. I started off with a base of Sally Hansen Insat Dri Blue Streak and used the saran wrap technique to dab on some OPI Sea You in Hollywood. I was going for a subtle blue on blue look but by the time I finished stamping and the top coats, you couldn't tell at all that its a mix of two colours! I then stamped images from the plates, MoYou London XL 05 from the Sailor collection, Messy Mansion MM02 and Konad M90. I finished with some China Glaze Fairy Dust for some sparkle.

Double Stamping on Blue

The Sunday stamping challenge for my stamping group this week was to stamp with an image plate ending in 2. I just couldn't decide on which image to go with, of the few image plates that I have which end in 2. I did however, want to try a fuschia/red and blue colour combination since I love coral and turquoise together! I tried stamping with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Flashy Fuschia on Barry M Gelly in Guava but the fuschia didn't show up as well as I wanted - the base was a bit too dark for it. And since I couldn't decide on one image, I decided to try some double stamping with gold and black instead.

I painted my nails with Barry M Gelly in Guava - I think its a really pretty colour. I then stamped with Barry M Gold Foil with an image from Pueen 42. I stamped a floral image from Konad M82 on top with Konad black. I added gold hex glitter at the center of the flowers and finished with topcoat.

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Nine - Inspired by the Supernatural

Posting my nails inspired by the supernatural very late today. It took me a long time to  decide on  how to do this manicure - I'm not really into anything related to this subject. It seemed fascinating when I was very young and although it still is, I just haven't really been interested enough to read up about it.
I started with Barry M Gelly in Lychee. Then I stamped with Konad Black from the image plates QA8 for the skull and crossbones, the Gals Fairy Set GA36 for the single skull image, Konad M94 for the bat image, which I stamped multiple times and Konad M91 for the black cat. I finished with the Rimmel Pro Matte Finish Topcoat.

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Eight - Inspired by a Flag

My Manicure for day twenty-eight of the challenge is inspired by the racing flag.

For this manicure, I used Rimmel Riviera Red, Barry M Black and Matt White. The chequered flag on the middle finger is stamped with Konad Black from the image plate Konad M93. The champagne bubbles on the ring finger are stamped with Essie Penny Talk from the messy mansion image plate MM02. The silver rhinestones on the red nails represent the chrome fittings on a shiny, new red car!

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Five - Inspired by Fashion

For my fashion inspired nails, I chose a dress by Balenciaga, AW12.

I started with a base of Barry M Matt White and stamped with Konad Black with the image plate, Konad M57. I then added a layer of top coat. I was planning to use scotch tape to section off the nails diagonally before painting with the second colour. But I was too impatient to wait for the nails to dry - Scotch tape manis can end really badly if the nails are not completely dry! So I used a nail art brush to draw diagonal lines across the nails before filling them in with NYC Midnight in Amethyst.

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Four - Inspired by a Book

My nails for day Twenty-Four of the challenge are inspired by the book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. Since I have been hooked on to the TV series for the last few years and its coming to an end this week, this manicure seemed appropriate for this part of the challenge!

For this manicure, I used Sally Hansen Wet Cement for the grey and Barry M Black. I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri Rapid Red and the image plate Konad M21 for the "Blood Spatter". I sponged a gradient on the black nails with Maybelline Deep Red.

In other non-challenge related news, I had the privilege of attending the Olympia Beauty Show in London on Sunday, the 22nd of Sept, 2013. I also had the pleasure of meeting up with three wonderful ladies, Lucie of  Lucy's Stash, Vic of Glowstars and Dimpal of Crazy Polishes. Please see the photo reports of the day posted by Lucie and Vic. This was my first experience of the Beauty Show so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was definitely a sort of nail polish wonderland with row upon row of different brands of nail polish, among lots of other beauty products. Lesson learnt for the next show - save up before the show to splurge in the next one!!

31DC2013: Day Eleven - Polka Dots

Polka dots for Day eleven!
For this manicure, I used, Barry M Gelly Lychee. I sponged on a gradient at the tips with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Flashy Fuschia. Then I stamped the polka dots with the Fuschia and Konad M79 image plate. On the accent finger, I painted free hand roses with the same colour, Konad white and Barry M Gelly in Key Lime.

There are a few tutorials out there on doing these free hand roses on my ring finger but I was inspired by this one - "simple dot rose nail art, sweet for Valentines day" These roses are so cute and quite easy to do.