Glitter Crelly Daisies

I've been planning this manicure ever since I ordered these nail vinyls - I think its a sweet manicure, specially for Spring.

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.

The Ocean and a Mermaid!

The Manicure today uses another Born Pretty Stamping plate - BP-23. This is an Ocean themed plate with some pretty images which would be good for a summery beach manicure too. I have used a mermaid and some waves images for my nails today.

The Last of the Festive Nails!

I have two manicures today - one that was done for Christmas in 2014 and the other for New Year's Eve. First up is the Christmas manicure, which I did with a new Born Pretty Stamping Plate. The Born Pretty store has recently released a range of new stamping plates which have really pretty images and stamp very well. The Stamping plate for this manicure is the BP01. The stamping polish is Essie No Place Like Chrome on a base of Zoya Dream. I used a dotting tool to depict the snow around the reindeers.

The second manicure I wore for the New Year's Eve's celebration. I chose the colour teal to match a teal and black lace dress that I wore and used the lace image on the index and little fingers to depict that. I used the gold for stamping though, since black didn't show up very well on the teal.
The sparkly base for these nails is one Coat of Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Scarab topped with two coats of Sally Hansen Triple Shine 360 Sparkling Water. The images are from the MoYou London plates from the Festive Collection - 05 and the Bridal Collection - 07. The stamping polish is Mentality Shirin.

Mint and Silver Manicure

Continuing the silver theme, the prompt for the GOT Polish challenge this week is a silver accent.

Summer Bling!

The prompt for my GOT Polish Challenge was bling. My first thoughts were a manicure with black and gold or something dark and sparkly like that. But since its summer, I am in the mood for something sparkly - but bright and colourful!

Textured Stamped Manicure - GOT Polish

I don't think I have any textured polishes that are over a year old to use for this challenge. But these Sally Hansen Sugar Coats have been sitting in my pile of un-trieds for quite some time so I am hoping they qualify for the challenge in that respect. They come in some really pretty colours and I have been looking forward to trying them out but just haven't got around to it.

I painted my nails with Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in 300 Cherry Drop, which is a gorgeous slightly orange red. The green is 250 Spare-A-Mint?, a pretty teal green. The stamping polish is Essie No Place Like Chrome, one of my favourite silver polishes to stamp with.

Peach Manicure with Copper Stamping - GOT Polish

There may still be a slight chill in the air but the flowers are in full bloom in my garden and the days are longer and brighter. Spring is definitely here at last! And I continue my Spring theme here on the blog with a lovely pastel peach manicure!

I painted my nails with Barry M Gelly in Papaya. For the accent nail, I painted half the nail with the peach and the other half with Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Jade Jump. I added pastel studs to the accent nail and sealed them with top coat. For the other nails, I stamped them with images from the MoYou London XL Image Plate 01 from the Pro Collection. The stamping polish is Essie Penny Talk. I finished with top coat.

Celtic Knots Green Manicure

I did not get a chance to do a St. Patrick's Day manicure last week so a green manicure has been on my mind for a few days! Also, I had this lovely green nail polish that I have wanted to wear for some time. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a nail fail as you will see!

GOT Polish Challenge Orange Nails

I am really late with my Orange Nails for the GOT Polish Challenge. But it was a much busier week than usual and I completely missed posting anything last week. I had even done my manicure in time but just didn't get a chance to post it! So here are my nails for the challenge, at last!

For this manicure, I used one of my favourite orange nail polishes, Barry M Gelly in Mango. The gradient and stamping is with Essie Penny Talk. And the beautiful stamping image is from Pueen 33.

Chevron Nails - GOT Polish Challenge

The prompt for the challenge is Chevron Nails - which I love. I had planned to do the design with tape - but you know how some of those tape manicures end up - not very well! So I had to start over and then I decided to stamp the chevron image from my Bundle Monster Create Your Own Set. The chevron image in this set is one of the images I got the set for, and I haven't used it before this - so I was glad of that chance.

The polishes I used for this manicure are Barry M Gellys in Pomegranate and Plum. Plum is a beautiful dark purple cream - though it appears almost black here. The chevron image is from the plate, BM-423, stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome. The ring finger is painted with one coat of Essie No Place Like Chrome, topped with two coats of Barry M "Boots Ltd Ed" silver glitter.

Valentine's Day Nails - GOT Polish Challenge

I am late with my Challenge Valentine's Day manicure but here it is at last.
I haven't really done much for Valentine's Day in the last few years. But this year we did make an effort and I have to say, that it was really nice! It made me realise that if you have another day (other than anniversaries and birthdays) to have a nice meal and spend some quality time with your loved one, surely that is not a bad thing! What do you think?

Anyway, on to the nails ... For this manicure, I did a holographic gradient on four nails with China Glaze Holographic Astro-Hot and Infra Red. The ring finger is painted with Infra Red. These China Glaze Holographic polishes do not have a very strong holographic effect but they still look very pretty. The stamping images are from the Pueen Love Elements Set, Pueen 29 and Pueen 34. The stamping polish is Essie No Place Like Chrome.

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.

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. 

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!

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!

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.