BundleMonster Contest Entry

If you haven't heard, BundleMonster (the creator and distributor of the Image Plates I use to create some of my designs) are having a Nail Art competition over at their Facebook Page. There are 25 sets of their NEW image plates up for grabs for those with the most "likes"! Voting opens on the 13th, and I would REALLY appeciate it if you could wander over, take a look at my entry (and the others of course) and see if I deserve a thumbs up! I implore you to enter yourself, too, what have you got to lose eh?

Here is my entry, you had to use Bundle Monster products and I wanted to submit something that showcased some skill, as opposed to just a simple painted base and stamped image, so I whipped the pan scrubbers out and did a pink to purple, sponged gradient base. I hope to do a sponging tutorial in the near future, as it definitely requires a "knack" and I think some people might benefit! I then stamped the flower image from BM16 in pastel blue.

I started with two coats of Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, then painted a blob of MUA's Medium Pink Shade onto a small piece of sponge that I cut from a standard, kitchen pan scrubber. I then repeated this on the tips with Barry M Ltd ed. for Boots.

Now, I needed the stamped image to be very opaque, and I don't own Konad Special Stamping Polish in Pastel Blue, but I DO own the White - I'm going to quickly show you how I mixed my own Blue stamping polish:

I started with The Konad Special Polish and Barry M Cobalt Blue. I then popped a blob of each onto the image on BM16, next to each other (as opposed to on top of each other) so as not to gammy up the brushes:

I then used a paintbrush to swirl them together, you can create a cool gradient image if you only mix them up a  little bit.

Make sure you still do this mixing quickly, as if the polish begins to dry on the plate, it will be difficult to scape and stamp a complete image. Once you've scraped off the excess polish, and rolled your silicone stamp over it, you're ready to stamp the image in Pastel Blue:

BOOM! The stamping polish world is now your oyster -you can literally do this with any coloured polish to mix your own pastel Special Polish - this will save you splurging on all the different coloured Pastels that Konad offer, because you can still get a good quality, opaque image when using this technique. Cool!

I added clear Rhinestones to the accent nails with Nail Glue, silver dots to the centre of the flowers with Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen and then added 2 coats of Seche Vite - what do you think, was this good enough to be entered into the Bundle Monster comp? Some of the designs over there are really good, but my nails just aren't long enough to do something fancy-pants with lots of different stamps. I really like how a gradient Mani looks - I get asked if they're Minx all the time!

Don't forget I have Giveaway going on! Win yourself some sexy stuff!

PEACE OUT

Strawberry Picnic Nails

It was another lovely, bright sunny day yesterday, making me wish I was sat on the park having a picnic - this manicure would have to do instead!

ooooh I wish they had all come out as well as the index finger! The other two strawbs are looking a bit squished and deformed....Nails are SO tiny to draw on hahaha!

With Flash - Pesky Orange is very apt for this mani!

I made little picnic rug tips by taping them off and painting them white over a base of a shimmery Claire's polish. I then stamped with Barry M turquoise and MUA shade 16 from BundleMonster BM17. I stamped the shape of the strawberry (not the leaves) with Barry M Red off BM05. I tried stamping the Lemon image but was struggling to pick up a complete image (I think it was the Miss Sporty polish) so just freehanded them in the end, using Barry M Spring Green and Miss Sporty Taxi! I outlined using Claire's Black Nail Art Pen, and topped it off with Barry M 3-in-1 Topcoat.

I got some compliments on this, it was lovely to wear on a hot summery day! I cracked out the Raybans today and it felt sooooo good!

Let me know what you think, kids!

xxx

Spring has Sprung!

I went to the shop and bought myself some daffodils (buying yourself flowers? I don't think I've ever looked so lonely...ha!) and the sun is shining through the window! I've done a celebratory Spring Manicure Inspired by the British countryside - flower boxes in the windows of kitsch little cottages and Apple trees on the meadows! I may also enter this into That's SO Fresh's Spring Mani contest, we'll see if I have the confidence haha!

There's that pesky orange again...

 I used so many polishes for this haha, here goes, pinky to thumb :-

• Lilac is American Apparel L'Espirit, flower stalks are Clarie's Matte Violet and MUA shade 16
• Blue Sky is Models Own Blooboo, grass is American Apprarel Office, Pale Sun is Rimmel Lemon Drop, Tree leaves is a blobby mix between Barry M 290 Green and Claire's Jade Green. tree trunk is Barry M Mushroom, and the Apples are Barry M Red 292.
• Pale yellow is Rimmel Lemon Drop, flower stalks are Miss Sporty Taxi! and Bloom Goldie
• Mint green is American Apparel Office, flower stalks are Barry M Green 290 and Claire's Jade Green
• Baby doll pink is American Apparely Coney Island, the flower stalks are MUA shade 3 and Bloom Flamingo Sands.
• All the little daisies were created using Claire's Nail Art Pen in White (thought you could just as easily use a dotting tool, cocktail stick, or even a straightened out bobby pin) and the centre of the daisies is Miss Sporty Taxi!.

PHEW!!!
I don't yet have any brushes or tools, so I used a bobby pin and cocktail stick to draw the details on the ring finger and daisy stalks, as well as the White Nail Art Pen for the picket fence! The contrast between the green grass and blue sky is more pronounced IRL, I wonder why it didn't translate in the photo hhhmm.
I also totally forgot it was St Patrick's Day today (dickhead) and thought it was tomorrow, so I will post pics up tomorrow! I'll give you a hint......Guinness. Haha! Happy Birthday to my Nanny too, sharing a birthday with a Saint's day is pretty apt fort his Wonderful Lady.

I hope you will all do the Irish proud and drink copious amounts of beer - We Brits know how to celebrate.

xxx

Champagne anyone? *pic heavy!*

Today's Manicure uses MUA's B6 (is it too much trouble to actually NAME your shades, Superdrug?!), which is a pearlescent champagne kind of colour. It is a lovely shade, butIi think it would look a lot better on a darker skin tone, it kind of washes me out a bit.

This colour was quite hard to capture, it's slightly more beige IRL, and not quite as silvery (except at certain angles, in the light). The brush for this polish is NOT my favourite, the bristles are really thick, making the brush a bit clumpy and hard to keep neat round the cuticles. This was especially a problem as the pearlescence of this polish shows up every brush stroke!! I had to work hard to make sure each stroke was straight to avoid wiggly lines. A topcoat did help with this after the fact, however.
I then added the leafy/spotty image from BM04 using Claire's Black. This is not my favourite Mani, I think it's a bit "old lady", I prefer using creams and nice fun, bright colours!

Today is the online release of the new Illamasqua "Toxic Nature" collection, which has some interesting pieces, including some brilliantly pigmented, multi functional creams. Head over to their website to check it out - look at these promo pictures! Make-up for your alter-ego indeed!

I love the makeup - but if someone did that to my fringe I'd punch them very hard.

outrageous, no? They've also bought out some great looking nail polishes, including one called "Bacterium":-

Bacterium on the left, Purity on the right.

Now, I'm not claiming that my little MUA B6 is a dupe, but have a look at these swatches from Leanne over at DoNotRefreeze - She's lucky enough to own Bacterium, and has swatched it for us:-

PHOTO BELONGS TO LEANNE AT DO NOT REFREEZE!!!!

Considering MUA is darker IRL, this could be considered a cheaper alternative seen as Bacterium is £13.50, and my tight arse paid £1.00 for B6. It may be a bit more silvery (and obviously not as good quality), but I think I can make do with that when considering the price difference! Y'all need to go and check out Leanne's blog Do Not Refreeze by the way, easily one of my absolute favourite blogs to read!

Have a lovely day everyone, let me know what you think!
xxx

Matte Gun-metal and mini-haul

As I promised you yesterday, here is what I picked up on my trip to town :

The offer in Claire's is 4 polishes for £7.50, and I just can't resist EVERY TIME! The challenge isn't staying away, its deciding which four to buy! Claire's polishes also don't have names so I'll describe them for your viewing pleasure.  From top left to bottom right, these are:

• MUA B6
• MUA 43
• Miss Sporty "Taxi!" - bright neon yellow with veeeery subtle shimmer
• Claire's Jade Green
• Claire's shimmery topcoat, very fine silver shimmer
• Claire's, this is a matte Bronze
• Claire's Matte Gun-metal Silver.
• The fabric it's sitting on is my new dress from forever 21! I'm wearing it out tonight, its very colourful :D

Here are some swatches of the Matte Silver. It actually looks gorgeous as it goes on, it's got a lovely shimmer to it, which seems a waste in a matte polish. Because of this its more of a suede finish, but I think I might try and play around with this one, see if I can put that shimmer back in!

I broke the corner of my index fingernail yesterday, and it's really bugging me! It's not that noticeable, but it keeps happening! If I remedy-file them anymore, I'll end up with an oval shape haha!
Stay tuned for more swatches of this haul, what do you think to this matte silver?

Scotch Tape Fail

Well, we can't all get it right all of the time! I took a deep breath and decided to share my fails as well as my triumphs. I tried my hand at a scotch tape Mani, like some of the great patchworks that I've seen over at the utterly fabulous Chloe's Nails - but it didn't quite turn out the way I'd hoped!
Firstly, it took FOREVER and I still only did one hand! I'm really impatient when it comes to my nails drying, and when you have to tape off many sections at a time and wait for them to dry, then tape them off again and... BLEUGH! I want pretty nails NOW damn it!!!
I also can't get hold of a bottle of Seche Vite, except on Ebay, so the whole look isn't smooth at all, my poor little Barry M topcoat just isn't up to the challenge. I need to save some pennies for the topcoat to beat all topcoats, its on my wishlist fo sho!
I think the idea is there, just the execution is pretty terrible haha, for this reason I can only bear to post 2 pics, this came off straight away lol:

The sun also wasn't out out today (even though I asked it REALLY nicely), so you can't even see the lovely sparkliness of the purple glitter. Boo. I also realise there's a lot going on, scotch tape, glitter, konad, patchwork etc, but I'm not really one to do things by halves!
The polishes I used aaare:

• Painted all nails with three coats of Barry M Strawberry Ice-cream
• The purpley berry sections are MUA in shade 4, I also stamped using this polish
• Purple Glitter is Claire's.
• Stamped with Konad M79

Tomorrow is another day! I'll have something fun for you :D
Let me know what you think, has anything similar ever happened to you? things not turned out quite the way you'd hoped?
Peace out, my lovely followers, stay awesome.
Emily x

Roses, Butterflies and KILLER SHOES

It's the year of 21st Birthdays for me. All of my best friends are reaching that milestone (before me may I add- I'm a summer baby!), and you know what that means - plenty of fabulous parties to attend! This weekend was the turn of a close family friend, she had a great gathering at this kitsch little pub on the river, and my parents and brother came as well, which is always hilarious, as none of them can dance, but in their own unique, arm-flailing way!

One thing you should know about me is that I CANNOT cope in heeled shoes. This is not a choice. I would love nothing more than to be able to wear to-die-for heels - I'm a great admirer - but I just can't do it. I don't know if I have weak ankles or bad posture, but I look like Bambi on the ice rink! I can't walk, and I've lost count of the times I've left the house for a night out and returned twenty seconds later to change into flats because I can't even get down my road to the bus stop. 

For this reason, I bought my flat black pumps back from Uni with me to wear to the party, and my mother was utterly disgusted. She refused to let me "not make an effort" for one of our closest friend's birthday, and I had to explain that I would love to make the effort, but that I just can't find a pair of heels that I can walk ten metres in!! Being the brilliant woman that my Mum is, she forcibly dragged me to the shops and I tried on every pair of heels I could find until I found a shoe I could wear! I decided on a wedge strategy - more support for my stupid feet - and this way I could add them to my (very girly) dress with black tights and my leather jacket to make it more edgy.

I have to say it was a success, I lasted all night on the dancefloor until I had to walk half a mile back to the car - I made my brother piggyback me!! and I'm HEAVY - bless him! Here they are:-

eeeeee shoes I can walk in! From New Look :D

On to the Butterflies and Roses. I wanted a manicure to match my dress:

Dress from Miss Selfridge

I used the image on the left for inspiration, and, using my newly acquired BundleMonster plates BM06 and BM14, came up with this:-

I only had time for one quick picture before the party - I'm rubbish at getting ready on time!

As you can see, it's pretty shoddily stamped, as I was in a hurry, but I think you get the idea of what i was trying to do! I think considering it was my first times stamping, I did alright ha!

The polishes I used are:-

• Barry M basecoat and topcoat
• Bloom Flamingo Sands
• Stamped white roses with Rimmel French Manicure White
• Stamped dark coral roses in Barry M Coral
• Stamped purple roses in MUA 04
• Stamped butterfly in Barry M 293, Charcoal Grey.

I'll have to swatch Flamingo Sands by herself for you soon, its a gorgeous polish, but so hard to photograph as it can look completely different colours depending on the light!