Saturday 30 November 2013

Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!

I have a beautiful glitter for you today, from Hairy Legs London. This one is called Monsters.Boo! and it is a stunning mix of blue, green and purple hexes, some blue bar glitter, green circles, and lots of tiny micro glitter which seems to pick up blue, green or purple depending on the angle of the light, so sparkly and pretty!
It is all packed into a clear base and I have layered just one coat over Nails Inc Black Taxi, which is the perfect backdrop to the 3 main colours in here. The glitter distribution was great, and after one coat of top coat they feel perfectly smooth. Of course it would look lovely over any dark green, blue or purple too, as well as lighter shades but I am out tonight and wanted dark nails with real sparkles!!! I have a vibrant blue velvet dress and I am hoping these will look great with that!
So these are my party nails and I am delighted with them :) I am not so delighted with my pics, the ones with the gloves look a bit washed out and it's too dark now to redo them. The camera just never seems to pick up the sparkle, but believe me, they are sparkly!
Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!
Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!
Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!
 Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!
 Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!
 Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!
Hairy Legs London Monsters.Boo!

Christmas Nails - Snowflakes

Tracey from Bite No More invited me to join a Christmas Nails Challenge, and although nail art is not my thing, I thought I'd give it a go - see - such bravery :)
The first challenge was snowflakes. I wasn't sure my freehand skills were up to painting snowflakes so I decided stamping was the way to go, but oh yes, I've never stamped before - uh oh!!!
I bought a stamping kit a while back, tried it once, with a tiny amount of success, but decided I should try again and although this was not entirely successful I am sharing anyway, because it wasn't a complete disaster and I feel I ought to share good and bad!!
My stamping plate didn't actually have any snowflakes but I found an 8 point star that I thought would do the trick.
I had been wearing A England Rose Bower and it's such a Christmassy red I decided to use that as my base. I have stamped with Barry M White, which worked reasonably well, and then added a few smaller flakes with a dotting tool. I think if you don't look too closely, the mani has the essence of snowflakes and to be honest looks a bit better than I thought I would be able to do, so I am not too ashamed to show this.
I do need to learn how not to smudge my stamps, and what to do about the plate clogging up with polish so the last stamps lack definition, but on the whole, not too bad!
 



Wednesday 27 November 2013

A England Rose Bower

Well I have an absolute beauty for you today. Rose Bower is another of A England's Burne-Jones Dream collection, released back in May 2013. I have already reviewed Sleeping Palace, which I loved and then last week there was a special offer on Rose Bower so I just had to have it!
I knew from swatches I'd seen that this would be a lovely polish but I was not really prepared for how staggeringly beautiful it would be. There was a real OMG moment when the first coat hit my little finger! The intensity and vibrancy of the colour is just amazing, think holographic raspberries!
The holographic effect is quite subtle but so beautiful, and the colour is just so vivid! The sun wasn't out when this arrived so some of the shots were taken in daylight, and then I grabbed the sunshine shots yesterday. As you can see from the daylight pics, the colour is absolutely gorgeous on its own, when the holo is not visible at all, which is fantastic since sunny days seem to be few and far between and I think I was very lucky to get the sunshine shots!  
This applied very smoothly, virtually perfect after one coat, but I did two for absolute perfection and even now 2 days later I just want to keep staring at my nails, so shiny and intense!!! I am completely in love with this polish!
A England Rose Bower
Rose Bower - in the sunshine
A England Rose Bower
Rose Bower
A England Rose Bower
 A England Rose Bower
 A England Rose Bower
 A England Rose Bower
A England Rose Bower
 A England Rose Bower
A England Rose Bower
Rose Bower - with flash

Thursday 21 November 2013

Magic Goose Reindeer Dance

It's Christmas on my nails today! Reindeer Dance is from the Magic Goose Christmas Collection, available here. You can also see them on Emma's facebook page here. There are 5 in the collection but I was good, I only bought 3 and they are all beautiful!
Reindeer Dance is stunning mix of varying sizes of hexes as well as some squares, in dark pink, red, grey, black and silver, and in the light they pick up green and purple too.
I chose to wear this one first as I was wearing dark green nails, Butter London's British Racing Green, and I fancied going for a contrast to show off as many colours in the glitter as possible, and the end result really does look very festive!
It's quite a dark glitter and I think it works well with the green, the black is not very apparent but I can see it, it's the red and pink that really stand out but then in another light it's the silver. This is a lovely glitter and I think it would look good over lots of different colours both light and dark. You can see it over black on the Magic Goose website. I think I'd try it over a dark red next, but that's what I love about these multi-coloured glitters, different aspects of them come to life depending on what base you used and it gives them great versatility.
This is one coat, and then just a tiny bit extra dabbed on because I just fancied more glitter!! I love it!
Sorry my fingers looks a bit red here, it was very cold outside, despite the gloves but I'd rather have outdoor shots if I can.
Magic Goose Reindeer Dance
Magic Goose Reindeer Dance 
Magic Goose Reindeer Dance
 Magic Goose Reindeer Dance
 Magic Goose Reindeer Dance
 Magic Goose Reindeer Dance
  Magic Goose Reindeer Dance


Wednesday 20 November 2013

Butter London British Racing Green

I have a gorgeous classic colour for you today, Butter London British Racing Green. I got this some time last year in a set of 3 for a fabulous price from Brand Alley. As a person who likes greens, blues and purples, a set which includes this one, Royal Navy and Branwen's Feather was an absolute must! So it sat there patiently waiting to be worn, knowing I would love it!!
This week is "Polishes beginning with B" week on All Things Nails, and I am still trying to stick to untrieds so this one finally came out, and I love it, it is so completely a "me" polish. A deep dark green with just the hint of a shimmer, great coverage in two coats, this is the perfect dark green. I loved looking at pics of proper old racing cars when I was little and the concept of British Racing Green has always felt very special, and wouldn't I just love a car this colour!
I'm afraid the cold weather and too much acetone remover had taken its toll on my cuticles, and that only became apparent once I'd taken all the pics, they look fine to me but little Fuji has picked up all the faults, I will lavish some TLC on them over the next few days, but can only apologise that these pics are not the best. Don't let that put you off the lovely glossy green though!
Butter London British Racing Green
Butter London British Racing Green
Butter London British Racing Green
 Butter London British Racing Green
  Butter London British Racing Green


Saturday 16 November 2013

Nails Inspire Frosty Morning thermal polish

Today I have the 3rd and final thermal polish that I bought from Nails Inspire. I couldn't resist trying this one and I love it. This is Frosty Morning, and again very different to Satin Kiss and Fairy Lights.
This one is textured, and it's name is absolutely perfect, it really does look like a frosty morning, when the grass is crunchy and there are layers of white sparkly frost everywhere.
When warm it is white with a tinge of blue, and when cold it is a beautiful shade of sky blue with a hint of lilac,  and the mix with silvery glitter is extremely pretty. This is 2 coats with no top coat, it just looks and feels fantastic! I love that rough but not scratchy texture.
I didn't manage to catch any gradient shots except for the one of my thumb, but as you can see, I did take quite a few pics. The colour change on this one seems quite instant rather than gradually changing from tip down, although I think you can see it a bit on some of the warm shots.
Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
Nails Inspire Frosty Morning - cold
Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
 Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
 Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
Frosty Morning - warm
 Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
 Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
Nails Inspire Frosty Morning
Captured a bit of the gradient here

Thursday 14 November 2013

Nails Inspire Satin Kiss thermal polish

I rarely use polishes from the same supplier consecutively, normally I feel I ought to alternate a bit but really I couldn't resist trying another thermal from Kim at Nails Inspire.
This is very different to Fairy Lights, Satin Kiss is a shimmery polish which changes from a dark russet red to a light coral red shade. I must admit to preferring the darker shade but again it's great fun watching it change and I have had some real challenges getting pictures. It's so cold at the moment that as soon as I go outside to get a picture, it darkens, from the tips upwards. It's a great Autumn into Winter polish, and there is a very pretty red shimmer that runs throughout, regardless of the temperature.
So, I have lots of pictures starting from cold, through to warm at the end with a few shots in the middle where I've managed to catch it changing and got some quite cool (or warm) gradients :)
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Satin Kiss - cold
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Nails Inspire Satin Kiss
Satin Kiss - warm
 



Sunday 10 November 2013

Nails Inspire Fairy Lights thermal polish

This is a tricky blog post because I have really struggled to capture the excitement of this polish! I had heard of thermal polishes, seen swatches and of course seen a few videos of hands under hot and cold taps - Well, I had to do the same but when to comes to static pictures its very hard to capture what happens with these fantastic creations!
In case you don't know, thermal polishes contain magic!! well, maybe not quite, they contain some sort of pigment which changes colour with temperature and I got my first ever thermal this week from Nails Inspire.
Nails Inspire is a UK Indie run by lovely Kim, and Fairy Lights is one of her Christmas collection. They are available from her Etsy shop here, although currently out of stock. I believe a restock is due after 21st November so worth following her facebook page here if you want to catch one of these lovelies for yourself!
Fairy Lights is a mix of bright blue squares, and then hexes of varying sizes, in blue, green, purple, pink and silver, and some tiny green squares, in a base which changes from white when hot to deep magenta pink when cold. Most of the time for me they were at one extreme or the other, watching my son play football Saturday morning, very dark pink! back home later on as I thawed out next to the radiator, pure white!! They change very quickly as the temperature changes and I even noticed the tips going pink as I went outside to take a photo earlier and caught a chilly breeze! Great fun to watch under the tap, but so tricky to capture! The tips also changed when I had cold hands but emptied the dishwasher, or warm hands but went digging in the freezer for something.
You really just have to get one of these polishes and try for yourself, but this one is so pretty, the glitter is lovely and I adore the deep pink. I have had this on for 3 days now and am still watching excitedly to see it change colour.
Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
Fairy Lights - cold
Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
Fairy Lights - hot
Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
Fairy Lights - hot but just catching the breeze with my fingertips
 Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
 Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
 Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
Nails Inspire Fairy Lights
A  few shots just as they were warming up