Nails Inc Lily and Justice Walk - Amber Nail Jewellery

I did have a manicure planned for today but somehow I wasn't in the mood for it so I decided to go for the Amber Nail Jewellery instead.
I considered Black Taxi as my base but went for Lily in the end, thinking its just a touch warmer to combine with the Amber.
I LOVE Lily, it's beautiful on its own and a wonderful base for so many other glitters and other special effects. I did two coats although it was pretty good after one and had I known how much coverage the Justice Walk would give, one would have been sufficient, and look how shiny Lily is !

 

Justice Walk was a lot denser than I expected, thinking it would be more along the lines of Burlington/Diamond Arcade, so I actually ended up with more on the nail than I really wanted, but you can't go back once you've started! When I use it again, I'll try to wipe more off the brush.
I like the colour of the amber glitter, but there are large gold hexagons in there that I wasn't so keen on, I tried to avoid them and actually picked a few off before it dried. I think I'll like this more if I can get less glitter on the nail.
Anyway, here are a few shots of the finished mani, indoors, and out in my daughters black & yellow mitts and my own multi-coloured ones.

 

 

 

QVC Beauty Bash January 2013

I was lucky enough to be invited to the QVC Beauty Bash, as a last minute thing when a friend was unfortunately unable to attend. I could fill a whole page with how excited I was, don't worry, I won't, but I was excited!!! and eternally grateful to the friend who very kindly invited me along!
There were lots of stands there although I have to say I focussed my attention on the brands I already knew, and I was a complete tourist asking to have photo's with Lee & SJ from Bare Minerals, Lisa & Julie from OPI, Nina from Leighton Denny, Zoe also now with the LD team but originally a friend through a facebook page.
We had our nails painted on the LD stand, Drama Queen seemed very popular, and hand massage on the SBC stand, where I met the lovely Adele who presents on QVC.
So a couple of pics of Drama Queen:

 

It's a lovely colour isn't it and a struggle to decide which gloves went best!!! It's a very Cadbury's purple!

Unfortunately this chipped on the ring finger the next day and obviously I couldn't touch it up since I don't own this colour, so when Nails Inc Henley Feathers arrived courtesy of a lovely lady on the Nail Sale page, I just had to have a try.
I've never done a ring finger manicure before, wasn't quite sure but decided to give it a go, they are only nails after all!! These top coats dry very quickly and I think I need to get a bit more practice in at rearranging the glitters so its not perfect and I've seen much nicer swatches over paler colours but I think it worked quite well. The bar glitters are mostly silver, with black and copper but the black is not that evident here.

This look did grow on me, I might try it again one day.

Just for fun : Leighton Denny Brick Road

It was Australia week in one of the facebook groups and I wracked my brain unsuccessfully for what to post, and then I had a cheeky flash of inspiration. I know it's the wrong "Aus", but I decided to post Leighton Denny's Brick Road. I don't actually know if my Brick Road is the old one or the new one that came out in the Friends of Dorothy collection. Since I don't like yellow, I wasn't that fussed either way and I only have the yellow in my collection because it was up for swap and my daughter wanted to try it.
So here it is, painted on nicely in 2 coats but it didn't really photograph too well, its actually more yellow than it looks here. I did give it the benefit of the doubt and took as much care as I could to do it neatly but no, woolly fans, I do not have any yellow knitwear or gloves.

Then I had a little try of something I'd been thinking of for ages, the graffiti top coats add a new dimension to some colours that I would otherwise never wear, like white or pillar box red (never say never!), so still tongue in cheek, here is Brick Road, with Nails inc Brick Lane.
I like it better than just plain yellow, but it is still yellow!

Leighton Denny In the Buff

This was one of the first Leighton Denny varnishes I ever owned and I love it. Its a beautiful very slightly pinky nude, understated and sophisticated I think, perfect for when you want your nails to look great but not attract attention.
It painted on well and 2 coats gave good coverage.
I don't have any "nude" gloves so here it is with pale green, one shot inside with flash, and one out in the snow - far too cold to be "In the Buff"

Nails Inc Shoreditch Lane

Shoreditch Lane is one of the new special effects varnishes by Nails Inc. When I first heard about leather effect I thought, oh no, that won't be one for me, but then I saw a couple of swatches and thought actually I'm quite intrigued.
The first 2 colours to be launched were black & tan, but they came in sets with skull adornments and I think that might be step too far for me. The mulberry leather, Shoreditch Lane, was included in the latest TSV on QVC and because I think the general nail varnish world seems to be a bit divided on this one, there were actually a good few to be snapped up on the Facebook nail pages, so here it is.

The colour actually reminds me of Leighton Denny Crushed Grape although I think this is a bit darker, but it is a lovely shade and very me. I did 2 coats, although the effect was similar and coverage was good after one. You don't use a top coat, although I did have a little try to see what would happen, it lessened the leather effect, but did not completely smooth the surface. The finish is not matte, it has a lovely sheen to it and I actually liked the slightly rough texture. My husband hated it, my daughter loved it. I loved it too and it was wearing well on the 3rd day before I took it off.

I had a look around for something leather to compare it to. My red Hotter boots - pretty good match I think.

 

 

And finally one more pic because I loved it so much, think I will have to get the black one too.

Red Gloves

Well, this is my latest piece of knitting. I had some red wool left over from something I made for my daughter about 8 years ago. Not enough to make anything much and it has sat in my "small balls of wool" box for all that time.
Then along came A England Perceval, a stunning deep red and there I was with painted nails and no gloves to match, so off I went of Ravelry to find something suitable that I could make with my red wool.
I am extremely pleased with the results, I haven't made any gloves with such fine wool 3mm gauge needles, so it made a nice change. They took a while compared to my usual chunky knits but the cables have come up beautifully, and I think they go rather well with my nails. I knitted these on double pointed needles, which used to terrify me but now I love this way of knitting, not least because there is no sewing up at the end!

A England Perceval with Nails Inc Elystan Street

Well, I always said I wouldn't wear red and here we are, 2 weeks into January and I am blogging my 2nd red. When A England had a sale just before Christmas and I wanted Jane Eyre, something made me buy the duo of JE and this one, Perceval. It's a beautiful deep red with a shimmer. It painted on beautifully, one coat was almost enough but I did 2 as you always should, no brush strokes, the finish is perfect and I am so pleased that I went for this one!

Just after Christmas, a fellow nail fan put up a photo using Elystan Street graduated tips. I'd seen swatches before and thought how pretty it was but now I had to have it! So I searched all the facebook groups looking for one since its a QVC exclusive so it can't readily be bought. Luckily for me a chance comment on one of the swap pages resulted in a lovely lady selling me this one and Bedford Square, which I had also fallen in love with. In my mind I knew that I wanted to put Elystan Street with Perceval, I was sure that they would work together and when I came to do this manicure I was so nervous that it would be a disaster.

Well I have to say I was delighted, not only that Elystan Street was every bit as gorgeous as I thought it would be (they are not always!), but also that I managed to paint freehand tips on all 10 nails without making too many mistakes and I think the colours go brilliantly together. Elystan Street is a very fine red & sliver glitter, and the red is just right with Perceval.

As I was knitting the jumper in the previous blog, one of the things that spurred me on was the thought that the colours would work well with this planned manicure and I think they do.

And finally a lovely shot of the beautiful bottle that has sat looking at me for almost a week waiting to be used. I love it!