China Glaze Dreamsicle, Bows and Polka Dots

Happy Saturday!

I've had China Glaze - Dreamsicle for a while and have never really used it. This polish is so, SO pretty! It's a sort of tangerine orange jelly with golden/green/orange glitter particles floating in it. It's quite sheer and takes about four (!) coats to get really nice coverage, but it's so very beautiful that it's kind of worth it. I think it would be one of my most favourite colours in my whole collection if it weren't for one thing: the horrible formula! It's goopy and annoying and leaves the ends of your nails all scratchy - I filed mine a little bit with a nail buffer to try and soften the edges after I'd painted them - and the very worst thing is that it chips something awful. I had this on for slightly less than 24 hours before I took a photo because my camera needed new batteries, and it had already chipped by then. Annoying. Plus it doesn't just chip a little bit... oh no... it comes off it enormous sheets, almost like you've painted your nails with glue. It's a big pain and a massive shame because I really, REALLY love this colour. What a bummer.

So for these nails I used Dreamsicle as a base, and then I used Konad plate M59 for the bows and added a little black heart-shaped rhinestone. This was my first ever proper stamping attempt. The left hand was really good, I thought, but the right hand was a big smudged. I don't have a proper stamping polish and my usual black just wasn't cutting it, so I ended up using the black from the striping polishes I got from ebay for about £6, which seemed to work okay. I made polka dots on the rest of the nails with a dotting tool. I kind of wish I hadn't now because the bows were so pretty, but I got a bit carried away! I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Here you can see the chip in my ring finger. Boooo!

I've tried to capture the shifting colours of the glitter here. You can see the greens, golds and oranges floating in the polish. Yum!

And here's a picture of the aftermath! Look how massive the chunks are that have peeled off! The thumbs could almost be false nails! Ha! Rubbish.

Here's a picture of my tree that we put up today! We let my son and my five year old sister decorate it and then we subtly 'rearranged'. ^_^ All the lovely colours have inspired me to do some mega Christmassy nails!

Have you put up any decorations yet?

Thanks for reading!

Dots, Stripes and 80's Hearts!

Hello!
I opened my first advent calendar door last night! HOORAY! It's getting exciting! My four year old is super excited about Christmas this year. It's the first year he's REALLY understood what's going on and that makes it a million times more exciting. Here he is dressed as a star for his Christmas play:

So for these nails I used Barry M - Matt White as a base on the heart nails, and Collection 2000 Hot Looks - Bubblegum on the pointer and the ring finer. Then on the thumb, middle finger and little finger I used China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy, Collection 2000 Hot Looks - Parma Violet, China Glaze - For Audrey and China Glaze - Tuned Up Turquoise. I drew the hearts with a teeny tiny brush, and used a dotting tool for the dots. I wasn't sure about the colours at first; they're not as 'pretty' as I would normally like, but they've kind of grown on me - they remind me of an 80's music video - maybe something by Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff, or Mel and Kim! All I need now is some curly shoelaces, some cycling shorts and a really big T-shirt and I shall be the very spirit of the 80's!

For the pointer and ring finger I layered over the pink with a coat of E.L.F - Twinkle and then when that was dry, I used sticky labels cut into thin strips to create the stripes. A lot of people use scotch tape for stripes, but I always found that even over a really dry coat of Seche Vite scotch tape still has a tendency to pull the polish off, so I use sticky labels - like the ones found in stationary shops. I find them easier because you can cut everything you need out before you start and then just keep them on the backing paper until you're ready to use them. Putting polish over them softens up the sticky too, so they don't pull off any of the underneath polish when you remove them. I used some nail stickers I got from ebay on the stripes and topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite. I kind of like them! What do you think?

I hope you're having a good advent! Is it too early to crack out the mince pies and mulled wine? Thanks for reading! :)

Christmas present nails!

Hello! It's the first of December tomorrow! Happy Advent!

I did these the other day and I didn't want to take them off because they looked so pretty, like all different Christmas presents. I am SO in love with China Glaze - Twinkle Lights which I used for the ring fingers. It needs about three coats to look evening but oh my goodness once it's on it's so very glittery. It is the veritable spirit of Christmas. I am REALLY excited about Christmas already. I'm in a band and each year we join forces with another band we know to become a SUPER AWESOME CHRISTMAS BAND! We do sort of.. folky Christmas songs. I'm very excited about it!



So here they are:

The thumb is China Glaze - Ruby Pumps which is so, so beautiful. I have this on my toes and I layered over China Glaze - Love Marylin. It looks amaze, but I don't really want to post pictures of my feet, so you'll have to trust me :) I added little butterfly sticker that I got really cheap on ebay.

For the stripes and the little fingers I used China Glaze - Tuned Up Turquoise, Barry M - Matt White and Collection 200 Hot Looks - Parma Violets. I used some striping tape I got from Ebay on the little fingers. This stuff is pretty, but a big pain. It doesn't stay on too well and was peeling off after a day, even with two coats of Seche Vite on top. For the middle finger I used a Miss Sporty silver foil and dotted with ruby pumps, parma violets and tuned up turquoise. It makes me feel all festive inside!

Thanks for looking!

Loco Roco Nails!

So this is my first attempt at the kind of nail art where you actually draw things. I know a lot of people like to use acrylic paint, but I found it worked okay with polish. I used Barry M Matt White for the base coat and a whole LOAD of other polishes that I mixed in a pallette to get the right colours. They were mostly Collection 2000 Hot Looks polishes, which I LOVE! They're a bit teeny, but they're pretty cheap so they're great value for money and the colours are really pretty.

For those of you who might not know, Loco Roco is the BEST GAME EVER! You're a little blob - or a loco roco - and you bounce around eating flowers to get more blobs that are kind of... inside you (okay this sounds strange but it really isn't... well it is, a bit... but it's good!) and you sing songs that make no sense. It's wonderful! The songs are great too! So, without further ado, behold: Loco Roco nails!

I did all the details with a teeny tiny brush and some dotting tools and finished with a coat of Seche Vite to even everything out. I hope you like them!

Now i'm off to watch the new episode of The Walking Dead! AHHH ZOMBIES!

Thanks for reading.

First post!

Hello!

My name is Aimee and this is my first ever blog. I've been a lurker on lots of different nail and beauty blogs for a while - I sometimes comment but mostly I'm a bit shy so starting my own blog is a big, scary step! I hope I don't do too badly! So for my first post i'm going to show you some pretty sparkly christmas nails I did.

I'm afraid these aren't particularly good pictures because I had yet to read the instruction manual on my lovely new camera when I took these pictures. I used lots of different polishes: Elf Pearl for the base, then I sponged on some Miss Sporty Silver foil, then some Saffron silver glitter which is an AMAZING glitter with large and small hex pieces, then a teeny tiny bit of Claire's blue glitter polish and finished with Nabi Nail Laquer Star Glitter number 47. They look SO sparkly in real life. After I took these pictures I tried mattifying them and that looked rubbish. Boo.

Thanks for reading my first ever blog post (eeehhh!) I hope you liked it!