I'm entering Orbit

I knew piCture pOlish was going to be good, I have seen so many rave reviews for their products and as a result I had high expectations. They were exceeded by Orbit a navy blue polish with electric blue and silver glitter.

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Durmstrang

The only Lac Attack polish from the Magical Musings collection that I could get hold of was Durmstrang. I was really excited to try it and on principle I like it. I like the shimmery bright blue colour and I like the randomly shaped black matt glitter. I don't like that some of the glitter pieces stick up off the nail as this makes me almost certain that I will have picked this off by tomorrow lunchtime. In future if I wear it I will be on standby with tweezers during application to pick off any curly glitters. The coloured base is fairly sheer so I layered one layer of Durmstrang over NYC Water street blue.

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OPI A Woman's Prague-Ative

A Woman's Prague-Ative is a fabulous gold and copper shimmery creation from OPI. I got this and Such a Budapest at the same time- couldn't decide which one to put on first and ended up putting one on each hand which looks just a little strange. The upshot of this is that these swatches are with my right hand but hopefully are just as high quality as if I was using my left.

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Euro Centrale ruffle art

I wanted to do some nail art to embellish OPI You're such a Budapest and I decided to use only the other polishes I own from the Euro Centrale collection to do so. I decided to do ruffle nail art because it's super easy and looks terrific- it's just layering rows of dots on top of each other. I used Can't find my Czech-book, My vampire is buff and A woman's Prague-ative for the rows.

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OPI You're such a Budapest

It's official: I'm in love with the OPI Euro Centrale Collection. I guess this collection resonates for me because I went interailing around many of these cities after my first year at Uni and had an awesome time. Budapest in Hungary was an amazing city with beautiful architecture and excellent food. I have included three photos from my time there to give you a feeling of the place. Now to the main point of this post, to show you OPI's You're such a Budapest, a dusty pale purple. It took three coats to achieve opacity and sadly the shimmer visible in the bottle doesn't transfer across to the nail.

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Indie Glitters

I received my package from Harlow and Co. and it contained my first mainly glitter indie polishes. I was so excited that I couldn't wait to try them all separately and have combined them into a multiple glitter mani. For this mani I have used my base of OPI My vampire is buff from yesterday. The post is picture heavy because I really wanted to show you how awesome these polishes are.

The macro shots of the glitters I'm using today, from left to right: Happy Hand's Motherboy, Lush Lacquer's Seas the moment and Girly Bits' Eight crazy nights

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My Vampire is buff

Today I'm going to show you OPI's My vampire is buff. This is a beautiful creme finish nude cream colour. It looks like someone has painted an iced latte onto my nails. It applied very well and although it was streaky after the first coat this is not visible after the second coat. I was fairly surprised at just how opaque this was after two coats.

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Big Bang Theory Penny

I really wanted to do some more TV themed nails and after I got hold of some OPI I'm not really a waitress I knew which series I was going to do. Penny is an actress working as a waitress. I'm going to show you a swatch of I'm not really a waitress and then show you the skittley nail art I did on top of it.

OPI I'm not really a waitress

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Swirly Stamping

I was in a rush before a dance practice (I do Dancesport- competitive ballroom and latin dancing) and didn't want to go out with plain nails so I decided to do a bit of stamping- quick and easy. I put on A England St. George for the base and then stamped with Nail Girls gold- a fantastic gold foil- when this runs out I will definitely replace it even if I only use it for stamping.

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Confetti Nails

So I did do some nail art over Tristam and I decided to do a pastel polka dot gradient following this tutorial from Chalkboard nails. And it looks great, it sort of reminds me of wedding confetti :)

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London marathon- Boston marathon

I've been scouting on the blogs all week to see if anyone was doing anything to show support for those in Boston at the moment and I couldn't find anything however the runners running in the London marathon today are wearing black ribbons so I did a really quick stamping on my right hand to join in.
Police presence around the London marathon has been massively increased and we can only hope that nothing will happen.

My thoughts and many others' are with the Boston victims today.

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What can I tell you about Tristam?

Well I can tell you that I love it! I really wanted to take a bottle shot of this but my camera and light source were not cooperating. This is Tristam by A England and it is divine. Divine I tell you. So enough talk- here she is:

Tristam showing off her holo side

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Lime and Blue Fishtail

Pretty much straight after I had taken my pink fishtail off I decided to do another, simpler one in green and blue. I used my base coat of Jessica Lime Cooler from the swatch I did and added the fishtail in OPI Can't find my Czechbook. It looks divine:

Lime and blue fishtail

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Lime Cooler

I was buying some polishes online and happened to see the Jessica Summer Collection for 2013 and there was one polish I had to buy which was Lime cooler.

Lime Cooler- Jessica

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Purple Fishtail

I saw this tutorial for fishtail nails by Chalkboard nails and really wanted to try them out. So I did a three colour fishtail with purples and a pink and it's beautiful!

Fishtail Nails

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Checked nails

I was inspired by a page in Elle Collections magazine for these nails: It's a wall in the Marc Jacobs exhibition at the Louvre but I really liked that the red squares didn't touch in the corners so I decided to replicate it on my nails- easy enough with striping tape.

Here's the inspiration

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Essie Dive Bar

I hope that when Essie named Dive Bar they were thinking of a load of scuba instructors hanging around on a caribbean beach at the end of the day- looking at the darkening ocean, rather than a dodgy pub. It's a dark turquoise with green and purple shimmer although you only catch the purple very occasionally.

Essie Dive Bar

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Hit me with your best shot

So I have another Deborah Lippmann polish to share with you. My friend and I watched Rock of Ages on DVD last week and my favourite part was Catherine Zeta Jones singing Hit me with your best shot. It is mostly for this reason that I bought Hit me with your best shot off ebay. However, I do not regret it at all- it's a sort of blue toned dark grey and it is absolutely gorgeous. These pictures don't even come close to capturing its true beauty- it sort of looks like petrol in a really good way.

Hit me with your best shot

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Ray of Light

I got Deborah Lippmann's Ray of light after seeing this post by Globe and Nail even though it was horrifically expensive and I had to have it shipped from America. It was worth it- this polish is beautiful, a deep blue with flakes which shift between red and green. I actually copied the stud detail from Globe and Nail as well although I used yellow rhinestones.

Ray of Light

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Belly dance inspired nail art

I went to an Arabian themed murder mystery last night and decided to paint my nails to look sort of like a coin belt. I did two different designs for this and I actually prefer the design on my right hand although it sort of looks like lines of lanterns rather than coins.

Coin belt inspired nails

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Dorian Gray with the moonbeams

So I got a little bored of Dorian Gray (A England) on its own after a while and decided to add a top layer using And the moonbeams by A England. A bit of a strange combination because it is gold over greyish silver but these two went together really well to give a sort of greenish tint but keeping the shading from Dorian Gray.

Dorian Gray and And the Moonbeams, A England

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Dorian Gray

A England's Dorian Gray was delivered yesterday, I bought it in the Tristam birthday sale :). I love that it's a grey but with really sinister black shading. It's a very glamorous nail polish and would work well with a rock look.

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Tribal Nails for Meg with Barry M nail art pens

I really wanted to road test the Barry M nail art pens and the perfect opportunity came up when I did my friend Meg's nails this evening. I went for a sort of tribal design in blue and green.

Meg's tribal nails

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New Barry M nail art pens

When I saw these being reviewed by other blogs I knew I would have to have them so when they came out yesterday I got my hands on three of them- white black and silver. I was out in Cambridge with my parents (they just dropped me off for my final term) and couldn't wait to try them out so I did this in Pret a Manger over my current nail art. I love it- so easy to use!

Barry M Nail art pen in white over A England Tristam and Ascalon

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Tristam and Ascalon lightening

I wore Ascalon alone for a whole day before I striped it with A England Tristam. I think this looks a bit like lightening and it's at its best when the light catches it and Ascalon shines through. Tristam is stunning- a deep blue with silver shimmer but the shimmer never detracts from the blueness.

Tristam with Ascalon zig zags

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My escalating love for Ascalon

A England's Ascalon arrived and it is beautiful beyond my wildest dreams. It is grey duotoned with violet and also with a holo finish. And my top coat doesn't change the effect of it at all. I am in love! And even with all the above going on I still think this is mature and subtle enough to wear in a professional context. This is my desert disks luxury. These pictures were taken with two coats of the polish and a top coat (not necessary but I prefer quick dry as it prevents me smudging my nails.)

Ascalon in it's grey form- you can sort of make out the lilac shine on my middle finger

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A saint's golden eye in the moonlight

A long title but I really wanted to use the titles of all these polishes. After water marbling yesterday I just wanted something simple so I went for a glitter gradient- classy and elegant.

In bright daylight (the sun was hiding)

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Ink Stain Water Marbling

So I said yesterday that I was going to be water marbling today and I am pleased to report success!!! I just did this over my lavender flowers manicure because I am lazy ;) and you can see it coming through on my index finger. I actually only used two colours for the marbling but it looks like I used three or four. 

Ink Stain Water marbling

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Liquid Sand- Can't let go

My second liquid sand post with my second favourite of the collection- Can't let go. It's a purple glitter with large purple hexes in in. I much prefer the brightness of Get your number but this one is OK as well. Again it is on my toes because texture on my fingernails annoys me.

OPI Liquid Sand Can't let go

Although I really didn't like this when I first put it on it is growing on me. Great if you want a more subtle colour on your nails but I would not buy any more of it. Again it has lasted very well on my nails. And it is still going strong a week later without a single chip- and I'm a ballroom dancer so my feet get abused a little bit.

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My first ever, ever nail art- and an explanation of why I polish my nails

So warning: this photo is from a year ago when I was a veteran nail biter. Oh my goodness- I looked back at this today for the first time in a year and it is terrible! I'd never quite noticed how scratty my nails looked- probably because I was so used to them being  like that.

So this is from a year ago

And this is from yesterday

What a difference a year makes! Being a nail polish addict has cured my nail biting habit- I always use strengthening base coat to try and prevent peeling and breakages and I have now invested in a cuticle oil and creme to help with my nail health.

I plan to do a water marble tomorrow- hopefully the gods will be smiling on me and the polish will spread out so that I can be successful.

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Lavender flowers

When I first saw nails which had been stamped I thought it was magic- I was looking at someone else's photos and I was thinking that they couldn't possibly have freehanded the design. So I went onto amazon and ordered the cheapest stamping set I could find- a stamper, a scraper and twelve plates for £7.50. They aren't even branded. They are the easiest way of making nail art I have ever encountered. So here we have dark purple on pastel purple:

NYC lavender cupcake and OPI tomorrow never dies

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NYC Lavender Cupcake

Today I want to show you my favourite pastel (and possibly the only one I actually like). Tadaa introducing Lavender Cupcake by NYC:

Lavender Cupcake NYC

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Pink colour block

So this is what I'm wearing on my right hand to match the blue colour block on my left. My friend does this thing with socks where he wears ones which match geometrically but are different colours and I used that principle for this. So here they are:

Pink colorblock- not sure where the ridge on my middle finger is coming from- it's not there in real life

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Colour block nails

I really liked these nails by Chalkboard Nails so decided to replicate them in different shades of blue with a very subtle glitter sandwich

Colour block nails

You'll have to forgive me the slight dints- I had a migraine and had to go to bed straight after painting these and there were so many layers to these that some of them weren't dry but I still love them.

Colour block nails- a classy work look

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Daisy chain nails

I really wanted to do a simple, sweet manicure as spring has officially arrived in the UK. I am not the biggest fan of pastels (which seem almost mandatory in spring) so I decided to do a nude style with some daisy chains so that when I look at my hand I'm reminded of hours spent making daisy chains as a child. I did these freehand and was really pleased with them :). I am also entering this into The Crumpet's April Amateur nail art contest for which the theme is flowers.

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And the moonbeams...

When I ordered St. George from A England And the moonbeams was on offer so I bought it. It struck me as an overcoat sort of polish so I decided to swatch it on its own and over 4 different colours

And the moonbeams

So there are three coats of And the moon beams alone over my middle finger- there was still visible nail line after this when the nail was shaded. My index finger is one coat over A England St. George, ring finger is over NYC ink stain, little finger over 17 fast finish garnet.

And the moonbeams over NYC Lavender cupcake

 I absolutely loved the combination on my thumb and little finger.
Although this polish is packed with glitter it doesn't need a top coat to be smooth and also comes off the nail as if it were a creme which was a real surprise- I was expecting to have to fight it. I have since ordered another two A England polishes- Tristram (the April polish of the month) and Ascalon and I can't wait for them to arrive!

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Liquid sand- Get your number

So when the OPI Mariah Carey Liquid Sand collection came out it was interesting enough that I bought the 4 mini set. I live in the UK and OPI is very expensive (£11.50 per bottle about $17) but if you buy the minis you get to try 4 polishes for £13. I tried them out straight away and was really impressed by the sparkle and colour intensity however I couldn't take the texture on my fingers- it annoyed me so much! It was really unfortunate because I desperately wanted to like these polishes. Eventually though I came up with the perfect solution- wear it on my toes.

OPI Liquid Sand Get your number

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Boadicea Queen of the Britons

I love ancient and Medieval history especially the strong warrior figures in the past of Britain. Boadicea was a warrior queen of the British Iceni tribe who fought against Roman troops around AD 60. She is most famous today for using blue body paint on her troops to scare the Romans. I was inspired by this painting to do nail art over my A England St. George swatches. I used various motifs from the painting on my nails:

Boadicea inspired nails

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St. George

I having been fancying an Indie nail polish for a while and was quite disappointed to find that most of them are American and the shipping is very expensive to the UK. Until I discovered A England. I was immediately drawn to St. George a dark green polish with scattered holographic particles. It did not disappoint:

A England St. George

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Fantasy polka

Today I was playing around with layering polishes. I saw Maxfactor Fantasy Fire on Globe and Nail and knew that it had to be mine- on closer inspection of my collection I discovered that I already had it- woohoo! 

Fantasy Polka

At the time I didn't really understand about layering sheer glitter over other colours and thought that it was nothing special- I was so wrong. I layered on top of Barry M Indigo and this combination works really well, a dark purple colour with flashes of red, orange and yellow depending on what angle you look from. However a whole mani of this just wasn't quite involved enough for me so I had a flick through my glitters to find OPI Polka.com. Blue, pink and purple hexes with small purple glitter as well- awesome in a bottle. 

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Stop snowing stamping!

I don't know if you're aware but last weekend it snowed in my home (near Huddersfield, England). It snowed a lot! Which was really unfortunate because I was so ready for spring and even dreaming of summer. Hence these incredibly colourful tropical inspired gradient nails with a little bit of stamping over the top. Totally ridiculous but they cheered me up :)

The California palm tree stamp inspired this design

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The most amazing geometric french tip-Manicurator design

So I saw this post from the Manicurator and immediately knew I would copy this look. It's so classy yet stand out and could work with so many colour combinations and I just know I will return to this over and over again. At the time I already had the amazing Butter London the dark knight on my nails- the multi coloured glitter really lifts the black and you'll see in the photos it looks incredible. I used striping tape off ebay and Nail Girls gold to do the tips.

Butter London the dark knight in all it's glory. The gold tips only make it look better

 I will definitely be recreating this exact look when I go to May balls at the end of next term. I'd also love to do the style in pastels for a more subtle spring version.

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Queen of England Gradient Nails

I saw Essie It's Genius in Boots and I couldn't leave it behind- I try to only buy expensive nail polish if I'm certain I can't get something similar in a cheaper brand and as soon as I saw this one I knew I wouldn't be able to. It's a gorgeous deep rose pink with gold shimmery flecks. Hence the decision to gradient it with OPI Tomorrow never dies and No 7 Stay Perfect Hot to trot. And I love the results:

You can see It's genius looking gorgeous in its bottle. This pic is more true to the colour of Tomorrow never dies (purple)

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Half Moons

I really like the half moon trend- I think it's quite a classy way to display two different nail polishes- although I have seen some bad mixes of colours which make it look a little strange.

I had just taken advantage of the 3 for 2 offer in Boots to buy three colours of Essie and I decided to use two of these in my half moon mani- Beach bum blu and dive bar. I loved this mani so much!

Essie Dive bar is on the tips and Beach bum blu on the half moons

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The Bells of St. John- Doctor Who?

Doctor who started again on Saturday (30/3/13) with Matt Smith and Jenna Louise Coleman as the new companion. The episode was fantastic- bringing back some of the humour of the older series which was lacking a little bit in the last series. To celebrate the return of one of my all time favourite TV series I thought I'd paint my nails with a doctor who theme :).

My Doctor Who nails

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