12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 1

It's December! My countdown to Christmas has officially started and I'll be documenting it on my nails (of course!). It's my plan to post 12 Holiday themed manicures before Santa pays a visit . Apologies in advance if I don't manage to post 12 but I'll try my best!

I used A-England Galahad* as a base and sponged on Barry M Blue Glitter from the tips. I stamped the snowflake from Bundle Monster plate BM14 and finished it with a rhinestone and a top coat of NYC.

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I have a job!

I started a new job this week as a retail assistant in HMV. For my first day, I painted my nails to match the uniform and I thought I'd do a quick post to show you! 

From a conversation I had on Twitter, I gather that HMV definitely exists in Singapore, Canada and obviously here in the UK, but there are no stores in the USA so apologies if you don't recognise the imagery!

I used A-England Lancelot* as a base. For the lettering and logo, I used white acrylic paint and Nails Inc Shoreditch. The lettering was all done with a dotting tool. My pinky is a stamp from Bundle Monster plate BM225 using Sally Hansen Chrome Anemone.

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♪♫ This could really be a good life...

This week is shaping up to be a very very good one! I had a job interview yesterday for a Christmas temporary position as a sales girl in a record shop which I nailed so I'll be starting that next week. Then today, I got a call from another job I applied for which is basically a Chalet Girl position but without the Alps! It's live-in so it also means I'll be able to move out of parents' place for a while. I have to go for an interview/trial kind of thing this Sunday and if I'm successful, I'll start in January - I'll keep you guys posted on that!

And to top it all off, this blog hit 2000 followers today! Thank you all so much for reading and following! I hope I say it often enough but I really don't think I could say it enough. It means the world to me that you all like my little piece of the internet enough to keep coming back and showing your support. THANK YOU!

Today is a Wednesday so here comes the pink!

Stamping Plate: Bundle Monster BM205
Base Colour: Models Own Utopia
Stamping Colour: Barry M Raspberry
Accents: BYS Flirty Sparkle
Top Coat of NYC

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What Did I Do?

I realise that using song titles/lyrics is oh so very unoriginal but I'm really struggling to come up with interesting post titles!

I had an overwhelming urge to use this poptastic colour combination today and I wanted something simple and sophisticated. This stamping design just never gets old and I always get compliments about it so it's a winner in my book.

Stamping Plate: Bundle Monster BM209

Base Colour: Primark - Yes Cyan!

Stamp Colour: Barry M Gold Foil

Top Coat of NYC

I made a few nail sets based on the Michael Kors studded design this week and Esther from Fab Fingertips was my first customer! She did a quick post on them today which you can see here. If you like what you see, send me an email and you can have your very own custom set, I take requests so anything you've seen here on the blog can be made in to a bespoke set just for you (see my shop for more details)

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Day 31: Recreate Your Favourite Challenge (Double Feature)

Today, the 31 Day Challenge comes to an end for Me, Rie and Cris. There's been some ups and downs but I've loved the whole experience. It will be nice to go back to posting whatever I want when I want but I'm slightly afraid that I've forgotten how to create manicures without a list to follow!

Cris, Rie and I were discussing what 'Recreate Your Favourite Challenge' actually means and in the end we just decided to recreate our favourite challenge from each others' previous 30 days.

  

It's a long post so you can see more after the jump...

From Rie's challenge, I wanted to recreate her 'Inspired by Fashion' nails. She was inspired by some incredible Alexander McQueen shoes. To see and Rie's mani and the shoes that inspired it, click here.

I love Rie's mani because it translate the shoe perfectly on to her nails. The finished look is so simple and elegant which is everything I look for in a manicure.

I used E.L.F Innocence as a base and I don't have the same Konad plate she used so I went for a design from one of my fauxnad plates which I stamped with Barry M Grey first, then Barry M Silver Foil. I sponged on a little silver glitter and added a top coat of NYC, et voila!

From Cris, I decided on her Flower nails from Day 14. She used a combination of stamping, freehand and dotting to create a beautiful vibrant manicure. Click here to see her mani.

I love Cris's flower mani because every time I look at it I can't help but feel a little warmer inside. It gives me a much needed reminder of summer now that the winter is kicking in. 

I used A-England Galahad as a base and Wet n Wild white for stamping with BM12. For the detail on the flowers, I used Collection 2000 Spangles and Rimmel Funky Diva. The Rhinestones are from Viva La Nails, and of course I used NYC Top Coat to finish it all off.

Don't forget to head over to Cristina and Rie's blogs to see four more manicures today! I really cannot wait to see them!

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Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

I'm running out of steam this week so I decided to go simple for today's challenge and take inspiration from my favourite Konad pattern from M64.

Cristina and Rie have created some lovely pattern inspired nails today.





Konad Plate: M64
Base Colour: Primark - Yes Cyan!
Konad Colour: W7 - Black
Top Coat of NYC



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Day 21: Inspired by a Colour

Today's criteria is a bit of an odd one. I couldn't decide if it meant inspired by an actual colour or inspired by a shade name or even something else completely that I didn't pick up on! In the end I decided to rummage through my stash to see if any of the colour names inspired me and this Rimmel polish, Purple Reign, gave me an idea straight away.

I decided to make a mani from the name and stamp crowns on my nails. Get it? Purple REIGN ;)

Head over to see whar Cristina and Rie came up with today.



Plate: Bundle Monster BM08
Base Colour: Rimmel - Purple Reign
Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Top Coat of NYC





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Day 15: Delicate Print

Here we are at the halfway point and I'm still loving the challenge!

A friend of mine visited Canada this month and I asked her to pick me up a bottle of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. Since I saw it on Marta's blog here, I've had a lemming for it and Marta reminded me to ask my friend to grab me a bottle. So now I finally have a really, really good white stamping polish and it really is a weight off my shoulders!

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's challenges too!

No7 Lucky Lilac
Konad Plate M71
Sally Hansen Whirlwind White

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Day 13: Animal Print

Who doesn't love a good animal print nail huh? This combination of colour and stamping is the one I used to wear the most before I started blogging, but it's been a long time since I wore it. I was going to try something more adventurous today, like freehanding a leopard print, but laziness took over and I pulled out my stamping plates!

If you're craving more animal print manis, check out Cristina and Rie's Day 13 challenges too!

BYS Astro Gold
W7 Black for the stamp
Konad Plate M57
Top Coat of NYC

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Day 7: Black and White Nails

I toyed with a few ideas for today's nails before deciding to play it safe and go with Zebra print. It's been so long since I wore this pattern and colour combination (I normally go for the tiger colour combination) and I forgot how amazing it is. It's definitely not a subtle look, but I think I pull it off okay!

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's nails today for some more crazy black and white designs.

I used an unnamed Collection 2000 White then stamped with W7 Black and Konad Plate M57.

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Vampy Half-Moon manicure... but not as you know it

A few days ago, an idea struck for a half moon manicure but I couldn't find the stickers I use for them anywhere. I spent more than an hour searching my room top to bottom for the dastardly things to no avail!

I found myself in an 'odds and ends' kind of shop yesterday and remembered just as I was leaving that I needed some of these and I found a packet of about 500 stickers for 60p. Such a bargain!

The stickers in question are THESE hole reinforcers. I cut them in half and used them to mark off the half moon shape at the base of my nail but instead of painting a new colour over the top, I used a stamp.

Konad Plate: M64
Base Colour: W7 - Black Cherry
Konad Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine
Top Coat of NYC

On Monday, Cris @ Let Them Have Polish, Rie @ Nails and Noms and I will be starting the 31 Day Challenge (click here for details). We decided to do it together so that we won't be tempted to stray from the strict 'post every day' rule! I think it will be fun but also challenging to go back to posting daily after relaxing my blogging schedule since the new year. I can't wait to start and I'm hopefully my enthusiasm won't dwindle too quickly!


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Essence Cool and the Gang

The lovely Christine travelled to Germany a few months back and picked up a few Essence polishes for me. Even though I'm technically in Europe, Essence is not sold here in the UK so it was super exciting to finally get my hands on some of their polishes.

Cool and the Gang is a gorgeous royal blue but I'd describe the formula as inky. I used 3 coats in an attempt to cover any Visible Nail Line but there is still a little bit showing through.

Konad Plate: Born Pretty M79
Base Colour: Essence - Cool and the Gang
Konad Colour: Barry M - Gold Foil
Top Coat of NYC

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Autumn Is Here... Apparently

Today is the first day this year that I noticed the leaves starting to fall from the trees which reminded me that it's autumn. Anyone that doesn't own a calendar could be easily fooled though because I swear it was the warmest weekend we've had all year! I heard that Saturday was the warmest October day on record in the UK... ever.

I finally got my hands on the new Barry M Foil Effects in gold. I've been needing a new gold stamping polish for a very long time and when I saw the previews of these chrome polishes I was hoping it would be my answer. I wasn't wrong. The gold is great for stamping and no doubt I'll be buying the silver soon enough.

I was hoping for a little more contrast between the two colours in this Autumn inspired manicure but I actually love the subtlety of the combination.

Stamping Plate: Bundle Monster - BM210
Base Colour: MUA - Shade 23
Stamp Colour: Barry M - Gold Foil
Top Coat of NYC

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GOSH Metallic Purple with Konad M60

This idea looked much nicer in my head. It's not that I don't like this mani, I just thought it would come out a bit more striking. I think I had a more 'open' pattern in mind but I couldn't find one in my pile of stamping plates or come up with a freehand one in my brain.

Konad Plate: M60
Base Colour: Rimmel - Black Satin
Konad Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Black rinestones from eBay
Top Coat of NYC

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♪♫ Memories of times and the places that were there

I can't believe it's Friday already! This week has flown by so quickly.

You might have noticed a few changes around here recently. I put up a new banner a little while ago and my pictures have also taken a turn for the better if I do say so myself!

I've been wanting a great lamp with a white fluorescent bulb for a long time after Cris gave me some advice about lighting. They can be a bit pricey but I was lucky enough to find one in the house. It's been sat on the same side table for months and I've gotten so used to seeing it that I just forgot it was there.

I was sat in the lounge one day when I caught a glimpse of it and just had one of those moments where something clicked in my brain and I realised it was exactly what I'd been wanting for weeks!

I also changed my watermark and have started stamping it in to the middle of the pictures because I've seen a few of my pictures online with the watermark cropped out and no credit given which is so annoying (and illegal). So, I have to put it in a place where it can't be cropped without slicing up the picture, but I'm trying to keep it as unobtrusive as possible and I hope you guys don't mind too much.

I started out using scotch tape to mark off the black sections at the side but it ruined the mani underneath so I just whipped out a striping brush and freehanded the a line then filled it in after. It's obviously not as crisp a line as you would get using scotch tape but it saves a lot of time and hassle.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM223

Base Colour: Cult Nails - Cruisin' Nude
Stamp Colour: W7 - Black
Top Coat of NYC




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