Stripey Flowers

I love these nails- they look like some sort of vintage tablecloth! I finally got to use my new Models Own polish Jade Stone, which is a beautiful pastel green- very similar to Barry M Mint Green, but slightly lighter.   

I used:

Revlon White
Models Own Beth's Blue
Models Own Jade Stone
Striping tape
OPI Party in my Cabana (for the roses)
Barry M Spring Green (for the leaves)
Seche Vite

Models Own do some absolutely gorgeous pastel shades, I want them aaaaaall *must-own-all-pastels*

Alice

xXx

Purple Holo Flowers

One from the vault today! I had a different mani all planned for you, but I couldn't get the pics off my camera before I had to go to work :( So I'll postpone that til tomorrow.

This is a pretty little stamped mani I did a while back- actually way, way back! Before I had my camera, so you've got another set of dodgy iphone pics....you lucky things.

This is two coats of Color Club Fashion Addict (the holo version, booyah) stamped over with China Glaze Harmony from the Romantique Collection. The stamp was m73 from the Born Pretty fauxnads.

I just love the multicoloured holographic particles in this polish- I always think I prefer linear holos but then I see this and I prefer the scattered ones! There's so many different colours, it totally rocks out some rainbow effect.



And here's a cheeky little shot of Fashion Addict by itself. Don't you just love it when the bottle is a holo explosion?!

Fashion Addict on its lonesome

I loved this- it's not the most in your face manicure but it was so subtle and shimmery I couldn't stop looking at it. A work friendly pattern! Also, Fashion Addict gets additional love points for being holo under normal indoor lighting, not just in blazing artificial light. I live in Wales, where it rains solidly and overcast days are pretty much standard. Trying to get a decent swatch of a holo in natural light can leave you waiting months! This baby re-affirms my faith in holos.

Catch you later,

Alice

xXx

Vintage Roses, aka Cath Kidson nails

Good morning peeps!

This week, I did potentially the best nail art I've ever done! I've been wanting to do vintage roses for a loooong time, I've seen them about the place loads and always eyed them up jealously, thinking that I would make a right pigs ear out of it if I tried them. But then on the weekend I said to myself, "Self, stop being a wimp and give it a go." And it turned out really well!
Enough waffling, let the copious picture spam commence....
   

Squeeeeee! I'm so pleased with them!

I was inspired by a Cath Kidson notebook I've got at home, which is the pattern below.

For the base I used Barry M Mint Green, which is the most gorgeous pastel green ever. I then swirled OPI Party In My Cabana into white nail polish (Sally Hansen White On, just to be really specific!) and used a tiny dotting tool to paint it on my nail. For the leaves I used a tiny paintbrush and Barry M Spring Green. Topped it all off with a top coat of Seche Vite, which made ALL the difference, they looked a bit messy until Seche performed it's usual smoothing magic.

inspiration




natural light

 I was so pleasantly surprised with how easy it was! Although personally I think my right hand is much better then my left- I did my left first, and the flowers are a lot smaller and not as confident as the ones on my left. I'm loving the retro, vintage feel to them- my friend described them as 'kitsch' which I thought meant cute and a bit old school. HOWEVER, the dictionary definition is "Art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but appreciated in an ironic way" which I'm less than thrilled about, haha! I hope she had the same thought as me...either that or I have been thoroughly dissed!


favourite nails

That's all for me- it's been snowing this weekend which is very exciting! I'm planning a snowy themed manicure as I do like me some co-ordination, I'll be sharing those tomorrow hopefully.

Thanks for stopping by!

Love,

Alice

xXx





Stamping in the Buff

Greetings all!

Short but sweet post today- continuing my theme of guest nails!
I did my sister Lydia's nails over Christmas, and as she's a solicitor it needed to be something less OTT and more sophistated *puts away neon pink whilst softly weeping*

She decided on some pretty stamping, and I have to say I absolutely love what she chose. I never would have picked it out for a design myself but I LOVE the combo!

I used Boots No. 7 So Simple for the base, and then used about a million different plates for the stamps as she wanted a different design on every nail- Konad m2 and m3, fauxnad m20, and probably a few others too! I only had Born Pretty's stamping polish in black, and it wasn't the best to work with- I know from experience that it smudges really badly when you put your Seche Vite on, unless you give them an hour to thoroughly dry.



left hand

<> 

right hand

I didn't know I was capable of classy nails....!

Alice

xXx