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

It was Acceptable in the 80s

Hello my sweetlets,
I am so excited about my post today. It was a long, messy road but j'adore the final result. I went to an 80s themed party on the weekend (I know, I know, lycra spandex of doom, WHY DO PEOPLE DO IT TO ME) and in between crimping my hair and cracking out the tacky fluorescent bling I whipped up these babies.



please excuse my oily cuticles...I look like I'm about to enter my nails into a bodybuilding competition!

splaticures are a messy, messy bizniss

These are super, super neon, but neons are a total bitch to photograph so they look quite muted.

I used: (deep breath)
Revlon White
China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
Color Club Koo-Koo Ka Choo
Color Club Jackie Oh!
Color Club Twiggie
No. 7 Stand Back
Seche Vite
Thin straw
Newspaper (a must!)
Sellotape (also essential)

I painted two coats of white on my nails, taped off my fingers as close to the nails as I could, mixed a little nail polish in my palette, dipped the end of my straw in, and blew it all over my nails. I thought that I was going to pass out at one point!
N.B. I found that short, sharp, powerful puffs worked the best by far.
Also, it's probably worth repulsing you all by telling you that I managed to get spit all over my nails doing this. Classy.

What do you guys think about the splaticure look? I love it, but it is a LOT of effort, and clean up is a pain in the arse. Major dry cuticles from the excessive acetone! Also, mine peeled off in sheets two days later as it was so thick from all the polish.
As a bonus picture, here is my hand in all its 80s glory. All I can say is, thank god I was a teenager in he nineties. I love me some neon, but my lord, this is the decade that fashion forgot!

Alice

xXx

this hand was born in the 80s!

Coffee Neons

Aloha!

Continuing my neon frenzy, I've got a very bright french manicure to show you today! I've just cut all my nails down as I had a few peelies (after a week of not bothering with maintenance) so am currently looking at my lovely long talons in these pics and quietly weeping over my nubbins!

What I used:

base - Sally Hansen Iced Coffee
thumb - H&M
index- Color Club Jackie Oh!
middle - China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada
ring - China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
pinky -  Barry M Blue



artifical light

I love the combination of the simple nude polish and the bright tips- Jackie Oh! proved to be an absolute bitch to photograph though, neons can be so temperamental. It looks quite red but in reality it was hardcore pink.

with flash

artifical light

I briefly did a similar manicure with pastel tips, but it only lasted a few hours as I did someone else's nails and they got wrecked. Once I grow out my nubbins it's first on my list!

Love,

Alice

xXx 

Twiggie's Zebra

Good day folks!

Absolutely loving the nail colours knocking about recently- neons and pastels are both in abundance, and although they are pretty much totally opposing themes I adore them both! Approximately 98% of my posts for the rest of this year will be variants of these two....just to warn you. 

This is a recent mani I did with one of Color Club's Poptastic collection colours ( CC do rock out some amazing neons). I added the zebra print after with a Konad plate and stamp- my pictures aren't really doing it justice to be honest. But photographing neons seems to give everyone hassle so at least I'm not alone!

What I used:

Color Club Twiggie
Konad Special Polish Black
Konad plate m57
Seche Vite



indoors w/ flash

This just POPPED so much in person. Most people commented on how I'd blinded them with it - their eyesight was a neccessary sacrifice to the nail polish gods.




outdoors, natural light

What do you guys think of neons? Love em or hate em?

Til next time,

Alice
xXx

Scalloped Edges

Hi all!

Sorry for my absence this week, I've had such bad back problems :( Living off two hours of sleep a night is not good for Alice! I did manage to squeeze a quick mani in though. Really fancied having a play around with some tape, so I got my trusty craft scissors out and experimented with scalloped edges. 

artificial light

I used two coats of OPI Mermaid's Tears for the base (LOVE this polish - perfect formula, application was a dream) then put some Seche over it to make it dry faster. I then taped off half the nail and used H&M Golden Treasure. This is a great one coater, and it was only £3. Bargainous!

I love the way that the gold looks like waves against the sky. To be brutally honest, I did get bored of it after a few hours haha...think I'll add some polka dots to it, or some glitter maybe.

natural light

I just love the way tape gives you that really sharp, clean edge. I'm trying to grow out my nails a bit so I can file them more square and use tape for french tips, which will be so much easier and cleaner than freehanding. What do you guys think about tape manicures?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Alice

xXx

 

OPI Suede - Here Today Aragon Tomorrow

Ok so I have found a new love. OPI Suede. Where have you been all my life?!

This is three coats of OPI Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. I love the matte look, and when someone recommended checking out the suede versions I immediately got my arse on the internet to try one out.

The application was gorgeous, completely opaque and smooth with two coats. I did one extra as I've got silk patches on two nails (waging a serious war with the peelies) and they were showing through slightly. That is my ONLY issue with matte polish- any flaws or ridges are super highlighted. In the photo below you can see the ridge of the silk patch on my middle finger. Boo!

Also, they label says that you shouldn't use base coat with them- I ignored this and wore it anyway, it's too dark for me to risk staining. It didn't seem to effect the matte-ness. The other negative is that you can't use lotion with them, as it makes them shiny. For a girl dedicated to her fifty times daily application of lemon cuticle butter, this was HELL ON EARTH. I was sat in work twitching my fingers all day! For that reason alone this mani only lasted a day. *must- moisturise- cuticles*

I wanted to experiment a bit with the matte/ shiny duo effect so I did tips with a clear topcoat. And I adore it, I felt like such a classy bird wearing these! It's really subtle and sophisticated....what's happening to me, dedicated follower of the neon leopard print?! I must be maturing.

Delicious! The only downside of this is that it's now awakened a desperate need to have ALL of the suedes...damn you OPI.

Also, I've got some shiny flakie goodness for you tomorrow...stay tuned.

Alice
xXx

Pigment Experiments!

I've got a bit of a copycat mani for show and tell today- I saw this manicure on the lovely Helly's Nail Newbie blog and knew I had to try it! I loved her combination of dark red and gold, it looked so elegant. For mine I used green as the base- it does look very Christmassy though, so I think I'll have to remember this one for December.

It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be- mainly because I'm the clumsiest person in the world so anything even vaguely arts-and-craftsy causes a huge flurry of mess! And the clean up was a NIGHTMARE- anyone who knows me know how OCD I am about tidy nails and it took me about half an hour to get every last dot of powder out from my cuticles!

I had a loose bronze eyeshadow lurking about in the depths of my makeup collection (next to my purple hair mascara and blue eyeliner- errors from my teenage nineties years!). Word of advice- make sure that whatever you're using as a surface is covered in newspaper or something, as it made SUCH a mess! I got gold powder all over my desk, all over myself, and all over Lola! (my meddlesome little dog, for the uninitiated). She came to 'help' when she heard me swearing as I spilled the dust for the zillionth time, and ended up a very pretty shade of bronze. 

I used Boots No. 7 Dollar for the base, a lovely shimmery green. The first coat was a nightmare, all streaky and thin and awful. I knew it would take three coats to be opaque, so just after I applied the third coat I plopped a blob of my powder just above my cuticle, angled my finger downwards and blew the dust across. I got a lot of different effects- if you look on my right hand I found that if I held the brush above my nail and blew down I got a streakier pattern than if I put the dust on my actual finger. Topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite for shine, which it definitely needed.

 Above are close ups of my left and right hands- I think I prefer the right hand, it's a little messier and more interesting.

Below left is a picture of them in sunlight (please ignore the rain spots- the joy of Welsh weather...!) and they're a lot more subtle than when in artificial light. I liked them, and got a lot of compliments on them, but for some reason I got bored of them after a day and took them all off! Not sure if I suit elegant classy nails to be honest! Next time...leopard print!

Laterz people!

xXx