Tuesday 26 February 2013

Laid-Back 31DC Day 8, Holo

Laid-Back 31DC Day 8, Chrome, Flakie or Holo

I had to check my collection to see if I owed any of these three and well I didn't so this ment a quick shopping trip. I have to say it wasn't very successful trip after visiting three stores I'd still not found what I was looking for until I went into a large Boots store and so this little beauty.

Its Boots own label, 17 and the bottle has a little blue stick 'just in'  and it was under £3 so overall it was a win win :)

It went on well and brush it nice and flat but it does have a rather strong smell to it. I have to confess that I don't have a very good sense of smell and even I could smell it, the boyfriend wasn't very subtle about the smell and even asked if he could light a candle to mask the smell!!

This polish is OK, it hasn't blown me away and it hasn't made me want to by any more Halo polish. I was hoping and expecting super shiny, multi-tonal colours, high gloss finish and nails so interesting that I wouldn't be able to stop looking at them - this just didn't happened.





Sunday 24 February 2013

Laid-Back 31DC Day 7, Ombre or Skittle


I can't blend, ombre or fade. No matter how much I've tried I just can't seam to get it right. So with today's challenge I went for the obvious and did Skittles, as in the sweets. the yummy bright coloured sweets that makes your tongue change colour after a while :)

I used the image on the front of the package, the rainbow mainly for the colours on my nails. It's was only once I'd painted and just about to take photo's I've realised that you don't get blue skittles in the Crazy Sours collection.

 

What I've used:
Modles Own Red Alert, NP019
MissGuided Splash
Rimmel Lasting Finish, 280 Sunshine
Chit Chat, Green
Modles Own Feeling Blue, NP031
and a White nail art pen


 

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Laid-Back 31DC Day 6, Favourite colour family

Day 6 in the laid back nail challenge is upon us and so far I'm really enjoying it! This relax pace suits me down the ground! Its a manageable work load but still applies a small amount of pressure to ensue I do them all :)

For this challenge I selected pastels, sadly not 'fruit pastles' but maybe that's an idea for a future mani?!

I've used Models Own Beth's Blue, Lemon Meringue, Jade Stone,  Lilac Dream and an unlabelled / unnamed Models Own (which is peachy nude) then I've used my matte effect top coat from Rimmel. All five colours look great as they are but to be honest I much prefer them when matte. They remind me of chalk the kinda chunky chalk you'd get in a school or nursery.   my camera has given them a slight sheen, I'm guessing because the nail surface is smooth but in real life the top coat really does what it say on the tin (bottle)


 
 


Sunday 17 February 2013

Laid-Back 31DC Day 5, Purple

Day 5, Purple

Just a short post today.

I've used Models Own Purple Imperial, NP131 It reminds me so very much of the purple from Cadburys chocolate, don't you think?

I thought it needed a little something on it, so on went the glequins! At first I did one line, which looked OK but I needed more so I finished the entire nail :) I think I'm falling for these glequins.

 




 

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Laid-Back 31DC Day 4, Pink


Pink is not favourite of mine but after look at my collection I do own a few bottles, mainly brights, and neon's. I'm not brave enough to have all my nails painted with hot pink neon so used my softest pink and tried to make it pearly and interesting.

I've used Models Own Utopia, NP064 as the main base colour. Then added Models Own Pearly Queen, NP071 to bring out more of the pink tones. Pearly Queen is so interesting and catches the light so much it makes my nails shine in sunlight.

I used used Utopia on my ring finger and added 4 pink hearts down the middle. These hearts are super cute and they have the same shimmer, pearly effect and I think they work really well together,

I didn't have enough sunlight to show you in a photo just how much my nails shimmered, you're just gonna have to take my word for it :)

 


 

Sunday 10 February 2013

Laid-Back 31DC Day 3, Gold

When today's theme of gold came up I knew just what I wanted to do!

I have Gold finger by Shirly Bassey in the opening scenes in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger playing over and over in my head. As it's close to valentines day this is my nod to love.

I've used No7 Stay Perfect, Hot to trot, 360. This is such a lovely gold polish, it shimmers and sparkles in the light, it's not brassy, it has not yellow undertones, it does look tacky it's just perfect. can you tell I'm a fan :)

I used a Sharpie Fine point marker to draw on the hearts. Sharpie markers are great for doing this kinda work on nails. They go on smoothly, they don't smudge and stay put with a layer of top coat.








Laid-Back 31DC Day 2, Silver


Silver is the name of the game.

I only own 1 silver polish, I have a few silver glitters but I'm in no hurry to use any glitter polish an time soon.

This is a quick design which I wore to work and I kept getting asked how it was done. I forget that not everyone subscribes to tones of nail blogs that fill up their inbox everyday with new designs, ideas, reviews or swatches for new polish :)

I've used Models Own Snow White, NP042 and Models Own Sterling Silver, NP046 and tape to create the deep V shape on the nails. My original plan was to be more creative with the tape and a Chevron effect but as was done in the evening I wasn't about to start stressing over tape.

Hopefully this simple one pointed design is still OK.




 
 
Opps sorry this is a few days late, I though I'd worked out how to schedule, but nope, I had it on pause :)

Friday 1 February 2013

Laid-Back 31DC Day 1, Black and White

Day one in a new challenge is Black and White.

I didn't have any ideas where to start with this challenge. I was at a lost for inspiration so I had to ask the boyfriend. I told him the theme and asked for the first few 'things' that came into his mind. I got Penguin, Newspaper and Domino's. Domino was the clear winner.

I've used Models Own Pro, Jacks Black PRO014 as my base. The Pro range are all '3-Free' polish – which means it's friendly to both you and the environment. Then with a white nail art pen and it's striper brush swiped down the middle and used the pen section to create the dots. It's only once I'd done all the lines I thought the line created by the striper brush was to wide and bold and I should have used either a thinner brush or used the pen section. The same goes for the dots instead of using the pen I think a cleaner dot would have been made by a dotting tool (oh the irony! lol)

So what I've learnt on day one. If you have a tool that is designed for dotting - USE IT. and when you need to create a subtle line a standard striper brush is just not gonna do the job. Must remember to do a 'test run' of the design on paper first. I wasn't gonna re-do my nails I will just have to learn from this.