Wednesday 31 July 2013

Hello Panda!

Oh hey there guys!! I'm hoping you're doing good. I have some panda nail art as pandas are universally loved animals and I went to see some pandas in real life and they were just too cute.

Also inspired by the Hello Panda biscuits that I am currently craving (even when I try to stray away from food nail art, it's always there in some form). The koala equivalent biscuit is also delicious.
They are not my proudest pandas, all the features were so difficult to paint and I have no idea why. So much time was spent trying to make them look ok. And I think they look ok, not particularly cute like I like them. I like the bamboo though, that turned out better than I thought it would. They have more depth in real life.
Another note, after I painted the pink panda everything looked disconnected so I coloured it in black with my pen (such a good decision thankfully). The background was originally turquoise blue (specifically robin egg's blue) and though it doesn't show in the picture the white of the panda was yellow tinged. I don't know why this happened, ever happened to anyone else?

Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White and Barry M - Matt White
Pink: Nails Inc - Notting Hill Gate (an awesome neon pink that I can never capture properly)
Blue: The Face Shop - GR501
The bamboo started with Illamasqua - Nomad (aka my favourite green), and then I did random lines with China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard, Barry M - Greenberry and the horizontal lines were done with China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint.

Well you win some you lose some (though you try not to lose some), I hope you enjoyed reading this post regardless and have a lovely day!!! :)

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Candy Pizza Nail Art

Oh hey there guys!! Hope you are all doing well. Sorry for the big gap from the previous post to the one before that, I'm not going to be able to edit posts/pictures for the next week so I've been trying to prepare some posts. Today I have some nail art today, food nail art at that. This is a weird one though, I've had this idea brewing for a while but decided against it, then decided for it. So today I present candy pizza...

I have never had candy pizza before and I don't know if it's a thing. On another note if I saw candy pizza on the dessert menu I would order it up without a second thought. It's an interesting concept.
The only candy pizza I know of, is the mode in Club Penguin when I used to play. My cousin told me about the switch under the pizza machine that changed the pizza from regular to candy. I was a beast at that game, in regular mode I could complete it with the highest combo therefore getting the most money from it haha. The candy mode was much harder though, it was faster.
I like the little faces on the crust (i.e. my favourite part of a pizza, Pizza Hut crust is the best) and the piece of pizza on my thumb is my favourite (the neon glitter, nuff said). The design didn't really pan out (ah unintentional pun!!) the way I wanted it to, I don't know what it is. Design looks better in photos though and I'll take it.

Dark Pink: Color Club - Wing Fling
Blue/Green: Barry M - Greenberry
White: Barry M - Matt White and Lovely Me:Ex - White (for details)
Neon glitter: Lush Lacquer - Clowning Around
Still can't even (sorry for the abuse of this phrase), I love the mix of glitter on my nails. I fished for the big pink hex on my ring finger cause nothing is complete with a big pink hex. Does require a couple of coats of topcoat but I can deal with that as it is very much worth it.
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Even though it doesn't look like it, the black hearts did help a lot. Gave a bit more togetherness.
Pink: Orly - Basket Case
Brown: Ciate - Cookies And Cream
I got this free in a magazine with some caviar beads (clearly the only reason why I bought the magazine). I'll have to try this out on it's own but currently Nails Inc Porchester Square is far superior.
Orange: Essie - Fear Or Desire
Blue: Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream
Mint Green: Max Factor - Cool Jade
Purple: Illamasqua - Jo'Mina (over Essie - Lilacism, I changed my mind)
Sealed with the Color Club topcoat. With no smudging (and Lovely Me:Ex - White is a smudging beast), this is a miracle topcoat.

Is candy pizza a thing? If you know please tell me as it does sound really good. I might do another look with normal pizza cause I love pizza (tell me which sane person doesn't like pizza). Thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day! :)

Sunday 28 July 2013

Guest Post At Brush Me Blush

Hello there you lovely ones!!! I'm delighted to say that I have a guest post at Brush Me Blush today. Ria does some seriously incredible nail art there which only adds to my excitement about the post.

I did some Yoshi nail art!! To see more pictures and details click here to read the post!! :D Good day everyone!!

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Coral Nails: OPI Liquid Sand - Jinx

Hello lovelies!! How are you? I'm hoping well. I have another new polish today, I said the summer makes me crazy. But I've been good all year :/ This was a gift from my lovely aunt so many thanks to her. I am very excited about this post. This is my first experience with textured polish, this year's big trend. I've really only been interested in OPI's Liquid Sands, this one and another one (which you will see soon, it's sooooooooo sparkly). After this post I think it will be pretty clear where I stand with textured polish. Anyway to the pictures (I have a lot today)!!


 Jinx is from OPI's Bond Girl collection (it seems I'm a bit of an OPI fangirl), I find this polish has 2 "phases" more red or more orange. Jinx is a orangey red kind of coral with a strong golden shimmer polish. When the light is shining directly the polish is more shimmery and orange, in more shady areas the polish is more red-toned and less shimmery (but still shimmery).
I used 2 super easy coats, 1 coat was really opaque. The pro-wide brush made application even easier (but the shape of the brush meant I couldn't paint closer to my cuticles, rounder cuticles beware?). The texture happened pretty quickly and though it takes slightly longer to dry properly I find that the manicure lasts longer (5 days currently and only a tiny bit of tip wear)

The golden shimmer really is something, in every lighting it is very apparent. From the first brushstroke I knew this was the start of something beautiful. It was SO SPARKLY, like I couldn't even describe. My mouth was :O due to the sparkle. If there's one thing you get from this post JINX IS A SPARKLY BEAUTY PICTURES CANNOT CAPTURE THE SPARKLE OMG SPARKLE SPARKLE SPARKLE. The whole day I stare and move my hand around for sparkle. It was another "can't even" moment. My next pictures will give you an idea of the sparkle.

Sorry for slight blur, bathroom was the place for direct light apparently
These are clearly more orange-toned pictures but in real life it's still slightly more red. THE SPARKLE! Trust me it was even more sparkly and I'm in love. 
Also I'm really liking the texture, it's not very rough at all, think a rough glitter and that's really it. I'm one of those people who enjoys feeling the texture. So I'm liking the sparkly textures (if you couldn't tell), I don't think I'll buy any of the creme textures though. They kind of look like lumpy nail polish, I could like it but I won't be finding out anytime soon.
I've always been on board with textures, I'm use to not smooth manicures due to my topcoat abandonment (which is over now since I found the perfect topcoat). I haven't topcoated Jinx cause I want to enjoy the texture (which I am) but I will eventually. Now I'm even more on board with textures considering how amazing Jinx is. I also really like the colour and think it somewhat suits me nicely.

Blurry picture to try and show the sparkle, not even close to how sparkly it is
If you're on the pro side of texture but are still wary, I urge you to go. I expected to like texture, but after trying I'M IN LOVE. I guess it's only glittery textures but yes I love glittery textures!! I was wary cause I thought I wouldn't like them that much and regrets would come but there is no such thing as regret now. But if you don't like texture you won't like these, simple. I'm not sure how to texture would work for nail art but I will definitely be trying.
Thank you very much for reading this rambly post but boy I am so glad textures are a thing this year. Have a great day!! :D

P.S. I know I wrote sparkle/sparkly a lot

Saturday 20 July 2013

Tropical Flowers + Delicate Base

Why hello there you lovely one!! I have nail art today!! Yay!! I had planned pink and yellow flowers but it ended up a bit differently. Floral nail art is some of my favourite and I rather like this one.

The yellow kind of got covered up. But I still like this, the orange and pink are nice together. Originally when I'd finished the design I was not a fan which led me to be irritated. Thankfully after wearing it for a day I grew to really like it. I love flowers!! And when they're in bright colours, flowers can do no wrong.

Base: Barry M - Prickly Pear and OPI - Pirouette My Whistle
Pink: Barry M - Fuchsia
Orange: Essie - Fear Or Desire
Yellow: Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream
The gradient before I added the detail was really nice and I was thinking of not adding the detail. But then it wouldn't have been complete. I'm glad I added the detail but it's a shame that yellow got covered up.
Green: Illamasqua - Nomad
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
White: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Darn macro for showing every flaw, I really didn't realize the white was stringing (if you get what I mean). In real life it's not there. I don't think it takes away too much though.

When I'd first finished the design the thing that I didn't like was how disconnected the bright flowers looked compared with the soft background. I thought I should've used a brighter colour. I did grow to like the delicate base as it makes the flowers stand out more but it shows how crucial base colour is.

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day!!! :D

Friday 19 July 2013

Purple Nails: Illamasqua - Jo'Mina

Hi there friends!! I have more purple nails today, I did say I've become a purple fiend. I've been searching for the perfect medium purple and Jo'Mina fits the bill. I knew a medium purple would be able to make me do a 180 on purples. Purple really doesn't suit me but I don't care at all especially with Jo'Mina.

Hmmmmmm so pretty. I know Illamasquas are expensive but as I've mentioned before I really think they are worth the splurge. The colours are gorgeous with lovely formulas, that said I will not be buying anymore Illamasquas unless they release something super amazing. Anyway Jo'Mina a medium purple.
I've decided my camera hates purple, I guess I never had that much purple to capture before but now with the abundance of purple my camera is having issues. Everything was blue, my camera would be like "BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!" and I'd be like "No, why are you being like this" -_- The one lighting spot where the pictures were actually purple (I was rejoicing) my hand looked super orange. So sorry about this. Jo'Mina also had some dusty qualities.

Illamasqua is the only brand I am willing to splurge on. I find other brands are either too expensive or I see nothing special about the polish. That might change on day but currently I'm certain about this. That doesn't mean I won't accept a nice gift from someone *hint hint nudge nudge push push* Haha only joking (but not really ;)).

I used 2 easy coats, I see there are some mild streaky patches in the pictures but they only show up in the sun and I have long nails. The Illamasqua formula cannot be flawed. Bit of a fangirl due to Nomad (one of my favourite polishes, I'm not even a green girl).

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)

Thursday 18 July 2013

Gimme Glitter: OPI - Pirouette My Whistle

Hello there guys!! Today I have the other glitter that I recently purchased. I justify it because it's a gift for doing well in my exams (that is actually a good way of justifying a polish purchase though). I'm pretty sure the first time I heard about this polish was when watching a grav3yard girl video. She's hilarious, I went though a phase where I would speak in a southern American accent because of her haha. I'm not sure what spurred me on to buy this, but it was probably The Polishaholic. It's always The Polishaholic lol.

Pirouette My Whistle is from last year's New York Ballet Soft Shades collection. This being the only glitter in the collection. I have to say the name sounds kind of dodgy haha.  There's silver glitter and sheer white hexes. Once again dat white glitter, that's the key. I'm down, I love white glitter. I put this over Barry M - Prickly Pear.

The delicacy is what makes this glitter. I really am in love with those sheer white hexes, they aren't in your face like stark white glitter (but I also love stark white glitter). This is one great glitter polish, I recommend it.

I used 2 coats (1 coat for thumb). The thing was the white hexes kept falling off but the coat would be too thick so I would have an issue. I tried to kind of strain the base whilst keeping as many hexes on the brush as possible. Otherwise very easy to apply and the hexes would only jut out a bit.
I'll have a nail art look with this as the base soon.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!! :)

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Gimme Glitter: OPI - Minnie Style

Hi all!!! Hope you are well and chillin'. I have been eating a lot of food, isn't that what you do during the holiday period? I go a little crazy over the summer, I bought a new polish (or 2...or 4) :/ I knew Minnie Style had to be mine after I saw the press release. It's the white glitter. Gets me every time. OPI Lights Of Emerald City had white glitter and I turned it down. It's cause the opalescent glitter turned me off though. Minnie Style was a different story.

My bottle has squares!! It seems some bottles of Minnie Style have squares and I was happy to accept. Minnie Style is from the recent OPI Couture de Minnie collection, this was the only one that called out to me. DAT WHITE GLITTER :3
This polish also consists of red and pink hexes. Though in my bottle I think there are 3 shades of pink glitter, a red-toned pink, a coral pink and a blue-toned pink. Of course those white squares and hexes too. I put this over Illamasqua - Jo'Mina.

This combo was difficult to photograph :/
I used 2 coats and dabbing (thumb was 1 coat and dabbing). I got a good mix but I found the glitter wanted to migrate to the tips. Placing is definitely required with this polish. Bubbling is WAY more prominent in the pictures, in real life the bubble virtually cannot be seen.
I didn't fish for squares and I got 5. It's a bit like pot luck. Something that annoys me is the notch on the squares (Lights Of Emerald City also has this issue). I want perfect squares!! *pouts* haha.
Other bloggers said they didn't have too many formula issues but I had to do a lot of pushing and placing causing bubbling. I don't mind pushing and placing, but experiences might vary :P
Removal is not easy with this. I personally don't mind scrubbing a glitter off but this is one of those glitter polishes where the glitter basically fuses onto your nail and doesn't want to come off. I scrubbed viciously and things weren't happening. Eventually when they did a lot of glitter still remained on my nails. The base came off easily but not the glitter, I ended up picking most of the glitter off which wasn't too difficult considering the remover had weakened the adhesion (ahh big words :')). Hopefully with the foil methods you'd have no difficulties. 
I don't love this polish like I thought I would. Maybe I'm not such a big fan of the mixture of matte and shiny glitter (matte glitter all the way). Minnie Style is a pretty fun glitter though, if not just for the white glitter (oh white glitter you already have my heart). May not be everyone's cup of tea though.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day!! :)

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Purple Nails: Barry M - Prickly Pear

Oh hello there you lovely people!! Coming at you today with a swatch post. I recently have become a purple fiend and I really think this polish helped me on the way there. I was debating for a long time as swatches weren't tickling my fancy (I automatically regret using this phrase) but I'm glad I went and got it anyway as it's so pretty.

Prickly Pear from the first Barry M Gelly line. The Gelly line is pretty fantastic, the colours are great for a great price. It's meant to give a gel-like finish and I used no topcoat here and I think the gel-like finish is correct. Also Prickly Pear is the cutest name.

I struggled with getting colour accurate photos as everything was showing up as blue. Bit of luck and colour correction and we're virtually there. It's a blue-toned light purple/lavender, the moment I put it on I loved it which surprised me as I have other light purples but this one is special. In some light there's some more dusty qualities (i.e. my pictures). It's a great pastel. To see this polish in another lighting situation I have some bunny nail art with Prickly Pear. It also has my initial reactions to this polish.

I used 2 thick coats, so there was minor bubbling but thankfully it's pretty much non-existent in the photos and real life. The formula is a bit thicker but not difficult to work with at all.

Thanks for reading!!! I hope you have a lovely day!! :)

Saturday 13 July 2013

Purple Drips + Black and White Glitter Gradient

Oh hello there!! Today I have a simple nail art look that consists of bright colours (all my designs have bright colours, I realise this isn't really a shocker). But it probably would be fun for summer that anyone can do.

Does what it says on the tin, drips and glitter gradient. The drips look less messy in real life. Black and white glitter over a gradient always looks nice. It's not the best gradient but I don't think it's half bad. I just sponged the colours on. Except it's a bit OD on my middle finger (or maybe the other 2 fingers are UD).

Pink: Orly - Basket Case
Purple: Illamasqua - Jo'Mina
Green: Barry M - Greenberry
Black and white glitter: L'Oreal Color Riche - Confetti
Holographic glitter: Nails Inc - Abbey Road
Abbey Road really added a lot, the drips weren't looking so good then a stripe of Abbey Road gave some kind of dimension.

Short and sweet today (haha that never happens :P), thank you for reading and I hope you have a fabulous day!! :)

Thursday 11 July 2013

Neon Pink Love Tribal

Hello there you fabulous folk!! Sorry for all the gaps between posts, I mentioned my summer was going to be crazy and it is. I was on some exciting trips so maybe I'll have some nail art and writing about them. Today's nail art consists of a gorgeous neon pink and some tribal inspired by Chalkboard Nails...again. I saw the design on her Instagram (as always) and I once again loved it. She hadn't put the design up on her blog when I'd painted it so the actual design is very different (and of course great). Even so I put more variation into my tribal, bringing forth the "love tribal".

I added little hearts and they're really cute. Little hearts are always cute. I painted nothing on the index, middle and pinky nails because I wanted them plain for the awesome neon pink to shine through. I have already raved many a time about this polish and I've only owned it for a small amount of time but it's fantastic so it deserves it.
Neon pink is always a tricksy thing to capture but my camera wasn't half bad. It's pretty accurate but the colour "changes" in different lighting, sometimes it's more pink than coral/peach.
This baby is NEON oh man it's wonderful. Some people don't like neons (which I don't understand) but they're bright therefore they get my love. 

Neon Pink: Barry M - Superdrug Summer LE 2013 A
It's already a favourite, the colour is just so beautiful. I used 2 coats over white (Barry M - Matt White) which really makes the neon stand out.  It's a jelly so it's a shiny neon. Jellies and I don't really get along, I'm too impatient for the coats to dry and I get bubbles. My topcoat being the bomb smoothed them out though ^_^
Blue/Green: Barry M - Greenberry
Purple: Barry M - Prickly Pear
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
I really think the strip on my thumb looks like a ruler, it wasn't intended but my maths obsessed mind can't help but think that.

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)

Sunday 7 July 2013

He's Perry, Perry The Platapus!!

Hello lovelies!! How you doing (hopefully well :))? Catch the title!! Perry the platpus from Phineas and Ferb!! I can't even remember how I got the idea but I had to make it happen. I love painting cartoons!! I absolutely adored Phineas and Ferb, it's such a legit show. Who couldn't love Perry the platapus? Though I've been removed from the show for a while (having homework etc. to do sucks) you can't forget awesome shows like that. In fact I was watching Phineas and Ferb yesterday (and of course when Perry was on screen I had to compare), but the internet distracted me -_- Oh you internet, not even something normal. Wikipedia, I'M ADDICTED TO WIKIPEDIA -_- Anyway, hey where's Perry? ;)

I may have got the idea when I added Greenberry to my wishlist as it's the perfect Perry colour. I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out, he's one cool platapus. I did the Agent P variation of Perry cause he has a funky hat.
The eyes were driving me insane, it was fine but the nail art pen white is the smudgiest thing ever, it's impossible for it not to smudge so clearly I had an issue. But the eyes don't look too bad here, I did have to fix it many a time though. I have to rave about the Color Club topcoat again, it's simply amazing.
I really wanted Perry to be the main focus of the mani so I did no other art on the other nails. I was up for the other nails being plain but I am such a glitter fiend I had to add some.

Green: Barry M - Greenberry (more green in real life)
The formula is beautiful, 2 easy coats. The Gelly line is so great. Greenberry is everything I wanted Topshop - Green Room to be, Green Room is a jelly but basically it never builds up to be opaque, I couldn't wear it out. But Green Room is great for jelly sandwiches but Greenberry is far superior.
White: Barry M - Matt White (for base) and Lovely Me:Ex - White (for details)
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Brown: w7 - Brownie
Orange: Essie - Fear Or Desire
For glitter I started with a coat of Barry M - Aqua Glitter the added a glitter gradient with Revlon - Radiant and Orly - Go Deeper. I was going to stop at Radiant but I wanted the holographic glitter that Go Deeper had to offer. But Go Deeper made the gradient awesome. Go Deeper is far superior to Radiant, I'm thinking of giving Radiant to a willing friend.

Sorry for the state of my hand, I thought my hands were clean due to me washing some dishes before, but apparently not :/
And before I go, I have a cut on my thumb that I edited out cause ain't nobody got time for that. But seriously also that thumb in the same place -_- I moisturize my cuticles everyday, clearly my thumb just has an issue. In real life it's much better now.
Oh there you are Perry ;) I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you very much for reading! :)

Tuesday 2 July 2013

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard?

Hey there you lovely people!! Um, sorry about the title, I couldn't figure out what else to call the post. I do not even know what that song is called or who sings it. Now thinking about it, I don't even know the rest of the sentence :/ Oh well! Um...my milkshake brings all the nail people to the yard? :/ If you couldn't tell from the (awkward) title I have some milkshake nails, I wanted food/drink (standard) and my friend and I went to a milkshake shop and I decided to paint some.  

I had to use the polish I recently got, you have to use new polish (or maybe not, I guess that's how untrieds happen...)! And they were incorporated in. Awk the milkshake is pretty cute :3 I really have nothing else to say, cuteness is my favourite thing ever so I like this. Oh I prefer the purple milkshake :P

Purple: Illamasqua - Jo'Mina
Ok I am loving Jo'Mina this is the purple I have been waiting for. 2 easy coats used here.
Black and Pink Glitter: Barry M - Ruby
Ruby is also awesome, it was one of those glitter that gives loads but when you try to get a little bit off, everything comes off. I went for the glitter packed look (obviously) but I used 2 coats cause I used the less abundant method. It was a tash thick but nothing too bad.
Coral Pink: Barry M - Superdrug Summer Limited Edition 2013 A (I think I might abbreviate this from now on)
OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS I LOVE THIS POLISH!! I did not expect to like it this much but once I got it on I was in awe. It's just such a great colour, I cannot wait to get it on again. It's a jelly, so I used 4 coats to get it to the desired opacity (still with visible nail line though). I might put it over white, the polish also has neon qualities to it. I LOVE IT! ^_^
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
Neon Glitter: Lush Lacquer - Clowning Around
I had to use Clowning Around for sprinkles. Had. To.
The pink cheeks are different for both milkshakes, Orly - Basket Case for the purple one and Per Una - Fuchsia (no name) for the pink one.

I love me some edible nail art (NOT ACTUALLY EDIBLE DON'T EAT YOUR NAILS). If you're on your summer holidays (like me :D) I hope your enjoying it and if not I hope you're having fun anyway. Thank you very much for reading!! :)