NOTD: Slytherin

Happy weekend everyone!

I've had a few quieter weekends recently which has been great for catching up with myself. There's always so many things to do, not only the usual cleaning and tidying but getting to the gym, meeting friends I haven't seen in ages and the all important Christmas shopping!

I've surprisingly managed to get mine done in record time this year as ideas came to me so easily, that combined with the fact I only have my parents and brother to buy for plus a little secret santa gift for a friend.

With that said, I've been going through my nail varnish collection and taking advantage of the darker and more wintery colours that I have. Here's a design I came up with one Saturday night:

For this I applied 2 coats of China Glaze Smoke and Ashes from the Hunger Games collection and then painted the tips only with 2 coats of Sinful Color's Nail Junkie





Both of these colours are ones that I adore but never wear very often. My immediate thought once finishing them is that they're a very Slytherin' kind of nail polish look! do you agree? I couldn't help but call this post Slytherin after realising this!

The dark green/black base along with shimmering green and turquoise glitter go really well together and look a bit magical; maybe that's what made me think of it!

What do you think of my nail idea? Do you like combining glitter polishes and effects like this for a new look?

I think I need to shop my stash more often, I'm forever buying new polishes and i need to control myself and get some will power. I have a whole suitcase full of them but no doubt I'll be buying shed loads in the sales still....and that's with them not even on sale price!

Which of the Sinful Colors polishes are your favourite? Do you buy from limited edition ranges such as the Hunger Games ones from China Glaze?

L xxx

Inspiration: Hunger Games Catching Fire

Hello all!

I'm sure like everyone else on the planet you are all excited for the latest installment in the Hunger Games trilogy. When I first heard about it from a friend a while ago i thought....what the hell?!

But she persuaded me to read the books and I was HOOKED. I loved them and couldn't wait for the films!

In light of the latest film coming out this week I have decided to do an extra post with inspiration from the film and the districts, I hope you enjoy the ideas!

Unfortunately I've been struck down with some kind of flu; I've been suffering with the usual aches, swollen glands and ear ache so I've been confined to bed and watching a lot of tv.

Because I'm not looking quite as attractive as normal (ha!) I decided to stick to simple ideas and have a lip and nail idea for you. They're quite simple which is what i like best and i took inspiration from the name Catching Fire. 

First up is the nails, here's what I used:

China Glaze Smoke and Ashes (from the Official Hunger Games Capitol Colors Collection)
OPI Bond Die Another Day
OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Jinx
OPI Goldeneye
Revlon Sequins

Excuse the messy mid-way photo, I used to sponge to apply a gradient polish effect. I started with the black and green glitter from China Glaze and progressed from left to right using the polishes in the above photo.
I used a sponge to do this in multiple layers layering to the gold colour which i used on the tip.

The gold glitter is then applied all over for a 'spark' effect; you can't catch fire without one you know!

I hope you like my nail design, i had lots of fun doing it whilst sat in bed. It's always the best place to be when you're ill. I've even got myself some tea and homemade cake, lush!

My other inspiration idea was an ombre lip, similar to the nail design. I used the following products:



Rimmel Kate Moss 107, Rimmel Kate Moss 12, Maybelline Color Sensational 912 Electric Orange.





I also used Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner, Rimmel Scandaleyes Kajal and L'oreal Color Appeal Eyeshadow in Pure Gold.



I applied 107 to the outer corners of my lip, 12 to the middle and then Electric Orange to the centre of my lips blending together as I went.
In order to make the lip line neater I used the red lip liner to give my lips more definition and shape, and then used the black kajal pencil to make it darker at the outer corners.



To make the middle of my lips look even lighter I then used the gold shadow to highlight the centre and just dabbed it on the centre.



This was a lot of fun and a completely different look than I'd normally choose. I love playing with eye make up and this was a fun change from that; I'm not the biggest fan of taking photos of my mouth as i see some that look ridiculous and my lips aren't the biggest so have the worst pout!

What do you think of my Catching Fire inspired looks? Will you be trying either of them out?
Have you see or will you be seeing the latest film?

We're going Tuesday, i cannot wait!

L xxx

NOTD: Mermaid Gradient Glitter

Triple whammy NOTD post for you today!

I finally got around to experimenting with gradient nails when I got my hands on some sponges.

As my nails seemed to have grown like crazy and for once not flaked away (thanks to Revlon's Post Trauma nail treatment I believe!) I couldn't resist going for it this time so decided to cover 3 trends in one.

Firstly I painted my nails in this gorgeous turquoise colour from Rimmel 60 seconds, have no idea what the name is but its a metallic turquoise that has been available for a while and the colour is a must have!

(I also applied a top coat before this...my latest one is the calcium gel nail hardener from Revlon...dream!)

Then I nabbed one of my new sponges and used Max Factor's Odyssey Blue to sponge onto the ends to create a gradient effect:

Then I covered the design with a Saffron blue glitter which I bought off ebay (you can find plenty if you search for Saffron glitter!)

Which basically created this beeeeeeeautiful blue green shimmery mermaid tail esque design!

(What a mouthful!)

Here it is in different lights so you can get the full effect.

They are a little messy as these were pre clean up (silly me!)

I also used my favourite top coat (Sally Hansen Insta Dry) and so far, a whole week later and it's just starting to show the ends of my nails but still no chipping or cracking which is amazing!

What do you think of my take on mermaid nails?

Link us to your mermaid nails if you've done them as I love seeing variations!!

L xxx

NOTD: Gradient Toadstool

Another of Make Up Savvy's challenges!

Today's is gradient nails which I was really excited about until........I couldn't find my sponges ANYWHERE!

So I had to improvise slightly...

Instead I picked 3 colours ranging from light pink to red and layered them on my nails in 3 stripes (kind of!)

If I'd had sponges these colours would have blended together really well but unfortunately that wasn't to be.

The base colour is 17 Supreme Shine in Simply Pink, the middle colour is No7 Cheeky Chops (post here-also in the photo) and the red is Barry M (262)

Then I used my dotting tool to do the dots, which hide a multitude of sins!

I tried my best to get the nails to blend and in some they did but others didn't look so great and this is a really cute toadstool look, ha!

I overloaded the dotting tool with the white nail polish from the Barielle Bridal Collection (Enduring) and blobbed it on wherever I felt necessary

I quite liked this design, it was fun and so easy to do, though does take a little whilst waiting for all the coats and the dots to dry.

What do you think of my ideas? I'm planning on getting some more sponges today so I can attempt gradient nail art properly....any tips??

L xxx