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: Essie Chinchilly and China Glaze Luxe and Lush

Today I'm absolutely shattered. I spent the weekend at my parents, it's always great to go back home. I definitely had too many drinks with my dad and brother on Saturday and was in a bad way yesterday. I think the tiredness is catching up today. 

Anways on to today's NOTD. When I was at L's last weekend I had to do my nails. I wanted a neutral base and when I saw Essie Chinchilly I instantly loved the colour. So much so I now want to go out and get it. It's such a lovely natural shade that just goes with everything.

It's quite a soft grey that seems to suit my skintone. I've only got a few essie polishes but this applied smoothly and was opaque in two coats which I always love with polishes. I love nudes but hate the ones that take loads of coats as I'm impatient.

I love a statement nail and as I'd recently bought China Glaze Luxe and Lush I decided to paint this on my ring finger. I absolutely love this shade. Luxe and Lush was from the Hunger Games collection and since L got the minis I've lusted after it and tried many polishes rather than order it. None compared (for reference I tried Avon Opal top coat, Models Own Snowglobe and Sally Hanson Glass Slipper the only one I like is Glass Slipper but it's a different effect)

I found other polishes didn't pack as much of the gorgeous flakes in the base. I love that after one coat you get loads of flakes on the nail and it's even. Luxe and Lush reflects loads of different colours and looks great over any colour polish I've tried it with.

I really want to try more flaked polishes now? Any recommendations?

Love M

xxx

NOTD: Film Inspired

A double whammy post for you today!

We were far too excited after completing a few day's of Make Up Savvy's challenge to finish our 21 Days of Nails without taking part in the 'Film Inspired' challenge.

We both spent ages thinking up ideas and films and trying to find something that would be easily translated into a nail design that people would understand and be able to replicate if they want.

My post is based on a book and film that I'd barely heard anything about until the film came out not so long ago.

I'm one of those people that needs to read the book before seeing the film and I can promise you I could not put the book down and ended up reading all three within 5 days, i had some serious eye strain by the end!

It is of course 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins.

So I decided to try some nail art inspired by this film:

First of all i used the China Glaze Capitol Colour in Smoke and Ashes which is actually for District 12 on my thumb and middle finger.

I used Rimmel's yellow (can't remember the name sorry!) and a Nails Inc free with InStyle orange colour blobbed on top for my other nails.

I then covered the yellow and orange nails with a black crackle effect polish (Barry M) to imitate the fire and burning effect on the front of the book cover that i used for inspiration (found here)

Then I used Model's Own Champagne nail polish to draw on a Mockingjay on the thumb nail and a bow and arrow on my middle finger.

I'm not sure how well these will come across but it took FOREVER to get this thumb part right, a lot of layering so i didn't smudge any other lines and making sure the lines stood out enough.

It took a little while but i was so pleased when i was done.

I think from now on whenever a new film is coming out I will have to do an inspired nail design as I really enjoyed having something to imitate.

What do you think? Do you like my Hunger Games nails??

I had so many other ideas for this one that i may have to do another :)

I loved the books though i wish they hadn't ended as I read them far too quickly 

L xxx

I absolutely love L's nails, when she sent me the photo I was so impressed. I also have to add the books are amazing. I read them so quick and I'm disapointed they are over so much so I think I will re read them.

For my film inspired nails I kind of cheated. I picked a film I've not actually seen as I wanted to do these nails. I picked Breakfast At Tiffany's. Since I picked up my mint green nail varnish I've been wanting to try these nails.

I love how iconic the Tiffany box is and it's just so cute!! I did originally try to hand draw the bows but with my dotting tool I couldn't get it to work. When routing through my nail varnish bag I found some little bows I ordered from eBay I forgot about and they just worked perfectly.

I painted all my nails with Rimmel I love lasting finish in shade Pear Drop 703. I picked up two of these the other day as they were on offer but I've found both of them leave nails very streaky and need 3 coats to get a decent finish. Overall I've just not liked using them at all. It's a shame as they are such pretty colours just a pain to apply.

Pear drop is a shimmery metal mint green. It's a very pretty shade on the nails and does look nice if you take the time to apply thin coats and let them dry in between.

I then used my trusty OPI Apline White to draw crosses on my nails. On the ring finger I put the horizontal cross further up the nail so it was off centre and I prefer this look but my thumb nail was too short to do this.

My nails are a state at the moment as you may have seen me mention in my last post for some reason I'm back biting them at the moment and it's really annoying me that I am. 

For the little bows I used plastic ones I picked up from ebay cheap. They come in a variety of colours and I just apply a layer of top coat and then place them on the nail. They are cute and make nail art really simple.

Hope you've enjoyed our nail posts over the last three weeks. I know we've both enjoyed doing lots of nail art.

Love M
xxx

NOTD: China Glaze Capitol Colours

I am sure that most of you have seen these long ago when they came out, but I for one completely missed the boat and when I browsed the Ulta website before going to America added them straight to my list!

They are of course China Glaze's Capitol Colours from the book/film the Hunger Games.

I absolutely love it when companies do special editions for particular films and to be honest I fell in love with the Hunger Games and managed to read all 3 books in a week as I couldn't put them down!

Because of this I obviously had to buy them as I'm such a fan even though I have similar colours already ha,

Though when they're lined up in packaging like that who can refuse??!

There are a lot of photos in this post so be warned :)

You can see the names of the polishes here, Luxe and Lush, Smoke and Ashes, Agro, and Fast Track.

I was super excited to try out smoke and Ashes, and true to form as on everyone elses blog, was hard to photograph!

This colour is opaque in 2 coats, and although it might just look like a glittery black it is so sparkly and has green coloured flecks in it too that take it to a whole new level.

These aren't very neat as i was far too excited to get this one onto my nails!

But you can see the amazing glittery effect below:

Perfectly representing District 12, (the mining district) it gives a glamorous appeal to coal don't you think?!

Hopefully you'll be able to see in the photo below the amazing green colour that comes through in natural light.

I am fully in love with this colour and am a little gutted I only have the small size...

Next up is Luxe and Lush:

This polish is very similar to one of the Christmas specials I bought from China Glaze last December (Snow Globe) except this has flakes of glitter as opposed to perfect hexagonal shapes.

This is one coat of Luxe and Lush on top of Essie's Sand Tropez.

The different sized particles show up well even on a nude base

The second coat shows this up even more and I can imagine this looking amazing on your nails for a night out, I expect some more posts will feature using this soon!

Next up is Agro:

This one amuses me as the name sounds so hard but actually it's for the District of Agriculture.

Initially I thought this was going to be similar to the Chanel Peridot and have the sort of petrol look about it.

But it's actually a gorgeous khaki green colour with a slight metallic look to it:

This was also only one coat, and the colour is beautifully opaque.

I wasn't sure I would like this one, but it has surprised me and I can see me wearing it a lot in the Autumn and Winter months.

Lastly is Fast Track:

This colour I wasn't sure I'd like either, as it looked a little dark brown-ish for my skin tone.

But again I was surprised as it wasn't as dark as I expected and the gold shimmer is really small and not too glittery at all

Of all of the colours I think this is the one I will use least as it isn't quite right for my skin colour.

However it might be better when layered over another nude so I will be trying that so as not to waste it!

What do you think of the Capitol Colours collection? Do you love the limited editions that China Glaze bring out?

I certainly do! I will be eagerly waiting for any upcoming ones and putting my order in early from now on!

L xxx