Halloween Nails

Hi guys!
Me and M are both so busy this year that there will be no Halloween parties for us....so we've decided instead to do a nail post inspired but some halloween essentials. Here's my design!

First off I used a No7 Stay Perfect nail polish in a black glittery colour (the name escapes me now sorry!):

Then I used the infamous Max Factor's Fantasy Fire to add in an extra colour and make a swirly mystical background:

Lastly to add in an extra bit of 'magic' I used Nails Inc's Sloane Square to complete my base:

After this it was time for some nail art with Model's Own pens in black, white and silver:

From left to right I drew a ghost, spider and web, pumpkin face and bats above a graveyard.

I couldn't leave my thumb out of the picture so I drew a skull and crossbones, which I think was my favourite!

These were quite simple to do and I really enjoyed dabbling in some nail art again as it has been a while!

Hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial, send me some links to your Halloween nails too, I love seeing new designs!

L xxx

I've seen so many cute halloween faces on various nail art sites I decided I was going to do my own version of them. I used a variety of different polishes. I wish I'd had a more neon green and better orange for these so they stood out more.

For the fine detail on them I either used my Models Own nail art pens in black and white or my Avon Nail Art tool. (which I'd highly recommend getting if you like doing you nails, it has a ball tool on one end and a detail brush on the other)



My pumpkin was probably the simplest to do and my least favourite. I should have done a ghost. I struggled with the detail on my bride of Frankenstein. I couldn't get the lip detail well enough. Next time I'd just do red lips. I really like Dracula. He was super easy to do and requires few colours. I couldn't have bride of Frankenstein without Frankenstein himself. This was done using models own nail art pens. These made the nail art simple. My favourite of all is my little purple witch. I really think this one is cute. I used my nail art tool to do the hair and eye brows aswell as the gold on the hat and the models own nail art pen for the rest.



I was overall pleased with how they came out. I think they'd be cute as a feature nail with the rest plain if you were going as one of the characters or if you are just feeling halloweeny (sure I just made up that word) over both hands.

Have you done halloween themed nails?

Love M

xxx

Spring Series: Hand and Nails!

Afternoon!

We're back again with another post for our Spring Series.

We've already covered Body Care and Fitness and you can read those here and here.

This week's post is dedicated to hands and nails, so if you're a bit of a manicure lover then this post is for you!

I used to be reeeeeeeeally bad at applying hand cream.

As I'm a contact lens wearer I'm always wary of using any kind of cream or soaps on my hands that may interfere when I put my lenses in, so have always avoided them like the plague.

(By this I don't mean that I never washed my hands, just avoided the thick scented ones that tend to stay on your skin!)

After realising that actually it takes 2 seconds to put my lenses in and I don't take them our for a few hours, I changed my tune and now working in a freezing cold lab I slather the stuff on!

I favour products that are organic and natural as I'm sure M does too so my favourite hand creams are from Crabtree and Evelyn, Dr Organic and L'Occitane.

All smell reeeeeeeeaally natural and sink straight into your skin.

As I'm new to the hand cream crew I cannot be dealing with waiting for it to sink in, unless it's when I'm getting into bed.

I also feel I should mention Soap and Glory's Hand Food as it is very popular and I also love the smell of that, but I don't feel like it is as good as it could be and obviously natural and organic wins out for me!

As for nails I am a firm believer in using a traditional 4 way block to file, shape, buff and shine my way to natural nails.

I have currently been using Model's Own and it's been great, love the bright neon colours too and the price is perfect at around £3.

As for nail colours for Spring....I'm a firm believer in nudes, pastels, metallics and pretty patterns.

You cannot go wrong if you pick any of the shades from the following pictures.

These are all of my favourite shades for Spring and I will making my way through each of them over the next few weeks!

As nail art is still so popular I can also see myself attempting M's Rose NOTD that she did a few days ago, or even a Spring version of my own layered polish pattern.

What are your favourite hand and nail tips? What's your favourite Spring colours?

L xxx

As with L I never used to apply hand cream as much as I should have. After realising how badly hands can age I thought it was time I took care of them. I also work in a laboratory so I have to wash my hands a lot and I find the soap very drying. As with L at first I loved Soap and Glory hand food but the more hand creams I've tried the less I like it and I think there are better out there for a better price. My favourite is an Avon Planet Spa one, in African Shea Butter. I adore the scent and it's a nice thick cream that moisturises without leaving hands feeling coated.



As I wear a lot of false nails now I don't tend to my natural nails as much as I should. To see what false nails I use and the tool I can't be without you can see it in my Rose NOTD linked above. I'll be doing a how I use the cuticle trimmer post this week.



I love using dotting tools and my striping tape to create different types of nail art. I'm not the type of girl who wears a plain colour much. I also favour the accent nail. For spring I think nude nails with a bright pink signature nail is a perfect look. Spring is also a great time to get out the pastel shades again.  Here are some of my favourite colours that I tend to gravitate towards for spring time!



Here is some spring inspired nails we did last year.



What's your favourite colour for spring?

Love M

xxx

NOTD: Fair Isle

Good evening!

I've been trying to keep my nails in good condition whilst working with all manner of cardboard boxes and wooden palettes, which when stocking toys at Christmas is no easy feat.

However I have found that painting them helps a lot to stop the nail from flaking and breaking off.

I normally stick with a nude colour and then smother the tips in glitter nail varnish.

This can mean it lasts well over a week without additional top coats etc, but is also a NIGHTMARE to get back off.

But having said that, here's a design I've been rocking the past 2 days....

My favourite festive China Glaze, Ring in the Red.

I absolutely love this as it was my first Christmassy glitter jelly and its absolutely beautiful.

I think this was last year's Christmas range from China Glaze and it will last me a few years yet.

This time however I got out my trusty Models Own white nail varnish pen and attempted a fair isle pattern on the nails.

My original design idea was just the one print on the ring finger.

I just couldn't leave it at that though!!

I ended up covering all my nails with different patterns, some easier than others and some I regretted trying when I had to do them on the other hand with my non-writing hand!

All in all though it was fun to attempt something different and I would definitely try them again with different patterns and colours!

What do you think of my Fair Isle nails??

L xxx

NOTD: Model's Own Mirrorball Collection - Hot Stuff

I'm sure everyone has seen these by now but I couldn't resist posting pictures of it too, the glitter is just so pretty!

'Hot Stuff' is from the Model's Own Mirrorball collection which contain multiple types of coloured glitter to give a crazy layered effect.

I for one absolutely love them and obviously think the 'Mirrorball' name is PERFECTION!

Here it is on a pale pink (A 17 Mirror shine one), I've layered it on a few times, think it was three coats, in order to get the effect shown below:

What I love is that there are tiny glitter particles, plus hand cut pieces of glitter in so many shapes and sizes so each layer is unique.

Here it is over China Glaze's Pool Party, a neon pink that increases the effect of the glitter!

I can see this getting a lot of use over the Christmas period and cannot wait to pick up some of the others, and obviously a quick glance at the Wonderland collection won't hurt too.... :)

Do you own any of the Mirror ball collection? Which would you recommend??

L xxx

NOTD: Halloween Theme!

Aaaaah Halloween week! 

We love a theme and what better than scary spooky Halloween?!

We went a little nail crazy with ideas and decided to put them all on one post so you can see for yourself and hopefully get some different ideas!

First up is a galaxy nail style design:

I used the following polishes:

Nails Inc Black Taxi was the base coat, with the Max Factor Silver and Nails Inc orange from in Style sponged on top in galaxy style. I then added some stickers from the picture below (Andrea Fullerton at Superdrug) and then the Saffron glitter on top.

It was a nice relatively easy style to do and a little different!

Next up I attempted to do my own spin on the Sugar Skull nails which was SO MUCH fun:

I started off with a white base coat which looked a bit flat so added on a shimmery white polish on top.

Then I used Models Own black nail pen to draw on triangles for the nose so I could keep the whole face as central as possible:

After this I used my dotting tools using the largest dot and applied the eyes and mouth using this.

I used 5 different bright colours on each hand, using 4 big dots to create the eyes followed by a line (of sorts!) for the mouth, as shown below:

Then I used the pen again to outline the eyes and putting a dot in the middle, and also lining the mouths and creating some teeth.

To make my own little spin on this I then added in a few dots, lines, squiggles etc so mine ended up looking a bit tribal!

I loved this design and it was definitely my favourite.

I had so many compliments, even from men serving me on tills in Superdrug and Tesco!

How random.

The last of my designs features a somewhat gimmicky polish from Barry M.

I've been using black and white a lot lately so picked up these colours from Barry M in Superdrug, and currently their promo is when you buy 2 products you get their limited edition orange 'web effect' polish for free.

I would never have bought this but as its a freebie the blogger in me wanted to give it a go:

As you can see it is different to a crackle effect, but not really producing a web effect!

The white does look pretty effective but the polish isn't opaque enough to cover the black polish sufficiently enough for you to see it, so this was a bit of a let down in my view and i was glad it was free!

Hope you like my designs!

Which one do you prefer?

L xxx

Today's post is a little late going up! I'm currently mourning the loss of the Ciate Advent Calender that was never meant to be I guess. No nail varnish everyday of December for me!

Anyway onto my Halloween nails. L's sugar skulls are my favourite. I was so impressed when she sent me photos of hers! I decided to have a go at a spooky castle type of nail art. Please ignore my grown out acrylics. They have been removed tonight!

I started off with two coats of Max Factor Max colour effect in shade cloudy blue (which isn't a cloudy blue shade at all) to creat a dark night sky. It reminds me of OPI Russian Navy. I really like the formulation of this polish and one coat was opaque but I did two for good measure.

On top of that I applied my new Sally Hansen polish I picked up in American in the shade glass slipper. I love the colour of this and the way it looks on the nail. It gave it a really starry night effect and you get so much glitter in one coat.

Partially as I wanted to try another new colour (OPI Altar Ego) and because I wanted it to look a little more foggy and spooky I applied a thin coat of Altar Ego which is a pearly white shade. I'll be interested to see what this looks like on a bare nail.

I really liked the effect and colour the combination of these three gave on the nail and I can't wait to use Altar Ego and Glass Slipper over different shades to see what they look like.

Once my nails were dry I used my Models Own nail art pen in black to drew the castle outlines.

I filled them in using the nail art pen too. I really need to invest in a good black nail varnish. I'm regretting not picking up OPI Black Onyx. What's your best black polish?

I then used OPI You Don't Know Jacques to draw a thumb on my nail and OPI My Pointe Exactly to create windows and my white Models Own Nail Art pen to Add a moon. 

Then using my Models Own Nail art pens I added details to the door, a cat and a ghost in the windows and some birds in the sky and on the moon. I like to think of them as Ravens.

and a close up of the thumb.

I wish they'd turned out a bit neater. I need to steady my hand more but overall I quite like them.

Have you tried Halloween Nail art?

Love M

xxx

America Haul

I'm sure you probably know by know I was lucky enough to go to America at the beginning of the month. I was determined before hand to save my pennies so I could buy loads over there as so much of it is a lot cheaper. Safe to say I spent a lot!! Who can resist?!

A trip to Target cost me $270 ooops! I did get some bits for L in there too, I was gutted not to find a Ulta or Sephora as I had really wanted Real Techniques brushes and China Glaze. There is always next time and I'm really hoping to go to America again but it certainly won't be for a while.

I have to say Americans you are so lucky!! I adore Target. They have the most perfect jeggings ever and they are only $27!! They fit amazing, they hug you in and look so good. I wish I picked up more. Since being home I've order some skinny jeans from eBay and they are just as amazing. As Target don't deliver to the UK eBay is my only option. If you search Mossimo you should be able to find them! I also picked up a New York Giants T shirt. Which I love and I've worn loads since. I love casual t-shirts like this. The last clothes type thing I got was some black flip flops. These are so soft and almost velvety like.

On the plane out there I couldn't resist getting Naked 2. It was £30 and I do really love it. I use it most days. I love it so much I'm considering getting the original Naked palette too. For eyes I picked up high end products. I'd heard so many good things about YSL shocking I had to have it. But in duty free I couldn't find it so was recommend Lancome Hypnose Doll Lashes. Thank you duty free lady as I know love this. This is the best mascara EVER!!!! So worth every penny. I also picked up Givenchy Phenomeneyes. I really can't get on with this so any tips would be appreciated  When on the plane back I saw YSL shocking in the magazine and had to have it. Lucky the OH gave me some of his dollars as I'd spent mine. I prefer Lancome to the YSL but I'll do full reviews on these.

I bought quite a few different face products. I wanted to try a few Revlon ones as they are so much cheaper. I really wanted the PhotoReady Airbrush Mouse for evenings as it doesn't contain SPF so I wouldn't look like ghost in photos. I wanted more of the ColorStay foundation as I absolutely love it. I also really wanted to try the PhotoReady Primer and powder. I picked up the powder in translucent hoping I could use it for Halloween make up. I also got Mac Studio Sculpt to try as the Mac shop didn't have pro longwear in my shade. I don't love it though to be honest. Finally face wise I picked up Clinique Stay Matte as I love the face creams. 

For lips it was all about the Revlon. I tried my first lip butter in Candy Apple as so many people had raved about it. I like it but don't love it. It kind of just feels like a normal lipstick to me. I do want to try more of them though. I also got three lip stains. I got honey as I'd heard lots about it being a great colour, Cherish (I'm gutted I picked this one up by mistake, I wanted sweetheart but grabbed the wrong one) and my OH's Mum bought me a second Smitten as she borrowed mine on holiday and loved it so much she kept it ha! I also picked up two EOS lip balms as I really love these.

The YSL duty free counter also sucked me in to this beauty of a lip product. It is the Rouge Volupte. I love everything about this. The beautiful packaging, the texture of the lipstick and the pigmentation. It just glides on in one swipe and gives a beautiful finish. I have shade 27. It's an amazing coral colour.

For nails it was all about the OPI I wanted a new bottle of Nail Envy as I love that stuff and nothing compares to it for me. I also picked up a few other shades. I couldn't resist the New York Ballet Collection as it was only $11 dollars. I really love all the shade in it. I also picked up full size bottles in the shades I'm all ears (from the mini mouse collection), Altar Ego and Dating a Royal. Which I adore the name of and love the shade. (I've just noticed I picked up Red, White and Blue. I also got a Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Glass Slipper and the Seche Vite top coat to try as it's so raved about.

How pretty is dating a royal.

I also picked myself up the shampoo and conditioner L mentioned in her haul post. I thought they'd be great for us to try and boast some brilliant moisturising properties. In the Yankee Candle shop they had a new product out called Fragrance Spheres. They are little jelly like balls that release fragrance for 45 days. This is making my bedroom smell amazing. Really hope they bring it to the UK.

My shopping didn't stop in America though, I had a parcel waiting for me when I got back from holiday. I placed an order before I left from Dainty roses as she got some new products I had to have. 

I got a cute bangle with a heart on, the two rings have love and hope engraved in (I really love how simple these are), the copy of the YSL ring, an orchid hair grip and Lisa was kind enough to send me a new bow. She regularly offers great offers.

Lastly on a trip to boots with L I just couldn't resist a few more buys.

I couldn't resist 3 for 2. The Rimmel Scandaleyes liner in Nude. Which is amazing. Models Own Nail Varnish in Snowball which is very close to the China Glaze one I featured in this weeks NOTD and the Stay Matte Concealer  I've also got acrylics on at the moment so I'm hoping this little pot will make removing them easier.

Wow that was a lot of shopping. I could have done soooooo much more. I have picked up a few amazing clothes bits which I will share soon. Primark and Oasis have some amazing pieces?

What would you get on a trip to the states? 

Love M

xxx