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

NOTD: Asiatique Red

Today following Make Up Savvy's 15 Days of Nails we decided to join again and this is my current favourite red:

My camera battery unfortunately died so I've had to use my phone so the above photo is taken without a flash and the one below is with flash so you can see the colour better.

This is Mac's Asiatique which i picked up from a Cosmetics Company store in Swindon a few months ago.

It's a beautiful bold red and these pictures were taken after one coat.

However I am a little careless and have chipped it already so will be applying another an a top coat as soon as I've finished this post!

It's such a stunning red colour, I'm really glad i picked it up as you always need a red in your collection that's like this.

It's not too orange, not too pink but not too blood red either, in fact its the best true red in my collection!

What do you think? Do you like Mac nail polishes?

This one is my first one and I'm really impressed with the consistency and it didn't take long to dry either :)

Make Up Savvy's blog can be found here, check out the other designs from the past few days including some from us!

L xxx

NOTD Leopard Print Nails

Today's nails are another on from Makeup Savvy's 15 day nail challenge. Today is leopard print. Leopard print nails is something I love but I've never tried it before. I'm not great at detail nail art and don't have a nail art pen which I think would make it easier. 

But here's my attempt. I used Max Factor Max Effect nail varnish in shade Ivory which is in fact a gorgeous glittery gold. I really like this shade.

Next I used Look Nail pop in the kimono which is a khaki shade with a hint of gold in some lights. This will definitely be used a lot through autumn. I'm really liking this nail varnish and really want more Look ones now. With the kimono I put little blobs (great describing word there) of nail varnish on each ring finger. (I'm sure you've seen by now I've not mastered nail art on all my nails) I put 5 to 6 blobs on each finger. Try not to make them perfectly round.

The next step is easiest done with a nail art pen, but if you are like me and don't have one a dotting tool, cocktail stick of kirby grip can be used. I used OPI Lincoln After Dark for the outline of the print, the trick is to add little dots and lines around the circles but not completely outline them.

I really want to try this more and get it a little neater next time and on all nails. The great thing about this is it can be done in lots of different colours too. What do you think of leopard? Is it one you'll try? Any tips for me?

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