Pastel Waterfall

Before Google Reader closed down I imported all my subscriptions in to Bloglovin' and yesterday I finally got round to sitting down and looking through every single blog I've followed over the last three years. I lost track of time but I know it took at least 2 hours! I must have unfollowed hundreds of blogs - just the ones that haven't posted for 2 months or longer, some hadn't even posted since 2011 - and I got a bit nostalgic whenever I came across a blog that I once loved but is now retired. I even shed a tear when I read Gilded Nails' last post and it made me realise how lucky I am that I've been able to continue blogging all this time.

Anyway, enough of the soppy stuff! The point is that I'm so glad to have an organised dash where I can now start to really keep up with my favourite blogs and hopefully plenty of new ones!

I'm still loving pastels and I find myself reaching for them constantly. There is a waterfall in here somewhere but I used pastel colours and the look is very subtle!

My base colours are NYC Raindrop and Lavender Cupcake. For the waterfall design, I used Sally Hansen Green Tea, Models Own Utopia, Barry M Lychee, Essie Bikini So Teeny and the two base colours (tutorial here). The green studs are from Born Pretty Store and you can now get them in a wheel with a range of colours and square ones in the mix too. It's all finished off with No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

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Unknown blue, NYC, Pastel, purple, studs, Waterfall

Galaxy Nail Art Tutorial

Since you guys loved my Pastel Galaxy Nails so much I thought I'd make a tutorial to show you my process. There are a few different ways to do it but this is my method of choice!

I'm using mostly pastel polishes for this look. From left to right, the pastel polishes I used are Sally Hansen Green Tea, NYC Raindrop, China Glaze Tart-y for the Party and NYC Lexington Yellow.

Next up are the shimmers, Essence Choose Me and Essence Irreplaceable. I think that a bit of sparkle is really important to get the nebula look. Holographic polishes, very fine glitters and shimmery polishes all make great additions to galaxy nails.

NYC Matte Me Crazy is my matte top coat of choice at the moment.

You'll also need a make-up sponge and a pair of tweezers. And the things I forgot to photograph (doh!)... white nail polish or acrylic paint, a nail art brush and a dotting tool.

Start by painting on your base coat and letting it dry completely.

Tear off a small piece of the sponge and grip it in the tweezers.

I dab out my colours on to a sheet of plastic and dip the sponge in but if you prefer you can paint the polish straight from the bottle on to the sponge. You only need a small amount on the sponge, it's best to build up the colour than to splat on too much straight away!

Use a fresh piece of sponge for each colour.

Start adding your colours by dabbing the sponge on to your nail in random patterns. I started with NYC Lexington Yellow.

Next up is NYC Raindrop.

And the last creme, China Glaze Tart-y for the Party. I sometimes go through my selection of colours twice to make sure I get a really good mix of them on the nail.

Add just a little bit of shimmer here and there.

I do the shiny stars by painting on a little cross, then joining up all 4 points with a curve.

Using a dotting tool, add some smaller stars of different sizes.

I always use a fast drying top coat to smooth everything over and make the whole thing dry. At the moment my favourite is No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

I clean up the messy bits around my cuticles using a nail art brush dipped in acetone.

Finally I added a coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy. 

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Unknown Galaxy, Pastel, tutorial

Half/Stud/Half

I know it's been quiet around here this week. I've been more than a little bit poorly but I'm on the mend now and slowly getting back in to the swing of things. I'll start with something sweet... pastels!

The colours here are Sally Hansen Green Tea, Sally Hansen Dorian Gray, NYC Raindrop, NYC Lavender Cupcake with Sonnetarium Lenten Rose on the ring finger.

I painted them all on as skittles then added a top coat to make them dry nice and quickly. Once the base colours were dry, I used scotch tape to mark a clean line halfway down each nail. Then I painted a second colour over the top one nail at a time and removed the tape straight away. I waited for that to dry and added a final top coat, attaching the studs while that was still wet.

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Unknown glitter, NYC, Pastel, sally hansen, Scotch Tape Mani, Sonnetarium, studs

Happy Easter Again!

More Easter nails today! I couldn't resist trying on this sugary sweet combination today and I added a fishtail accent which I absolutely love! I can't believe I've never tried it out before.

The clocks jumped forwards in the UK last night and the sun was shining until about 7pm today which was just amazing. I am SO ready for summer to come but until it does I'll be wearing plenty of pastels on my nails to remind myself it's not too far away!

 

The base colours (thumb to pinky) are:

China Glaze Tart-y for the Party

Sally Hansen Green Tea

China Glaze Fade into Hue

China Glaze Pink-ie Promise

Each nail is topped with two coats of Sonnetarium Samurai Princess.

For the fishtail accent, I used CG Tart-y for the Party, SH Green Tea and CG Pink-ie Promise.

Finally, I used two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

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Unknown china glaze, freehand, glitter, Pastel, sally hansen, Sonnetarium

Easter Gradient

Happy Easter! I hope everybody is gorging themselves on chocolate! I cooked a roast dinner today for my family (Well, my Mum did the meat because AS IF I can cook meat properly) and tomorrow I'm going to demolish my chocolate while sat in front of the television and not feel at all guilty about it. 

Here are my Easter weekend nails! I decided on a gradient using mixed pastels, with an Easter Egg style pattern stamped over the top. The colours I used are Beth's Blue, Jade Stone, Pastel Pink and Lemon Meringue, all from Model's Own. The stamping plate is Bundle Monster 315. 

Taking a picture like that last one is hard with one hand! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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Unknown bundle monster, Easter, gradient, Models Own, Nail Art, Pastel, Stamping

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter weekend everyone, I hope you're all having yourself a great one. I think four days off work was just what the blog doctor ordered for me. I've given my room a good spring clean, finally got around to designing and ordering the business cards that have been on my to-do list for two months and, best of all, I've had some time to sit down and do some real nail art!

As much as I love pretty patterns and gradients and glitter, that stuff can get boring and my real love when it comes to nail art is themed freehand stuff like this and I think you'd all probably agree with me on this one!

My base colours (from thumb to pinky) are 

Barry M Textured in Atlantic Road

Barry Textured in Station Road

Sally Hansen Crinoline

Barry M Textured in Ridley Road

NYC Expert Last in Lavender Cupcake

Other colours I used include Born Pretty Sky Blue and Matt White, Barry M Dragon, Rimmel Grey Matter, NYC Water Street Blue and NYC Wild With Passion.

Finally I added a top coat of Seche Vite, which is available from Beauty Encounter, followed by a coat of Rimmel Matte Finish. This  has had an interesting effect on the textured polishes, they still look kind of textured but the effect isn't as pronounced.

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Unknown Barry M, freehand, Occasion, Pastel, sally hansen, Textured

KBShimmer Spring 2013 Collection

Hi girls!
I really want to thank you all for your "get well" messages and comments, it really means a lot. It was nothing a good 12 hours sleep couldn't fix but I think I'll try and get more rest in the future.


Anyway... A new KBShimmer collex is always a big event in the indie polish world and of course the Spring one was no exception. With 9 new shades, an exclusive topcoat and brand new printed bottles, I must warn you, big lemmings ahead!

Clearly on Top is the first KBShimmer topcoat. Thick, fast drying topcoat, glossy and nicely smooth over glitters. I used it in all of the swatches below. 



Lottie Dottie is a white jelly with fuschia and turquoise glitters that come in different shapes and sizes but mainly dots and really small hexes and bars. Formula was really nice and I'd even say surprisingly so for a white. This is 2 coats plus Clearly on Top.

Where My Peeps At is a pastel yellow jelly with a rainbow mix of dots and micro glitters. Formula was a little less opaque than Lottie Dottie but really easy to apply and a 2 to 3 coater. I used 2 coats plus Clearly on Top in the swatches below.

Spring Training is mint green jelly with a gorgeous mix of pastels, mainly pink, lavender and gold but also a few smaller green and blue glitters. Application was just as easy as the previous ones and I also used 2 coats plus Clearly on Top.

Iris My Case is the fourth pastel of this collection and a lavender jelly literally packed with hex glitters: pinks, purples, whites, blues,... I was afraid it would be thick but not at all, it proved to be as easy to apply as the other pastels and opaque with 2 coats, which is what you're looking at.

 


Squared Away is a mix of square pastel glitters and blue micros in a clear base. There are also a few silver holos in the bunch and I'm sure it would look good over a wide variety of colors. I used one coat of Squared Away over Nicole by OPI Stand by Your Manny plus Clearly on Top.

A Dot Mess is also a clear based mix : fuschia and black glitters, dots and micro hexes. I would probably wear it over black in real life but you wouldn't have been able to see the black glitters if I had. This is one coat over OPI Anti Bleak plus Clearly on Top

Pastel Me More is the last clear based glitter mix of the collection and a very dense rainbow of hex pastels in different sizes. I'm sure it would make an amazing layering combo on all sorts of colors but I couldn't resist using it over black this time ^_^

Get Clover It is a forest green jelly with green, gold and blue round glitters as well as some small green micro glitters. I used 3 very thin coats in the swatches below and I really love its translucent look but if you prefer completely opaque manicures, one coat on top of your favorite green will provide enough glitter.

I Got A Crush On Blue is a dark blue jelly, with pretty much the same opacity as Get Clover It. The jelly base is packed with silver holo glitters in different sizes, from large hexes to small microglitters and three coats would probably be enough to reach sufficient coverage but I decided to layer it to show you more options. You're looking at one coat over Nicole by OPI What's The Mitch-uation plus Clearly on Top.

Overall :
I really love this collection : from pastels to clear based glitters or darker colors, there's pretty much something for everyone. And of course, as usual with the KBShimmer high quality and easy application, no hard time fishing glitters here!

KBShimmer is 3 Free and retails for $8.75 / $9.

KBShimmer can be purchased directly from KBShimmer.com or via Etsy, local stores or online at Harlwo & Co.

For more information, please refer to KBShimmer.com and like / follow KBShimmer on Facebook or Twitter to be updated on the brand's latest news or offers.

*product provided for review*

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Unknown glitter, jelly, KBShimmer, Pastel, review