Pink, so much Pink

Happy Friday

Its the weekend... Also I hate to rub it in but I have Monday and Tuesday off work and I cannot wait. A long weekend to enjoy celebrating my sisters birthday, dog walking and nail painting! Perfection. I am totally in love with these nails! For those of you who dont know I am a pink fiend! Literally pink hair, pink clothes, pink accessories... even a pink collar on my little girl Lily dog :). If you dont believe me check out my personal insta... @louisejane231 :))

Perfect nails for Shopping!

Today is my almost birthday!

It has long since been a tradition in my family that we stretch our birthdays out as much as possible... one day for celebrating with family... one day with friends... at least one big meal out (or sometimes two)... you get the picture, the more chances we get to celebrate the better :-).

Today was spent with my little sister, just the two of us eating, drinking and shopping! We had an amazing day and I was totally spoiled rotten. I got lots of lovely presents from Laura this morning, including a bag I fell in love with in London back in January and had no idea I was getting, not to mention money to spend on myself in the city - and spend I did.

Here are the perfect nails to accompany my shopping spree...

I started with a base of Warhol by Color Club. This colour is from my new Poptastic collection and is the  most amazing neon raspberry pink. I LOVE it!! My camera just could not pick up how neon but still gorgeous this colour actually is.

Using Konad White I stamped the small bows from plate BM 317 on my index and ring finger, the simple heart outline on my middle finger from the same plate and then finally the shopping text on my ring finger and thumbs from plate CH 54.

A close up of my thumb... how perfect is the shopping text for my almost birthday?!

Finally I added a layer of Northern Lights top coat in Silver and while that was wet I stuck some pretty rhinestones in the centres of the bows.

I have had such a lovely day with my little sister and we really did shop until we dropped! :-)

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Baby Shower Nails

Good evening lovelies

Have you all had fantastic weekends? We have been spoiled with glorious sunshine so Mr LiPP, the pups  and I have been out for some lovely long dog walks. We love making the most of being outdoors :-). On Saturday night I had little sis round for nails and wine and those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen the pictures of her pretty pink gel nails. Today we have been at our friend Elly's Baby Shower which of course was my inspiration for these nails...

This was the perfect opportunity to use two new polishes from my latest TK Maxx haul. I couldn't believe my luck when I spotted the brand new only just released Kaleidoscope Summer 2013 collection for the bargain price of £7.99. The baby blue is called Evolution and the soft pink is Endless. Both have a lovely smooth formula and only needed two coats.

I then used Revlon Whimsical on just my index and little finger nails. Whimsical is not available in the UK as far as I know so I was lucky enough to have a colleague pick up a bottle for me from the States last year. It has a very pale blue milky base with lots of lovely pink and blue glitters.

On my middle finger I stamped the baby bottle and hearts image found on plate BM 317.

Finally on my ring finger using my Orly dotting tool I created two little baby feet using Barry M Matt White.

Oh how sweet are little feet? :-)

I am just home from the shower and we had a lovely time. It was held at a tea and cake place in the city were we had finger sandwiches, cup cakes, macaroons and eclairs as well as pots of tea and a glass of fizz :-).

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Pretty Pink Bows and Hologram Heart Nails

Good evening lovelies

How has your Monday been? A hard one for me as it was my first day back in more than a week (sob!) so while I had a lot of work to keep me busy, I also had a serious case of the holiday blues.

One thing that will always cheer me up... something pretty on my nails...

I started with Miss Conduct by Orly which is one of my all time favourite polishes. It applies like a dream, looks fantastic in both natural and artificial light and contains so much holographic glitter that I never fail to be impressed. The picture above was taken in bright sunlight (gorgeous!) and the picture below under my desk lamp in the nail room.

On each of the raspberry pink Miss Conduct fingers I stamped this simple but perfectly pretty bow using Konad White and the small image found on plate BM 317.

For my accent nail I used two coats of a-England Ascalon, which is the perfect complimentary holographic grey for this look baring in mind how much I love holo and how much I love pink and grey together :-).

The heart pattern is also taken from plate BM 317, one of my most used plates!

Finally I added a clear rhinestone to the centre of each bow as a finishing touch.

I hope the rest of your week goes well... Do you have any nice plans other than work?

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Diamond Nails and Diamond Rings

Good evening lovelies!

Happy Friday to you all... Today has been a day dedicated to Diamonds!!

Earlier this week whilst out for a meal with Mr LiPP we walked past a jewellers and both did a double take at a huge picture outside of the most beautiful bridal set we had ever seen. Instantly we knew this was THE set I had been dreaming of... I already have a yellow gold set from our wedding day but I had always dreamed of owning a white gold set as well :-).

As our 5 year wedding anniversary is approaching and it had always been Mr LiPP's intention to buy me an eternity ring as an anniversary gift he turned to me and said... if you want this white gold set you can have it! Of course I snapped his hand off at the offer and the rest is history...

It goes without saying that I wore Diamonds on my nails on the day I collected Diamonds from the jewellers...

I started with a base of two coats of Illamasqua Boosh on each nail. I know people think that all black polishes are the same but that honestly isn't the case and this one really is jet black and goregeously shiny.

On my ring finger only (for obvious, diamond collecting reasons) I added one coat of Northern Lights Hologram in Silver. Beautifully sparkly and perfect for the occasion, not to mention absolutely stunning under the intense lights in the jewellery shop!

Then using Barry M Silver Foil, I stamped the simple heart outline pattern from plate BM 317 on all fingers apart from my ring finger... which was reserved exclusively for the Diamond stamp found on plate BM 09.

A close up of my Diamond ring finger...

Introducing the Diamonds in all their glory...

Close up...

Finally as this is a nail blog I thought it best to end on a nail picture!

I hope you all have fantastic weekends - me and Mr LiPP are off to celebrate (and stare at diamonds)

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

To Flock or Not To Flock...?

I have been wanting to use this gorgeous turquoise flocking powder for months! It just never seemed the right time but with the weekend just gone and our various social events I thought... what the hell... just go for it!

I started with two easy coats of China Glaze For Audrey. It really is the most perfect turquoise blue polish. It has a creamy application and dries in super quick time. In fact on some of my nails I only used one coat... shock horror! :-)

I stamped this pretty little bow in Konad White using the design on plate BM317. I applied some bright pink rhinestones for added interest.

For the flocked accent nail I first of all passed the clumped together flocking powder through a small metal tea strainer/sieve and then when my NYC top coat was still wet I rolled my ring finger nail in the fine powder and allowed it to dry. I then took a small fan shapped nail art brush and gently swept away any loose strands.

The result was this gorgeous furry looking accent nail that was both easy to achieve and oh so effective!

What do you think of flocked nails? I would definitely wear this style again as the powder is available in every colour under the sun. I washed my hands to see how it would hold up and am pleased to say that after a few moments of drying time the flocking remained fluffy! :-)

Louise xx

Lots of Love

Oh my goodness I love love love these pretty little nails :-)

You know sometimes you just have those mushy little moments when your heart flutters and you feel all warm and cosy... well during one of those moments I created these little beauties.

I started with two not very easy coats of Models Own Utopia. Its a perfectly pale pink, which in truth is almost white but much more flattering. For that reason only I persevere with this colour as its much nicer than stark white nails.

I then used Color Club Hot Like Lava to stamp an assortment of heart inspired designs. They are all taken from plate BM 317 which is one of my most favourites.

I love the addition of this pretty little bow on my thumb nail.

Doesn't this mani make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

I hope you have all had fantastic weekends, thanks for reading

Louise xx

Go Team GB

Tonight sees the start of the Olympics 2012 held in our very own capital city, London. There is a huge amount of excitement surronding such a massive occasion, not to mention a three hour opening ceremony that has just kicked off on TV.

In tribute to such a monumentous occasion I decided to create a mani dedicated to our very own team GB.

Of course I used red, white and blue as my colour scheme and I couldnt resist throwing in another braided accent nail for good measure :-).

My trusty Barry M polishes were perfect for this nail art and of course I also added a little stamping using BM 317. I picked the pattern for my little finger as it reminded me of fireworks and the heart pattern for my middle finger to show my LOVE for all things British.

 

Polishes used: All Barry M - Cobalt Blue, Bright Red, Matt White, Silver Foil, Gold Foil

In the above and below pictures you will see I am holding a gorgeous but limited edition glitter polish called Jewel Britannia. I ordered it online as part of quite a large haul of hard to find Barry M's which arrived this week. Of course I will be featuring them soon but couldnt resist a little teaser by ay least showing you the bottle of this glitter packed with silver, red and blue. I added just a teeny dab to my thumb Team GB nail.

I know it seems like I must only own Barry M polishes - trust me that simply isnt true - but I just love the formula and amazingly bright colours.

I'm off to watch some more of the opening ceremony. I hope you all enjoy it (especially given the millions of £'s it cost to produce).

Come on Team GB - Bring home the GOLD(s).

Louise xx

Will it be... a Boy or a Girl?

We are soon to become Auntie and Uncle for the 4th time as Craig's sister Vicky only has two weeks left until her due date. Vic and Kei decided to not find out the sex of the baby before the birth so this manicure is dedicated to our excitement of finding out when junior finally arrives! Of course we are 100% happy either way but this manicure is just a little bit of fun inspired by the bottle print on new plate BM 307.

Firstly the girl nail art. Many colours and plates were used so I will provide a quick summary and if you would like anymore detail then just drop me a note in the comment facility below.

Index - Barry M Bright Pink, stamped using Konad White with flower print on BM 224
Middle - Barry M Stawberry Icecream, stamped using Color Club Hot Like Lava with the bottle and heart print on BM 307
Ring - Barry M Pink Flamingo, stamped using Konad White with the heart design on BM 317
Little - Barry M Shocking Pink, stamped using Konad White with the teddy bear design on BM 312

Thumb - Essie Marshmallow, stamped with Color Club Hot Like Lava using the flower corner on BM 316

I love all these pretty pinks together and would definately wear a skittle mani with them as base colours again in the future. What do you think?

Now onto the boy nail art. Again this is heavily centred around my love for Barry M nail polishes. I have so many blues that I had a hard job just picking 5!

Index - Barry M Cyan Blue, stamped with Konad White using the bottle and hearts design on BM 307
Middle - Barry M Turquoise, stamped with W7 Black using the smiley faces design on BM 304
Ring - Barry M Cobalt Blue, stamped with Konad White using the hearts design on BM 317
Little - Barry M Blue Moon, stamped with Color Club Cold Metal using the star design on BM 21
Thumb - Essie (the unknown beige), stamped with Barry M Denim using the square design on BM 320

These blues look super cool together and again make a great base for a skittle mani. Look out for it in the future as I am dying to call it the Barry Blues!

Not long until baby arrives and then I will design a manicure to honour his or her name.

Good Luck Vic and Kei - cant wait for the call to tell us 'its time'!!

Louise xx

Reversed Anniversary Nail Art

In a moment of madness I decided to take some pictures and share with you my right hand! Which just to be clear means I had to paint and stamp using my much weaker left hand so the results are never quite as pretty. Just to make it harder on myself I also decided to flip the colours so I used Barry M Gold Foil as the base and Konad Special Polish in Black for stamping.

I was a little impatient and added the top coat a few minutes too early so there is a little bit of visible drag in the black Konad polish however I honestly dont think I did a bad job. Even taking the pictures using my left hand to operate the camera was much harder than I imagined but I am glad I decided to share with you.

Everytime my nails catch my eye they make me smile! I just know that I will feel sad when I take them off. However maybe the 10 new polishes I bought today will make me feel better! Seriously its an addiction!!

Here are a couple of swatches of the two Barry M polishes I used to create the full manicure.

Barry M Black



Barry M Gold Foil Effect

 Until next time

Louise xx