Patterned Nails with Glitter Accent

Happy Friday lovelies

I am so looking forward to this weekend. Tonight is Date Night, Saturday we are out for my brother in laws welcome back drinks as he has just completed 7 months in Afghan and Sunday I am seeing Scouting for Girls with my little sis!

Here is the finished mani I created over my matte Vanilla base...

Pinky Pink

Good evening lovelies

Happy Monday. We were so busy over the weekend doing fun stuff that we didn't have time to food shop so we have to go tonight... boo! Just a quick post to show you this pretty pink on pink design :-)

I started with two coats of Essie Lovie Dovie which is a pretty pale pink with subtle golden shimmers. It turns out that the shimmer is quite camera shy but I still quite liked this polish and it made a nice base for this simple stamp.

Using Joy by China Glaze I stamped this simple flower print found on plate CH 12. The combination of Joy and Lovie Dovie together really worked for me and reminded me how much I love these quick manicures.

How do you like this look? Do you like using shades of the same colour to achieve a nice subtle manicure?

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Beautiful Blue with Pretty Petal Gems

Good evening lovelies

Usually I am so glad when it gets to Wednesday because it usually means the worst part of the week at work is over, however as I am currently on holiday I kind of wish time would slow down! We had another lovely day and tonight we are off to the Jamie Oliver restaurant... :-).

These beautiful nails are actually from the weekend but they lasted so well and I just could not bring myself to remove all the little gems. I got lots of compliments about these nails while we were in the city yesterday.

I started with a nice simple base of Essie Bikini So Teeny. The perfect periwinkle blue with just a very subtle hint of silver micro glitter.

Then using an orange stick (and lots of patience) I added each flower centre and flower petal individually. I wanted each nail to be different so I changed not only the position of each flower but also the colour.

A close up of my ring finger...

These nails were a little labour of love but I was so pleased with the results and they looked lovely with my favourite navy dress when we went out for the evening.

Do you like this kind of nail art look or is it a little fussy for your tastes? It made such a nice change from my usual stamped manicures - I am glad I put in the extra effort on this one :-)

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Space Invader Nails

Tonight I decided to do something a little different. I recently treated myself to some new stamping plates from a company called Cheeky. I cannot wait to use more of them but as I was having the first look through the 161 designs I was drawn to this cartoon style space invaders pattern which features several funny little creatures.

I usually steer clear of patterns that are cartoon cute but for some reason I really liked this one...

Firstly I started with two perfect coats of Essie Bikini So Teeny which has been on my lemming list for at least six months! I was so excited to get this beautiful periwinkle blue and also at the same time I got Essie Navigate Her which is another huge lemming of mine!

Then using Barielle Berry Blue I stamped this cute design from plate CH 32. I just love these blue on blue combinations.

More adorable little critters for my thumb...

Then finally on my last two nails I decided to add a little sparkle so I broke out my new Barry M Rose Quartz Glitter. Check out the sparkle in this bottle...!

I love this Rose Quartz glitter from the Jewel collection. I swatched it over my new dove grey as well and it looked gorgeous.

Louise xx

Autumn Leaf nails

Happy Saturday!

We had a lovely walk with the dogs this morning, the sun is shining brighter than it has all summer but there is a real nip in the air that alerts us to the change in seasons. As we were walking across the field I noticed lots of lovely coloured leaves on the ground and nail inspiration was born...

I started with an Essie base, I'm afraid I don't know the name as it wasn't labelled in TK Maxx, but it's a really nice neutral colour. I then selected a nice mixture of autumnal colours to use for the stamping.

Using a design on plate BM 04 I then used Konad Red, Barry M Block Orange and Barry M Yellow to create these pretty three toned leaves. I wanted each nail to be a little different so I used different colour combinations for each print and also laid the pattern down at different angles, just to keep it interesting :-).

I'm really pleased with the results and using this many colours for stamping was not as hard as I had expected.  The Konad Red is such a fantastic colour and just goes to show that the investment in proper stamping polishes is worth it. Maybe the Konad Orange and Yellow polishes will find their way into my shopping basket soon.

We will shortly be off to a dinner party at our friends house so I hope you have enjoyed my post today and hope you all have fabulous Saturday evenings.

Louise xx

Green and Gold

This khaki green Essie polish called Sew Psyched has been sitting in my untrieds collections for far too long. Today I decided I was in the mood for a green and gold combination so it seemed the perfect time to experiment with this new Essie.

Sew Psyched is one of the bargain polishes I picked up in a recent TK Maxx haul. They retail for £8 in each in other stores but I got three Essie polishes in a set for only £9.99.

I stamped this full coverage almost quilt like design using Barry M Gold Foil. The stamping plate is BM 310.

Essie Sew Psyched swatch

In all honesty I am not yet in love with Essie as a brand. Considering they retail for £8 each I was expecting a little more from the formula and the few I have used including this one have needed three coats to hide the drag marks and bald patches. I will persist though and I still have at least 6 Essie polishes in my untrieds to work my way through :-).

Louise xx

Cute as a Button... Damn Right

This colour is from Essie and is called Cute As a Button. It is one of those colours that I am just drawn to and although I know I have very similar shades in my collection I just had to have it. Once I realised the name of this polish is Cute As A Button it was a given that it would end up in my shopping basket as I very often say that same thing to my lovely husband :-).

 

I could not get the application of this polish as perfect as I would haved liked it so I ended up stamping with quite a full design in order to cover up more of the colour than I had first anticipated.

I cannot decide if this pattern is bows or butterflies? It is very pretty and suits this gorgeous corally pink perfectly. The pattern is taken from BM 205 and I stamped using Konad Special Polish in White.

Everything about this mani is cute so it suits the colour name perfectly. I hope you enjoyed todays post - thank you for reading.

Louise xx