Simple Nails with a Glitter Accent

Hey lovelies

Sometimes it is true what they say.. simple is best. Every now and again I lose my nail art mojo a little and just stick with nice pretty colours and simple accent nail. Tonight is no exception to that...

Silver Bling: Textured nails

Happy Tuesday

Back to work for me today but I dont mind as its only a four day week and then I have all of next week off. Fingers crossed for sunshine :-). Last night was our monthly sister night out to Yo Sushi. I just love that place and always look forward to our 'Blue Mondays'!

Tonight I am sharing a blinged up textured mani with you...

Swatch: OPI Sands: Mariah Carey

Happy Monday

Tonight I am going to show you two pretty textured polishes from the Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 collection. These are textured polishes however OPI calls them Liquid Sands. I got these little mini bottles in a Sallys sale a while back.

Textured Blue and Silver: Simple Birthday nails

Hey loves

After my quite extravagant nails from yesterday's post I thought I would share with you the much calmer and simple nails I wore on the day of my birthday (a week ago today). For my birthday this year, my little Sis took me to Yo Sushi for tea on the eve of my birthday. We had a cheeky Prosecco and treated ourselves to the beef and chilli dish from the yellow menu that we had been craving for a while (as well as 9 dishes from the Blue Monday menu). Then on the morning of my birthday Laus arrived with the biggest stash of presents you have ever seen and whisked me off for breakfast and a full day of shopping. I was one happy birthday girl.

Tristam with a Stripey Accent

Good evening lovelies

I hope you are all well? Today is my birthday and I have had an amazing day. My little sister spoiled me rotten from morning til night. So many presents to open this morning and then a full day of eating, shopping, drinking and more eating! These are not the nails I wore for today as I'm a little behind with blogging but the colours are the same so close enough :-)

Blue Glint and Flowers

Good evening lovelies

Thank you all for your lovely blog comments and Instagram feedback about the beautiful Blue Glint swatch I posted a few days ago. I am so glad it was such a hit with you all as I loved it :-).

Here is my final look...

Purple Nails with Silver Butterflies

Happy Friday

I cannot tell you how quickly this week went by. I was busy at work and busy in the evenings and all of a sudden it is Friday evening. Last night I went to see Rizzle Kicks with my little sister - they were so good! Such a great atmosphere and they had so much energy considering they had hosted the late party at the Brits the previous night.

Onto my nails of the day...

Skittlette: Switch it up

Happy Saturday lovelies!

Just a very quick updated post for me today. I loved my skittlette manicure from yesterday but couldnt help but think how bad that beautiful teal was going to stain my nails. So much so, that I decided to switch out the teal and replace it with a nice simple black.

Caviar Beads: Silver and Pink

Pinch and a punch, its the first of the month!

So I have a little confession... I have gotten a little obsessed with caviar beads! I am very late to the party as they are so last year but I finally got around to trying out the little kits I bought in Primark and I LOVE them! Be prepared to see many different looks as I have many different colours... ;)

Navy Lace with Silver Accent nail

Happy Sunday to you all!

Hope you have all had fantastic weekends? We have been very lucky with the weather and experienced the hottest day of the year so far today. We managed to make the most of it by being out in the garden and I certainly feel better for it. Last night us girls went for a meal at a restaurant called Prime where the steak is served on a volcanic rock heated to 360 degree so you cook it yourself to your own liking. It was fantastic fun and the steak was amazing! I had mine with garlic butter and stilton sauce! Yums :-).

Here are the nails I did to go with my all time favourite navy dress and lace jacket combo...

I started with base colours of NYC Ink Stain, the most gorgeous and rich shimmering navy blue that looked extra amazing in the sunshine. My ring and thumb accent nails have a base of Color Club On the Rocks.

Then using a-England Merlin (bottle shot above) I added one truly gorgeous cost of crushed silver sparkles to each of my accent nails. All of the a-England polishes are beautiful but to get coverage like this from such a simple looking polish is amazing (if you ask me!).

Just to really finish off my silver accent nails I then added one thin coat of Orly Holy Holo, it is ridiculously dense with large holo glitter particles and was almost blinding in the sun!

To stamp this beautiful lacy style design I returned to Color Club On the Rocks as its subtle silver shimmery goodness was the perfect finish for this manicure.

I love my new Pueen plates so very much... anything lace and love themed is always going to be a winner for me. This particular pattern can be found on plate Pueen 27.

This final picture was taken in the shade just so you could see the lace pattern a little more clearly.

I really hope your weekends have been as lovely as mine, I'm off to enjoy the evening sunshine and a BBQ with the hubs. Thanks for cooking Mr LiPP ;-).

Lou 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

Grey and Pink Skittlette

Good evening lovelies

Guess what... its Yo Sushi Sister night tonight! I love the last Monday of every month :-). Time to eat great food and catch up on gossip :-).

While I am off eating so much food that I need to roll out of the restaurant door I will leave you to look at this pretty grey and pink skittlette :-)

For my index and middle finger I started with two easy coats of Decoded by Orly. Decoded is from last years Autumn collection called Electronica and is a dark grey creme polish. It was a little on the thick side which did not cause me any problems and may also make it ideal for stamping. I will test that theory out soon and let you know :-).

For stamping and also on my little finger I used Color Club On the Rocks. I love that even though its a silver foil polish it dries with no streaks. I think that is thanks to the tiny silver glitter particles packed into this bright and reflective polish.

On my ring finger I used three coats of this intensely bright pink (reminds me of Barbie!) from the new Barry M Gelly collection. I only just purchased this one and although I am glad to have it to complete my collection I do not like it as much as the other three. It is called Dragon Fruit.

As mentioned above I used On the Rocks to stamp over Decoded. On the Rocks is great for stamping and the shimmer particles give it an added dimension. The pattern I used is from BM 203. I cannot believe I have had this plate for so long and never used any design from it.

Finally I have included two additional pictures below to show off two of my home made nail polish rings. Both match this grey and pink skittlette perfectly and were made using gorgeous polishes made for me by Colores de Carol.

Ring made using Cupcake Fantasy by Colores de Carol

Ring made using Hero in Disguise by Colores de Carol

I hope you liked this skittlette? I have a real love of grey and pink together so this one was a favourite for me :-).

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Pretty Filigree and Mothers Day

Happy Sunday and Happy Mothers Day :-). Have you had a lovely weekend?

Today we took my Mum for lunch at Rocco's. They do a lovely Sunday roast with plenty to pick from and we all ate so much that we had to almost roll out of the door when we left :-). After lunch we went to see Craig's Mum for a cuppa and a catch up with the Cook family. All in all it has been a lovely day.

For this gorgeous manicure I started by painting all nails in Illamasqua Boosh apart from my ring finger which is two coats of the very sparkly Merlin from a-England. Merlin is described as a spectacular scintillating silver and I would have to agree. Just look at that sparkle!

Then using my Barry M Silver Foil I stamped this beautiful filigree design from plate GA 33 over all the black nails. This design  could easily become one of my favourites. It would look fantastic in just about any colour combo and I got lots of compliments (which is always a good thing).

To finish off the accent nail I added two simple black rhinestones with a nice thick coat of Seche Vite.

Here we are at our Mothers Day lunch...

Enjoy your Sunday evening lovelies

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Valentines Nails: Lucky me, beautiful presents

Good evening lovelies!

I love Fridays :-). Tonight we are having our Valentine's Meal and will enjoy a glass of bubbly or two! On Saturday I am spending girly time with my sister, we are having facials, massages and a nice meal in a Thai restaurant. On Sunday Mr LiPP and I are making some adjustments to my nail room and putting together a portfolio for the next part of my course.

Tonight I thought I would show you the beautiful polishes I got from my one and only valentine :-)

For this beautiful sparkly look I started with two gorgeous coats of OPI Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvellous. It is a beautiful shade of pewter grey and contains so much pretty sparkle that it appears more like a foil effect polish. It is smooth to the touch which is unusual with this much glitter in the base colour.

I then added one coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle which is a glitter polish from the Soft Shades collection. Pirouette My Whistle contains lots of very fine silver glitter and lots of pearly white hex shaped glitters suspended in a clear jelly base. This will look lovely layered over just about any colour in my collection.

With the camera flash on

Quick picture of my Valentines gifts... the gorgeous leather carry case is for my nail supplies so I can go mobile in style and the OPI gift set contains the two polishes you have just seen and a rhinestone covered pen - the perfect accessory for a stationery addict.

What do you have planned for the weekend? Did you have a lovely Valentines or like us are you celebrating at the weekend instead?

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Blue and Silver Glitter Tips

Tonight I tried something a little different. I was feeling a little uninspired with my stamping plates so instead I turned to my new french manicure sticker guides. I didnt like the idea of using traditional french manicure neutral colours so instead I reached for stunning blue and sparkly silver.

I started with OPI Ogre the Top Blue. It was a little on the thin side and I experienced a little cuticle flooding which I didnt try to clean up too much as my cuticles cant take too much acetone at the moment :-(.

I used the french manicure guides to section of my tips and then I painted one thin coat of Barry M Silver to just the tips. I originally thought I didnt need Silver in my collection as it looked like Silver Foil but I was wrong. Silver is sparkly and glitter like where as Silver Foil is a solid colour with a smooth finish.

To jazz this up a little I added some silver hex sequins to each nail with a dotting tool and a slow drying top coat.

I wasnt too fussed on these nails and even considered taking this manicure off in my lunch break! At least I ticked some things off of my untrieds list and I will certainly attempt a similar look again - maybe black and gold.

Louise xx

Polish Haul continued...

I feel like a neglective polish owner...

I also purchased today the most gorgeous collection from Barielle called Diamonds Are Forever. I love grey in all shades so this collection really hits the nail on the head for me. The colours range from steele grey to pale silver shimmer to clear jelly with silver flakies. Perfection in a collection... Behold...

Diamonds Are Forever

Barielle is another new range for me so I am beyond excited to get on with trying all these new colours out.

Louise xx