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 :-)

Purple, Gold and Orange nails: Same Accent Nail

Happy Friday!

Tonight I am showing you the final look in my mini 'same accent nail' feature... I am so in love with these nails :-).

This shooting star look is totally inspired by one of the lovelies I follow on Instagram... @tsebian. Thank you so much :-).

Inspired By: Stripey Dress

Good evening lovelies

Hope you are all well? I have had a lovely relaxing day off today and for once the weather was on my side. The sun shone bright with barely a cloud in the sky so I reached for the sun cream and my kindle and spent a good few hours just making the most of some time on my own. Bliss.

Tonight I am going to show you some nails I did to match a new summer midi dress. Also those eagle eyed viewers will notice this is a rare appearance for my right hand which will explain the awkward hand poses!

Awkward Cinderella hand ;-)

Striping Tape Mani: Green and Navy

Good evening lovelies

Here is the manicure I mentioned in yesterdays post which uses the beautiful Orly Au Champagne as the base. This tape manicure is a first for me and I found it a little harder than I thought but still I am pleased with the result and love the bold contrast of green and navy :-).

As you know I started with a base of pearly white Au Champagne by Orly. Then using lots of short lengths of striping tape purchased from Amazon I laid down a geometric design that created sections I could fill with colour.

Working on only one nail at a time I started to carefully paint each square with either Barry M Spring Green or Barry M Navy. I absolutely love both of these colours but this is the first time I have paired them together.

As soon as I had finished painting each nail I very carefully removed each length of striping tape using tweezers. It is important you do not allow the polish to dry so you need to work relatively quickly.

Finally once I finished all 10 nails (proof below!) I allowed them to fully dry before adding two layers of top coat to fully smooth everything over.

Not my neatest work but still I love the results and will definitley attempt another full tape manicure in the future.

How do you like blue and green together? Are you a fan of this bold colour blocking style manicure?

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Happy St. Georges Day

Good evening lovelies

Can you believe what happened to me and little sis yesterday... We set off on our much anticipated sister trip to Birmingham to see the one and only Pink live in concert and then... she cancelled!! When we heard the news we had already checked into our hotel for the night and already treated ourselves to a glass or two of Pinot so neither of us could drive. Of course we made the most of the night by eating and drinking ouselves merry but still we were (and still are) gutted... :(.

Anyway my NOTD is to celebrate St George's Day... The legend goes that St George slayed the dragon to save the locals from sacrificing their children. With that in mind of course I reached for appropriately named polishes...

What better way to put this manicure together than using two of the gorgeous greens from the Legends collection by a-England. I started with the aptly named Saint George on my index finger. Regular readers will know this is one of my all time fav's - the most perfect teal green holo polish ever!

On my middle finger I painted two thin coats of Matt White by Barry M. Then using red striping tape I made a neat cross to represent the flag of England which of course is St George's cross.

 

Finally on my ring and index fingers I painted two perfect coats of Dragon by a-England. Dragon has the same stunning formula as Saint George and could easily be a one coater.

To represent dragon scales I used Barry M Gold Foil and a pattern from Gals plate GA 14.

I hope you like my patriotic nails? I had originally planned to post the manicure I designed for the Pink concert and also include a few pics of me and the little sis having an amazing time :-(. Oh well at least we have the re-scheduled gig to look forward to and maybe I will still post the Pink nails later this week.

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Ascalon and Princess Tears

Good evening lovelies

Half way through the week already :-). Hope you had a good day? As I mentioned yesterday I am currently away with work so this is a quick pre-scheduled post from me tonight.

I will let these beautiful pictures do the talking as with all the a-England polishes I have tried so far these two really are perfection to apply...

I started with a base of a-England Ascalon on my Little and Middle fingers and a base of Princess Tears on my Ring and Index fingers. Two easy coats of each polish and then you can stand back and admire the gorgeous holo hues.

Using some small lengths of striping tape I added a diagonal line design to my ring finger and a vertical line design on my index finger. I then painted one perfect coat of Ascalon over the full nail (including tape) and removed the strips while my nails was still wet.

Flash on...

Some simple and yet I love it :-)

I am so glad I decided not to stamp over these beautiful polishes as the delicate little stripes show how well they go together just perfectly.

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

a-england: A Couple of Beauties

Good evening lovelies!

Oh my goodness we had so much snow today! You literally could not see out of our windows at work - it was just white everywhere! I have to get home at lunchtime to let our doggies out and it took me 1 hour 20 mins to do just 12 miles. I finally made it back to work after a two hour lunch break and then spent another 1 hour 45 mins trying to get home again after work! Gridlock craziness.

Taking of craziness... I am crazy for these nails...

I started with two gorgeous coats of a-england Bridal Veil which is a black creme polish with lots of tiny holo flecks that show through beautifully.

Then using lots of striping tape I laid down different patterns on each finger and gently sponged the absolutely perfect a-england Princess Tears over the top half of each nail. I peeled off the striping tape while the polish was still wet to prevent any snags.

Below you can see swatches of beautiful Bridal Veil. One in natural light with no flash one with forced flash so you can appreciate the holo goodness :-)

As you can see below Princess Tears is a light lilac grey containing lots of silver holo. I cannot wait to wear this one as a base colour, the formula is perfection and the colour shift quite stunning.

Aren't these two polishes just stunning together? I am in love with the formula of a-england. So much so, that I have just ordered another six polishes from this collection even though I still have four sitting in my untrieds!

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Metallic Mercury, Quilting and Caviar!

Good evening my lovelies

I am absolutely loving not being at work! I know that is how most people will also be feeling but honestly it is doing me the world of good. Spending this much time with Mr LiPP and my sister is just what I needed.

Tonight I am showing you a manicure that I just couldn't leave alone. It was one of those that I couldn't resist going a little too far with just so I could test out my new mini caviar beads :-)

The below picture is the finished look...

Now lets start at the beginning... I started with a base of two coats of W7 Metallic Mercury. This polish has a plum brown base and a stunning pink and gold glass fleck finish. It really was beautiful under the lamp I use to take pictures as the below picture shows.

Then I took my striping tape and laid out a quilted design which I gently sponged over with Barry M Pink Foil (limited edition for Christmas), these two steps are pictured below.

As soon as I had finished sponging I carefully peeled off the striping tape to reveal the criss cross design below. At this stage I also used a small cotton bud to tidy up the excess sponged Pink Foil.

At this stage I maybe should have applied a top coat and left well alone...

The trouble being that these mini caviar beads were just calling my name and looked like they would sort of match...

What do you think of the finished manicure? I liked the feel of these mini caviar beads but I am totally in love with the quilted ring finger accent. It takes a little patience but the results are worth it :-)

Louise xx

Another Nail Party

Happy Weekend Lovelies!

Friday night I had some girlies over for our much awaited nail night. We started with lots of naughty take away food and ended with some pretty nails :-). Unfortunately my little sister could not make it as she was at a presentation evening with her hubby, of course we missed her millions and it just gives us the perfect excuse to arrange another nail night very soon.

Starting with Samantha...

Samatha picked the very pretty OPI Dont Pretzel My Buttons as her base colour. It took three thin coats to achieve the perfect finish but she was very good and sat very still ;)

To stamp the leopard design we used Barielle Sterling Silver and sealed it all with one coat of my trusty Seche Vite

Very pretty and they suit Samantha perfectly. She is hoping this lasts perfectly until Monday as it is neutral enough to be office appropriate and she would like to show her colleagues :-).

Next up is Amanda...

Amanda had told me weeks ago that she would like me to recreate my zig zag tape mani but in a classy black and gold combination. We started with a base of super rich and shiny W7 Black

I then added lots of little strips of tape across the top section of each nail and sponged a thin layer of Barry M Gold Foil onto each tip.

For the added sparkle factor we used Barry M Gold sponged over the Gold Foil and a little pink glitter to create an accent nail.

Finally we have Jamie...

Jamie had also picked her manicure weeks ago by sending me a press release picture for the Nail Jewellery polishes from Nails Inc. For this look we started with a base of two coats of Barry M Vivid Purple, such a gorgeous and rich colour (I must use this more!)

I then created this gradient tips look by painting two thick coats of Pink Diamond onto Jamies tips and then dragging an almost clean brush down the nail to spread the dense glitter out a little.

Jamie loved this look so much that she is going to add a layer of gel over the top which should keep this nicely in place for a good two weeks :-).

Another great night ladies - cant wait to do it again

Louise xx

Zig Zag tape manicure

Welcome back lovelies

I am so excited about tonights manicure. This is my first attempt at using striping tape to create a pattern and also my first attempt at a sponged gradient. The two techniques combined created this fab looking manicure.

For this look I used Barry M Teal as my base colour. I then layered one stunning coat of Color Club Metamorphosis to create a pretty shimmery look.

I then cut lots of little pieces of striping tape and added them to each nail in a zig zag design. With the tape still in place I sponged a thin layer of Barry M Shocking Pink and a thin layer of Color Club Wing Fling.

Two thick coats of Seche Vite even out any raised surfaces and bought out the sparkle in theses polishes even more. My inspiration for this look was taken straight from the amazing Carolina of Colores de Carol. If you havent already checked out her fab nail art blog then you should do so right now! Many of Carolinas manicures are saved in my 'to do' folder.

I hope you enjoyed this manicure, I am really looking forward to trying this again with darker colours

Louise xx