Coral with Glitters

Happy Friday lovelies

I have been looking forward to tonight all week :-). Its sister sleep over time! I am off to my sisters after work for a home cooked Beef Bourguignon (with extra red wine) and a whole night of DVD boxsets and chocolate :-). On Saturday morning we will make the most of this fantastic spring weather and go for a nice dog walk and then a spot of lunch in a local village pub. Bliss!

Here are my nails of the day...

Diamonds and Glitter

Tonight I am showing you a manicure where I think I went a little too far with the colours and patterns I picked but then I thought what the hell... every now and then its good to have something different to show you all :-)

Flames and Glitter

Whoop whoop its the weekend!

These are my party nails :). I am actually not going out to any parties but I just felt like I needed a nice bright jazzy manicure for this weekend. I am looking forward to having a lie in, going shopping for the last bit of my Dads birthday present and also eating out at our favourite steak restaurant on Sunday. I am giving myself the weekend off from housework and chores... ;-)

Leopard Print nails: Summer colours

Good evening lovelies

Just a quick post tonight as I am rushing in the door from a sales conference and then back out again for a team night out at a local comedy club.

I loved the idea of these nails as I planned the colours in my head but I didnt like them once I was finished...

Green and Tribal Nails

Good evening lovelies

Did you all enjoy your weekends? I had the pleasure of a four day weekend to spend quality time with Mr LiPP for our wedding anniversary. We were so lucky with the weather (although it got a little too hot for hubby and the puppies), it meant we could BBQ, dog walk, sit outside and of course enjoy the odd beer garden in the evenings.

Pink with Zebra Accent

Good morning lovelies

What do you all have planned for this super sunny Sunday? The weather is just amazing at the moment and I love it even more that it means I can get some great natural light nail pictures! These pics are so much better than anything I can take inside in my light box.

Today I am showing you one of four recent limited edition polishes from the Barry M range. I got this one free from Superdrug when I purchased a couple of the new Gelly's.

One Year Blogiversary

Good morning lovelies

I can hardly believe it but today is my one year blogging anniversary!! I had no idea when I put my first post live that I would still be going strong one year later and that my love for all things nail polish would just grow and grow. I have made some good friends through the blogging community and I love being a part of it all.

Here are my celebratory nails... :-)

For this manicure I started with two coats on each nail of a limited edition Barry M polish I recently picked up in Superdrug. I have a full review of this polish coming up later in the week so for now I will just say that it is a gorgeous shade of pink and has a wonderful 'squishy' jelly finish.

For my ring accent finger I added two thick coats of W7 Multi Dazzle. This polish is the perfect glitter bomb and contains every possible colour you could think of. The coverage is really good at two coats but you would need three or four to make it fully opaque.

On my little finger I stamped a single birthday cupcake using Konad White and on my index finger I stamped the full cupcake plate design straight from plate GA 38.

Lastly using Barry M Nail Art Pen in White I added the number 1 to my middle finger.

Happy One Year Blogiversary to Me! Thank you to all my fantastic followers and friends, I still enjoy blogging now as much as I did then and that is thanks to all of you who take the time to comment on each post or contact me via email or Instagram :-)

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P

Pink Feather Nails

Good evening lovelies

I hope you have all had fantastic weekends. Here in the UK it is a Bank Holiday today which means we got to enjoy a three day weekend and by some miracle... the sun was shining! Mr LiPP and I managed to get the balance right between relaxing and having fun and also getting some bits done to the house and garden that we had previously put off. All in all it has been a wonderful break.

Onto my nails of the day...

I started with a base of Barry M Strawberry Icecream on all nails. This polish has a thin formula so needs three coats for full opacity. It is a beautiful pale pink colour so luckily the extra patience needed for a third coat is worth it :-).

Using Barry M Silver Foil I stamped the feather design from Konad plate M77 on all nails except my ring finger. Then using Barry M Pink Foil I placed the same feather designs at differing angles so that each nail featured several pretty feathers.

On my middle finger I used Barry M Lilac Foil instead of the Pink Foil in the above picture.

On my ring finger I added just one coat of the extremely blinged out W7 Multi Dazzle glitter polish. Just about every colour you can imagine can be found in this glitter and I had no need for dabbing or clever placement, I simply painted it on.

The inspiration for these nails were taken from a ring I made a few weeks ago with white feathers and the same Multi Dazzle glitter on a pale pink base. I love this ring :-).

Sadly it is back to work tomorrow and I have to work out of our second office which is two hours away. It will be the first time I have been on a 'road trip' to that office without my little sis *sob*. Laus has some time off work as her hubby is back from Afghan on two weeks RnR :-).

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Green and White Skittlette

Happy Good Friday lovelies!

I am in such a great mood knowing that I have all this time off work :-). To make the most of the double bank holiday I have also taken next week off so I get to enjoy a really good break away from work and spend lots of time with Mr LiPP and the pups :-).

For this skittlette I started with two coats of China Glaze For Audrey on all nails except my index finger. For Audrey is a gorgeous light turquoise creme polish and although I ended up covering most of it up with glitter and stripes it remains one of my favourite polishes.

On my little finger I applied one coat of China Glaze Atlantis over For Audrey. Atlantis has a bluey green base colour and contains so much holographic glitter that its hard to explain how sparkly it actually is!

Using Konad White and the same stripes used for my nautical accent nail earlier this week I added horizontal stripes to my ring and middle fingers. The finishing touch for these two nails was the addition of small green square rhinestones.

Finally on my index finger I painted two coats of W7 Salt n Pepper. I have only used this polish once but I really like it and it makes a great accent nail for this skittlette. Removal is a bit of a pain as the black glitters are quite gritty but I think its worth it :-).

I hope you like my nails of the day? Are you all looking forward to the Easter break? Have you got lots of lovely plans?

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Leafy Green

Happy Saturday lovelies

Hope your weekend is going well? Last night I had some girls round for a nail party with my new Orly Gel FX polishes. Gel FX is a gel polish that needs to be cured under an LED lamp but then lasts for approx two weeks with no chips. My sister wore hers for 16 days before she had a few minor chips! I took a training course a few weeks ago and am now proudly displaying the qualification certificate in my nail room.

Onto my nail of the day... When looking through my new Cheeky nail plates I loved this simple leaf design, I just couldn't resist trying it out... and I love green :-)

I started with two coats of Orly Jealous, Much? Which is a gorgeous and creamy mint green. I topped that off with one thin layer of W7 Mojito. As you can see from the picture below it leaves quite a subtle shimmer of green/gold on the nail.

For the stamping I used Revlon Ocean. I am loving my polishes from Revlon. Ocean is a frosted teal one coater and could not be more perfect for stamping.

I only wore this for a day but I love the combination of the three greens together and I will definitely re-visit this pretty stamp now that Spring weather should be on the way!

How do you like these greens together?

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Illamasqua: Im Obsess(ed)

Good evening lovelies

I hope you Monday went quickly? Mine could not go quickly enough as it's the last Monday of the month... which only means one thing... Sister night at Yo Sushi! For regular visitors to my blog you will know that I love Yo Sushi and go as regularly as my budget will allow. For any new visitors then you will no doubt read about my love of the hot food menu at Yo Sushi right here, very often :-).

When Yo Sushi was first recommended to me I almost laughed... me and Sushi? No chance! However I am so glad I did give it a try and whilst I only order one cold sushi dish as my starter I cannot get enough of the hot food such as Katsu Chicken, Firecracker Noodles, Hairy Prawns, Chicken Gyoza, Spicy Pepper Squid... you get the idea!

Tonight I have my first polish from a recent (large) Illamasqua haul... you can blame the quantity I purchased on the amazing sale they were offering :-)

As you can see I started with a base of Illamasqua Obsess on all fingers except my ring finger. Obsess is the brightest fuschia pink I have ever seen. It applies a little thin and probably needs three coats for perfection.

I then added an accent nail using W7 Black and topped the whole lot off with Northern Lights Hologram Silver Top Coat. Love the sparkle, not to mention the quick drying properties it has :-)

Using what I can only think to describe as a random scribble pattern from CH 16, I stamped using Konad Black on all nails that had a base of Obsess.

Finally to tie the whole thing together I added three square rhinestones in matching fuschia pink

How do you like my first blog post using Illamasqua? This is the most eye catching shade of the bunch but there are plenty more beautiful polishes still to come :-)

Louise
@L_i_P_P

Blue and Purple Mix Up

Good evening lovelies. TGI Friday!!!

I have been looking forward to this weekend all week. We dont have anything special planned but I just wasnt ready to be back at work full time - it has been a hard week and I'm in the mood for some down time.

Tonight I am at my sister's for tea. There will be 6 of us girlies and 4 dogs so I am sure chaos will follow :-).  Other than that I am going to make the most of each day and enjoy every second. I do have a special post planned along with a polish buddy of mine so look out for my first 'twin' post on Sunday.

Here are my nails of the day...

For this party skittlette mani I started by painting alternate nails with Barry M Bright Purple and Color Club Total Mystery. Total Mystery is a vibrant blue with lots of pretty shimmer to add depth.

Before the stamping

I then stamped using Barry M Silver Foil and the fishnet style design found on Cheeky plate CH 11.

Lastly I added some sparkle by adding one layer to my index and little fingers of W7 Moonlight. I adore this glitter and the amazing coverage you get with just one coat! I have included a picture below with the forced flash on my camera so you can see how reflective the sparkle is.

With flash

I hope you all have fantastic weekends - it is apparently going to snow in the UK on Sunday so I plan on making the most of any good weather on Saturday in case the country grinds to a halt at the first sign of snow again!

Take care Louise xx

Mirrorball: Hot Stuff

Good evening lovelies

I am finally catching up on swatching some beautiful polishes that I have had for a little while. Tonight I am going to show you another 'frosting' from the Models Own Mirrorball collection. There are 5 gorgeous glitter toppers in this set, I have shown you three so far Disco Inferno, Boogie Nights and Dancing Queen so tonight I am showing you Hot Stuff.

This one was my favourite of the collection in the bottle but now its on the nail I am not as sure. What do you think?

As you can see Hot Stuff contains a real mixture of glitters and is quite top heavy on 'large shards' of glitter which look chunky but do sit flat on nail. This polish is a mix of pinks and golds with a slight holo twist.

As with the other shades from this collection I layered Hot stuff over both black and white so you could really see the difference. This one definitely looks best over black in my opinion.

Some of the larger but paler glitters look lost over the white base so the overall effect is quite subtle compared to how it looks layered over black.

Lookin' for some hot stuff baby this evenin'
I need some hot stuff baby tonight
I want some hot stuff baby this evenin'
Gotta have some hot stuff

Overall I am really pleased to have these glitter frostings in my collection - the bottles look beautiful on my shelf :-)

Louise xx

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year lovelies!

Welcome to my first post of 2013. Did you all have a wonderful New Years Eve? Mr LiPP and I decided to stay in and I am pretty glad we did - many of our neighbours had fireworks displays and our little Lily is terrified of the loud noises. We spent most of the evening making sure she was ok and trying to keep her calm.

I wanted my first manicure of 2013 to feature a special polish so there was no doubt in my mind that I would turn to Orly Miss Conduct.

I started with two coats of Orly Miss Conduct from the Naughty or Nice collection. Miss Conduct is a raspberry pink base packed with sparkly holo shimmers. The formula is amazing and this is easily going to become a firm favourite for me. Check out the beautiful swatches below.

For my finished manicure I swapped my index finger to W7 Black for a little contrast. I then added star shaped rhinestones and tiny silver studs to my index and little fingers as you can see below.

Using Barry M Silver Foil I stamped this pretty star image from Cheeky plate CH 52.

I loved the final results but in all honesty I would have worn Miss Conduct on its own with no stamping or accents and still have been 100% happy :-).

I thought I would also share with you the manicures I painted for Mr LiPP's Mum and Little Sister on New Years Eve...

Check out the matching blingy accent nails :-).

I hope you enjoyed my first post of 2013.

Wishing you all lots of love, luck and happiness

Louise xx