Bright skittle nails

Time for something bright, something sparkly, something new...

Introducing the Color Club Take Wing collection!

This is a gorgeous collection of six super sparkly, super shimmery polishes that when layered over some nice bright colours from the Barry M collection look super lovely. Can you tell I think this collection is super ;-)

For this lovely skittle manicure I used five of the polishes (for obvious reasons) and I have included lots of pictures below for you to really appreciate how beautiful they all are.

In the picture above I am holding Sparkle & Soar. A rich tangerine jelly with lots of golden shimmery glitter particles. Beautiful :-).

Below is Daisy Does It. This is like sunshine in a bottle and for somebody who doesnt really like yellows I have to say I am loving this! Lots of glass fleck golden yellow shimmer that translates beautifully to the nail.

This beautiful blue is Sky High. It contains lots of pretty little blue and lilac glitter flecks and is a polish that I will wear and wear again.

Next up is Wing Fling. My second favourite of this collection. Just look at all that pretty pink and silver glassy shimmer. Perfect over one coat of Barry M Shocking Pink.

I saved my favourite until last... this is Metamorphosis, a gorgeous teal green. I just know that I will turn to this again and again.  I love green!

These are all of the lovely polishes I used to make this skittle manicure come to life...

I stamped this diagonal flower tip design using Barry M Silver Foil  and the flowery vine image on BM 316. I had originally planned to stamp in black but these colours were so pretty that I just couldnt stand to use anything harsh. The silver really picks out the glass flecks found across the Wing Fling collection.

Just because this product is new to me and I was fascinated to see how the glitters would look... I mattified this manicure using Essie Matte About Me.

Clockwise: All Barry M - Cobalt Blue, Shocking Pink, Emerald Green, Yellow, Block Orange

Clockwise: All Wing Fling - Sky High, Wing Fling, Metamorphosis, Daisy Does It, Sparkle & Soar

The sixth polish in this collection is called Fly With Me, it is a lime green base with a golden sparkle and will be featured here in the not too distant future.

Are you loving this collection as much as me? Do you like the glossy version or the mattified version of my finished skittle manicure?

Take care

Louise xx

Peacock skittle nails

Happy Sunday :-)

Hope you are all enjoying your weekends? Today we went for a stroll around the city, enjoyed a little shopping spree and then back home to spend time with the doggies and enjoy a lazy evening.

These pretty peacock nails were a slight labour of love as I had originally intended on using water decals for the two accent nails, however after a frustrating amount of time spent trying to make them look crease free and pretty I gave up and turned to my trusty bundle monster stamps.

To create this look I used W7 Black, BYS Metallic Blue Sapphire and Bourjois Vert Chlorophylle. These are all stunning polishes but in particular I am loving the Bourjois green polish from the So Laque collection. The full range of So Laque polishes is now officially on my lemming list :-)

I stamped in Barry M Silver Foil using the peacock print on plate BM 212. I then used my medium dotting tool to add the feather centres in BYS Metallic Blue Sapphire.

Although I was disappointed to not use the peacock water decals I am really pleased with how this turned out. This stamping is so effective and remains a firm favourite of mine from the 2011 plate collection.

Gorgeous sunshine swatch pictures below... Look at the beautiful shimmer in the BYS Metallic Blue polish. I love that these polishes are only £1.50 each. I am totally buying the whole collection!

I hope you enjoyed this skittle manicure. Do you like wearing something different on each nail?

Have a great Sunday evening

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

Butterfly Nail Decals

Good evening lovelies - are you all as glad as me that it is finally the weekend?

Tonight I have something a little different to show you as this nail art was created using water decals (aka transfers) rather than stamping plates.

I started with a base of BYS Pink Panic. This is absolutely the most intense neon colour out of my whole collection and doesnt need a white base coat to make it pop - it can do that all on its own.



I then set to work with the nail decals that I purchased on eBay for about £2. The decals arrive on one large sheet so I cut them up into smaller nail sized squares and dropped them into a bowl of warm water. After 30 seconds I took the first one out, blotted on kitchen paper, peeled the backing paper off and gently applied to my nail.

Simple but effective. These butterflies are really pretty and quite different to any of the stamps I have.

I did experience a few air bubbles so I definitely need to practice at applying these decals but overall I was pleased with the look and it was nice to do something other than stamping for a change.

Isn't this pink just the perfect shade for a summer pedicure? What do you think, would you give nail decals a try?

Louise xx

Leopard print nails

Today karma is restored, I had a much better day. No tripping over, no being late, no accidents with superglue and I got a space on the car park at work.

Also I am loving my animal print nails. I wore them for a business meeting that I was not looking forward to as I knew if I was having a bad few moments I could just glance down at my hands for an instant lift. It worked a treat :-).

To create thhis look I started by painting alternative nails with Barry M Turquoise and Barry M Limited Edition Boots. Both polishes needed three coats which is a little unusual for Barry M and a little frustrating for me. Also although this is called Turquoise and is a beautiful colour it is very blue and not very turquoise like.

To create the leopard print I used Konad Black and plate BM 221. As always I experienced a little smudging when I applied my top coat. I waited 30 minutes and also dipped my nails in cold water to help set the stamping but they dragged anyways!

Finally I added a few dots of Barry M Flamingo Pink to the centres of the leopard spots - just to keep it extra interesting :-).

I hope you like these nails

Louise xx

Pink and Silver nails

Do you ever have one of those days?

Today is one of those for me. It started badly, I stubbed my toe as soon as I got up, I snapped my mascara wand in my mascara tube, I couldnt find the shirt I wanted to wear, I left the house 15 minutes late only to realise I had no petrol. I finally got onto the work car park to get stuck behind someone who needed 5 attempts to park and then realise she had taken the last space! Finally I had an argument with a tube of superglue and as a result it ruint my nails before I could take the pictures.

And breath... :-). The superglue explain the 'dink' in my index finger but I just had to show you these nails anyway.

To create this look I used BYS Fuchsia Flash as the base. I loved this colour in the bottle when I bought it this weekend but hated it on my nail. It dried with a frost finish with a slight lilac undertone and just looked really old fashioned. This meant I had to change my nail art plans as I wanted to cover this colour up as much as possible.

I reached for a pattern I had not used before on plate BM 223. I honestly thought I would hate this look but I ended up really liking it which just made the whole superglue debacle even more annoying!



On a litter note my brand new stamping plate arrived today and features some really pretty and intricate patterns - I cannot wait to get started on using this new extra large plate!

Do you ever start a manicure, think you will hate it, but manage to totally turn it around?

Louise xx

Jelly Glitter Sandwich

Creating a jelly glitter sandwich has been on my to do list for a while. When I first purchased this very sheer but pretty nude polish I knew I would save it for this very occasion. Here is a picture of the finished jelly glitter nude sandwich.

To create this look I started with two coats of Barry M Nude. This polish is a sheer jelly that would not build to a full coverage no matter how many coats you applied. Other bloggers have described this polish as your-nails-but-better and I have to agree. It evened out the discoloration I have from constant wear of brightly coloured polish and made my nails look shiny, healthy and natural.

To create the sandwich filling I used a clear based glitter polish which contains a mixture of gold hex glitters and lots of micro fine glitter particles. It was part of a set from Primark (of all places) and whilst it smells very strongly of chemicals I really love how it looks.

To complete the sandwich I then turned back to Barry M Nude and added another two coats on top of the glitter. This creates a really pretty but subtle look as it stops the gold glitter from looking quite so bright.

What do you think of my finished jelly glitter sandwich? Is this a look you would go for?

Thanks for reading

Louise xx