Inspired By: Bird Print Cami Top

Good Friday lovelies

Although I am really into contrasting nail art, every so often I am more than happy to completely co-ordinate my nails and my outfit. There is something cute about 'matchy' nails so when I wore a new bird print cami top this week I just had to design my nails to match (sort of)...

I started with a gorgeous base of Barry M Lychee on all nails. This colour is part of the Gelly range, so it is highly opaque, dries super quick and super glossy. Lychee is a very rich cream coloured nude and the perfect base for lots of nail art styles.

Using the small flying bird design from plate BM 315 I then stamped each nail several times, in several colours at several angles! The bottle shot above is Beths Blue by Models Own which stamped very well but very lightly. It looks almost lilac in these pictures.

Some of the other colours I used are Konad Psyche Pink (bottle above), Konad Red, Sally Hansen Grass Slippers and H&M Blue My Mind.

Below is a close up of my top so you can see the pretty bird print for yourselves :-).

How do you like this matchy nail art? Do you prefer to wear nails that contrast and really stand out or would you co-ordinate your outfit of the day to your nails of the day?

Have fantastic weekends

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P

Gradient Nails with Chalk Dust topper

Good evening lovelies

Here we are again, more than half of the working week already done :-). I am not away with work this week and have purposely kept my diary as clear as I can so I actually get some evenings at home. Last night I started working on some nail polish rings so I look forward to spending a few more hours completing them tonight. I also finally got around to using my lovely new indie inspired black and white glitter topper for my nail of the day...

I started with a base of Lavendar Cloud by Sally Hansen. Lavendar Cloud is a white polish with the subtlest hint of lilac mixed in. In all honesty there was not quite enough hint of lilac for my liking and this polish dried to a bright white finish. The formula was good as I have come to expect from the Sally Hansen Salon Manicure range.

Sally Hansen - Lavender Cloud

Using a small piece of make up sponge I gently  sponged Barry M Bright Purple onto the tips of each nail. I didnt worry too much about blending as I knew I was going to add this lovely glitter topper as a finishing touch.

Chalk Dust is the best glitter topper I have used in ages! I love how simple it is yet how effective it will look over every colour. I only had to apply one coat to get this look so you can see how chock full of glitter this clear polish base actually is.

Chalk Dust contains black and white hexagonal glitter varying in size from very large to very small - it really is that simple!

Chalk Dust - macro shot

How do you like this look? Are you a fan of black and white glitters? I cannot wait to try this again and I am defintitely going to break out my matte top coat next time.

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P

Pomegranate Filigree Nails

Good evening lovelies

Did you have a lovely weekend? We certainly did. Had such a lovely family day with my sister in law and niece on Saturday. On Sunday I was in the city and could not resist picking up all 5 of the new Barry M Gelly's and I cant wait to show some nail art using them as the colours are bold and fabulous. We did break out the BBQ as planned but the weather was disappointing and we had to eat inside :-(.

Onto my nail of the weekend...

I started with just one coat of Barry M Gelly in Pomegranate. This is an all time favourite of mine and I love that I could get away with just one coat as I only had 20 minutes to do my nails before we started our road trip to Clacton. Pomegranate dries super quick and super glossy.

Then using Konad White and Konad Black on alternative nails I stamped using this really eye catching filigree pattern from plate Pueen 26.

I was incredibly lucky to receive the gorgeous Love Lace Pueen plates from Carolina of Colores de Carol fame. Carolina read a comment I left pining after these beautiful new plates and offered to post them to me from the States. Of course I jumped at her very kind offer and just three weeks later I had the full beautiful collection arrive as the best Nail Mail ever. Carolina also gifted me one of the beautiful new colours from her very own Summer Collection which I will swatch for you very soon.

How do you like my alternative stamping? Would you prefer to see all one colour?

Thanks for reading

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P

Barbed Wire Nails with Rose Accent

Happy Friday lovelies

Yay its the weekend... The sun is shining and I have lots of lovely plans to keep me busy. On Saturday the hubs and I are going to see his sister and niece for the day. The forecast is good so we can walk up and down the seafront eating chips and ice-cream :-). On Sunday I am going shopping with a friend who needs a nice posh dress as she is going to a wedding at the end of this month. The in the evening I hope Mr LiPP will dust off the BBQ for the first time this year so we can make the most of the light evenings. Perfect!

For this manicure I used another of my new Sally Hansen polishes, this one is Black Platinum. This polish is smoky black in colour rather than jet black and as a result it took three thin coats for full opactiy. I loved the slightly 'subtle' look this polish gave compared to my usual black nail polishes.

Black Platinum dries to a slight matt finish which made the pretty silver sparkles look a little more pearl like.

For my ring finger accent nail I used two coats of Sterling Silver Rose by Orly. I thought the subtle silver shimmer base in this polish would compliment the smoky black perfectly :-).

Using my most trusty stamping polish ever - Barry M Silver Foil - I stamped each of my black nails with a barbed wire design and my accent nail with large roses. Both of these patterns are found on plate BM 323.

It was almost too sunny for me to take pictures... not that I am complaining of course ;-)

I hope you all have fantastic weekends - dont forget to follow me on Instagram to see more nail pics, jewellery of the day pics and usually a couple of cute dog snaps :-)

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P

Flip Flop Fantasy Tape Manicure

Good evening lovelies

Nothing says summer like a neon polish called Flip Flop Fantasy! This China Glaze beauty has been on my wishlist for a while so I was pleased to pick this up in a recent haul at our local wholesalers. The true colour was ridiculously hard to capture on camera and in real life is slightly 'peachier' than my pictures show.

I started with two coats of Flip Flop Fantasy. A neon bright coral polish which dries super quick to quite a matt finish.

Using striping tape I then added a large criss cross to each nail. I will post some pictures on Instagram later tonight of the various stages. You can follow me by searching for @l_i_P_P or clicking the Instagram panel on the right hand side of this blog page.

Working on one finger at a time I used uber sparkly I Herd That glitter and Barry M Lychee to fill in selected triangles created by the criss cross tape. I left one triangle on each nail free so that Flip Flop Fantasy was still a main colour in the design.

Before each nail was dry I carefully removed the striping tape and added a square gold stud to the centre of the design. Once everything was dry I topped the whole lot off with a nice thick layer of Seche Vite top coat.

It is no wonder that Flip Flop Fantasy is one of the best selling summer nail polish colours and I am certain this will also become a pedicure favourite of mine :-)

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P

Grass Slippers with Graffiti Nail Art

Good evening lovelies

Yesterday I posted a gorgeous swatch post dedicated to Grass Slippers by Sally Hansen. Today I am going to show you how I made it a little more wearable by adding some fun nail art.

These are my graffiti line nails and I love them. I couldn't resist using bold colours for the line work as I really wanted to show that lime green can be a great base for nail art :-).

Using the criss cross lines from plate BM 316 I stamped in one direction using Barielle Berry Blue.

The flipping the plate upside down I stamped again but this time using Konad Special Polish in Psyche Pink.

I am so glad my bold colour choice paid off. I could not stop looking at my graffiti nails!

Would you wear such a bold lime green as your base colour? Do you like my bold navy and bright pink colour choices?

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P

Swatch: Grass Slippers

Good evening lovelies

I feel like Summer might finally be here :-). The sun was shining from 4.30am this morning and although there is still a slight chill in the air it is a considerable improvement on the miserable and long Spring we have just had.

To celebrate the sunshine I broke out a fab colour from my untrieds stash...

This is Grass Slippers by Sally Hansen. The most stunning lime green creme I have in my collection!

I love this colour so I am really pleased it has such a great formula and is very quick to dry. However, the best thing about this nail polish is... I got it from Poundland!

Grass Slippers matches my blog cards perfectly!

I realise that such bold lime green nails are not for everyone so check back tomorrow to see how I made these more 'wearable' with a little nail art :-)

Lou xx
@L_i_P_P