Wednesday 29 July 2009

See you in a few days!

Hi guys!

As you all know I'm off to London for a few days so no posts from me for a bit. If I was organised I'd have set some scheduled posts but I'm not nearly that organised!

Hopefully I will come back with some goodies to show you!

In the meantime, a couple more pictures of Barnaby -


So cute!
I'd show you some of Bobo but she's still not feeling the best so is a little camera shy at the moment :(.
Anyway I will see you all in a few days!

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Wearable Nail Soakers

Hi guys!

This is just a quick post to show you what I got in the post today.

A while a go I was looking on ebay and saw these nail soakers.

Now I realise they're meant to be for removing artificial nails but I thought they may be worth a try for sorting the issue of how long glitter polish takes to remove!

I've had glitter polish on the last few days so I gave them a try straight away.

Literally all you have to do is put some nail polish remover in the little pod and then put your finger in and leave to soak for a couple of minutes.
I didn't use them all at once. I did 3 fingers at a time so that I didn't waste loads of remover.
I have to say....they were a MASSIVE success!! I was so happy. The nail polish just comes straight off! No scrubbing, no getting through masses of remover and cotton wool and no getting glitter absolutely everywhere!!
I realise that soaking part of my fingers in acetone probably isn't particularly good for them but I only plan to use them for glitter polishes and for me it's well worth it.
Success!

Sunday 26 July 2009

A franken using BarryM Dazzledust

Hello again!

So yesterday when I began to feel a better from being ill I decided to try another franken.

This time I tried using a BarryM Dazzle Dust. I think it's called silver green although I can't be certain as it's quite old and no longer has it's label on.

I mixed it with some Sally Hansen Platinum Frost.


I really LOVE how this turned out! It's such a good colour for me as I wear quite a lot of clothes this colour.

I tried a million pictures but none of them really show just how nice this colour is. It's kind of a metallic finish.

This was 2 coats and a top coat.


I then decided to see what it'd look like with a glitter top coat.


Again the pictures really don't show how nice (in my opinion) it looks!
I think this was a successful franken :)
This Wednesday I am going to London for a few days with some girl friends of mine. I'm so glad I started this blog as it means I can go back and look at the photos to decide what colour nail polish to wear! I think it's going to be lubu heels.... but not sure about my toes yet!
Depending on how much money I spend in the evening etc. I am hoping to buy some nail polishes whilst there...there's bound to be some makes that I've never seen.
I can't wait :) We're going to see 2 musicals, eat loads, have a few cocktails, shop and do some sightseeing. I have no idea how I'm going to fit everything I want to take in to my suitcase....
Anyway that's it for tonight! Hope you like my franken! Maybe I should think of a name for it......



BarryM Racing Green

Hello!

I have been slacking at posting again :(


I haven't really done much with my nails this week. I've been a bit of a stress head and also have been a bit ill the past couple of days..probably due to the stress!!

Anyway I'm feeling loads better now so I thought I'd do a couple of post with the 2 colours I've worn this week.

For anyone wondering, Bobo is much better but still not fully recovered. She only had to spend 1 night at the vets but has been on painkillers and antibiotics ever since which means a daily trip to the vets! She is not amused.

So the colour I had on earlier in the week was BarryM Racing Green.

I wasn't sure about it at first but then I saw it in the light and really loved it. Iwas going to konad it but just didn't get round to it in the end.

This was 2 coats. Good application as ever with BarryM.


I think it'd look good with a konad design so I'll definitely putting it back on at some point.

That's it for this post. I will be doing another one straight after this of the franken I made this week!

Tuesday 21 July 2009

A quick hello and a dodgy franken!

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's been a few days since my last post. I've had a few dramas and just haven't had a chance to do a decent nail job!
I tend to be away from the computer at weekends anyway as my boyfriend and I have a no internet rule for the evenings and weekends. I usually end up going on when he goes to sleep as my sleeping pattern is quite different to his!


My biggest drama has been my cat being poorly :( Not the kitten Barnaby but our cat Bobo. She was ill at the weekend and then I took her to the vets first thing this morning and they've kept her over night. I cried my eyes out. She should be coming home tomorrow. I really hope so, I HATE being without her.

So I didn't do much with my nails over the weekend but I did attempt a franken yesterday which didn't really go to plan.... I wasn't even going to bother showing you guys but it's all I have to show you at the moment! So I will share my fail with you all :)


This is BarryM silver and a bourjois pale blue pigment. I really like the colour and it was exactly what I wanted but it's so lumpy!! Even from a distance you can see it! I think it's the bourjois pigment that's the problem, the chunks were too big....

I put a top coat on and then a glitter top coat as well. It improved it but still not great.

Then I decided to put a konad over it to see if that helped and also just to get some practise!


I think it looks a bit better but I will still be removing it fairly soon!

So that was my franken fail. I will use a better pigment next time and see if I have more success!

Here are a couple more Barnaby pics for those kitten lovers out there :) I just can't help myself!

Watching the cricket....


That's it for today. I will be redoing my nails tomorrow so will post again soon!
Everyone keep their fingers crossed that Bobo can come home tomorrow!!

Thursday 16 July 2009

Look how short they are!! Plus konad of the day :)

I cut my nails. I had to do it. I was spending far too much time obsessing over whether to do it or not!! Then yesterday the nail on my right hand ring finger split so I took that as a sign and just chopped them all off! I know some of you will think I'm mad but the reason my nails are so strong and I can grow them so long is partly due to me doing this occasionally. It gives them a fresh start :)

They are so short though... I already miss my long ones! Never mind, it won't take them long to grow back.

Today I thought I'd try out another Nails Inc colour - Chesham Street. It is a beautiful colour and definitely added to my favourites list. My only complaint about it is that the brush was a bit rubbish!


It's described as a blue and admittedly looks blue in the pictures but in real life it looks more purple to me!

I took a million pictures of this polish but I just couldn't capture just how amazing it is!

It just looks like a navy blue in all these pics but there is alot more to this polish than that :)

The below picture is the closest I could get to showing the purple in the polish.


As I said yesterday I am going to see Harry Potter tonight and I was going to attempt to draw some HP themed things on my nails with my nail brushes but I just haven't had the time today so I just did a more simple idea instead.

This is using konad plate m3.

I'm quite pleased with the result :)

Anyway, I am off to have some dinner and watch Harry Potter.
Hope everyone's having a good week! Nearly the weekend - yaya!

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Simple Konad and some kitten pics!

Hey!

I've just finished my 2nd konad attempt :) I think it's alot better this time. Only a couple of mistakes!

I wanted a simple look that could be worn to meetings and things like that.


This is just 2 coats of Nails Inc South Molten Street with the the konad french tip from plate m56. As you can see it's a VERY pale pink but it does the job of covering up the yellow staining :)

I have decided to cut my nails after this manicure comes off. Just not sure how much yet... I may chop them really short and start again purely because that will get rid of some of the yellowing! I think I've mentioned before that I'm very lucky in that my nails grown VERY fast so it won't take long for them to grow back.
Speaking of fast growing things, my hair also grows incredibly fast. That would be ok if I wore my hair long but I prefer short styles so in an ideal world I need to get my hair done every 6 weeks. Unfortunately my finances don't allow for this so I spend alot of time complaining about my hair! Usually Maz gets fed up and books me an appointment as a surprise :) Another issue is that although I've been in Manchester well over a year now I still go to my hairdressers 3 hours away in my hometown of Newbury! It's difficult to find a good hairdresser!
As for how fast my leg hair grows....don't even get me started!! ;)
Anyway enough of that tangent. I am going to watch the new Harry Potter tomorrow evening with some friends. I'm not a die hard Potter fan but we got a really good deal for film and dinner so I couldn't say no. I never usually go to see films on their first nights out because I hate crowds but I'm sure it will be fun! I will be doing my nails for it later :)
Enough of my ramblings...here are some Barnaby pictures for those cat lovers out there :)

Sleeping in the tissue box (or should I say trying to sleep despite the annoying person with the annoying camera disturbing him!) -


With Bobo our other cat. She's 2 and a half and likes to play even more than Barnaby does!

We thought it'd take a while for Bobo to accept Barnaby but as you can see she's not exactly hating him :) She hissed for about the first day but since then they've been chasing each other all over the place.

We had to take Barnaby to the vet yesterday as he kept being sick and because he's so little I was concerned about dehydration. He's fine but they weighed him when he was there and he's only 0.5kg!! He's 9 weeks now and should be having his vaccinations but he's too small! I think he must have been the runt of the litter. He eats like a horse though so I don't think it'll be long before he's big enough ;)
Have to say though, nothing funnier than seeing a 0.5kg kitten chasing a 3.5kg cat!!





Adorable Blog Award!


This post is a bit overdue but better late than never!

I was really happy and surprised last week when I got an Adorable Blog Award from Helen and Sheenie at Helen and Sheenie's Nice Things. Thank you! It made my day :)

The Adorable Blog Award rules are as follows:
–Include the logo in your blog or post
–Nominate as many blogs which you like
–Be sure to link your nominees within your post
–Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog
–Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received this award.

I would love to nominate every blog I read but I read ALOT! So I'm going to try and choose just 5...or 6...

My nominees are -

MagicXMaid
Marble Nails (I think I saw someone else has nominated you already but I couldn't not include you!)
Look at this polish!
The Hungry Asian
Nikki's Nails
Livy Lu Lu

Monday 13 July 2009

Konad - The First Attempt...

Hello again!

So, as I said after my last post I attempted my first konadicure. I'd had a practise on things other than my nails and had mixed results so I was excited to see what it'd look like!

I have to say that the whole process of konading is very satisfying. I can completely see why it's addictive.

For my first attempt I don't think I did too badly.... but I didn't do too great either :)

Some are wonky and the print didn't come out properly on others.


My ring finger came out well though I think.
After I'd messed up the left hand I decided there was no point doing the same design on the other hand as I was just going to take it all off again so I tested some of my other stamps instead.
They all worked out pretty well I think, I just need to work on my placement! I particularly like the stars on my middle finger.

I like this one as well but it needs to be placed differently because at the moment it reminds me of the Soviet Union flag!

So that was my first attempt! I need to practise more I think but it will be totally worth it in the end.
More experiments to follow soon!
Oh and one more thing.... I'm trying to decide whether to cut my nails or not. The length they are at the moment is the longest they've ever been. Through personal choice I have always chopped them and kept them a bit shorter than this just but I kind of like them this long...what do you guys think? Chop or no chop?!

BarryM Turquoise

Hello!

I hope everyone's had a nice weekend! Mine was lots of spring cleaning. It's sad but I like to clean :)

As well as spring cleaning I went shopping on Saturday morning and got a few new polishes.


The 2 Sally Hansen ones were 2 for a £1 from the pound shop and I got them to make frankens with!

I also got BarryM Turquoise (I really wish they'd be more original with their names!). It's very similar to Mint Green but that's exactly why I got it!








I love this colour just as much as the Mint Green!
After finishing this I plan to attempt to put some konad on it..... if it goes well I will post the results!
I'm glad so many of you thought my new kitten, Barnaby, is cute! I am so in love with him :) Lucy, you were right about him being named after the detective! I am a big murder mystery fan.
I will post some more pics of him for you guys to see soon!
That's it for now. Keep your fingers crossed that I get on ok with the konad because I don't want to take this colour off just yet :)

Saturday 11 July 2009

Some Purple and some Sparkle!

Hello Everyone!

I have been slacking this week on doing blog posts... I just haven't had a chance until now! I took photos of any polish changes though so I have a couple in reserve :)

I've had such a busy week and I can't believe it's the weekend already...where did the week go??

I was very excited earlier in the week to get my first blog award from Helen and Sheenie's Nice Things. Made my day :) It was an Adorable Blog Award and I will be posting my nominees very soon, I just haven't had time to think about it yet!

Anyway there are lots of pictures in this post so I shall get started :)



Earlier this week I finally got the opportunity to try out the 2nd polish that MagicXMaid sent me - Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl.






This is 3 coats. It's a really, really lovely purple and I love it! My only minus about it would be that it takes forever to dry! Well worth the wait though. Just got to remember not to rely on this one when I'm in a rush...



I wore it plain for a couple of days and then decided to try NYX silver glitter over the top. Well, it was love at first sight! I just love the effect and love how it looks different in all lights!


I couldn't capture how nice the glitter looks in photos but the glitter is holographic so really sparkles!


I will definitely be doing this one again!


Some of you may remember that thumbnail cracked a couple of weeks ago and I fixed it with superglue. I had every intention of waiting until it'd grown a bit more before I chopped it down but I just couldn't put up with it in the end... The superglue worked fine but it looked horrible and even when covered in polish I just knew it was there...if you know what I mean! So I chopped it down. I had to go right to the quick. It looks very sorry for itself compared to my other nails!

Because it was my thumbnail though I haven't cut the others down because a thumbnail is easy enough to hide!

Here is the sorry nail below (it's grown a bit since the chop!) -



Also this week my first Konad stuff arrived! I was so excited! I have been playing around with it a bit but not on my nails yet. I didn't get loads in my first order as I wanted to make sure I could get the hang of it first. I will post my first attempt very soon :)
Finally I have had a little addition to my family this week. His name is Barnaby (UK people may guess where that came from!) and he's just over 8 weeks old. Isn't he adorable!