Friday 29 November 2013

Mish Mash Challenge Week 18-Card/Board Game

Well in my last post I said I wanted some bright colours again and I think I've definitely succeeded with this mani, hehe. It's not my best nail art ever, but then again I was doing it at 5AM because my sleeping pattern is FUBAR'd, so I think that's to be expected. Also my red decided it didn't like being topcoated even though it'd been left ages to dry. Sigh.

I've chosen to represent the classic kid's game snakes and ladders-I've got a brightly coloured grid and then accents of a snake, a ladder, a playing piece and a dice. Main polishes are Rimmel-Red Obsession, Sally Hansen-Brisk Blue, Barry M-SLE 2013 and Barry M-Lemon Ice Cream over a base of Barry M-Matt White.



As I said, they're a  bit wibbly but I blame lack of sleep for this! They're bright and fun so I don't mind too much!


This will almost certainly be my last Mish Mash mani for a while because I'll be busy busy with the 12 Days of Christmas challenge that I've set myself-I'm really quite excited to see what everyone comes up with. If you want to join in, go to the FB group here. Here's a reminder of the prompts:


So I'll be back in a couple of days with the first one-woo!

~Nail Art Novice~

Thursday 28 November 2013

November Tri-Polish Challenge 4

Here we are then, the final mani using these three colours-yay! I have to confess I'm getting a little bored of them now-they're nice enough colours but they're not exactly my normal bright in your face ones. I'm fed up of being muted and want to be a bit ridiculous again (who needs seasonal colours anyway?!). With that in mind I decided to do something really childish and a bit messy for this final mani to let me get some enjoyment out of them. I started with a base of L'Oreal Color Riche-Metropolitan and then splattered Rimmel-Aqua Cool and Barry M-Prickly Pear on top using a drinking straw. I was right-they were really fun and REALLY messy. I still have blue polish all over my left palm because I was an idiot and rested it in all the splatters on my newspaper *facepalm*

Anyway, pictures!



There's still polish all over my hands because I got bored of cleaning up-it's the part about being a nail blogger that I really hate the most-it takes SO LONG. Sadly I don't think I'll ever be neat enough to avoid it completely, sigh!

I love these nails, they're so simple to do but always give interesting results I reckon. They're quite fun to look at! My favourite nail is definitely my left thumb-I can't help but think it looks a bit like neurons (because I'm a big sciencey nerd =D )


And that wraps up my first ever Tri-Polish challenge, hurrah! It sounds like it may be having a bit of a revamp in the new year and I did enjoy taking part so I'll almost certainly do it again if I can. It's been fun. I am looking forward to getting some bright colours on my nails again though!

~Nail Art Novice~

Tuesday 26 November 2013

November Tri-Polish Challenge 3

Hello lovelies! I hope you all had good weekends. I had hoped to get my Doctor Who mani uploaded but I just never got round to it-but I loved the episode! It was wonderful =)
I'm back with the third installment of this month's Tri-Polish challenge-where you do 4 manis with three polishes. This months colours are grey, blue and purple and my polishes are L'Oreal Color Riche-MetropolitanRimmel-Aqua Cool and Barry M-Prickly Pear.
This time I've gone for a gradient, along with a topping of China Glaze-Fairy Dust for a little bit of sparkle.



I'm kinda disappointed that these didn't blend together better-you can kinda see it on my thumb/little finger in the bottom picture but for the most part I've still got three distinct lines. Oh well, can't have it all can you, they're still quite pretty!

And as a bonus, here's a picture of my Doctor Who nails, just because I can...please excuse my dodgy TARDIS, I was rushing at this point because it was nearly time for the episode and I didn't want to miss it!


Isn't that blue holo (thumb) gorgeous? It's Smitten Polish-Bifrost if you're interested.

I'll be back on Thursday with mani number 4 for the TPC, tata!

~Nail Art Novice~

Thursday 21 November 2013

Double Challenge Thursday!

Yes, today I've doubled up on my challenges-this mani represents Mish Mash Week 17-Grey AND November Tri-Polish mani number 2-see this post for more explanation about that! This was the mani that inspired me to do the Tri-Polish challenge-I'd already planned to do this in my head even before I saw the colour prompts. For this mani I've used my purple (Barry M-Prickly Pear) and my grey (L'Oreal Color Riche-Metropolitan)...and some other colours too. I know this means I'm completely breaking the rules of the Tri-Polish challenge but hopefully no-one will mind too much. Everyone has to break the rules now and again, right? Haha! Other polishes used were Revlon-Electric, Barry M-Mango and Rimmel-Rose Libertine plus the Barry M nail art pens.

I'd wanted to do this mani since I first got this grey polish since it's the perfect colour but couldn't figure out quite how. Thankfully Rara did a similar mani in summer which gave me all the inspiration I needed!



I also did a very silly photo when I was cooking dinner last night, but I couldn't resist-teehee


Haha, I love my little micies! Hopefully you guys do too =)

~Nail Art Novice~

Tuesday 19 November 2013

November Tri-Polish Challenge 1

I have fairly spontaneously decided to take part in this month's Tri-Polish challenge-when I was planning my next Mish Mash mani I realised two of the colours were part of the Tri-Polish one and then decided to join in.
The way this works is that there are three colour prompts and you have to pick a polish to represent each colour. You then do four manis with those three colours and post them in the last two weeks of the month on Tuesdays/Thursdays. You have to use at least two colours in each mani, and use all three colours at least once, and you also get free use of black/white/silver/gold and glitters. More details can be found over here on The Crumpet's original post.

This month's colours are grey, blue and purple and I have chosen to use L'Oreal Color Riche-MetropolitanRimmel-Aqua Cool and Barry M-Prickly Pear



For the first mani I've chosen to do another double layered taping mani-this time with horizontal and vertical lines-and I really like how it's turned out!

Here's how it looked after just one layer of tape:


And this is what I ended up with, once I'd done the second layer:



I did the base colours in the opposite places on each hand which is why they look slightly different. I really like this, it reminds me of tartan blankets!

Don't forget to check out the other Tri-Polish manis in the inlinkz below. I'll be back on Thursday for a DOUBLE CHALLENGE mani, wheee!

~Nail Art Novice~

Monday 18 November 2013

A Rather Royal Rain

Hey lovelies, hope you all had marvellous weekends!

Today I've got a random fishtail design I did because I have too much time on my hands at the moment, haha. I chose three colours that always make me think of 'royalty'-Red (Rimmel-Red Carpet), Purple (Rimmel-Purple Addict) and Bronze (Avon-Fabulous). On my other fingers I have yet another gorgeous British indie polish - Pocket Money Polishes-November Rain. I've wanted this sparkly beauty for ages and to my delight Charlie surprised me with a bottle when she returned some stamping plates to me earlier this week. Within half an hour of my opening the parcel it was on my nails, haha! November Rain is a gorgeous collection of bluey/grey, copper and gold microglitters and it really is just as lovely on my nails as I thought it would be!




What can I say? I love a fishtail mani (even if they are a pain to do!) and I love this glitter and I've been enjoying feeling like royalty, even if only with my fingernails, haha!

Thanks for stopping by

~Nail Art Novice~


Sunday 17 November 2013

Introducing-The Twelve Days Of Christmas Nail Art

I've finalised the list for my Christmas nail art link up, so I just thought I'd share it here too! If you're interested in joining in then visit the Facebook group here. There are 12 prompts running throughout December but you are free to do as many or as few as you like, and all are welcome whether you celebrate Christmas or not!

Here's the prompt list:


I'm quite excited now, my head is full of ideas already, haha!

See you there,

~Nail Art Novice~

Saturday 16 November 2013

Light Up The Dark

Hi lovelies! Quick post for you today-I've got another fabulous polish from Tara's Talons to show you. This gorgeous glitter-fest is Light Up The Dark from her recent Fireworks collection. It's a grey jelly base jam packed full of multicoloured glitters of different shapes and sizes and I fell for it as soon as I saw it on her site. I'm wearing it over a layer of L'Oreal-Valiant because I wanted it to be opaque, and I put three coats on because I wanted massive amounts of sparkles. I definitely could have only used one though...but where's the fun in that? Haha. You could probably build the colour up quite nicely on its own but I decided to shortcut it this time with undies. It's super pretty and rainbowy, but I actually reckon you could almost get away with this for work because the colour is fairly dark and the sparkles aren't too in your face. I love it, basically.




So so pretty =D

Happy weekend!

~Nail Art Novice~

Don't forget if you want to take part in a Christmas nail art link up, visit my Facebook group here =)

Friday 15 November 2013

A Christmas Nail Art Link Up?

Hey lovelies, no nails for you today but instead an idea. I was thinking to myself that it'd be cool to do '12 Manis of Xmas', posting throughout December-12 prompted manis on a Christmassy/Wintery theme. Then I thought what would be even cooler is if I had some friends to do it with so we could all share lots of awesome manis together. To this end, I have set up the Facebook group 'The 12 Days of Xmas Manis' (catchy title, huh?) and all I need now is some people to join me in it!

The way it would work is that there would be 12 prompts for 12 manis, posting every other day starting on the 1st December and finishing on the 23rd (leaving you Christmas Eve/Day free to enjoy!), hopefully with some inlinkz to join it all together. All are welcome, whether or not you celebrate Christmas itself! If you think you would be interested in this, please please please go and join the group here and help me choose the challenge prompts. Of course you can do as many or as few prompts as you like, I just thought it might be a bit of fun. Personally I'm going to aim for all 12, which will be a marathon effort for me!

Hope to see some of you joining me for festive frivolity!

~Nail Art Novice~

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Mish Mash Challenge Week 16-Faux Stone

I think this week will have collectively made us think more than all the others! There were lots of discussions around the subject on the Facebook group as to how exactly this one could be done, and I can't wait to see the results! I think a lot of people decided to try and recreate a precious stone on their nails (which will be fab!) but my brain took me in an altogether...sillier...direction. I used quite a lot of polishes so I won't list them all, but the background was Barry M-Blue Moon and the grass was a combination of Essie-Mojito Madness  and Rimmel-Emerald. The eyes and writing were, of course, done with my Barry M nail art pens..

I give you my pet rock colony:



Yeah...I do know the one on my thumb looks like a turd...

Now I am quite aware that this is thoroughly ridiculous, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head once I'd thought of it and so I just had to do it in the end. I think my rocks are really quite cute and they keep making me smile a lot because they're just so silly! Haha! Sometimes the silly ideas are the best, I reckon.

Don't forget to go and check out all the (much more sensible and beautiful) other faux stone manis in the inlinkz!

From me and my nine stoney pals, tata!

~Nail Art Novice~

Saturday 9 November 2013

When Autumn Leaves Start To Fall

I know we're heading along into winter but as we're not there yet I thought I'd take this opportunity to use a polish I've had forever and not had the chance to. I bought this last year in a Black Friday sale but it didn't arrive til Decemberish so it was no longer seasonally appropriate. I've had to wait for Autumn to roll around again before I can rock it on my nails-and it's gorgeous! Falling Leaves by Absolut Lacquer is a glitter topper with orange and yellow glitter pieces along with browny/red bar glitter and microglitters-I think it's lovely! I've used it here over a gradient of Barry M-Gold Foil, Rimmel-Gold Save The Queen and Avon-Fabulous-a perfect autumnal trio!





I love Autumn-it's my favourite season and I really like this mani too! I think I need to go and find a big pile of crisp Autumn leaves and photograph it with them (before jumping in, of course!).

Happy weekend!

~Nail Art Novice~

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Mish Mash Week 15-Holographic

Ooh I can't wait to see this week's entries, I love me some holo polishes, and I definitely don't own enough! They're so sparkly and gorgeous! I did acquire a new lovely scattered holo recently, and used it for the base of my mani. This is Tara's Talons-Ol' Blue Eyes and it's scrummy! For those of you who don't know Tara's Talons are a UK indie range (one of the first) full of hundreds of limited edition and one of a kind polishes and they're all pretty gorgeous! Seriously, don't click on that link if you value your bank balance, haha! This is two coats over a similar base colour (because holos tend to be on the sheer side) and then details/stamping with GOSH-Holographic Hero and MoYou London's Sailor-3 plate. Forgive me, I couldn't resist using them again because the patterns are gorgeous and they stamp so well!




Ooft, love this! Although I feel I should apologise-if you can see some weird 'shadows' on my right hand it's because I was lazy and just painted another layer of Ol' Blue Eyes on top when my first attempts went wrong rather than starting all over again =P

As a bonus, here's a shot of Ol' Blue Eyes on his gorgeous ownsome:


Oh holo polishes, you so pretty, I want to own all of you.

Don't forget to check out the other dazzling goodness in the inlinkz!

~Nail Art Novice~


Monday 4 November 2013

Ahoy Sailor

Hello lovelies! Hope you all had excellent weekends and your Monday isn't sucking too much! I had a fab time visiting friends and watching some gorgeous fireworks, many giggles were had.

Today I've got a simple stamping mani using my new MoYou London plates-you can't fail to have noticed these exploding all over the blogosphere at the moment, they're gorgeous designs and stamp really nicely. When I heard there was a 30% off sale on in October I had to bag myself a couple-this design is from the Sailor-3 plate. I used Bad Apple Cosmetics-Arlington (a gorgeous petrol-spill duochrome) for the base and stamped with Revlon-Silver Screen.




I'm kinda disappointed in Arlington-in the bottle it's got a lovely purple-blue-green shift as it moves through the light but on the nail it sort of looks like a flat green, although still a very pretty colour, I want duochromey goodness! I really love the MoYou plates though, the designs are are really good size for me (apart from my thumbs but you can't have it all!) and they're so pretty. I'm still quite a Novice at stamping but these are super easy to use!

That's all for me today,

~Nail Art Novice~

Friday 1 November 2013

Halloween Nail Art

Better late than never, ey!

I had intended to get these up yesterday but I ended up getting stranded in Sheffield at my boyfriend's house sans laptop so I've got them a day late. I used waaay to many polishes to list them all but my accents were Barry M-Satsuma with the Black Croc Effect on top and Rimmel-Trend Spotting topped off with the fab Pocket Money Polishes-I Put A Spell On You, which I just had to use because it's perfect for Halloween. I also couldn't have done these nails without my trusty Barry M nail art pen-they're seriously brilliant! For some of them I took ideas from this tutorial by cutepolish, and the rest I just made up as I went along.



And yes, that is a terrible pun name on my gravestone, I was quite proud of that, haha!

Hope you all had a fun Halloween and got more treats than tricks!

~Nail Art Novice~


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