ABC Challenge: T is for Tulips

Hello lovely readers! Sorry I've been absent recently, as I said on Thursday I had some work over the weekend which was really good, but as I was leaving the house at 6:30am and not getting back til after 8pm I really couldn't be bothered to do much in the evenings but curl up and sleep! I'm back now though and have lots of plans for some fun nail art things, yay.

I knew exactly which polish I wanted to use for this challenge, even though it's not strictly a 'T' name-Above the Curve's beautiful Field of Tulips that I bought for myself in their sale about a month ago. It's a pale green polish full of hundreds of different coloured glitter pieces and it's super pretty! I also added some tulip nail art to my accent nails.

Other polishes used: OPI-Thanks A Windmillion as a background colour/base for my glitter, No7-Siren, Collection 2000-Damson Jam, Rimmel-Sunshine and OPI-Don't Mess With OPI for the leaves.

Here's what I came up with:

As you can see, the little tulips on my right hand aren't quite as good as the ones on my left but I'm  gstill overall pretty happy with the way this turned out. I love that glitter and it's really nice to have colourful nails again after a weekend of plainish grey ones.

Hope you're all enjoying this glorious bank holiday/Memorial Day weather!

~Nail Art Novice~

P.S Please would you take a moment to go and vote for me and Rara (Jenni and Sarah) in this competition? We really would like to win but we're lagging behind somewhat. Get your mum to vote get your dad to vote, get your sisters, brothers, nan, dog, everyone you know to vote, pleeeease. All I can offer in return is my undying gratitude and love (and some Irish-themed nail art, of course!), but I would be so grateful! It'd be so awesome if we won.

Don't forget to go and check out all the other amazing 'T' creations:

One Hot Mother

Guys, why did no-one tell me that holo polishes were SO FREAKING PRETTY? Honestly, I have not stopped staring at my nails in the 24hours I've been wearing this polish. I'm definitely in love. The rainbows and the sparkles and the prettiness! Within about 5 minutes of applying it this happened:

*applies 1st holo polish, looks down at nails* "OMG I need more of these!" THEY'RE SO PRETTY!
— Nail Art Novice (@NailArtNovice) April 30, 2013

So...yeah. I've just banned myself from buying polishes and now I want ALL the holos-sad times.

This is (of course) Above The Curve-Mother Earth and she's beautiful. For starters she's a lovely-but-hard-to-describe nude/tan/bronzey/coppery/gold colour in different lights. Then there's the holo effect which I am constantly in awe of. I really wish I'd thought to get some pictures of this baby in the sunshine, because she lit up like the sun. I know that a lot of people probably think I'm going a bit OTT but I've never worn a holo polish before-don't you remember how magical your first time was? Cut a girl some slack, ey? =p
This is 3-4 coats, and there's still a hint of nail line in some of the pics. I guess she might need an under layer in future (does that work?).

Anyway. PICTURES.

Can I get an Ooft?
I really want to keep her on forever and ever, it makes me rather sad to know she has to come off tomorrow so I can paint my nails for my show. SIGH.

I think I've definitely found my new love!!

~Nail Art Novice~

A Few Things

~PIC HEAVY POST~

Hello!
No Try Something Tuesday this week, but for good reasons (explained later, I promise), I thought I should mention a few things instead:

• Firstly you won't be seeing any of Rara's lovely nails for a while because she broke her wrist on Saturday =( She's all plastered up and feeling a bit miserable, so please send her lots of get well messages!
• I'm going to be away this weekend as I am performing in this: http://boxoffice.brightonfringe.org/event.aspx?evId=4891#container at the Brighton Fringe festival, (which you should all come and see if you live nearby =p) so won't be around to post anything from Friday-Monday. Fear not! I have got a guest post lined up for you so there's something fun to look at whilst I'm away =)
• I have now put myself on an indefinite polish ban-until I've paid all my debts off! (To friends, I mean, not student loans!) The reasons for this will become very clear shortly. And as I'm not the richest person in the world this might be for a good couple of months! (The only exception I am allowing myself to this is a white Barry M pen if I come across one, because they're SO useful for nail art, but that's IT.) Also I figure if I tell you guys then I have to stick to it, don't I?
• In other news I have a job interview tomorrow! (Hence why I haven't done the TST I had originally planned, as I need work appropriate nails) It's only for a part time job but money is money and it's better than nothing at this stage! Please keep your fingers crossed for me lovelies =)

Now onto why I decided that I needed to ban myself:

I popped into H&M yesterday to pick up their Matte top coat (I need matte black nails for my show and didn't own a matte top coat) on a recommendation from Charlie from Pocket Money Polishes. Whilst I was there a couple of other polishes happened to make their way into my hands...

L-R: H&M Matte Top Coat, H&M Glitter-Blue,
H&M-Silver Frost

(I realise now I've uploaded this picture that you can't actually see what Silver Frost is-it's a silver glitter topper with small hexes and microglitter in a clear base.)
I'd wanted the Blue glitter since I saw it used on Fairly Charming's blog with underwater themed nail art on it-it's the perfect 'water' colour and really different to anything I've seen anywhere else! I'm not 100% sold on the bar glitter toppers that are popular at the mo, I can't help but think they look a bit hairy, but this is really lovely! All of these polishes were £1.99 so I reckon I got a bargain really!

Then I had to go and get my watch battery changed, and the little stall was right outside a new beauty store I'd not been in before. I went in solely with the intention of asking if they had any acetone (they didn't) but then my eye was caught by the polishes and I was lost.

Top Row L-R: Revlon-Blue Lagoon, La Femme Beauty Unnamed x2,
Revlon-Emerald City
Bottom Row L-R: Cairuo-Green Tea 22, Cairuo-Blueberry 16,
Cairuo-Blueberry 19

Those Cairuo's say they're 12mls on the front, but they're definitely not! They're about the same size as the smaller Rimmel bottles, which are 8ml. They're nice colours though, and were cheap so can't complain (even if I can't pronounce the name!). Geordie Nails has some swatches of two of these shades up at the mo. These were all £1 apart from the Revlons which were £2.50 I think.

Here's a close up shot of those pretty glitters, I'm so sad they don't have names though! (As far as I can tell they don't even have numbers!)

The one on the left has purple microglitters with turquoise and gold small hexes, and the one on the right has green and blue microglitters with hexes in red, pink, yellow and blue. 

Then when I arrived at home worn out with my day's shopping I discovered I had a package from Fragrance Direct with my new OPIs in-I couldn't resist when I saw them up there for only £3.99! They've got most of the Texas and Holland collections, with a few others.

L-R I Don't Give A Rotterdam, I Juggle...Men, I Have A Herring
Problem, Thanks a Windmillion

I've wanted Windmillion for ages now, it's a lovely shade of green. I couldn't choose between Rotterdam and Herring Problem so got both, and Juggle Men is a pretty iridescent shimmer topper which I think will look awesome over darker colours! 

Finally, after all that, I knew I had to do a post with them all in. But THEN when I woke up this morning I'd received some Awesome nail mail from Above the Curve with my beautiful new indies in, so I thought I'd add those too. For those who don't know ATC you should check them out, they make some really beautiful glitters and holos, and $1 from every bottle of polish is donated to a charity that helped the founder when she was younger.

L-R: Mother Earth, Field of Tulips

Can you believe that this is my FIRST EVER holo polish? I'd wanted one for ages and never really could afford one, or find sites that shipped them to the UK so I treated myself when ATC had a sale on a few weeks ago. It's a beautiful browny/coppery coloured holo with the full rainbow effect and I love it! It's what I am going to wear to my interview tomorrow because it's neutral enough to be work appropriate but still incredible!
As for Field of Tulips? I don't understand why I can't find any swatches of this floating around the blogsphere, it's so pretty! In the photo the glitters have settled where it was lying during transport but on the nail it has all those colours in a pale minty green base and it's lovely! I took a couple of swatch shots to show you them better too.

Field of Tulips, 3 coats

Mother Earth, 2 coats

So yes. I definitely am no longer allowed to buy polishes, especially as I have another 3 on their way to me in the post, Royal Mail permitting! I dread to think how much I've spent on polishes this month-Fragrance Direct have had a lot of it, so they're going to wonder what's happened to their profits over the next few months! But it's something I definitely need to do because I really don't have the money to spend on them, and I can't really warrant it when I owe lots of people lots of money. 

So that's you all caught up! I'm gonna head off now, but will try and get another post up before I leave on Friday!

~Nail Art Novice~