A-Z Challenge: Fashion

Hello loves!

So I missed last week's A-Z challenge because I just couldn't get what I wanted to actually work and gave up in the end. But I'm joining back in today!
I didn't want to do a mani directly inspired by a dress or pattern because I did that for my Copycat mani, so I did something a little different instead.

The base for these is Freckles Polish-Ben Dover from her new Prank Call collection. It's a really deep shimmery navy which I think is really pretty! I topped it with Let It Glitter!-Golden Star which is another wintery polish that I really like. On my accents I have also got Essence-Sparkling Water Lily which is a really pretty shimmery white. I also used my old faithfuls-my Barry M nail art pens-for the details.

What do you think? Fun, no?

Happy-it's-nearly-Friday!

~Nail Art Novice~

Glitter Me Monday: China Glaze-But Of Corpse

Hello lovelies!

I got this lovely polish through Coloristiq and when I added it to my wish list I had this exact mani in mind. All in all it was quite quick and simple to do-two coats of But Of Corpse and then the rest I did with my Barry M nail art pen (and a couple of dots of Coconut for the eyes). BoC has a fairly matte finish so I added a matte topcoat to finish everything off and Voila! Adorable Frankenstein's monsters! I thought they were quite fitting given the name =p

I don't think the real Frankenstein's monster would be quite as chipper as these ones are (he was a bit angsty in the book) but I think they're cute! And I really like that green (of course I do, haha!)-I'm sad I have to give it back in a couple of weeks.

Happy Monday!

~Nail Art Novice~

Glitter Me Mondays: Dark Metal Lacquer-U-Fig

Hello lovelies, happy (?) Monday to you!

For this week's GMM I just really fancied doing something silly again as I haven't done any daft nail art in a while. The glitter I'm using as my base is Dark Metal Lacquer-U-Fig which is from a new (to me!) British indie and I won it and a couple of  others in her end of summer giveaway. It's an almost khaki green full of tiny black microglitters that reminds me of kiwi fruits. I used three coats because the first looked a bit patchy but it filled in really nicely with a second (and the third was just to get a couple of bits I'd missed). Once it was on my nails I realised it was just crying out to be turned into silly monsters! For the eyes I used Sally Hansen-Man-go Team!, Collection-Look At Me! and Maybelline-Ceramic Blue plus Rimmel-Rose Libertine for the tongues. The black and white details were (of course) done using my Barry M nail art pens, and I added a layer of Rimmel's matte topcoat to finish.

Hehe! What do you think? I love fun nail art like this sometimes. I really like the glitter too, I think it's one that wouldn't be for everyone but it's definitely for me!

Here's a shot before I matted it so you can see the glitter in all its glory (this is with a coat of Seche Vite, it's actually a bit matte itself without topcoat)-it's really different to anything I've seen before but I like it!

See you soon!

~Nail Art Novice~

Rara Does Alice In Wonderland Nails

Welcome back Jenni!!!!!
I have missed your face (and your nails!) Hoping to see some more beautiful creations soon!

So my news this week is that I have left the (horrible) job I have been stuck in for two years and started a new one at Boots! I am really looking forward to the new challenges and meet new people. Also can't wait for the discount on nail varnish haha!
So after my first week, I feel saturated with new information and decided to take a break this weekend and do some nail art. I decided to do Alice In Wonderland nails because my week feels slightly mad and disorientating!! Please ignore my slightly fat Alice, she has had too much tea and cake!

A lot of polishes used again so if you want to know any in particular please comment below and I will be happy to tell you.

Looking forward to my new adventures,
Rara in Wonderland

31WNAC 5-Blue

Hello lovelies! Hope you're all having an awesome Friday bank hol and have been enjoying the sun-I am a little pink around the cheeks from it, oops!
It's Blue week in the 31 Week Nail Art Challenge and this colour/glitter combo is something I've been wanting to do for a while. I've used Rimmel-Out Of The Blue and paired it with the very lovely Pocket Money Polishes-Alien Like You which is one of the very last ones I got before Charlie closed her doors in January (sob!). To go with the Alien theme I've done some accents in Maybelline-Ceramic Blue, Collection-Look At Me!, Revlon-Silver Screen and Rimmel-Double Decker Red.

The flash on my camera seems to sort of 'flatten' the glitter a little, so I took one in more natural light (complete with my kitchen worktop in the background!) to show it off to its full, lovely, potential:

These nails are so much fun, I've had a couple of comments on them and I just LOVE flashing that glitter around in the sun too =D

Here's a reminder of the 31WNAC prompts, come back next week for 'Purple'.

Enjoy the rest of your Easter Weekend!

~Nail Art Novice~

Fairy Cakes Nail Art

Hello lovelies!
This will have to be a quick post as I am running out the door in about 10 mins so please forgive me if I don't talk much!
I got one of the Nails Inc Sprinkles polishes from ebay the other day and thought it would be perfect for this nail art!

Polishes used: Barry M-Prickly Pear, Sinful Colors-Amethyst, Revlon-Blue Lagoon, Barry M-Cobalt Blue, Revlon-Sunshine Sparkle/Electric, Rimmel-Peppermint, Barry M-Greenberry, Rimmel-Tangy Tangerine, Barry M-Satsuma, Barry M-Matt White, Nails Inc-Sweets Way and Rimmel-Movie Star

I have to say these are making me really happy, which is good cos today I'm just having one of those days where you want to curl up in a ball under your quilt and wish the world would go away, so these are very welcome at the end of my fingers!

As I said, sorry for the brevity, but gotta dash!

~Nail Art Novice~

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~

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~

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~

British Nail Bloggers Halloween Challenge

The British Nail Bloggers are having a mini, no pressure, Halloween Nail Art Challenge, and I thought I'd get in on today's prompt which is 'What's lurking in the dark?' with some simple nail art inspired by My Little Canvas. I used two coats of W7-Black for the base and then added white eyes with Barry M-Matt White. On top of the white I added a coat of Astral Lights glow in the dark polish (it's about 10 years old!) and then 'irises' in Barry M-Mango, Key Lime, Rimmel-Rose Libertine and Revlon-Electric. Once these were dry I added pupils with my black Barry M nail art pen.

Haha, these are utterly ridiculous but I'm really enjoying them! Check out the other cool designs in the inlinkz too!

~Nail Art Novice~

Introducing Nelly Polishes!

I have genuinely no idea how I stumbled across Nelly Polishes but when I did I was immediately intrigued because they are billed as 'the world's first dried nail polish!'-I mean wouldn't you want to know what it was all about?! The scientist in me just had to know more-so I read some reviews and I read all about them on their site, and then I went on their Etsy page and helped myself to five bottles-oops! 

You can buy Nelly polish (from their Etsy shop) in three ways-in a sachet form (which you add to 10mls of any clear polish of your choice), dried in the bottle (which you add the clear polish to) or pre-made in the bottles (UK only). I went for the dried in the bottle version-although slightly more expensive than the sachets it would mean I wouldn't have to find bottles to put them in, plus I loved the logo on the side!

This is how they arrived:

L-R: Gumpas, Jonah's Green, Teal Holo, Bodmin, Autumn Teal

Autumn Teal

As you can see they're sort of pigmented powders at this stage, of the same sort of consistency of loose eyeshadow powders. Next came the fun part-adding the clear polish to them. I used L.A Colors clear polish, for the simple reason that it was cheap (£1/bottle) and easily available to me in the pharmacy around the corner. And it was not a tidy process-there was a LOT of mess. L.A Colors come in 13ml bottles so I had to use a syringe to get the right amount into the Nelly bottles and there was clear polish and little bits of coloured powder and glitter everywhere by the time I was done. My polishes have all ended up with different fill levels because of it, but I like knowing that I got to mix them myself-it was kinda fun! It also gave me a new kind of respect for indie makers-shaking them all by hand until they were mixed properly was a bit of a work out, phew!

This was what they looked like once I'd added the clear polish to them all:

L-R: Gumpas, Jonah's Green, Teal Holo, Bodmin, Autumn Teal

and as you can see, the colour of the original powders is no real indication of the colour they will be once they're finished.

The polishes come out like jellys-sheer but build up opacity fairly well in most cases, although I personally would wear them over a base colour because I'm not a fan of VNL. They dry to a semi-matte finish which is perfectly wearable on its own, but they really come alive with a layer of glossy topcoat, I think. I had some trouble with a couple of mine being quite thick at first, which I think is probably due to them getting less clear polish than they should have done, but once I added a couple of drops of polish thinner this smoothed out just fine. I also noticed some undissolved powder with the first couple of uses but I just popped the lid back on and gave it another good shake and this seems to have resolved the problem!
The awesome thing about these polishes is that they can be shipped anywhere in the world legally-because the dried versions are totally safe to transport (It's the solvents in nail varnishes that mean that they're "dangerous" to move around!). They're also really different-I've not seen colour combinations like this before.

You can buy Nelly Polishes from their Etsy store here-the dried sachets of mix are £3, the mixes in the bottles are £4.50 and the pre-made polishes are £5.50 (only available in the UK). There's also a 20% off sale running for the rest of October-so get them while they're hot! I've got swatches of my five coming up over the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for them!

Wishing you a good weekend!

~Nail Art Novice~

Quack Quack!

Hello Lovelies! Rara here again. I've got some fun rubber duck nails for you all today.

Polishes used were Avon-Grey Flash (a beautiful grey colour with shinies in, and it only needs one coat!), Avon-Inspire, Barry M-Atlantic Road (one of their textured polishes), Barry M-Mango (from their Gelly line) and Barry M-Sequinned White plus my Andrea Fulerton Dot and Flick in black.

I fancied something cute today so I decided on rubber ducks-a firm favourite theme between myself and Novice.

I used a dotting tool to create the ducks and then a small brush for their tiny wings. And who can say no to a few sparkles? So I added the bubbles above the ducks with a sequin in each one. 
I love these already and they've only been on my nails for about 10 minutes-I can tell I'll be staring at them all day at work tomorrow!

Until next time, 

~Rara~


Don't forget to enter Novice's Giveaway here! 

Rara's Goin' On A Summer Holiday...

Right now Rara is off sunning herself (hopefully) in Cornwall on her summer hols (lucky thing!) and she came over the other day and did some beach themed holiday nails for her trip. She took inspiration from these nails by The Crafty Ninja and these which she found on Google+ but are un-watermarked. (If anyone knows who did them originally, please let me know so I can credit them).
She used a myriad of polishes and I can't find the list where I wrote them all down so I'm just going to tell you the ones I remember for now. If anyone has a burning desire to know the colours specifically, just ask and I will try and be helpful! I know the sky is Revlon-Blue Lagoon and the 'beach' colour is Barry M-Lychee. The white of the beach ball was Barry M-Matt White and all the black and white details were done with nail art pens-both Barry M and Andrea Fulerton. She started by painting all her nails blue then sponging on the Lychee when that was dry. Then she just freehanded on the rest of the details using a dotting tool and a paintbrush.
Enough chatter, on to the pictures!

From thumb to little finger she's got a beach ball, some palm trees and hammock (possibly not in Cornwall!), a beach hut, a sandcastle and a starfish. Aren't they fab? I think my favourite is the sandcastle.

I hope she's having a lovely time away and I'm definitely not jealous at all! Haha. Are you going anywhere nice this summer?

~Rara & Nail Art Novice~

Ridiculousness for Red Nose Day

Today is Red Nose Day in Britain where people across the country "do something funny for money"-trying to raise as much as we can as a nation to help vulnerable people both in the UK and third world countries. It's one of the things that makes me proud to be British-every year we have two massive fundraisers, one in March (Comic/Sports Relief) and one in November (Children in Need) and no matter how much of a recession we're in we always raise millions to help those who aren't as lucky as we are. I haven't done anything interesting this year but I will be donating some money, even if I can't afford much.

Every year they sell red noses to help raise money too, which are always a bit silly and fun-this year's are dinosaurs! This inspired me to do some Red Nose Day nail art complete with some ridiculous extra features which I've always wanted to try out-this gives me the perfect excuse!

Polishes used: Rimmel Wear Maxx-Serene (gorgeous shimmery shiny white), Rimmel Wear Maxx-Celebrity Bash (a beautiful dark blood red-I'm a sucker for these! Both these polishes cost me just £1 each from Poundworld-bargain!), Rimmel I Heart Lasting Finish-Double Decker Red, Colour Me-Colour Me White and details with my L.A Colors Art Deco striper.

This is 3 coats of Serene, it's very sheer but also very very pretty-almost pearly.

Next I added spots using Celebrity Bash and painted my accents with Double Decker Red. I'm still not great at getting my dots perfectly spread out and sized equally but I guess it comes with practice. I added white eyes to my accents and black pupils and smiles. Then I added my ridiculous features to my thumbs and voila! This is what I was left with:

GOOGLY EYES!! =D

My red noses with one of this year's Di-NOSE-saurs

I'm not expecting the googly eyes to stay on very long as they're not secured with anything other than a blob of topcoat underneath/round the edges but I love the fact that they look completely absurd and wonderful. I can't help but love this silly mani, it's just awesome. 

Are you guys doing anything for Red Nose Day?

~Nail Art Novice~