Glitter Me Monday-Firey Chevrons

Hello loves, happy Monday!

It's nearly bonfire night in the UK (one of my favourite nights of the year!) and I decided it was the perfect time for me to use these polishes together-the names and colours are really appropriate!

On the left is Tara's Talons-Bonfire and on the right is Dollish Polish-I Volunteer As Tribute (although personally I think this one should be called Girl On Fire, because it's just exactly how I imagine Katniss' dress in the second book. I realise if you've never read The Hunger Games that will mean nothing to you...). Both of these are full of firey glitters and I thought they really needed to be paired up.

I've done a chevron mani over a base of Barry M-Coconut (I really need to get a back up bottle of that bad boy!) using some guides I got from ebay ages ago.

What do you think? I think they're perfect for bonfire night and I'm looking forward to seeing all the fireworks on Wednesday!

~Nail Art Novice~

You can get Dollish Pollish here and Tara's Talons polishes here and you can currently get 30% off Tara's with the code 'Halloween' at the checkout!

Glitter Me Monday: Autumn Glitters

Hello lovelies!

I've been a very lazy blogger and not posted anything all week, oops! I did do my nails but just couldn't find the motivation to sort the pictures out and get them uploaded =(

BUT I am back and will hopefully be getting them all sorted and up here over the next week to make up for it so YAY.

For today's GMM I used lots of autumnal polishes/glitters-I LOVE autumn and so this mani made me very happy! I did some gradients using the Barry M autumnal gellies in Mustard, Paprika, Chilli and Cocoa. On my accents I used a coat of China Glaze-White Cap and then added some autumnal leaf nail vinyls which were from Make It Stick Designs. On my other fingers I used a variety of Autum glitters-Tara's Talons-Chocolate Orange, Nelly Polishes-Prototype and Absolut Lacquer-Falling Leaves.

What do you reckon? I kinda love these if I'm honest, they remind me of scrunching through leaves and large mugs of warming drinks. I love these sorts of colours together and they went together really well in the gradients.

What's your favourite season?

~Nail Art Novice~

Tara's Talons NEW COLLECTIONS swatches

~PIC HEAVY POST~
~Items in this post were sent to me for my honest review~

Hello lovelies!
Today I have some exciting swatches from Tara's new collections. Tara's Talons is re-opening on Sunday at 1 minute past midnight and she has four new collections on offer for you. Today I have swatches of polishes from the Autumn and Return of the Randoms collections, and there's also a halloween collection based on the movie Scream and a topcoats collection featuring four different top coats to make your manis look even more fabulous.

First up is Back To School from the autumn collection. This is three coats. It's a grey crelly with what looks like at first just black mini glitters in it but when you get it on you notice that there are some blues and holoy glitters hidden in there too.

Application was smooth and easy although the finish was a little rough, but nothing that a layer of topcoat couldn't fix! This was in one of Tara's new mini bottles-still 5mls but now round so they match her larger ones-and with new shiny labels too! 

Next up is Blackberry-also from the Autumn collection. Again this is three coats, although I only needed two for opacity. It's a gorgeous purple with a fuchsia shimmer and plum coloured hexes.

This one went on really smoothly and has a really gorgeous shiny colour. It's really opaque-almost a one coater. The only "problem" (for want of a better word) I found was that as it was so opaque the hexes got lost in multiple layers and just added a strange bumpy texture to the nail instead (you can kind of see this at the top left of my middle nail-although it was more noticeable in person). I'd say thin coats or a single coat over undies would be the best way to wear this one if you didn't want that to happen. 

This next polish is Luxe from the Return of the Randomness collection. I really like this one! It's a bright aqua cream with gold microglitters throughout and the effect is so pretty! Three thin coats shown here:

This one has a slightly tricky formula in that it dried fairly quickly, so thin coats are needed and you have to work quite fast as you do so. It dries ever so slightly matte so needs a lick of shiny topcoat to bring out its full potential-but I think it's really lovely! I can see me wearing this one a lot.

Last but not least is Rainbows which is also from the Return of the Randomness collection. A gorgeous glitter bomb of every colour and size of glitter in a bottle. One coat over Back to School and two over Barry M-Crush.

Even from the mini bottle I had no trouble getting glitter onto my brush-it came out well loaded with the bigger shapes every time. I had to space them out a little given the tendency to clump together but that's how it is with all glitter bombs like this. Personally I think everyone should own at least one polish like this one because they're fun and bright and awesome. I'm loving them over autumnal colours right now too.

So that's my swatches, which one's your fave?

You can buy all these and many many moreTara's Talons from her Etsy store which will open at 0:01 on Sunday morning and she's having a 50% off sale to celebrate her re-opening! When you make an order enter the code BACK50 to get the discount, but the sale is only on for 24 hours! Don't worry though, if you miss it you can still use my blogger code to get 15% off any order after that. Just enter NailArtNovice at the checkout =)

Welcome back Tara!

~Nail Art Novice~

Glitter Me Mondays: Tara's Talons-The Mill Creek Killer

Hello loves,
Yet another week when I didn't manage to get this up on Monday but hey ho. I'm failing at blogging a bit at the moment because I keep getting distracted and doing things at the weekend and not getting posts scheduled-doh. I can't complain too much though, I had a great time this weekend cos my friend spontaneously decided to visit and take me to the seaside!

This week's GMM is another Tara's Talons because I love them and also because I have a lot of untried ones (I spoiled myself a little in her closing down sale!). This one's lovely-a black jelly base with blue and green glitters of various sizes in. It would layer well but I chose to wear it over a couple of coats of W7-Black to make life easier.

It's so sparkly! I love how it catches the light as I move.

Don't forget that Tara's Talons is RE-OPENING on the 21st September, and I should be able to give you a sneek peek at some of the polishes soon. Make sure you are following her on her Facebook page to get all the details, and tell your friends too as she's having a giveaway when she reaches a certain amount of followers!

As for me? I'm just going to try and get my blog posts back on track, so hopefully next week this will actually be posted on MONDAY, haha! We shall see...

~Nail Art Novice~

Glitter Me Monday: Tara's Talons-Merryweather

Hello lovelies!
I'm glossing swiftly over the fact that this is being posted on Tuesday and moving straight onto this week's GORGEOUS glitter. This one's from Tara's Villains and Heros collection (part two) from earlier this year and I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it. It's a bluey/purpley base with twinkly yellow/greeny glitters in and OH it's pretty! I used three coats alone here, I was going to do some nail art on top but I liked it too much!

These photos really don't do it justice, there's a lot more sparkle going on that for some reason my camera just didn't want to pick up-they're kinda mesmerising in person actually. There's a better photo of this gorgeousness on my instagram over here if you're interested.

Ugh,I just love this one. I already know she's going to be a pain in the bum to remove but I like her so much I think I might even forgive her that.

Oh and have you heard the good news? Tara is reopening on the 21st of this month with a grand opening sale! Make sure you like her Facebook page here for all the details/up to date news =)

~Nail Art Novice~

31 Week Nail Art Challenge 15-Delicate

Hey loves =)

Originally the only thing I could think of for this challenge was stamping as I have some fairly "delicate" looking flowery stamps on my MoYou London Pro plates but then I remebered the saran wrap (cling film!) technique and was really glad I did. Delicate to me implies girly, pale colours so that's what I used! My base was Barry M-Vanilla, which is one of their matte range from last autumn, and a pinky-nude sort of colour. On top of that I did a saran wrap mani using Barry M-Prickly Pear, Tara's Talons-Christmas Fairy and Revlon-Silver Screen. I then topped it all off with some China Glaze-Fairy Dust for a little added sparkle!

Now this is really really girly and subtle which means it's not like any of my normal manis at all but I really like it! There's something about the shiny shimmeryness of it that really catches the eye and I think all the layers of colour have added up to be a really nice colour. I reckon this would definitely be work appropriate but with that little bit of sparkle it's quite glam too!

What do you reckon? Do you like Saran wrap manis or loathe em?

~Nail Art Novice~

Glitter Me Monday: Tara's Talons-Fun House

Hello my lovelies! Finally getting my nails back on my blog again after more than a month! I had a fantastic time in Australia but my nails have really suffered for it and are now back to being nubbins again-boo!
In a bid to use up some of my many many glitter toppers, I am introducing a new feature to my blog-Glitter Me Mondays-where each week I will use a different glitter topper or glitter polish. I reckon it could take me a fair while to get through them all!

For the first Monday I have gone with a really cheerful polish to brighten up my little nubs-Tara's Talons-Fun House. It's an explosion of different colours and shapes of glitters and it's just a little bit mad and I love it! I've gone for two coats over Barry M-Kiwi  (definitely becoming a summer favourite of mine!) so together they're a really bright splash of colour.

I don't even mind my poor, short nails with this combo, so bright and fun =)

Don't forget that I have a Tara's Talons giveaway going on at the moment and that you can do some nail art as an entry option. I currently haven't had any entries this way so there's a good chance of winning if you do ;)

~Nail Art Novice~

Rara's Holiday Nails

The week before Jenni went to Oz I went to Turkey so obviously I had to do some bright holiday nails!I did contemplate doing turkeys but decided to stick to a bright and simple gradient mani.

I used the following polishes; Tara's Talons-Super Soaker, Nails Inc-Big Red Apple, Essie-Fear and Desire, Nails Inc-Belsize Park, Nails Inc-Uptown Glamour and Tara's Talons-Fairy. I also used the Vinyl Boutique palm tree decals.Totally love these decals they're so easy to use and look fantastic!

I thought the blue would act as the sky making its way down through the colours to the gold as the sand.

I am pretty pleased with how these turned out and I they sparkled in the sun really prettily!

Not long now til Jenni gets back!

~Rara~

Rara's TETRIS Nails

Hello lovelies!

As you probably know Jenni is away in Australia and having a marvellous time I would imagine!! So I have done a few manis for her so she didn't have to do a whole month worth of manis before she went! By the way....I MISS YOUR FACE JENNI!! Come back sooooon!

Anyway for this mani, I took my inspiration from someone who I follow on Instagram...Dahlia Nails. I haven't been following long but I have seen about 10 of their manis that I already want to attempt! My first try was the copy their Tetris nails. They did theirs without the black outline but I thought it would be easier for me to draw the shapes with the black first and then fill them in.

I drew the shapes with my Andrea Fulerton black pen and then used the following colours for the shapes; Barry M-Guava, Tara's Talons-Super Soaker, Nails Inc-Big Red Apple, Nails Inc-Belsize Park, Nails Inc-Notting Hill Gate and Nails Inc-Westbourne Grove. Before I started I assigned each colour to a shape so it all matched over each of my fingers!

I really liked this mani, the only thing I didn't like was that not all the shapes were uniformly sized (OCD ALERT) some of my long straight shapes were twice the size of each other and it didn't look right in my eyes! However I did like how bright it was and I couldn't stop looking at it!

I am not sure I managed to recreate Dahlia Nails' perfect Tetris nails but I did give it a good try!

~Rara~

Rara's Nautical Nails

Helloooo again!

For this mani I used Nails Inc-Big Red Apple, Tara's Talons-Supersoaker and a base of Barry M-Matt White. Also I used the anchor decals from The Vinyl Boutique. As you can see I recently bought some vinyl decals and I have been playing! I have never used them before so I was really pleased with how easy and simple they were to use especially to a complete beginner like me!

I used striping tape to do the lines on the accent nails but as I am very impatient and don't have a fast dry topcoat I always end up pulling the base coat off when I remove the tape and have to fill in the holes I have left behind!

I decided to only use my accent nails for the decals and I am glad I did because I think it makes the design look more striking!

This was a really quick and easy mani to do and I love all things nautical so it made me very happy!

*note to self* buy a fastdry topcoat!

~Rara~

Rara's Zigzags and Lightning Bolts

Hello all! Rara here again! Thought I'd do some blogs for Jenni while she was away, keep an eye out for them =)

Polishes used Barry M-Guava and Nails Inc-Belsize Park. I also added Tara's Talons-Fairy over the top of the bolts. Zigags and Lightening bolt decals from the vinyl boutique.

I loved this mani and I got loads of compliments on it (mainly from men which was weird!) It reminded me of Usain Bolt because the yellow turned the blue into a green and it kinda reminded me of the Jamaican Flag!I kept this mani on for ages and ages because I loved the strikingness (yes that is a word) of it!!

~Rara~

Tara's Talons-Not A Custom, Hook, Vegas Baby! and Cloudy Skies

~VERY Pic Heavy Post~
~Products in this post were sent to me for my honest review~

This posts comes tinged with sadness for me-this is my Tara's Talons Team welcome box which I received yesterday and I was really excited to be starting this new venture with one of my absolute favourite indie makers. Today, however, Tara announced she was temporarily closing her shop due to personal reasons, which is absolutely gutting! One way or another this has not been a great week for indie makers but boy did this one hit hard-I'm really going to miss Tara's lovely creations!

Onto nicer things though-the package! I got some lovely things-polishes, hand cream, some jewellery and some nail arty bits and bobs-but I'm just showing you the polishes today. I'm going to try and not be too wordy and just let the lovely pictures speak for themselves! I will say though that I had no problems applying any of them-they all had a lovely formula and went on great. I didn't fish for any glitters-even in Vegas Baby!-although I did place them onto the nails because they wanted to clump together somewhat-but that's what chunky glitters always do so not an issue!

OK, picture time!

Not A Custom-Accents: 3 coats alone, Others: 2 coats over Rimmel-Red Obsession

Hook-Accents: 3 coats alone, Others: 1 coat over Barry M-Navy

Vegas Baby!-So much going on in this one! Definitely managed to capture the gaudy opulence of Vegas! Two coats over Rimmel-Moonwalking and two coats over Sinful Colors-Cool Grey

Cloudy Skies-Brother to Clear Skies, made on my suggestion to Tara! Two coats over Sinful Colors-Cool Grey (for opacity)

So there you go! I really love them all, even Vegas Baby! which surprised me given how pink it is, but it's so sparkly and lovely that it totally won me over!

If you want to grab yourself a bargain and secure yourself some TTs for the last time (at least in a while) then head on over to her Etsy store before it closes at Midnight! Use the code SUMMER at the checkout to get 50% off your order-but hurry-the shelves are emptying fast!

I just wanted to say a huge thankyou to Tara for the opportunities she's given me to work with her and all the beautiful polishes she's made. I wish her all the best and hope she will return to polish making soon, because the world will be a lot less sparkly and a lot less lovely without her and her creations in it. I don't think I've gone a single month without featuring a TT polish on my blog since I got my very first one, and I certainly don't think I will in the near future either! Tara-we all love you! Thankyou for being the first UK Indie and for making so many people so happy! It's been amazing working with you (however briefly) and I will treasure all my TTs for years to come. 

~Nail Art Novice~

Rawr!

Hello lovelies! Hope you've all been having wonderful weekends in the sunshine! It's been lovely!
I've got a fun combination today that's really making me smile. I used Tara's Talons-Don't Be Jel (again from my Treasure Trove, although Tara deliberately included it for me as I liked it so much!) and then on my accents I added some awesome dinosaur vinyl stickers from Make It Stick Designs. Nail vinyls are all the rage at the moment and I went browsing through Etsy (dangerous!) the other day looking for some I liked. Make It Stick have loads of choices and also loads of different colours, and I just couldn't resist these little dinos (and a few others too, oops!).

How cute is this little tricey? =D

There are four different dinosaurs in the pack and I used one of each for this mani-aren't they cute?! I have to say I really love this-the base is lovely (jam packed with green and yellow glitters of various sizes) and I am LOVING the dinos too =D

Whaddya reckon?

~Nail Art Novice~

Tara's Talons-Clear Skies

This is one of the polishes I received  in my Tara's Talons Treasure Trove box and I couldn't wait to use it! I had liked it since I saw Tara's pictures of it when she announced her Spring collection and knew it had to be mine!

It's a gorgeous bright blue jelly jam packed with white glitters of various shapes and sizes-a jelly sandwich in a bottle! This is 3 (or possibly four?) coats and there's still a fair amount of VNL in the photos, but it was hardly noticeable in reality. I think in future usage I will use a layer of similar coloured undies to reduce the amount of layers needed, though!

Isn't it pretty?! I was going to do some nail art over the top but in the end I decided I didn't want to because I really liked it as it is! It got me lots of compliments too, lots of non-nail people couldn't understand how I'd done it and it's very eye catching. Basically I love it!

You can get Clear Skies and many many other pretty polishes from the Tara's Talons Etsy shop but don't blame me if you end up bankrupt, haha!

What do you reckon? Do you love Clear Skies or is this type of polish not for you?

~Nail Art Novice~

Tara's Talons Treasure Trove!

Last month Tara's Talons turned 1 year old and to celebrate Tara ran a competition where you sent in photos of her polishes to help her celebrate. I was lucky enough to be picked as one of her winners and today I received my prize-a Tara's Talons Treasure Trove goodie box! It also contained some polishes that I'd ordered so it was a bit of a huge (and really exciting!) haul =D

This was what was waiting for me when I opened the box. This is a photo from my phone because I was far too excited to think about finding my camera at this point, haha! Four of those parcels are from my order but there's still loads from the Treasure Trove itself! I got two full size TT polishes, three minis, a black nail art pen/detailing brush and some cuticle oil PLUS some striping tape, some caviar beads and 3D nail art decorations, and the sweeties that Tara includes with every order cos she's awesome! Treasure Trove is definitely the right word for this box of magic =D

Here's what I got in a bit more detail:

My Treasure Trove polishes
L-R: Out Of This World, Kiki's Blue, Vy, Butterfly Dreams and Don't Be Jel
plus detail pen

The extras, plus the bow from the box it came in cos I thought
it was a nice touch!

As I said, also included in the box was my latest order from Tara containing some of her lovely spring polishes, and I grabbed a quick photo of these too!

My purchases
L-R: Party Bag, Clear Skies, 100% and The Mill Creek Killer

So basically this was a really awesome day! Although now I am faced with a complete dilemma about just which one I should wear first! They're all so lovely. Here's what they look like swatched (except Kiki's Blue and Vy cos I ran out of wheel!)

L-R: Clear Skies, The Mill Creek Killer, 100%, Party Bag
Don't Be Jel, Out Of This World, Butterfly Dreams

Which one would you choose?

You can get your hands on a Tara's Talons Treasure Trove over at The Tara Emporium-and there's lots of other monthly/yearly subscriptions too. I'm sure whichever one you choose would be amazing!

~Nail Art Novice~