Boots 17 Juicy - Fruity Nail Art!

I have another of the Boots 17 spring polishes to show you today! It is a bright, lime green with micro-shimmer. I was tempted to do some floral nail art, but thought I would honour the name of the polish and do something Juicy!

This is 3 coats of Boots 17 Juicy - it goes on a bit sheer but the colour builds nicely and the shimmer looks lush, I don't usually like shimmer! I added some apples using Barry M red, Barry M Mushroom and Barry M Spring Green

You can click to enlarge the photos and see the shimmer!

I used a dotting tool to create the details and Claire's White Nail Art Pen to add the shine! I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

What are you tinking to the 17 Spring Collection so far? Is this BRIGHT green something you would wear? Let me know what you think in the comments!

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Models Own Purple Ash with Freehand Flower Nail Art!

I had forgotten in the haze of spring pastels and summer brights just how much I really love Autumn shades! Models Own Purple Ash is a lovely deep maroony purple, but I wanted to brighten it up a little with some floral details. I added a stripe of Claire's Blue Glitter, then added a few flowers from Konad image plate M57. Using a pearlescent green Nail Art Pen from eBay, I added some vine and leaf details:

 

This was quite hard to capture, as the glitter and the pearlescence of the green caught the light differently at different angles, but I think you get the right idea of the detail! Models Own Purple Ash is a great polish to apply, and it's perfect in 2 coats. The Nail Star Nail Art Pens from eBay get a lot of stick from around the blogisphere, but I actually get on well with them - except for the horrendous stinkiness of them.

I hope you like it! Overall, I'm finding the transition into Autumn trends rather easy - I 'd forgotten how lovely some of the deep, muted shades are! 

Don't forget that you can still vote for me in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards in the Best New Beauty Blog section! Just click on the pink button on the top right side of the page!!! :D

 xxx

Nuclear Waste

Goood Afternoon everyone! Firstly, my Tatty Devine inspired Manicure has been featured on the front page of their website! They've also written an article on me and my silly little blog which has made it a very exciting day! I rang my Mum and everything! Waaaah! Exclamation Mark!

On to today's nails - I did not get on with this polish AT ALL, it was a gloopy, horrible mess and painted on like a gross, blobby creature. It was so minging to the point where I actually think I have a defective bottle. I tweeted this at Collection 2000, and they suggested I buy a polish thinner. Cheers, Collection 2000, I will go out and spend money I don't have, on products I wouldn't need, if you quality controlled your stock properly....ya douchebags. Maybe I'll try and take it back to Superdrug, but I doubt I'll be successful.

Collection 2000's "Spangle" from the "Hot Looks" collection is a bright, lime green, and "fast drying". It turned into a stringy mess after about ten seconds, and left me with no option but to schloop it on in big, thick, gloopy layers (which, I might add, still didn't reduce the amount of coats I need to eliminate VNL). This resulted in HORRIFIC bubbling - to the point where it looked like Toxic Waste, which did inspire the Nail Art. Maybe I should be thanking Collection 2000? You can make up your own minds!

From the Giveaway feedback, a lot of you are asking to see some plain swatches, but I also know that a lot of you tune in for the Art, so I thought I'd balance it out by showing a swatch of the base colours that I use before launching into the Art Part.

Here is the bubbly mess that is Collection 2000 Spangle (a shame because I LOVE the colour):-

Bubbly Jubbly.

I also added a Claire's Shimmer Topcoat to my left hand, just to see if it made a passable dupe for Illamasqua's Radium:-

Hmmm. I'm not so sure, but if anyone asks me if I'm wearing Illamasqua, I have no problem lying shamelessly and saying "Yes. Yes I am, and it cost me £13.50."

As I mentioned, the ugly bubbliness inspired "Toxic Waste" Nail Art:-

Anyone recognise Blinky, the three-eyed nuclear fish from "The Simpsons?!"

I've got a Drum of Nuclear Waste on the ring finger, and Blinky the three-eyed mutant fish from The Simpsons on my thumb. HE IS THE CUTEST THING EVAAAR - I really didn't want to remove this manicure purely for that thumb haha.

urgh bubbly wubbly

I used Claire's black and white Nail Art Pens for the accents, as well as a toothpick for filling in the orange highlights and light grey highlights and yellow circle. The Neon Orange is Barbara Daley for Tesco in "Salsa", and the yellow is Miss Sporty "Taxi!". The dark and light grey are Barry M Grey and Sparkle and Fade Light Grey.

On a final note, this polish also stained pretty badly, despite two layers of base coat  - very unamused. It's such a shame as I love the colour, and now I feel like all I've done throughout this post is bitch and whine! Get it right, Collection 2000, and we won't have any beef! Has anyone else had this problem with any of their polishes?

BYE EVERYONE!

Don't forget to enter the Giveaway!

FOTD Green Eyed Monster

...Well, not "monster" hopefully. I used to rock this look a lot in my final years of school, I was a lot bolder with my style back then - I had pink hair for a start! I met my good childhood friend Emma for a free lunch today. I am a 'mystery diner' which means we get £40 to spend on food if we do a review afterwards! SWEET DEAL! We stuffed our faces, naturally. I was wearing a forest green dress from forever 21, and I decided to co-ordinate my make-up -

I absolutely HATE taking pictures of myself haha! here we have:-

• FACE - Benefit Erase Paste in Medium, Rimmel Stay Matte foundation in 100 Ivory, MeMeMe Blusher in Rouge (these are meant to be a dupe for the benefit blushers, and although very pigmented, this is muuuuch redder than Coralista despite looking almost identical in the box. I'll have to do a comparison one day)
• EYES - I used a very, very old 17 green eye palette. Dark forest green, light green and a yellowy gold - none of them have names. I don't think they do the exact combination anymore, but their green Eye Shadow Trio will do a treat, with a yellow gold shadow, in creating this look. Eyeliner is H&M Brown, Mascara is Max Factor False Lash Effect.
• LIPS - Topshop Lip Polish in Iced Coffee. 

Here's a couple of shots so you can see the blending on the eyes -

This look is dead easy and you can use the same technique with literally any 3 shades of you choice. I started with the medium green on the eyelid, then used the gold in the corner, blending it outwards and slightly under the eye. I then took my darker shade of green, with a smaller shadow brush, and blended this from the outside edge inwards, creating a slight taper as I went, taking it under the eye and across to about halfway. Added some eyeliner to the water line and just along the top lash line, some mascara, and voila!

This is what my hair looks like from the back today, a messy rosette with the hair from the crown:

Close you eyes to the mountain of crap on my bed...cheers!

Another easy one - take two medium sized pieces of hair from each side of the crown, bring to the back of the head and pin in a cross shape, with 2 bobby pins, so one overlaps the other (this will hold it in place better). Take the little pony bit and wrap it around your finger so it makes a twist. Form the twist into a circle and pin in place at the end and the top, weaving the bobby pin inside the rosette so it cannot be seen. Spritz with hairspray. Five minute up-do!

I hope you enjoyed that my dears, any questions just let me know on the comments, or drop me an email :) A bit of exciting news, I will be doing a guest post for Leanne over at DoNotRefreeze in the next couple of weeks - it's a nail art tutorial, and a good one at that! :D

I'm trying to do tomorrow's Mani tonight and I'm SO uninspired. Need to have a think and a peruse of the BundleMonsters  I reckon. Only thing I know, it will be blue haha.

Take care everyone! xxxxxxx

I'm Shamrocking this look

I lied to you, My St Patrick's Day Manicure is coming today!! Woooooooo. I'm sure you forgive me. I do not understand why there is not a pint of lager in my hand right now. Something is Topsy-Turvy about the world.

Another appearance from El Orange. I swear he's the only spherical object I own, being so abject to sports and all that. It will be a sad day when I get peckish.

The Green base is Barry M 290, two coats, probs should have done a third. I stamped the four-leaf clover from BM03 using Bloom Goldie. For the accent nail I did 2 coats of Barry M Black polish, used Rimmel Tip Whitener to do a Ruffian-style semi circle, and added some flicks with a cocktail stick in Nails Inc Caramel. I did the Guinness logo in Bloom Goldie and use the Claire's White Nail Art Pen to write "Guinness" - I swear my heart stopped for a minute while I did that bit! On the thumbnail I added one coat of Barry M Green Glitter. Topped it off with Barry M topcoat! All round a pretty Barry M themed Manicure!
My housemate was astounded by intricacy of this one, the letters on the accent nail really do look TINY in real life!

I've seen some fantastic Paddy's day manis out there today, well done everyone! now get drinking, that's a direct order.

Spring has Sprung!

I went to the shop and bought myself some daffodils (buying yourself flowers? I don't think I've ever looked so lonely...ha!) and the sun is shining through the window! I've done a celebratory Spring Manicure Inspired by the British countryside - flower boxes in the windows of kitsch little cottages and Apple trees on the meadows! I may also enter this into That's SO Fresh's Spring Mani contest, we'll see if I have the confidence haha!

There's that pesky orange again...

 I used so many polishes for this haha, here goes, pinky to thumb :-

• Lilac is American Apparel L'Espirit, flower stalks are Clarie's Matte Violet and MUA shade 16
• Blue Sky is Models Own Blooboo, grass is American Apprarel Office, Pale Sun is Rimmel Lemon Drop, Tree leaves is a blobby mix between Barry M 290 Green and Claire's Jade Green. tree trunk is Barry M Mushroom, and the Apples are Barry M Red 292.
• Pale yellow is Rimmel Lemon Drop, flower stalks are Miss Sporty Taxi! and Bloom Goldie
• Mint green is American Apparel Office, flower stalks are Barry M Green 290 and Claire's Jade Green
• Baby doll pink is American Apparely Coney Island, the flower stalks are MUA shade 3 and Bloom Flamingo Sands.
• All the little daisies were created using Claire's Nail Art Pen in White (thought you could just as easily use a dotting tool, cocktail stick, or even a straightened out bobby pin) and the centre of the daisies is Miss Sporty Taxi!.

PHEW!!!
I don't yet have any brushes or tools, so I used a bobby pin and cocktail stick to draw the details on the ring finger and daisy stalks, as well as the White Nail Art Pen for the picket fence! The contrast between the green grass and blue sky is more pronounced IRL, I wonder why it didn't translate in the photo hhhmm.
I also totally forgot it was St Patrick's Day today (dickhead) and thought it was tomorrow, so I will post pics up tomorrow! I'll give you a hint......Guinness. Haha! Happy Birthday to my Nanny too, sharing a birthday with a Saint's day is pretty apt fort his Wonderful Lady.

I hope you will all do the Irish proud and drink copious amounts of beer - We Brits know how to celebrate.

xxx

Back to Nature

After a couple of unfortunate breakages, I'm sporting the short nail look for a while! I really don't mind it, I'm used to short nails, and I think you can still get some great looks with them :)
I painted my Nails using Claire's dark green jade colour, and obviously I can never leave my manicure alone! so I added some Konad in a shimmery, metallic green. It makes me want to go and live in the forest haha!

Here is the Claire's dark green on her own:-

And here's the full manicure after I finished playing around with it!

This was quite difficult to photograph, as I was losing light, and the Konad is pretty subtle anyways, only showing when the light catches it in the right way. It's pretty IRL though!
A blurrier photo with no flash, but it captures the pattern better:-

So there we are! The polishes I used are:-

• Claire's Jade Green
• Barry M, shade 284, to stamp the swirly pattern from BM19
• Bloom Goldie to stamp the flower from BM03 onto the thumb and accent nail
• Barry M Topcoat

I hope you all had lovely weekends, I unfortunately have badly sprained ankle (more like a MANKle at the moment, all black&blue!), which is going to impact on my Fifty Fit challenge!! Hopefully I can be back at the gym in a couple of days! My best childhood friend, Emma, is coming over tonight and we're going to cook Thai food and talk about the good ol' days!!
xxxx

Zoya Nail Polish in Edyta - one great green nail polish!

Glam girls this one is for you... Zoya Nail Polish in Edyta is an incredible shade that works as well now as it will in the Fall... Plus it's a shimmering green that actually looks really pretty on (not just in the bottle). Rather than the usual funky, pasty or sickly look that some green nail polishes can result in, this one is truly lovely. Seriously, even if you tend to wear reds and mauves mostly and if you have stayed away form green nail polish in the past for fear of it just not being glam enough - try the pretty one, Zoya Edyta!

Zoya Wicked Nail Polish Preview - Edyta

FALL COLOR PREVIEW
Introducing Zoya Nail Polish in Edyta from the upcoming Fall 2010 Zoya Wicked Collection...

Wow - this really is a special color from Zoya. We know you love green and we also know it can be a  bit tricky to wear sometimes - Zoya Edyta is as unique as it is easy to wear - trust us, this new green nail polish is sparkly, beautiful and looks great on - try it and believe.

It's not just a green, it's a Zoya green!!!

We hope you have enjoyed the previews of Wicked and Wonderful here on the Zoya blog!
Zoya Wicked and Wonderful will be available online at www.zoya.com and at quality salons and spas worldwide after July 1, 2010.

Zoya Fall Color 2010 Preview - Wonderful Shawn

FALL COLOR PREVIEW
Introducing Zoya Nail Polish in Shawn from the upcoming Fall 2010 Zoya Wonderful Collection...

Wishing for a great green for fall - One that is different - One that will set you apart? Look no more - Zoya Shawn is exactly that green nail polish! Mossy and ultra creamy, this green will keep your fingertips in style all season long.

Coming soon to a salon or spa near you! Available on www.zoya.com after July 1, 2010.

A Zoya Winter in Australia!

Zoya Nail Polish is there for you in every season, and right now it's winter in Australia!

What's a perfect winter shade? Zoya Nail Polish in Envy!!! This gorgeous green will instantly make the winter down under even more wonderful!

InStyle Magazine shows you the smart way to be beautiful (and green)!

There is no need to sacrifice beauty for brains....

In it's recent "10 ways to Green Your Beauty Routine" article, InStyle Magazine put the focus on great color with a healthy formula - Zoya Nail Polish. Proving that Zoya's Adina and Reece are as smart as they are beautiful!

Back by popular demand!!! The Zoya Nail Polish Exchange.

Announcing the 2010 Zoya Nail Polish Exchange.

Out with the old - in with the new! For a limited time, kicking off on Earth Day (April 22, 2010 - 12 PM EST), Zoya Nail Polish will exchange your old, out-of-style, unwanted nail color and replenish your nail polish supply with fresh Zoya fashion colors. Simply send in six or more bottles of old polish - any brand other than Zoya, Qtica or Nocti, new or used - and we'll send you the new Zoya colors of your choice in a bottle-for-bottle exchange.

That's right - no exceptions, no questions. All you pay is $3.50 per bottle to cover shipping and processing. Choose from over 300 formaldehyde, toluene, camphor and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) free, long-lasting, award winning, healthy colors to replace your old color! Zoya will properly dispose of your old polish according to EPA guidelines.


* Any brand other than Zoya, Qtica or Nocti. New or used, empty or full. Minimum of six bottles. Send with the required shipping, processing fees and documentation to have the old color disposed of according to EPA guidelines and to qualify for NEW Zoya Nail Polish at no charge. Shipping and processing fees required for exchange. Restrictions apply. Available in continental US only. Online offer only. Limited time offer. Exchange ends June 30th, 2010.


See site for complete details - Click on the Nail Polish Exchange Button - http://www.zoya.com

Zoya Nail Polish makes the coveted Color Issue of InStyle Magazine!

The always lovely Gwen Stefani isn't the only star shining bright at InStyle Magazine this month... Zoya Nail Polish in Happi and Adina also make an appearance in "The Color Issue" (April 2010).

Loving the "green", Big 3 Free Formula, totally fab Beauty Editor a Large - Samantha Meiler, selected two incredible shades from the Zoya Reverie Collection to spotlight for the "Green (eco) Beauty" piece.

Zoya is the new COLOR of fashion!

Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen Nail Polish is InStyle!

Zoya's perfect green nail polish, Envy, made the InStyle Magazine Beauty Buzz this month as the color of the moment according to top editorial manicurist Jin Soon Choi.

We hope Drew knows there's one with her name on it available for fall too!

We've always been the one - Zoya Nail Polish

Green and Eco-chic Beauty From the Start! No Toxic Carcinogens in Zoya Nail Polish...

Art of Beauty (makers of Zoya and Qtica) has always been a leader in the world of beauty. Completely free of Formaldehyde and Toluene from inception, Zoya was the first major nail polish brand to also remove Dibutyl Phthalate and Camphor from its Vegan Friendly formula.

Being the healhier choice in nail polish isn't something new for Zoya, it's the way it's always been because the makers of Zoya care as much about your health as we do about making the world's longest lasting natural nail polish formula in the best colors (over 300 shades and counting).

All this combined with the fact that Zoya is a Cruelty Free product adds up to one truly incredible product... Zoya is the new color of fashion!

The Best Nail Polish (Zoya) in Women's World this week!

Green - Good for you Glam!

Zoya is indeed... Check out the latest issue of Women's World Magazine to see Zoya Nail Polish recommended as a long-wearing, healthy color by Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas.

Shown: Zoya Nail Polish in Cassi from the Twist collection. Just one of over 300 shades available at zoya.com.

Want to go even greener? Take part in the Zoya Nail Polish Exchange where you can trade in old, unwanted shades (any brand except Zoya) for fresh new Zoya.

Zoya Nail Polish part of Earth Friendly Fashion in USA TODAY

Looking for a shade of green that's as earth friendly as it is long-lasting and lovely? Look no more, as USA TODAY'S Arienne Thompson discovered in today's life section, Earth-Friendly Fashion, you can be eco-chic on Earth Day and everyday (see todays article online too).

With over 300 formaldehyde, toluene, camphor and dibutyl phthalate free shades Zoya Nail Polish has the color you want. See them all at www.zoya.com.

Zoya Nail Polish - USA TODAY - online Earth Day Coverage

USA TODAY coverage of Earth Day 2009 includes Zoya Nail Polish "Eco-Fashion: It's friendly on the Earth, and the wallet". See the online story here.

Zoya Nail Polish in beyond the Beauty Pages

Self Magazine picks up the Zoya Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange on it's blog today - Celebrate Earth Month (Earth Day, April 22) with Zoya!