Claire's Holographic Glitter and Bundle Monster Stamping Art!

Hello lovelies, my blog has a new outift - how do you like the new layout and banner?! It's a work in progress so forgive any glitches you might come across!

I nipped in to Claire's Accessories the other day (as any self-respecting, 21 year old does on her lunch break...) and noticed a couple of polishes I hadn't seen before - the shop girl informed me that they were, in fact, new out and I had the last one of their (usually impossible to get hold of) lilac holographic glitter. Since I want anything 100x as much if I know I can't have it, I thought I better buy it to save myself later heartache. It did not disappoint, it is a gorgeous holographic lilac glitter and opaque in 3 coats:

please ignore the stub...

Ahhhhh rainbow!

As if that weren't interesting enough, I thought I'd stamp the cute heartey-liney image from Bundle Monster BM11 (imaginative adjectives don't come easy, late at night) using Konad Black Special Polish.

This looks great when it catches the sunlight and the stamping makes a glittery manicure a bit more fun and interesting! I added a coat of Seche Vite to finish and the glitter is totally smooth - not gritty at all. I'm not looking forward to the removal though, it will be the foil method, for sure. (I will do a tutorial for this!)

Thanks everyone! I have recently joined Pinterest so I can share all my favourite nail designs and inspiration on a virtual pinboard - if you're on Pinterest, it is really easy to pin anything you see on Emily's Nail Files - just sign up and get a "pin it" button on your toolbar! Alternatively, look for the Pinterest button on my pages :D

love!

Valentine's Day Nail Art!

Eeeeeevening!

This is a kind of improvised manicure - I wanted to do a "love letter" style design, with a cream and pink heart background and newspaper print over the top. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the STUUUPOIIDIDIDD newspaper to transfer with vodka, so I've ordered some surgical spirit to try instead! I was very frustrated. Bundlemonster to the rescue, I decided to use plate BM09 and stamp the "love" image repeatedly, so it looks almost like a love letter (or weird love graffiti).

I started out with a base of 3 coats of Bloom Nicole and then stamped the swirly heart image from Bundle Monster BM02 using Konad Special White Polish mixed with bright pink. I then used Rimmel Urban Princess to stamp three little love-hearts from BM03 in the gaps.

After a coat of Seche Vite, I used Konad Black Special Polish to stamp the Love image from BM09 repeatedly over the whole nail. This was tricky to get straight! The beauty of adding a coat of topcoat before stamping, is that if you make a mistake you can take it off with nail varnish remover without destroying your previous stamping.

Don't forget you can click to enlarge!! A little bit different from my Anti-Valentines Day manicure...but I can get into the spirit of things!

I hope everyone had a lovely V-Day, single or not! Let me know what you think on the comments :D

xxx

Accessorize Nail Polishes - A/W and Metallic Collection Review

Greetings, all!

Today I have 2 Accessorize polishes under review - I remember when Accessorize first launched their cosmetic range and was SO pleasantly surprised when the quality turned out to be top notch. My Coral Crush Lipstick is still one of my favourite make-up items over 1 year after buying.

Accessorize have recently launched 19 new shades of Nail Polish, including a metallic range - woweee!

I decided to give you some Nail Art to perv over, rather than just do a standard, plain review - I'm just THAT kind to you! I started with a base of 2 coats of the Accessorize Winter Berry - a gorgeous warm-toned plum colour. It's the perfect wintery shade, in my opinion, and looks loooovely on the nails.

Now, if you follow the blog regularly, you'll know I don't really care for metallic finishes - they are not my fave - but they are PERFECT for stamping. This is especially the case for Accessorize Aquamarine, as it is a perfect one-coater and designed that way. I stamped the leafy image from Bundle Monster Image Plate BM210 and added a coat of Seche Vite to reveal the glitteryness.

used the flash so you can see the lovely glitteryness of Aquamarine!

Both polishes have a great consistency, with Winter Berry being especially glossy and easy to apply. They are brilliantly pigmented so these little babies will be great value for money. A definite YES in my book, I can see myself using Winter Berry constantly for a chic, winter look and Aquamarine for stamping. Excellenté.

You can snaffle yourself some Accessorize polishes from SuperDrug! 

Let me know what you think! Have you tried any of the new Accessorize polishes?

I think it's time that this guy made another appearance. Don't knock it, it is completely and utterly necessary.

xxx


These polishes were kindly provided by Accessorize for review. opinions are 100% honest and in no way influenced! :)

Hello Kitty Nail Art!

I have done Hello Kitty Nails once before, but that was just as I was starting out. Seen as I don't get to use the Hello Kitty stamp from the Born Pretty.com (great Nail Art Supplies) promotion very often, I thought I'd dig it out and do an EVEN BETTER MANICURE. Haha. I painted the nails with Natural Collection White and stamped the Hello Kitty image using Konad Black Special Polish. I filled in the bows and noses with pink and yellow and added a coat of Seche Vite. For the accent nail I drew Hello Kitty's face using various Nail Art Pens.

Sorry the photos are a little blurry and dark, I had to take them in my shower because I was out of day light! Sounds odd, but it's the brightest light in the house, and still doesn't do the job!

They came out really cute and are a fun way to wear white nails - which I rarely do! Let me know what you think!

Born Pretty Store also give away 10 of these Hello Kitty Image Plates COMPLETELY FREE, everyday. All you have to do is add it to your cart, and enter the code BP299 at the checkout. To be taken there, you can click on the banner in my side-bar! ----------->

xxx

Star Print French Manicure

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend :)

Here are the nails I was sporting at the Motel and Glossy Box Event (see last post!). It's a "Funky French" Mani, aside from the accent nail, and is inspired by the black and white star-print which is creeping into fashion lately. I started with a base of 3 coats of Miss Sporty French Pink and then taped my nails with Scotch Tape (once the were completely dry) so that just the tips were showing. I then painted over the nail with MUA Shade 2, an opaque black, and lifted the tape off while it was still wet so as to attain neat, crisp lines. Once this, too, was completely dry I re-taped the tips and stamped the Star image from BM14, horizontally across the nail, with Konad White Special Polish. I then went back with single, stamped stars to fill in any big gaps and make the print more complete. Once dry, I added a coat of Seche Vite. For the accent nail, I simply stamped the star image numerous times to create an all over nail design :)

Photography is getting really, really difficult now the days are so much shorter, it has been dark practically all the time, and sunlight is extremely rare! Forgive the darkness of my photos!

Voila! A relatively short post (I'd forgotten how quickly you can write a post when it isn't 11293943 words long!), but it's a pretty simple design that's easy to re-create at home! Even if you don't have the Bundle Monster Image Plates, you could still freehand in the white starts with a Nail Art Pen or even a toothpick :D

Let me know what you think, everyone! xxx

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

They're Not Teardrops...They're FLOWERS NOW!!!!

Many of you who follow my blog (and probably some who don't!) will know that the designs I showcase are a mixture of both freehand and "stamped" nail art, with the image plates I use for the latter coming from Bundlemonster (and the occasional Konad!). WELL. Bundlemonster don't just do image plates, no Sir, they kindly sent me an array of other Nail Art bits and bobs that I wasn't even aware they produced! These included little wheels of rhinestones of carious shapes and colours, sequins, little starts, little flowers, and even teeny tiny coloured balls.
Many of the rhinestones are in a teardrop shape, and they came in such pretty colours that I really wanted to use them. Call me Little Miss Sunshine, but I didn't fancy using them as teardrops, and so decided to utilize their shape and create little diamonté flowers! Each petal on the flower is a separate Bundlemonster, tear-drop rhinestone - and they're great, really easy to work with:-

My short nails are really starting t bug me now, they just KEEP breaking! I don't want to have to resort to fakies!

I started with a base of Barry M Spring Green, and added the leafy design using Konad Special Polish in Green, from Bundlemonster image plate BM19. After a couple of heavy lashings of Seche Vite, these babies stayed put for a couple of days!

Overall, these little Nail Art additions are really good, and can add an entirely different dimension to a manicure, not to mention some bling! They're really not all that expensive from their website, about £10 for a set of 5 wheels, each containing 12 segments with a different accessory in it. They are also a fantastic company, who take customer satisfaction very seriously, always looking to improve their products on OUR suggestion.

I hope you liked this design! Let me know :D

Don't forget you can still vote for me in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards! You can find me under Best New Beauty Blog of 2011! Click on the picture to cast a vote - it's quick and easy! :)

*Product was provided by Bundlemonster, but all opinions and reviews are 100% honest, and completely my own. For more info, please visit my disclosure page!*

Bundle Monster Roses Nail Art!

Hi Everyone!

So sorry I've been absent for the last 3 weeks, I was in America visiting the 8th Wonder of the World - Disney World. I thought I would have more time to blog, but after rollercoaster-ing all day, and unfortunate breakages as a result of acting the like the epitomal "big kid", I didn't quite happen! I am sporting short nails at the moment (they KEEP breaking!) but decided to use my Bundle Monster plates and have some double stamping fun - I kind of think this looks more like a wallpaper design, haha -

The flash picture showed the subtle gold design better!

I started with 3 coats of Bloom Nicole, which is a gorgeous sheer cream colour. I often use two coats of this on the tips if I want a classic french - it looks so natural and elegant. It really compliments a tan, too! I then used Bloom Goldie to stamp the vine image from BM21, and finished it off with a rose, from BM14, in the corner of each nail. I used Konad Special Polish in Red, and Black for the accent nail.

I hope you like it - I'm loving being back! Haha!

Aloha! Tropical Sunset Manicure!

Y'all know how much I love my tropical manicures. I was stuck for ideas (hence the lack of posts this week), and decided to to a gradient manicure, and see if inspiration struck. Reminded of a tropical sunset, I added some palm trees and fimo cane fruit, and the Totally Tropical manicure 2.0 was born:

 

I started out with a base of Bloom Flamingo Sands, and used a piece of sponge to apply China Glaze Papaya Punch to about 3/4 of the way down the nail. once this was dry, I then repeated this on the tips using Miss Sporty Taxi. Because yellows are generally sheerer than most other coloured polishes, I sponged the yellow tips twice, for a brighter fade. This Sponging/Gradient technique works best when the colours are close in shade and tone, as it creates a neat, even fade.

I then added the black palm trees and "Aloha" using Konad Plate M29 and Konad Black Special Polish, and used MUA shade 2 to add a little, silouetted desert island at the base of each one. I used Claire's Black Nail Art Pen to freehand in the little birds.

I'm going to take this opportunity to review the Fimo Canes that I was recently sent by BundleMonster (well known for their affordable nail art supplies), because the fruity appliqués you can see on the ring finger came as part of a pack they sent me.

Fimo Cane is rubbish if you get it wrong, and great if you get it right - it can be a bit tricky to master. All Fimo Canes come as little sticks that have a picture all the way through the core (like seaside rock!), and you then slice it very thinly, with a craft knife, to be left with a little Fimo picture that can be stuck onto the nail with clear polish or nail glue.

If they are sliced thinly enough, you can use a couple of coats of Seche Vite and have the Fimo completely flat and smooth to the nail, but some prefer to slice it a bit thicker and simply "perch" them on. I really liked the Bundle Monster Fimo Canes, and are definitely of better quality than the ones I purchased off eBay. I find the designs are generally clearer, nicer and more usable than some of the very odd ones that come in the eBay packs! (evil, teddy bear Frankenstein anyone?...No, didn't think so.) All in all, I got on with these Fimo canes very well, and would definitely recommend them! :)

One of the packs offered by bundlemonster, which you can also buy from Amazon.com

I added slices of the Lemon, Watermelon and Kiwi to my Tropical Design! :)



Thanks guyyys, let me know what you think! I will also be announcing the winner of my Apothica Giftcard giveaway very soon :) Sorry for my absence, I'm back on the ball!



x

Marie Claire Ciaté Freebie

I can't resist a good freebie, and when it's a £9.00 Ciaté polish, I can't resist just that little bit more. This months Marie Claire magazine (£3.60) is giving away a choice of two Ciaté Paint Pots.This polish is called My Fair Lady, and I am in love with it. She's a glossy, pink-beige nude, it's gorgeous - and I'm a self-confessed 'brights' addict. The formula is the best I've used in a while, and the ergonomically designed handle makes application a breeze - it dries fairly quickly, this is 4 coats (more than I'd usually like, but I like that the colour is buildable, so you can use it as a perfect base for french manicures too):

 

I applied enough coats to hid the nail-line, but one or two coats also looks lovely, if you're into your sheer polishes. Love that little bow on bottle too! This is how I imagine Deborah Lippman Naked would look, so I can clutch my little Ciaté and pretend that I have a DL in my stash...wishful thinking.

I added some nail art, because I can't seem to leave anything alone, in the form of the swirly image from the new Bundle Monster Image Plate Set, BM-214. I used Konad White Special Polish to stamp with, as it's brilliantly opaque. It looked lovely beforehand, but I blinged it up with some Kiss rhinestones to the centre of the pattern, stuck with nail glue (which I'm now regretting because I CAN'T GET THEM OFF.) After a coat of Seche Vite, it was all ready to go:

Very girly! These would be perfect wedding nails, not that I'm making plans. 

Did anyone else pick up the free Ciaté polishes? I think they're great, and will be showing you the other Marie Claire freebie option Wait Until Dark, soon! Let me know what you think!

Don't forget, if you haven't already, you can still enter my Apothica $25 Giftcard Giveaway!!! 

You can also still submit nominations for the Cosmo Blog awards! :)

Stripey Palm Trees!

I think I saw a design similar to this while browsing the world wide web, but can't remember where! (If anyone has any idea, let me know so I can give credit where it's due!) I wanted to use the palm tree image from Konad M29 again, and started with a base of coloured stripes, painted over white to make them "pop". If you want to know what any of the colours are, just ask in the comments!

I added the stripes using Claire's Black Nail Art Pen, and stamped the palm trees using Konad Black Special Polish:

Let me know what you think guys! We also have a lodger this week, he is very hairy and smelly and MENTAL. But we love him.

Jack, our temporary mutt. (Or Jacqueline, when he's naughty. Which is ALL THE TIME.)

xxxx

Scotch Tape Zebra Print Manicure

Hello everyone! I know, two posts in as many days, almost like the good old days eh?!

When I was on holiday with my family, we had a very restricted weight allowance for the flights, and so we ditched all the heavy beach gear in favour of lighter alternatives. This included picking up some cheap, light beach towels from Asda, and my, ever tasteful, father chose the most trashy-fabulous, attention grabbing, lurid print that was available - zebra print with a bright purple border. They were amazing. And chavvy. But mostly amazing. They inspired this manicure!

I started with a base of 3 coats of Natural Collections White and allowed to dry before stamping the zebra image from Konad M57 with Konad Special Polish in Black. If you're in the UK, and don't want to splash out for the Konad special Polish, I've heard that MUA Shade 2 - available for only £1 in Superdrug - is a fantastically opaque alternative, though I've yet to try it myself. I added a coat of Seche Vite to dry it all quickly, and ten minutes later added strips of scotch tape diagonally across each nail. I then painted the nail in Claire's Matte Purple (I LOVE mixing textures!) and pulled the tape away while still wet. ET VOILAAA! Trashy Towel Nails.

 

I love how the shiny and the matte finishes look together. The cameras playing tricks on your eyes, the purple is, in fact, a lot more violet and red toned in real life, my camera is in perfect, purple denial, turning it blue. The photos were also taken at dusk, so sorry they're a bit dark and blue. (gawd I need to build myself a light box!)

Let me know what you think everyone! :D