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A England // Galahad + Holy Grail

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A England Nail Polish Bottles

This evening’s mani is all about sparkle, but avoiding being too girly (round nails are so feminine, I’m still getting used to them!) and keeping things simple.

I used 2 A England polishes – Galahad, a stunning aqua blue and Holy Grail. I think there are 2 versions of the Holy Grail, and I think I have the most recent one. Anyway, I freehanded the nail art for a relaxed vibe, with a little brush :)

My cats have killed my (floor standing) photo lamp, though! It’s been completely sheared off just above where it screws into the base. I have no idea how they did it. It reminds me of the time when I came home to find the two of them sitting and looking innocent by the scratching post, which had been totally broken in two… Goodness knows how they managed that, either!

So, sorry about the awkward lighting. I had to put my daylight bulb into a desk lamp. We did get a new floor standing lamp this weekend, only to get it home and find that it was the wrong one! Just an upright thing, so I couldn’t change the direction of the light… oops! Normal service will (hopefully) be resumed shortly :)

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Faded French Snowflakes

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Butter London Pink Ribbon Cotton Buds

This week we have had a really cold wintery snap. I’m not really very sensitive to the cold weather, but it has been extremely cold – at times I thought my face might just freeze off when I ran out of the office to buy my lunch at midday! It’s been about -2°C (about 28 Fahrenheit), and I have such a huge amount of respect for people who live in places where it is even colder (and for longer periods than a week or two!).

Also, it looks like we might have some snow tomorrow. Although it may also rain too, so it probably won’t settle. Now, when I lived in the countryside I loved snow – all white and pretty and romantic – but in the busy town that I live in now – not so much! it doesn’t seem to last longer than an hour before it gets trampled and grotty. I’d much rather have snowy nails than be in the snowy street.

Anyway, that’s the theme for my current mani – snow. I wanted to do something sophisticated and elegant – and drew a lot of inspiration from Bella (of Seize the Nail)’s Faded French Snowy Fir Tree nails. Except in my case, I used two Butter London polishes – Pink Ribbon (a beige gelly) and Cotton Buds (an opaque white). The gradient was actually harder than I expected – I didn’t count on the mix of opaque white and beige gelly to tend to turn into a pale beige creme… so I ended up layering 3 coats of gradient, letting my nails dry between each coat, to avoid getting in a smooshy mess.

My snowflakes are stamped with the utterly fabulous Vivid Lacquer VL-006 stamping plate.

Please excuse me for the lack of photos – it’s a little tricky with indoor lighting !Snowflake Nail Art Butter London Pink Ribbon Nail Art Faded French Mani

China Glaze – Elephant Walk

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China Glaze Elephant Walk Bottle Shot

Hi girls!

Thank you so much for your lovely comments about my new nail shape :) I’m starting to get used to it, and think I rather like it (though I would like them to be longer and more tapered still).

I wanted a grown-up but sparkly mani for the office.  So I decided on Elephant Walk, a shimmery green-leaning grey by China Glaze, and went for tips with Dance Legend T-1000. If you like holo, I really recommend Dance Legend. It’s a bit stinky, but fast-drying and packs a huge punch with just one coat ^_^

 

Mission grown-up : accomplished. Mission sparkly : accomplished.

Too bad I dented the hell out of this mani about 5 minutes after the photos! ha

China Glaze Elephant Walk

China Glaze Elephant Walk Bottle Shot

China Glaze Elephant Walk Close Up

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China Glaze Elephant Walk Nail Art

Dance Legend T-1000 and China Glaze Elephant Walk

A New Nail Shape! (*gasp*)

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Round Nails -005

Hi girls!

If you follow me on Instagram, then you may have already seen the in-progress picture. I did something a little crazy today… I decided to totally change my nail shape.

I know, it’s not exactly Earth-shattering, but it feels like a big deal to me, as I’ve been filing my nails square since my early teens (so that’s more than half my life!). But, I do a little maintenance filing on my nails every week, usually on a Saturday, and I had the usual wear-and-tear to touch up. Since I have long nails, that’s all on the tip, mostly at the sides where I might accidentally bend a corner (especially when knitting). I decided that it might be fun to change a bit, and I’m hoping that my nails won’t chip as much if they are rounded.

I just had to wear a darker, more rock-chick colour (I Love Nail Polish – Absolute Zero), as this is a super feminine shape! It’s also pretty classic, and elegant… and, well, those aren’t really words that describe me very well, haha! so we’ll see if this sticks, but, ya know, they will grow back if I want to square them off again later :)

It feels a little odd typing right now, but I’m sure that will pass! I can’t decide if it makes my wonky fingers look straighter, or if it doesn’t make much difference. I will definitely hope they will grow out a bit, as I would like to try longer, tapered oval tips.

What do you think, do you like this shape? and do you always keep the same nail shape, or do you like to change?

 

Round Nails

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I Love Nail Polish// Princeton

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I Love Nail Polish Princeton ILNP

Good evening!

For my current mani, I really needed an antidote to two things – the winter blues, and all the pink polish I’ve been wearing recently!

So ILNP Princeton was the perfect choice – frost-busting sparkle, perfect application, fast drying… and I couldn’t resist stamping a few dark grey flowers to spruce it up – not too many though, let’s not spoil the holo effect!

It’s Thursday night here, so nearly the weekend. Is it me, or do I seem to post more when I’m having a stressful week?!

I Love Nail Polish Princeton Closeup

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Nail Art ILNP Princeton Two Hands

Picture Polish // Flirt

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Picture Polish Flirt

Good evening girlies!

Just a quick one tonight – after a long day, I don’t have a great deal to say ^_^

I seem to be on a bit of a pink kick at the moment, so I decided that it was time to bring out PiCture POlish Flirt and a bit of matte top coat. I used A England Camelot to stamp with, and the stamping plates that-will-not-be-named (because they were rude to my girl Jax). The top coat is Butter London. It does the job, and dries very fast, but is really runny! so be careful of that if you use it :)Picture Polish Flirt -002

Picture Polish Flirt -001

#NAILlinkup Marsala // A England Briar Rose

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#NAILlinkup Marsala A England Briar Rose -003

 

Hi everyone!

I think everyone knows that, although I’m an English girl, I live in France and have done for the last 5 years or so. I’m sure you’re all aware of what’s happened here these last few days. This is absolutely not the place for a social or political message (and I don’t want it to be), but I will definitely say that, as with everyone else, I’m pretty sad about what’s happened. On many levels. I hope that’s the end of it, and that these events will remain relatively isolated. As far as I’m concerned, everyone deserves to live in peace.

 

Marsala is apparently the colour of the year for 2015. I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole colour of the year thing. I mean, there’s no denying that it’s a massive corporate gimmick. I really love colour and think that declaring a ‘colour of the year’ is a great way of promoting different colours and colour schemes. But, at the same time, I got really sick last year of getting emails basically saying ‘you should buy this, it’s the colour of the year – Radiant Orchid’, then showing various shades of pink and purple that, well, were not anything like Radiant Orchid. I mean, get it right folks, of course some variation is normal, but really, how about actually looking at things before making silly claims?!

I must admit, I had never heard of such a thing as ‘marsala’ until the girls and I decided on the themes this month. I was wondering if it had something to do with Garam Masala, but Jax (of Craftynail) kindly cleared that up for me! and it’s a fine colour. I mean, I like my reds a lot recently. And it’s an interesting shade between brick red and rosewood. But, it’s a bit drab to take us through a whole year, don’t you think?

Anyway, the nearest colour I have in my stash is thankfully anything but drab! So this mani is based on A England Briar Rose with contrasting accent nails painted with Pretty N Polished Perfection in White and stamped with a fantastic teal by Gosh that’s called Fairytale. 
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#NAILlinkup Marsala A England Briar Rose

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Check out our Marsala gallery here

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Butter London Macbeth// Water Spotted Nails

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Butter London MacBeth Nail Art

Good evening!

I have some nail art from the weekend to show you. I got up early on Saturday to do this. Actually, that’s not strictly true… the upstairs neighbours’ kid woke me up at 8am again and so I thought I may as well do some nail art!

Butter London Macbeth is a recent acquisition – a fabulous coral pink that I actually think looks pretty nice with my winter-white skin. The accent nail is Gobsmacked, also by Butter London. On the first coat it looks like it’s going to be a PITA to put on, but it actually works really well in just two coats. Though of course, it does look even better over black.

I thought that water spotting was going to be a disaster. I tried a couple of ways to get the spots – window cleaner (which is basically just water and alcohol) tore straight through the polish and didn’t make a pretty pattern. My face mist was too gentle, and didn’t make holes at all. The best solution I found is perfume, sprayed 3 or 4 times very quickly just over the surface of the polish. There does seem to be something in it that stops the polish from drying though. So I fixed that by dabbing (yes, dabbing, not painting – to avoid smudging) some fast-dry top coat over it, and did a second coat of top coat to even it out properly. And the top coat seemed to bring out the pattern somehow, like it melted away some smudgy, smeared bits, and made it all look cleaner :)

Gobsmacked, however, is a real top coat drinker! I used 3 coats there, and it still felt very gritty. Which is okay for a weekend, but something to bear in mind if that kind of thing annoys you.

I used Anorak on my little finger (over Macbeth) – what a fantastic topper! Black and white hex in different sizes, mixed up with silver shards… I think you’ll be seeing more of that polish very soon!

Butter London Water Spotted Nails

Waterspot Nail Art

Butter London MacBeth Nail Polish Bottle

Butter London Gobsmacked

 

Nail Art Ideas Linkup// Themes for January 2015

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Welcome 2015! It’s a new year, a new you, and some new nail ideas too! Our monthly nail art challenge called Nail Art Ideas Linkup will get your creative juices flowing as we step into the new year. Not sure if you want to commit to a nail art challenge? No worries! Our N.A.I.L. Linkup is stress-free. Read through the end of our post for simple rules on how to participate. But first, let’s look at our fun January prompts! It’s a nice mixed bag of nail art techniques, colors and cuteness….

January-2015 NAILlinkup

week 1- Marsala It’s the Pantone color of the year for 2015! Now is the perfect time to shop your stash for this trendy wine color. Maybe you already have some marsala in your collection? You’re so fashion forward! More info on Pantone can be found here.

week 2- Rubber Duckies January 13th is National Rubber Duckie Day. Sounds like a wonderful excuse for nail art, right? This gallery of nail pics should be real cute!

week 3- Newspaper Nails Black and white is always a stylish combination and newspaper nails are a great way to enjoy the look. But when was the last time you gave yourself a newspaper nails mani? Let’s give this classic nail art technique another go!

week 4- Tie Dye There are so many different ways to achieve a colorful and psychedelic nail design for this tie dye prompt. Groovy, baby.

HOW TO ENTER JANUARY N.A.I.L. LINKUP

  1. Paint your nails using the suggested theme.
  2. Post your pics on your blog, instagram, tumblr, etc.
  3. Enter your post into our inlinkz below so everyone can see your pics*.

MARSALA

RUBBER DUCKIES

NEWSPAPER NAILS

TIE DYE

Do one of the weekly themes, or do them all. It’s up to you! The dates for each week are only suggestions- you can post your nails whenever you want in January and you don’t have to do them in order. We encourage everyone to join in no matter what platform you use- blog, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. Don’t forget to share your nail pics via the inlinkz. (inlinkz will be open all month). You can use hashtag #NAILLINKUP on your social media and please share our January graphic too!

*Optional for Bloggers – the following links will take you to a page where you can get the code to add the Inlinkz gallery to your blog: Marsala / Rubber Duckies / Newspaper Nails / Tie Dye

*Optional for Bloggers – the following links will take you to a page where you can get the code to add the Inlinkz gallery to your blog: Theme 1 – Marsala / Theme 2 – Rubber Duckies / Theme 3 – Newspaper Nails / Theme 4 – Tie Dye

NAIL ART IDEAS LINKUP is hosted by Brijits Digits, Craftynail, Eeeek Nail Polish! and Nail That Accent!. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions at all. You can also read more info about our monthly linkup on our blog links below. We look forward to seeing your nails this January!

Happy painting,

Brijit from Brijits Digits

Jacqui from Craftynail

Jemma from Eeeek! Nail Polish!

Lindsay from Nail That Accent!

Guest Post (Tutorial) at Beauty Expression

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Hi girls!

I hope everyone’s New Year is off to a fantastic start! Mine is – the lovely Luchessa over at Beauty Expression has published a tutorial that I wrote up for her Andersen fairytale series :) go check it out by clicking the image below!

Ole-Luk-Oie-the-Dream-God-nail-art

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