Owly Manicure

Good Evening Girls :)

I've had some bad news today so in order to cheer myself up, I did what any polish addict would do ...no I didn't buy any new polish (I wish) I did the famously cute owl mani. It was really easy and fun to do and it looks so cute, so yeah that made me happy! Here they are 

I didn't have any other bright colours ie orange, yellow so I had to use brown but I think he's my favourite, I like how he tones down the rest of the colours :) also I like their sparkly noses hehee! 

Here are the colours I used starting with the base on the thumb:

Little Brown Dress - Essie, Mushroom - Barry M, Unknown blue - Barry M, Blueberry Ice cream - Barry M, Polish me Happy - H&M, Spring Green - Barry M, Purple Poppy - Models Own, Ultra Violet - Rimmel Pro, Limited Addiction - Essie and Vintage Pink - Models Own. 

For the eyes I used Sunshine Sparkle - Revlon and the beaks are Rising Star - OPI. 

I freehanded the base and belly using just the polish brush and then my new favourite dotting tools helped with the rest.

Lots of other bloggers have done this design for good reason, it's so frikin' cute! I'm not sure who did the original I found the other versions from google and Chalkboard nails and a girl and her polish, you should check them out :)

I hope you enjoyed! 

Seeyou soon

OPI Russian Navy Swatches and Review

Morning! 

I removed OotG this morning for the reasons that I mentioned yesterday, bubbles, scratches and gloomy weather which remains today :(. Because the weather is so miserable looking I didn't want to waste a gorgeous spring colour like I have a herring problem or Navigate Her, and the bright pink Snog would not feel right so I went with a vampy of course! From my untrieds, I chose Russian Navy as it is my kind of colour. 

As you can see it's a gorgeous deep, shiny blue however in the bottle it looks purple and even on the nail it looks a bit blurple, it's because it's made up of blue and red sparkles but it's super pretty whatever colour it is :P 

It looks really blue in the photo above this but here you can see the purple I was talking about. Because it looked so purple I got my favourite ever vampy purple out to compare the bottles 

This is Vivid Purple by Barry M, it's a polish I used to wear all the time along with it's blue sister :) but as you can see Barry M is a lot more purple and more vivid ;).

And here you can deffo see that Russian Navy has a little purple hint to her, she is actually blue. 

I had no problems with the application, after two coats it was opaque and rich in colour, I used a base coat first of course as these colours can stain and that was it, smooth as you like. I really love these types of colours and finishes, I think they suit everyone and they just look so elegant and super sexy. I especially like the way it looks with my cool skin tone and long nails, like I am a lady vampire ;). 

I managed to get a dint in my thumb :( boo, cos it took ages to dry for me so I used my miracle worker Sally Hansen Insta-Dri as a topcoat (after my nails were dry) and it bought the shimmer back to life and smoothed that dent right out. I can't stress how much I love this product, it is a life saver!! It just makes everything look perfect again and it feels so soft I love touching my nails when I have this on :P! 

I think if the weather is still crappy I might try my croc effect top coat as I'm going out for drinks with a good friend who I haven't seen in forever! I'm thinking either gold or pink or green or any other bright colour :D

Before I forget Models Own have just released a new collection of 5 shades for summer called the Kaleidoscope collection, I thought OMG they're doing Holos!! But no they're "pearlised distinctive shades, each to give a high-shine and gleaming colour" there's a blue, purple, raspberry, orange and yellow, they look a little boring from the promo shots, the orange might be interesting I would buy them but obv I'm on a no-buy :( *sigh* I could get them in secret? ;) jokes. I guess I'll just have to wait for someone to swatch them, I hope I'm wrong and that they are interesting! 

Seeyou soon :)

a-england Order of the Garter Swatches and Review

Hiya, 
Last night I recieved two comments from two lovelies saying that they would like to see OotG today and I have obliged, I'm so glad you wanted to see this because ooo it's gorgeous!
I honestly think this is my favourite out of my two a-englands :O! It's super shiny, sparkly, blue and for me the colour is something I genuinely would associate with England, it's like a dusty royal blue, the Queen would totally wear an outfit this colour ;). 
Again this is going to be pretty picture heavy 
You have to enlarge these!! Click away!

I don't know if you can tell but I love this colour! Like I said it's like a dusty royal blue with brighter blue sparkles that just make an amazing polish, when the light hits it it's mesmerizing. Really cannot stop looking at my nails they look so beautiful, this polish has made them a bit wider than they actually are, which for me is a good thing oh I don't don't know but I think my nails look perfect in this colour!! Haha. 
One thing that was less enjoyable was the brush, the bottom has been cut on a slant (on the wonk) so it looks normal from front but you can see the slant from the side, this just made applying it a bit awkward but it must have just been a mistake as my other brush was fine. I'm just being pernickety :P. The formula was great though, smooth as you like. It took a while to dry though. 


Stupidly I put my Models Own topcoat over it, for innocent reasons y'know I wanted it to stay shiny but when I woke up this morning, I had my first ever incident of bubbling! It's horrid, looks like my nails have a disease :( yuk. On top of that on my right hand I have these weird dents that look like tiny teeth marks :S BUT all of this is down to the topcoat not the a-england polish.


The weather man lied, as per, so there is no sign of sun today, it's super gloomy so again my a-england polish isn't getting the sun it deserves, this combined with bubbles and teeth marks means I shall (unfortunately) be removing her :(. I just can't wait for summer, then they will get the attention they deserve! :)


Phew, it's been a long one, I hope you made it till the end :) again I can't get enough of this brand, I seriously want Avalon from the Mythicals!! Another high recommendation :) :) Hope you enjoyed girls! 

Untrieds List

Hey :) 
As I am still wearing my daisy mani, still looking adorable! I thought I would post what I meant to post yesterday my list of untrieds, don't worry, it's not a long one I only have 12 left yay then I can buy again :)
So only 12 out of 21 to go, although an exception to my no-buy is when the New Dior collection comes out Les Violets Hypnotiques I NEED Shadow and Orchid!! And when we go to Colchester next weekend with the bf's parents as I will have my bursary from uni and there are a lot of places that sell OPI so I'm hoping to get Swimsuit Nailed It (if it's still there) and at least one  from the Holland Collection :) yayayay!! 
I'm putting it here incase you don't want to read it :P


Order of the Garter, Dusky Mauve, Bluey and Snog, 108 Degrees, Little Brown Dress and Navigate Her, Diva of Geneva,  I have a Herring Problem, Rising Star and Russian Navy, Cabana
I haven't included brands because I think most are obvious (at least they should be if you know your polish ;) it's like a game, see if you can name which brands, the only one noone would know is Dusky Mauve :P) Enjoy :)

Daisy Daisy give me your answer do

Hello again :)
I originally saw this design on Oooh Shinies' blog here and it is sooo cute! How could I not have a go myself, especially now I have dotting tools woo (best purchase ever!) here is my version :)

I used OPI Stranger Tides as the base and I dotted a white from a Sally H manicure set, I didn't know whether to leave it like that or not, I thought they looked like little flower beads that I used to buy as a kid to make bracelets from :P but I decided to make them into daises in the same way that Oooh Shinies did so here is the final mani

Man I love this so much :) The yellow I used was Revlon Sunshine Sparkle, these pictures are with a topcoat as well. 

I'm so glad I found this design, it was really easy to do and looks so cute! It reminds me of a daisy chain (again making them when I was a kid :P) it is so perfect for spring especially over my new favourite green :). Even my bf said he thought my nails looked pretty, which he has never said! It's a nice change as the designs I normally do aren't delicate and feminine like this one. 

You should really check out the original and her blog if you haven't already :). 

I hope you like it and that it brightens your day like it has mine! If you have dotting tools you have to try this :) 

See how many smiles I'm using heheh I'm just happy today. 

OPI Stranger Tides Swatches and Review

Hiya!
As promised, a little bit later than planned but w.e. I have OPI Stranger Tides for you today. Gah, I realllly really love this, it's such a perfect and wearable green especially if you aren't keen on greens, it's so sweet :).

The application was good but it was a bit hairy on the first coat as it was steaky and bald but the second coat sorted that out, I probably should have used a third coat but I had a design that I really wanted to do over this colour so I couldn't be bothered to wait haha. The thing I must say is that if you have really ridged nails, like I do, this polish is not forgiving it clings to them but that might be because it needed a third coat to be honest, I don't know! It dried in an okay time, I'm just getting to be more impatient :P. 

I'm really glad I bought this colour, I know that I will be wearing it again and again over spring and summer, the sun is kind of out today here and my nails feel happy like the weather :).

I think it really suits my pale and cool skin as it becomes really green but I have seen on others that is pulls more pale grey green, it all depends on your skin tone I guess, either way it's a really pretty colour IMO :)

So if you are a green lover I think you should own this one :) 

I'm doing a triple post today, I have a design to show you next and a list of my untrieds that I have to get through just for the fun of showing you :P

Seeyou soon!

Revlon Plum Fizz

Hey, I was meant to post this last night but I was too tired. I am wearing my 9th polish from my untrieds that means I have worn 9 different polishes from last tuesday to today! Ha! Anyway, Plum Night is a lovely dark purple but it NEVER looks black IRL however as it's purple ofc my camera couldn't capture it right so it looks too greyed out :( I nearly didn't post these pictures because they don't do my final mani justice at all. 

This is two medium coats for opaque coverage, it took forever to dry :/ but it is a nice vampy shade of purple :). 

After that I added two coats of Revlon Grape Fizz which for the record, doesn't smell like grapes :( I only picked this up the other day...before my no-buy as I had never seen it on the Revlon stand before, I know it's not new to the US at least. Anyway I looove it, so sparkly and pretty and the smell ain't so bad the next day, it kept making me smile everytime I smelt it :). 
Pictures aren't too good, 

Erm yeah. I told you they weren't great, you can't really tell how lovely it looked :( after a night I was so bored with it, I decided to mattify, best decision ever! It took it to a new level of pretty. 

Everyone knows that glitters, flakies and flecks are just waiting to be mattified, they just look so awesome. 

With flash to show the inner glow

These two are with artificial light to try and get the colour accurate as possible.

Ugh I just love how velvety it looks when matte, it's larvely ;) I used Rimmel Pro matte top coat, I highly recommend that you try this out :) Grape Fizz really comes alive when layered over Plum Night it's a really good base for it IMO I just wish I had Facets of Fuchsia as well to put on top :P. 

I'm changing this today though, after lunch to OPI Stranger Tides so look out for that! 

Seeyou later

Pancake day Floral nails

Good morning! Today is my favourite day, Pancake day!! Woop I'll be having mine later with lots of golden syrup, so fatty but sooo tasty ;). So the other day I finally bought some dotting tools and I love them! Why have I only just invested? I say invested I got a set of 5 for £1.99 off ebay :P.

I can't believe it but yesterday I removed saint George after having on for 24 hours...I don't know what's happening to me, I'm going to blame the stupid British weather because yesterday was so gloomy and St. G deserves sun it just looked so sad on my nails without the sparkle so I had to take it off. I put on a very grown up colour (I'm only 19...) Mushroom by Barry M which I'm meant to be wearing Wednesday to Thursday but I've moved it up obv. 

It's a nice enough colour on its own, when applying it it looks just like melted milk chocolate! Yummmy.

It required 3 coats, nice application though, as usual with Barry M

But I'm not crazy about this colour, its just a bit bland and mature for me however it was the perfect base for me to try out my newly acquired dotting tools! Yay! I chose to do roses but they are more abstract flowers than roses per say. I like them alot I know this design has been done a trillion times, most likely better than mine but mine makes me happy :). I did yellow roses too because they are my favourite, they're so joyful. 

This is my left hand 

This is my right which went soo much better than my other hand, despite the fact that I am right handed, it always works out that way....weird

Sorry about the quality and dirt...taking a picture with your left hand is incredibly difficult :P

I used Barry M mushroom as the base

Sinful Colors Cabana as base of pink flowers

Essie Limited Addiction as shadow 

Revlon Sunshine Sparkle (how cuuute) as yellow base

Models Own 25 carot gold as shadow 

H&M Polish me happy as leaf base 

Essie Going Incognito as shadow

Phew! Hope you like it and have a good pancake day!!

a-england St. George Swatches and Review

Hey, like I said yesterday I am wearing St. George today and it was sunny as predicted! *high five* for perfect timing ;). I have been drooling over swatches for ages and when I bought it I was staring at it in the bottle waiting for a sunny day to let it sparkle and that day has come :). I warn you I took 107 photos (!! lol) but I've narrowed them down to 10 butttt I might not put all 10 photos on, might be a tad excessive :P. I know you've probably seen a trillion photos and reviews but if you're like me you still won't be sick of this nail varnish...I hope :).


I urge you to click on them to enlarge these babies!! 
These are taken in direct sunlight with one coat <3 

These are truer to colour taken with flash 

Weird angle I know but it's accurate colour! 

 Okay, weird picture full stop (everyone needs a strange picture, right? ;)) but look at the two tone sparkly, holographic goodness!!

The sun was setting but it's a very colour accurate photograph, so green and dark ish and blue.

So 8 photos later (8!!) do you think I like this polish? I lurve it, so very much. It is one of those things where I kept staring at my nails whilst doing dangerous things ie. crossing the road....but I couldn't help it the sun was shining on my nails it was like magic! Haha! It has a thick formula IMO but it's easy to use, one coat if you are in a hurry but two if you are meticulous ;). 

It took quite a while to dry for me as I had two smudgeys :( but I filled them in so it's okay. 

Basically I want it to be sunny all the time so I can wear this polish everyday! I want more a-englands now though :( I'll have to wait. 

Again this is another polish that you NEED in your life!

I'm hoping to keep this on till tuesday evening but I have a swatch I can put up to fill in the gap, so seeyou tomorrow! 

Models Own Peacock Green Swatches and Review

Hey, for you this evening I have Models Own peacock Green which is a beauty of a colour but I really couldn't get it on camera, literally looks nothing like my photos :( it's waaay greener IRL and so sparkly :) 

It looks too turquoise here, this polish is quite the chameleon srsly.

You can see the two different colours that make up this polish here, but the green IRL is deeper and more prominent in soft lighting.

This one is the closest in terms of colour (I had to adjust them all on my laptop and in camera as before they were just blue!).

These are all just two coats it went on really nice and smooth the only problem is slight brush strokes are visible on my thumbs but nowhere else. It's a gorgeous colour, sparkly and shiny, I think the base colour is a blue with green shimmery bits in that flash in the light. I always used to think this colour was just green but the more I look at it I realise it is blue and green....does that make it teal?! I'm not sure :P. All I know is that is is a very attractive colour that changes in different lights, in brighter whiter *heh heh* lighting the combination of colours is more visible ie. teal. I topped it off with SH Insta dri to give it that extra shine and that was it. 

So if you want to try a Models Own polish I recommend this colour! It's very pretty but cool too ;). 

Exciting newssss for me anyway, I will be wearing Saint George tomorrow baaaaaby!! Wooo cannot wait. Is it normal to get this excited over a nail varnish, in the real world probably not but among us addicts it's fine :D

Sinful Colors Cupcake nails

Hello! This evening I have a new look using two Sinful Colours, I bought these two the other day for like £1.99 each and as it felt a bit warm and like spring today I figured it would be a good time to use these colours. I started with Ciel which is a pale blue creme which was darn awful to apply, this is three coats..

I think this colour is really cute I just know that IRL it doesn't suit me but I still like it :P however it took forever to dry :| I could probably still smudge it now even with SH ID on top! Anyway after it was partly dry (I got bored of waiting) I added Mauve in a french manicure styley over the top, it reminds me of the Zoya 'funky french' 

I like Mauve a lot more than Ciel, I think it would suit me more, it's a more substantial colour if that makes sense. It's a pale lilac which again looks a bit grey, I guess that's why they named it Mauve ;). I couldn't stop there I had to add one extra step...

This is one and a bit coats of Accessorize Crystal Shimmer I like it because it's not over the top glitter it's quite subtle it just adds a shimmer and sparkle to the mani which I feel would be flat without it. I put SH Insta-Dri over the top to smooth the glitter and that's it. The Sinful Colors are nice colours and the formula is never going to be amazing for how cheap they are really so I don't mind paying two squid for pretty polishes, I bought a pink as well Cabana which I am excited to try but I'm not scheduled to wear it for a couple of weeks yet ;). 

Yes, you read that right, I have a schedule of which polish I will be wearing for the next six weeks....it's the only way to make sure that I wear all of my untrieds otherwise I'll never do it! I'm going bare over the weekend to give my nails a break then I'm diving straight back in with A-England! Yay about time :D. 

See you soooon.