31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 12 - Stripes

Stripe nails this week! Not much can be said for stripes really, they can look really good and can be done in tons of different ways.. I had an idea in my head for my stripe nails and this is how they turned out:

I used two coats of my trusty Barry M Nude, seriously guys I use this nearly every mani and it's absolutely fab. I couldn't recommend it more. Then used a paint brush to paint stripes in various shades of pink. The lightest pink is Kiko 372 - Kiko have such imaginative names.. (A quick look on the Kiko website shows that this shade is called "Nude" as well lol). The mid pink is Splash of Grenadine by Essie, the first and last Essie polish that I will ever own because they are not a cruelty free brand; something I wasn't aware of when I was in Denmark last year and got all starry eyed at the nail polish there.. It's such a nice colour too, grr Essie!! The darkest pink is China Glaze Traffic Jam which is one of the most gorgeous creme polishes ever. It glides on and is such a rich and beautiful colour <3 I got this free when I bought CG Fairy Dust in Sally's during the summer! I love a good deal!

I quite like this mani, as you see I haven't added topcoat yet so it could do with some smoothing out, and the lightest pink is possibly a little toooooo light... But otherwise I'm happy with it! Hurray!

Let's take a look at what Gemx did for her nails this week!

"This week for the stripes I cheated a little and used some Rebel Nails. I have quite a few of these from GlossyBox and I never think to try them. They are really easy to apply, just warm them up with a hairdryer, stick them in place and file off the excess and they are done! I do like how clean and neat they look and although I always feel like they are going to come off if I don't keep smoothing them down, they are really stuck on. I had several showers with them on and they haven't budged!"

I have never used nail wraps, they always seem overly expensive to me and I would always choose to buy a bottle of polish over a pack of wraps. Having said that these do look really good and I'm glad that Gem tried them out and liked them! I think I have two sets of wraps from beauty boxes that I set aside.. I tend to hang onto things for ages and not use them so maybe I'll have a go for a Christmas party or a special occasion =)

That's about it! I hope you enjoyed the post, please pop over to see Alli's Striped nails too!

-Lei

Lest We Forget

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

-Lei

(Products used: Barry M Nude, OPI DS Reflection (not CF), Rio nail art pens)

31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 7 - Black and White Nails

Yup it's that time again!

Can I just say now that I LOVE my nails this week? I've been excited for this part of the challenge since it started and have been planning this design for ages. You may have notice that I have a bit of a thing for animals lol well this week is no exception. Here are my nails!

 BADGERS. Freaking BADGERS! Urgh I love these snuffly creatures <3

For this mani I used Barry M Nude to even out my nail tone for the bits showing, then Stargazer 118 which is a tipex white. It was actually pretty gloopy, I've had this baby for about 10 years so that's not surprising but once I'd added some Seche Restore it was useable again =) I used this to vaguely plot out a badgery-type shape and then used my black nail pen for the stripes and their little snuffly noses <3 the eyes are the black and the white nail pen.

My stupid topcoat dragged the black all over the place even though I was super careful and dabbed it on! Grr. So I had to go over them in some places with my white nail pen.. it's noticeable to me but probably not to other people at a glance.. It bugs me. Will try a new top coat soon.

Anyway yay badgers!! Here are some cute badgers that I pilfered from google.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I recently actually bought a super cute badger jumper from Dorothy Perkins. I went in there looking for some boots but saw the jumper and couldn't leave without it. 

I looks a lot less.. bright? In real life. It's a neutral beigey colour. The badger is so adorable, he has white fluffy bits and a bead for his eye and lots of sequins to make him sparkle <3 so cute. The jumper is in stock in all sizes on the website for £30 and I totally recommend it. It's a loose knit so you'll want something underneath. The only complaint I have is that there isn't a little badger bum on the back, he stops at the side seam so no little tail or anything =( boo.

Here are my nails with my jumper LOL

So what did Gemx do for her black and white nails? 

Here's what she had to say!

"I went for two tone black and white nails. I didn't want to use a opaque white because the ones I have tend to look a little streaky and Tipp-ex like so I used a sheer white. I used three coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! and put on a topcoat. Then when that was dry I taped off my nails diagonally and added one coat of Filthy Gorgeous in Twilight. This is now my favourite black! It's shiny and opaque in one coat and really easy to work with. I then added another topcoat. I really liked this so I didn't add anything else to it and with so many coats of polish it is lasting really well!"

I totally love these! How classy do they look? The black by Filthy Gorgeous is amazing, it's literally one coat. So opaque! When I first tried it I was amazed. Totally worth a go if you're looking for an awesome black! 

So there we go! I wonder what Alli has done for her black and white nails? 

-Lei

31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 2 - Orange Nails

Helloooo,
It's that time again! Morgan and I are doing the 31 Day Nail Challenge with one design a week!

So the theme for this week is Orange nails. I racked my brains for ideas. "What's orange?" I thought. Well there are lots of things that are orange tbh but it wasn't until yesterday that I hit on the *perfect* idea! So here we go, my version of Orange nails!

Cute orange foxes!! <3 Ah this is possibly my favourite nail art to date, I just know that I'm not going to want to take these off. Ever. I *love* foxes. Check out the adorable fox pyjamas in the photos, they were from Topshop last year and I bought two pairs because I love them so much!

For this design I used one coat of Barry M Nude for the base then for the foxes I used China Glaze Riveting, which was given to me for my birthday by my friends Sandra and Mike (hi guys if you're reading!). I only did one coat as it was so vibrant but I think in some places it needed two as there are a couple of patches. I did a curve about 2/3 up my nail then added points for the ears. The rest was done with my nail art pens.

Gemx sent me an email with her designs in and here they are!

Here's what Gemx had to say!
"I really love orange nail polish. I have two favourites, Illamasqua Gamma because it's so bright and lovely and the one I used for this Models Own Golden Peach. It's a pale orange with a pretty golden shimmer. I painted the tips orange and then added a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle. It's my favourite glitter at the moment with small silver glitter and larger sheer white hex glitter. "

I love coloured tips, especially orange. They just look so pretty! I adore Models Own Golden Peach, it's one of my favourite polishes! I love the addition of the glitter and I wish I could buy this one for myself but since OPI were taken over by Coty I refuse to buy their polish. It's sad as they were my favourite brand once.

Anyway. Orange for the win! When I was deciding which polish to use I had a browse through my stash and pulled out all of my oranges.. I thought you might like to see them!

They are as follows: 

Top: Rimmel - Apricot Punch / Natural Collection - Antique Coral / 17 - Tropical Island / Exposed - Sweet Caroline / Sinful Colours - Tapping Nails, Big Daddy, UFO, Cloud 9 / Revlon Orange Fizz.

Bottom: Leighton Denny - Hanky Panky / Models Own - Orangeade, Tangerine Queen, Golden Peach, Tropical Sun /  Nails Inc - Chelsea Flower Show / OPI - Goin' Ape-ricot! / China Glaze - Riveting, Papaya Punch.

Gemx mentioned her favourite oranges so I probably should too, though it's hard to pick! If I had to choose one it would probably be UFO, it's a stunning glitter in an orange jelly base. Riveting is now firmly on my favourites list too! I hadn't realised how much I love orange until this post, woot go orange!!

That's it for now, I hope you enjoyed mine and Gemx's nail art! Let me know! Also, make sure you pop over and see Morgan's orange nails too!

-Leishasaurus

P.S. Some of my orange polishes were purchased over a year ago and are not CF. Of the brands mentioned in this post, I no longer buy Rimmel, Revlon or OPI.

First Attempt: Jelly Sandwich

I love jelly nail varnishes. I love how soft and squishy they look, how they have a depth to them and how they shine. I also learnt that I love what they can do to glitter. I had been lusting after the Nails Inc Juicy Sheer collection since it was released earlier this year but I always find it harder to buy things online than to buy them in shops.. I guess it's because the price is always there on the screen, telling me I'm naughty.
I spotted two of the collection on ASOS in the sale with free P&P and an extra % off so I didn't feel quite so bad when I instantly purchased them. Seriously, the transaction took less than 5 mins that's how quickly I snapped them up. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have all 3, I'll have to look out for the 3rd one =)
 These polishes are fab! They're so bright and fun and you can see from the bottle that they're going to be really squishy looking <3
I chose to use Henley Regatta, (the other one I got is Chelsea Flower Show) which on the Nails Inc site is called Strawberry Sheer. It's easy to tell why, not only does it look like strawberries, but it frigging SMELLS like them too!

[Sorry for the lighting of this pic, it was late at night]

I did two coats of strawberry then a coat of Barry M 210, a pink and holographic bar glitter that I won in a giveaway that Gemx held last year, and then another coat of strawberry. I think I did the last coat too thin though.. I was scared I'd cover up the glitter too much! I'll know for next time =)

The only bad thing I can say is that this took ages to dry. Usually I use a quick dry top coat, but for some reason I didn't and woke up with sheet marks. I thought about doing another coat but never got around to it.
It has been a whole WEEK since I did this mani and not a single chip! Slight tip wear but no chips!! This is totally amazing, I always chip my index fingers. Sometimes on the 1st or 2nd day! A whole 7 days with nothing is so impressive! I have a feeling I'll get bored and change it before it even starts to come off!! I think this is because of the non-drying formula because if I push really hard with the tip of my nail it leaves a dent.. but otherwise they're totally dry. Weird. I don't think it'd do that if I'd used the top coat, maybe it would have chipped sooner too.
I totally recommend these jellies, they're fantastic. Go and buy them. I would say try ASOS but they're not on there any more =( but the nails inc website still has them, as does QVC, so go go go!

-Leishasaurus

UPDATE: I removed this after one week and a day because a) I got slightly bored of it haha and b) I messed it up when playing around with my corset trying outfits for a hen night.. I'm convinced it would have lasted at least 3 more days had I not got the corset stuck and had to prize it apart haha!

How much is my face worth?

I've seen this a lot on blogger recently and thought I'd have a go whilst it was still current, rather than leaving it several months and then not bothering.
What I use on my face varies, but I've gone with my most common selection (as per my recent 'most used' post). Also, what these items retail for and what I paid for them differs a lot. So I'll do the cost for both. Here goes! (WIP stands for What I paid)

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation
RRP £10.99 WIP £7.99 (introductory price at Boots)

Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer
RRP £7.49 WIP £5.99 (introductory price at Boots)

Models Own Eyeliner Pencil
RRP £5 WIP £0 (free with eyeshadow palette that I wanted anyway)

Soap and Glory Supercat
RRP £6 WIP £4 (in 3 for 2 offer, have used 1/3 of the price I paid)

No7 Lash Adapt Mascara
RRP £12 WIP £7 (£5 Boots voucher.. plus I got a free eyeshadow quad!)

MyFace Blingtone Eyeshadow Raspberry

RRP £9.99 WIP £2.49 (clearance sale at Boots)

The Balm Frat Boy Blusher
RRP £16, WIP £1.40 (I got this in my first Carmine box -RIP Carmine- have divided the £7 I paid for the box by the amount of items in it)

Barry M Lip Paint 132 Pink Gold Sparkle
RRP £4.49 WIP £4.25 (bought on amazon as this colour is not widely available)

My face: RRP £71.96 WIP £33.12

As you can see I love a good bargain!
I think it's fair that I counted the eyeliner as £0 because I was going to buy the palette anyway, and I charged myself the full price for the mascara despite the fact I only bought it to get the quad lol! I was going to add the eyeliner and the palette together then divide by two and the same for the mascara and quad, but it only worked out at like 50p difference so I thought sod it.

I'm happy with the cost of my makeup, I have yet to use any of the items up and I envisage they'll last for a long time yet, so I think it's amazing value. The best part? They're all cruelty free.

-Leishasaurus

Tag - Most Worn Makeup

I'm trying to post regularly and make a effort with this blog. I saw this tag on Glitter on Glitter and thought I'd have a go. I got me thinking about my makeup and I'm going to try and use more of my stash. I only really wear makeup when I'm going out in the evening so I might try and wear it to work and use a few of my less-used items. I find that time is so precious in the morning that I don't get time to play with colours etc.. 
Anyway, here are my most worn makeup items:
1. Most worn lipstick & lipgloss:
I.. hmm I'm not actually sure. For a while it was Revlon Lip Butter's in Tutti-Frutti and Berry Smoothie, but then I heard that Revlon wasn't cruelty free and I felt guilty. I haven't worn them much since. I have a fair few lipsticks and tend to switch it up each time I wear makeup so I usually pick a shade to go with my outfit. I have a few from beauty boxes that I quite like and a fair few Barry M's. Actually it's probably Barry M Lip Paint in 132.. or 130.. they pretty much go with anything. I don't wear much lipgloss as my hair gets stuck in it and my bf hates it haha but I have a few that I like a lot! Bourjois do lovely glosses. And omg they smell AMAZING. The one pictured changes colour which is nice touch! It goes VERY bight pink on me!

2. Most worn eyeliner/kohl:

Models Own Pencil Eyeliner in black Soap and Glory Supercat - Black I use the Models Own pencil for my waterline and to tightline and the Soap and Glory pen liner for my eyelid. I love the Supercat, it's awesome! Very black and excellent control so I can be very precise. I'm pretty rubbish when using liner on my eyelid, I make a mess or blink, or end up making  part of the line too fat then going over the whole thing and ending up with a massive line >.< but I'm getting better. I need to work on my wings though! Some girls make it look so effortless! Grr.

3. Most worn nail polish:
China Glaze - Fairy Dust I pretty much add this baby to everything. I tried to think about a main colour that I use the most and I think it might be Models Own Champagne but that's probably only a couple of times more than any of the others. I have so many I can easily go through the year wearing a different one each time so I don't really reuse them often. I guess that's kind of wasteful. But I have thinner so they'll last for ages! I have my favourites but I kind of clutch on to them like Gollum, saying "my precioussss" and pawing at them with big eyes. I want to preserve them so that they're mine forever. 

4. Most worn eyeshadow:
MyFace Blingtone - Raspberry Beret This eyeshadow is gorgeous. It's a lovely bright-but-not-too-bright pink with tons of silvery glitter. LOVE. I got this in the sale when boots were discontinuing the range for £2.49 down from £9.99. I will replace this when it runs out, I think they still have them on the website. I adore it. I wet my finger and apply it straight to my lid. I have the blue one as well but haven't tried it yet as I adore the pink too much to wear any other colour!

5. Most worn concealer:
Bourjois - Healthy Mix - Shade 51 I like this concealer, thinking about it actually it's the first one I've owned! I guess I can't really compare it with any others but I'm happy with the way it works and I can really notice a difference when I use it.

6. Most worn foundation:
Bourjois - Healthy Mix Serum - Shade 51 This is a good foundation! It can pick up dry bits on my skin but I make sure I exfoliate and moisturise before using it now to avoid any dry patches. They're usually on my nose. I have an oily forehead, it's a bit worse now I have a fringe.. but I don't really see my forehead much because it's hidden haha I use a little bit on there but not much and if I finish with powder and it doesn't get too bad. The shade is good and I like the pump and the smell!

7. Most worn (finishing) powder:
Boots No7 Mineral Foundation I don't really have a finishing powder as such, I bought a mineral foundation with a No7 voucher just to try it out.. I got the lightest one but it's a bit dark for me.. so I use a very small amount to set my foundation sometimes and you can't really tell it's the wrong shade. I like powdering my nose with it, I feel all posh haha

8. Most worn blush:
The Balm Frat Boy I got this in my first Carmine box. Oh Carmine how I miss you so much. RIP. It's a lovely blush, a kind of peachy colour but it's got enough pink to give a nice glow. You can tell it's expensive, the powder is very silky and applies like a dream. If/when I hit pan I'll be buying this again. It's become a staple in my makeup bag. 

9. Most worn bronzer:
I've never actually worn bronzer! It's not something I've ever considered buying or wearing and I'm not sure that'll change any time soon! Am I missing out?
10. Most worn mascara:
Boots No7 Lash Adapt - Black I got this because I had a £5 voucher and there was a free eyeshadow quad that I thought looked very pretty. The mascara was something I didn't need at the time but it was the only way to get the quad so I got it. Funnily enough I've used the mascara every time I've done my makeup (except to try samples from beauty boxes) and haven't touched the quad. LOL. Well maybe once. I love how this defines my lashes and doesn't clump them all together. I have very long lashes, they're darkish at the roots and very fair at the ends so you can't tell how long they are until I wear mascara, this one makes them look HUGE. I only use one coat because I prefer them to look long and thin but I reckon this would be good for layering. It's very black which I like and dries quickly which is useful because I'm impatient. Definitely a keeper.

I hope you've enjoyed having a nosey through my make-up! I'll be pricing them up soon so keep and eye out for that!
-Leishasaurus
PS, Sorry about the pictures, the light was funny -.-

Prom Nails

I did my friend's sister's nails for her Sixth Form prom last Thursday, I think they turned out rather well!
I used Barry M's new nail polish in Nude and my Rio nail art pens for the design =)

They are suppose to be flowers, I haven't painted on another persons nails in a while and it was harder than I remembered! The brushes weren't the easiest to control either lol too long! Great for stripes though! I added rhinestones to the index and middle fingers for a bit of extra shiny =) what do you think? Did I do an ok job?

-Leishasaurus

Diablo 3 Inspired Nail Art

As I said in my last entry, I decided to attempt Diablo III nail art! I liked this manicure! It has a lot of the elements of nail art that I enjoy to create and to look at: gradient, yellow, sparkles, glass flecks <3 with the added interest of crackle (yes it CAN still look good despite being out of fashion).
Here's the mani:

And here's how I did it!
Step 1: Paint the entire nail yellow! YAY! I used Pineapple Fizz by Revlon, it's sheer so I used a couple of coats, has glass flecks and smells of pineapple when dry. I actually can't think of anything better.
Step 2: Get a sponge (I used a cheap makeup sponge, any will do. You only need a little bit. Some people even use eye shadow applicators! But I don't have any of those..) and dab on an orange polish (I used Revlon Orange Fizz) to the end of the nail stopping about 2/3 of the way down and dabbing to create a seamless, melty-coloured join.
Step 3: Once that's dry get your sponge again and dab a red polish (I used Revlon Watermelon Fizz.. are you sensing a pattern here?) onto the very tip of the nail stopping 1/3 of the way down and blending with the orange to a seamless finish. 
Step 4: Add more red right at the tips if you feel it needs it
You should have something that looks like this:

This looks pretty cool on it's own, I wore this for a few days before adding the final stages lol so I feel like I got 2 very different looks out of the same idea! The Revlon polishes dried very quickly when sponged so the gradient isn't as smooth as I'd have liked.. also this reminded me of candy corn, and I've never even seen candy corn except for google images lol
Step 4: I felt that for Diablo this needed a bit more red so I dabbed a bit more on the tip and around the edges of the nail bringing it down further to look like this:

(Sorry this pic is a bit rubbish, had to use the flash because my light makes everything look yellow)

Step 5: This last thing to do was to add black crackle! (I used Barry M) This make it look like crusting lava and was reminiscent of the games cover which is mostly black with yellow, orange and red peeking through! It makes me think of fire and brimstone!

Here's one more look at the finished manicure!

I'm pleased with this design, I think it captures diablo 3 as well as being wearable! I had a fair few comments on them too! The gradient really works well under the crackle and brings new life to this well-used look! I think that crackle is a fun and easy way to jazz up any nail look. It takes hardly any time, is very easy and looks really effective! It did feel a bit like cheating as I'm used to freehand but it was a nice break and gave me the effect I wanted =) In case you were wondering, I picked up two of the Revlon polishes at boots using a couple of £3 off Revlon vouchers that I printed from the advantage card machine (I love those things!) I got the last polish in the 3 for 2 at Superdrug along with Grape Fizz (a purple) and a GOSH lipstick in Exotic =) The polishes are usually £6.49 each! 

I hope you liked this mani and that you have a go at putting crackle over a gradient to give it a new lease of life!

-Leishasaurus

Safari Nail Art

So my giraffes chipped and I had to remove them.. it was very sad, their faces looked like they were melting. Today I have replaced them, but instead of one critter (I couldn't decide) my brother suggested doing a whole safari of animals, a different one for each nail! So, without further ado, here it is!

On my left (dominant) hand:

Lion, Zebra, Leopard, Flamingo, Hippo

On my right hand:

Elephant, Giraffe, Crocodile, Monkey, Rhino

I'm not going to lie, these were tricky and they took ages but I'm really pleased with how they've turned out! I used so many colours doing these, my bed was covered in bottles haha but the main brands were Models Own, Barry M and Rimmel. I don't buy Rimmel any more though, as it's not cruelty free. Also, weirdly, I think I did better at painting my left hand than my right! 

Anyway, I feel a lot more myself now that my fingers are covered in critters =) just don't ask me to pick a favourite >.<

-Leisha