Nail Art: Ombre Stripes

Long time no see! Again! :p

Today I tried something pretty complicated for me since I haven't done any nail art that's needed so much work...and even then, I still made some mistakes :p

I've been liking Ombres these days, so I did a blue and purple ombre using models own Hypergel polishes and a slight layer of gold glitter polish from the ciate Christmas advent calander. I then laid some striping tape in diagonals and then quickly put on some Barry m black polish. 

I liked using the black as it quietens down the brightness of the ombre but still has an element of interest to it. 

Nail Art: Half Moon Monochrome Polka Dot

Hello! After a few weeks of wearing bright summery colours, I felt like some monochrome nails for a change. Polka dots are always easy to do but I also felt like having some half moons to. 

However, I'm never good at free handing half moons (they always end up squint haha) and I thought some 3D nail gems (is that what they're called?...) would do a good job covering up some wonky moons whilst also being part of the design. 

It's not often I do two accent nails, as I usually do one accent nail, all the same or all different. 2 accent nails allow you to have some freedom in your nail art without having the pressure of having to come up with 5 (or 10) different designs, so I might do this style again :)

Nail Art: Dandelions

Dandelion nail art are something I've been meaning to do for a while, it's just one of those ones I've forgotten to do! It's so simple and easy to do, and super pretty too :) 

Swatched! L'Oreal Confetti Topcoat

I finally got my hands on the infamous L'Oreal Confetti Topcoat, a glorious glitter topcoat consisting of a clear base with large and small black and white hex glitters. 

This is kiiiind of a rip off of a much more infamous indie glitter (the name of which  escapes me!) but it's alway sold out, and I think may have been discontinued, or the maker sells them rarely due to high demand. I like that more high street brands are getting into the kinds of polishes the indie brands have been doing as it makes them more accessible to people and could make indie brands more popular.

Moving on, I've layered the topcoat over Models Own Fuzzy Peach, which I thought would be nice and summery. I love this combination, and I may get a few more bottles of the topcoat as it's such an interesting combination of glitters. It's easy to work with, the base is quite thick so the glitters spread quite easily but not so they slip about too much. Any bare patches can be patted on afterwards. 

Dreary March Ombré

This weather is awful. It's supposed to be spring soon, and we're having to deal with bitter winds, rain and SNOW. What is earth?! (Grav3yardgirl fan ;) ) I've decided that L.A shall be my country to emigrate too since it doesn't seem to get too cold in the winters over there, I don't mind rain too much but I can't stand actual coldness.

After the pastel bonanza of the models own scented collection, I decided to tone it down with a bit of grey and black. How "emo" HA. I used Barry m black and grey and revlons white on white and sponges it on as per with these kind of nails. So. Yeah that's it's really, it's nothing that interesting but thought I'd post it anyways.

I'll also add an Instagram effect overload photo just cos I can ;)

Swatches! Barry M: Grey and Black Multi Glitter

As you may be able to tell, I've been feeling ether uninspired lately. That, mixed with short nails (thanks to a random nail break) and a lack of nail art tools at Mr Lacquerised's flat means I just don't know what to do with myself and than random collection of polishes I've built up here. I was even a bit meh on what to swatch and even let Mr L choose some polishes. But I declined them all and ended up choosing these two which I feel conveys dreariness at life and uni and nails right now :p I think it's the looming exam period that is also putting me into a funk lol.

So, moving on, I'm pretty sure everyone has at least one grey in their collection, it just seems like a basic colour to have like black and/or red. Barry m's grey is a dark grey, more suited to autumn or winter But since the weathers been a tad bipolar lately (snow in march?!), it might as well be winter! Black Multi glitter is a nice take on the standard black, with tiny holographic glitter particles which would be SO good for galaxy nails (it's on my to do list, I just don't have any sponges at hand). However it's dries to a rather gritty and matte finish and a thick top coat is needed. I only used Sally hansens mega shine topcoat, but Seche Vite may be a better choice! Both are with 2 coats, which is a reason why I love Barry m so much, that and the great price tag!!

First pic is without flash and second is with, however neither show up the holo well :(

New Year Nails and Resolutions/Hopes

Hey guys, this is I guess what you could call my New Year mani, although it's not very interesting in comparison to the usual NY nails on google. I tried to do something firework themed, but that kind of went awry, so I decided on a metallic bronze and creme black marble with Essie Penny Talks and Barry M Black.

This was done with just a fan brush that I got in my nail brush set - it's pretty much the only reason I use the fan brush lol. Penny Talk is SO pigmented that I only needed the tiniest amount with tonnes of Barry M! Mr Lac. got Penny Talks off Extras.co.uk, where they sell the previous season's colour for a lot cheaper than instore, and they have a lot more beauty products too, so definitely check it out!


Anyways, onto the standard resolutions/hopes for 2013 chat!
2012 has personally been a bit of a standard year in comparison to my friends, with only a few minor, borderline un-important bumpiness along the way. But when I think back to how my childhood was, and to how things where merely a few years ago, I'm kind of glad that there's only been a few minor bumps now. All the big, dramatic events in my life have lead to where I am now. I wouldn't have met my new friends, my boyfriend, nor his lovely family. I genuinely cannot see my life without any of them, and I am so glad that these things have happened, because even though some say my life is boring, or that I'm boring, I'd rather be boring than be stuck where I was not that long ago. So if your job is horrifying, you're failing uni, in a really bad relationship with a guy/girl or your family, then yes, it's crap and it hurts. But you need to wait and ride it out and learn from those experiences. Because soon, everything will fit, and it will be okay. Sure, not everything is fine and dandy, but it's gotten better in comparison. You can't have that rainbow without the rain.

For once I'm actually going to make resolutions for 2013!

• drink less fizzy juice, and eat smaller portions/be aware of how full I am. I've went up a dress size this year and I want to try and lose some of it. I#m not sure about the gym, as I have bad joints and it's a busy year at uni for me, but we shall see!
• Do the 31 day nail challenge. As uni is getting a lost more important this year, I may change this to a 31 week challenge though, or maybe do it over the summer :)
• Have more date nights with the boyfriend. We tend to just stay in and have take aways (maybe that's why I went up a dress size hehe), but I like getting dressed up for dinner and going to nice wee restaurants :)

Thats all I can think of now, as anymore would probably lead to me not doing them. I also hope that I do well in uni this year, as it's the start of the Honours portion of my degree. I want to also try and see my friends more, whether or not that means going to some shitty nightclub for a night out (their choice not mines lolol), and hopefully read a few more books :)

I hope everyone has a lovely night, and keep safe!

Dotty/Movember Nails With Flocking Powder

Hello lovely people, how are we enjoying the cold/wet November with exams looming ever so much closer. Yup, got my exam timetable, and even though I only have one class test, I still have a heck of work to do D: (hence why this will be a speedy post)

Moving away from such disgusting topics, I decided to jump on the flocking powder bandwagon (ebay has lots of choices!) and have a little experiment with beardy/moustachey nails since it's Movember and all :)

Kinda Dalmation-ish?

Yes, those are actual googly eyes (again, ebay for bargainous choices!). Doubt they'll last the night, but they look good/kinda odd in the photo :P

If you're up to date on the whole flocking thing then you'll know how to apply the wonderfully fuzzy stuff. If not here's a teeny lesson! If you're using it as a design, then do your design in whatever colour and dab on the appropriately coloured flocking powder with some tweezers. Press down with a phalange, then blow/brush off with a fan brush (they finally have a use!). Then you're done :) If you're using the powder as an accent nail and using it over the entire nail, then let once coat of polish dry thoroughly, apply a 2nd coat and apply powder while it's still wet, no top coat needed!

Oh, and hello to my new followers :D

The Day I Sucked At Tribal...

Hello nail friends!

Finally have a semi complicated design to post today!I spent the weekend catching up on notes and only had a 9-10 lecture today, which meant I had time to do my nails properly :) And do the washing and tidy and cook dinner for Mr Laquerised and his flatmate (homemade burgers with wedges to be exact!)

So, after stressing about getting all that done (I got back late after surprisingly), I sat down and done a 3 colour ombre, with 3 polishes from Julie G's first collection for Jessie's Girl ( not sure hwat her 2nd collection is called!). If you're not familiar with Julie G, she's a lovely beauty youtuber who's also quite good with nail designs too, so go check her out when you have a chance :) The 3 colours I used from the collection where Girls Night Out (lovely mid toned creme blue), Fashion Friday (blue-ish toned creme mid-purple) and Cupcake Frosting (a bright creme barbie-ish pink). I used these colours, to sponge an ombre/gradient on top of a base of white. The polishes where sheer at first but 3 coatings later, and it was all good :)

I then attempted a tribal design. Which was NOT good. Despite being a fan of the aztec trend, my mind drew a complete blank on as to what to draw...hence why they're in no way good XD Plus I managed to sponge off a few patches of white (impatient Carol is impatient) so the sponging didn't get as opaque as it should've :( And then I got to my left hand...I let out a deep sigh and knew that I had to face the inevitable end of it being an utter vomit inducing mess thanks to not being ambidextrous :p

I kind of wished I just left it at the ombre, but I like the idea of having a black print over an ombre...maybe a 2nd go is needed after this :/

Wedding Nails!

Hello people!

Been a little while since I posted, just been doing a teeeeny bit of revision for going back to uni (3rd year - YIKES!) and just enjoying what I have left of the summer! I havn't done much nail art, just had some plain jane nails with Barry M's Spring Green and Red Black (maaay have spent a little money onlikne ¬_¬ )

Anyways, I have a wedding to attend to tomorrow, and these are the nails I decided to do...I'm not actually sure if they're even wedding appropriate, or that they even match my outfit properly. They're the same colour scheme, but my dress is long and chiffon-y with a black beaded shawl...So not triangular in any way XD

Not sure what made me think of this design, other than I like triangles and I like the contrast of the dots and colours.

MINT GREEN: Barry M - Mint Green
BLACK: Barry  M - Black 

My love affair with Barry M has increased so much with the purchase of Spring Green, Mint Green and Red Black... *sighs* I have Berry Ice Cream to try out as well, but it looks like a lovely colour and no doubt I'll love it since purple is my favourite colour!

Galaxies Round 2

Yet another re-hash of an old design for you guys today! Although this time, my galaxies turned out a bit 

meh in comparison to my first time :/ 

Also, I'm sorry my cuticles are in a dire mess, this was my third attempt at a design (one did not turn out as I hoped and the other just smeared all over the place cos I was too impatient D: ) and the acetone wasn't doing much for them...I must get round to buying some cuticle nippers, now that I know that they're not as scary as they seem thanks to good old youtube :)

I normally list the colours to my designs, but the only branded polishes I used were the black and the glitter which were good old Barry M, the others were just those cheapy ebay polish pens!

Galaxy nails have been around for yonks now, so there's probably loooots of explanations/tutorials on how to do these :) They're a lot easier than they look, all you really need is a couple bits of sponge, some galaxy-esque colours and a glitter topcoat :)

I'm not liking these ones as much as I liked my first ones, these are too yellow and I should've taken my time to blend/sponge my colours a bit better...but I guess they look okay from afar, I don't take too kindly to strangers getting too cosy with me XD

If The Fish Swam Out Of The Ocean....

Does anybody remember that ever so popular (and annoying) song, called Black and Gold by Sam Sparro a fair few years ago? Anyways, this song haunted me for the entire day I had this mani (half dried polish and tights do not mix!)

I don't really have much to say about this design, I resort to drips whenever I have a mind blank and black and gold is a sexy colour combo, no?

BLACK: Barry M - Black
GOLD: Barry M - Gold Foil

Double Post: Hime Gyaru & Ying Yang Drips

Hello m'loves, how are we surviving the freakishly wet summer of 2012? T_T

Anyhows, I have a double post for you today, since I didn't have much to say about of the designs as there wasn't much to it. Also, more apologies for my cuticles, I got fed up and went a bit snip happy with nail clippers...now I know why you're not supposed clip them -_-

The first design is a gentle step into the ever so slightly OTT world of Hime Gyaru nails from Japan.

In all honesty I kind of had another mind blank on what nail design to do, and all I decided was that I was going to use the ever so lovely Buttercup from the Revlon Colourstay range as a base. I then just blindly went into my nail decorations box and grabbed anything yellow based and ended up with this kind of thing. Normally I do my ring finger and my thumb as accent nails, however due to the unpractical use of gems and pearls and whatnot, I decided to keep my accent nail to just the ring finger. They did however last a fair amount of time before I decided to take them off (around 3 days) 

YELLOW: Revlon Colourstay - Buttercup
Gems & Pearls: Ebay

The next design I have is a Ying Yang/Drip effect design that I actually really like. If anyone watches the amazeballs Voussontbeauetbelle (i.e Becca) on youtube, you'll know that she often sports some wowza looking ying yang nails more often than not, and I just had to get involved! Me being one for accent nails and all that tosh, I decided to sport the ying yang sign on my accent nails and a drip effect on my other nails (God, I do like a good old drippy effect)

WHITE: Models Own - Snow White
BLACK: Barry M - Black

Given that my usual white is in Glasgow at the moment and I am in Edinburgh (making sure Mr Lacquerised doesn't die from starvation while his family are away in the sunny climates of Chamonix), I persuaded Mr L to purchase me a white from his place of work (Boots, however he only works in the opticians not the normal part of the store where I can easily peruse the contents for almost an hour!) and he picked up the Models Own French Mani white which I'd never actually used before. Personally, I find it a bit blah to work with...opaque-ish in 2 coats but can be a bit patchy and it has a weird consistency...maybe I'm just too used to my Ultra Pro one lol.

It was surprisingly hard/confusing for me to do the ying yang signs...I couldn't get them consistently the same shape...maybe I was overthinking it too much hehe.

Anyhows, if you don't know yet, Ive finally got round to opening my Etsy Shop, so have a quick peruse if you wish, and maybe even buy a set if you want hehe ;)

Till next time! :)

Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty...

Hello nail lovelies! 

How are we enjoying the miserable weather that has ensued on the UK? :p Did any of yous do much for the jubilee or were even aware of it if you're not from the UK?

I'll be honest and say I did eff all for the jubilee as a) I wasn't even aware it was so soon (I thought it was in July for some reason...fail!) and b) I'm not one for Royal celebrations. Not that I hate them or anything (as the standard Scot does, I have to admit), but I've never seen the whole fuss with the Royals, I didn't even watch Wills and Kate get married lol.

Anyways, I've been on a cat obsession kick lately, mainly because Mr Lacquerised has 2 cats and I do have a soft spot for them. It first started with a pair of cat shoes from Daisy Street and then I bought a rose gold cat face ring from River Island, so I thought I'd top it all off by doing some cat nails hehe. But I still stand by the fact I love both cats and dogs the same :)

Many apologies for the crappy phone photos, I've given my camera as a loan to my friend for her graduation/graduation ball photos, and the sun was going bye bye when I decided to take a photo. And I also apologies for the stringy black bits, I rarely use my black polish (I usually use a black nail art pen, but that has run dry) so it's gone a tad gloopy! 

BLACK: Barry M - Black
WHITE: Ultra Pro - Pure White
PINK: Barry M - Peach Melba

 I decided to add a bit of a different touch to my usual nail designs and do a sort of puzzle type element to it by adding the cat's body to the thumb so I can "piece" him together hehe

I opted to do just paw prints on my left hand, since I'm left hand dominant and I knew my wobbly right hand wouldn't be able to deal with piecing together a cat so I thought it'd be better than safe than sorry :)

Swirly Mess

Long time no speak folks! ;)

As you may be able to tell from the more recurring posts that I am already bored of summer and seem to go back to doing my nails for something to do :p

This design is my lazy attempt at water marbling, by just  blobbing on 2 or more polish colours onto the nail and swirling them together with  dotting tool or needle. I've yet to actually give water-marbling a shot, but it seems too much hassle, like making sure the water and polishes are at the same temperature, and getting polishes of similar viscosity etc. Whereas with dry-marbling (not sure if that's the official term of my version, but let's go with it lol) is a lot easier with a LOT less mess :)

BROWN: OPI  - San-tan-tonio
BLACK: Barry M - Black

I'm currently trying out the X-large sizing option for the photo, as it lets you see more detail (I currently use large) but I don't want the photos to be IN YOUR FACE y'know? :p

I would like to apologise for the wear and tear of my cuticles and just generally the area around my skin -_- The blue polish from my precious design stained my skin as I was taking it off D:

I also have a confession to make...as you may be able to tell, I don't actually take care of my cuticles as much as I should... *DUN DUN DUNNNNNN* I just find it all a bit of a faff to take care of my cuticles...I do have Sally Hansen's Cuticle Remover, and Burts Bees Lemon Cuticle Butter, but my cuticles never seem to end up nice and lovely :( I kind of expected the Sally Hansen stuff to magically remove my cuticles rather than just soften them I guess. I have a cuticle pusher but that doesn't seem to do the trick, but then again I'm kind of scared to use those scary cuticle clippers that look like pliers. I have th8is image of me somehow pulling my nail off 0_0 However, I am getting into the habit of using The Body Shop's Almond Hand & Nail cream so hopefully that should make things a bit better!

Till next time!

If Nothing Ever Changed There'd Be No Butterflies....

As you can tell from the new post, I am free from all things examinable and uni related! (at least until resits start...which I hopefully don't have to do...argh...) WARNING: This post becomes rather rambly after the photo, so you can stop reading afterwards if you wish XD

Moving on, I realised it'd been around 2 months since I'd done a design...was quite disheartening...darn exams! I'm not sure why I decided to do butterfly wings, I thought they looked lovely on a tumblr photo I'd seen, (the person used metalic polishes though, so they looked more...sheeny?...Is that even a word?...Obviously vocabulary is my strong point ¬_¬ ), so I thought I'd give it a wee bash. I don't have many metallic polishes since I'm not a huge fan of pearly/metallicy finishes, so I just used creme finishes instead.

To create the base, I used Rimmel Lasting Finish 280 Sunshine but it was so streaky and patchy even with 3 coats, that I ended up sponging over it with a yellow polish anyways. The red/orange gradient was done by sponging too, generally coming in from the corner of the nail rather than just the bottom as I was attempting to make the wings almost diagonal looking? However, my lack of practising drawing the black outlines led to  the majority of the nails looking...well, shit XD

But I managed to get the hang of the method for a few of the nails (middle and pinky) so I definitely know what to do for next time. I then just added a few white dots on the tip of the nail, smeared on a fast dry topcoat (it's become rather gloopy!) and ta-daaaaaaah...monarch butterfly wings!...ish... ¬_¬

All colours from ebay!

So, a few posts ago I said something about selling some false nail sets online (either folksy or etsy) to make a bit of money over summer and to give me something to do. I'm still planning to do that, so hopefully should start things rolling around next month once I get supplies in like false nails, glue, etc. Not sure of which designs to do though, as the seller I found on ebay for false nail sets only does them in batches of 5, and I dont want to buy too many in case this just epicly falls flat on it's arse and I'm left with tonnes of nails just hanging about not bought by anyone... Although after calculating how much everything would be, it shouldn't cost too much for eveything so it wouldn't be too much of a loss if this fails :)

Sounds quite scary that I'm opening a kind-of-but-not-really shop :/ It's been more or less a year since I started messing about with polish designs (the polish obsession has been ingrained for a good few years obviously) and now I''m considering selling some designs...I wasn't even expecting to create a blog, and when I did, I didn't expect to even gain one follower never mind 12...12 followers is nothing compared to the more "famous" polish bloggers, but it's a lot to me and I appreciate that people have spent time reading my mindless rambles haha!

Anyways, I shall keep you posted once my "shop" starts if you'd like to purchase my questionable designs or you can buy them as a gift for someone :)

Farewell and have a nice day! Till next time!

Flower Fail

Aloha!

Sorry I've been AWOL, but exam season is fast approaching, so just been gearing up for that *sobs*

Which means there'll be even fewer posts than there has been lately (had some tests and labs and stuff for uni - booo!)  I also apologise for the  mediocre phone cam pic, but camera needed charged and I couldn't be bothered waiting for it to charge hehe ^_^

Anyhows, I noticed that people tend to do florals/dotty flowers as their first tries at nail art, and they usually end up with lovely designs that make me ooh and aah in jealousy. Jealousy because I can't do florals, as you can seem from the attempt below -__-

Dunno, they just dont seem to look like flowers, maybe because grey wasn't the best flower colour to use, but the shape doesn't scream floral to me :( But I guess from far away they look like flowers, most likely because of the green blobs Im calling leaves :p

Hmm, think I'm placing florals on my list of things I ain't good at/never going to try cos I'll fail along with water marbling (dry marbling/dragging seems much easier and tidier) and one stroke flowers -_- *sighs*

Also in other news, I'm considering selling some fake nail sets with some of my designs on folksy (UK version of etsy), which will be something to keep me occupied over summer and maybe bring in some money, if people buy them :p Might jsut start out with a small bundle of 10 or 20, and advertise on my personal FB as some friends have said they really like my designs...or they were just being nice, I don't know lol. I've bookmarked some things from ebay like false nail sets, glue, and jiffy bags etc, and it wont come to too much, so should make a profit hopefully :)

Oh and I'd like to also thank the followers that have started...well, following...me, it's nice to see that people like you enough to follow you, even if it's just a small number, really appreciate it guys :D

Enough rambling now, better get back to the notes D':

Hope yous have a lovely spring day! :)

Textual Relations

Aloha peeps, sorry for being absent, class tests and all that junk are going on :'(

Anyhoos, here's a quick mani I did the other day, just a monochromatic text speak idea, with smileys and shorthand abbreviations. It didn't quite turn out how I wanted it to, but I didn't want to spend too much time doing my nails when I had a test the next day...

My left hand was totally horrid in comparison to my right...As I am that minority that is lefthanded ;) However, I did learn to love the look of plain white cream nails...just something so clean about them...if somewhat needing a lot of careful clean up...

Bits and Bobs

Sorry for not many updates recently, been a bit bogged down with uni deadlines and general life decisions... Been pondering if I actually enjoy being at uni and only decided to go back because I felt I had to and not because I wanted to...meh.

Anyhoos, this is a bit of a spammy post, just some photos of some designs that I did offhand, testing out some methods/new polishes that I felt didn't warrant a whole post on their own...

China Glaze: Electric Pineapple, Papaya Punch
Mattified with GOSH matt effect.

Swirly accent nail

China Glaze: First Mate
Barry M: Gold Foil

On another note, I've (semi) decided to start selling false nail sets with premade designs to raise a bit of cash and to sort of have a job :p It's gonna take a while because I need the time and money to start it up, but going to start with just 20 at first in case it doesn't kick off as well as I'm hoping :p It's a bit scary venturing off on my own business venture, like, in case I get in trouble with the law or something hehe. But hopefully things go okay and I dont get put in jail or something XD

Mono ABCs and Minty Spots

Hello again, I've been posting fairly frequently for some reason... I'm going through some family troubles atm and I'm guessing I'm doing my nails to take my mind off stuff :)

The first mani is a monochrome letter design...but it looks like a pile of poop cos I didn't have any of my nail brushes with me (I use nail art brushes to clean up round the edges) and I had a black polish pen/striper, but I felt like I could've done better if I used my brushes :/ I dont think the letters are spaced out well and the letters are rather messy, so it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but it might be one I'll try again :)

White: Ultra Pro, French White
Black: Models Own, nail art pen

The next mani is SO much neater because I managed to go home and pick up my nail art brushes and dotting tools :D (and some gems hehe) Sorry about my cuticles, I know it's a nail blogger taboo to have manky cuticles, but I sometimes forget to put cream on before I take a photo. I'm not bff with my cuticles...they're all weirdly shaped compared to other bloggers' that I've seen. Some of mine are square shaped, some oval and some or just wonky, so i need to sit and clean up my polish so it kind of gives the illusion that all my cuticles are the same shape or even. Plus, I seem to have all this extra cuticles skin compared to other's...I'm debating whether to just clip them off (even though you're not supposed to). I usually use Sally Hansen's Cuticle Remover, but it doesn't seem to remove enough of my skin :( If anybody has some cuticle fixing methods they'd like to share then feel free to comment! :)

Light Green: Models Own, Jade Stone
Dark Green: Models Own, Top Turqoise
White: Ultra Pro, French White
Matte Topcoat: GOSH, Matt Effect Top Coat

I hadn't used the turqoise Models Own for yonks, and I'e now rediscovered my love for it! it's such a lovely blueish green! Models Own has such a good range of colours for a drugstore brand :) I like this mani cos I like the contrast of the light and dark greens, and the plain and dotty patterns. I also adore the matte look, wish it caught on a bit more :( The bow on my ring finger (and my thumb which isn't pictured) is just a dot gem with two heart gems on either side, nifty isn't it? I'm not a fan of hearts so I wasn't sure if i'd ever get round to using heart gems...A design for Valentines Day might be a bit tricky though hehe...

Until next time! :)