Then and Now: Lilac Roses

Hey everyone! I'm back (finally) with a new then and now post. I know a lot of you said in the comments of my giveaway that you'd like to see a few more then and now posts so I thought I'd bring it back. Although, I wont be doing it every week like before, just when I feel like it. This week I'm redoing a stripes and roses combination that a few of you may remember as it was probably around a year ago that I did it, in fact you can actually see it on my blog here, but the difference in nail size is huge. I actually cut my nails a bit too short this time around, so the difference is even bigger than it should have been, but oh well! As always the 'then' picture will be after the jump. 

Neon Beads Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have a few new products to show you from Born Pretty Store and Models Own. I decided to do a simple swatch and a bit of nail art (because we all know that's what you're here for really). So here we go!

For the blue (219)* I needed 2 coats, it's a pretty thick polish but it looks really great. For the pink (214)* I needed 4 coats, it's pretty sheer so it needed a bit of build up but I think it would work great for a jelly sandwich

The colours I have here are 219 and 214, unfortunately they dont have names but you can find them both here for $6 each

I loved how these polishes looked together but I really wanted to add my new Models Own Artstix Nail Beads* to the design. 

I have the beads in Neon Pink and Neon Green, and, as you can see from my camera's inability to photograph them, they are incredibly neon, and I absolutely love them. These are also nothing like any other caviar beads I've tried, they're not painted over a silver base, so when you apply a top coat to them the colour doesn't run, which is brill! 

You can find these beads here on the Models Own website or in your nearest Boots store for £4 each, these are definitely worth the price and I would 100% recommend them.

I also used Butter London's matte top coat, which I shall be reviewing soon, but can be found here if you're interested. 

What do you think? Will you be buying either the polishes or the beads? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, my opinons are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Butter LONDON Marbs - Review and Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have a quick review of Butter LONDON 'Marbs'* from Butter LONDON's new Summer Holiday 2013 collection. It's a lovely gold with a hint of silver in it as you shall see. I couldnt resist creating a bit of nail art for you too using my new Orly Dotting Tool* and Orly Striping Brush* that I received from HQhair (a deceiving name considering they also sell nail products too). 

I originally tried to create a design with dots and triangles together on the alternative nails but it looked overcrowded so I ended up redoing it. I used the striping brush for the triangles and touched it up with the dotting tool. For the ring and pointer finger I used striping tape. The black is China Glaze - Liquid Leather 

For me the striper was too long to use as it was so I cut it down, but once I had it worked brilliantly. 

This was just one coat of Marbs* with no top coat, it's ridiculously opaque and it looks brill!

What do you think? Will you be buying Marbs? You can get it here on lookfantastic.com for £12 with free postage worldwide! You can also get the striper here and the dotting tool here on HQhair.com for £7 each, again with free shipping worldwide, and I'd definitely recommend them!

Also, my giveaway is now over so dont forget to check your emails to see if you've won!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but my opinions were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 5 Penguin Books

Hey everyone! I'm sorry this post is (2 days) late, things have been super busy for the past 2 days and I barely had time to do these nails, let alone post them. I managed to find a few hours free yesterday to do them, and I intended to post them straight after, but these took much longer than I ever anticipated. Anyway, for day 5 of digital dozen book week I chose to do a selection of penguin books. I absolutely love the look of these books, and I've been meaning to do these nails for ages, so this week was the perfect opportunity. 

The books I used were chosen at random, and I based it more around whether they'd fit on my nail rather than whether I'd read the book, although I'm sure you'll still recognise most of the titles. These nails are the most frustrating nails I've ever done, they took so much longer than I thought they would and they kept going wrong. I also couldn't fit on the author's name or 'penguin books' in full, because my nails aren't big enough, but overall I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.

To do these I started with 2 coats of Jacava - Mont Blanc* and once that was dry (sped up using my Beauty Narcotix Mini Ultimate Fix Quick Dry Spray*) I used striping tape and Essie - Fear & Desire for the orange, I didn't really want to wait for that to dry as well so I sprayed my mini Ultimate Fix once again, then I used acrylic paint and a cut down brush for the details. 

Ultimate Fix Spray

A bonus bottle shot of my Mini Ultimate Fix*. Perfect for your handbag

What do you think? Let me know in the comments! 

Alice

*Some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, my opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 4 'Alice in Wonderland'

Hey everyone! I'm back for another day of digital dozen book week, and today I'm doing Alice in Wonderland. I couldn't go a whole week without at least ONE reference to my name after all. I chose a mix of other peoples ideas and making things up as inspiration for these nails, as you shall see, rather than using a book cover as with all the other designs. 

On the thumb I did a the cheshire cat using OPI - Chic from Ears to Tail, and then I used striping tape and an unnamed purple polish from a set for the stripes, the mouth was done using acrylic paint. The checkers board remains from yesterday on a base of Jacava - Mont Blanc* which is a gorgeous white which only takes 2 coats for opacity, I used this on my ring finger too. My middle finger is Essie - Borrowed and Blue and acrylic paint. The outline on the ring finger is Essie - Beyond Cozy and the numerals are acrylic paint. My little finger is China Glaze - Kinetic Candy with MASH - Black Nail Varnish* over it using striping tape. The tag is done using acrylic paint. And they're all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

The ring finger is inspired by this design, the thumb is inspired by this design (I know the link isnt to the artist but I cant seem to find who did it, if you know please let me know and I'll credit correctly) and the middle finger is inspired by this design

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided for review, my opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 3 'Noughts and Crosses'/'Checkmate'

Hey everyone! We're now on day 3 of Digital Dozen book week and today I've based my nails on 2 books rather than one, both from the same 'Noughts and Crosses' series by Malorie Blackman. The two books I used were 'Noughts and Crosses' and 'Checkmate'. I wanted something simple to do today and these were perfect.

The two books:

As you can see I added a bit more detail to these than was on the covers originally, but I thought they'd be a bit boring if not.

To do these I used a base of Jacava - 'Mont Blanc'* which is a gorgeous white which only 2 coats for opacity, and then I added black and white acrylic paint using a small brush, topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but my opinions were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 2 'Ruby Red'

Hello everyone! As I mentioned yesterday, I was really struggling to come up with ideas for this week's digital dozen theme, so I had to resort to rifling through my bookcase for inspiration. Luckily I didn't have to search for very long as I came across Ruby Red by Linzi Glass and I knew instantly that I wanted to use it. 

The book:

To do these I started with a base of OPI - My Vampire is Buff, (which I FINALLY HAVE!) and then I used a tiny brush and white acrylic paint for the background flowers. I then added a coat of Seche Vite and decided to take a picture of them alone in case the next step went wrong (see below). I then used red acrylic paint and the same tiny brush for the flowers and writing, I just added different amounts of white and black paint for the different shades of red.

I actually really like the design on its own like that, and I was afraid I wouldnt like it with the flowers but I equally love both of them. Which do you prefer?

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice