Big massive apology!

Hello

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger :(. I went away to tunisia on holiday and haven't had enough time before or after to do my nails let alone blog about them! Things are slowing down a bit now so hopefully will be able to get some posts up this week.  Thanks for bearing with me, sorry again.

Lucy xx

Update on Barry M Gelly Collection

After I had question about removal from Melissa ( at My Nail Journey ) about the removal of the Barry M Gelly's I thought I would let you guys know. Although on the pictures it looked as though it would stain it didn't. It was quite tough to get off though and it did smear all up my fingers but it was nothing that a fresh wipe with remover wouldn't shift. So I'm really happy having such a dark colour that goes on nicely, stamps and doesn't stain :)

Thought to add some pictures to todays post I would swatch the other Barry M Gelly that I have which is grapefruit. The pictures here make it look really pink but it does have a peachy tone to it. I did get any chance to do my nails in the daylight today so these are all taken under artificial light so will try and get a better picture of the colour during the daylight. 

This did apply nicely and I found it easy to control although I found it was streaky and did require 3 coats to avoid the streaks. I do think you will be able to stamp with it but I shall let you know when I next stamp with it. Overall I am still really pleased with this collection!

Also check out the shout out the review I got from my colleagues blog Loves and Hate of a Grumpy Young Woman she is new to work but really liked me nails and encouraged me to start this blog, go and check her out her blog is really good 

Lucy x

Barry M Gelly collection

Ive got a bit of a review for you today on the Barry M new Gelly collection. I recently bought 2 shades of these, grapefruit and blackberry. They apply really nicely they almost cover in 1 coat but I found that 2 looked better, all my pictures are with 2 coats. I also tried stamping with them and it worked really well, I'm deffinately going to be buying some of the other colours or at least hint at my boyfriend for my birthday! The only downside I have found with these polishes is that they don't last that long, I had got quite a few chips after one day of wear and thats with seche vite over the top. I am guilty of not owning a base coat though so that could help, when I finally buy one I will deffinately give it another go. 

Heres the mani that I created using the Blackberry colour with W7 white and the cheeky vibrate set stamps

The stamping looks darker in life its the same colour as the other nails but the pictures don't show this.

Sorry about how blue my nails look I cleaned up with pure acetone on this mani, but it left me with a blue tint. I am deffinately getting better at clean up but theres a long way to go, its still a massive hang up of mine. My nail polish application has improved so much so not needing as much clean up, but these polishes were a different consistency than normal so I did struggle at first.

Still after all I'm really proud of this mani and I have worn it all weekend, which is a long time for me!

Lucy x

Sorry & Gradients

First of all I just want to apologise for not blogging yesterday, I have had some personal issues lately that are likely to carry on untill at least the end of november when I will find out some more information. My family and my boyfriend have been desperately trying to support me and cheer me up so have been taking me out. This also means it is unlikely I will be able to blog tomorrow either as my boyfriend is taking me shopping then my boyfriend and parents are taking me to our favourite restaurant, so I apologise in advance.

Today I thought I would post some of the gradients I have created whilst I have been learning nail art. The pictures unfortunately are not the best quality as they were taken on my phone. Also there is not a lot of clean up here and I seemed to think that wasn't necessary.

This is the first gradient I created its pink to orange and both the polishes are No7. I am quite proud of this one, I loved how well the polishes blended.

Next up is blue to purple again these are both No7 polishes, I didn't think I did as well on this one as they didn't blend properly. Please excuse the blue fingers I did warn you!

To try and hide the gradient I stamped over it using my Bundle monster 2nd set and Barry M special effects foil in silver. I think this did help this gradient a lot.

Finally is purple to green, these are both rimmel polishes. I really liked this one, this was deffinately the best blend I managed to get. Also by this time I had discovered seche vite which deffinately makes a massive difference to the overall look to my nails rather than a topcoat that was cheap that I used before.

Lucy x

Essie

This evening I decided to go shopping with my mum and bought my first essie, this may not seem like a lot but I'm so excited! I bought bikini so teeny, its a gorgeous blue/purple colour with a hint of glitter. I tried it out tonight on my mums nails and it applied really nicely, I will deffinately be using it on my nails soon and take some pictures of it. I'm so happy !

Anyway on to my nails. This is the mani I'm currently wearing and I love it. I don't think it has come out as nice on the pictures as it looks in reality. First I applied a base of W7 in white. This polish applied really nicely considering it was so cheap, this is two coats of the polish.

Next I sponged on Rimmel Tangy Tangerine, Avon Pastle Pink and Avon Lemon Fizz. This turned out like this

I actually really like how this manicure turned out it looks so pretty and feminine but I don't think the photos do it justice at all. 

Sorry about the bad clean up I have had a nightmare cleaning this Mani, I used polish remover and pure acetone and just couldn't get it looking good on the pictures.

 I was going to stamp over it but I have decided to leave it alone, I may still stamp over it as my cheeky plates have arrived, but will do it just before I take it off I think. I do really like it even if it is kind of messy, guess this is all part of the learning process. Maybe I will try and different clean up brush to see if that helps any. 

Lucy x

P.S Did I mention I bought my first essie :D

Nail Fail?

I can't quite decide whether this mani is a nail fail or not? Gonna see what you guys think, Ive already removed it because I really wasn't sure!

 First off I started with a base coat of sinful colors aqua. This was my first time using sinful colors so I really didn't know what to expect. I only paid £1 for it but I liked it, it was lovely to apply and only needed 2 coats really but I did 3 to be on the safe side.

 Now before we move on to the next stage can I just say Im currently off work with tonsillitis and a cold. So somehow I'm my antibioticed, painkillered sneezy mind I though it would be a good idea to add white dots, I do not know why. The white is w7 that I bought cheaply the other day which worked really well.

This was the result...

They are very wonky and smudged due to the fact I had to keep blowing my nose and kept sneezing, just be thankful I'm not showing you my right hand! Does that excuse make this better?

Even my poorly confused mind could see this was a mistake so I tried to fix it using the sinful colors aqua and a smaller dotting tool. This is what happened..

In the end I think adding the smaller dots did help to fix this mani but I did not like the way I applied it, Im blaming those painkillers! It kind of reminds of me of octopus tentacles.

I think after writing this blog I am deffinately calling this a nail fail and moving on from it quickly! Good news though the mani I did today I absolutely love. I was planning on posting it tonight but I'm struggling to picture it accurately, Im going to give it another go in the daylight tomorrow and hopefully it should be up tomorrow :)

Lucy x

First Mani

So now its time to post my first mani on my new blog. Although this is the whole purpose of this blog I'm kind of apprehensive and nervous about showing my nails. I completely lack self confidence and worry that I'm not good enough so I'm hoping on this blog people will leave me comments with some constructive criticism to help me improve and feel better about my nails. I get told that I'm good a lot I just don't believe it yet!

First of all I'm going to post a mani that was for a challenge on adventures in stamping the Facebook group I am part of. The mani you had to create was based on a leaf design, this is what I came up with:

My clean up still isn't the best but its something I'm trying to work on!

I created this mani with a base coat of rimmel pro 500 peppermint, I think sponged on Barry M's 307 Lemon. The stamp is Bundle Monster 210 stamped with Barry M special nail effects foil silver.

Also for a laugh and to show the improvement I've made in the last 6 months I thought I would show the first manicure I ever did, this was on my mum for my aunties 50th birthday party, sorry about the picture it was taken on my old phone which has a terrible camera, I now have a shiny new fancy camera that I have been bought for my birthday. So here is my first Mani, No laughing ..... well maybe a bit

No clean up and wonky stuck on rhinestones in the wrong colour, I was so proud of it at the time though. I don't even dare show you what I did on her toes haha!

Lucy x

Collection

So I thought as my first real blog post I would picture my collection of nail polish so that I can compare how it is now and how it is later on when this blog hopefully evolves. 

My collection isn't very big compared to some nail bloggers out there but I already get told by my mum and boyfriend I have too many, but yet they still both buy me them! If you want to know any names of colours leave a comment on here and I would be happy to tell you, but I'm far too lazy to name them all on this blog post.

First up is my Sinful Colors these are new to my collection and were only £1 from my local poundworld.

        

Next up is W7 I have never used this brand before and haven't tried these 2 out yet so not sure how they will be but they were £1.49 so didn't break the bank.                                        

These are le femme beauty and my mum bought me these from a local market stall. My boyfriend's sister loves me to do her nail and loves neons so bought these thinking of her. They aren't very good to be honest and aren't a polish I would go to straight away.

This is my only revlon polish but I love it and want to get some more when I have some money. It applies lovely and I really do like the colour.

These are miss sporty a cheap polish I've had for a few years but still work perfectly fine.

My Sally Hansens Ive had these about 15 years and came in a french manicure set, I don't use the nude colour much but use the white all the time. With it being older I can get away with stamping with it although it doesn't come out as opaque as the konad special stamping polish it does the job.

This is my only maybelline I bought this quite a while ago but heard bad things about this range so haven't tried it just yet.

This is another set my mum bought me whilst shopping in ASDA, they are ASDA's own brand george. They work really well and at £1.75 a bottle a good bargin.

 This is probably my favourite brand rimmel, they apply really nice and have nice brushes. Also they are reasonably priced between £2-£5.

Next up is Barry M I'm not a massive fan of their brushes which puts me off buying them, everytime I buy one I always say I'm not buying anymore and then I go back and theres always another gorgeous colour that I can't resist. 

I don't really like the Barry M colours I do love their special nail effects, especially the foil ones as they are really good for stamping.

These are from Avon again mostly colours mum has surprised me with over the years. 

These are No7 I love No7 and are one of my favourite brands, only problem I find is the £7 price tag when I can buy rimmel for £2.99. Although I have noticed lately they have started selling them at £5.50 so may have to invest in some more.

These were a couple that I bought cheaply to try, the brand is 2True I hadn't heard of them before I bought them. They are quite pretty but very sheer.

Next is my only OPI that I got free with a magazine at a craft fair. I have heard some good things about OPI and want some more but I think china glaze is first on my list.

 Next are my nails inc that my boyfriend treated me to. Love the brand but can't afford to buy them very often :(.

Finally I have my old no name or unrecognisable names that I have had for a while.

Wow considering I don't have that many nail polish's that was a long post thanks reading if you still here at the end

Lucy x