NOTD - MINT GLITTER/MATTE GRADIENT NAILS

If you've read any previous posts you'll know that I am a huge nail art fan and I try to jazz up my nails in the most easiest ways. Today I'm sporting a mint nail with glitter gradient tips topped with a matte coat. I'm a huge fan of glitter and had just bought a matte top coat, so I was intrigued to how they'd work together.

What I used:

• OPI MERMAIDS TEARS - A creamy, glossy mint colour.
• OPI SERVIN' UP SPARKLE - A sparkly top coat with little glitter and larger hex glitter that have a holographic shine.
• RIMMEL 5 IN 1 BASE AND TOP COAT - A shiny clear varnish used for top and bottom coat.
• RIMMEL MATTE FINISH - A velvety top coat that transforms any polish to a matte finish

How I did it:

1. First I applied Mermaids Tears. I used 2 coats and then waited to dry.
2. I then dabbed Servin' Up Sparkle on the tips. I then kept layering, adding a varied amount of glitter to create the gradient effect. I used about 5 coats, and on the last coat made sure I had a few larger hex glitter to create more of a variety. 
3. I then applied a coat of the Rimmel 5 in 1 base and top coat to even out the surface ready for the matte coat
4. Lastly I applied 2 coats of the Rimmel Matte Finish varnish.

And that's it! It's pretty simple and took no amount of skills - Just time! I took me an hour while sitting in front of the television to complete both nails as I wanted each coat to be completely dry before applying more. I will be reviewing the Rimmel Matte Coat and 5 in 1 Base and Top Coat very soon!

I'd love to know what you think!

Would you give it a go?

Thanks so much for reading, beautiful!

NAILS OF THE DAY - SPARKLY SPRING NAILS WITH LAST FRIDAY NIGHT OPI AND TEA BIRD BY FILTHY GORGEOUS

I love sparkly nails, so I felt that it was time to bling up my finger tips. I first layered on Tea Bird from Filthy Gorgeous. I am loving their varnishes at the moment, the pigment in those polishes are incredible and hardly need many coats. I'm also in love with it's oh-so-creamy formula too. I need some more of their nail polishes in my life!! You can grab a set of 4 for £19, or individuality for £9 at department stores, online and at Filthy Gorgeous London. The next gorgeous layer I put on my nails to create the magical glitter effect is Last Friday Night by OPI from its stunning Katy Perry collection. I love this shade and it's my to go to glitter top coat. Because of its cool toned clear polish, it can't be layered over a wide range of colours as it gives the colour a violet/blue tint. I tend to pop it over navy, blue, white and other colours a like. There's loads of little specs of glitter and slightly bigger ones, all transparent with gorgeous blue and pink iridescent shimmer. Simply stunning! You can't get this colour currently in stores, but you can pick them up on Ebay and other stores a like. I applied two coats of each colour to create my look. This is perfect for winter, and will even go through to spring as it's a gorgeous twist to the classic pastel nail polish.

What do you think of this look?

What is your favourite OPI colour?

Link me up in the comments to your glittery nail posts!

Thanks for reading,

and thank you for leaving a comment or taking your kind time to follow.

Thank you, beautiful!

NAILS OF THE DAY - VALENTINES INSPIRED GLITTERY NAILS

Instead of being whisked away to a romantic meal or been bombarded with flowers some of us are sitting in their homes twiddling their thumbs. Instead of twiddling them - I'm painting them! To keep boredom at bay I have a habit of playing around with my make up and nail varnishes. I picked up two varnishes, Models Own Show Stopper, an exclusive shade to Clothes Show which I was lucky enough to be given by the lovely Holly Arabella. The second one was Nothing Else Metals by Essie. You can also win this shade in my giveaway.

Nothing Else Metals is a metallic silver with gorgeous pink tones. This really looks stunning on the nails only only needs one coat!! Show Stopper is becoming one of my favourite glitter polishes, and is full of fine pink, silver and violet glitter and also larger blue and silver glitter which change colours in the light - stunning!

This Essie polish has a really wide brush so it covered my nails effortlessly. As I said it needed one coat, so a win for me!! As you can see the shine on this gorgeous colour is just perfect and the hint of pink gives it a unique look. I then dabbed the Show Stopper at the tips and waited for it to dry. Then I built the colour up by adding layers of different amounts of glitter to create a gradient effect. How simple!! Show Stopper and Nothing Else Metals dried so quick so I was able to carry on with the day and not worry about any smudges. I was so pleased with how it looked. A perfect princess looking mani. Try doing it with colours of your choice!

I hope you enjoyed reading and link me up with your Valentines and glittery manis! 

Thank you so much for reading!

NAILS OF THE DAY - CIATE COLOUR SMASH REVIEW USING VARIOUS VARNISHES

I like fun nails during my days at Uni. As we're allowed no make up, I make sure I make my nails as amazing as I can! I hadn't tried my Ciate Colour Smash varnishes yet (I got a set of the silver, black and white last year on a trip to Northampton) so I decided to try it out. I wasn't sure what colours to use as the base so I used a bunch!

First I applied the base colours and waited to dry, and then painted a generous amount of Ciate Colour Smash in white over the top. Overall I really loved Ciate's take on the crackle effect and they did a great job. See the products I used for making this look. What do you think of crackle effects? What is your favourite crackle effect nail polish? Thanks for reading! I love having a rainbow of glossy colours and these are the ones I selected. We have:

• Dating A Royal - OPI - A gorgeous deep electric blue inspired by Kate's engagement ring. The formula is great, as I know a lot of OPI's can be hit and miss. It has a long wear too!
• Fly - OPI - A gorgeous teal colour. This is one of my to go to polishes as it just looks stunning on the nails. This is part of the Nikki Minaj collection.
• Green With Envy - Sally Hansen - A lovely lime green. It's a dream to apply as it's creamy formula is so easy to work with. It has great wear too.
• Hampstead Gardens - Nails Inc - A gorgeous brown/yellow which is set to be a 'trend shade'. This was all over the catwalks last autumn and I expect it to make a return! I wasn't huge on the wear of this as I find Nails Inc chip not long after application.
• Chubby Cheeks - Essie - I love this colour! A gorgeous coral with a pink tone to it. I am completely in love. I think the wear to this is very similar to OPI. However this shade had a better pay off compared with many OPI shades I have.
• White Ciate Colour Smash. I love this. It has a better wear than a lot of crackle effects as many of them rub off, but this baby stays put. You can get this online from Ebay, Amazon etc, but not from Ciate anymore I'm afraid! Search online for it or outlets, I've seen these in TKmaxx a few times.

NAILS OF THE DAY MAC GLAMOUR DAZE NAIL VARNISH LOOK - BLACK BORDER/FRAME

Who ever saw the gorgeous Mac Glamour Daze collection may recognise this picture, and these gorgeous nails. I fell in love with them but for some reason never brought myself to do them. I'm not very steady so I put off trying. After browsing past Mac collections I came across this picture again and wanted to try it straight away. Before you read on, I must say that I really am not steady when it comes to make up and nails! 

I used Illamasqua Nail Polish in Jan and Rio black art pen. I love Illamasqua nail polishes, although I've had a little hiccup with one of their colours, see that post here. I also used the amazing Rio pen in another look here.

The nip on the Rio Art Pen is perfect for creating precise nail art so I thought this was ideal in recreating the Glamour Daze look.

And here it is! A sleek and simple look that just oozes stylish chic. To do this look I applied two layers of Jan and waited to dry. I then used the nip on the Rio Art Pen to frame my nails. There's no wrong way of doing this, I literally just lined my nails. As you can see the black line is a bit shaky, I have the worst technique to achieve a perfect look, however I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The Glamour Daze look is done with mint polishes, and a pastel pink. I think this would work best with more powdery colours as it would create more of a contrast. Feel free to experiment with new and different colours, as I'm sure I will!! The lipstick in these pictures is Cupcake by BeautyUK - You can see that post here.

What are your opinions on this look? Do you like it?

Thank you so much for reading!

NAILS OF THE DAY: BLACK, GOLD AND CLASS

I love nail art, and being very creative I always make my nails a statement. I wanted something classy yet edgy and came up with this design. It's so easy and so simple. I used Andrea Fulterton Sparkle & Stripe nail varnish in India. I'm a huge fan of Andrea Fulerton. Always bang on trend at affordable prices. This one was £4.99 from Superdrug. An absolute steal as it has an amazing thin applicator and an end where you can add sparkles to any mani. I also used Rio Nail Art Pen in black which you can get in a set, or singly for £5.95 from Rio Nails.

 First step is as simple as the rest. With the India colour I used the small brush applicator to go from one corner to the opposite corner over clear painted nails. Then filled in the top half with the same colour. Then using the Rio Nail Art Pen I followed the gold line to make a defined difference between the bare nail and gold. So there we have it.

A simple, classy yet edgy look for the posh bird and the punk, and everyone in between.

GALAXY NAILS HOW TO

The picture of the galaxy in the circle is from Google Images

I've been trying for a while to get galaxy perfect nails and have never found an easy way to do it. But I've now found a way that I find fun doing - Even though it's a bit messy! All you need is a bunch of nail varnishes. I went for metallics. Blacks, purples, greens, silvers and golds. I also took a bunch of glittery shades as well, including a holographic shade.

After the first layer is done, it looks pretty messy. Here's a picture of my thumb after the first layer. Excuse my thumbs, I was born with clubbed thumbs. Megan Fox has them so don't judge!

As I said before, it looks messy. And quite frankly, a bit horrible! Here's a step by step guide how to get to this point.

1. First I apply a metallic black, I did this to all my nails.
2. Apply more polishes in stripes. Keep doing this while it's wet.
3. While it's still wet, apply more polishes. Keep using dark shades and more shimmery ones to create the look you want. I used a gold polish on the top in splodges. Don't use any glittery shades just yet!

After you've done this to all the nails it's time to apply stars and other bits. I used a silver nail polish in little amounts on some of my nails to create more dynamics. Then again in little amounts I used hex glittery polishes, such as OPI's The Living Daylights swatched here in little blotches. I also did this with a rainbow flake glitter, I used Gosh's polish in Rainbow. After all this had dried I applied a few coats of silver glitter. I used OPI's Servin' Up Sparkle which you can see swatched here. Once that is all dried it looks like a galaxy. It's a bit messy to do. This is actually the first attempt I did at this, and I'm a bit rubbish with nails, so if I can - you can! There's no right or wrong way of doing it. It's just about blending, over lapping and layers. It's all fun and games! I hope you enjoyed this, and let me know if the comments what you think of the final look, and if you tried it let me know how you found doing it. Thanks for reading!