Playing Around With Neons!

Hi Everyone!

Well, the weather may me miserable up here, but I'm not letting it get me too down. If Summer won't come to me, I'll have my own pretend Summer haha!! Hence - NEONS!!

After publishing this post,I found myself wanting to wear some neons again. I don't know what it is, I don't think they really suit me, but... NEONS. Writing neons in capital letters is the only explanation I have.

I know, I'm not exactly normal, am I?

I must first apologise that these photo's are a bit rubbish. Trying to capture the true colour of a neon is hard. Trying to capture the colour of two on the same nail? Good luck! It wasn't easy - at all, so I'm spamming a few pictures instead so you get the general idea. In digital form, they may not look great, on the nail - they sizzled! Oh yeah!! Trust me, it is so worth a go. The sunshine might be non-existent now, but we can still rock some bright nails!

I used a base of Flip Flop Fantasy, and added a sponged dabbing of China Glaze's Purple Panic. Then I sponged on some black tips. I used a glossy top coat to help seal the gradient together.

Pictures. Not so wow. Real life effect? WOW! If you have these colours, or anything similar in your collection, give it a go. This is so one for sizzling summer nights. It makes me think of blazing sunsets, or something burning! Give it a go - I hope you like it as much as I do!

Love Charlotte x

More Summer Neons

Hi Everyone!

As the sun is currently shining, I'm going to be optimistic and post something summery from the archives!  Cos, well, with the UK, you have to have your Summer in the space of five minutes or not at all. 7am on a Tuesday? No problem!

The polish I'm going to show you today is another Summer must have.  Alas, pale skinned beauties might not agree, but with a tan, this is divine.

All hail China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy. Unless of course, you have skin of pure porcelain. Sorry!

(Note: This came into my collection via Beth (again!) who in fact has very beautiful, but very pale skin. I would normally feel bad, but she does have amazing skin and I would like to remind people that you shouldn't have it all! Its not fair!)

This polish is not for the faint-hearted. It is bold and bright, very much a highlighter pink. In natural lighting, it looks as though it is a mix of a salmon pink with a hint of coral to it. Its only once you introduce the flash that you see the brighter, more orangey colour.

This took two coats and dried to a matte finish, which is typical of neons. You can of course add a glossy top coat if you prefer to really dazzle people with your nails! I found it to be a little bit streaky, so do be aware with your own application.

I for one, will be praying to the Sun Gods, so that I might be blessed with an enviable tan, so that this can be on my toes all Summer long. Which in the UK, is about 3 days ;)

Hope you like it,

Love Charlotte x

Accessorize Molten Copper

Hi Everyone!

I have to say, I wish these Accessorize polishes were more accessible. None of my local stores sell them, so I have to pick them up when I go into a city. Which is an absolute shame as for £3 - £4 a bottle, they have some amazing shades.

I also love their cute little bottles - they are so pretty I feel as though they have been designed to be on display, which is nice for those of us who have many many polishes.

Anyway, this is Molten Copper. I took these photo's a while back, intending to wait and post when the sunshine came back. I am far too impatient to wait that long. Anyway, for me, this is a perfect Summer glitter polish, as I feel it is complimentary to my skin tone as it is now, and I expect this would improve with a tan. You hear that sunshine? Get a move on!!

 

This might be called Molten Copper, but don't expect your nails to turn out like a shiny penny. This is a soft looking glitter, which I think has a hint of rose gold to it. Just enough pink in it to make it sweet and feminine, rather than overly brassy.

The polish itself is relatively thin, but easily pliable so you can move it around on the nail if you need to. These pictures show three coats - I could have done with one more, but I think next time, I will layer it over the Primark Bronze shown here just to give it a more complete coverage look.

Looking at these pictures, I am thinking that this is not just great for Summer, as this colour will transition nicely through to Autumn too. Multi-functional? Awesome!

Next time you get a chance, check out the Accessorize polish range!

Love Charlotte x

Accessorize Colorado - Covent Garden Ballet Dupe?

Hi Everyone,

Today's post is something of a victory for me. Well, kinda...

You see, my friend Beth - you know, my fairy glam-mother, has also become addicted to polish. Which is awesome! She now buys a LOT more polish, and has a tendency to buy more for me too! <3

Anyway, she text me one night, asking if I knew of any dupes for a Nails Inc polish, called Covent Garden Ballet. Oooh, I said. Haven't seen much of that one!

So off I googled for a swatch. It's a beautiful soft grey (I do love grey) with a pink shimmer running through it.  My heart sank as I realised I was falling in love lust with this polish. My heart sank further when I realised that this was only available as part of a set - the A-Listers Collection. I hate paying full price for one Nails Inc polish, so buying an extra three I don't want? Sacrilege!

I googled and I googled. I was very sad to report that I had not found a dupe. Very sad. As this particular polish was stuck in my brain now. STUCK!

Covent Garden Ballet

Let's fast forward to last Bank Holiday weekend, when Beth came to stay! Weeeeee!

A montage of words describing said weekend: Pimms, noms, shopping and lounging. Awesome.

On one of our various shopping trips, we stumbled into my local Debenhams store to peruse the beauty counters. It has had a bit of a face-lift, so everything was moved about. We finally found a Nails Inc counter and spent a few minutes checking out the range. There was a special little stand dedicated to the A-Listers Collection. So Beth grabbed the tester and gave it a swatch.

Very pretty. Looked like a good formula too, I'd say two coats for opacity. I cried a little inside.

Beth confessed, she had ordered the set on ASOS as they had it on offer with free delivery.

/Sigh.

We wandered around the shops, with me sighing and mumbling about how surely some other brands will bring something similar out soon. Or how I should just try experimenting with pale greys and sheer pink shimmers. You know, convincing myself NOT to order one too!

Into Superdrug we go, land of more bargainous beauty! We're about to go charging through the aisles, and I stop at the Accessorize stand. I quite like a few of their polishes, as you may remember if you read my blog regularly. The prices had changed slightly. The polishes were normally £4 each. Now a lot of them were just £2.95. (You can almost imagine me rubbing my hands together with glee, can't you?!) And, they had 3 for 2 on. There was definitely a squeal of approval.

There are a couple of colours I really like, but didn't buy as I already have similar shades. 3 for 2 cancelled out any sensible ideals I may have had, and Soft Jade went straight into the basket. As I was perusing, I spotted this. It looked familiar...

A soft grey - check. Pink shimmer - check.

I yelled for Beth, managed no further intelligent words and shoved one at her! Sorry Beth :)

We shared a look that said one thing. We found our Holy Grail. A dupe. A CHEAP dupe at £2.95. We both bought one.

Now for the important stuff. I hate to admit it, but the formula isn't particularly good on this one. It's ok, but the Nails Inc one looked better. My swatches showed three coats for opacity, with a top coat to finish and remove any streaks. The shimmer is there, but not as evident as the CGB. Despite all of this, I would still buy the Accessorize over the Nails Inc. I hate being forced to buy three polishes I don't want. I might have been convinced to fork out the £11 for one, but £25? Nah.

Take a look for yourself. And yes, I have some blurred photos - they caught the pink shimmer better!!

So what do you think? A worthy dupe, or will you be buying the Nails Inc version instead?

I think I'll be going back to Superdrug for a back-up!

Happy polishing,

Love Charlotte x

Comin' Up Daisies!

Hi Everyone,

After my foray into florals a few posts ago, I decided to do it again today, with a slight difference. Again, this is very simple to do, and so satisfying too.

I used the Nails Inc Bluebell polish that came free with In Style magazine - you may remember my review here. Its a very soft blue, which reminds me of hazy Summer days. I then used my trusty Claire's Accessories nail art pen in white for the petals.

The daisies were made by painting crosses on my nails, first an 'x', then a '+', and then filling in the gaps. As the annoying Meerkat says, simples!! Then I used a pastel yellow for the centre - I used Collection 2000's Lemon Soda. Very simples.

Finish with a top coat, and you're done! I am pretty pleased with this to be honest - granted I could have done a better job, but seeing as I did it before work and time was limited, I think its pretty good!

I hope you like it!!

Love Charlotte x

More Stamping!

Hi Everyone,

I did it again!! More stamping! And seeing as I had them out from my last post, I used the In Style Nails Inc polish - this time Bluebell, with LA Colors Pacific Blue for the stamp.

I used my Bundle Monster stamp number 201 for the zigzags! Here's what I came up with!

OK, so I have to admit, I am really pleased with this manicure. I love how it turned out! The subtle change in the blue colours reminds me of a subtle pinstripe in a suit. This is more of a modern take on it though, haha!

I also learnt a new trick! Like yesterday's manicure, there were a few parts that got missed during the actual stamping. Yesterday, I used the stamped polish and a toothpick to fill in the blanks. However, my photos proved that the difference in the colour when stamped on and when applied straight to the nail is quite different. This time, I made my corrections using a thin art brush, first dipped into a small amount of acetone, then dipped into the polish. This watered the colour down a bit, which matched the stamped effect much better! I'm sure you'll agree, it's much harder to spot the corrections this time around!

What do you think?

Thanks for reading,

Love Charlotte x

Stamping Manicures

Hi Everyone,

Today I am going to share a stamped manicure with you - something I haven't done for a long long time! I seem to go through phases of preferred nail art techniques, but after my friend Jo bought herself a stamping set, I got all nostalgic for my own stamping plates!

So, out they came! I have a Bundle Monster plate collection, which is awesome, but so much cheaper than the Konad versions. For around £20, I purchased a pack of 25 plates. A Konad plate normally costs about £5. For one.

I used a base coat of Nails Inc's Power Pink from In Style magazine -  see here for the original review. I used plate number 223 for the tiger print effect, and stamped it using LA Colors Fiji Purple - which worked relatively well.

Regrettably, there were a few patches where the stamp didn't quite reach on the nail - I think its because of how much my nails curves inwards personally. I tried to amend this using my stamping polish and a toothpick, but this is really noticeable in the photos. Sorry!

I am, however pleased with the overall effect, especially the combination of colours! I am also rather aware that this much animal print, coupled with bright pinks means that I'm a shoulder pad away from time-travelling back to the eighties! For the record, I am more a Hall and Oates girl than a Wham girl.There, I said it. Deal with it please!

For the rest of the day, I shall mostly be humming Private Eyes.

Have a great day,

Love Charlotte x