Towel Boy Toy/Dorothy Who? nail art

So Dorothy who didn't last as long as I hoped it would,  but as I couldn't bear to take it off yet as am still in love with this shade I added a bit of China Glaze towel boy toy to freshen up the mani.  

I was surprised by how matte TBT turned out as its a bit shimmery on the first few coats,  all in all I enjoyed the contrast between the matte finish and the glitter,  although it's less obvious since I added the top coat.

I'd be interested to know what you guys do to freshen an old mani, always interested to find new ways of decorating my nails! 

B x

OPI Giveaway

So the lovely Erica over at Abundance of Erica is currently holding a fab giveaway to promote her move into social media (Instagram and Facebook)

She is offering a mini set of OPI's new Euro Centrale collection - which looks amazing by the way! - to one lucky winner who enters using the usual Rafflecopter method. The colours are Can't Find My Czechbook (a baby blue) Suzi's Hungary AGAIN! (what looks like a rosy pink but which changes when you see a different angle)  You're Such a Budapest (a pastel lilac) and Oy-Another Polish Joke (a yellowy-gold)

I'm a massive fan of these OPI minis, I think they are a great way to try out the highlights of a collection without having to splash out to get as many full sized bottles as possible ... I recently bought the Skyfall mini collection and think it's amazing, the four best colours of the collection, so even if you don't win this giveaway I still recommend hunting down a mini set anyway :) I will be! 

thanks for this giveaway Erica! You can enter by clicking HERE

I love a good giveaway and think it's a great way to hear about new blogs and new collections/brands you might not have stumbled across before, so I hope to share more with you in the future. 

Bx

Chinese nail art

So i will begin by apologising for the mess of these nails. 

I did these nearly a year ago - about a month or so after I started experimenting with nail art -  and although I still love them and am proud of what I managed with so little experience I am slightly embarrassed by the shocking clean up job I did on them! I also had really short nails at the time compared to now! no idea how I managed to fit Chinese characters onto those stubby things ;)

Bit of backstory - in 2010 I was lucky enough to get to spend a month studying in China, just basic language, some history, Tai Chi and martial arts and some calligraphy. I was reminising and decided to bring China to me!

China Glaze Dorothy Who? Swatch

It arrived!! Finally! 

After ordering this over a month ago I was over the moon when my bottle of Dorothy Who? eventually arrived. Another colour from the Wizard of Ooh-Az collection, this blue has been on my to-buy list for a very long time :) 

And I'm very glad to say that I was not disappointed! 

China Glaze Tantalize Me Swatches

And another old China Glaze swatch - this time the intriguingly named Tantalize Me.

I really wasn't sure about this colour, not being a fan of lilacs in general but I did end up enjoying it once it was on.

China Glaze Thataway Swatch

Now here is another China Glaze swatch and that is Thataway, a burnt shiny orange colour - you can tell I'm getting very excited about this new collection I'm building! 

I wasn't sure how this colour was going to turn out but I absolutely love it! It's bright and neon but without being TOO bright and neon, if you catch my drift.

China Glaze Ruby Pumps Swatch

My first China Glaze!! 

Excited didn't quite cover it. I had this on  my nail within five minutes of it arriving! And it did not disappoint. 

Ruby Pumps from the revived Wizard of Ohh-Az collection has long been a favourite of mine and of nail bloggers all over the sphere so I'm very excited now to own this. 

Valentine's Day Mani

As a fan of themed nail art I jumped at the opportunity of creating something pretty to celebrate Valentine's Day - despite not really being a big fan of the day, I got to show that I'm just a big romantic really :) 

However, freehand nail art still freaks me out but I did my very best with a few little free hand hearts <3

Read on to see what I tried, and how successful I was! 

Geek Nail Art

So I've always been a bit of a geek, so it's inevitable that I'm a massive fan of geeky nail art! 

I've not had too many experiments with the idea yet but I thought I would share with you what I have tried so far. So far I've played around with Harry Potter, Star Trek and Nightmare before Christmas and I've surprised myself with the results :) 

Simple Pink Nail Art

These are my simple dotty nail art which I tried because I decided to experiment with dotting tools. For most of this I used a Kerbie - easiest way to do it! But other blogs suggested things like the end of a makeup brush, toothpicks etc. I usually use nail art pens which have a small dotting point but I found using a trusty hairpin was so much easier and left behind much cleaner dots :) 

The flower was a sticker that I got for free with some Rhinestones that I ordered off of Amazon - who doesn't love Freebies? This blogger certainly does.

Apologies for anyone who has visited my blog and has ran away at the complete lack of posts and photos - I'm still new and the Wi-Fi at work I usually use to upload my new photos off of my phone has crashed .. So for now I will stick to uploading photos from the past few months - although I'm really gutted I can't share the uber sparkly mani I have on today!! That will come :) 

Bx

Nail Art Experiment ...

So I've been trying out nail art for about six months now and I LOVE it. Unfortunately my love does not automatically equal talent. But hey ho,  it hasn't stopped me from experimenting yet!! 

Here's my latest experiment, the fishtail braid nail art. I had no idea that this was even a trend but I love it! And even for my novice attempt I think it still looks fab and I got a load of compliments - it's an easy way to have attention grabbing nails! 

I did this one with Maybelline Forever Strong Pro Gold and Express Finish Red and Black - I was totally in love with the Maybelline colours but the quality isn't great now - the Forever Strong is still great but after a few months the Express Finish seems to have dried out a bit and got gloopy - which made this a bit more difficult, hopefully when I try it with my next batch of China Glaze - when it shows up - it will be easier so look a bit neater.

I followed the tutorial on Swatch and Learn which is currently my favourite blog - full of great nail art and swatches of everything! Unfortunately it's another American one - I'd love to start finding more UK blogs where we have more in common makeup wise and can discuss the same stores etc! 

Anyway this was so simple! Go ahead and post pics if you try it yourself :) 
Bx

New to this ..

So this is it. My very first entry into my very first blog. Hello :) and thank you for being here! 

I hope to be able to fill this blog with the little things in life that make me happy which sometimes make me feel like a crazy person - for example, the giddy excitement I'm currently feeling on the fact that my very first bottle of China Glaze polish I ordered the other day - so I've turned to the web to find like minded crazy people who get excited about like minded things. 

I plan to dazzle you (or not) with my very beginner attempts at nail art, (which I love!!) as well as showing off swatches of my new favourite nail colours and sharing with you tips and tricks I have found in blogs and on random websites all over the interweb.

It won't all be about nails - it might just be about something new in my life that I want to share or get someone's opinion on - like BB cream .. wtf is it? 

I just want to have a little fun and share the shiny aspects of what would otherwise be a grey life with you all, hope you enjoy. Feel free to get in touch, comment, post your own pics and reviews etc - I'd love to hear from you! 

BH x