Drool Britannia - A British Nail Bloggers Polish

Hi all - 

So for those of you that don't know I am a member of the British Nail Blogger's group - we are a smallish group of bloggers who share ideas, promote local indies and UK brands and generally support each other and our blogs. Recently the lovely Sally from Sally Magpies helped us to organise a limited edition indie polish to promote our group and general British-ness and so I introduce to you - Drool Britannia.

The polish - designed by Lilypad Laquers - was created using ideas we discussed on the Facebook page and is a clear base (almost blue tinted) glitter bomb full of fine blue glitters, larger blue glitters and large red and white glequins  to represent the UK flag. Now I know some of the ladies involved in the creation of this polish weren't hugely fond of the finish but I ADORE it. I genuinely think it's one of the more beautiful polishes I've ever worn! It's incredibly eye catching and I had so many people notice it and compliment it - which is always a nice feeling! 

I wore this over Sinful Colours Secret Admirer - a shimmery black - and other than a bit of peeling with the larger glitters which were nearer the tip of the nail there were no problems with application or wearing time. I used one thick coat and one thin coat to ensure even distribution. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed wearing it and we enjoyed designing it. Bx

What's Lurking In The Dark??

Woooooooh! It's Halloween week this week and The British Nail Bloggers have got a wee treat in the form of themed nail art - organised by the lovely Kerrie at Pish Posh Polish!

I've missed the last few days (although I plan to go back and do a Vampire themed nail art at some point!!) but today's theme is titled 'what's lurking in the dark??'

My nail art for this is dead simple - for most my nails I used Orly R.I.P from the Flash Glam FX collection which I found for a fiver in TK Maxx earlier on today. I thought it was not only appropriately titled for a Halloween nail art but it made for an effective background to my simple statement nail. 

I layered R.I.P over Liquid Leather by China Glaze, which I also used as the base for the statement nail. I then made creepy eyes peeking out of the dark with dotting tools and China Glaze White Out (China Glaze is my go to for basic colours like black and white and they never let me down pigment or performance wise!) I really love the indie like scattered glitter of the Orly polish and love how perfectly warm and Halloween-y the colours are - I imagine it'd be really versatile layered over a brighter colour come summer though! 

Hope you enjoy my first Halloween nails :) Bx

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Models Own Velvet Goth

Hi all - 

So recently I read about Model's Own's new collection Velvet Goth and I went straight to Boots to buy a few of the collection. Now I'm a bit of a closet goth - I love black clothes, black eye makeup, any rock music and my hair red but I can't bring myself to fully delve into a world of monochrome. When I was younger I was a proper emo kid with dark clothes and dyed black hair but nowadays I'm a velvet goth at heart! 

The first of the collection I bought is Absinthe. Now I LOVE Absinthe. I mean it's pretty disgusting but so much fun! I'm the same way for tequila, gotta love feeling like you're breathing fire(!)

Anyway - away from irresponsible drinking this polish - as well as the rest of the polishes in this collection - has a matte finish and is packed full of glitter! It's a brilliant emerald green with black through it and although I usually love a matte finish I found this polish was just so much more special with a top coat over it (see the bottom photo in the sun for full glittery glory, it really comes to life under the sun!) 

It applied to opaque in two coats, three tops, but I found it a tad lumpy to spread over the nail. It was also a nightmare to remove! But I reckon it's worth it for a few days of blinding glitter - fair to say I will be collection more of the Velvet Goth polishes! 

More Party Dress Nail Art

Hi all - 

So as I wrote in a previous post (HERE) I have recently started taking my nail art inspiration from clothing - I find matching my nails to my dress a great way to try out new styles and keeps me on my toes nail art wise to stop me from getting boring! 

These nails I based on a dress that I wore to the opening evening of my partner's work office opening night. The dress I found in Oasis and I am so in love with it, it's a silky soft fabric and so flattering! To match the nails I treated myself to one of Barry M's Hi Shine Gelly polishes in Lychee which is a beige nude colour, which is really not a colour I would usually wear however it matches the dress PERFECTLY! 

This was a really simple nail art - just one coat of Lychee, which applies almost opaquely in that one coat - I then used the sellotape trick to do an angled tip with I Herd That by China Glaze. To then match the skirt of the dress I did a simple leopard print with Teetotal by Butter London, a chocolately brown, and Liquid Leather by China Glaze.

I'll apologise now for the bad pics and the messy cuticles - I took the pictures straight after I put on the nail art and never got a chance to take pics in the daylight. 

See below for the pics and at the bottom I've included another pic of me in my party frock :) hope you like it! Bx

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Nail Art based on my LGD (Little Green Dress)

Today I want to show off some nail art I did to match a dress I had bought to wear to my friend's engagement party. First - the dress. It's a gorgeous little green number COVERED in spangles, sequins and beads which I found in the sale in Topshop for only £15! I am not usually one to wear this sort of thing but I had lost a bit of weight when I bought it and thought it was fabulous - it took a bit of confidence to wear it but what a boost once I had it on - I had so many compliments! So I wanted my nails to match this shiny wonder.

The green of the dress almost perfectly matches one of my favourite polishes - Orly Coachella Dweller which I first showcased on the blog back in April. Unfortunately the websites I used to bag my Orly from have all upped their prices so I am now Orly-less, which is such a shame as after trying this polish they were fast becoming one of my favourite brands. 

To try and recreate the dress I decide I didn't to cover two nails with a coat of Orly Halo which is always a good match with this green, and on my thumb I attempted to copy some of the design with some studs a colleague found in Poundland and gave to me because everyone knows about my obsession with nails! (so thoughtful!) Having never worked with these before, I've only ever used studs a few times and even then only a couple to jazz it up, I did find this VERY tricky! But I think it was effective. I didn't want to overdo it and clash with the dress so I thought studs on one finger would be enough :) I did have rather stubby nails at the time as they are not back to full strength yet so I like to think it would look even better with my usual longer nails! 

Below I've included pics of the dress as well as one of me wearing it and being drunk ... laugh away! 

Bx

What a mare. 

No7 Party Nails are just DARLING!

Just a quick post today - I just wanted to show off these gorgeous sparkly nails! 

I have never used a No7 nail polish before and got this one purely because if I spent a certain amount I'd get a free goodie bag in Boots - can't say no to that!

This particular polish is the cutely named Daisy Darling - a clear-ish base FULL of tiny pink glitter and bit pink sequins. I wouldn't usually like this baby pink sort of colour but teamed with the black I loved it. This black is Sinful Colours Secret Admirer which is no ordinary black, this is more of a graphite and is absolutely stunning as it is chock a block with silver shimmer making look better than a clear starry night. I think it's the perfect base for a polish like this - hope you agree! 

For this I used one coat of Secret Admirer as it's quite well pigmented and only one coat of Daisy Darling so I didn't overdo the sequins! 

Bx

Bringing a British Twist to Mariah Carey

I feel like this is becoming a habit but once again apologies for the continued quietness on the Bathelen Front! It's all very exciting at home just now as my partner and I have been searching for our first house!! No luck yet but it's keeping us busy! 

On to the nails. Today I have for you two of OPI's Mariah Carey polishes which I think were out last Autumn but I could be wrong. I snagged these too recently from a lovely lass on a Facebook page I'm in which allows us nail junkies to buy, sell and swap our polishes. these polishes came out just as I was seriously getting into nail polish brands and were OPI's first delve into the magical world of textured polish - which it's no secret I'm a huuuge fan of! 

First up is The Impossible. This is a gorgeous almost-red which is pink enough to be warming instead of harsh which some reds can be (especially on me - hate that because I love reds!). The glitter is subtle and as you can see on the bottle (but not on my nail!) it has a few stars scattered through as well. I LOVE the idea of the stars but I just couldn't get them on the nail! Hopefully after a few more uses the stars will be more evenly distributed, but this is my only nark about this polish. It's everything an OPI Liquid Sand should be - an easy three coats, applies evenly without trying and once dried will last a good few days abuse without even thinking about chipping! I always turn to a liquid sand if I need a polish to last! 

Next is the stunning Get your number. I am a massive fan of Tiffany Case from the OPI Bond Girls collection from earlier this year but I wasn't a fan of the major finger staining - also I didn't want another dupe, so I am pleased to report that not only does this one NOT stain but that it is a much deeper blue which is scattered with pink/purple glitters which really make it something special. Again this was a perfect example of OPI goodness easy to apply and loong lasting! 

So it was while getting ready for a trip to London that I realised that the two colours next to each other were very complimentary and reminded me of the Union Jack - so I went all London Tourist and stuck a British Flag on my nails =) 

To do this I had a base of Get Your Number, put four small squares of tape on each corner leaving the cross, which I used OPI Solitaire to do a big white cross. I then used a small striping brush to do the red on the top. I was so please with the result, especially seeing as I hadn't done a nail art with textured polish before - it really is versatile! 

Hope you like it =) show your love or hate for this polish by commenting below - I love getting comments and I always reply .. eventually =P

Bx

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