British Nail Bloggers - Weekly Round Up!

Let's see what all our lovely UK Nail Bloggers have been up to in the last week!

Wendy from Wendy's Delights is feeling purrrfect with her Blue Furry Mani with easy to apply nail stickers!

Emma tries her hand at dry drag and becomes The Girl Who Plays with Fire at Emma's Little Corner.

Helly at the Nail Newbie is showing British brand W7 some love by showcasing their gorgeous Lava Flow.

A little recreation of some Bee style nails, with actual stingers from New York Fashion Week, a Fred Butler Creation from Enigmatic Rambles.

Has twenty three days gone by already? Northern Nails' 30 Day Challenge is still going strong, the themes now are all full of inspiration!

Lyndsay from Pie's Eyes is back from her holiday and showing off her colourful Rainbow Manicure she created with her latest Kiko haul!

Sally of Nail Pron is talking about a nailmas Christmas challenge, adding to her stash and doing nails to match her mood.

Sam from Polished Art re-created an old nautical-themed manicure for day 12 of the 31 day challenge (19 to go!).

PishPosh and Polish is featuring Red and Black polishes on her blog this week. See them here! Which is your favourite?

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing is still continuing on with the 30 Day challenge and her favourite so far has been TRIBAL NAILS. What's been everyone else's favourite challenge?

Ruth goes overboard with the half moon effect to create an easy curved stripe look!

Want some inspiration for elegant nails? Lucy from Lucy's Stash did Lace & Roses nail art featuring OPI, Konad and A England.

Feeling the need for something pretty and super sparkly? PrettyKittyClaws has Smitten Polish You're Turning Violet, Violet blinging out her nails!

Vic's feeling a little behind with the times as she's only just done her first set of galaxy nails. She found a fabulously blinging star to go with them though.

Lou had a quiet week this week trying out her new Indie polishes from KBShimmer which is quickly becoming her favourite polish brand.

Alexis at Glitter Tips tried some Autumn butterfly nail art.

Sarah Louise plays with her Image plates from MoYou / OMG Nails and creates a Crosses & Dot's Manicure.

Despite being poorly, The Crumpet has kept up with the 31 Day Challenge and has even had time to launch a Zoya Giveaway - so make sure you enter!

My latest Kiko Haul!

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that every time I go to see my parents in Spain I pay a little visit to the nearest Kiko shop to stock up.

This time I was rather restrained and only bought a few polishes on my visit.  Partly as I was trying to be good and partly because I seem to own most of Kiko's selection by now due to my bad habits. :)

Here's what I picked up this time:

The last time I was in Spain I went a bit wild, they new summer colours for 2012 were just out so I grabbed quite a few of them as they were also reduced in price in store, unfortunately I went so wild that I couldn't bring all of my goodies home with me, so I had quite a stash to bring home this time.

Along with my purchases from this visit and last visit I also added 3 of the new Lavish Oriental Holographic polishes (which I've swatched two of here and here) to my collection, so all in there was quite an army to bring back with me.

I've included a picture with their numbers on too, so it's easy to identify them. 

Look out for lots of Kiko colours in the next few weeks as I try and work my way through all my new beauties!  You can see my first attempt to try some of them out doing a Rainbow Manicure here.

Holiday Make Up Bag

I always find it interesting to see what beauty products and make up people take on holiday with them, I have a terrible habit of packing waaaay too much make up when I travel and then never using most of it, so this year I decided to try and pack minimally make up wise and see how I got on (yes, this is minimal).

 

Here's what I took:

 

 

Urban Decay Naked Palette

5 Assorted eye brushes

Kiko Eyebrow Pencil

Elf Eyebrow Gel

Too Face Shadow Insurance

Maybelline Mascara

No7 Cream Blush

W7 Candy Floss Blush

2 L'Oreal Rouge Caresse - Dating Coral & Sweet Berry

Revlon Lip Butter - Sweet Tart

No7 Poppy King Lip Crayon - Skipping

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - Honey & Rendezvous

Miss Sporty Dr Balm Lip Balm - Gossip Kiss

UD Grindhouse Sharpener

Maybelline BB Cream

Powder & Blusher Brush

Cotton Buds

Hair Clips

Eyelash Curlers

UD 24/7 Liners - Stray Dog, Demolition, Uzi & Perversion

NYC Face Powder

 

Despite this being hugely pared down from what I normally take I still didn't use all of it!  I could definitely have gotten away with fewer lip products and fewer eye liners too.  I never wear much make up on holiday and when I do it's always fairly light and basic yet I can't seem to convince myself it's ok to leave the country without a load of stuff!

 

Do you have the same problem?  Is it possible to pack a capsule wardrobe for your face?  What do you take when you go away?

 

Kiko Lavish Oriental - 399 - Holographic Champagne

While I was away I made the most of the glorious sunshine to try out another of the gorgeous holographic polishes from Kiko's Lavish Oriental collection, this one is 399, a sort of neutral champagne shade.  Like the previous blue holographic from the collection which I blogged about this polish is just gorgeous, so holographic and shiny in the sun and beautiful and glowing in lower lights too.

In the sunlight it really is fantastic!

Application with this polish was great again just like with the blue.  I am so impressed with this collection; holographic polishes are notoriously hard to apply and often don't last well either, especially since the majority don't take well to topcoats, but Kiko have somehow solved all three issues, this polish applies nicely, lasts fantastically (I got 5 days out of both of these when I wore them) and isn't dulled by a topcoat. All in I can't recommend these highly enough, so grab a few while they're still in stock!

I wore this polish home, and just to confirm it's status as a truly fantastic holographic polish here it is under indoor lighting back in rainy and drab Glasgow, still looking lovely.  Definitely another winner from Kiko!

 

Cheeky Plates!

One of the parcels which was waiting for me when I got back from my holiday was from Cheeky!  I have been waiting for it to arrive for what felt like forever so I was delighted to finally get my grubby paws on my order.  Quick drive by photo of the goodies...

 

 

As I said here, I ordered the new summer set and the 2012 set too, so I received a total of 52 new plates!  I can't wait to start trying them out.  I'll do a proper in depth review in the fullness of time but I have high hopes for these plates because well as featuring loads of fantastic designs the new summer set is also much larger than the older set so should cover even the largest of my nails in the full design.

 

 

As well as being larger the new summer set came in a very cute little box with lots of added information printed on it.

 

 

I can't wait to start trying these out so expect lots of stamping manicure coming your way very soon as well as that comparison post showing in more detail the larger size of the new designs.

 

A Kiko Rainbow!

After being reunited with my little army of beauties I bought in May, and adding a few more to my collection with another quick stop in the local Kiko store, I was rather spoilt for choice as to what I should put on my nails while I was away. 

So it seemed like the perfect time to do some rainbow skittles and try out 10 polishes all at the same time.  As always Kiko didn't disappoint, 9 creams and one shimmery finish which all applied beautifully, looked great and lasted well too.  Here are some photos...

Two of my favourite things; Kiko polishes and a large Spanish G&T.

It's was so nice to not only have a proper camera on hand all the time but also to have great lighting, it made such a difference for taking photos.  Although the colours in this manicure still managed to look different under different lighting conditions!

 

 

 

Here's a quick rundown of what colours I used in case you've spotted any you want to add to your collection:

 

 

Left hand:

Thumb - 360

Index - 355

Middle - 356

Ring - 357

Pinkie - 362

 

 

Right hand:

Thumb - 251

Index - 291

Middle - 386

Ring - 385

Pinkie - 391

 

I really loved the way this turned out, it was so bright and colourful and perfect for wearing while on holiday, it also means I have slightly fewer untried polishes to get through, although now there are several that I really want to do a full manicure with so I can see them in all their glory!

How to make coming home a little more bearable...

Hello!  I'm back from holiday and ready to get back into the swing of blogging properly again, I was terrible remiss while I was away for a number of reasons, the main one being I found it far to hard to tear myself away from the lovely weather and good company to spend my time indoors blogging. :)  Hopefully things will be back on track now though!

Somewhat unintentionally I managed to arrive home to not one but three parcels waiting for me which definitely softened the blow of returning to cold and damp Glasgow from sunny, warm Spain.

 

Inside were items which will no doubt make up a good portion of my blog posts over the coming week or so, along with a few goodies I picked up on my Spanish travels. 

 

So, over the next few posts you can look forward to some glow in the dark nail polish, more Kiko goodies, a few Body Shop bargains, a Cheeky delivery, a brand new face product and hopefully, with all these new goodies, a few decent manicures!

 

 

British Nail Bloggers - Weekly Round Up!

Time for another weekly round up. Enjoy!

Helly at the Nail Newbie shows her nubs some love with Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum

Wendy over at Wendy's Delights has won a Giveaway from The Hungry Asian and her prize Twenty Ten has been swatched here, also go check out The Hungry Asian's blog and polishes available at Etsy. Going from one extreme to the other see Wendy's Summery Manicure using tape to create a simple & easy square design!

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has been continuing on with the 30 Day Challenge with Rainbow Gradient Striped Manicure

Emma at Emma's Little Corner has a little success after a frustrating week of failures PVA experiment Blue and Black gradient mani

Ruth has some more fun with gradients this week, refusing to accept summer is over!

Lou once again is on a bit of a Chanel kick with one of the Fashion's Night Out Limited Editions

Charlotte at Charlottes-nails has been busy with apples and glitter this week for the Fall into Autumn Challenge.

Its the end of the favourite things challenge for Steph, here's Steph's Day 10 Favourite Mani. Steph can't wait for the next challenge, will you be joining in the fun?

Lyndsay from Pie's Eyes drops in from her holiday in Spain to show off some NEW Holographic Polish from Kiko!

Putting her nubbins to good use this week, imPRESS - Press on Manicure false nails were put through there paces over on Enigmatic Rambles' blog.

PrettyKittyClaws put her Nails Inc Sprinkles to good use with a pretty Cupcake Mani.

Sam at Polished Art unleashed her inner geek with this physics-based rainbow manicure as part of the 31 Day Challenge.

Jo at Northern Nails has reached the half way point in the 30 day challenge this week was all about the nail art!

Nada has got her hands on her first set of Models Own nail polish and has swatched them! check it out!

Laura at She Who Does Nails has been continuing the 30 Day Challenge and did a cool rainbow nails design using a dotting tool!

Polished Criminails sticks to the British theme this week by showing us 4 of the new BarryM Gelly Nail Paints in the shades Prickly Pear, Grapefruit, Satsuma & Pomegranate

Kerry at JustTalkNails shows off the new Barry M Burgundy Croc effect teamed up with A Englands Iseult

Vic has been on a major polishing spree this week (13 manis and counting) but she just can't decide whether she wants to show you delicate print or holo bling.

Kiko Lavish Oriental - 401 - Holographic Blue

I'm in Spain just now visiting my parents, the other day I made my usual pilgrimage to the local Kiko store to see what they had on offer.  As well as having all their regular polishes reduced to 1,50euro they also had the new summer collection, Lavish Oriental, which features 4 holographic nail polishes.  Today's post features one of them, number 401, which is a light turquoise blue polish.

Somehow I have managed to pick the only cloudy day in Spain this year to try and get pictures of my manicure so they are not showing up quite as blingy as they should.

The best thing about this polish, aside from it's ease of application - not something which can always be said about holographic polishes, is how good it looks in low light, some holographic polishes are really dull unless they're under a very bright light or direct sunshine but even in regular lighting 401 is pretty.

Out in direct sunlight it really comes into it's own, although not the blingiest of holos I've ever tried it really holds it's own and is very eye catching in the sun.

Good news for back home, where there is even less sun than there is in Spain today, is that under bright lamp light this polish also really sparkles.

Application is great, this is two coats and both went on smoothly with very little drag.  I didn't use a special base coat as I tend to for other holos I own and it doesn't seem to have made much difference which is great as holographic polish is notoriously hard to apply.  Another benefit is that top coat doesn't seem to dull the shine or holographic properties at all so you can apply your usual top coat over the polish ad not worry about dulling it's sparkle.

Overall, I am really pleased with this polish; it's easy to apply, takes to a topcoat well and looks lovely not only in direct sunlight but under indoor lighting and even in fairly dull environments.  Another winner from my favourite brand Kiko!  I have two more form the collection to try so look out for more posts featuring them very soon.

Now, back out onto the roof terrace with my G&T!

Accent Owl!

I borrowed the idea for this polish from this blog, although I took the easy route and just did one owl as an accent nail.  I also used some ring reinforcers (the little circles you use to stop punched paper ripping out of A4 binders) to give me a guide at my cuticle and shape the owls ears rather than try and freehand it. 

 

A lovely friend sent me a packet she picked up in Tesco for a mere 23p so if you need some make that your first stop for a bargain purchase.  As well as making owl ears they are great for using as tip guides for french manicures and for marking off the half moon shape at the cuticle for half moon manicures too.

 

On to my owl, he's not the most owl-y owl I've seen but I don't think he's too bad.  My boyfriend commented on his blue hat which I had to point out was not a blue hat but the background colour / sky but other than the hat I think he turned out ok.

 

 

 

 

If I do this again I think I might do it on longer nails so there's more of a gap and I can add some stars or something and make it obvious there is sky behind him rather than a hat on his head.  And, although I'd like to have done a different coloured owl on every finger, I found it quite time consuming and a bit of a struggle with my shaky hands and limited artistic skills so I doubt I'll ever recreate the full manicure form the original blog post.

 

What do you think?  Can you tell he's an owl?  Have you done a similar manicure?