Thank You Ciate!

God bless Ciate and Marie Claire.

For with this months Issue of Marie Claire, you can get your hands on a mini Nail Art set from Ciate!

A mini bottle of polish and a mini bottle of nail caviar, to get all creative and nail-art-y with. There are 6 colour palettes to choose from and for £2.25 for the magazine it is a STEAL. I don't ordinarily buy in Marie Claire, but saw the Ciate polish and ripped that magazine so fast off of the shelf that muscles were pulled!

The 6 variations ordinarily would set you back a 60 squid. So its a super bargain! Ciate have been growing in popularity lately for their beautifully chic packaging and elegant choices in colours. Plus their nail caviar has become somewhat famous!

So why are you still reading this post? You should be out getting your hands on a Marie Claire and your mittens on that polish!

I try to keep an eye out for bargains such as these, so enjoy buying multiple copies of the same magazine! I say keep the polish for yourself and give a friend the magazine to read.

Image pulled from Google Images.

FREE Bobbi Brown Kajal Eyeliner

YES FREE.

Okay so every now and again I google FREE STUFF - just out of curiosity if anything as in the past I've gotten some cute things by just filling out a survey.

Through that google search I stumbled across this gorgeous website. 'What's in My Handbag' - A site that has beauty experts telling and sharing of new products they like etc... Also it gives you a chance to sign up FOR FREE and receive products to test and try out.

Which frankly I think is great! Because it encourages bloggers to sign up - share their URL and they send you products to try and because it encourages bloggers to use it, they get that product reviewed and those reviews out on the internet for all to read.

You don't have to be a blogger to sign up - and sign up is completely free. I am so far very impressed with the site, and can't wait to receive my Bobbi Brown (first ever Bobbi Brown product) in the post soon to try out and review!

Once signed up you have your very own 'Beauty Cabinet' which is a place where you can store your 'haves' and 'wants' whilst surfing through the site and reading about products - you can click on the products you are lusting after and those that you already possess. This allows you to share your Beauty Cabinet with friends so if they are longing to know what products you use they can find them there, and find comments and reviews from people who have tried and tested the products themselves.

I've got a special little link here that if you click on will take you to get your very own free Bobbi Brown eyeliner.

So what are you waiting for - sign up and get FREE THINGS!

https://www.whatsinmyhandbag.com/r/8c9d

If you are interested in where I found the link in the first place check out this archive website for links to free stuff and giveaways etc...

http://www.freestuff.co.uk

Cute and Camoflauged

I take my inspiration for nail art from a whole variety of places - one of them is fashion, and whilst surfing through google for something that would catch my eye and make a nice Nail Art design I stumbled onto this image...

Usually Im not a fan of camp as I don't think its that dynamic, but seeing it in this colour palette made me fall in love. The colours both contrast and compliment. So I decided to have a go at recreating this print but for Nails. 

To create this look I used the following colours: 

BASE COLOUR: Sinful Colours in 24/7 (Matte Finish)

CAMO SPLODGES: E.L.F in Yellow, BarryM Nail Paint in Pure Turquoise, L.A Colours Art Deco in Black. 

1. Apply the pink base colour all over the nail using two coats for a good coverage.
2. Then going from light to dark apply your splodge colours by using the brush in a  stippling motion creating camo style patterns. Continue this step with all the other colours. Making sure to leave space for the pink to still be seen.
3. Seal in with a protective top coat. 

If you re-create this look please send me a photo via my Facebook page ...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/NailsatNoon/577277732386439

Purple Passion

So purple and I have had a long standing love affair. Its so beautiful and its been my favourite colour since I can remember!

So as and ode to this love, I decided to pull out my Purple Polishes and play around.

Using a mixture of Barry M and L'Oreal shades, I layered Purples, Fushcias and Blues to create this look.

Here's how :

Simply grab the darkest shade, here I use Barry M Nail Paint in Indigo, apply two coats as your base. Wait till completely dry. For the design on the top you'll need a scrap piece of paper to hand. Grab the next lightest tone - we're working from dark to light with our colours. Take out the brush, brush off the majority of the polish onto the scrap piece of paper, and then brush what little is left onto the nail, being artistic in your placement.

Continue this process until you have used all the colours you wish, and apply a protective top coat to seal it all in.

The colours I used are:
Barry M Nail Paint in - Indigo 312, Fuchsia 302, Pure Turquoise 295, and Gelly Hi Shine in Prickly Pear 311
L'Oreal in Nouvelle / Vague 851

This design would look awesome in O.P.I's new Brazilian collection which is perfect for Summer!

Hope you have fun re-creating this look, and re-creating it in different colour schemes.

Gelly Hi-Shine - Barry M Review

So I know this collection has been out a while, and I may be behind on the review bandwagon, but they keep adding more and more colours and I just adore the formulation that I want them ALL!

If you haven't come across them before, they are a high shine / gloss polish with a lovely thick formula that allows for beautiful almost shellac style finish. You can get away with just the one coat, or apply two for even bolder brighter colour.

With a range that contains beautiful bolds and more coral and pastel shades, there is definitely something for everyone.

Shades from Left to Right:

Lychee, Papaya, Mango, Prickly Pear, Blueberry, Greenberry, Blue Grape. 

Find them on the link below, or in Superdrug Stores.

http://www.barrym.com/products/nails/effects/gelly-nail-effects.html

Drip Drip Drip Little April Showers

Ready for April yet?

 

These nails will help you. Simply grab two colours of your choosing here I used white and Mint Green and get started. 

Prep your nails by doing your cuticles and applying a protective base coat. Then grab your white polish or whatever colour you feel like using and apply two liberal coats as a base colour. 

Then simply grab the next colour of your choosing, and holding your hand nails facing up to the ceiling drip the polish on in a stylised manner and have fun creating slightly different designs on each nail. 

This design is so fun and can look so dynamic and differently using different colours. 

So have fun playing around, I particularly like using my Maybelline Colour Show polishes for this design see my Review post on them to see the colours in my collection. 

Lily Allen Nail Art

So Lilly Allen is awesome, as you should all know anyway. But particularly because of her love of Nail Art, and Lily being the babe she is, is running a competition to create a nail art design for her new album, the winner of which will get the design chosen by Lily herself and re-created for Lily by Maybelline's Nail Artist Michelle Humphrey. AND the winner will also win a hot air balloon ride - in celebration of Lily's new single 'Air Balloon'.

So I've been racking my brain trying to think of a design. So I went with the following look - Nude nails with highlights of neon pink, lilac, mint green and peacock. By using geometric shapes I am hoping to create a funky modern take of the patterns you see in the stitching of the balloons. I am really rather proud of this design. Its cool and I can see it working really well with some stiletto acrylics.

I will be doing more designs of course, as I am bound to think of more. So will keep posting Lily Nail Art posts on here showing my designs.

If you want to enter yourself. Simply create a design can be on your hand, or a drawing. Post a photo on Instagram and hashtag it - lilynailart and you'll be entered! Good luck everyone.

Polish used: 

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Nude 

Stargazer - Silver

L'Oreal - Lilac and Mint

Sinful Colours - Hot Pink

No.17 - Peacock 

Kelly Brook - Nail Polish Review

So I learnt something new this week - Kelly Brook has started a makeup range for New Look, which includes my fav thing; nail polish! They are super affordable at £2.99 a bottle which is the same price bracket as the likes of Barry M and some of Rimmel's range. They have some super bold brilliant colours. I incidentally had to buy one to try them out... of course!

I chose this cherry red colour which has a subtle shimmer to it, its lovely, and I mostly bought it to try as it was on sale for £1.50! A steal if you ask me.

Not expecting a lot from till side purchases I was expecting it to be an average polish, but actually it is pretty decent. The formula is average thickness I would ballpark it similar to Barry M Nail Paint. You could get away with the one coat, but for a flawless even coverage you have to do the second coat. The brush is nice and flat similar to L'Oreal polishes so you can apply easily and tidily up to the cuticle line. The best part of this polish is that it smells every so slightly of strawberries, which blew my mind. If you sniff directly into the bottle - which I do not recommend then you can't smell it, but painting away you get a subtle whiff of strawberries. Which makes inhaling all those chemically smells that much worth it when painting your nails.

The packaging is super cute, I particularly enjoy the polka dot design on the lid, as it makes it easy to find in my bag of hundred odd polishes. Thats one thing that annoys me, most polish has a simple black or white lid, making finding the exact bottle you want near enough impossible when sifting through a bag with 100+ polishes in. Whereas you would not have that trouble with Kelly Brook's Nail Polish as she cleverly popped polka dots on there.

If you are looking for bulking out your collection with some polish of bold colours perfect for slapping on to go with outfits then this is a collection for you. The colours speak so much by themselves theres no need for the little extras of Nail Art.

Safe to say I'm impressed with Kelly, I would deffo buy more, and am looking forward to hopefully seeing the collection expand into more colours! :) So I would recommend you pop down to your local New Look and grab yourself a cheeky bottle to try. For 10ml at £2.99 or £1.50 for sale price, you can't really go wrong, and there is a large enough range of colours that you are guaranteed to find something you'll like!

Below I did a swatch of Kelly Brook Nail Polish in 'Cabernet'.

Oddballz and Watermelons.

So for Christmas, I was a very fortunate young lady and received a box of SIX O.P.I Shatter Nail Paints. Two of which were Nicki Minaj special edition ones, 'Super Bass Shatter'. So I decided to finally start experimenting with various colours from my little treasure box of O.P.I - my first bottles of O.P.I I have ever owned, which in itself is very exciting to me.

Incidentally these beautiful creations were made. My sister and I deciding that they looked like Watermelon design and Oddballz - a 90s computer game where you hatched your own little dinosaurs from this eggs (Oddballz) which had these crackle effects in funky colours on them... for those of you who do not know this game but loved Tamagochi's and Catz and similar programmes you deffo need to get a copy of Oddballz - you may get addicted but you won't regret it!

Anyhoo, back to the nails....

For watermelon nails, the polish used was Elf's 'Mint Choc Chip' and O.P.I Shatter in dark green. For Oddballz nails Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in 'Prickly Pear' and Nicki Minaj for O.P.I 'Super Bass Shatter' in Purple.

Simply protect your nails with a base coat, apply two coats of the base colour. A lighter colour works best for dark shatter colour - and reverse for dark base light shatter colour works best. Once dry apply a top coat to smooth out the base colour ready for the shatter. I find that putting the top coat on now works best, as applying it after the shatter can shrink the polish underneath. Then apply a thin layer of shatter for the Watermelon style to get that thin stroke shatter look. For the Oddballz look apply a thick layer of shatter on top, to create the bigger shaped shatter effect.

Have fun playing around with colour combinations, this look is very simple yes, but get the colours right and you can have a great look on your hands!

For more Nail looks follow me on Instagram - http://instagram.com/itsher92

Keeping Organised.

So I may have gone overboard on the labelling, but I like to think that I am getting organised.

I already had the storage but recently bought a label machine, which I have kinda gone crazy with. But I think this looks in a way vintage-y and cool. Don't you think? 

I already had sorted some of my makeup into my Muji Acrylic containers, the top drawer being face products, the middle eye products and the bottom one lips. So it was just a case of labelling what kind of products were in each drawer to quicken the sleepily stumble around trying to find the things I need to slap some kind of look on in the mornings. 

The label maker was half price in W H Smiths at £11.99 a Dymo and the pack of re-fill ribbons at £10.99 for 3. I have already gone through one wheel - the wheel that came within the label maker as I've gone crazy labelling everything ... including the cat. But also had to throw away a few labels as I got used to getting the right kind of squeeze to produce coherent labels. 

If you would like to check out the label maker I got, you can find it here:

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/dymo-embossing-labelmaker-omega/product/22806925

If you would like some acrylic makeup storage like mine you can find them here: 

http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?Sec=9&Sub=39

They are exactly like the ones that the Kardashians use but in smaller sets, for those of you who know the reference. They are great and come in various sizes and styles. I have a set of two with a flip lip on top and then a single drawer on the bottom which simply sit on top of each other and look as if they are a set of three. I would highly recommend them they may be a little pricey but compared to some of the storage found on eBay they are a steal. And you can mix and match the storage to find a set up that suits you. 

Pretty in Paisley

I love a good paisley print. It can be transferred well to soooo many different colour palettes.

This is probably my favourite combination, a nude base colour and black print.

Simply apply a protective base coat, and two coats of a nude colour. I only used one here as I was using a particularly thick formation.

Then for the paisley print, make a tear drop shape where the end continues round, and plonk a little dot at the end, make half moon shapes around the edge, and add more dots for decoration. If like me you like each nail to be an individual, then move the print around the nail slightly cutting off some of the design to create a little dimension.

Add a protective top coat, and voila you are finished.

Nail Polishes used:

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine - Nude.
Black nail art pen.

Flirty Fade

I love this design. Its a great pop of colour and using the same colour to fade ties in the two different base coat colours. Feel free to change out the colours in this look to suit your tastes and colour coordinating needs!

Using a teal and purple base colour apply two coats carefully. Wait to dry then choosing a colour for your fade using either a nail art pen or brush, apply from tip to middle on two fingers in a quick sweeping motion to create an uneven fade look. On the other fingers apply from cuticle to the middle of the nail in the same sweeping motion.

Wait to dry and seal with your top coat!

Enjoy playing around with this design.

Nail Polish:

BarryM Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint - Greenberry
Barry M Nail Paint - Fuchsia
Generic Nail Art Pen - Glitter Blue.

Matte About Glitter

This is a fun look that I created to update an ageing mani that I had been wearing for a couple of days. This is a great way to brighten up a mani quickly if you don't quite have enough time, or patience to re-do a new nail look.

Simply using whatever paint you already have on your nails. Touch up any chips and apply a matte top coat to create a smooth matte surface for the glitter.

Taking your favourite glitter or simply a glitter in a colour palette that will accentuate your base colour, apply to ring finger and thumb all over. For an extra pop of fun, apply dots near your cuticles in either the same glitter or a different type as I did here, for an extra fun twist.

Nail Polish:

Barry M Nail Paint - Cappuccino
Essie - Matte About You
Maybelline Colour Show Brocades - Black

Pretty In Pink

Such a simple look, easy to do and can be applied to any colour palette.

Simply apply two coats of a pale pink to pre-shaped and base coated nails.

Then add a darker tone of pink in a triangular shape on the end of the nails for a modern take on a french mani.

The colours can be changed out for any you wish to use. Provided the base colour is paler. Or if you are feeling playful, then place the darker tone as a base and use the pale for the triangular shape.

Have fun playing around with this design.

Nail Polish:

Avon Nailware in Pink.
Barry M Nail Paint in Bright Pink.

The Ease of the Nineties.

Nineties could never be cooler than it is right now. Whip out your scrunchies and Clueless DVD for inspiration. Plaid plays a big part in this seasons looks right now, so pop along to Primark to grab up the odd plaid statement that you can easily add to your wardrobe without spending the big bucks. 

Team with another hot trend right now of big chunky necklaces, mine here is from Newlook sale for £4 and you're ready to go. If you're really feeling nineties then pop your hair in high little buns, something which the likes of Kylie Jenner has been sporting lots of lately and you're ready to go. (Lower image.)

Slap on your fav red lip and you'll be right on trend. I paired this top with my Doc.Martens look-a-likes by Primark at £15 and felt right at home as a Nineties kid. Next thing you know everyone will be walking round in shell suits! 

Holographic Wonder

I am always amazed at the new polish you can find simply by accident. I came across holographic nail polish accidentally whilst searching for something on eBay (of course). The price and the package was too good to miss so I bought a pack of 12. I have Perfect Polish brand and they are not quite perfect but the holographic effect will blow your minds.

The consistency is a little weak and you do need to apply one thin base coat and then one or too liberal coats on top to create  the effect. I also found that it was essential that each coat were distributed evenly or else the effect was somewhat lost in the gentle uneven surface. I also found that my clear top coat somewhat dulled the shine, and a holographic print with no shine is pretty useless!

The colour range was somewhat limiting I was supposed to have a light and dark shade of each colour, blue, pink, purple, red and orange. But the differences were slim to none and could not really tell the difference.

One final tip, shake well to make sure you have perfect balance between shimmer and colour, and just have fun. These holographic nails will look great on their own or as a statement nail as part of a mix for the holidays as we now lead up to Christmas!

So search eBay if your interest has been peaked. There are plenty of reputable sellers selling holographic nail polish for decent prices. Most ship from the far east though so expect long wait from dispatch to receiving the item!

Happy shopping, Happy nails and Happy Halloween. (Belatedly)

Bronzed Winged Eye

Want something a little different this Halloween for makeup?

Try this super easy super quick bronzed eye look. Just grab a bronzed shimmery cream eyeshadow apply liberally to the eye area dragging out toward the hair line. Set with a brown shimmery eyeshadow, and contour the cheek bones well with a similar toned bronzer. Add a subtle brown lip and voila the look is complete!

This look was inspired by a Phoenix. But could be considered a masked look or just something cool to add to an outfit.

Super quick, and super easy.

Glitterati

Looking at all my glitter polishes I thought about what you could do. Diamonds came to mind so had a play with design.

Using glitter top coats, to cover colour or a polish with shimmer built in, or simply just using a glitter top coat like the Opal Top Coat from Avon as a polish.

Have fun playing with polish and colour.

Nail Stamps

Want the appearance of nail art, without having to have the patience and furness for it?

Try nail stamps instead! Designed to stamp a pre-cut pattern or image onto your nail quite easily without all the hassle of hand drawing everything on with nail art pens or brushes.

Purchasable from eBay you can get a starter kit with 5 image plates starting with bids of 1p!
Simply purchase some image plates and a nail stamp made from silicon or rubber, choose the image or pattern you wish to stamp, apply nail polish of your choice over the top of that image, using your applicator, lift the pattern or image off the image plate and stamp it onto your nail.

I hear that it does take a while to really get a good quality transfer. Make sure that you wipe clean excess nail polish off of your image plate, and re-use and re-use to your hearts content.

If you want to see some very good examples of nail stamp-ing, check out @nailstampfanatic on Instagram. (link below) She is really good, and creates some beautiful colour and pattern combinations using nail stamps and manipulation of nail polish like colour fades. She also divulges the details on where she gets each stamp used. So go say hello to her over on Instagram and follow her also for plenty of nail stamp and nail art ideas and inspiration!

Enjoy exploring another way to be creative!

http://instagram.com/nailstampfanatic

photo credit goes to @nailstampfanatic

Lush Laquer Nail Polish

I fell across this company from youtuber CupcakesandCompacts (a makeup and beauty youtube channel - she has an amazing nail polish collection, check it out!), Lush Laquer is an American based hand-made nail polish company run by Karin and Lexi a self confessed "BEST FRIEND" mother and daughter team, they created this company as a way to spend some quality time together. Karin a costume jewellery designer and Lexi a professional nail art artist collaborated to create the brand, deriving expertise from Lexi's profession.
Having only created their Etsy page just last year the duo had over 500 pending orders when I contacted them, which goes to prove their ever growing popularity. Shipping anywhere in the world Lush Laquer is available to all, however if shipping far away like me to the UK it may be worth getting a few bottles to make it worth while. Due to such high demand in orders and customs shipping times can vary but it is more than worth the wait!
Lush Laquer offers a wide range of beautiful neons, brights, pales and every colour under the sun. Their polishes are infused with flecks of other colours, almost like a speckled egg effect, speckled with flecks of colour or glitter they offer a dynamic burst of colour and shape. Very much like Illamasqua's Speckled nail polish, but Lush Laquer uses the flecks to add dimension and enhance the base colour. Lush Laquer also offer clear glitter top coats with amazing pigmented flecks of glitter. At £6.11 a bottle they come in around the same price as Revlon or high-end drugstore and highstreet polishes. However Lush Laquer offers amazing deals such as any three bottles of polish for £10.18 which for custom handmade polish is very reasonably priced.
I decided on the bottle 'Haywire' an off-white colour with pink undertone with various shaped coloured specks in neon shades of pink, green, yellow orange and blue. The formulation is a good consistency good coverage with one coat. Due to the state of my nails currently I found that a light base coat of white was needed prior to applying Lush Laquer in order to get an even spread with the glitter. But in doing that found the colour popped more and was perfectly distributed. I found that the formulation held up 'chip free' about 3-4 days that included me doing gardening work and other things that would offer plenty of opportunity to chip. So I'm sure that with a good hold top coat would last much longer.
'Haywire' is fast becoming my favourite nail polish out of my 70+ collection. The customer service given at Lush Laquer was brilliant, Karin and Lexi were extremely helpful in answering all my questions and offering continued help in any queries I may have. I received my polish approximately two weeks after purchase, but due to their high demand and the fact it was shipped all the way from the U.S found this highly acceptable.
Highly reccommend you check out the etsy page and explore their beautiful collection for a unique nail polish to add to your collection!
http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/lushlacquer?ref=shop_sugg

Photo Credit: Crystal's Crazy Combos