Morgan Le Fay's Flowers

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It's been eons since last time I used A England - Morgan Le Fay. I feel kind of sad for it. I just can't seem to figure out just exactly what to use it for. I have today made another attempt to use it for a manicure. I think the end result is interesting, but it just doesn't sit right with me. Better luck next time I suppose.

I still wanted to post this manicure on my blog, as I often find that I am my own worse critic. 

First I started out with Barry M - Speedy - Pit Stop. I think this is a gorgeous shade. Light colour, but still not white.

Barry M - Speedy - Pit Stop

Barry M - Speedy - Pit Stop

I then proceeded to stamp using Bornpretty Qgirl - 022 with Barry M - Vintage Violet.
I filled the flowers in with A England - Morgan Le Fay.

On the rest of the nails I used one stroke of A England - Morgan Le Fay.

A England - Morgan Le Fay layered over Barry M - Speedy - Pit Stop

A England - Morgan Le Fay layered over Barry M - Speedy - Pit Stop

I like the look of A England - Morgan Le Fay layered over Barry M - Speedy - Pit Stop, but i don't think it works well for filling in the flowers. I should have used another polish, me thinks.

If you want to get your hands on the Chic Flower Nail Art Stamp Template Image Plate Pattern #Qgirl-022 it is found at BornPrettyStore and it's sold for $ 2.99.

BornPrettyStore also offers free shipping worldwide, and if you use my code (RAMG10) you get 10% off your order.

#boyfriendpicksmypolish

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 The last attempt on #boyfriendpicksmypolish was somewhat successful, I decided to ask him again to pick out some polishes from my stash. Last time he picked a pink polish and a stamping plate, and this time we went with all polishes.

Since last #boyfriendpicksmypolish -entry I have organized my stash, and swatched them out on swatching sticks. I asked him to have a look at them, and select three polishes. Not being keep on looking through so many swatching sticks, he decided to solve it with a formula in Excel.
Since all my polishes are in a spreadsheet it was easy to add a randomizer, and have the formula select three polishes to use.

It picked A England - Tristam, Zoya - Savita and Miss Sporty - 452.
I don't think it is possible to choose more random than that.
A creme, a velvet matte, and a holo.

I took the polishes out of their drawers in my Helmer, and placed them on my desk, in hope that by looking at them together I would get inspired.
A week went by.
Nothing.

Then I decided to just "eff it" and give it a go.

I painted index finger with Zoya - Savita, and A England - Tristam on middle finger and little finger. On my ringfinger I used a thin striping brush and made lines using Zoya - Savita, and A England - Tristam.
I decided to use Qgirl - 022 that I had recently received from Born Pretty Store, and use Miss Sporty - 452, to stamp with on index, middle and little finger.

A England - Tristam, with Zoya - Savita, and Miss Sporty - 452 stamped over.

I actually like how this design ended up looking, if I were get a do-over I would have done something else for my accent. I don't think those stripes worked well with the rest of the design.

If you want to get your hands on the Chic Flower Nail Art Stamp Template Image Plate Pattern #Qgirl-022 it is found at BornPrettyStore and it's sold for $ 2.99.

BornPrettyStore also offers free shipping worldwide, and if you use my code (RAMG10) you get 10% off your order.

Mosaic Tiles

Contains affiliate link.  Contains product previously sent for reviewing purposes.

Long long time ago I bought some cool nail polishes from W7 at my local outlet store in Wales. I have used two of them, and for some strange reason I have not used this one.

I decided that the least I could do, would be to have a swatch of it on my blog. As soon as I got it on, I knew I had to do some nail art, and that is how this design was created.

W7 - Mosaic

I grabbed my striping brushes and made some random lines, making it look like mosaic tiles in a bathroom. Following on this vibe I rummaged around my stamping plates for something appropriate and found this little bird that I think fits the "mosaic bathroom" -vibe perfectly.

The bird was on BornPrettyStore Qgirl - 032 - (Bird Animal Pattern Nail Art Stamp Template Image Plate Pattern #Qgirl-032) I stamped using my trusted Sinful Color - Snow Me White. 

W7 - Mosaic - stripes in L.A. Color - Splash and bird is from BornPrettyStore Qgirl - 032, stamped in Sinful Color - Snow Me White.

I was starting to run a bit low on Sinful Color - Snow Me White, and was getting a bit stressy over it as I have yet to find it in Northern Ireland, but luckily I managed to snatch with me 2 when I was in Finland a while back.

I have also done these nails using this plate:
Autumn Fields 
Colourful Fields

If you want to pick up this plate, feel free to use my code (RAMG10) to get 10% off your order.
Born Pretty Store also offers free shipping worldwide.

Bright Summer Flowers

I received this product of my own choosing, free of charge for my honest, non-bias review from the Born Pretty Store.

I wanted to do another bright summery design, it's been great weather here in Northern Ireland lately, and I wanted to celebrate with some bright nails as well.

I recently received some stamping plates from BornPrettyStore for review and among those was the Qgirl - 022 plate.
While I was organizing my stash of nail polishes and swatching sticks I came up with this great combination using Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition Yellow, Maybelline - Street Artist - Boom Box Black and L.A. Color - Splash. The Qgirl - 022 gave me just the image I had been wanting to use for this combo. 

Maybelline Street Artist - Boom Box Black:
Clear base with large and medium black and green hex glitters, small green bar glitters, and tiny round black and green glitters.

The lighting was acting up a little so here is a picture from last summer showing how Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition Yellow looks like.

Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition Yellow

I was very happy to have several stampers for this design. It would have taken too long, if I had only had one stamper head. With more on their way I am quickly approaching 6 stampers (!), and a month back I only had 2...

Making decals is so much fun, and for this design it gave me the placement of glitter, just the way I wanted, without it interfering with the stamped image.

I stamped using Sinful Color - Snow Me White, filled in using L.A. Color - Splash, and dabbed some Maybelline - Street Artist - Boom Box Black around the flower. 

Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition Yellow stamping in Sinful Color - Snow Me White, filled in using L.A. Color - Splash, and dabbed some Maybelline - Street Artist - Boom Box Black around the flower. 

 The Qgirl - 022 plate has a nice selection of flowers. I think most of the flowers on this plate will fit great for "scandinavian designs" (see what I mean here), but will also work great for more colourful displays like the one I did today.  The Chic Flower Nail Art Stamp Template Image Plate Pattern #Qgirl-022 sells for $ 2.99.

If you will be placing an order, feel free to use my 10 % off coupon: RAMG10

There are plenty of products to choose from at their site, not just nail related items, and the prices are very affordable and they have free worldwide shipping.

Click the image below and you will be taken to their site.

GuestNails

A lovely couple that I have had the joy to befriend here in Northern Ireland, was having their wedding anniversary. To make it all special I invited them over to do her nails, while her husband played some boardgames with my boyfriend.
After cooking together a lovely meal, and a glass of wine, I took her with me to the spare room, aka The Nail Room. This is where the magic happens.

I filled up another glass, and showed her my collection.
She was curious to see holographics, having heard me rave about them in great lengths I am sure.
There is no doubt that she is a muggle in training, even before she met me. She is not entirely new to nail art either, having done some Super Mario nails after seeing a tutorial on Pinterest.
I am so happy we met.

Having looked at the different holographic nail polishes that I have, both scatter and linear, she choose Natural Collection - Stardust. Stardust is an anniversary polish from the line, and I was quick enough to snatch one before they were all gone.

It took 2 coats for full opacity, and she couldn't stop looking at her nails. We practiced on the posing with and without the bottle, and ended up with these pictures.
I see now that her hands should have been the other way around, to show off her ring.
Maybe next time.

Natural Collection - Stardust

Natural Collection - Stardust

Looking forward to our next Girly-Night already. 

Secretary's Nail Art Goes on a Vacation

I have been on a little vacation, and took some cool snaps of my nails during the trip.
I wanted to show it to you all, as they show just how gorgeous this nail polish is.

As I did my nails the night before leaving on the trip, there is not the usual swatch picture of this polish. I am sure it will return to the blog with some nail art on it, but for now, there are only these pictures.

Ever since I saw it for the first time, this has been a huge lemming of mine, and I was so happy that I managed to grab one on my latest Rainbow Connection UK haul.

Without further ado, here is Dance Legend - Solar Eclipse.

Dance Legend - Solar Eclipse  - Natural Light

 The first picture is taken in the car that we rented for our Castle Hunt - Northern Ireland trip. Prior to leaving we made a map in Google Maps showing all the Castles around Northern Ireland, and the goal is to see as many of them as possible within the year. Armed with a Sat Nav, a list over coordinates to Castles in the North, and plenty of coffee for a long day, we headed out.

Dance Legend - Solar Eclipse  - in Natural Light by the Giant Causeway in Northern Ireland

Dance Legend - Solar Eclipse  - in Natural Light with a view to Rathlin Island in the background

Dance Legend - Solar Eclipse  - in Natural Light holding Ice Cream

Dark skies was gathering on the sky, and it was time to turn in for the night. We found a lovely looking B&B. Soon after we discovered the name of the place...

Dance Legend - Solar Eclipse  - in indirect natural light at the Sleep Hollow - Bed and Breakfast.
Disclaimer: No headless horsemen where seen.

We survived the night at the B&B, and turned our noses back home, after stopping by 4 more castles on our way back.
I hope you have enjoyed this little post with my gorgeous new polish Dance Legend - Solar Eclipse, and I am looking forward to showing you some fantastic designs that I have come up with while travelling.

Barry M - Silk - Forest

I live on the Emerald Isle, so whenever I see emerald/forest green or any other polish with some green in it, I often feel the need to pick them up.
This nail polish came into my possession in such a way.

You are cruising down the lanes of Boots, saying in your head as you go: Got it, got it, got it, boring, dupe, dupe, boring, ugly, got it, got it, got it... and so on.
That's me, checking out my local Boots.

The difference today was that I had a closer look at the Silk collection Barry M came out with a while back (last year). I got Blossom already, and was not very impressed over it (to be honest, I think I just picked the wrong shade, I don't really like pinks anyway...).
So I decided to give Forest a try.

As I picked it up, I said sternly to the nail polish, "don't disappoint me now".

...and it didn't.

Barry M - Silk - Forest

Barry M - Silk - Forest

I wanted to make sure the polish would be seen in all it's glory, so I swatched it over a coat of W7 - White, and used two coats for full opacity.

With a name like Forest, a part of me would have wanted this to be leaning more green, but I think the shade is gorgeous as it is.

Sultry and Rich Jewel toned polish? Yes please!


Have a great weekend everyone!

Fashion Statement Nails

Every morning I go past a wallpaper shop on my way to work. Sometimes I am inspired by the new strips of wallpaper in the window, and I try to recreate the look on my nails.
This is what I did today.

For this manicure I used two coats of Barry M - Matte - Copa Cabana. I left the middle finger bare, so you can see the base color in all its vibrant glory.
As far as mattes go, this one is insane! It's all coral-y red epikness.

I found the perfect stamping image on the Moyou London - Fashionista - 08, and used Barry M - Gelly - Cardamom for that.

Barry M - Matte - Copa Cabana, stamped with Moyou London - Fashionista - 08 using Barry M - Gelly . Cardamom.

I really love how this turned out, and to me, it looks very High Fashion.


You might have noticed that I have shown a lot of Barry M polishes on my blog lately, and if you are in the US, might have been a bit frustrated that you can't get your hands on these.
Now that my new system is up, I have discovered that a large part of my polishes where in fact untrieds (!), and I have really wanted to use more of them, and not just horde them, ya know.

Barry M happen to be the brand that I had the most untrieds from, so I started there.

I am fast approaching my 400 post (!) it is kinda scary, and also very exciting, as I have blogged on here for 3 years now, and my goal when I started was to do 100 posts a year.
You can say I definitely managed to do that!

Until next time!