Border and Mosaic Nails

Sometimes I just feel like switching things up a little, and pull out techniques that I haven't used for a while. Since my past two posts on here has been kinda serious, I wanted to lighten up the mood with today's nails.

We are revisiting Border Nails.

I know some people know this style better as Frame Nails, but they are one and the same technique.


For this look I am using three polishes:

H&M - Beige is one of my oldest polishes and I am surprised it is still kicking and hasn't dried all up. It has been with me since the very beginning. No wonder it is also, half empty. 

I actually won FNUG - Love Chic in a competition when FNUG first launched, and I got to choose a couple of shades from their line. Their polishes are amazing, a bit on the pricey side, but the staying power of these babies beats most of my other polishes to the boot. 

W7 - Buff is like the accident polish of this look. I never really liked this particular polish, it is too thin to be worn alone, but it works great for sponging. I think W7 make great polishes but W7- Buff is a dud. 

I also used a thin striping brush and a sponge for this look. 

First I started out with applying one coat of H&M - Beige, and once it was dry I placed 2 drops of H&M - Beige and 3 drops of W7- Buff to my Uber Chic Mat and dipped a sponge in to pick up the two colours. Dab dab dab on to the nails. 

It created a nice washed out marbled look. 

Then I went in with a striping brush and FNUG - Love Chic and framed the nails. 

FNUG - Love Chic Border Nails with H&M - Beige and W7 - Buff sponged in the middle as a washed marble look.

I am still learning to get my lines even with my striping brush, but this is definitely looking a whole better than last years attempts at border nails. 

Practise makes perfect, right?

I wore this look for a couple of days, and decided to switch up up and do Mosaic Nails. 

Grabbing my striping brush again and FNUG - Love Chic, I managed to get a couple days more wear.

FNUG - Love Chic Mosaic Nails with H&M - Beige and W7 - Buff sponged in the middle as a washed marble look.

Which one is your favourite?

Discrete Flowers

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

The last manicure I posted was very bold, and had a lot of strong colours. Today I was feeling like I really needed a palate cleanser, and I had the perfect stamping plate for it.

If I must add, the perfect nail polishes for it as well. I recently bought a handful of Barry M polishes in matte, and muted shades.

I started off with two coats of Barry M - Matte - Vanilla. I have to say I love this shade on me, there is just something about this shade that makes me love it. I like the way it looks when it dries. You can capture some shimmer in it, so I took a bunch of pictures to explain what it looks like.

Barry M - Matte - Vanilla

Barry M - Matte - Vanilla

Barry M - Matte - Vanilla

Gorgeous, right?

I then proceeded to take my Born Pretty Store plate Y013 out and my FNUG - Runway.
I wanted to use the flowers on this plate, and leave the fox images for a another day.

Discrete Flower stamp using Y013 stamping plate from Bornprettystore

When I was testing this stamping plate I noticed that the fox images seemed to pick up easier with my firm Konad stamping head better than when I tried using my softer Moyou London stamping head.
So if any of you are having problems with this plate it might be worth trying a firmer stamping head.

You can get Y013 aka Ghost Stories Theme Nail Art Stamp Template Image Plate for 3.99 $ It is squared, and comes with blue protective film, and with a firm stamper, it stamped perfectly well for me.

I love the Fox girl image and the various foxes on this plate, and I am planning on making a Kitsune (Japanese for Fox) nail art, sometime soon.
Couple of years ago I got some Kitsune postcards from a dear friend of mine, and I have really want to make some nail art based on the post cards, using this plate.

Today my inspiration came from a commercial that I saw in Norway for a matte paint for your walls.
So my nails are "Scandinavian Design" -like today

Discrete Flower stamp using Y013 stamping plate from Bornprettystore

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. 

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

Let's Hit The Beach!

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

It's been very sunny lately here in Northern Ireland, so I was getting in the mood for spring and summer. I would like to start by saying sorry to those in my home country, Norway, that was just hit with loads of snow. So if there is snow in your country, and you don't want to hear about how sunny and lovely the weather is here, you might want to come back to these nails at a later stage.

First I started with two coats of Savina - Coral. This was one of my first polishes that I ordered online, and I haven't used it for a long time. Sadly, it is turning gooey on me, so it will need a couple of drops of thinner next time I pick it up. It is also past half empty, and I am considering getting a new one, or a Coral in a different brand, as I don't have that many coral shades.

If you have a Coral to recommend, please let me know in the comments below.

I then proceeded to take a fan brush and brushed my nails with Barry M - Superdrugs Limited Edition Yellow and ESSIE - Mojito Madness.

Savina - Coral, fan brushed with  Barry M - Superdrugs Limited Edition Yellow and ESSIE - Mojito Madness

Savina - Coral, fan brushed with  Barry M - Superdrugs Limited Edition Yellow and ESSIE - Mojito Madness

The first picture is taken in direct sunlight to really show off how great Savina - Coral looks. It really gives an instant Summer Feeling (even on my winter pale hands).

Of course I could have stopped here, but I had a vision that I wanted to get out.

For this I needed my BP53 plate that I recently received from BornPrettyStore to review. When I first saw this plate, I know straight away I wanted to do something with the summery looking beach balls.
You might not have noticed them on the plate, but it was the first thing I saw. 

I did some freehand using FNUG - Runway, on my stamper and then made a decal out of it to transfer it to my nails easier. I found out that the size of the little green stamping head from Konad is the size of my ring finger nail at the moment. I wrote "Beach Party".

I used FNUG - Runway to stamp with, and made a decal with BP 53 and filled in the beach balls using FNUG - Bandana and Sinful Colors - Exotic Green. I wanted to add something more beached themed and made another decal with Bundlemonster - BM309 and filled that with Sinful Color - Exotic Green as well.

After a lot of waiting the decals was ready to go on my nails.
I simply added a coat of clear polish to make them bond, and topped it off with some topcoat.

I added a little dot of Savina - Coral to the beach balls and it was all done.

Here is the final look.

Beach nails using BP 53 and BM309

All ready for the beach!

Which look did you like the best? Here is a snap of the before, so save you the scrolling. 

Fan brushed nail art over Savina - Coral

I really liked to work with this stamping plate,  BP53 has a lot of cool images on it. I have some other ideas for manicures using this plate. For one, I would love to make a decal with the petal flower on this plate, as I think that would be totally awesome. And the "watermarble" looking heart image would be really cool for Valentines. To throw out some ideas to you all. 

You can find BP53 by following this link.   it cost 2.99 $. It comes with a protective blue film that needs to be removed before usage, and it also has a protective backing, so no sharp edges here. 

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. 

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

Beauty and The Beast

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

One of the things I like about living in the UK, compared to when I lived in Norway, is Poundland, and Pound World and what not's. There are always nail polishes to find, beauties looking for a good home. On one of my trips to these stores I came across Sally Hansen - Black Tie.
Since that day, it has been a part of my stash.

Sally Hansen - Black Tie

For this manicure I used the Y003 plate that I recently received from Born Pretty Store to review. I have already done a manicure using this plate, and you can find that over here. 

There is no hiding that I am a huge lover of Disney movies, and one that I love in particular is Beauty and The Beast. After having started watching Once Upon A Time (if you have  not seen the show, I would highly recommend it. I am on season 2 now), my love for Belle has rekindled. 

When I saw this design on the Y003 plate, I knew I had to make a decal with it, and fill in the rose, and the leaves. 

For the stamping I used FNUG - Runway, the grey tone in this polish would make it visible against Sally Hansen - Black Tie, as well as not interfering with the depth of it.

I filled the rose in with Barry M - Vintage Violet and Barry M - Crush, and the leaves with Sinful Colors - Exotic Green and Essie - Mojito Madness. I didn't want the design to seem one dimensional, therefor all the polishes.

Sally Hansen - Black Tie, with Y003 stamped over in FNUG - Runway.

Sally Hansen - Black Tie with a stamping using Y003 as an accent

I really like how this manicure turned out, and I think next time I use this image from the Y003 plate, I will try to fill it all in, and not just the rose and leaves. I love this stained glass / mosaic look on my nails. It really adds some elegance to it all.

If you wanted to get hold of this plate, at this writing moment Y003 is back in stock at Born Pretty Store.

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. 

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

All bits are created equal

I am not going all political on you here today, but this statement is true. There has been a lot of talk about Net Neutrality in the medias lately, and I wanted to make a manicure that would be fitting for the topic.

I wore this manicure for the Bristol Comic Con this weekend, and I was dressed as R2D2. It was a lot of fun.

The Secretary as R2D2

I decided to use Maybelline - Street Artist -  Alley Attitude for this manicure, there as been a lot of searching on my page for this polish, so I decided it was about time I use it for something, and not just have a swatch on my page.

I also used MoYou-London Sci-Fi collection plate 06, and Sally Hansen - Diamonds and Rubies.  I think you can all guess one of the images I choose from this plate.

MoYou-London Sci-Fi Collection - 06, with the selected images for this mani

FNUG - Bandana

Maybelline - Street Artist - Alley Attitude over FNUG - Bandana, and stamped using Sally Hansen - Diamonds and Rubies

Maybelline - Street Artist - Alley Attitude over FNUG - Bandana, and stamped using Sally Hansen - Diamonds and Rubies

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

MSMD - Color Blocks

This manicure is inspired by Lovely In Lacquer : Designer Inspired: Kate Spade Color Blocks, and tiny bit inspired by The Nailasaurus Half/Stud/Half which I though was such a cute idea.

 Great bloggers both of them.

For this manicure I started out with one coat of FNUG - Fashion Show, my go-to nude color. I picked up ALL my neons. Which basically means I got all four of them.
My neon collection might be small, but they are good colors. I like them. If I see more neons from Sinful Colors, I'm thinking about getting them, but we will see. This is the third, or fourth manicure using neons.
Savina - Dazzle, Sinful Colors - Neon Melon, Sinful Colors, Irish Green, and Sinful Colors - Summer Peach.

I taped half my nail, colored one part with the neon, leaving the rest in the nude polish, next time I do something like this I will use a white between those two layers to make the neon pop more, as the Neon Melon changed color.
Looking away from that little mishap I am very happy with how this manicure turned out.

To finish of the look, I added studs.

70's print makes me blue

TGIF!
Have a great weekend girls!!

Today I have Cheeky plate CH48 for you ladies. To create this manicure I used 3 nail polishes, and a dotting tool. I'm sorry for the scratches on my hands, I have been doing extensive gardening, and this manicure has held like a rocket through digging in the dirt, to sawing trees.

I feel like a 50's "You Can Do It" -poster girl here.

But lets drag us back to the 70's with this manicure. I hope you liked it, and remember for more 70's style, check out Mishkas take on this plate over at Lacquer of Leave Her!

Basecolor was Fnug - Bandana, I stamped using Essie - Bobbing for baubles, and dotted the center using Makeup Mekka - Remember '79.

Eeek! I look so pale!

Let them eat Cake!

I am back with the twinposts with Mishka at Lacquer or Leave Her!   Before our break we got to plate CH40, in the Cheeky Girl set. and today we will be showing you different ways of using the cake print from CH41.
Mishka choose to do a pop-art mani, you can see her manicure by clicking the link.

I went for something a bit more ordinary and did a neutral background and used the full image.
I used Fnug - Fashion Show, as background, and sponged KIKO - 373 on the tips, and stamped using ESSIE - Little Brown Dress.

I say like Marie Antoinette: Let them eat Cake.

Have a great weekend everyone!

FNUG - Fashion Show

I needed something neutral, and nice for a job interview, and I opted for one for my FNUG polishes. This one is called Fashion Show. When it comes to office-nails this is my favorite. I have worn it previously, you can see the post here and an other version here.

The color is easy to work with, it needs two coats, and dries fast. If you are sensitive to smells, this might be a polish to look into, I find the scent to be lighter than a lot of my other polishes.

Added a few nail stickers I got from Ebay on my nails, and I was ready to impress.

Come Autumn, Come

Its Fridays!
And that means its time for Cheeky Girls Challenge, starring myself, and Mishka from Lacquer or Leave Her!
Today We are using Cheeky plate CH 33, since its the third week of the challenge.

We picked out the leaf stamp from it, and this is what I created.

I started out with two coats of Jade Stone from Models Own. One of the polishes I got while I was in the UK. I visited the Bottleshop in London. <3
If you get the chance ... GO THERE!
Its lovely.
Kiko store, and Top Shop on the other side of the hall. Everything a girl can dream of.

So pretty. But it makes me wonder if its a dupe, or just closely related to Savina - Royalty, China Glaze - For Audrey, ESSIE - Turquoise & Caicos.. Will have to check that out.

Its Friday, so I added some sparkles. I used Northern Light -INM, two coats.

Very pretty, isn't it? I bumped it on the camera, so its a bit messed up, but I don't mind, cause we are going to stamp over it. For this I wanted to see how good FNUG would stamp. 

Very pretty, don't you think? I wasn't sure if I should stop here, or not. But I was too eager to try filling between the lines. I feel that my freehand is getting better. I will post my Depression Awareness mani tomorrow, and you will see what I mean. 

What do you think?

Don't forget to head over to Mishka, to see what see did with CH 33.