Spotlights // Look Fantastic March 2019 Nails

Aaannnndd I finally got round to doing this months Look Fantastic nails. I really thought I was going to miss it this month due to Uni deadlines but I got them done. Hopefully I'll be a little more organised next month. I was also trying to figure out how I could do this design without going to abstract. 

I'm pretty pleased with the outcome; it's not exactly like the box but without a printer I don't think I would've got exactly there. I'm also very happy with this months contents as well! Apart from the Morphe (which I gave away immediately; I can't stand that brand) every other product was pretty good. I haven't tried The Ordinary serum, Madara Face mask or Omorovicza Cleanser yet but I love EOS balms (they're my favourite) and the Rituals hand balm is actually very nice. At £13, I couldn't have bought them any cheaper.

On to the nails though. I started out with a white base coat then sponged on a few layers of Fresh Blue, Bohemian Rhapsody, Orchid Chic and Jam Sesh in a diagonal pattern. After a layer of top coat, I then layered on the white stripe using Blanc, followed with a matte top coat.

It actually took me a while to find a white polish that was sheer enough to create that layered looking effect. I thought Alpine Snow by OPI would be perfect as it's milky AF and needs around 7 coats to become opaque; but no, it turned out to be one of the best white stamping polishes I've used...who'd have thought? I've finally found a use for it.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- NYC Expert Last // Fresh Blue (primary blue)

- Jessica // Bohemian Rhapsody (dark denim blue)

- MoYou London Polish // Orchid Chic (purple)
- Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear // Jam Sesh (lavender)
- Essie // Blanc (white)
- Barry M // Matte Top Coat
- Born Pretty Plate // Geometry L001

SWATCHES: Jessica // Tease, Confident Coral & Cherrywood

So I received these three beauties in this months Latest in Beauty box. I don't normally talk about this box here because they rarely feature polishes (the last time was these three Morgan Taylor polishes; incidentally my introduction to that brand) but I was happy to see these in the line up this month and dutifully waited until they were added. 

Basically LIB works like this; you can pay £9, £15 or £18 a month and that will enable you to choose either 3, 6 or 9 products from their line up of around 150 products. They add something new everyday (sometimes more than one product if it's the same brand). I've been subbed on and off for around 2 years now and have recently gone back up to the 9 product sub as I like ordering things I'm about to run out of like face masks and hand creams. They also have some ridiculously priced items up for grabs and every box I make is at least worth triple the price.

I only have two Jessica shades right now and love both of them so I snapped these up straight away.

Tease // Pale Dusty Pink Creme

Oh man this is a beautiful shade. This is one of those perfect nudes that will literally suit any skintone. Also, thanks to it's glossy almost gel-like shine, it's perfect in just one coat. If you prefer a little more colour you can add a second coat (I'm wearing two in the swatch) but one is just as good. I feel this would be a perfect wedding shade as well and I can imagine some light lace stamped on top in an off white.

Confident Coral // Bright Orange Red Creme

This is an amazing bright shade that's slightly sheer but in a good way. Unfortunately I don't feel it quite suits my skintone as I prefer cooler toned shades but I don't hate it because of that. I'll definitely be able to use this in Halloween mani's. I think this would work for some great bright summer looks; miami vice style. 

Cherrywood // Deep Blood Red Creme

Now this is my kinda red. This is practically identical to Dangerous Affair by Ciaté but a lot shinier. It needs at least two coats but every layer just adds more depth. I kinda love how all these shades are slightly sheer. It makes me want to try them out over a black base coat with a white design stamped on top to see if it produces that sheer colour look like some Jelly polishes do.

// Verdict

Such a great selection although I'm not sure if I should be calling them cremes due to the sheer factor. It does make me desperately want their new Tea Party collection though but they're £9 each on NPD *ugh*. 

Latest In Beauty

Girl Power! // Birchbox March 2019 Nails

I have finally posted this months Birchbox nails! I'm not mad at myself though because I've done a lot of work on my dissertation this month so at least I'm properly prioritising. A part of me can't wait until June when I've graduated and I can do my nails without feeling guilty.  

This months Birchbox wasn't exactly the most exciting box, I got a repeat product in the Paw Paw balm (which I've got about 5 of now...I don't even like it) but Birchbox promise to never send repeats and gave me a £5 voucher to spend in the shop instead so all is not lost. I'm also not a fan of the Charlotte Tilbury scent. I chose that once in the Feel Unique Pick 'n' Mix and it smells like cooked chicken; not exactly sexy. The bronzer is amazing though and I'm always happy to receive Nuxe face creams so I'm on the fence with this box.

The design was also not my favourite. I've been thinking all month about how to pull this off and eventually ended up with this look. It's not perfect; the polish smudged in places from the top coat and the lines are a little wonky. I also just don't like the colours together. Roll on to next months design, hopefully they'll have something cute and spring like now we're finally heading out of winter.

How I did it:-

I started off with two layers of I Wonder Where (I knew this was the perfect the grey the second I saw the box) then used the lines on Tropical 35 to create the stripes. The thumb was two layers of Play Date followed by the leopard spot design on Tropical 35. I used Night Sail for the spots and I Wonder Where to colour them in (on the stamper, then stamped it on). The letters are from Typography 04. They didn't have 'G' in the same size as the other smaller letters so I stamped on a 'C' and then changed it by hand...that's why it looks so messy.

It's not my favourite Birchbox look...in fact I think it's the worst one I've done so far but it does kinda look like the box. I also have an excuse now to go out and buy some dark navy stamping polish as I had nothing that matched the box.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Ciaté // Play Date (Strawberry)

- Cuccio Colour // I Wonder Where (light grey)

- MoYou London Polish // August Plum (grape purple)
- MoYou London Polish // One and Only (light pink)
- MoYou London Polish // Night Sail (dark grey)
- Born Pretty Polish // #1787 (lightish red)
- Born Pretty Polish // #4 (white)
- Barry M // Matte Top Coat
- MoYou London Plate // Tropical 35
- MoYou London Plate // Typography 04

Fancy Grey Wallpaper // Grey and White Baroque Nail Art

Can this post be considered a throwback? I did them about two months and just never got round to posting them. I decided to put them up though so I can start scheduling again as I really fell behind on nail art. 

These were super quick and basically I only did them because I wanted to try out the new plate that had arrived in the post because I loved the designs on them.

I feel like they're missing something though. Like the background needed to be holo in some way or they should have been double stamped. Who knows. I also hate how my ring finger is looking in these photos. It's really weird but when my nails get to long they start to curve inwards like crazy when they have polish on them. It's one of the reasons I don't grow them out to long now because it just looks weird.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Cuccio Colour // I Wonder Where (light grey)

- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #4 (white)

- Nicole Diary Stamping Plate // ND-033

Pink Cactus // Cacti & Geometry Stamped Nail Design

And here's the follow up to the last post where I had some scarf nails. Can you see the resemblance with the thank you card? No me neither. I mean if you squint really hard you can kind of see it but I really screwed this one up. I chose the wrong pink shades (Rosewood Forest was way to dark), I chose the wrong stamp design and the cacti and triangles are too pink when I should've used a gold polish. Oh well, I'll just have to do Pink Cactus II. 

It kind of annoys me because I spend a bit of time on the detail but the background clashes with it too much. I think I used to many stamps as well as it's bit messy and cluttered looking. I will say I miss these nails though. Please grow! Why did I feel the need to experiment with nail shape?

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Essence The Gel Polish // Rosewood Forest (dusky pink)

- Nails Inc Fashion Fix // Vintage Tee (pale pastel pink)
- Ciaté // Vintage Tee (metallic rose gold)

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat
- Born Pretty Stamping Plate // BP-L041
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Explorer 33 & Holy Shapes 20

Rosewood Tee // Pink Scarf Design

A quick post today from some nails I did several weeks ago (hence them looking a little longer). I think I've finally decided that this is the nail shape for me and I'm growing them back out a little to look like this again. I've done so much experimentation with nail shape over the past few months.

These nails were inspired by a pack of thank you cards I bought from TK Maxx years ago and ever since I've started doing nails I've been eyeing them up. This was halfway through doing the design so you'll the finished result in the post but for now, enjoy these simple scarf print nails:

I'll tell you what though, I really love these Essence polishes, they are highly pigmented and great to use as stamping polishes. They're also only £1.60 each; insane quality.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Essence The Gel Polish // Rosewood Forest (dusky pink)

- Nails Inc Fashion Fix // Vintage Tee (pale pastel pink)

- Barry M Plumpy Hi Shine // Top Coat
- Born Pretty Stamping Plate // BP-L041

SPOTLIGHT SWATCH: Fashionista // Nailberry

When I saw that this months Latest In Beauty Special Edition box had a Nailberry shade going I bought it immediately. It retails at £28 but if you made a box in February you got a £5 off voucher for it. I believe you get £5 off if you make a box this month as well. It's well worth it as you get 15 items and several full sizes. Considering Nailberry go for £14.50 alone (and are rarely on sale), this box is absolute bargain. 

You could receive two different shades and I got Fashionista which is the most beautiful berry shade I've ever seen. I'm so in love with this colour because it goes with anything (my jumper choice was pure coincidence lol). I'm not really one for wearing shades by themselves but this I would wear all day, every day. I love my Cuccio but Nailberry is really fighting to become number one in my heart. I now have 3 Nailberry polishes and it's just not enough. You can't even get them cheaper on eBay as most sellers start at £10 for them. At this point in my life I really can't be spending £10+ on one polish so I have to make do with receiving them in boxes. 

I'm wearing two beautiful coats and no top coat (it's unbelievably shiny) and it makes feel like some uber chic sophisticated lady going for brunch...and they serve champagne at brunch. It just makes me want more Nailberry; once I finish my degree I need to get a job where I can afford to buy Nailberry #jobgoals.

Anyway, I'll go into the box in a little more detail as it was a really great special edition. I noticed in one of their emails they've two more Grazia edits coming up and they're usually amazing but quite pricey.

My favourite items so far (other than Fashionista) have been the Natura Siberica hand cream (gotta love some hand cream), the Nuxe face cream and surprisingly the Soaper Duper body butter. I've hated every product I've tried from them so far so I was surprised that the body butter smells nice and feels good on the skin. The floral perfume samples from Yardley also threw me off because I detest floral perfumes but these are super sweet and layer nicely with each other.

Ones I'll be giving away include the dry shampoo; they always make my scalp itch like crazy and the Molten Brown body wash (their stuff just smells like bleach to me). I've also already had the CYO illuminating cream in a previous box and it's far to light for me but it does give a nice glow.

Overall, it was a nice selection of new items from many different categories that I highly recommend!

Latest In Beauty Spring 2019 Edit

Nailberry - Fashionista

Serenity Crystals // Blue & Pink Crystal Nail Art

Some nail art that isn't terrible! I probably should've scheduled this until April (as I have a whole host of scheduled posts between now and then) but I'm not entirely happy with all the upcoming posts, they're just kind of meh. This look was also for the Clairestelle8 March prompt "Crystals" on the 16th so I'm posting it. 

I saw a look similar to this on pinterest but they had a sort of space pattern going on in the crystal bits but I'm basic therefore I had to do Rose Quartz & Serenity. I also love the Crystal plates from MoYou, I bought two of them before they sold out but I wish I'd bought them all now.

I started off with 2 layers of Blanc then applied a top coat. I stamped on all the designs I wanted to colour in using Pink Planet and then mixed Dream Holiday, Teenage Blush and August Plum with acetone to acheive that nice watercolour look. I could've done something like this on the stamper but I actually prefer colouring stamps in now on the nail and then stamping it back on top again as I find I'm not as shaky.

I adore this look though. I think it's one of my favourites; I want to do a dreamcatcher/feather look using these colours. I also love how my nails are back to normal; I'm definitely a short nail girl, no more experimenting with long nails for me.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Essie // Blanc (white)

- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // Pink Planet (gold to pink metallic shift)
- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #4 (white)

- MoYou London Stamping Polish // Dream Holiday (sky blue)
- MoYou London Stamping Polish // Teenage Blush (coral pink)
- MoYou London Stamping Polish // August Plum (grape purple)

- China Glaze // No Chip Top Coat
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Crystal 01

Lemon Mandalas // Spring Yellow Mandala Nail Art

Yes, those are my nails. They were getting a bit to long again and instead of lopping them off I decided to try the square style that appears to be all the rage with nail artists....these nails are not for me. Not only do they look very strange without polish but there's just something about them that makes me go "eurgh". On me anyway. I love how they look on others but this isn't my style. I filed them back into some sort of curved oval shape but now my nails are little too short because of it.

Anywho, the prompt for Clairestelle8's March challenge on the 12th was Mandalas and I love doing mandala nails. In fact, this nail plate was part of my first nail plate order. I was also thinking about this shade as well and how I hadn't used it in a while. It's called Lemon Sugar by Avon and it's my absolute favourite nail polish shade; I just think it's perfect and I always get asked about it when I'm wearing it.

How I did it:-
I started off with 1 layer off Blanc then sponged on four layers of Blanc and Lemon Sugar. After a layer of top coat and I then stamped on some mandala designs in #4 and followed it up with Pink Planet on top.  An easy peasy one today!

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Essie // Blanc (white)

- Avon Nailwear Pro+ // Lemon Sugar (pastel yellow - this is the old formula, the new one is the Avon true colour)

- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #4 (white)

- Born Pretty Stamping Polish - The Universe Series // BPU03 Pink Planet (gold to pink duochrome)

- Avon Mark Gel Shine // Top Coat

- Born Pretty Stamping Plate // BP-L051

Makin' Waves // Glitter Mermaid Nail Art

What's this? Some nail art? I know it's been a while. I had a quite a big deadline for my dissertation the other day and I've been working on it non-stop. It's not the final hand in, but there's only two months left and I can't afford to fall behind. I've worked so hard these past three years, I can't fail now. However, since I've caught up on my work, I've scheduled in some 'me' time as I've not had much fun. Doing my nails last night for the first time weeks was so nice!

Clairestelle8 over on Instagram has a March challenge and whereas I won't be actively trying to complete it this month (I have to much work to do), I'll be dipping in and out fo the challenges. The prompt for the 9th was 'Mermaid'. I wanted more than anything to just to mermaid scales but I forced myself to something a little different. Plus I've been wanting to use this glitter since I bought it in January.

Look at it! It's so beautiful. Money well spent.

How I did it:-
I started off with 1 layer of Mint Chocolate Chip. The middle finger uses a design on Sailor 06 and a mixture of Dream Holiday and #284 ( I know it doesn't look like it, but there is a gradient there). The index finger uses Sailor 18 which has 3 different waves patterns on it. I used these with Deep Ocean, Surf's Up and #17 to create the waves. I did the top colour first, then the black tail fin, then the next two colours. To top it off I used some of the stars at the top of Sailor 18 with Stop, Shop & Roll. The glitter is then two sponged layers with two layers of top coat to get a nice smooth look.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Morgan Taylor // Wrapped In Riches (teal glitter)

- Morgan Taylor // Mint Chocolate Chip (pastel mint)
- Morgan Taylor // Stop, Shop & Roll (metallic teal)

- MoYou London Stamping Polish // Dream Holiday (sky blue)
- MoYou London Stamping Polish // Surf's Up (cerulean)
- MoYou London Stamping Polish // Deep Ocean (ocean blue)
- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #17 (blue)
- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #284 (pastel blue)
- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #3 (black)

- Avon Mark Gel Shine // Top Coat
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Sailor 06 & Sailor 18