With Love // Birchbox February 2020 Nails

This took a while to get up on the blog mainly because for some reason Hermes delivered the box to my old address this month for no particular reason. It wasn't an exciting box but the hand cream is nice and I got another sample of the Sand & Sky exfoliator which was a repeat product but I actually love that product so I'm quite happy.

I wanted to match the box exactly however, I couldn't find any hearts of the right size and when I eventually settled on a heart stamp I had difficulty getting a clean stamp with the Born Pretty and MoYou polishes. At this point I'm thinking of just buying all the polishes from Twinkled T as they're the only ones that work perfectly.

Polishes/Tools used:-
- Jessica // Cheeky (pink nude)
- Born Pretty // 1787 (red)
- MoYou London // Candy Floss (light pink)
- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white)
- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat
- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Love Is...04, 02

Match That Mani // Sainsbury's Blue & Yellow Oriental Teacup

This didn't turn out exactly how I envisioned it in my head but it will do cause it's hella cute. I saw these cups in Sainsbury's the other weekend and they were on offer for £1.50 each. How could I resist? They're supposed to be used a teacups for fancy oriental tea but I don't really drink tea so I use them for my orange juice in the morning and I just can't; they're freaking adorable.

I won't lie; the sole reason I bought them was because I wanted to put the design on my nails 🙈 I don't have the exact wave design on a stamping plate and this was the closest I could get. Unfortunately the polish I used did not want to pick up properly and it's a little patchy in places. MoYou polishes are so hit and miss; I really need to stop buying them and buy more Twinkled T instead.

This was 2 layers of Blanc followed by the blue waves which I placed about a cm away from the tip. I then painted the tips in Lemon Sugar; my favourite yellow shade. This is the only polish I've ever used fully.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Essie// Blanc (white)

- MoYou London // Dusty Blue (pale blue)

- Avon True Colour // Lemon Sugar (pastel yellow)

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Sailor 07

Heart Strings // Pink & Rose Gold Glitter Nail Art

Ok, now that valentines is over I suppose I can do some real valentines nail art. I've been wanting to do something with this beautiful OPI shade since I bought it in TK Maxx a while ago. It's from their 2019 Nutcracker collection and one of the 3 glitter shades I don't own from that set. I absolutely love it; it's a stunning mix of red and gold glitter.

This one was super easy and quick as well. Just 2 layers of pink and then lightly dabbing the glitter on using the brush. I contemplated using the sponging method but I didn't see the point for this.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Cuccio // I Left My Heart In San Francisco (sheer pink)

- OPI // I Pull The Strings (rose gold glitter)

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

Just The Way You Are // Birchbox January 2020 Nails

Yes, it is mid-February and I'm finally posting January's Birchbox nails. This was my second attempt and to be honest it just seemed hopeless but I finally ended up with something that I like. I also seemed to have found a way to do perfect quartz nails without sharpies or gel or layering a ridiculous amount of polishes. 

I attempted to free-hand this look the first time round and it was an awful, lumpy mess with bad colour matching. The smoosh peach and white just kind of ruined it due to the peach being too strong. 

This time around I decided to use a sheer peach polish for the marble and I ended up discovering the way to do quartz with one easy stamp. When you smoosh a sheer polish into a thicker one, the polish kind of disperses and becomes proper see-through creating that layered look that quartz does so well.

February's box may be just as late as well now seeing as how Hermes decided to deliver it to my old address instead of work. I've sent some postage money off to my dad and he's redelivering it for me. I'm seriously thinking of cutting this subscription, especially since I really don't need anymore products. 

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Cuccio // Verona Lace (off-white)

- H&M // Peach and Quiet (sheer peach)

- MoYou London // One and Only (light pink/peach)

- Twinkled T // Liquid Gold (metallic gold)

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Crystal 07

SWATCHES // OPI Green On The Runway

Apparently this shade is from the spring 2014 Coca-Cola collection? That's right we've got a vintage one today. I found this in TK Maxx the other day for £3.99 and couldn't resist because the shift in the bottle is just beautiful; it reminds me of the Northern Lights. It's actually supposed to resemble a can of Sprite...but I don't see it. In the UK we drink Schweppes primarily for lemonade and then you have Sprite and 7Up as fancy lemonade brands. I think I remember cans of Sprite being that dark green colour but I never really paid attention.

The entire collection is really weird though and makes no sense; they really should've called it the Soft Drink collection as I would've expected a red, a black, a white, a black/red shift and maybe even a dark brown textured one to resemble the coke bubbles. Here is what the collection looked like:

These swatches are by BeautyGeek. They also found the name and shade range just as strange as I did. Green on the Runway? How is that related....OH MY GOD! I just suddenly remembered this time back when I was 5 and we were flying back from Arizona to Manchester and we were stuck in a queue on the runway. Ahead of us, about to take off was a dark green plane with Sprite emblazoned on it. This was in 1996 though, so maybe not...I wonder if that plane is still flying around?

When I first saw this shade though, I knew it would be perfect as a base for some negative leaf stamps.

I definitely need to practice by stamping skills but I'm getting better thanks to rolling side to side and not top to bottom!

Single, Taken, Cursed // Pink Anti-Valentines Nails

I thought about doing real valentines nails...I really did, but I just love doing anti-valentines nails that look legit. My friend at work also bought me this beautiful bright pink shade for Galentines and I just had to do something. It has a bit of a hint of peach; it's kind of like Deco Miami Cake but brighter. I'm wearing two coats as the first is patchy. I love the shade though...but then again; I love pink. 

But today was a game changer in my stamping game because I finally figured out how to pick up the stamp with no patched. Are you ready for this? You roll the stamp from side to side. I usually pick up stamps from top to bottom and find that no matter what, the middle would always be patchy due to too much pressure applied. However, when rolling side to side I found it so much easier to control the pressure. It honestly felt like I wasn't even touching the plate and I managed to pick up nice white lines for once. 

I feel like I've unlocked some secret of the universe and I'm once again inspired to start doing more nail art. MoYou also had 50% off all polishes so of course I had to buy some, along with the rest of the Love is... collection. I am such a ho for nail products. 

Polishes/Tools used:-

- OPI // Suzi Nails New Orleans (bright pink)

- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white)

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Amit x MYL 08, Love Is...05

Suck It (in the nicest way possible) // Anti-Valentines Love Hearts Nail Art Design

Another year, another valentines alone. I don't mind being on my own...in fact sometimes I prefer it because commitment scares the bejeezus out of me but valentines day still manages to make me wishe that all the happy loved up people could be miserable. Cue this great plate from MoYou London's latest valentines collection full of sassy quips about how much love sucks.

I'll tell you now, I almost gave up on this look because of how freaking long it took. I watched both Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask whilst doing these nails....yes I am super excited to finally see Jim Carrey in a new film this Friday...yes I am going to see Sonic The Hedgehog on valentines day. My other single friends are also extremely happy about this and we are going to one of the new Odeon Luxe cinemas to drink wine, watch Sonic and hate on loved up people; it will be glorious.

I will say I'm a little annoyed at how poorly the design picked up and I know it's nothing to do with that Twinkled T polish; text on MoYou plates never pick up fully for me no matter what technique I use.

Polishes/Tools used:

- H&M // Ice Cold Milk (sheer white), Happily Ever After (bright pink), Cantaloupe (orange), Wild Lilac (lilac)

- Essence Shine Last & Go // Forget the Rules (lime green)

- Zoya // Lillian (baby blue)

- Ciaté // Loop the Loop (pastel yellow)

- Deco Miami // Cake (pastel pink)

- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white)

- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Love Is...05

Match That Mani // Baija French Pompon Body Cream

I have been meaning to do this look for so long. I think I got this sample cream back in the October Birchbox. Seeing as how it's now February and Valentines is right around the corner, it seems like the perfect time to do a pink mani!

It took me three attempts to get this right. Even then I just couldn't get the base colour right. I ended up using Crush in Lake Como which is a sheer soft pink. I love wearing it by itself so much I almost didn't want to do the nail art. The most annoying thing is though (apart from taking a photo with the wrong polish 🤦‍♀️) is that once I applied the leopard print the base colour completely changed from a soft subtle pink to a sheer dark pink. I think it's just an optical illusion but it still really bothers me.

I also got a little lazy towards the last two nails and completely missed the double stamps; this took far longer than I expected. I also wanted to add the block colour flowers but it was already looking busy enough.

I like a look that Paulina's Passions did that is similar to this where she just had a few spots running up the side of the nail; I think that would help with this as the spots really overwhelm my small nails.

(Wrong polish in this photo! I didn't use a H&M one)

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Cuccio Colour // Crush in Lake Como (sheer pink)

- Twinkled T // Smokey (dark grey)

- MoYou London // August Plum (grape purple)

- Ciaté // Bubblegum Bellini (pink)

- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Mix & Match 13

Peach Quartz // Quartz Inspired Nail Design

A quick one today. This look came about the other night as I sat experimenting whilst building my nail polish storage app (I can't wait to finish it...I need it so badly). I wanted to do a valentines look however, I hate valentines and all the happy people; they need to be more miserable like the rest of us. So instead I attempted this quartz look.

It's not awful but it's not great either due to being a bit too heavy handed on the second layer of white veins. I started off with 1 layer of Peach & Quiet and then used a dotting tool to create the first layer of veins with Ice Cold Milk. I added another layer of Peach & Quiet followed by some more veins, this time using a stronger white (Born Perfect). I then topped it off with another layer of the peach, followed by a quick dry top coat. Those layers took a long time to dry though. I do like using a weak white though between layers, it really helps give that quartz feel; I really need to practice more though.

I also don't like how my horribly stained yellow nails are peeking through at the tips...I need to start wearing base coats when I do my looks as my peel off base coat gives no protection.

Polishes/Tools Used:
- H&M // Peach & Quiet (sheer peach), Ice Cold Milk (sheer white)
- Nicole Diary // Born Perfect (white)
- Primark // Fast Dry Top Coat