Lilac Vibes // Pastel Lilac, Leaves and Gold Look

Today's nails were inspired by a moisturiser from Wander Beauty that I saw in the latest FabFitFun edit sale.

I'm a little shocked at how well these nails turned out; I can't stop staring at my hand. The lilac, white, gold and black combo is really stunning and I want to do more designs using these shades now.

This look was also extremely simple and took around 30 minutes to complete. I actually want to do my other hand; that's how much I love it. The base colour also helps; it's one of my favourite shades that I own. It complements my skin tone perfectly; plus it's a dream to apply.

Polish/Tools Used:-

Nails:

- Ciaté Gelology // Spinning Teacup (lilac)

Stamping:

- Twinkled T // Liquid Gold (gold), Vibin' (black), Glow Up (white)

- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Botanical 16

Dangerous Tiles // Crimson & Gold Nail Art

A quick look that came about the other day when I was swatching my most recent Ciaté purchases. I just love the combination of dark red and gold and knew that these two would go perfectly together. Tell me this doesn't look like an amazing design for christmas parties. I might do my nails like this christmas eve.

Twinkled T polishes just make stamping so easy. I really hope they have another 30% off sale for Black Friday this year as I've been saving so I can purchase some more polishes from them. Shipping is $17 so I've been waiting for a year! I might pick up another black as I'm running low.

I also forgot to use some liquid latex when doing this and ended up with gold sparkles all round my nails which is annoying for photos but it had washed off completely by the end of the following day. This look took about 10 minutes though so it's super quick and easy. Below is a photo in some harsher lighting; it really helps to bring out the crimson in the polish, otherwise it almost looks black.

Polishes/Tools used:

- Ciaté Gelology // Dangerous Affair (red)

- Twinkled T // Liquid Gold

- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Tuttu Frutti 06

SWATCHES: Ciaté // Palm Springs, New England Fall, Dangerous Affair & Reign Supreme

So I was gonna make this big spiel about how long it's been since my last post but it was like 3 weeks ago 😂 So I guess not that long. It just feels like a long time because I've barely been painting my nails thanks to programming day and night. I'm just obsessed with trying to get better at my job right now and I've been burning the midnight oil and all my hobbies have fallen to the side.

Since logging back on though, one thing that is super annoying is the new Blogger interface......thanks, I hate it! They literally haven't changed it since 1999 but now they go and utterly ruin it. If I didn't detest Wordpress with a passion I'd totally swap.

But anyway, I saw these bottles in my local TK Maxx and holy hell, I almost started dancing in the store. I love it when they have Ciaté because they always sell them for £1.99 and the Gelology formula is one of my favourites.

Palm Springs // Deep Royal Blue Shimmer

Collection: Gelology

Coats: 2

This shade was the reason I purchased the 2019 Mini Mani Month and in a cruel twist of fate the calendars we're all marketed/printed incorrectly and they actually contained Pool Party. I mean it's still a nice shade but this is now my favourite blue. It's hard to imagine this looking terrible on anyone. With two coats, my nails looks like shimmering sapphires. The shade is so deep and rich; I can't stop staring at my hand. I honestly feel like I've stolen it by paying £1.99.

New England Fall // Deep Navy Crelly

Collection: Ciaté x Olivia Palermo

Coats: 2

This bottle is fancy as heck. It weighs more than the gelology bottles and it just feels more expensive but it isn't because it had leaked inside the lid. AFter opening it and cleaning it up, I then struggled again to get the top off. It seems to have dried inside the lid which is annoying. I'll have to find some cotton buds to clean it out. Anyway, the shade is amazing. I'd say it's more of a jelly creme than a true creme as it has that glass-like shine. It shines slightly purple in certain lighting and will make any outfit look 5 times classier.

Dangerous Affair // Oxblood Jelly

Collection: Gelology

Coats: 2

I swatched the Paint Pot version in Ciaté's 2018 advent calendar (over here). I love the shade but it's  a nightmare to apply; it stains the skin so easily. So, I eagerly picked up the Gelology version in the hopes that it was a more pleasant experience. Oh my word, was this a dream to apply. In my opinion, this is the perfect red shade. It's elegant, classy and will suit any skin tone. It's also a true Jelly with no streaks in sight so you can go for a more translucent look or layer it up for a glass shine.

Reign Supreme // Deep Aubergine Jelly

Collection: Gelology

Coats: 2

Another beautiful shade; Ciaté do jellies so well. This is very similar to Dangerous Affair but under bright light you can see the purple hue. This is a perfect winter shade. I have a velvet pant set in this colour and I'll just have to wear it round the house to a virtual christmas party this year.

Off The Grid // Tropical Black & White Marble Nail Art Design

More looks using the collab plate from MoYou London! I really wanted to do something similar to the cover sleeve and originally had this:

But I felt it was missing something. I also wanted to cover up some of the patchy black lines...one day I will be able to paint straight black lines and I'll never have to stamp again. I looked through my stash and found some tropical water decals and decided to stick them on top:

I think it turned out well! These water decals are much better than others I've used. I found that they didn't have that annoying white cut out around them that some do and it didn't immediately try to fold onto itself when sliding it off the paper. I think they were £2 for a pack of 50 assorted designs? I'll have to try and find the listing on eBay again to get some more as there were only 2 small sheets of the tropical designs.

I wore this with a peel off base coat but it managed to last a day an half before one of the nails slid off. I could't stop staring at my hand; I really loved this design. I think the pop of green really made it. The marble background was done by smooshing the dark grey shade with white and then stamping it on top of a white background.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Ciaté // White Heat (white)
- Twinkled T // Ghosted (dark grey), Vibin' (black)
- STZ Water Decals // STZ-828 Tropical Decals
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Collab 03
- Barry M // Matte Top Coat

Icecream for Days // Pastel Icecream Nail Art on False Nails

It's official; I think I'm becoming a addicted to painting false nails. Buying a pack off 500 off eBay was the best thing I ever did. I only need four of the nine sizes so I use the others to practice a design first. I hate having long nails but I love the extra space. Being able to pop these on and off whenever I want is an amazing feeling!

Also, it's warm. Super warm. The coast is usually a good 5 degrees colder than the rest of the country but we've been having a glorious 20 degrees for the past few days and I've eaten my body weight in icecream; cue these nails.

I started off with two coats of Cashew, then stamped on the square pattern with Mushroom. I used some acrylic paints (just red, blue, yellow and white mixed until I liked the colour) to add the extra detail to the waffle bits. Using a dotting tool, I placed down the ends of the drips first using White Heat then connected them to each other. I then just painted the rest of the nail tip white (this took two coats). I used a small paint brush to add the sprinkles and then topped it all off with a glossy top coat.

Polishes/Tools used:-
- Primark Ps Color Care // Mushroom (brown), Cashew (cream)
- Ciaté // White Heat (white)
- Primark Ps Gel Effect // Candy (pink)
- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Berry Sorbet (blue)
- Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache // White, Primary Blue, Primary Red, Primary Yellow
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Mix & Match 13

Botanical Foils // Flowers with Primark gold foil and green watercolour design

This turned out so much better than how I saw it in my head. I think it's because for the first time I actually practiced the design first on some swatch sticks and ironed out the kinks. I need to do that more often instead of just ploughing on ahead.

When Primark recently re-opened I went in and spent a lot more than I should've but I just couldn't help myself. They also had a shiny load of new makeup that obviously I had to buy. Especially these cute jars of foil flakes. I think they're supposed to be used as eyeshadows and on your face but I immediately knew that these pressed flakes would be perfect for nail art looks.

They have them in bronze and gold and they're so much easier to use than foil sheets and £3. These pots are gonna last me years. I used an eyeshadow applicator to pick some up and then dabbed it on my nail. If you apply it on top of a dried glossy top coat it sticks but it also moves so you can re-position it how you like then seal it in with another layer of top coat.

For this look I also mixed some of Hope with acetone to create the watercolour effect. I did trial some of the blooming polishes I have from Nicole Diary but I didn't have a green so had to mix blue and yellow and it just looked muddy.

Polishes/Tools used:-
- Ciaté // White Heat
- Kure Bazaar // Hope
- Twinkled T // Vibin'
- Primark PS // Golden Foil Flakes
- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Botanical 07
- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

Hello Monstera // Pink & White Monstera Leaf Nail Art

Yes, more pink nails! More monstera! I just wanted to do something simple after work and I wanted it to be pink with green leaves...as usual. This will also tide me over until my Barry M/China Glaze haul arrives. I promised myself I wouldn't buy any nail polish in quarantine but then Barry M had a 20% off code (and a lot of items on sale) and I then discovered the 2015 Summer China Glaze collection....I've literally just bought 15 pink/peach shades and I'm not even mad.

Anyway, in other news I've decided to finally turning my hobby into a weekend job once we're all allowed back out again. I started looking into how to get a licence and discovered that unlike the US, the UK does not require a nail technician to have any formal training or qualifications which is kind of disturbing. To think that anyone can just go round offering services like a professional with no training, is not only demeaning to hardworking nail technicians who have trained for years but just downright dangerous. 

Due to this, I wanted to get some training in but I really can't afford right now to do some of the courses I really want because they're £1k+ so I paid for an online course a couple days ago and I'm going to ask for my money back from them because it is shocking how much information is inaccurate. For example, they incorrectly teach that the the nail fold is the cuticle and that it's necessary to cut it. I'm a hobbyist nail artist and even I know that's wrong. They also had a entire module on "best customer practices" in which they teach you to talk to the client and ask them if they want a drink??? Like that's just common courtesy, why did I pay £25 for this? And that was on sale! It's normally £100. What did I expect for £25 though? At least the course gives me access to a Salon Services trade card so I can buy at wholesale prices. That was worth £25. I guess I will just continue to save so I can do a proper course but for the moment I feel I'm more than ready to just do standard manicures and gel nails.

Alright, rant over, back to the nails. This look comprises of my favourite pink polish and two monstera leafs that were stamped on but then I used acrylic gouache to add some extra detail. I'm so happy with how they turned out, they almost look like water decals!

Polishes/Tools used:-
- Ciaté // TuTu (pale pink)
- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Cotton (white)
- MoYou London // Hello Absinthe (green)
- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy  // Diamond Top Coat
- Pebeo Studio Gouache // 11 Blanc, 48 Primary Yellow, 42 Emerald Green
- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Tropical 23

SWATCHES: Ciaté // Mango Martini, Holiday Blues & Strictly Legal

One of my favourite things about buying nail polish from TK Maxx is that they're, more often than not, really old shades. I was attracted to these beautiful Ciaté shades for the brightness and shimmer and then stayed for the £1.99 price tag. When I got home and researched them a little I was shocked to find out how old they are!

Mango Martini // orange jelly
Release Date: July 2013
Collection: Suncatcher Collection

This is a true jelly shade which means it applies with no streaks, even though it's sheer. That means you can either wear one coat for that transparent glass effect or build up the coats for a glossy mani. I'm wearing 3 coats in the swatch and even though it looks like quite a bright orange in the bottle, it's actually more muted on the nails and isn't "in your face". The shade reminds me of cocktails and lying on the beach; clearly it captured the "Suncatcher" theme. It's been a long time since Ciaté have released a polish collection though apart from random shades every now and then! When researching this collection I was shocked to find I now only need 2 more shades to complete it! I'm missing Afterglow (a glow-in-the-dark white) and Palm Trees (lime green).

You can find out more about the collection in a post here: http://nailcandy101.com/launches-ciate-suncatcher-collection/

Holiday Blues // blue jelly
Release Date: Spring 2012
Collection: ???

This isn't my favourite blue; it's a bit too dark. It also has a warm undertone and I have a feeling this will stain your nails real bad if left on for more than a couple of hours. It's also a streaky jelly and needs at least three coats. By the time the coats have built up the colour changes slightly to an ocean blue. This is definitely a holiday shade though.

Strictly Legal // metallic grape purple
Release Date: 2009?
Collection: Metallics

This is going so far back in Ciaté's history that I can barely find any info on it. The early days of blogging! I had never seen the old Ciaté logo, it looks so weird! Unfortunately this is not an original from 2009 as it has the new logo but it's still pretty old as it has the old thin brush as well. It does apply pretty well but it's getting a little thick. This is a great shade for Autumn and Winter and I can see it with some gold designs on top for Christmas parties. It's also ready in one coat...although that could just be because it's gotten a bit thick.

Ciaté Mini Mani Month 2019 // Days 22 - 24

Day 22
Starcrossed // Gold & Peach Glitter

I like the shade of the glitter, peach is always a great shade that will suit anyone but I'm wondering how I would use this shade. It would build up easily by sponging it on for a full glitter mani but make sure you're wearing a peel off basecoat otherwise you'll be soaking your nails in acetone for a few minutes.

Day 23

Snatch // Bright Red Jelly

It's a shame I hate red shades because the formula on this is amazing. It applies beautifully with a high shine finish and only one coat is needed. You can slightly see your tips peeking through however because it's a jelly, there's no streaks so it's perfectly acceptable.

Day 24
Party Popper // Rose Gold Holo Shards in Clear Base

Like last year, we end with a full size glitter polish. I'm much happier with this years offering though as the stars from the last one were a nightmare to get out. This one is abundant with shards and I love the holo. I'm wearing a couple of coats on top of 'I Left my Heart in San Francisco' by Cuccio. This shade is a lot easier to manipulate when sponged on though.

// Verdict

And that's it for this years Mini Mani Month! I ended up with 9 repeats which isn't too bad but if you have a lot of polish (like I do), I won't be using them as much as others would. I hope that 2020's calendar features less repeats but seeing as how the calendar was reduced to £20 before christmas, I don't think they sold as many as they were hoping for (it still selling for £20 now on their website).

Days 1 - 7
Days 8 - 14
Days 15 - 21