Coachella Sunset // Pink & Lilac Ombre with Palm Trees

Oh boy it's been a hot minute. Where does the time go, I've posted 3 times this month! I've been busy moving back to sunny blackpool and driving up and down the M6 as well as trying to wrap my head around a different programming language for work. I've been painting my nails but I just forgot to take photos or edit or function properly 🙈.

In other news I've been reunited with my full collection; just in time for autumn as I only had spring pastel shades with me. But, I will not let summer go that easy and I did this ombre and palm trees look. I actually wore this with a normal basecoat and for days I just kept staring at my hand (only my left hand...no one does nail art on the other hand).

And there's a video! I found a desk sized ring light that's big enough for my camera to film through so now I can film no matter what time it is!

There were so many looks I had planned this month but I'm almost settled so hopefully things will go back to normal next month. MoYou London just released a new tropical themed collection that of course I had to buy; it had layered monstera leaves. I'm living the dream right now painting my nails and drinking Aldi's £4.99 version of Bailey's Strawberries & Cream.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- OPI Infinite Shine // Brightening Primer

- Essie // Blanc (white)

- Deco Miami // Cake (pink)

- Ciaté Gelology // Spinning Teacup (lilac)

- Twinkled T // Vibin' (black)

- Barry M // Matte Top Coat
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Mix & Match 13

This Is The Life // Birchbox June 2019 Nails

Ah this box! It's so cute and it's given me so many ideas for mani's. I had such a hard time trying to decide on just a couple of things to do. I eventually decided on making the sunsets the feature but I may do another look attempting to recreate all the little notes (it may require some freehand painting, but practice makes perfect...)

Anyway, you can check out the full unboxing here (there's also a video) but this post is just for the nails!

The sunset scenes were an ombre of four different shades; Bohemian Rhapsody, Cool Cucumber, Raindrop and then the aptly names Catch The Sunset for the pop of pink. I've been wanting to use the mountain stamps from this Haranouta plate for so long as well. It almost looks photo realistic...from a distance with no glasses on. The palm tree were then from Summer Vibes 3. I then used Tropical 36 for the other two nails with the shades First Kiss and Dream Holiday (the plane is from BP 124 though).

I just love sunset mani's though. The hint of green I added almost helps it look space like as well. I toyed with doing some freehand painting to include little post-it notes and other details seen on the box but I'm going to have to practice my painting more. Plus I just ordered some proper nail art brushes off Nail Art UK from Mitty so perhaps it'll be a little easier.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Sally Hansen Colour Therapy // Well, Well, Well (slight off white)
- Jessica // Bohemian Rhapsody (dark denim blue)
- Sally Hansen Colour Therapy // Cool Cucumber (dark forest green)
- NYC In a New York Minute // Raindrop (pastel blue)
- Cutex Care + Colour // Catch The Sunset (coral pink)
- MoYou London // First Kiss (pale pink), Dream Holiday (cerulean), 

- Born Pretty // 3 (black)

- Barry M Hi-Shine // Plumpy Top Coat
- MoYou London Plate // Tropical 36, Summervibes 03
- Harunouta Plate // 17
- Born Pretty Plate // BP-124

Geometric Heat // Tropical Geometric Print and Palm Leaves

What's this?? Nail art on THE OTHER HAND???!? Yes my other hand has come out from the shadows for one week only, or well I might start doing my other hand more often because it was nice to have a matching manicure for once...they're not completely the same but they match and that's all that matters.

This manicure has actually been one of the longest I've worn in a long time as I usually always wear a peel off base coat on my main hand. However, my dissertation was due today (praise be to Jesus it's over) and I made sure to do my nails last week with a regular base coat so it wouldn't come off. That way I wouldn't be tempted to do my nails all week. It's been really hard as well because the new H&M polishes arrived and they've been sat in my swatch pile staring at me...begging me to use them.

This manicure has been nice and bright and summery to keep me motivated all week. It's chipped quite a bit on my other hand but my main hand held up nicely against all the constant typing.

I don't love the geometric print as much as the palm leaves, it looks a little too messy which is surprising given that I'm better at painting with my other hand. But I love how the colours go together. I'd wear that palm leaf print all year round.

How I did it:-

I started off with two coats of White Heat then applied all the green shades onto the stamping plate and mixed them together a little when scraping off the excess. It gives that nice blended look once you stamp and is a quick and easy way to add more detail. I then did the same with the other main hand but used the geometric print from Tropical 35. The palm trees were from SummerVibes 03 and the palm leaves from Tropical 10.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Ciaté // White Heat (white)

- Born Pretty Polish // #12 (green), #284 (light blue), #333 (pastel teal)

- Barry M // Plumpy Hi Shine Top Coat
- MoYou London Plates // Tropical 10, Tropical 35, #SummerVibes 03

SWATCHES: Soulcal & Co // Heat Shimmer & Bikini

Alright everyone, let's hop on the nostalgia train back to 2008 when we all shopped at Republic and wore SoulCal & Co. Does anyone even remember Republic? We had a shop in Blackpool town centre but it shut down years ago. It had a Schuh store on the bottom floor and I would get my converse and DCs from there because I was an edgy emo/skater (who did no skating) who refused to grow up after leaving highschool (I can gladly say I have now grown up....somewhat...I may be into the whole 'basic' aesthetic right now but once an emo, always an emo. Pretty sure this entire section is the name of a Fall Out Boy song.....).

Funnily enough, whilst writing this post I went back and did a little research and it turns out SoulCal is an own brand of Republic! Republic was bought out by Sports Direct and merged with their USC brand. My apologies to anyone not from the UK reading this but I always thought SoulCal was an American brand. It's still going as well and looking very much like the Hollister line up back in 2010.

I was even more surprised to find out that you can still order this set from Boots online! I found this set in TK Maxx and thought it was some old stock that they had acquired (which it still might be) and for £5 I thought I'd give it a go as it's pink, rose gold and has palm trees on it. Like I said, I'm totally basic now.

Heat Shimmer // Rose Gold Foil

I bought the set for this shade because it doesn't get more Pinterest than this. It surprised me a little as it took a good 4 coats on the swatch wheel but only 2 on the nails. It also has a light duo-chrome finish as it appears to shine a little peach when the light hits it. I love how it looks in the bottle with the brown palm trees so I attempted to recreate that quickly and I really love the result. It does dry with a few streaks in it but unless your super up close you can't really see that. Pleasantly surprised.

Bikini // Bright Pink Foil

Well it doesn't get more sparkly princess than this. It's not a cheap pink though which is again; surprising. I feel like there was a shade from the OPI Christmas calendar just like this. Looking at the swatch wheel it looks very similar to Reykajavik Has All the Hotspots (which is a little darker). Colour-wise though it matches Princesses Rule (how fitting) but that has a shimmer finish. I'd say this is better than both of those though. It needs at least two coats as it's a bit sheer but I'm surprisingly happy with it.

// Verdict

Relatively shocked. I won't lie; I bought them just because I liked how they looked, I wasn't expecting them to perform but Heat Shimmer is really beautiful in the sun. I perhaps paid a little too much for them, I think they should've been £1 each really but I got a cute emery board in the shape of surfboard as well so all it's not all bad. If you like the look of them, they've got loads of them in TK Maxx right now.

....pssst. I used the MoYou London Tropical 31 plate for the design And Zoya 'Codie'.