Christmas Wrapping Paper Nails #2 // Mint Festive Design

This is mint version of a design I saw in Sainsbury's last year. I did a dark version of it here: https://ifndefnailsh.blogspot.com/2022/12/christmas-wrapping-nails-1-sainsburys.html

I think I prefer this one thanks to the over-stamping!

Method:

I started off with 2 layers of Neely. Then I applied Liquid Gold to Noel 07 and then stamped on top with Vibin using the same stamps but slightly offset. The Holly jolly text comes from Noel 12.

I then topped it off with some smudge proof top coat.

Polishes/Tools Used:

Base:

- Zoya // Neely (mint)

Stamping:

- Twinkled T // Liquid Gold (metallic gold), 'Vibin (black)

Plates:

- MoYou London // Noel 07, Noel 12

Top:

- MoYou London // Smudge Proof Top Coat

NailNerdChallenge July 2021 // Beach/Ocean Nails

So I didn't miss the first weeks challenge; I just never posted it. Lol, I'll do that now. So anyway, here is the next prompt; beach nails!

I wanted to do something different than my usual sunset gradient with silhouette palm trees and opted for this negative space wave look and I have to say wow. Not to toot my own horn but I think I knocked it out of the park lol.  This has to be one of my favourite looks that I've done and it took me less than 20 minutes. It's so simple that I could do it on my other hand (not that I'm going to but it's nice to have the option).

Overlapping plates are simply the best kind of stamping plates. Not all of us have the artistic talent of Lieve91 (and I probably never will) so I love that these plates come to my rescue. This little plate I got off eBay a while ago and the wave designs are perfect.

I started out with my favourite OPI base, then added a layer of thirsty nails. It's honestly the best polish for giving the perfect flush pink natural nails that look great in negative space looks. For the waves I applied little blobs of Lillian, Super-trop-i-cal-i-fiji-istic and I'm on a sushi roll to the plate then blended it all together when scraping. When picked up it creates a nice blend of shades which give more depth. I used normal polishes because I wanted some sheerness as water is see through after all. I then added on some white detail and applied a glossy top coat.

These are perfect no maintenance nails as you don't have to worry about growth too much and I love the splash of colour at the tips of my nails (sea what I did there?? and there??)

Polishes/Tools used:-

Nails:

- OPI Infinite Shine // Conditioning Primer

- NailsInc // Thirsty Nails (sheer pink)

- Revlon Colorstay // Diamond Top Coat

Stamping:

- Pict You Stamping Plate // PY-F001 (overlapping waves)

- What's Up Nails // Blanc My Mind (white)

- OPI Infinite Shine // Super Trop-i-cal-i-fiji-istic (deep blue), I'm On A Sushi Roll (teal)

- Zoya // Lillian (pale blue)

Leaf Me In Paradise // Matte Green Glitter & Palm Leaf Tropical Look

Now this is the type of nail design that I could wear all day every day; it combines all my favourite things. Tropical, matte glitter and leaves. I think this is one of my favourite designs I've done in a while.

I'm glad I did them on false nails so I can keep them forever like the weirdo I am.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

Nails:

- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Cotton (white)

- Zoya Pixiedust // Chita (green glitter)

- H&M // Witching Hour (dark green)

Stamping:

- Twinkled T // Liquid Gold (gold)

- OPI Infinite Shine // Teal Me More (dark green), I'm On A Sushi Roll (green)

- MoYou London Stamping Polish // Scandi Sun (light green)

- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Paradise 05 (leaves & text), Tropical 37 (line pattern) 

The gold nail decorations were from a random wheel I bought off eBay.

Slime Noir // Black And Green Dripping Halloween Nail Art Design

Time for another spooky look! Like I said, I'm obsessed with Zoya Pixie Dust and dripping designs so that's where this came from. Also, no stamping! I'm trying my best to use different techniques and I simply blobbed on the green polish using the brush and then drew on the cobwebs with a fine brush and some acrylic gouache. 

I'm also in love with the black. It's a one coat wonder and dries pretty quick as well. My local TK Maxx just got this massive shipment of L'Oreal Colour Riche Nail Polish and I pretty much bought them all as they are super pigmented. I use them as stamping polishes that's how good they are. 

I did however spill a brown one all over my grey carpet when I was swatching them...I've tried everything. YouTube has failed me. Oh well, I'm going to say it's a style statement.

 

Polishes/Tools Used:

- L'Oreal Colour Riche // 674 Noir Noir (black)

- Zoya PixieDust // Cece (green)

- Holbein Acrylic Gouache // D925 Titanium White

- Windsor & Newton Cotman Brush //  0000 Round

Sparkleccino // Birthday Coffee Nails

I originally did this look on a false nail first and loved it so much I decided to make it my birthday look this year! I'm now 29 and slightly freaking out that I'm almost 30 and still struggling to adult. I'll just buy some more nail polish, that will fix all my problems.

Expect a lot of drip nail looks this month...I'm becoming ever so slightly obsessed with the dripping look. It just works so well for adding detail but not too much detail. I also love using the pixie dust polishes thanks to their unique matte texture. In the words of Elle Woods "it just adds a little something extra don't ya think?"

I wanted the ombre to look like when you've just poured foaming milk into an espresso and you get that beautiful moment where the two start to mix. Oh man, this is really making me want a caramel macchiato. All the ombre shades have coffee names as well; it just turned out perfectly.

Polishes/Tools used:

- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Iced Latte (cream)

- Kure Bazaar // Cappuccino (coffee)

- Nails Inc Caffeine Hit // Espresso Martini (dark brown)

- Avon Mark. // Gel Shine Top Coat

- Zoya Pixiedust // Tomoko (champagne)

SWATCHES: Zoya Pixie Dust // Stevie, Tomoko, Cece & Beatrix

I really wish I had starting collecting the Pixie Dust shades earlier as some of them are becoming hard to get hold of (depending on how much you want to spend). I set up an alert on eBay for pixie dust shades and Stevie & Tomoko were going for £9 (along with Chita, I already have that one but another is welcome). I snapped them up straight away and decided to round up my other Pixie Dust polishes for a swatch post.

Stevie // Lilac matte glitter

Collection: Pixie Dust

Release Date: Summer 2013

Coats: 2

An oldie but a goldie! I'm so happy I got my hands on this shade as I desperately wanted a matte glitter in a pink/lilac shade after seeing one of Lieve91's latest posts. The first coat is amazing with a light frosted lilac look and the second adds more colour but you can still see your tips peeking through. I love this shade though!

Tomoko // Champagne matte glitter

Collection: Pixie Dust

Release Date: Fall 2013

Coats: 2

Another perfect pixie dust shade...I think it's impossible to have a bad pixie dust polish? This is also another shade I bought in the hopes of mimicking Lieve91's designs..

I also love how this is a cool gold. Brassy ones with yellow tones do not look good on me. As with Stevie, one coat is lovely but a bit sheer. The second produces a much darker gold that almost looks like foil from a distance.

Cece // Lime matte glitter

Collection: Seashells Pixie Dust

Release Date: Summer 2016

Coats: 2

I bought this one a while ago for around £5 off Nail Polish Direct but I haven't swatched it on here yet so it's been added to the post! This one has a base of a lime green with the standard silver shimmer pieces but it also has added chunky emerald glitter and smaller gold shimmer. This really does feel more like a summer shade than a winter Christmas green.

Beatrix // Orange matte glitter

Collection: Pixie Dust

Release Date: Summer 2013

Coats: 2

I bought this last October to do some Halloween looks with but it's just too summery for Halloween. Be warned though; this shade stains in about 20 minutes so make sure you're wearing a couple layers of a stain protecting base coat (though I'm not sure that will help).

// Verdict

By far my favourite thing about Pixie dust shades are that they are so easy to apply; I never have to do clean up. I wish I had all of them. I think the closest (and cheapest) to the range is the new Barry M Crystal Rock series. They're all pretty deep colours right now but when I see another 3 for 2 offer on I'm going to buy up the collection because these matte glitter shades make the best accent nails.

STAMPING PLATES: Paradise Collection // MoYou London

Another month, another amazing stamping plate collection from MoYou London. This is by far my favourite though; look at them:

BEAUTIFUL.

Tropical summer plates are without a doubt my favourite and the second I received the email I bought plates 1 - 5. Plate 6 for me is just too similar to other plates I own. It's hard to pick a favourite of them; each plate has such a unique theme. I love the super detailed images on plate 1 and I am going to create all the sunset mountain looks with plate 4. I just wished they had released them in June as we basically have 1 month of summer left now...let's face it though, that won't stop me from doing monstera nails!

I knew when I saw the sleeves though that I had to copy the design.

Before you say anything, yes that is my hand lol but no those are not my nails.

For the first time in my life I'm wearing false nails! I have to admit it was nice to have all the extra room for the design but these were an absolute nightmare 😂 honestly felt just like Peter from Family Guy

I bought a pack of 500 false tips off eBay for £4. They came in 9 different sizes and they weren't the best match but I did enjoy painting them. I was going to do the leaves on all the nails but since I have my full collection back I wanted to use some glitter and this is my favourite glitter shade that I own. I'm glad it was on false nails though because it stains in about 10 minutes.

There are so many more designs I want to do. Expect a lot using these plates over the next couple of months!

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Nails Inc // Old Park Lane (pink)
- Zoya Pixiedust // Chita (green glitter)
- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white)
- MoYou London Polishes // Olive Tree (light sage green), Bora Bora (light teal), Dream Holiday (blue)
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Paradise 04
- Born Pretty // Gold Nail Decorations Wheel

Pombre // Peach Ombre Nail Art Design

A quick one today and yes, I have gone Peach mad. But I thought I'd give some of my other beautiful peach shades a chance to shine instead of just constantly using the Nails Inc Kiss My Peach duo.

I'm also back home in the north! Praise be to the north. I am very fortunate to have a job that allows me to work from home and whereas I'd rather be in the office, it's nice to be at home for the next few months. It also means I get my old photography set-up back! Oh sweet lighting how I've missed you.

Anyway, the past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic so I thought I'd ease myself back into nail art with a simple ombre mani. And I love it. Who said beautiful mani's had to be complicated?

The OPI shade is also from the new Mexico collection; it's easily my favourite out of the lot. I also bought one of the mini sets and I'm wondering if I should swatch it or not...some of the shades are a lot darker than what I though they would be.

The world needs more Peach shades...I need more Peach shades. I don't think quarantine will be good for my bank account.

Polishes/Tools used:-
- H&M // Milky Tea (nude peach)
- Morgan Taylor // Up in the Air-Heart (pink peach)
- OPI // Coral-ing Your Spirit Animal (peach)
- Zoya // Sawyer (orange peach)
- China Glaze // Flip Flop Fantasy V2 (neon peach)

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

Mani & Lola September 2019 // Nail Subscription Box

They kept spoilers for this months under lock and key with only Rubble being shown and when I eagerly opened the box I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed but the overall value is quite low this month. I'm really torn over whether or not I should continue as I wish there was a little more variety and theme to the box. But, lets talk about the polishes.

Paradise Found // Cuccio

13ml Full Size - RRP £4.95

Collection: Heatwave

Release Date: Summer 2019

Before we dive into the autumn months, Mani & Lola gave us one last swan song with this beautiful bright coral shade. I'm in love with this entire collection though and I only need 6 more now. I'm wearing two coats and it goes perfectly with my mustard jumpers.

Chita // Zoya

15ml Full Size - RRP £13

Collection: Pixiedust

Release Date: Fall 2013

Another shade that goes flawlessly with my mustard jumpers; even more than the last. Not only is this a perfect autumn shade, it's also a perfect christmas shade (I know...it's far too early to be thinking about that). I think this is my favourite shade in the box though. Like all the pixiedust's, it's a matte textured glitter and ready in one quick coat. I can't stop staring at my hand whilst this is on; I never want it to come off.

Ernie Your Stripes // China Glaze

14ml Full Size - RRP £5.95

Collection: You Do Hue x Sesame Street

Release Date: Spring 2019

If the last shade was from the Pixiedust collection, then this one is from the cheeto dust collection. All jokes aside, I do like the polish but it doesn't seem to match my skintone and it doesn't look great all by itself. I used some negative space leaf designs with it which looks nice; if you can find some negative pumpkin designs you'd get a really nice halloween mani. I think I may have to buy a few more from this collection though because damn it has some nice shades.

I'm wearing 3 coats in this swatch which helps build up the colour and sparkles but it could also be used as a glittery topper on just about anything.

Rubble // CND Vinylux

15ml Full Size - RRP £6.95

Collection: ??

Release Date: ??

I thought this would be a fantastic stamping polish due to how opaque it is but it's quite weak, that doesn't mean it isn't a lovely soft brown shade ready in two coats. I don't have many brown polishes so this is a welcome addition. Like most Vinylux though it does take an age to dry.

150/150 Nail File // Mani & Lola
RRP ??

M&L say this is retails at £4.95 however it isn't actually for sale anywhere so who knows. All I know is that I no longer use cardboard files anymore. This one is very sturdy and has a nice strong grit to it however cardboard files don't last long. Ever since I started using metal files, I haven't gone back. This one is also quite thick as well so it's difficult to really get in the corners if you like a rounder/almond look.

// Box Totals //

5 Items - All Full Size

Estimated Value - £30.85 (not including the nail file)

// Verdict

This box looks fantastic and is great for fall however it's getting to the point where I'm considering just buying myself 5 polishes each month for £22.95. It's not that I don't like this subscription but it feels like an awful lot of money for 4/5 polishes. I tend to buy collections now and focus more on decals/stamping so I may give this box up or start curating my own each month as a treat to myself.

Mani & Lola

Monthly - £20

3 Months - £62.85

6 Months - £113.70

12 Months - £203.40

£2.95 p&p every month