MATCH THAT MANI: Merci Handy New Wave Hand Cream // Blue & White Watermarble Design

Not an Autumn mani at all but I don't care because I desperately wanted to do a design to match this hand cream that was created by Jesus. I'm serious, the scent on this thing is 1 part vanilla, 1 part candyfloss and 98 parts heaven. I first discovered it in my Latest In Beauty subscription and every month I chose to add it to my boxes and amassed 6 tubes before they finally ran out and I could no longer select it anymore...I only have 2 tubes left though because you can go through one of these 30ml tubes in about a week.

Every time I wear this, people around me do that thing where they've just smelt something but they're not quite sure where it's coming from and then they go "can you smell sweets?" It's normally £5 for the 30ml tube which I think is a bit expensive; I think hand cream should always be around the 75-100ml size but this stuff smells so good and moisturises really well so I think it's worth it, but for a treat every other month or so, considering how fast it gets used. It also has these blue blobs in it that dissolve as you rub in it; it's a very fun hand cream.

As for the nails, this was a "simple" watermarble with just white and blue. I'm really impressed at how well I managed to match the blue as well; thank you H&M. I also used quite a few white shades in this look but they all do different things. I wanted a white base that dried quick just to give the colours more of a pop but you can't use quick dry polish to watermarble with. And then those polishes don't stamp all that well so, out came the stamping polish.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Essence Shine Last & Go // Wild White Ways (white - used as base coat)

- H&M // Sail Away (blue)
- Ciaté // White Heat (white - used in watermarble)

- Nicole Diary  // Born Perfect (white- stamping)
- Avon Mark. // Gel Shine Top Coat
- MoYou London Plate // Festive 27

Merci Handy New Wave Hand Cream

30ml - £5

Autumn Pink // Dusty Pink Leaf Nail Design

It's October and I planned to do lots of spooky/fall designs but I've started to realise that I tend to get bored when I'm doing prompts and I just like doing my own thing. I've had this new Nicole Diary plate lying around for a month now and it just has the cutest designs on it so I did a simple basic pink look. I also haven't used this H&M shade yet and it's perhaps my favourite shade of pink; that dusty basic pinterest pink. I'd have walls covered in this shit.

I used a Nicole Diary white stamping polish as well, and whereas it isn't the strongest white polish I've used I was surprised at how much detail was in the stamp. That said, when I used that plate/polish combo before, nothing would pick up which makes me think that the new stamper I got from Maniology really is the best stamper in the world.

I tried to add a little gold/pink detail on the leaves but missed the overlap and so it kind of looks a little odd but it's still a nice shade, even if it doesn't show up well over the pink.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- H&M // Chalky Pink (dusty pink)
- Nicole Diary // Born Perfect (white)

- Born Pretty  // Pink Planet (gold/pink metallic)
- Barry M // Matte Top Coat
- Nicole Diary Plate // L09

Look Fantastic September 2019 Nails // Green & Gold Chevron Design

Oh it took me a hot minute to do these, but there is also a video *gasp*. This look was insanely easy and took me about 20 minutes, I've just been seriously procrastinating everything this month. But I'm hoping to get back on track for October and finally start doing stuff for my YouTube which has just been sitting there since I created it.

Anyway, this months LF box was amazing but it wasn't awful either. It was saved by the decent sized Caudalie eye cream and an eyebrow pencil that is actually good. But the two bath products are a miss because I never use the bath (#teamShower) and another cleanser. I have too many cleansers, it's insane. 

The box art is nowhere near as nice as the pastel watercolour design from last year ( I can't believe the blog is a year old already!) but the design is nice and easy to stick on your nails. I was tempted to watermarble this design, however I would have spectacularly messed it up so I used a stamping plate.

Here is the video and it's under 40 seconds! Watch in me in like a years time doing 1 hour live steams lol.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Ciaté // White Heat (white)
- Barry M Liquid Chrome // Bright Lights (gold)

- Maniology // Plantation Tea (green teal)
- Avon Gel Shine // Top Coat
- MoYou London Plates // Princess 05 & 12

Zig Zag Memories // Clairestelle8 September 2019

The mani for this prompt was inspired by some false nails I saw for sale in Superdrug and so instead of doing a black and white look I decided to spruce it up a bit with some holo and pink; can't go wrong with holo and pink. I also got to use Sweet Memories again; one of my favourite pink shades in my collection.

Those wonky edges may look like I free-handed the entire thing but there is a reason you can't see my thumb ('cause it's awful). I stamped on some thin zig zags then painted on top to make them thicker and more 'hand-drawn'. I think it turned out pretty well. Although trying to do free-hand designs with an A-England polish is super hard. It just turns gloopy and drags along. I was going to use on the accent nail as well but King's Road is just a tad to dark for what I was going for. It does match the OPI holo quite well though.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- OPI // Sweet Memories (pink)

- Ciaté // White Heat (white)
- OPI // Tinker, Thinker, Winker? (light silver holo)

- A-England // King's Road (dark silver holo)
- Avon Gel Shine // Top Coat
- MoYou London Plate // Tropical 34

Tea Party Trip // Neon Watermarble Design Clairestelle8 September 2019

So here is the finished result after I added the stamping from the last post. It's not awful but it's not exactly what I wanted either. I imagined this psychedelic look with melting clocks and teacups but I'm terrible at freehand and I didn't have any stamps that matched my ideas exactly and ended up with this.

It also doesn't help that all the black and white stamping polishes I have are starting to stamp really patchy. I don't know how others get super clean designs but I think I may need to 'prime' my stamping heads as it's getting really frustrating with constantly having to re-pickup designs.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Ciaté // White Heat (white)
- OPI // Dance Party Teal Dawn (teal)
- China Glaze // Flip Flop Fantasy V2 (pastel orange)

- Orly // Glowstick (fluorescent yellow)
- Artistic Colour Revolution // Love at first Skate (pink)
- Nicole Diary // Black Night (black)
- Essie // Platinum Grade Topcoat
- MoYou London Plate // Alice 02