Has it really been 8 months????

How time flies!  I have been very busy!  I have moved house, didn't ever think we would do that.  We had lived in our old house for 17 and a half years.  I had wanted to move for a long time, 17 years to be exact, but never thought it would happen when out of the blue we got the opportunity and decided that we would just do it, we had just 3 weeks to pack up 17 years worth of stuff and moved into our lovely new home on the 1st December!  I now have a spare room that I can use as my "nail room", can't wait to get it up and running, we have finished decorating downstairs now so I can't wait to get started on decorating my lovely nail room.  Deciding on a colour scheme is proving to be a little more difficult than I thought it would be!  I really need to stop changing my mind and just get on with it!  


The only downside to moving has been totally wrecking my nails!  They are now refusing to grow :0(  I'm going to give them a couple of more months to get their act together and hope that once we see some sunshine they might grow back. At the minute everything I have ever swore by, such as Nail Envy, is just not doing the trick for me. If they still refuse to grow I will be giving myself extensions.  I really hate not having my lovely long nails but I suppose in the grand scheme of things I am happy to have had to sacrifice them for my new home!


I am planning a trip to Sally's at the end of the month to buy myself some of the polishes that have caught my eye recently, my wish list is incredibly long at the moment!  I really want the China Glaze Prismatic collection and a few of the OPI Holland collection so I hope they will not all be sold out when I go!  


Thanks for reading, nails willing I shall post some pics of my nails in the next couple of weeks!


Julie xx

Models Own - Pastel Collection

Hi 

I thought I would show you all the Models Own Pastel Collection this time.  I won these in their 30,000 likes giveaway that they recently ran on facebook.  When they hit 50,000 likes they are giving all facebook fans a code for 50% off on their website so if you like Models Own and are not already a fan on facebook, get over there now!!!  I think they are almost at the 50,000 likes, just a few more hundred to go and 50% discount is definately worth having.  I already have the products I want to buy in my basket, I'm just hoping the code isn't issued whilst I'm at work as I think there may be a huge response and items will sell out quickly!  Anyways, this is the pastel collection :

 

For once my camera has done a good job of capturing the colours!

I think that Models Own polishes are up there with the likes of OPI and Leighton Denny in terms of application.  I think that I could have got away with just one coat of all except the blue and teal, they were the only two that had a streaky first coat, and in terms of drying time, they dry super fast, even after two coats they were dry within a couple of minutes.  Much quicker than the above mentioned brands. Pastel shades are usually a right bitch to get an even application with, not these little beauties!  Best of all they only cost £5 each whereas OPI and LD are £10 - £11 each.  I also like this brand as they have sooo many different "fashion" shades and glitter polishes too!  I soooo love my glitter polishes and it's so hard here in the UK to find anything other than gold or silver if you're very lucky.  I know OPI have some lovely glitter polishes but Models Own have more!!  Oh and Nails inc have some gorgeous glitters too at the minute but they are also around the £11 mark.

This is my mani for the week, using the usual base and top coat along with the pink and lilac from this collection with just a tiny bit of sparkle courtesy of China Glaze!

Thanks for reading!  Have a good week and see you next time!

Julie x

Pink Tips

Hello everyone

I've been a bit busy lately, no time for me which is pooh!  This is the design I wore last week so I thought I would put it up even though I have just changed it!

This mani is two coats of OPI's Makes Men Blush and Leighton Denny's My Fair Fuschia for the tips and then as I am queen of bling, lol, I used a coat of INM's Northern Lights Silver Hologram Top Coat for a little bit of sparkle before adding a little nail art.  INM is  a quick dry top coat with little holo glitters in it, you can barely see the sparkles when you paint it on but it is soooo very pretty when the light hits it, but it's not quick drying enough for me so I had to apply a coat of the wonderful Seche Vite after I had finished everything.  I don't know what I would do if Seche Vite ever became extinct!  I have yet to find anything that comes even a close second to it.

Hope you all have a lovely week

Julie xx

Leighton Denny So LA - "Zeger!"

Hi 

This week I chose another LD colour, So LA is a kind of raspberry colour.  The application was spot on, which is what I expect from LD polishes, much better than the Bubblegum colour of his that I wore last week, though in Bubblegum's defence the mani lasted a whole 8 days with no chipping whatsoever, I was going to leave it and see how many days I keep it chip free for but I couldn't!  I needed to change, just didn't feel right not doing my nails! Anyways, So LA ....  It went on a dream with excellent coverage with just the one coat.  Upon reflection I should have used two coats as there is still visible nail line with just one, but as I always do some kind of art I though I would be fine with just the one coat.

I then decided that lovely as the colour is I needed a little bit of bling so added one coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment.  This makes the colour so lively, I am having a serious sparkle addiction at the moment!  In the sun, (which we still aren't seeing much of in good old UK), Golden Enchantment is soooo gorgeous, tiny sparks of all colours jumping around on my nails.  It's very distracting you know!  I have been beeped at traffic lights for not paying attention to the change of lights because I'm too busy looking at my own "lights" dancing on my nails!

Finally I decided to go with a "Zeger" print!  I am calling it Zeger as I thought I had done quite a good job of zebra stripes, showed my daughter and she said "oh it looks a bit like a cross between a zebra and a tiger", so I  went off to ask my lovely hubby what he thought of my latest creation, he also said the same so I guess I need a little more practice with the zebra stripes!  The main thing is that I like them so shall be keeping them for now!

One coat of So LA

One coat of So LA with one coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment

All topped off with "Zeger" print!

As always I used OPI Nail Envy as my base and Seche Vite as my topcoat.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely week

Julie xx

Leighton Denny Bubblegum with Leopard Print

Hi everyone!

Not been about much just lately, I had a lovely week away, just me and hubby.  First time we have ever been away without our daughters (daughters are 21,19 and 17 in case you were thinking "child abuse"!) and it was absolute bliss!! Back to work now though and something like 48 weeks until our next holiday!  Yes I know I'm sad to be counting the weeks already but I just love holidays!

This week I have used Leighton Denny's Bubblegum for the main colour of my mani.  I have several of his polishes and am usually quite happy with them but this one...... I love the colour but the consistency is pants in my opinion!  It's quite gloopy and is a right bitch to paint.  First coat was very patchy ( I know this is usually the case with a first coat but not usually with Mr L D's polishes),  second coat rectified patchiness but my God, brush marks galore and it bubbled!  Anyways, I like the colour so I have decided to leave it on and do a bit of leopard print on the tips.  I love anything leopard print!

As always I have used my usual OPI Nail Envy base and finished off with the fantasic Seche Vite.

The first picture shows the colour almost exactly as it is in real life.  I hope the pictures are ok as I took them on my mobile phone, too lazy to go upstairs and fetch my camera!

Have a lovely week everyone and thanks for reading

Julie xx

China Glaze Frostbite with Fairy Dust

Oh My God!! I am sooooo in love with Fairy Dust!  How come I have taken so long to come across this little beauty?!  I very nearly didn't buy it, but all China Glaze were buy 2 get one free in Sally's,  the display was almost empty so I just picked it up for the sake of getting a freebie!  It just looked like another "glittery top coat" on the dimly lit display rack.  Took it home and put it with the stash and there it stayed for a week until I was trying out a sponged nail and needed a glitter top coat to "blend" the colours I had sponged.  I painted a coat and the sun hit the nail,  (we don't get too much of that shiny yellow thing in the sky here), and it was love at first sight!  It is so sparkly and gorgeous, almost holographic.  I have since been Fairy Dusting everything!

Anyway, enough of me raving on.  Here is the mani I have been wearing all week.

As always I used Nail Envy as my base, 2 coats of China Glaze Frostbite (which is a little darker than the picture shows) 1 coat of the lush Fairy Dust and my faithful top coat Seche Vite. 

The picture doesn't really do the mani justice.  It really is much more sparkly in real life.

I have been wearing this now for 5 days with no signs of tip wear at all so I am really pleased with that and I have had so many people compliment me on the colour.  Now all I need to decide is what colour and design do I paint for my holiday?  I go on Friday (yayyyyy!!)  One thing i am sure of, is, it will most definately be topped with Fairy Dust!

Oh and here is a quick picture of the nail I was creating when I fell in love!

Thanks for reading

Julie xx

Leighton Denny Leopard Print/OPI DS Sapphire

I have just spent a week in Center Parcs, not something I EVER want to do again!  It was for my work so I had to go and stay in a "shed" with 2 of the ladies I look after.  It poured with rain every day and was awful!  If  I never see another shed or tree as long as I live it will be too soon!  Anyways, I'm home now and have finally had time to do my nails so enough of me moaning on about  having to go on the "holiday from hell".

This week I have used Leighton Denny 3 Times A Lady for the base colour, China Glaze For Audrey for the stripe and the spots are Leighton Denny Plush Pink.  

As always I used OPI Nail Envy as a base and Seche Vite for the top coat.

Those of you who have read my previous blog may remember how excited I was to have found OPI DS Sapphire on ebay so here is a quick picture of that:-

It is absolutely gorgeous!  I am now on a mission to find the DS shade Original but that seems to be a bit like trying to find rocking horse poo.  I found one on ebay for £20 plus p&p, which I would happily pay, but the seller only accepts paypal and I no longer use paypal as some scum bag hacked into my account and stole my money :0(  I will keep looking though!

OK, I am gonna leave you with a picture of  "the shed"!  Thanks for reading!