Oh OPI

 Today I'm blogging about a little swatch of OPI.

So, I got this polish for Christmas but couldn't open the bottle because it was stuck - literally haha. I finally got it open after many attempts!

Here I used - OPI - Nail Envy, Gargantuan Green Grape, Solitaire Liquid Sand and Rituals top coat. 

I love this nail polish, I haven't got a green like it so really enjoyed wearing this one. It wasn't too much of a bright green so wasn't overwhelming. 

And of course I love liquid sand because it's just great! 

 Although a little high maintenance as it needed three coats - so if you like fast drying time this maybe isn't the one for you! 

Top tip - once the nail polish is almost dry (but still dent prone) run your nails under cold water and it will set the polish. 

The ring is Topshop - but from Outfit so was on sale - of course.

Short but sweet, hope you enjoyed.

xox

Snowflake Solitaire

I'm in love.

Recreated from @stylethosenails - It caught my eye on instagram because it's such a pretty mani. 

Polishes used were; OPI Natural base, MAC - Frosty much adored, OPI liquid sand - Solitaire, Sinful Colors - Snow me white and Essie - Good to go. Also added some tiny beads for the centre of the snowflakes.

Liquid sand it one of my favourite and this time I tried sponging it on which worked so much better than painting, it gave way better coverage.

The snowflakes are hand painted, I'm trying to up my skill in the hand painting area because some nails bloggers out there have mad skill...which I strive towards!  

I absolutely adore this mani, it's so festive without being over the top (like most christmas nails) (but we still love them) 

Apologies for not painting my thumb (which you probably didn't realise until I pointed it out) it was going through a bit of repair so I didn't paint it.

xox

Have a holly jolly Christmas - it's the best time of the year

My first proper Christmas mani of the year! Inspired by @polishandbeyond on instagram. Check out her account so many lush designs!

For this I used; OPI - Natural base, Sinful colors - Snow me white, ELF - Smoking hot, Acrylic paint for the green leaves, OPI - Liquid sand and Essie - Set in stones for the accent nail. Rituals for the top coat. 

I love the simplicity of this design and the accent nail. However, the holly leaves were the hardest nail painting I've ever done! As simple as it looks - it took me longer than expected. But as always - worth while!

Definitely room for improvement in the acrylic paint area but I love using it, it's so easy to remove mistakes with water, which is always a bonus. I also need a new detail brush, let me know of any recommendations of brands. 

Many many more christmas mani's to come - it's only November!

I cannot wait to open day 1 of the ciaté mini mani month advent calendar, I'm going to try swatch every one of the polishes! 

Happy Saturday everyone.

xox

Favouritism

I wasn't actually going to blog about this design, I did it for the Nail It 30 day challenge but I actually quite like it. The design was for 'fave glitter' and these two are definitely my favourites. 

Liquid sand is my absolute lover - I can't get enough of it. And this glitter has always been my favourite, so much so that it is now getting a little gloopy :(

The OPI is called Pussy Galore - OPI outdoing themselves on polish names once again - with Essie - Set in stones. 

It is a super simple and very girly design. I'm not looking forward to getting it off though. 

xox

Pathetic fallacy

I haven't done a simple swatch in a while so here is OPI - Emotions, it is part of the Liquid Sand collection that I am obsessed with.

It was a dull, rainy day and I had recently got this for £3 at TKMaxx so thought what better time to try it out. I used one coat and wasn't too impressed with the texture and the coverage but with another coat it looked great. 

This is one of my favourite colours from the collection, it seems to change in every light. It also looks quite smart without the boring classic black colour. 

It is a fine base coat for more nail art - which I did on top. 

This polish didn't seem to be a nightmare to get off cuticles - or take off all together. I didn't stain which you would expect so that was a nice surprise! 

Basically, I love it you should buy it. (But not full price - we all know the bargain are out there) 

xox

A sandy chevron

Another chevron design... I'm a little obsessed. Hopefully this passes soon and I can start creating different designs! 

However, I wanted to use as many new polishes as I could get in one mani.

Using: OPI - Natural base coat, OPI liquid sand - Solitaire, Sally Hansen - White on, Sally Hansen - Lacey lilac and Kiko - Top coat. 

I did use Sally Hansen - Big matte top coat but it did not look as good as I had envisioned, so shiny top coat went on top.

First things first, if you do not own an OPI liquid sand - find a clearance and get one! It is just the coolest polish I own and I am in love! 

As for the rest of the mani - I like the idea of my design but I'm not loving it as much as I would hope! 

Nevertheless it is a simple and pretty quick mid week mani.

Check out my Orly review which will be up tomorrow.

xox

Massive American Haul

Some of you may know that I've been in America the past few weeks - the reason behind my lack of posting. However, I did not come home empty handed so this post will be showing off my new purchases.
I cannot believe how cheap everything is in the US, every year I go back and forget! You American blogging lot get it so cheap. 
These products are from; Victoria's Secret, Sally's, Walgreens, Target,  Tjmaxx and dollar tree. All of the polishes I got were on offer - there is no other way to buy polish in my opinion. 
I had saved a long time to get all these products and stuck to the list I made very well (surprisingly)
Leaving polishes last (from left to right) the other products I got were;
Dermalogica, Dry skin kit - absolutely amazing stuff. The only products that got rid (and kept away) my teenage spots. It is ridiculously expensive in the UK but I picked this up for around $35. 
Naked Palette 3 - been on my list for months. Only used it once but am loving the fact all the colour work together. 
Orly nails rescue - heard great things about this so couldn't resist, can't wait to see how it works. 
Orly spritz away - I needed a new polish dryer and it looked pretty good.
Orly nail lacquer thinner - I was fed up of putting polish remover in my polishes to make them thinner I wasn't sure if I was making them better or worse. So it was time for some proper thinner. 
Victoria's Secret - Passion struck, Sheer love and Amber romance. Adore these my fave is Amber Romance! 
Lastly at the front - Maybelline - colour show fashion prints, Essie - sleek stickers (love love love the print on these) and some simple dotting tools. 

Onto polishes and names! 
Sinful colours - we no longer get this in the UK we had it for a few weeks and then it vanishes. So upsetting so I got some basic colours of theirs. 
Jolly, Dream on, Teal the end, High strung and 24/7. 
Sally Hansen - Big Matte Top coat (want this for so so long!) Colour foil - Titanium flush and Leaden Lilac. I had no idea these existed until I found the clearance section in Target. They look amazing in the bottle! Xtreme wear - White on and Lacey Lilac. Finally, Lady lavender. I went a bit lilac crazy with the Sally's polishes. 
Orly - Retro red and Live wire. 
Essie - Come here - looks a beautiful deep pink. 
OPI liquid sand - Pussy Galore (what a name) and Solitaire. I am so in love with liquid sand and both at only $8 it was an absolute dream. I cannot wait to try them but want my nails to grow a little longer first.
Finally onto the massive ELF collection I acquired. So the deal was 15 polishes for $6 I just couldn't not. I have never tried ELF polishes so they could be really bad or really good. Left to right the names are; Gold star, Mango Madness, Wedding bells, Desert haze, Nude, Blush, Raspberry sorbet, Gina girl, Purple dream, Purple pleaser, Sea escape, Love me, Smoking hot and High tide. 
So, that's my BIG American haul, I am so happy with all these products and cannot wait to try them out.
Some stamping on its way in the coming weeks too.
I'm happy to be back.
Have a great relaxed Sunday nail peeps. 
xox