Chevron tips

Today's post is another of my subtle Valentines mani's.

Using the same polishes as my previous post; OPI - Nail envy, Crabtree & Evelynn - Peony, Sally Hansen - Coat of arms, and Rituals - Top coat. 

These were the nails I wore for my birthday, I love a french tip but often find it too plain. This design is a little more interesting than a white tip. 

Super easy to recreate as you can always use striping tape for precision. 

Although, I did find this mani to chip so quickly! The C&E polish was a little gloopy when trying to do free hand chevron tips and this was not long lasting which was a shame. 

But still a pretty design so it was nice whilst it lasted! 

xox 

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

Monochrome Monday

I am posting a mani that I did early last week because I have had some major technology issues this week - currently posting from my uni library (which makes blogging far less appealing!) 

Using; OPI - Natural Base, Sinful Colors - Snow me white, Acrylic paints for the black and Rituals - Top coat. 

Inspired by @adoredollsparlour - I fell in love with their simple negative space mani so had to give it a go for myself. I wanted to practise my free hand lines using acrylic paints - something of which I never do! 

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out - obviously there is so much room for improvement but when isn't there? I find it hard to make acrylic paints looks sleek and 'non-gloopy' - I think this is down to practise and also in need of new brushes! 

I am hoping to blog my ciate advent calender (on instagram) and swatch the polishes in it. And also an exciting mani swap to come this weekend. However, this may be a little delayed due to my life and soul (Macbook) currently out of use! 

Have a fab first week of December! 

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

Mani swap!

I've been seeing so many other bloggers mani's that I wanted to recreate so myself and @coffeeandnailpolish decided to do a mani swap. She has so many mani's to choose from so it was really hard to decide which one to do! 

The polishes I used were; OPI - Natural Base, Essie - Mint candy apple, Sinful colors - Snow me white, Body Collection - Gold, Rituals - Top coat, Striping tape from eBay and Gold leaf from Hobby craft (amazing value you fellow UK bloggers) 

Shannon decided to recreate my feather mani which looked so amazing she did such a good job! So make sure you check out her instagram account. 

This design was a lot more time consuming that I expected - it definitely didn't take up my whole day off haha. However, it was well worth it because I obviously love wasting time when it is nail time and also because it's such a pretty design.

The gold leaf flakes were soooo cheap I got a huge box of it for £6 - it will last an absolute life time. Whereas, in Sally's it costs £5 for a tiny pot so I was very chuffed with this find. 

Anyway, the effect is the best thing I've ever seen, I am beyond in love with the it! I think I'll be using it in nearly every mani from now on! 

I loved doing the mani swap with Shannon it was so much fun and really nice seeing her recreation as well as showing her mine!

And of course, had to do her classic coffee picture (I'm a starbucks girl but there is a drive thru costa on my way to uni so it's my new regular!)

I have more mani swaps lined up to do in the coming weeks, and my first proper christmas mani coming this week - the christmas nails can never come too early!

Have a great week nail peeps!

xox