piCture pOlish Eerie + Thumbs Up Nail Wraps

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Quick nail art post today featuring a beautiful piCture pOlish shade by my friend Emily of Very Emily and some Thumbs Up nail wraps. Not very seasonal maybe, but I couldn't resist the combination and sometimes you need a pastel fix, even in mid Autumn.

Belated Valentine's Half Moons

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Hi! This post should have gone up on Valentine's Day but I didn't edit it in time before my computer died on me (It's on a very temporary fix at the moment, hoping to have a brand new one within the next couple of weeks!) so here's my very belated Valentine's manicure!

Guest Post From One Nail To Rule Them All - Navy Floral

My second guest post comes courtesy of Alice from One Nail To Rule Them All. I'm sure you're familiar with her work already! I've met Alice a couple of times now and we've become good friends. Alice is a tutorial queen and you may have used one of her tutorials yourself - I always try to make mine as good as hers but they never quite are! ;)

You can find One Nail To Rule Them All at - Blog | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Hey everyone! I’m so happy to be doing this post, Allie is probably one of my closest friends in blogging, we speak almost everyday, along with Hannah, and we've met a few times too, so it’s nice to finally post from the inside! I’m definitely jealous of her going away on holiday, I’ve been looking at last minute holidays wishfully, so I know she’s going to have an ace time, and I’m happy to be able to fill the time for you whilst she’s gone. For my guest post I just chose to do simple floral/gem combination. I really love floral designs and with this I just decided to see where it took me, and I quite like the end result, I’ll let you decide for yourself!

For these I used Barry M – Watermelon as a base, and Graffiti Nails – Ice White then I used studs from Born Pretty Store, finished off with a coat of Seche Vite.

What do you think? Thanks again to Allie for having me! 

Alice

Leather N' Leopard

This design is inspired by one of my best friends who said I needed to do a punk sort of manicure involving leopard print, leather and studs. So, here you go! ;)

Nailvengers Assemble!: Floral

I can't believe we're on to the 4th Nailvengers post already! This month we're doing florals and I've gone for a green colour scheme (no surprises there) Don't forget to check out what the other girls have done and like us on Facebook!

Lucy's Stash | The Nailasaurus | One Nail To Rule Them All | xameliax

Nailvengers Assemble: Untried Polishes

We've reached the end of April so it's time for another Nailvengers Assemble challenge! This time our theme is Untried Polish, so we're all breaking out our untried bottles for some nail art. 

The Nailasaurus | Lucy's Stash | One Nail To Rule Them All | xameliax

Neon Brushstroke Nail Art

I have another design done with the Models Own Polish For Tans collection today (Didn't I say they were going to be good for nail art?!) and it's a bit more in your face than my usual style, but it's fun to switch it up a bit sometimes ;)

Understated Valentine

I've never been much of a fan of Valentine's Day inspired nail art. Although I have taken part in the past, all the hearts and reds and pinks just aren't really my thing. So while I did have Valentine's Day in mind with this one, I was going for more sweet and understated!

Leopard, Studs and Glitter

I've been trying out different styles of leopard print lately, trying to find one that works best for me. I quite like this minimalist style, but it's still not working for me too well!

Waves and Studs

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Something bright and cheerful today in an attempt to cheer myself up! Also quite a bit different to my usual style, I mostly go for understated but this definitely is not!

Winter Warmer

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My love for Barry M's 2013 Autumn/Winter polishes, the Matte and Royal Glitter collections, is no secret. They mix and match so well together and it's easy to create simple, classic looks with them. The mattes in particular go great with small studs!

My Blog Awards Nails!

Finally, here is a more detailed look at the nails I did for the Cosmo Blog Awards!

2true Explosion! Metallica, Glitterati, Salon Shine and 3D Candy

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Firstly, thank you all very much for my Birthday wishes in my last post. I really appreciate it! :)

I have some 2true goodies to show you today! 2true is a very affordable brand exclusive to Superdrug and they've recently come out with some great new stuff! You may have already seen their Glitterati glitter polish (I posted about one here a while ago) and now they have a Pro range which includes Metallica and Salon Shine. Last but not least is their new 3D Nail Candy!

Pictures and review ahead

Kiko Gradient and Swatches

Here I have my first Kiko polishes. My lovely friend Hannah of Polly Polish was kind enough to pick me some up from her trip to Paris, and she chose very well! I've used Blue Spot and Pearly Peacock  (two limited edition colours) to make this gradient. I added some square studs from Born Pretty Store on my middle finger. I love how it turned out, it reminds me of the surface of the ocean!

Swatch of Pearly Peacock, an aqua-green foil which looks kind of glassy. I used 2 coats.

Swatch of Blue Spot, royal blue full of silver shimmer. Perfect in two coats. I adore the formula of both of these polishes!

Definitely been bitten by the Kiko bug!

Born Pretty Store Review - 1.5mm Round Studs

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I've used many studs from Born Pretty Store in the past, but these little round gold ones have to be my favourite. I find them to be the most versatile and you can add them to any kind of manicure. I prefer a minimalist approach to stud nail art; I usually do an accent nail or a very small amount of studs on each nail. Less is more!

I started with a base colour of W7 Black (you can't go wrong with glossy black polish and gold studs!) I applied a top coat to make my nails sticky, and placed my studs using a wax pen which I've previously reviewed here - it makes the job much easier! A good tip is to arrange the studs in the pattern you want on your desk before application, so you know exactly how you want to place them.

You can also add a top coat over the studs when you're finished, to help them last longer. I don't think I'll 

ever tire of studs! I have a huge array in my nail art stash now!

You can find these exact studs (1.5mm)  here at Born Pretty Store. I notice the site has had a bit of a makeover! As you probably know, they offer free worldwide shipping and you can get 10% off any order by entering my code: LGL91

Are you a fan of stud nail art?

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Windmillion Studs

And so to my first post of 2013. Unfortunately starting it with an awful nail breakage, which isn't very  aesthetically pleasing, so I apologise! 

I've been meaning to do a stud manicure ever since I saw it on The Nailasaurus, but I kept putting it off because it looked so fiddly and difficult. Turns out it IS fiddly, but not difficult. The only problem I had was that when I applied topcoat, it made the colour in the studs run. Anybody else have this problem? Without topcoat, they don't stay put for 5 minutes!

I used OPI Thanks a Windmillion, and all the studs are from Born Pretty Store (you can use my code LGL91 for 10% off)

Ugh, that stumpy nail is gross. I hate having a nail with no free edge!

Now I'm off to start a rain dance or something to make my nail grow.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Here's my second set of Christmas nails! These really didn't photograph well, which I'm dissapointed about. They're SO sparkly in real life but the camera has made them a bit dull :( why are cameras so anti-glitter sometimes? They just don't appreciate the finer things in life.

My base colour is Models Own Snow White, with a coat of China Glaze White Cap on top. 

For the oh-so-cute little trees, I used China Glaze Holly Day, painted over with Models Own Emerald City glitter. The tinsel is Barry M Silver Foil Effects.

The stars are studs from Born Pretty Store, as are the little glequins. (Use code LGL91 for 10% off at Born Pretty, with free worldwide shipping!)

I love how these turned out! I just wish you could see the sparkle!

I'm back! + Dating a Stud

I'm finally back. Oh my goodness I did NOT anticipate being gone for that long!! I have literally had to learn  how to blog again, I can barely remember how to do anything, and it's been that long since I've looked at a computer screen or typed on an actual keyboard that it feels so alien.

Thank you to everyone who stuck around, I don't ever plan on being gone that long again! 

My nails have suffered over the past few weeks and it probably shows in the pictures :( it's a mess of dry cuticles and splits...oh and I've also forgotten how to take pictures. The next few weeks will be spent re-learning, it seems.

I called this one Dating a Stud, because it features OPI Dating a Royal and some studs...see what I did there!? Wow, I'm hilarious.

This is 3 coats of OPI - Dating a Royal (I find it to be quite watery unfortunately, but I love the colour) and some square gold studs from Born Pretty, stuck on using a toothpick and clear nail polish.

I LOVE using studs in nail art, I'll be using these more in future! 

Anyway, it's good to be back, and I'm going to spend some time catching up on your blogs and the nail world in general.