Week of Love Challenge - Hearts

Hello! So here I am with my second post for today! I havebeen a bad girl when it comes to this challenge - I have had to let a few things slide this week on the nail front and I'm sad to say that this challenge has been one of them. I have only officially missed one prompt which was yesterday's "Roses". I will try and do a roses mani in the near future, but I don;t think its going to be this week!

So, today's prompt is "Hearts". As I mentioned before, I'm kind of Valentined out already, so I wanted to have a go at a different interpretation. I settled on jewellery, and as I had done a heart mani that included chains a week or so back (my mind wanders around some strange places after dark lol), I went for a more traditional jewellery chain feel.

I started with a base of Color Club Williamsburg which is a beautiful deep navy with a very dark shimmer. I then added hearts with a detail brush using LA Colors Solar Gold and then dotted on the chain effect. Once dry, I went back in over the gold dots with more of the navy to create the chain effect and added some gold glitter over the heart charms for a little added sparkle. I finished with Seche Vite.

Tomorrow's final prompt is Freestyle/Recreate. I have already done this one so it should be in on time and I can't wait to share it with you!

Take a look at all the other interpretations this theme by following the links below - its so great to see what looks like endless creativity from all the ladies involved :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish Challenge - Valentines

Hello everyone! Today I have a couple of posts for you as I have two challenge prompts due today, and as promised, I am trying to get back on track!

The GOT polish challenge theme for this week is Valentines (I cannot wait for it to be over - much as I love "love", I've had just about enough of Valentines manis now lol!), so I stepped away from the traditional a little and went for something that never fails to cheer me up, in colours that I have owned forever and have never got tired of, so its made of win from my perspective!

I started with a French White base and then added heart shaped leopard print using Jessica Purple Burst and Barry M Indigo. Super simple!

Admittedly I stretched the theme a little, but I am in love (get it? ;) with the colour combination and leopard print is still my nail art true love... The polishes are certainly old enough to qualify for the challenge too, even if this is my third bottle of Purple Burst :)

Check out all the other fabulous manis by following the links below and I will be back shortly!

Sam xx 

An InLinkz Link-up

Week of Love Valentines Challenge - Days 1 and 2

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of post yesterday - we are unfortunately caught up right in the middle of the Surrey floods and although I have had the nails painted, photographed and ready for a while, I just didn't have the time (or my brain in the right place!) to blog yesterday. I am determined not to get behind though and this is giving me some distraction, so I promise to try and make at least partial sense ;) 

This challenge is hosted by lovely Jessica from Be Happy and Buy Polish. We have five daily prompts covering all sorts of Valentine's goodies starting yesterday with "Candy Heart Sayings".

I decided to go quite literal, except with the sayings themselves, so my thumb and pinky are painted like the wrappers with French White and Ciate Cupcake Queen. My index finger has Models Own Lilac Dream as the base with freehand hearts painted using Models Own Lemon Meringue, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau and Nail Essentials Classic Pink. I painted my middle and ring finger in Lemon Meringue and Take Me To Your Chateau and added the hearts and sayings "Love Nails" and "# Me" with a pink Sharpie.

Today's prompt is "Kisses" and I had already done a kissy, lovey mani on Sunday, so I'm cheekily going to use that one again. Only one photo as I already posted about this at the weekend, you can read about it here:

So, I'm caught up with this challenge. Things are changing here fairly quickly and constantly, but I'm doing my best to keep up! I should have some "Roses" for you tomorrow, but for now I need a beer and to disappear into the world of "Real Housewives" (guilty pleasure lol!)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Weeks - Hearts

Hello everyone! I hope that you've all had a lovely weekend. This week's theme for the buffet is a little predictable with Hearts, but I would've felt weird choosing something totally unrelated to Valentine's Day (conformity, meh!). Still, looking at all the designs so far, we all have very different interpretations of the theme and we're all fab, so there!

I started with a base of LA Colors Black Velvet and waited for it to dry. I used a fine liner brush to add the white lines, hearts and symbols with LA Colors French White and then went over the hearts with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Jolie En Rose. To give it a final twist and a blackboard feel (lessons in love anyone? Not from me lol!), I finished with OPI matte top coat.

This can be interpreted as either a cute way of working out what love is, or a slightly stalkerish, obsessive kind of mani - I'm going with the cute ;)

Take a look at all the other fab heart manis from the ladies this week, and if you've done some Valentines nails, head on over to the Sparkle Queen's Valentine's Link Up Party and show us what you've got! :)

Next week's theme is Abstract - "Kah favourite!" (if you or your child has a furby, you'll feel my pain in no longer being able to speak plain English, but having to add in Furbish :/ )

Sam xx

Studded Hearts - another Valentines theme mani...

Hello everyone! Today I have another Valentine-ish mani for you. Its super simple, but I think its pretty effective, and as always, I haven't exactly gone down the traditional route.

I started with a single coat of Barry M Gelly Blueberry, which was enough for full coverage, and then added two coats of Models Own Indian Ocean. All the coverage online of the massive Models Own sale made me revisit my stash and I was really happy to rediscover this beauty!

Once dry I added a generous coat of Seche Vite to one nail at a time, and added heart-shaped and round silver studs all over the middle and ring finger, and a more delicate half moon design to the others.

I like how this turned out, I think the metal studs take the edge off the gushy lovey nature of the design just enough for me to be able to cope with it lol!

Hope you're all ready for some swatches coming your way soon, I have received some fab nail mail lately and I am dying to show you some of my new discoveries!

Sam xx

NAILS Mag 31DC Day 24 - Chained Hearts

Hello everyone! As always I've been avoiding the Valentines manis up to this point, but as its a prompt for the 31DC I thought I'd give it a go and maybe put my own little anti-Valentines spin on it :) I'm not against love, romance or anything like that (quite the opposite in fact!), but I'm against a day where flowers, champagne and chocolate all cost 75% more than they do the week before or after, especially as it means that I have to stock up on all three in advance! So my "chained hearts" mani reflects all that in one way or another...

I started with a base of LA Colors Black Velvet and then painted in some white hearts. Once dry I went over the white with LA Colors Red Carnation. I then added in the chain effect with a dotting tool using Nail Essentials Silver Shimmer and a little more black. All finished with a healthy coat of Seche Vite.

I can't say that this mani turned out exactly how I expected it to, or that it even went remotely in the direction of what I had in my head when I started, but I still think its cool. I still have my last few 31DC manis heading your way, but due to a hectic posting schedule (get me!), they'll be saved for February :)

Sam xx