FingerFood's Favourites - Jessica Birds of Paradise

Hello everyone! Today I have something a little different to bring you. I recently downloaded an app for my phone which allows me to catalogue all of my nail polishes with photos and to sort by brand, name, basic colour and type. It took an age to get them all on there but its done - go me! Its mostly to help me look up polish names when I'm typing blog posts as I'm too lazy to get up and go to the nail room!), but it also reminded me of some polishes that I absolutely adore, but that have been sadly neglected - so there will be a series (I say series - it probably won't be a regular thing, but will be slotted in as and when) of shorter posts featuring some of my all time favourite polishes.

So, starting today with my beloved Jessica and Birds of Paradise, from the 2009 Botanicals collection. This is my second bottle (after discovering that my already half empty 5 year old bottle had not fared well in storage), and I was once again blown away by the colour and finish of this polish. It is one of the loveliest purples I have ever seen in my life (and I like purples!). Its a really deep purple, but has a soft, pearly quality that makes it glow and mutes the colour, stopping it from being too intense. Two coats for opacity and this has no top coat.

I know that I'm always banging on about how much I love Jessica polish, but I don't do enhancements. Well, I do them, but I don't wear them myself. Jessica was founded on the principal of looking after the natural nail and as a natural nail girl, that works for me. Their base coats (especially Restoration) are phenomenal and I swear by their Phenomen Oil. Their polishes last for years, the brushes work perfectly for my nails and the formula is smooth, so you can probably expect to see a few more in this series!

These posts may be a little shorter in future as you'll know what's coming, and as I'll be featuring only one polish in each, I'll try and be less verbose than normal! As always, I'd love to know what you think! :)

Sam xx

Tri Polish Tuesdays May - Patch Pockets

Hello everyone! Today sees the start of a new colour scheme for the May Tri Polish Challenge! At first I thought my choice of red, purple and green was super clever. Then I thought about it some more and started to doubt myself. Then I slept on it one more time and was relieved to have come up with an idea. Well, kinda someone else's, but you'll see what I mean ;)

I've been a big fan of Brethil's manis over at Druid Nails for a while, and I've been dying to have a go at her stitch effect nails ever since I first saw them on her blog a couple of months back (check out this post). I don't know why I thought they'd look good in these colours, but I pulled out some Barry M Gellys and got to work!

I started with a base of Key Lime and then painted in random (but regular) shapes using Passion Fruit. Once dry, I used Blackberry to add little stitches before finishing with SV.

My stitches aren't as neat as I would've liked them, but I like the quirky, fun look and will be looking at other ways of playing with this technique :)

In other news, I'm looking for a new top coat. I've been getting headaches on days where I do a lot of polishing and after a lot of research, it could (please note the "could") have somehting to do with my choice of top coat. It also might not, but I'm on the look out for a new quick drying top coat that won't drag my designs and stamping - can't hurt to try eh? I'm thinking Poshe, and I know a lot of people swear by HK Girl, but are there any I'm missing that I should consider???

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a personalised blog planner - all the details are in this post here :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

Primark PS Polishes - swatches and review

Hello everyone! I ventured out shopping recently and popped into Primark. We don't have one near us and despite the fact that I rarely find anything I would actually want to wear in there, I had a fair bit of success with both PJs and nail polish. I'm guessing you're not that fussed about the PJs (although I am pleased to report that the "soft feel" is indeed very soft!), but I bought three colours that will remain nameless thanks to uninformative labelling (polish, not PJs) and have them swatched to show you today :)

The first is a lavender creme. It has a lot of blue grey tones and I was pleasantly surprised by the formula - no streaking and two coats for an opaque finish (topped with Seche Vite for the pics). But the smell  - ouch! There is something about cheap polish (apart from LA Colors - yes I'm singing their praises again!) that has my little ol' hypochondriac self worrying about chemical poisoning. Luckily we're coming into spring, so I could have all doors and windows open :)

The next up is a real blue's blue. Its a solid blue creme. Bright but mid, again opaque in two coats (and again smelt horrible). It had quite a dull finish almost like a neon, which it isn't, but it soon got all shiny after a coat of Seche Vite.

Finally we have the deep purple. This is a gorgeous rich purple, unadulterated with shimmers, glitters or anything like that and is a very "Cadbury" purple. Minor issue in that when I opened the sealed bottle that there was no brush and the bottle was half empty, but in the grand scheme of things I have spare brushes and the bottle was also half full (!), so I swatched away! It shows a little more blue in the photos than it looks on real life, but this is two coats with a coat of Seche Vite on top.

If I set aside the issue with the smell and the missing brush, this really did not feel like a budget polish (I should also add here that after emailing Primark they are sending me a gift card to make up for the missing brush, so all's well that ends well :D) . For £1 a bottle the formula is impressively easy to work with and the colours are gorgeous! I would be happy to wear them on their own and they will work really well for nail art too. I was really expecting to be disappointed (which is why I only bought three!), but am definitely planning a return trip for more polishes, PJs and a cut price floral (faux Kath Kidston) print gas mask ;)

Sam xx

The Digit-al Dozen does Texture Day 4 - Gemstone Nails

Hello everyone! Another wholly impractical mani for you today as part of Texture week with The Digi-al Dozen! Those of you that know me know that I also make jewellery. I closed my business before I had my daughter as there was no way I could balance all that work with a baby and now its mostly a hobby, but the occasional piece makes it on to Etsy with the nails and other bits and pieces. Anyway, as a result I have cases full of gems and beads. I was joking with Alessandra (The Sparkle Queen) back in January that I should mix it up with the nails and now that time has come!

I went through looking for the smallest chips and settled on some Iolite (one of my favourites because of its lovely violet blue colour. After the denim debacle I couldn't face gluing them to five nails so settled instead for two and created a skittlette. 

All the nails were painted with a base of Sinful Colors Glass Pink. I added a layer of nail glue and added the Iolite chips to my middle and ring fingers. I had to place a couple with tweezers to fill gaps, but for the most part they adhered really well! I added a coat of Color Club Covered in Diamonds to the index finger as the large holo flakes added to the gem effect. For the thumb and little finger, I used a ton of striping tape to create a triangular pattern (again similar to the Iolite effect) and filled in the sections with Nail Essentials Silver Shimmer, Barry M Gelly Picky Pear and LA Colors Illusion.

This is far from being one of my favourites, but its one of those things that I had to see through once I'd had the idea, and despite how it turned out, I'd put too much work into it not to post it!

One more to go for my first DD week and its been a blast! :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

A bright wavy abstract - the "almost ran" wedding nails :)

Hello everyone! As I mentioned there was no post yesterday because we were in Portsmouth at a wedding - it was a stunning day on board HMS Warrior and it was lovely to see two lovely people who deserve nothing but happiness getting hitched :)

As I also mentioned when I showed you my nails I painted for the wedding, there was a change of wardrobe at the last minute. I switched dresses as I thought a maxi dress was a bit impractical for climbing about on the ship (its definitely easier to pretend you're a pirate in a knee length dress!), but I had already painted some matching nails for that too, so I'm going to show you those today :)

I started with a plain white base to help the colours stand out and then added sections of colour (two tones to each section). The greens are Barry M Gelly Greenberry and Sinful Colors Exotic Green. Purples are LA Colors Illusion and Barry M Gelly Blackberry, and Corals/Oranges are Barry M Gelly Papaya and Ciate Speed Dial. I separated those sections with LA Colors Black Velvet and finished with Seche Vite.

I don't have a pic of the dress but its a black maxi with a bold tropical flower print working its way up from the hem trailing off at the waist. As you can see my nubs are back and I'm back on the Jessica Restoration system to try and get them strong and long again. I'm now at the point though where I can't see them starting to grow out again until my health improves so there's a little bit of grim acceptance there lol! Hopefully I'm nearing the end of this run of ridiculous health fails and I'll be back to loud typing and not being able to comfortably use the touch screen on my phone very soon!

Sam xx 

My "breaking them in gently" nails...

Hello everyone! A super quick post for you today as I have just hurriedly painted my nails for a meeting early tomorrow. Most people I work with know me well enough that they expect me to turn up with random colours and patterns on my nails, but every now and again something comes up and I feel the need to play it safe (I also tone down the make up and take out the facial piercings - that kind of meeting). 

But me being me, I still can't go for completely plain nails, so I opted for a subtle accent nail on each hand ;)

I painted my nails with two coats of my all time favourite polish (and one I hold responsible for much of my polish addiction!), Jessica Ruffled Bottoms, except for my ring finger which I painted with three coats of LA Colors Lilac Frost. I then added some random freehand lines to the accent nail with the Ruffled Bottoms edged those with Barry M Gelly Guava and then added in a few fine lines with LA Colors Metallic Silver before finishing them all with Seche Vite.

I suppose you could call this my "breaking them in gently" nails, and this is about as subtle as I get - the restraint involved in leaving these as they are is beyond comprehension!

I will be back with my GOT Polish challenge nails for you tomorrow. The prompt is Coral and I apologise in advance for the strange colour my skin appears whenever in the vicinity of anything remotely resembling that colour! You have been warned!!!

Sam xx

Purple madness! GOT Polish, Theme Buffet and NAILS 31DC!

Hello everyone! Today I have a three in one post for you. This mani combines the GOT Polish challenge and NAILS Magazine 31DC "Purple" prompts, along with FingerFood's Theme Buffet "Dots and Stripes" prompt. The polishes are all over 1 year old, there are dots and stripes and its all purple, so therefore made of win!

The base is two coats of Barry M Gelly Prickly Pear. I then taped on a grid pattern and went over the whole nail with French White before carefully removing the tape. I added dots to each white space using a selection of my favourite purples (light to dark: LA Colors Wisteria, Electra and Edgy) and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

I was able to use some of my favourite colours in this design and I love the fact that I managed to get it to line up for the most part!

So that's my three for the price of one post! I hope you like it. There are loads of links beliw to some gorgeous nail art, so be sure to check them out!

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

NAILS Magazine 31DC March Day 3 - Glitter

Hello everyone! Here I am back with my Oscars antidote! Luckily the prompt for the challenge today is "Glitter" so I could get on with blinging it up without a hint of a nude polish in sight!

My current favourite glitter polish is LA Colors Jewel Tone. It has a purple jelly base and has beautifully bright turquoise and magenta glitter. I usually layer it over a simple black but this time went for Sally Hansen Pat On The Black, an almost black berry purple. My index, thumb and pinky fingers have two coats of Pat On The Black and two coats of Jewel Tone with a final hit of Seche Vite. For the two accent nails, I picked out turquoise, magenta and purple rhinestones that matched the glitter colours and set them into a coat of Seche Vite over the purple base.

Tomorrow's prompt is "Mardi Gras" - probably a bit more sparkle for you and then I'll consider calming it down a bit. I also have a new Tri Polish Tuesdays colour combination for you tomorrow - busy, busy, busy! ;)

Sam xx