Tri Polish Challenge: Pink, Purple, Green

Oooh as soon as I saw the three colours for this challenge, Jindie Nails Princess Breath jumped into my head! I'll save an all out mani in this indie for a Saturday swatch because it is really beautiful, but for this, I wanted something different... When I thought of princess breath I thought pastels and flowers, so this was the result...

This began with three coats of each of the pastel colours and three coats of the indie beaut and just as quickly it started, it ends, with a quick, thick topcoat and some 3D florals from Cheeky... That's it! I placed the flowers so that the colours moved one along from the pastel nails; so the pink flower on the purple nail, lilac on the green and green on the pink.

I love it! For some reason it reminds me of A Midsummer Night's Dream, my favourite Shakespeare... I adoooore this Jindie, it's been on my wish list for a long time and I'm not disappointed! It also has all of the necessary colours for this TPC, plus a little hint of blue :)

China Glaze - Bottoms Up, Lotus Begin, Highlight of my Summer, Jindie Nails - Princess Breath, Color Club - Topcoat, Cheeky - 3D Flower Decorations

Rebecca x

An InLinkz Link-up

Giveaway Countdown!

Only 3 days left to go to enter my mini-haul giveaway! Open to those in the UK, the prizes are as follows...

• Essence Magnetic Nail Art Topcoat
• Essence Magnetic Nail Art Pen
• Essence Glow in the Dark Topcoat
• Essence Paper Print Nail Art Paper
• Essence Moisturising Cuticle Cream
• Essence Cuticle Softener Pen
• Barry M Diamond Glitter Topper

Follow THIS LINK to enter now! Good Luck!

Rebecca x

Saturday Swatch: Hare Polish

I had decided to bring back my Saturday Swatch feature this week so was going through some of the lovely indies I bought just before I went on holiday. The one that leapt out at me was this Hare Polish... Flight of the flamingo's is a lovely sheer natural/pinky base with a bit of a gold shimmer to it; then it's packed with hot pink and gold glitters, I love it! It also gave me the perfect excuse to do some flamingo nail art and to share a snap of the flamingo's near our villa in Spain! I love it when these things just come together for you :)

This was such a simple mani to do... Three coats of the Hare on all but the ring finger to start, no undies. Keeping with the sheer theme, I didn't use a base for my flamingo. I simply painted the body with a hot pink and used a nail art brush to draw a sort of reverse 's' for the head and neck. I then used an off-white to add a flash to the chest and got out the nail art pens to add the beak and eyes. Finished up with a nice lick of topcoat.

LUUUUUB! Hahahaha. This Hare polish is super pretty and sparkly, and the flamingo didn't turn out too bad either... Take me back to Spain!!!

Hare Polish - Flight of the Flamingo's, Barry M - Pink Punch, Coconut, Color Club - Topcoat, Barry M - Nail Art Pens

Aaaand here is one of my snap's of the flamingo's in Spain... they weren't very pink until they took off and opened their wings, then WOW, so bright!

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Rebecca x

Fingerfood's Theme Buffet: Fabric

Evening folks...
When I saw this prompt I knew the exact dress I was going to use as inspiration and I had just had my MoYou lace pattern plate arrive, which was going to make the whole thing a breeze!

For this easy peasy mani I first did two coats of white, then I simply stamped in black using the Moyou London Bridal 07 plate. I was going to topcoat, but I really liked the satin sheen it seemed to have... very fabric!

Pretty pleased with how they turned out. They got lots of compliments from colleagues, friends and sales assistants in shops lol! I got asked by one friend if they were nail stickers, I'll take that as another big compliment haha...

Here is the dress in question, my favourite, favourite long, floaty dress! My nails are almost camouflaged!

Models Own - Snow White, Avon - Licorice, MoYou London Bridal 07

Rebecca x

An InLinkz Link-up

My 5 Step Mini-Mani!

A bit of a change in post style today, not polish or art - but nail care!

At the start of my recent holiday I finally discovered the nail care routine that works for me :) I am so happy about how simple it is that I decided to share it with you guys.

Step One: Remove & Wash

I start taking off any polish/treatments with any nail polish remover I have to hand. Then I give my hands a good long wash in hot water with my favourite soap (nothing special lol), rubbing my fingers over my cuticles to pre-soften.

 Step Two: Cut & File

After patting my hands dry I trim my nails with curved scissors, pretty much straight across and then file into the sort of squoval shape I generally wear (because it reflects my cuticle shape). If needed I'll give a light buff and smooth the newly filed free edge.

Step Three: Cuticles

Once happy with my nail shape, I run the cuticle softener pen on the skin around the entire edge of the nail. The pen is like a felt tip and the liquid is very effective at softening tough cuticles/skin; it also smells delicious, love this simple product! After leaving for 5 mins or so I use an orange stick to push back the cuticles and side walls firmly.

Step Four: Hardener

This product has revolutionised my nails, plain and simple! I can't recommend it enough! Although my nails and cuticles are very healthy, once at perfect length they become quite bendy at the tips and after a few knocks and scrapes, inevitably they flake/split. Typical! Just one coat of this hardener is almost as strong as having fibreglass/silk overlays, it leaves a nice shine and doesn't smell too offensive. It does contain Formaldehyde though.

Step Five: Moisturise

Once the hardener is dry, it's on to the most imprtant part, moisturising! I've been using the special essence cuticle cream quite generously all over the nail area, this product also smells amazing. Before that is fully absorbed, I treat my entire paws to the L'Occitane 'creme mains' hand cream, rubbing in all over hands and fingers to the wrists. I finish off with a swizz of an oil on the nails/cuticles.

Ta Da!

I do this routine once a week, usually on a Friday night because I'm so rock 'n' roll ;) and it takes 30 mins at most. In between mini-mani I just moisturise/oil once daily. It's that simple!

Rebecca xxx

British Nail Bloggers: Orange

Hello again!

If you haven't heard, the British Nail Bloggers are finally getting together to do a weekly nail art challenge! I'm heaps excited about that, we're such a great, diverse bunch of bloggers :) I missed last week's 'Red' theme because of my holibobs, but I had one particular nail mail when I got home, that was just perfect for this week's 'Orange' theme!... Not precisely orange but a peachy perfect Polish Me Silly thermal...

...Sizzling Sunset! Luuuuuuurve it! This is three thin coats finished with topcoat. On the ring finger I did just one coat then sponged on an orange, pink and purple (leaving a small circle showing through in the centre) to add a sizzling sunset of my own. I then used a black polish and a small nail art brush to add the tree scene. I used the dry brush to sort of feather the fronds of the leaves; finished with topcoat of course.

I'm not a fan of orange/yellow/peachy polish generally but this has somehow captured me in every way. I love the peachy colour when cool and the pastel yellow when warm and when they are all mixed up, it's like a cocktail... or a sunset ;) Formula is amazingly smooth and dried fast, even on the third coat! Oh and I'm pretty pleased with my wee painting too!

China Glaze - Peonies in Park Avenue, Are You Jelly?, Petal to the Metal, Polish Me Silly - Sizzling Sunset, Avon - Licorice, Color Club - Topcoat, Jewellery Sponge, Avon Dual Tool

If you haven't entered already, check out my current giveaway HERE :)

Rebecca xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Polish For Tans Holiday Mani/Pedi

Bar the few days beginning and end of my holiday, where I had naked nails, the manicure I sported for pretty much the entire holiday was this Polish for Tans beauty from Models Own. It is true what they say, this polish IS made for tans! Lub, lub, lub!

This is two coats of Models Own Sun Hat, no undies. The bit of sparkle on the ring finger was added with two coats of a Nabi Glitter Topper polish. I topcoated with my Color Club go-to. That's it!

I just love the way it popped!... And it lasted well over a week with just the odd scuff or chip; despite the fact I was swimming in the pool and the sea and jumping on lilos and trekking up mountains and walking around castles lol! I even had the same on my toes!

Rebecca xxx

Holiday Nail Splurge!

So, as mentioned in my giveaway post, and as you may have already seen on my Facebook/Instagram pages etc, I went a bit nail crazy whilst on holiday and it felt like Christmas in July!
Here is the evidence LOL...

First up I went to a market local to our villa and found these "yes love" neons and crellies for just 1 Euro and 1.50! BARGAIN! So I had to have one of each?! ;)  Had a quick swatch later and they weren't a bad formula either!

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Then we went to Habaneras, a fave shopping spot of mine in Torrevieja and I stocked up on Essence goodies! Nail care and nail art galore :)

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On a seperate trip to Plaza Del Mar II in Alicante, I returned for more Essence goodies, both for myself and the giveaway :) Also pictured are the two L'Occitane hand creams I picked up at Gatwick Airport on the way out!

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I then returned home to a beautiful mound of Indie Polish nail mail! So much so, that the front door wouldn't open more than a couple of feet before getting jammed hahaha!! In here we have Lush Lacquer/Polish Me Silly, Gothich Gala Lacquer, Femme Fetale and Two Dollish Pollish with one more on the way lol!

I've also just ordered a handful of MoYou London Plates, the list of those I want just seems to grow and grow! That's the end of my little splurge for now! Next I need to destash some polish and then I'm going to be adding a few bits to my professional products collection.

Enter my Christmas in July Giveaway for your own nail haul HERE.

Rebecca xxx

Christmas in July Giveaway!

Hello loves, hope you're having a great weekend!

I am back from my holiday and had a bit of a mass splurge on some nice accessories and all things nails whilst I was away (post coming soon), so it certainly felt like Christmas in July!

I decided to bring you UK beauts (sorry rest of the world) in on the action and put together a little collection of some of my favourite Essence nail goodies for a giveaway :) I also popped in a Barry M sparkly just for good measure!

Up for grabs for one lucky winner is as follows:

• Essence Magnetic Nail Art Topcoat
• Essence Magnetic Nail Art Pen
• Essence Glow in the Dark Topcoat
• Essence Paper Print Nail Art Paper
• Essence Moisturising Cuticle Cream
• Essence Cuticle Softener Pen
• Barry M Diamond Glitter Topper 

See widget below for entry and full T's and C's

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rebecca xxx 

Born Pretty Store Lace Nail Art Stickers

Another review post tonight, this time from Born Pretty Store. I thought I had posted this already but obviously not?! Bah!

I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to use these stickers when I got them so I started by deciding to use a pink that was very similar to the background colour on the packaging, they seemed to go well together so why not?! Then while looking at the sticker designs, the loopy string seemed perfect for a half-moon type deal and I think it worked out ok in the end!

I did two coats of the pink shimmery polish and waited for it to dry thoroughly. I then snipped the lacey string into pieces, a double one for the thumb and used tweezers to pop into place at the top of the nail. I would normally topcoat but didn't on this occasion as I was only wearing it for a day.

I was really impressed with how sticky these were, which I know sounds silly because they are stickers lol, but sometimes you just can't get them to stay down on the curve of a nail! No such problem with these though, and they weren't sooo sticky that they pulled up the polish when manouvering them into place either. Happy camper! They also have a touch of sparkle in them which inspired me to use a shimmer polish instead of a creme.

Nails Inc - Brompton X, BPS - Lace Nail Art Stickers

You can find these decals HERE, they're an absolute steal at 58p, yes pence! There are various lace patterns to choose from and come in either black or white.

Lane's Lacquers readers can receive a 10% discount using the following code: R2X31

Rebecca xxx

*the featured item was sent to me f.o.c for honest review*

MoYou Nails Review!

Hellooooo beauties!

I was recently sent a lovely little package from MoYou Nails and tonight I bring you my review!

Within the package was a stamper, scraper, silver stamping polish (which kept rolling out of shot haha), two image plates (105 & 107) and the summer catalogue... More temptation LOL!

For this look I used Image Plate 105 which has a combination of pretty hearts and bows. I chose to add the bows to this hot pink mani (two coats), using the silver stamping polish to both stamp and paint the accent nail! Finished up with a topcoat.

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For this next look I used Image Plate 107, a combination of lovely florals and butterflies. I went for a large floral image to pair up with this lush blue manicure (two coats) and again used the silver stamping polish to both stamp and paint the accent nail. Once finished I topcoated to seal.

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I was really pleased with the quality of the products I received! The images were well etched and picked up beautifully on the stamper which I first buffed lightly with a nail file. The stamping polish did a great job over these bold colours and I loved the subtle sparkle it had to it. I was also really pleased to see that the scraper was the standard sort of design but with no metal blade, so no nasty scratches on my pretty plates! :)

Barry M - Pink Punch, Damson; Color Club - Topcoat; MoYou - Silver Stamping Polish, Stamper, Image Plates 105 & 107, Scraper

As well as small plates and accessories, MoYou also produce some amazing Salon Pro large image plates and Stamping Sets, which are fab for gifting to any nail art lover!! They are currently offering free delivery on orders over £35 and are sending a free set of nail wraps with every order!

So what are you waiting for?!...

Rebecca xxx

*the featured items were sent to me f.o.c for honest review*