40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Halloween

Boo!

It's Halloween in just a few hours time and how awesome that it falls over the weekend :) I'll be getting my pumpkin carving on after this ready to (hopefully) share with you in a post for the festivities tomorrow! I had a few ideas in my mind for what I wanted to do for my spooky mani but the whole creepy house scene thing was something that had been on my list since my first year blogging and I decided that this was the year I was going to grow the kahonas to give it a bash. I'm so pleased I did!

To begin with I sponged an ombre using Barry M Hot Pink, Bright Purple & Indigo and added a little semicircle of Silver Foil for the moon. I then used a mix of MoYou London Festive 15 & Gothic 04 images to build up the black scene in Avon Licorice. Finally I used a small nail art brush and Models Own Flip Flop to add some neon green highlights in the windows and topcoated.

I am so in love with this because I totally surprised myself when it turned out as good as my hopes were high! I easily put myself off things thinking "I can't do that" but I really must push myself more often because I can and I'm just being a woose lol. The detail of the images on these stamping plates is just awesome, look at the lil pumpkin outside the door on the index finger - LOVE!

A little nail art sponge recommendation for you ladies, get yourself a nice new washing up pad (not the scourer bit obviously) and cut it up. The sponge is really close knit so doesn't create bubbles and it doesn't stick to your polish in teeny tiny, annoying little bits like makeup sponges tend to either. You also get an awful lot of sponge to play with for next to no money!

See what else is spooky with the tarts via the links below...

Rebecca x

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Throwback Thursday: Creepy Crawlies

Eeeek!

It's very nearly Halloween lovies and you can almost feel something spooky in the air. I love this time of year especially the pumpkin carving and sweeties parts hehe. In the meantime lets keep the spooky stuff to my nails with a throwback to a beautifully creepy, crawly kind of mani...

You can see the original post from around Halloween last year HERE. I still have the gorgeous (I never thought I'd say these words together) spider charms and I was sooo tempted to bring them out again this year but I still have so many other scary nail art items to play with I thought a revisit was good enough. You can get your very own from She Sells Sea Shells.

I've got another seasonal mani to share with you tomorrow for the '40 Great Nail Art Ideas' challenge and if my pumpkin carve goes well on Saturday morning I might even pop that on in a Not Nail Related post afterwards!

Don't forget to get those sweety jars stocked up everyone... Trick or Treat?

Rebecca x

Third Blogiversary Giveaway Winners!

Evening loves.

I've had a pretty rough day today and had my pre-op assessment ready for my little heart op next week so drawing the winners of my Third Blogiversary Giveaway has been a nice distraction... Though the issue of reviving my old S3 for Instagram film camera duties did leave me wanting to bounce any and all devices in the vacinity off the nearest wall but there we are LOL...

On to the winners!

The winner of the Blog portion of my giveaway is Velena M from Slovenia.

The winner of the Instagram portion of my giveaway is @len4ik0909 from Russia.

Congratulations to both of you! 

You will each recieve emails/private messages requesting your address details to send you your prizes.  As mentioned in the terms and conditions you have 7 days to respond before another winner is drawn.

Thank you to everyone who entered and all those new and long suffering followers ;) I'll be hosting another giveaway at Xmas time so keep those goggles peeled for pressies!

Rebecca x

Saturday Swatch: Picture Polish Pandora

Ahoy my lil beauts!

I'm busy with some daddy-daughter time this weekend so here's a quick swatch of a Picture Polish which has been left untouched, not even unwrapped on my shelf for the best part of a year!! I am such a polish hoarder but the first step to redemption is admitting it right?! LOL... Pandora is a stunning deep purple scatter holo which dazzled my wee phone camera, I must ask santa for a new digital!

This is two coats finished with topcoat and the formula applied so smoothly it was actually rewarding to see the holo sparkle emerge from each stroke hahaha (I got it bad I know). How can I have neglected such a pretty thing for so long?!

You can see swatches of the new PP's 'Arabian' and 'Cabaret' in last weeks Saturday Swatch and next week I'll be showing you Pandora's negelcted friend from the shelf - The very lovely Eyre.

Enjoy your weekend!

Rebecca x

 

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Orange, Purple & Green

Hi-di-hi peoples!

I can't believe we're already four weeks into this challenge?! Time seems to be on fast forward this year and I feel like my feet have barely touched the ground, it also means that my little heart op is growing ever closer and I'm trying not to think about it else I'll give myself the heeby jeebies hehe! On that note let's distract me with the nails I'm here to share... To accompany the orange, purple and green prompt my pattern this week is 'Camouflage'. I went with 'day-glo camo' because I'm totally feeling the irony in life lately.

I used two coats of Models Own Beach Bag for my base and then Flip-Flop and Purple Glare for the camouflage pattern. I first stamped with both colours at once using Cheeky Vibrant Plate 01 but the colours didn't 'pop' enough so I repainted the patches using a small nail art brush and finished with topcoat.

When I first saw this colour & pattern combo on my list I must admit to thinking "urgh" hahaha but I think using my alternative bright camo colours turned that around for me - I don't love it but I do like it more and more the more I look at it, it's definitely eye catching in this dingy Autumn weather!

See last weeks challenge mani HERE and check out what patterns my fellow tarts pulled off with these difficult colours below...

Rebecca x

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Throwback Thursday: Winter Glam

Hello peeps!

Today I'm taking us back to one of my most popular mani's of last summer and I must admit I loved it myself, not only was it one of the easiest mani's I've ever done but the finished result was much better than I ever imagined. Looking at it again today I think I love it even more now as a glamorous winter design, it conjures up LBD's, snow leopard furs, stockings and sparkling jewels in my mind - Think 'James Bond' hahaha...

You can see more details about this mani in the August 2014 post HERE but really all there is to tell of is a white base coat and some bloody impressive nail stickers from Avon! I remember that they were so forgiving during application and held up to soaking in the bath, hairwashes and sinks full of dishes unprotected by gloves like champs.

I'm not sure if you can still buy these beauties but if you can, do! There were several fab designs a couple of which I think I still have untouched in my stash and they are perfect for an eye catching mani in a minute!

See you again tomorrow for the next installment of the 40 Great Nail Art Ideas challenge!

Rebecca x

Humpday Hare: Born To Roam

Ahhh humpday, we're halfway there loves!

Today I'm showing off the last of my Hare Polish 'Stir Crazy' polishes in the last Humday Hare of the month. Born To Roam is a pretty, soft mint green with large metallic silver flakies, gold flakies & gold shimmer. It's very delicate and I think suits both Spring & Autumn time, I paired it up with an equally pretty and delicate floral accent nail using Born Pretty Store Water Transfers.

Born to Roam is quite sheer so it took three coats to get it this opaque but the formula is great and each coat dried super fast. I added the opaque water transfer on to one coat of the polish on the accent nail, trimmed and topcoated. Super simples.

Just like last humpday, the water transfer is almost made for this polish, they go together perfectly!

You can see my previous humpday manicure HERE and I'll be back tomorrow with another Throwback Thursday post :)

Rebecca x

Saturday Swatch: *New* Picture Polish

Happy weekend peeps!

Today I'm sharing the last of my new Picture Polish collaboration shades, last week I showed you Big Bang & Ornate and now it's the turn of Arabian & Cabaret. They are simply gorgeous and I love them both equally, they're perfect for this Autumn/Winter season.

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First we have Arabian a crimson red scatter holo with gold sparkles and rainbow flecks. It's inspired by Dubai but for me it all about Tunisia, a place very close to my heart. This is two coats with topcoat.

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Now for Cabaret a deep burgundy scatter holo with a good show of holo hex glitters. Like Ornate this one dries textured so does definitely require a topcoat to appreciate it's true beauty. This is two coats with topcoat.

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I must confess that I don't think they are quite as amazing as Big Bang but I'm afraid that one is going to be a tough number to follow it was just (I hate to say it) amazeballs! Both of these little beauties are very much welcome in my PP collection though, this collection have had the best formulas ever!

Have a lovely weekend.

Rebecca x

rimson red scatter holo with the added touch of gold spark + rainbow flecks - See more at: http://www.picturepolish.com.au/arabian#sthash.6SvnHGu9.dpuf

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Geeks

Hello my pretties!

It's time for the third installment of the '40 Great Nail Art Ideas' challenge and the theme this week is 'Geeks'. This was a little difficut for me because I had soooo many things I could choose from, both me and my other half are (in my opinion) chic geeks hahaha! After much deliberation I decided that the thing I am most nerdy about is... Planning! I spend hours online scouring the world for new planner goodies and papercraft gadgets, I watch YouTube videos and read blogs galore on the subject. I plan every single day and I unashamedly LOVE it. This mani is inspired by next years planner already on order from America - The Day Designer in 'black and bone'.

Kicked this off with two coats of Barry M White and left to dry thoroughly before taping off some horizontal bands and painting the black in Avon Licorice. I then used gold striping tape on every other nail and added cute little stickers from Born Pretty Store to a couple more. I used the inner part of a nail design vinyl from She Sells Sea Shells for my blue post it note and finshed the whole thing with topcoat.

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out and it's got me excited for the arrival of my new planner all over again, it cost a small fortune but will be so worth it as a major upgrade from my current Molang diary which I love but is just too small!

You can see what I got up to in last weeks challenge HERE and check out what the other ladies go geeky over below...

Rebecca x

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Throwback Thursday: Lisa Frank

Good afternoon beauties!

I can't believe we're halfway throught the month already but I'm really glad we are because my mummy is coming to visit from Newcastle for a long weekend any minute now and I can't wait to see her! She's even bringing her moggies with her so I'll get some furbaby cuddles which I'm most happy about :) So on the theme of childhood, happiness and pussycats I chose to throw back to this wonderful, Lisa Frank inspired polish with funky leopard print accent art.

'For the love of Lisa' is one of my all time favourites from Hare Polish and the images the words "Lisa Frank" conjures up in my head exactly sums up how I'm feeling about my weekend... You can see more info about this mani in my original post from almost exactly a year ago HERE!

I'll be back tomorrow with the third mani in the '40 Great Nail Art Ideas' challenge but other than that it's just mummy-daughter time with a little wallpaper hanging tuition (yep, you heard it right hahaha) for me over the next few days...

Rebecca x

Third Blogiversary Instagram Giveaway!

Good evening loves!

I've had nearly five hundred entries in my blog's Third Blogiversary Giveaway, but only five yes five single entries into my similar giveaway running on Instagram! (Are people really not using Instagram that much?!) I'm ok with this because the five entrants are long time followers any one of whom I'll be happy to reward with my prizes, but surely some more of you would like a chance to win these lovely goodies??? If you would, you can enter HERE by following the three instructions under the photo for a chance to win this little lot...

This Instagram prize contains the Uber Chic Beauty Mat, Creative Shop Stamper, MoYou London Gothic 01 Plate & L'Occitane Cherry Blossom Hand Cream and is also open internationally.

Goodnight & Good Luck!

Rebecca x

Third Blogiversary Giveaway!

*SQUEAL*

I don't know where the time has gone loves but Lane's Lacquers is turning three today and I'm celebrating with a giveaway for you awesome people!

The items up for grabs are all products I have treated myself to recently and loved... Now they could be yours too!

So we have an Uber Chic Beauty Mat, a Creative Shop Stamper, a MoYou London Gothic 07 Plate & a L'Occitane Delightful Rose Hand Cream! All of these goodies were purchased by me for your delight (I hope) and this giveaway is open internationally until 00:00 26/10/15. Please see the Rafflecopter widget below to enter and view the terms & conditions in full.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I have another similar giveaway running separately to this on Instagram too so that's two ways to play! Find me @laneslacquers. 

How's that for a Monday beauts?!

Good Luck!

Rebecca x 

Saturday Swatch: *NEW* Picture Polish

Morning folks!

It's time for me to show you two more Picture Polish from the new collaboration releases. Last week I showed you New York and Wanderlust - This week it's the turn of Big Bang and Ornate. They are both stunners but I must say that Big Bang is a bit of show stopper, I can see it appearing on many a lemming list out there lol.

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So here's a better look at Big Bang, the MOST gorgeous dusky purple/blue scatter holo jelly filled with multi-coloured flakies. It's like the universe in a bottle which I know was the idea behind it but the result is just eye boggling, heavenly! Two coats with topcoat.

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Now for Ornate a pink/purple scatter holo with small gold and pink hex glitters a homage to the long standing marriage between purple and gold. Two coats with topcoat and topcoat really is necessary with this one because it dries with a grainy texture.

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Well that's me done in the nail room for today I hope you all enjoyed ogling the gorgeousness that is Big Bang. Have a fabby weekend and don't forget to check in with me on Monday to enter my third blogiversary giveaway!

Rebecca x

a pink/purple scatter holo with a smattering of small gold + pink hex glitters - See more at: http://www.picturepolish.com.au/ornate#sthash.Z1IK9ApA.dpuf

a pink/purple scatter holo with a smattering of small gold + pink hex glitters - See more at: http://www.picturepolish.com.au/ornate#sthash.Z1IK9ApA.dpuf

a pink/purple scatter holo with a smattering of small gold + pink hex glitters - See more at: http://www.picturepolish.com.au/ornate#sthash.Z1IK9ApA.dpuf

a pink/purple scatter holo with a smattering of small gold + pink hex glitters - See more at: http://www.picturepolish.com.au/ornate#sthash.Z1IK9ApA.dpuf

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Teal

Yay it's Friday lovely people!

It's also time for our second installment of the '40 Great Nail Art Ideas' challenge and this week the prompt is 'Teal'. As mentioned in last weeks post we each have a different pattern to play with on the colour weeks and my pattern this week is 'Brush Stroke'. So for your delight today is a teal brush stroke manicure... I may have added a weeeee bit of pink in there ya know, for good measure :)

I applied the very simple dry brush technique for this mani. Started off with two coats of Barry M White for the base, then used China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle and You Drive Me Coconuts to dry brush on the light teal and pink (to dry brush you remove all excess polish from the brush and lightly drag and flick it across your base colour). I finished with a few swipes of Barry M Teal for a hint of sheer teal shimmer and topcoat to seal.

Dry brushing is simple, quick and so effective, it's a great technique. The end result of this sooo reminds me of a duvet & curtain set I had as a littlun back in the eighties lol. The more I look at it the more nostalgic I start to feel and it almost gives me the warm and fuzzies which I was totally not expecting from this simple bit of nail art hahaha.

I'll be back with some more swatches of the new Picture Polish collection tomorrow and then....... It'll be blogiversary giveaway time on Monday!!! EXCITED!

Don't forget to take a peek at what the other tarts have been up to below...

Rebecca x

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Throwback Thursday: Kawaii Bunnies

Hi loves!

You may or may not know that I am a huge nature lover and this week as the mornings get a little colder and the nights get a little longer I've been mindful of all the little wild animals out there surviving it all - The foxes that frequent my garden and the birds that live there for example. So I've chosen to throw back to a mani featuring the cutest little wabbits as an excuse to give everyone a gentle reminder to look after nature in the hard months ahead! You can check out the advice on 'Giving Nature a Home' on the RSPB website HERE.

Now lets get back to the nails because I just love this mani! I'm a big fan of all things kawaii and Japanese/Korean/Singaporean/Malaysian generally. I spend ours looking at their crazy fashion, buying cute stationary and ogling their stunning nail art! It's a style I would love to adopt and master. These nails were inspired by the fabulous @nail28tsenwi who I've followed for a long while on Instagram.

You can see more details in the original post which was done for a friend's daughters birthday back in May 2014 HERE. Looking at this has got me thinking about all the 'kawaii' styles I want to share with you guys and I've got lots of ideas for future posts flowing. That's why I love #tbt.

Don't forget to look after those cute little creatures where you can this season!

Rebecca x

Humpday Hare: On the Road Again

Hello, hello!

It's humpday again loves and I've got another beautiful Hare Polish to share with you. On The Road Again is a dusty mauve jelly with ultra chrome flakies that sparkle gold, green, bronze, & red. It's also packed full with purple/blue iridescent glitter, pastel hex glitters and gold shimmer! Needless to say this one has found a place very close to my heart...

I coupled two coats of this stunning polish with some perfectly complimenting floral water transfers from She Sells Sea Shells on the thumb, index and pinky, and finished with a lick of topcoat. Simples. I'm so pleased with how well the polish and flowers go together, I can't stop gazing at my nails!

"On the road again" is a fitting term (and polish) this week because my better half is just that, he's business-ing out in China again at the moment. I miss him more than a lot but Skype is a life-saver and the upside is that I have had HEAPS of time to play in the nail room and plan my third blogiversary giveaway which will be kicking off in just six short days. EEK!

Well that's all from me for now my pretties, I think we can say we're on the road to the weekend now can't we?... Please?! Hahaha.

Rebecca x

Monday Manicure: Autumn Leaves

Good afternoon my lovelies!

I don't know about you but the leaves have just about started to turn in my garden and I'm anticipating the inevitable endless sweeping up of crispy piles of dead tree only for mother nature to blow them right back at me or simply replace them with the newly expired ones! Nevertheless they are beautiful to look at and to scrunch, scrunch, scrunch through so they have found their way on to my nails for a second time this month...

This began with three thin coats of Picture Polish Lakodom for a beautiful frosty grey base. I then stamped the leaves individually in Avon Licorice using the MoYou London Mother Nature 07 plate. Finally I took Barry M Key Lime, Mango, Barry Cosmo, Spring Green & Blood Orange and a small nail art brush to paint in the leaves before topcoating.

You can see my earlier autumnal mani in this Throwback Thursday post but for now I think this one has got me just about ready to don the winter knits, some snug boots and a rake or broom - How about you?

I'll be back with you guys on Wednesday, have a good one!

Rebecca x

Saturday Swatch: *NEW* Picture Polish

Evening my little gems!

I wasn't necessarily planning on doing any Saturday Swatches this month but then the new collection of Picture Polish collaboration shades was revealed and out of the eight that were on offer I NEEDED six of them lol! Over the last ten days they have made their way through my letterbox and tonight I'm showing you the last two to arrive - Wanderlust & New York.

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First is Wanderlust which is the most stunning hot candy pink scatter holo jelly with blue glass flecks. Two coats with topcoat. I bought this polish for it's name as much as the colour but boy oh boy the colour is soooooo goooooood!! LOVE.

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Now for New York which is a lush marsala (or pinky mauve) coloured jelly scatter holo that is so perfect for this season. Two coats with topcoat again. I like this one more than I thought I would and I can't wait to pair it with Grace in an ombre!

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All I can say is they look even better than my little camera could manage to capture, apply like an absolute dream and dry quick time. The formula is flawless - probably the best I've ever seen from Picture Polish which has me super excited to try the other four!

Check back next Saturday to see Big Bang & Ornate.

Rebecca x

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Hobbies

Good morning folks!

Today is super exciting as we 'The Crumpet's Nail Tarts' embark on a brand new 52 week challenge entitled '40 Great Nail Art Ideas'. Over 40 fabulous bloggers will be posting a mani a week following the prompts below... The nice little twist is that on each of the colour weeks we all have a different pattern prompt to go with it - That's a whole lot of nail art loves! I can't imagine just how much thought and preparation that went into this, I'm so proud to be a Crumpet's Nail Tart!

So to begin this journey we have 'Hobbies' and my lifelong hobby since I could hold a crayon has been colouring in. It's funny that I've been gently teased about my penchant for a colouring book and some crayola by friends/family etc over the years, yet now it's 'the thing' to be doing to relax and take a bit of 'me time'... I always knew that! My absolute favourite of the adult colouring books so far is the Zifflin's Doodle Invasion and this mani was inspired by just that.

This mani was so simple I almost can't tell you hahaha, I literally did a bit of colouring in! I started off with three thin coats of Barry M White, leaving to dry for a good twenty minutes. I then stamped the MoYou London Rebel image using Avon Licorice. I then coloured in parts of the design with my Sharpies and finished with Barry M Matte Topcoat.

I love, love, love how this turned out especially the thumb, index and middle fingers. I only wish my nails were bigger canvasses! Want a tip for colouring with Sharpies on polish? Use a light dotting/dashing technique rather than the normal pen on paper motion to avoid dragging & pulling your base. Nothing was needed to 'fix' the pen ink before topcoating.

That's all from me today but don't forget to take a look at how the other ladies hobbies have played out on their nails below...

Back soon!

Rebecca x

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