Skull and crossbones nails

Hello polish lovelies.  Today i have a very special post for you guys, it is a skull and crossbones design and i dedicate this manicure to my beautiful sister....who i affectionately call shamon.  She has been asking for these nails for a while now, and with all the challenges i have done recently i just haven't really had the time to do them.

on my thumb nail just a side note this is a reflection of light not a smearing of polish!

Ahhhhh this challenge from my shamon has given me so much grief!! i have struggled with the theme as i wanted to do something really special for her.  I sat there last night and tried to do a design and i swear to god it looked like my dog had done them....so off they came and with a fresh approach i did this design today. 

I must give credit to this design to the awesome Robin Moses, i followed her tutorial for this and i think the end result was pretty wicked!! 

At the moment things have been very rough for my shamon and i, our amazing mum has been very poorly and i have to say a huge thankyou to my sister for being such a rock for me.  You are my very best friend shamon and i loves you much more than you know.  From one polish sister to another your the bestist!.....also peeps before i quit my ramblings watch this space as this amazing woman is yet to be my star guest poster and she has ahhhhhmazing nailage!  Polish love to all you guys xxxxxxxx

Guest post by Charis! Zoya guilty pleasures

Today i have for you my lovelies another guest post for you and it comes from the beautiful Charis who i have met on Facebook.  She is a lovely fellow polish lover and i am honoured for her to guest post for me so enjoy......

Hello lovely friends!

Mimi has graciously let me guest post for her today and I have been saving for my Zoya Guilty Pleasures to arrive to have one ready for her.
So let us begin!

I love Zoya polishes and only own a few, however when I saw the advertisement for this set, I had to have it so I had my pre-order done before lunch time the day it came out. I was most impatient for it to arrive, but it was worth the wait! I will confess that I did squeal a little when I saw it sitting on my front porch. :-)

Ok, on to the polish - I decided to do a 'french' style mani with Raven as my base. Raven is a fabulous black, it's a deep, rich black with lots of shine, and hint of shimmer. It's not a jelly so I'm guessing it would be considered a satin?

It took only 1 easy coat to get the look I liked. Then I used Purity on my tips (please pardon my shorties and wonky index finger). This is a fabulous white, it did the job with just a couple of easy strokes to be a beautiful clean white tip - I will be using Purity again for white tips in the future, it's a 'great white' ;-)

As I was painting Raven on, I thought it would be fun to throw a little Halloween twist into it and painted a spider web with Purity on my ring finger.
Then on went the Guilty topcoat, and wow. The topcoat was easy to apply, but I did dab the flakes on instead of a regular application of painting it on. The polish seems to do well with this, as it all blended together very well and didn't get lumpy or uneven.

So there we have it! The lovely Guilty Pleasures set from Zoya. What do you think?

Hare polish illuminated life collection

Hello polish lovlies, hope this day finds you well.  I have for you today Hare polish illuminated fall collection.  Ever since i saw these babies on Hares facebook page i knew they were  going to be mine and as soon as they were released on Llarowes website i was on it like a car bonnet....only to fail at the first hurdle, they sold out in minutes!!  So me being the trooper i am i stayed awake until 2 am and bagged myself the entire collection!  I have waited patiently and when the dropped through my letterbox yesterday i swear to god i was squealing with delight...oooohing and ahhhhing at the beautifulness of them all.

I have been chomping at the bit to swatch these...yes i know its only a day but thats like 20 polish years isn't it?? So story over, lets get down to business.  Ohhhh.....firstly let me tell you i am a HUGE Hare polish fan, i have acquired THE most stunning polishes from previous hare collections and as you may have guessed i was beyond excited to get these, so i am dying to tell you these were all faultless like every other hare i have.  Sadly i cant do that.  I will start with my Nemesis of this collection.

Electric flame..ahhhh i could cry at this because the colour is STUNNING...the glitter in this is STUNNING....everything about it screams beautifulness in the bottle.  For me this polish had one of the most difficult applications i have had for a while.  It was really thick and very streaky and left my nails looking quite bumpy.  Now i am going to try this again with a touch of thinner in it so i will report back when i have tried it...i would also wear a base colour with this as even with 3 thick coats it wasn't opaque enough.  As i said the colour and glitter were awesome, in the flesh the colour of this is a light coral peach colour with cool purple and blue fine glass flecks.  This had all the makings to be a super polish, it is pretty and feminine and it beaks my heart not to give this a better review.

Now on to bury the hatchetfish.  This is the one that caught my eye straight away...i love a brown polish and i love glitter so we were onto a winner straight away.  This one was  better application although another that is in definite need of some thinner as again it was very thick.  Aside from the thickness this is a stunning polish.   It is a light brown jelly base packed with blue glass flecks.  This is super super stunning and a sure winner if you like a good brown like me!  I layered this over Glitter gal suede.

Awwww now we have  medusa luminosa.  Now i have stacks of purple and for that reason i wasn't as enthusiastic about this one...not because i didn't see the stunning beauty of it even on the screen because i did, its just simply because i thought i would have one similar.  Nope i don't, and let me tell you after not really being blown away by the previous two due to the application issues this was the saver....Hare quality had indeed been restored...oh my!!!  It is a stunner....this made me smile again indeed.  Filled with pink, blue and gold glass flecks packed into a super bright and pretty purple base this gave me renewed hope for the collection!!  I adore it.  application was brilliant, just the right consistency.  I think any purple fan should own this one, take it from me you will need it in your collection!

now here we have atolla.  Gasp at the beauty of this one...another that restores my faith...and as a pink polish lover i definitely don't own one like this! This is one of the prettiest pinks i own and really does glow  It is a girly fuchsia colour, again like the others it is packed with blue glass flecks which truely do illuminate the whole look of this.  Once again application was beautiful on this.  I cant say how much i loved this polish...once again any pink polish fan should own this as a matter of urgency as it really is a stack more prettier in the flesh....and i can't believe this is still in stock on Llarowe??! after the rest sold out so spectacularly this one was the winner of  the collection for me!

So now you guys have it, the whole collection has been done for your viewing pleasure...what do you think?? i would be really interested to know if any of you guys have this collection and if you had any application issues....especially with electric flame.  I wish i could have given this whole collection a whole 5 stars, electric flame really disheartened me......bury the hatchetfish almost had me back but the medusa luminosa and atolla were without doubt the stand out of the collection and despite my disappointment with electric flame i am still a huge hare fan!

The Exorcist Freehand nails

Ahhhhh don't you just love it when a plan comes together?  I have spent the last few days mulling over what film i was going to dedicate this mani to for our challenge on crumpets nail tarts on facebook.  I swung from doing the exorcist, childs play or IT.  For creative purposes i was just a smidge away from doing IT....i think i will still give this a go  bit later....but i so wanted to do the exoricst but was so short of ideas. I didn't really want to do the stardard screams or saws...or even the craaaazy chucky because these are usually the easiest to create an i wanted a challenge.....i got it!!

I wish i could take full credit for the idea of this mani, but credit where it is due and it has to go the the incredible Robin Moses.  She does some of the most incredible nail art i have seen, and when i saw the pics of a manicure very similar to this i had to try it....i am so bloody glad i did...i friggin love these!!

From start to finish i knew they were going to be something i can be proud to post which is just fantastic because when i first saw this done i really thought i wouldn't be able to do it good enough....now i just feel like doing a victory dance around my paint laden living room...wooop!

The exorcist was always a film my parents were reluctant to let us kids watch....we kinda watched horrors from quite a young age...freddie was always a funny figure to us rather than scary, so when they banned this from us it just made us want to watch it more.....i remember sneaking it on when they wernt looking and quickly proceeded to sh*t myself.  When Regan was a fully possessed, head spinning, vomitting , friggin manic it just about terrified me enough to rush upstairs and hide under the covers with my glow worm to protect me!!  So whilst this isnt a slasher blood and guts kind of film, i think these films are true horror scary films...not some of the crap they make today.  Classics all the way my lovlies. 

I hope you guys enjoyed my little film manicure....feel free to tell me what your favourite scary movie is (ohhh isnt that what they say in scream?!

Nicole gets nailed guest post!!

Yay yay yay today i have for you a special treat...my second guest post by the beautiful Nicole at Nicole gets Nailed....she has done an amazing job at creating for me a stunning gradient polka dot number,.....here she is lovlies and i hope you enjoy xxxx

Hiya everyone!!  It’s Nicole from Nicole gets Nailed here, when I saw Mimi’s call for guest posters, I was all over that like icing on cake!!  I’ve been blogging since June and haven’t had the opportunity to do a guest post for someone yet, so this is definitely an exciting opportunity for me!!

As I mentioned, I’ve been blogging since June and have been loving every minute of it!!  I love to do nail art and have participated in some super great challenges that let’s me get creative and try my hand at things I never thought I would do!  I’m currently doing the 31 Day Challenge, I think we’re on day 23, and that’s been a blast - I’ve met some amazing artists and have really enjoyed seeing different takes on the same theme, the talent out there is amazaballs!!

When Mimi and I started talking about what we wanted to do, I suggested a theme and Mimi had an even better idea - mani’s created using eachothers favorite color and technique - how cool is that?!?  Mimi’s favorite color is blue and she loves polka dots, so off I went and created this!!



Base Coat:  Orly Bonder
Background Color:  I did one coat of Finger Paints Papier Mache and then topped it off with like 4 coats of NYC Cashmere
For the polka dots:  I used 3 mini Orly polishes I picked up at Shoppers Drug Mart - unfortunately there’s no name - the package came with 5 colors Ombre-fied.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my creation, it’s been an honor to entertain you!!  Don’t forget to check out Mimi’s guest post over at Nicole gets Nailed, where I hope you’ll get the chance to have a look around!  I’m currently hosting my very first giveaway - my 100 Follower EPIC Giveaway - it’s open to US and Canadian residents and closes at midnight on October 31st - have a look see at what’s up for grabs, there’s some pretty great stuff!!

Hope to see you soon!!

Holla, N

Pumpkin freehand nail art

I am soooo late posting this one guys, I'm so sorry...as usual, i have been really busy over the last few days and  things don't show any sign of slowing down.  But here we are Mimi at your service and ready to show you some rocking nail art!  I was looking about on the net for some inspiration for pumpkin nails for crumpets nail tarts challenge on facebook, and wow the nail wish had done some wiiiiiicked pumpkin nails...so i drew inspiration from her and come up with my own take.

I must admit i am dead proud of these, you know when you're doing a mani and you know its gonna look the nuts??....its always opposite ends of the scale for me....either i really like them or i dislike them a lot...and nine times out of ten the ones i have spent longest on i seem to hate!!

Fortunately this is one of the occasions when it all went brilliantly(ish) and i could relax and have some real fun with them...i like them because they are different from the usual pumpkins that surface this time of year, the base colour for one, which i must give credit to the nail wish for as i would never have used a nude colour for a base, again, this is different from the usual black and orange bases used in Halloween manis.  I used acrylic paints for the rest of this manicure and goo old seche vite for the topcoat. 

As always i hope you guys like this one, i sure do...in fact i felt bummed i had to take it off or my next lot.....skulls especially for my beautiful sister...stay tuned!

Yay my first guest post is here ladies!!

I am so so pleased to introduce this new bit of lovliness to my blog.....i had never thought about adding guest posts until i stumbled on the idea on my facebook page. What a fantastic idea. If you would like to add you guest post here, then please do email me at michelletravis_341@msn.com so lets begin the magic my lovelies. Today and my very first polish beauty post comes from Amy, she is such a lovely girlie and i am truely honoured for her to be my first guest...welcome my sweet...so here she is......

Howdy hi,

Well, let me first say what an honour it is to be here supporting Mimi and her blog (which I LOVE btw). Let me introduce myself, I'm Amy, a polish sister of the most wonderful Mimi. Whilst, like a lot of my polish buddies, Mimi and I have never met (to be rectified in the new year… boooyahhh) Mimi is a most treasured friend and we have bonded over the wonderful and colourful world of polish. Now, whilst my nails and my collection are nothing like hers (I threaten to steal her collection ALL the time) I do have a few beauties up my sleeves which she doesn't seem to have…. so please, without further ado, let me introduce to you a few beauties from the new Model's Own collections……..

Be still my heart….. the Beetle Juice collection is stunning. A set of duo chromes packed with pizzaz and punch to knock any polisher lover to there feet. This beaut is Purple Blue, but oh my it is so much more than that. Gold, bronze, pink, purple, blue, this polish is a whole rainbow in one. And being a Model's Own its a modest price of £5 ANNNND even better news they are being stocked at some larger Boots now and on line at Boots.com as well, and you know what that means…. Advantage points to buy yourself something pretty

Not resting on there backsides at all after these beauties, Model's Own have thrown out an amazing holo collection called Wonderland. Here you can see Southern lights which is a subtle pink packing a MAHOOOOSIVE holo punch.

After adding this baby to my collection I knew I couldn't stop there, so I had to pick up Northern Lights. A purple based holo, which is as equally as stunning as its sister above. You can see it here with Lady of the Lake on my ring finger which is by A-England. Sweet sweet Model's Own…. How I love thee.

Smitten Polish Hillarys dream...a story of a friend

So not to long ago i found Smitten polish, i had come across her polish on etsy (its also worth saying Llarowe are stocking these to!) and fell in love...deep love!  I went on to own a good portion of her collection.  Not one of her polishes so far has disappointed me, formula, application, durability and damn beautifulness were all there in abundance.

Now i come to this stunner for you.  First i have to say, i own a ton of blacks stacked with glitter....and for this reason i wouldn't have normally wanted to own this polish so bad buuuuuuuuut   A, its Smitten...so i have to own it in my quest to own everything of hers, and here is he clanger  B, i have a friend called Hillary......so i always wanted to dedicate a mani to her!.....

Hilary is my beautiful  friend who i met a few years ago when we were taking a nail course together, we became firm friends...mostly out of dislike for our tutor to be honest (take it from me peeps, she was not very nice at all!).....those were the strings that tied us at that point and we have been friends ever since.  She has been there for me through thick and thin and has been the bestest friend and even though i don't see her as often, we are always there when we need each other and through knowing Hilary she also bought the beautiful Lauren into my life to, with all the attributes of her mum, she is a top girl to!.....so my darlin' this is why i bought this polish!

Hillarys dream is as i say  blackened jelly polish with orange, turquoise, red, green, purple and pink tinsy tiny micro glitters.   The turquoise glitters in this polish really do make this polish pop, they compliment the other glitters perfectly.  As with all the other smittens this got the thumbs up in every aspect...application, dry time, formula were all a 'dream' hehe. Its also worth saying i only needed 1 coat of seche vite to make this a smooth finish, pretty damn impressive for a polish so packed!  I used 3 coats for these shots. So to sum up this is a beauty...like my friend, it is bold and strong....like my friend and its worth having in your collection....like my friend.  Thank you for your friendship Hills i loves ya!

autumn nails

Today has been a sucky day here in the UK, its been raining and cold, a far cry from a few weeks ago when we had lovely sunny days.....hmmmm autumn is here.....which calls for a bit of autumn nail art, so here we go ladies (and gents!)

Now i must first say my beautiful husband Mark came home from work the other day very excited to tell me an idea he had for me to do.  Autumn gradient nails with some freshly picked leaves to photograph on.  So today being cold and autumn like, plus being full of a cold myself i set to work on doing them.  My first set wasn't what Mark had in mind, he wanted more reds, yellow and oranges, but i had used greens in there to, so i redid them and this is what i came up with.

It was hard because i don't have a massive amount of yellows and oranges to choose from (weird really coming from a girl who has over 500 bottles of polish!) this wasn't the manicure outcome i really wanted, i wanted it to be more rustic looking but with a limited supply this would have to do, so here it is my lovely hubby, a manicure dedicated to you....i love ya!

Now my little adventure don't stop there, i decided to go with what i had in my head and decided to do autumn leaves manicure with a cute little tree on my middle finger........i really do like the leaves, the gold acrylic paint i used really  did set this off. 

I hope you guys liked these two manicures, im sorry about the amount of pictures...but double the post equals double the pics! hehe, good night my polish friends love to you all xxx