Introducing Flatlays And Flowers

Although I haven’t been sharing posts on here as much as I would like to, I still love taking photos of my makeup collection. It’s taken a long time but I feel I am starting to really have my own style when it comes to creating my flatlays and I love sharing them when I do blog and over on my instagram page.

 

 

Blogging doesn’t come easily to me, the words are especially hard to find sometimes, which is the main reason I LOVE instagram. A picture says a thousand words after all!

I’ve been maintaining a sort of theme to my page for a while and a huge part of that is because of my love of makeup and now every other post is a flatlay I have created! In between flatlays I like sharing my love of vintage, photos of my whippets and anything else I like. I understand that those don’t appeal to a huge number of people though so I decided to create a hashtag for my flatlays so that anyone interested could see just those if they wanted to. Just search #FlatlaysandFlowers on instagram to see them all!

I am certainly no expert when it comes to creating the perfect content for social media but I definitely enjoy it and I hope that you like looking at it! Just head over to instagram to take a look!

Ra  ❤

Recent Barry M Purchases: Swatches Included

It seems like forever since I last shared a nail post. My job has really taken its toll on my nails which is why I’ve moved towards more makeup and vintage posts. But seeing as my nails weren’t too bad last week I thought I would snap a few photos of my recent Barry M purchases.

The Gelly Paints are my absolute favourite polishes so I picked up Acai Smoothie which is from last year’s Spring/Summer release. This is a really gorgeous dusky mauve colour unlike anything in my collection. The formula applies perfectly, as with all the Gelly paints. This is two coats and no top coat.

 

I’ve been looking at swatches of the new Frosted Cupcakes collection since it was released and couldn’t resist grabbing one for myself. I chose Strawberries and Cream which is a soft blush pink. This is packed with crystal flakies but unfortunately getting them to show up was a little tricky. These photos definitely don’t do the sparkle any justice. I’m wearing two coats here with no top coat.

 

I’m constantly impressed with Barry M’s polishes and these two are no exception. Which of these is your favourite?

Ra ❤

Winter Nail Designs!

As promised, I have more nail art to share using the Christmas stamping plate from Born Pretty Store! You can see my first post about this plate HERE.

For the two looks in this post I’ve gone for darker winter designs.

First up I have another snowflake print mani but this time I’ve gone for shades of purple. I used Barry M’s Plum Gelly Paint for the base and Lilac Foil for the snowflakes.

 

For my next look I used Barry M’s Black Multi Glitter with Silver Foil.

 

I love the winter tree scene!

Check back soon for more Christmas nail art!

Ra ❤

Save The Rhino: #NailIt4Rhinos

Today’s post is something a little special!

UK conservation charity Save the Rhino is launching a really fun campaign for World Rhino Day on 22^nd September! Save the Rhino is encouraging the world to get creative by painting and decorating their nails and sharing their creations across social media using the hashtag #NailIt4Rhinos. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness for rhinos and fundraise for the charity. A very worthwhile cause I’m sure you’ll agree!

I’m sure some of you will be wondering why they chose nail art to raise awareness! The campaign was inspired by a connection that rhinos and humans share – rhino horns are made of keratin which is exactly the same protein material found in human nails!

Rhino poaching is at crisis point with just 29,000 in the wild today, meaning that we have already lost 95% of the world’s rhinos. During 2014, in South Africa alone a staggering 1,215 rhinos were killed by poachers. That’s one every eight hours, if poaching continues at the current rate then we could lose all of the world’s rhinos from the wild in the next 11 years.

By urging the world to share their nail creations on social media and encouraging their friends and family to join the cause, Save the Rhino is hoping to raise awareness of how serious poaching has become. Susie Offord, Deputy Director for Save the Rhino says: ‘Here at Save the Rhino we work to save all five endangered rhino species , so this year we’re asking you to make a stand for rhinos by decorating your nails and showing the world you care by using the #NailIt4Rhinos hashtag! If we can’t save rhinos what hope is there for other species in the world.’

All it takes is five simple steps to get involved with the #NailIt4Rhinos campaign:

• Customise your nails either using Barry M’s grey Chai polish or your own – get creative!
• Upload a nail selfie on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram with the hashtag #Nailit4Rhinos or send it to Save the Rhino at info@savetherhino.org
• If you’re in the UK you can donate £3 to help save rhinos by texting NAIL15 £3 to 70070. Or you can make a donation online www.savetherhino.org/donate
• Share your photo with friends and nominate five people to do the same
• Visit www.savetherhino.org to learn more and see if your nail selfie has been featured on the website as one of the best!

I hope you all take part in this fantastic campaign! Don’t worry if you aren’t the best at nail art! Save The Rhino have the cutest rhino decals that you can order HERE!

Ra ❤

Marilyn Monroe In Pop Art

It’s been quite a while since my last post and today I have one of my favourite looks I’ve done to share with you! For the nail art in this post I used another fantastic stamping plate from Born Pretty Store.

As you can see there are some gorgeous designs but, of course, the Marilyn Monroe image is the reason I chose to review this stamping plate!

I wanted to keep Marilyn as the focal point of the design but I didn’t think plain colour and an accent nail would be good enough so I decided to have Marilyn on every nail! I chose to go for a pop art look so I picked out some bold polishes to work with.

My stamping skills clearly need a little more work but I just love how this turned out!

I was a little worried that the image wouldn’t fit on my short nails but it transferred really well!

I definitely recommend getting this stamping plate if you want fabulous nail art. If Marilyn can’t make your nails look glam then nothing can!

You can find this stamping plate here: Marilyn Monroe Stamping Plate

Born Pretty Store has everything you could need for gorgeous nail art. And you can use my discount code RARW10 for 10% off your Born Pretty Store order!

Ra ❤

*This stamping plate was sent to me by Born Pretty Store for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

 

Born Pretty Store: Safari Stamping Plate

Born Pretty Store have a wide variety of stamping plates and I was lucky enough to be sent three to review so today I’m sharing the first one with you.

As you can see this plate has some super cute designs! All of these are perfect for summer nail art or if you love animals!

The designs transfer easily and look really pretty on the nails!

 

After a lot of practicing with various nail polishes I found metallic polishes work amazingly with stamping and look great against a bold base colour! Any polishes that need two or three coats to get full coverage do not work well with stamping!

It’s also important to remember not to put too much polish on the plate as it’s more likely to smudge the design when you transfer it if you do.

 

I love how many different looks you can come up with using stamping plates and I know this one in particular is going to be used a lot this summer!

You can find this stamping plate here: Safari Stamping Plate

Born Pretty Store has everything you could need for gorgeous nail art. And you can use my discount code RARW10 for 10% off your Born Pretty Store order!

Ra ❤

*This stamping plate was sent to me by Born Pretty Store for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

Born Pretty Store: Flower Decals

Today I have more pretty nail decals from Born Pretty Store to share with you.

As you can see these decals are just beautiful and really detailed! I just love how intricate the designs in this set are.

I’ve been leaning towards more spring-inspired colours just recently and kept that in mind when creating this look.

I wanted this nail art to be simple and pretty so only used decals on two nails. I picked the gorgeous purple flowers to use with the lilac base.

I’m really pleased with how this turned out! I think it’s quite cute.

You can find the decals I used here: Flower Nail Decals

Born Pretty Store has everything you could need for gorgeous nail art. And you can use my discount code RARW10 for 10% off your Born Pretty Store order!

Ra ❤

*These decals were sent to me by Born Pretty Store for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

Born Pretty Store: Watercolour Decals

Today I have more pretty nail decals from Born Pretty Store to share with you.

As you can see these decals are gorgeous!

I just love the watercolour style of this set. I think they’re perfect for creating delicate nail art and the colours are perfect for spring!

I’ve kept this look really simple and bright. I especially love how the peach colour looks against the vibrant green!

I love all the designs in this set. They’re so cute and really easy to use. I’m sure all you beauty bloggers out there would love the little perfume bottle and lipstick decals in this set, I know I do!

You can find these decals here: Watercolour Nail Decals

Born Pretty Store has everything you could need for gorgeous nail art. And you can use my discount code RARW10 for 10% off your Born Pretty Store order!

Ra ❤

*These decals were sent to me by Born Pretty Store for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

NOTD: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Chai

I think nail of the day posts are some of my favourites. There’s nothing better than a nice block colour nail! This is Barry M’s Gelly Hi-Shine in Chai which really is a wonderful colour.

Chai is a lovely soft grey shade. Very delicate and pretty! These photos are of two coats and no top coat.

Barry M’s Gelly Paints are some of the best polishes I own. They’re great quality and super glossy! Chai is a fantastic addition and a perfect shade for winter.

Ra ❤

Born Pretty Store: Maple Leaf Sequins

I love using glitter, rhinestones and decals to create fun nail designs and Born Pretty Store have very kindly sent me some more wonderful products to show you all.

For today’s post I have a set of maple leaf sequins!

I chose to get the bronze set but these do come in 12 beautiful colours.

At 4mm these are quite big sequins really, so I kept my look simple with a single leaf on each nail.

This set is fantastic for creating autumnal nail designs! And at $2.53 (about £1.61) these are really good value.

You can find these sequins here: Maple Leaf Nail Sequins.

Born Pretty Store has everything you could need for gorgeous nail art. And you can use my discount code RARW10 for 10%  off your Born Pretty Store order!

Ra ❤

*These sequins were sent to me by Born Pretty Store for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.