Love Is In The Air

Valentine’s Day is almost here so I wanted to share a love themed nail art using one of my favourite Born Pretty Store stamping plates.

Here is my design..

I’ve used Barry M Blood Orange Gelly Paint and GOSH polish in Snow White for the base. Both are quick drying and only need two coats.

I’ve then used two designs from Born Pretty Store’s candy themed stamping plate, both of which I think are perfect for a Valentine’s mani. You can see my review of this plate by clicking on the link: Candy Stamping Plate

I completed my look with gold studs from a Primark set I got ages ago. They always have fun little sets of nail art accessories!

What nail look will you be wearing on Valentine’s Day?

Ra ❤

Born Pretty Store: Vintage Style Decals

It’s been a while since my last post! I’ve moved house and until now I haven’t been able to get anything written and photographed. But I’m back and today I have some of the best decals ever from Born Pretty Store! This set is a fantastic deal not only because of the gorgeous designs but you also get 3 sheets of decals!!

As you can see you get plenty of images and they are all very detailed. I’m a huge fan of anything vintage so I really love the pinup style decals and the animals are all adorable!

I’ve done three nail art looks using these decals to give you some ideas on various ways to wear them.

My first look is the most simple. Sometimes all you need is a little something to jazz up a plain polish and wearing just one decal on your ring finger is a perfect way to do that.

 

A bold red polish is perfect to show off the vintage decals! I’ve also tried to do retro half moons to add to the glam!

 

For my last look I used decals on each nail. I think the pretty flowers compliments the pastel pink beautifully.

 

 

You can find these decals here: Vintage Style 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.

 

A Guide To Stamping Nail Art

You may have seen my recent reviews of stamping plates from Born Pretty Store and I thought I would share a little guide on how to stamp! It took me plenty of practice to finally get the best way to do it so I hope this can help any of you that are unsure of stamping nail art.

Step 1. Choose your stamping plate and set up where you want to work. I like to put paper down to catch any extra polish and make cleaning up a bit easier. Make sure you have your polish and Stamper close by before starting too.

Step 2. Brush chosen polish over the design. You don’t need too much polish, just enough so the whole design is covered.

Step 3. Scrape over image at a 45 degree angle. If there’s too much polish you may need to do this more than once. I usually turn the scraper over and go over it again.

Step 4. Press Stamper onto design. Be careful not to smudge the design as you do this.

Step 5. Clean up any excess polish from around the image. I use a little remover on a cotton pad to do this. A cotton bud may work better if the design is more detailed.

Step 6. Gently roll stamp over your nail. Seal your finished art with a top coat!

Once you get the hang of it stamping is really great! There are so many fantastic stamping plates around that are sure to give you gorgeous nail art!

Ra ❤

Nail Geek: Red Not Dead Collection

After some camera problems I finally have more swatches of Makeup Revolution’s Nail Geek polishes for you!

The Red Not Dead collection is made up of 5 beautiful shades. Each swatch is of two coats of polish, except for Intensive which needed three coats for full coverage, and no top coat.

On The Edge is a lovely pink toned red. Simple but beautiful!

Scandal is slightly brighter version of On The Edge. This raspberry red colour is really pretty.

Declare is a classic red with a subtle shimmer running through it. Unfortunately the shimmer does not show up too well in these photos but it really is something special.

Vampy is my favourite from this collection. I just adore this deep wine colour.

Intensive is the most stunning oxblood polish. Perfect if you want something dark and dramatic!

Which of the Nail Geek Red Not Dead collection is your favourite?

There are 45 fabulous Nail Geek shades that you can buy individually for £1.49 or in collections of 5 for just £5.96! Click the link to browse the full collection: Nail Geek.

Ra ❤

I ❤ Makeup: Nail Geek

Makeup Revolution have fast become one of the most talked about beauty brands with their incredible products and amazing prices. And their sister brand, I ❤ Makeup, is just as popular!

If you are a regular reader then you will know what a fan I am of their nail polish so when I was contacted recently about trying out their newly released Nail Geek collection I was so excited!

There are 45 fabulous new shades that you can buy individually for £1.99 or in collections of 5 for just £7.95!

As you can see the bottles are different to the original Makeup Revolution polishes. For me, the new square shape looks a lot better! The brush has also been updated and is now flat and wide which makes painting your nails much easier and quicker.

Makeup Revolution has really impressed me with this new collection! After trying out a few of the polishes it seems the new formula is really wonderful. The polish goes on smoothly and dries quickly to a glossy finish. From the polishes I have tried out the darker colours need only 1 or 2 coats for opaque and streak free colour but the lighter shades do need to be layered. I will, of course, let you know if this is not the case as I post swatches.

There are so many gorgeous new shades and I can’t wait to share them all with you. Check back soon as I will be posting swatches of the full Nail Geek polish collection!

Ra ❤

Makeup Revolution: Nail Polish Swatches Part 9

It’s been a while but I have more Makeup Revolution swatches for you today! I’ve used two coats for these which gave good coverage. As always, I’ve included a photo in natural light and a photo taken indoors with flash on.

Be Lucky In Love is a pretty pink-toned red.

Find True Love is the most perfect classic red. A stunning match for a bold red lip!

Midnight Connection is a deep navy very appropriate for the cooler weather. This formula is a little different to the rest as it is a sheer tinted polish but it does build up beautifully.

Eyes Like Angels is a really wonderful glitter. It’s full of green, gold and blue flecks in a cloudy base and the name is so pretty! I’ve used this over Maybe Tonight.

You can find more of my Makeup Revolution swatches HERE.

And if you like what you see you can buy the polishes over at Makeup Revolution.

Ra ❤

Valentine’s Day Love Heart Nails

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! I hope you all have a lovely time whatever you are doing. I won’t be celebrating much as me and Teddi thought it was a bit too close to our Civil Partnership which is on the 19^th.

But I thought I’d share some Valentine’s Day inspired nails anyway. This isn’t anything complicated. Sometimes simple nails can be the most effective! I decided to stick to the classic Valentine’s theme of bright bold reds and love hearts. Here’s what I came up with..

For this look I used Barry M’s Gelly Hi-Shine in Blood Orange. I think this is a perfect shade for Valentine’s Day as it is highly pigmented and super glossy! For the hearts I used fimo heart shapes which I bought a while back.

This was my first time using fimo shapes but it’s really easy and looks wonderful! I love how many different shapes you can get! I will definitely be using these in other nail looks very soon!

What do you think of my fimo heart nails? I really like the contrasting colours. It’s surprising how good red and yellow look together.

What’s your nail look this Valentine’s Day? Feel free to share comments or photos of your manicure. I’d love to see what designs you’ve all done.

Ra ♥

The Lion King ♥

Just a quick post for you today. The Lion King themed nails! :) I’m a huge Disney fan (you’re never too old for a Disney film!) and this is one of my absolute favourites so I wanted to try out a nail art based on it. And I have to say I think this is one of my best!

It was hard deciding what would be on each nail, some of the characters looked rather complicated but Rafiki is amazing so he had to be included. :)

I actually love how the horizon nails turned out, they’re quite cool. They would look good an every nail! I used mostly Barry M nail paints for this and a black nail art pen. The rest of the detail was done using a hairgrip. :)

I’d love to know what you think of my latest nail art. What’s your favourite Disney movie? Feel free to leave comments below. :)

Ra ♥

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine – Blood Orange

I finally went and got myself one of the stunning polishes from Barry M’s new Gelly Hi-Shine range. So for today’s post I wanted to share my thoughts on it. There are 9 shades in total, all of which are just beautiful! I chose to get Blood Orange as it’s a colour I’d wear a lot. It’s the most perfect classic red polish. Super bright and sophisticated! A timeless shade you can wear all year round. :)

Now, I’ve read various people’s thoughts on this particular shade since getting it and there’s been some mixed feelings towards it. Some said that you needed 2 or 3 coats to no longer see your nail line through it but I couldn’t disagree more. This is how it looks..

These photos are of just one coat and as you can see there is full coverage, no streaks and the final result is incredible. A glossy finish just as the name suggests! I’m not sure why others that have tried this didn’t get the same results that I did, maybe different application techniques, who knows! But I am very impressed with this and I can’t wait to try out the Watermelon and Blueberry shades too. :)

Have you tried any Gelly paints yet? What are your thoughts?

Ra ♥

Little Ladybird

I am slightly obsessed with the accent nail trend, as I’m sure you can tell. And this time I’ve got a cute little ladybird to show you.

I think this is just so fun! I especially like the googly eyes. :’)

I did this using Barry M’s Bright Red polish and I chose a black glittery nail art pen. I wanted my ladybird to be a bit jazzy! The ladybird was done just by adding a slightly curved tip and a line down the middle of the nail. Then I just added the spots and the eyes. Easy! :) I chose to have polka dots on the other nails too, but you could leave them block red if you want your ladybird to really stand out.

I think this is a really great design for beginners because it so simple and doesn’t need much of a steady hand. If nail art is new to you this would be a perfect place to start. :)

Ra ♥