NOTD: Birds in the Sky

Late last night, I had a sudden nail art idea. I wanted to try out some more of my Skin Art Nail Tattoos and thought up a cute idea, using the bird tattoos and some old nail polishes that I haven't used in a while, Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream and 17's Mini Skirt.

This is such a simple, yet great nail art design to do.

Firstly, apply the blue base, I used Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream (which is the same colour as my car! Pretty cool.).

Once the base is dry, get a small piece of sponge, I tore a little piece off a bath sponge that I bought especially for nail art. Paint the white polish on to the sponge, I used 17's (now known as Seventeen) Mini Skirt. Then simply dab the sponge over the nails.

When the white has dried, clear up any mess around the nails. I used a cotton bud with a little nail polish remover to clear up the white that had gone beyond my nails.

Next, apply the birds. (If you have patience and a steady hand, you can create birds using nail polish or a nail art pen!). I used Skin Art's Nail Tattoos, which were in my goodie bag from the #NorthMeetUp. I used my tweezers to pick the tattoos from the backing sheet, then applied them to my nails, pressing firmly to secure.

Finally, apply a top coat to finish and seal. I used Barry M's All in One.

I found that the top coat improved the look of the sponged white polish, giving it a smoother, more cloud-like look.

Here's what the clouds looked like before applying a top coat.

and here's everything I used:

I'm really impressed with how well this nail art came out and I love Skin Art's Nail Tattoos! I have many more to use, so expect to see more nail art very soon.

xXx

Disclaimer: The Skin Art Nail Tattoos were in the goodie bag from the #NorthMeetUp. Everything else was purchased by me.

Festive Nails No.5 - Candy Cane

17 'Knockout Red' (freebie in an old GWP), white nail art pen from Rio Professional Nail Art Kit and Barry M All in One as a topcoat.

I love this festive look and I've had lots of compliments from people, friends, co-workers, shop workers and random girls behind me in Asda, talking to each other about how cool my nails are, haha!

Pretty quick and easy to do, though I struggled to do the stripes quite so neat on my right hand, as left handed is not easy for a 'Righty'.

These have lasted 4 days but have now started to chip, mainly the right hand - the one that will not be easy to re-do. The left hand is all good, bar 1 nail. Doh. I'm currently debating whether to attempt to re-do this look for tonight, leave as is for the night, or just remove and do plain festive coloured nails...

 Tonight, I'm going to my favourite pub, for the monthly DJ night. I can't wait! The last 2 were crazy-fun, so tonight will be brilliant, especially as it's Christmas time, so everyone will be more merry than usual and lots of awesome folk will be out.

Yesterday, I drove to Cardiff...yes, 3 whole hours drive there and 3/4 hours back in horrendous conditions, on my own, for Kids in Glass Houses Christmas Party gig. I've missed every year and decided to go this year, as they added a Saturday Matinee show. I planned to get the train but due to weather, getting to Cardiff via train was not happening. I had bought my gig ticket, £13.75 but luckily not booked train. I did consider bailing and losing out on the £13.75 but didn't want to miss the gig. So, I spent over £40 petrol and most of my Saturday driving!

Well worth it though, the gig was amazing, as always.

I fit in a little look round Cardiff's St. David's Shopping Centre after the gig, before heading home.

During the drive home, I realised I hadn't had any sugar the whole day, after hitting an energy slump, so I made a service station stop and got a Costa Black Forest Hot Chocolate, which was oh so yummy and did the job.

Today, I've done a little Christmas shopping and some chilling.

Now, it's about time to have a drink, blast the tunes and start getting ready for tonight :)

(I've been the sober one all weekend, when everyone else has been drunk, so tonight is my turn!)

Happy days!

xXx

Festive Nails No.2 - Ice Queen

Barry M Limited Edition Lilac Foil Effect and Limited Edition Silver Glitter

I love the cap on the LE Silver Glitter. I know, I sound sad but it is soooo pretty! When I first saw the polish, I wondered whether to get it, as it was ‘just a silver glitter’ and I have a couple already but it was worth it. It’s a great glitter, just 1 coat and it provides amazing coverage and it is full of glitter. You know how some glitter polishes can be a pain to apply or actually get any glitter out of them (without about 4 coats!)? Well, Barry M glitters are the opposite, just brilliant.

Have you tried either of these?

Tonight I went to see Stone Sour in Wolverhampton with my sister. It was amazing. Corey Taylor is God. Incase you didn’t know, he’s the lead singer of Slipknot too (not many people realise this and are shocked when they find out!).
Such a great night.

Tomorrow (well, in 7 hours and 45 minutes from now!), my local Cineworld’s ‘Movie for Juniors’ is Disney Pixar’s Brave, so (if I wake up in time), I am totally there! I’ve wanted to see Brave for ages and it’s only 90p (with my Cineworld 10% discount). I always check on what the weekly Movies for Juniors is, since watching Beauty & The Beast there back in the summer.

I may take a trip to Birmingham or somewhere for a city day out. I don’t have money to spend but I have £10 on Red Spotted Hanky to use, which I won on a Twitter giveaway that I didn’t even do anything for. I just got a tweet, how cool is that? So I may use that towards a train trip somewhere.

I also hope to fit in some hill climbing/walking, after last weekend’s fun lone adventure.

I like to keep myself busy!

Have a lovely weekend :)

xXx

Festive Nails No.1 - Glitter Plum

 

Nails Inc 'Plum' (free 2011 Diet Coke promotion) with 1 coat of NYX Precious Gems (NPS 139)

This will be the first in a small series of Christmas nail posts.

As a lover of nail art and nail paint, I decided I will do a blog post on each of the nail looks that I sport over the holiday period. I'll hopefully attempt some actual nail art designs during this time, there's so many I want to try, it's just having time and patience!

This first looks is very basic and quick to achieve, yet looks lovely and festive with a plummy-red, topped with sparkles.

I'd love to see your Christmas nails, send me your links :)

Are you all ready for Christmas?

- I'm totally unprepared, as always...

xXx

Frontcover Cosmetics Dark Arts Nail Kit

A while back, I attended (and blogged about) Frontcover Cosmetics AW12 launch party.

After the event, I was contacted by Lekha of Gloss Communications, on behalf of Frontcover and informed that I would be sent one of the new kits to try out and review. Very exciting.

I was happy when I discovered that I had been sent the Dark Arts nail kit. This was definitely the most popular kit of all the new collection and went down a storm at the launch. And as a lover of nail art, this kit is perfect for me!

Inside The Box 

4 Nail Polishes

1 Clear Top Coat
3 Sets of Bespoke Printed Nail Stickers
1 Nail Art Brush
 4 NEW Nail Decoration in Pots
NEW Dotting Tool
Orange Stick
Scissors
Mini Tweezers
Nail File
Nail Art Glue

As always, Frontcover’s kits are high quality, with detailed how-to’s, tips and photos to demonstrate what you can create using the products in the kits. A great gift for any beauty fan (or as a little self-treat!).

With nail art being a big thing this year (even outselling lipstick as the no.1 recessionary purchase!), this kit has everything a girl needs to keep on trend.

Here's my attempt at one of the looks from the kit, V-Point.

And here are the Laser Cut Leather nail wraps that I had done at the launch.

There are so many other kits from the AW12 collection that I would love to try, Kissogram being one of the top ones for me, being a lover of lipstick.

RRP £25. Available online, or on QVC TV (on certain occasions when the lovely ladies of Frontcover are on there). No longer available in Boots.

Past collections are also available on the Frontcover website and if you buy this Dark Arts kit, you will now get a free Rainbow of Colours kit (worth £16). OFFER ENDS WEDNESDAY 21^ST NOVEMBER.

Are you a Frontcover fan?

Have you tried Frontcover’s kits?

xXx

Disclaimer: Product kindly sent to me by Frontcover Cosmetics to review, following the launch event that I attended in London. I love nail art!

Nail Art: Fruity Fimo Fun

Tonight I decided to finally try out the fimo that I have had since July!

Fruity fimo fun :)

I used orange, lemon and lime (though the photo doesn't display the true colours).

This literally took me a few minutes.

How to:

- Finely slice fimo cane

- Paint nails

- Lick finger to pick up fimo slice

- Place slice on to wet nail

- Hold down

- Apply top coat

What I used:

- Fimo cane slices

- Jack Wills 'Electric Pink' polish

- No7 'Spice' polish (Limited Edition Spring 2011 collection)
- Barry M 'All in One' as a topcoat/sealant

 

I have a set of fimo canes which my sister bought me for my birthday.

50 designs, wowee! Going to have fun with these.

There are even Hello Kitty's in there!

Donna bought mine from Amazon.

Have you tried fimo nails before?

xXx

Frontcover A/W Preview

Gorgeous cupcakes, with Frontcover imagery and edible glitter

The set up at Karine Jackson salon

Dark Arts

One of my fave sets from the A/W collection

Lovely, highly pigmented lipsticks

The gold/navy twist on the smokey eye is stunning!

Waiting to get my nails done

Getting my nails did :)

The end result, Laser Cut Leather Nail Stickers

Gemma getting her nails done

Gemma's dotted nails

Blogger friends :)

The event was a great success, well done Frontcover!

Champers :)

Beautiful cakes!

Edible lip glitter on the gorgeous and very yummy cupcakes!

I trimmed the edges of the nail foils down

 

Such a great design!

A second cupcake, included in the bag we were given.

Sometimes, I am just this cool.

Yesterday, I attended the Frontcover Cosmetics A/W Launch at Karine Jackson salon.

I met up with my blogger friend Gemma Bellfield just before the event and headed there.

We had a warm welcome and were offered Champagne.

We met Michelle, the Co Founder and Director of Frontcover.  Michelle showed us round each of the new sets, whilst giving us a history of the company, the concepts behind their ideas and how they only use photographs which include the products in the sets.

It was great to actually meet one of the people behind the brand and Michelle was lovely!

Something that really stands out about Frontcover to me is the fact that they put instructions/how-to guides and images in the sets.  Rather than just having the product or a very brief ‘to achieve this look…’ Frontcover have easy-to-follow guides.

All the new sets are great.  When we were asked to choose a Gold, Silver and Bronze set, I really struggled to choose favourites!

I’m particularly loving Party Queen, Dark Arts and Sparkler.  I awarded these the medals.

Anything and everything that sparkles is a winner with me :)

They even have edible lip glitter; yes…you read that right…EDIBLE LIP GLITTER!

They used the lip glitter on the cupcakes, which was a great touch.

The cupcakes themselves were fab, with Frontcover imagery printed on them and oh, so tasty!

Another thing that stood out to me, was the golden Cupid's bow lip art, in the Kissogram set.  So simple to do, yet so different and effective!

We were offered to have our makeup or nails done, so like everyone else, Gemma and I went for the nails.  We all know how big nails and nail art are at the moment, right?

The leather cut nail stickers caught my eye as soon as I saw the Dark Arts set earlier on, so I chose to have these.

Gemma had black nails, with some bronze/gold dots.

We grabbed a cupcake to take out with us.

We had such a great time at the launch.  After this, we headed on to another event, which I will be posting about following this :)

Unfortunately, Frontcover will not be sold in Boots stores this year but you can buy it from the website, Sephora, or look out for the ladies making their QVC debut very soon!
The collection is now available to pre-order and prices range from £14-35.

Last year, I purchased the Style Queen set (after a mad hunt for it!), I did a short review and swatches of that, which you can read here.

Thank you, once again, to the lovely people of Frontcover Cosmetics for a fabulous event.

Have you tried Frontcover Cosmetics?

Does anything from the new collection catch your eye?

xXx