Sunday 29 April 2012

Giveaway!

Hello!

Just as one last reminder, my first ever giveaway ends in 12 hours!  That's Midnight EST (Rafflecopter doesn't work in GMT sadly).  Come one, come all and get your entries in!  :)

I will draw the winner using Rafflecopter on either Monday night or Tuesday ~ I'll anounce it on here and on the Happy Nails Facebook page when I do.

Thanks to all who have entered, and in general to all who read my blog ~ you are lovely!

Lisa xx

Saturday 28 April 2012

'Care to Danse?' Stamping

Hello!

Today's post features the last polish I bought before my no-buy ~ Opi's Care to Danse?.  It's a sheer lilac that I thought would make a lovely base for stamping :-)

So, first I applied 3 coats of Care to Danse? (as I did, I got excited to do a French manicure with it in the future, as at 2 coats it looks wonderful!).  Then I stamped a leaf design using Barry M's Lilac Foil and plate BM19...




Yay delicate lilacy goodness!

The complaint I have with this stamping design is that it's too small for the nail, and because of the nature of the leaf pattern it's hard to line it up and get a good end result.  However, so long as you don't look too closely at the sides of my nails I love it!  I'm going to be trying lots more stamping designs and colours over Care to Danse? in the near future.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Friday 27 April 2012

Claire's Gold and Copper Glitter

Did I mention that I wish Claire's polishes had names?!

This is another £2.50 buy: a polish containing sprinkles of small gold glitter and large copper and gold hex glitter.  And it looks REALLY cool.  Here are 2 coats over 17's creamy brown Forever:



This mani makes me think of cookie crumbs!  The spread of the glitter was a little uneven, but adding that second coat helped and gave a great look.  I am really glad I bought this!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Thursday 26 April 2012

Claire's ~ Iridescent Glitter

Hello!

I do wish that Claire's polishes had names!!!  Iridescent seems the best way to describe this glitter top coat ~ a lovely, ethereal blue shimmer.  And it only cost me £2.50.  I put a coat of it over yesterday's Black Multi Glitter by Barry M, and here it is:




It is soooooo pretty.  It makes me think of a fairy-frequented pond lit by moonlight!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Giveaways and No-Buys

Hello!

Firstly, just to let you know that there are 4 days left to enter my first ever giveaway!  Max Factor's Fantasy Fire, Accessorize's Aztec and some cute nail stickers are waiting to be won!  Good luck my lovely entrants ^_^

Secondly, I am officially going on a no-buy.  Indefinitely!!!  I have over 200 polishes, tons of stickers, decals, foils, dried flowers, glitters, a pile of stamping plates... enough to create original manis for a million years!  Because of my problems and illnesses affecting university, my future is nowhere near certain, so I should really be trying to save money.  Today I received OPI's 'Care to Danse?' in the post, which is a polish I really, really wanted, and from now on I will be ever so frugal!

But thirdly... I have been considering offering to buy and send UK polishes to people overseas who can't get them.  My giveaway will be my first experience in mailing polish, so we will see how that goes and then I may be showing up on Polishaholics Anonymous to offer my services!

Thanks so much for reading,

Lisa xx

Sweet Flowery Stamping

Hello!

Here is more stamping happiness that I am really quite proud of!  Firstly I painted my nails alternately with OPI's Play the Peonies and I Vant to be A-Lone Star, then I stamped an all-over flowery design in silver using Bundle Monster's BM16 plate.  And here it is:



Yay for good stamping experience ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Barry M ~ Black Multi Glitter

Hello!

Here for you is another Barry M newbie, Black Multi Glitter.  It is a black polish with multi-coloured glitter in it.  Well... at least their names are accurate if not imaginative!!!  Shown below are two coats, but if you were in a hurry and wanted a quick mani you could  probably get away with one.





The main grumble is that, on the nail, it does not live up to the magical promise of the polish inside the bottle.  A high-shine top coat does well to bring the sparkle out a little though, and it is in fact a really cool polish to wear out and about.  What do you think?

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Monday 23 April 2012

Barry M ~ Silvery Lilac

Hello!

Today I'm showing you one of my latest purchases, one of Barry M's new polishes called Silvery Lilac!  And it is exactly what it says on the tin: a lovely, shiny, shade-shifting silvery lilac ^_^  Here are 3 coats:





I'm feeling a bit better to be British now we're getting some cool polishes out!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Sunday 22 April 2012

Nail Inc ~ Marylebone

Hello!

This is the polish I have on right now, Marylebone by Nails Inc!  It's part of the set of three pastel 3D glitters that I got in a 3 for 2 deal at my local Nails Inc concession.  Marylebone consists of baby pink micro glitter and larger silver hex glitter.  Here are 3 coats with plenty of top coat:



With flash:



This is a fab glitter!  I don't like it quite as much as Maida Vale, the lilacy-silver of the set, though.  I think it would have looked better if there were a mix of pink and silver in both of the glitter sizes, rather than just having pink micro and silver hex.  But still, a pretty, standout polish, and I will wear it with joy to university tomorrow!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Friday 20 April 2012

French Mani with Stamping

Drumroll please...

I have managed... to do a French manicure that actually looks alright!

:-O

I followed the advice of some lovely commenters and chose one of my less-creamy French shades to better suit my natural nail tone.  On top of that, I stamped a nice little leafy pattern in blue on the side of each nail.  It's not that neat but it will certainly do!



Hugs,

Lisa xx

Thursday 19 April 2012

My Stash!

Hello!

A post on Polishaholics Anonymous inspired me to take pics of my stash, and here they are!  After getting them all off and back onto my bedroom shelf I can now confirm that a) I have 204 nail polishes, and b) some of my dud polishes have been sat dejectedly at the back of that shelf for way too long, and they have given me a new dust allergy XD

So, here are the pics!  If you have any questions about specific polishes, or want a better pic of any of them, please ask away and I'll get back to you in the comments, on your blog or wherever you like!

Reds, oranges and yellows:


Greens and blues:


Purples:


Pinks:


Beiges, whites, silvers and blacks:


Shatters and top-coat glitters:


Phew!  So much polish!!!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Nails Inc ~ Maida Vale

Hello!

I have for you today 'Maida Vale' by Nails Inc, which I just bought yesterday!  Normally I say a firm "no" to £11 polishes but it was 3 for 2, I'd just gotten my student loan, the sales girl raved about my stamped nails... and they are pastel full-cover glitters!  They looked amazing!  Heehee.  So I now own all 3 shades and do not regret it.

Maida Vale is silver with a lilac hint to it, which comes through depending on the light.  It's a mix of micro glitter and larger hex pieces.  Here are 3 coats with plenty of top coat:





OK, I really freaking love this polish.  It genuinely looks like I have crystals encrusted on my nails.  It just looks SO GOOD.

As with other "3D" glitters this needs plenty of top coat to tame the gritty finish (I used 2 coats of Boots Essentials top coat as it's quite thick, and finished with a coat of Sally Hansen's Super Shine), but that's to be expected.

Is it worth £11?  I will never be 100% behind such expensive polishes, but this is the closest I've come!  If you can afford it I say go for it.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Tuesday 17 April 2012

A Little "Hello" and a Stamping Attempt!

Hello!

First of all, a reminder about my giveaway!  Fantasy Fire, a gorgeous duochrome and pretty nail stickers are to be won ^_^

Today I start back at university for a few weeks before exam time.  I've had a lot of stress-related illness and am trying to work through it with counselling and my doctor... and yesterday I found out that I had to do a presentation.  Today.  On a subject I'd missed 90% of the module for.  Which sent me into a complete state of panic!

Somehow I actually managed to get a presentation written ~ and whilst it's not going to be pretty, I hope this is a step towards getting better xx

Enough of the babbling and onto the polish ;-)  Today I have for you another Bundle Monster stamping effort which, while a pretty design, is still a bit of a fail!  I used the cherry French design on plate BM17, with a white base and 17's Risky Red as my stamping polish.


Yep, definitely need to practise my lining-up skills!!!  On a positive note I found a great new stamping polish in Risky Red ~ what a colour!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Monday 16 April 2012

Happy Nails' First Giveaway!!!

Hello!

I am very nervous but very happy to annouce my first ever blog giveaway!

I never imagined that my clumsy little blog would ever have 108(!) followers, and I am so grateful to everyone reading.  Seeing that people have looked at my manis, or posted a comment, really brightens my day and makes me so happy.  Thank you!

PRIZES

Without further ado, here are the prizes!


Max Factor ~ Fantasy Fire
Accessorize ~ Aztec
Glow-in-the-dark Nail Stickers

About The Prizes

Max Factor's Fantasy Fire is the UK polish of the moment that everyone is in love with (including me), so I just had to get a brand-new bottle for the giveaway!  Accessorize's Aztec is an amazing duochrome which shifts from purple to gold to green ~ this bottle has been swatched once.  And the glow-in-the-dark flower stickers are a little extra ^_^

You can see my blog posts showing the polishes here:
http://happynailsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/max-factor-fantasy-fire.html
http://happynailsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/accessorize-aztec.html (it just wasn't my colour, but it looks so good!)

About the Giveaway

~ This giveaway is open internationally.
~ It starts on the 16th April and ends 2 weeks later on the 30th.
~ After the closing date, a random winner will be chosen!
~ Please do let me know if I've done something wrong or if something isn't clear, thanks so much!

How to Enter

Just fill in the giveaway form below!  You can gain entries by following the blog, liking my new Facebook page and tweeting about the giveaway.

Sunday 15 April 2012

Stamping Happiness and an Announcement

Hello!

Firstly, my announcement: I am holding my very first giveaway!!!  The post with all the info and the entry form will be published at Midnight GMT tonight, and that's when the giveaway will officially open.  Basically I am so happy to have you visiting my blog, and I really want to say 'thank-you'.  Please do join in!  

Also, I have just started a Facebook page for the blog.  It's at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Happy-Nails-UK/217995408304323 ^_^

And onto today's mani...

Last week, I finally caved and bought a set of Bundle Monster plates from Amazon!  Expect a lot of nail fails to come as I grapple with stamping, but hopefully a lot of pretty manis too.

Today I am showing you my first successful BM stamping attempt!  I used the beautiful, floral swirly pattern on plate BM20, with Revlon's Cloud as my base colour and No7's Violetta as my stamping polish.  I waited a long time before applying top coat, as I know too well the heartbreak of smudging a perfectly-stamped mani!



Yay ^_^ I am so happy with this design and can't wait to try out lots of other colour combos and plate imagess.

The only slight problem I have with BM plates is the sizing - some of the individual images seem very large, and the full-cover images are narrow and I need to 'top-up' the sides of my nails.  That doesn't show at all on the end result though, not to me at least.

Here's to lots of stamping fun, and I really hope you come back tonight to join the giveaway!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Thursday 12 April 2012

Miss Sporty Sparkle Touch

Hello!

Today I am showing you a present from my lovely fiancé!  Miss Sporty's Sparkle Touch is a top coat glitter consisting of small silver/holo glitter and larger blue and silver glitter.  I decided to try 2 coats over a pastel pink (17's Sweet Kisses), and am very glad I did because I absolutely love it!



Yay ^_^

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Wednesday 11 April 2012

The fakest mani of them all!

Hello!

Even though I removed this mani straight away, I just had to share it because I am always so proud when I pull off a neat, opaque French!

Of course the problem with this mani is that it was the fakest thing I ever did see.  I am still trying to work out how to produce a good-looking French manicure, and this was not the moment of revelation.


Eek!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Revlon ~ Emerald City

Seriously, how many polishes are named 'Emerald City'?!

Being honest, I mainly bought this polish because it was on sale in Poundland, and it is nigh-on impossible for me to pass up any polish for a quid!  But the 'matte suede' label intrigued me also, so I put on 2 coats to have a look!


...and here it is with non-matte top coat, looking equally nice:


It is a really nice polish with a beautiful deep sparkle.  Despite it not being my colour at all (I can't pull off demure or sophisticated!), I actually wanted to keep the polish on ~ which surprised me!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Monday 9 April 2012

Dotty Half-Moon

Hello!

Doing dotting manis always makes me wish I were better at producing neat nail art... because this is a lovely idea. I painted my entire nail white then, using page reinforcer stickers, added blue to the main part of the nail. Then I took out my dotting tool and added some very clumsy polka dots!


Hugs,

Lisa xx

Sunday 8 April 2012

I call this mani... the broken TV!

Massive shiny explosion ahead!!!

Heehee, when I wore Glitter Gal's dark purple holo for the first time a short while back, I decided to try my nail foil shard idea over it.  Aaaaand, this is the result:



Not over-the-top-crazy at all.  No clue what you mean!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Saturday 7 April 2012

Rainbow Dried Flower Mani!

Hello!

A little while ago Nail Delights had a flash sale on dried flowers, and I just had to get some! For what I believe was £3.50, I got a little box with lots of mini flower sprays, 12 colours in all.

One of my 'signature' manis is to scatter these little flowers onto a romantically-coloured base, and today I made the most out of my set by using 5 colours for a dried flower skittles.  I don't celebrate Easter but I suppose this does make a for cheerful mani to usher in the warm weather and blooming flowers :-)


Oh I do love my dried flowers so ^_^

My main concern at the moment is not knocking my nails, as I have SO much polish on them (I chose a sheer French cream for the base and built up 4 coats before even starting on the flowers!)... hopefully they will survive!

Hugs,

Lisa xx