Halloween manicure: China Glaze "DV8"

I frickin' love this teal holo :) The formula is thick and unwieldy, and it's tricky to apply and can leave serious bald spots but with careful application the result is stunning! You can't really see how vibrantly holographic it is here, my camera is too crap!

I chose this to cheer myself up after shaving the Man's beard off for Movember - he looks lovely without it but I loved that beard :(

Pink October NOTD: Bloom "Molly"

I wanted a bright pink today so I chose this neon pink from Bloom. It's truly neon - it's in fact so hot it screws up my camera and it can't focus properly :O I am going to try and photograph this is daylight, and it might go better. This is 3 coats with a coat of Mega-Shine top coat. You have to be careful applying this as it can streak but other than that it's a cracking colour :)

First snow!

First snow of the winter has arrived and I feel I am not ready after the crappy summer we had... :O But it still looks so beautiful and serene :)

Top Beauty Myth #1...

DON'T add remover to your polish EVER. It's meant to break down the polish so all it  will do is ruin the formula and make the polish separate. In a pinch you can thin it with clear polish but ideally use nail polish thinner, which basically puts back the evaporated chemicals to improved the formula. And DON'T store polish in the fridge... It doesn't stop evaporation and the time my friend did it all her polishes separated irreparably and she threw them out.

Pink October NOTD: China Glaze "Bad Kitty"

The little glass beads of my MUA Nail Constellations fast disappeared between the keys of my keyboard at work today to the point when I thought "What will I say happened when the IT department ask when I have to request a new keyboard as the glass beads have lodged in the keyboard and destroyed it?..." So I decided to take it off...

I love this glitter from the China Glaze glitter collection of 2009 - the colour and the name! :) I layered this over Collection 2000 Hot Looks "Neon Art" which is a creme very close to the base colour of this glitter. The glitter is dense and looks almost foil-y when you layer it on. This is 2 coats of "Bad Kitty" over a coat of "Neon Art". So sparkly - best viewed slightly out of focus :) It's a bit 'gritty' on the nail and requires 2 coats of top coat to become smooth. But it's worth it :) Again, it looks almost orange in the photos here - it's more pink in real life!

Pink October NOTD: MUA Nail Constellations "Gemini"

I spotted these on The Nailasaurus some time ago but being in the North-East of Scotland, it takes time for new stuff to travel... :) I finally found that my fave Superdrug had not only had a fantastic re-fit but also now has a massive stand for MUA! So I got this baby and also "Pisces" Nail Constellations, but I'll have to wait til Pink October is over to show you that one!

I started with a nude pink manicure to really make the statement nails stand out. I decided on my old classic China Glaze "Innocence". This is 2 coats with top coat. But I kind of wish I'd done a pink manicure with this instead now... I then slapped on a blob of quick-drying top coat on the nails with the beads, quickly sprinkled on the beads, then patted them down so they really stick to the polish :) I've has a couple pop off already but I expected that - I don't expect the statement nails to last! Then you just have to be patient to let it dry thoroughly before you try and tidy up... Using the silicone nozzle on the bottle turned upside down you can pour the left-over beads back into the bottle easily! These retail for a nifty £3, and come in five 'constellations' (colour blends)!

It was really hard to photograph - the sharp photos made it look awful :( I must try a daylight photo for this...

"We interrupt this program for an important announcement..."

So here is the polish eluded to in the last post - KBShimmer "Oh splat!". I am not usually crazy about the indie nail polish scene as I am fairly afraid of chunky glitters (the removal makes me cry) but then I happened upon swatches on other blogs of this polish and I knew I needed it...So I am sorry to break the pink theme for October but I just needed to wear this!!

I got this from Harlow & Co, but it was already sold out 30mins or so after the restock on Saturday! :O You can sign up to their Facebook and also alerts on each polish so you won't miss a restock.

This is 3 thin coats with Megashine top coat. I made a mess on the cuticle of a couple of nails trying to re-position some glitter bits, I should have just left it alone... It doesn't really need any moving of glitter particles, it seems to put itself on just fine. I overloaded the brush on the last coat however and ended up making a mess... :( It's not a gritty polish at all, the glitter bits seem to be very, very thin and lie very flat.

This is a magnificent polish :) I love how it's so colourful, yet not?...

To make up for the lack of pink polish I thought I would show you my glamorous Cyclamen house plant :) How gorgeous is she??

Pink October NOTD: Max Factor "Diva Pink"

I am hotting up the pink a little bit with this fuchsia beauty! This is one of the mini polishes from Max Factor, so it's a teeny-tiny bottle. All the mini polishes are very colourful but at RRP £3.99 perhaps a bit expensive. Formula on this is good although I would suggest 3 coats for longer nails as its a slightly see-thru formula. In the same collection is the marvelous "Fantasy Fire", which would have been  a sure contender had it been 'Purple October'! :)

Pink October NOTD: Rimmel LycraPRO "Pink of me"

I love this colour - but it looks a bit too peachy in my photos compared to in real life. It has a secret shimmer to it. Some compare it to Chanel 'Mistral' and from photos it does look very similar! I will do some daylight photos for you as well for this beauty.

This is 3 arduous coats - it can go bald and streak if you are not careful! Let each layer dry before you do the next layer, including the top coat layer! The black bit under my pinkie nail is a remnant of Barry M "Ruby Glitter" and I just can't get it off!! I only took off the Barry M as I am requiring a subtle mani for work tomorrow...

Pink October NOTD: Barry M "Ruby Glitter "

So I continue my foray into Pink October for breast cancer awareness with a slightly strange pink polish :) Barry M has been bringing out some incredible polishes this year - they've always been the off-beat colourful high street brand but this year they have excelled themselves! :) I scored this polish in Superdrug the other day while buying blister plasters for my feet (my new River Island Ugg boot copies are eating my Achilles tendon..) This is another one of their new glitter polishes. It's pink and black hexagon glitter with little black bits in a clear base. This is 3 coats, I did try to do some glitter placing but it as just a bit messy! I was was distracted between coats trying to help the Other Half try on his new chest waders so it was a good thing the polish dries really fast. But being really quick-drying means it also gets goopier and goopier with each coat, as you can see from bits of glitter pretty much all over the cuticle :( I tried tidying it up with acetone on a q-tip but it wouldn't budge... I can see myself soaking this off as I would a gel polish manicure with foil wraps :-/

I've got an awesome polish coming all the way from Canada soon, and I might well have to interrupt Pink October to put it on!.. I will keep you in suspense until it arrives....

FAVE PRODUCTS: Sally Hansen Nail Quencher cuticle cream

I just wanted to show you my favorite cuticle cream! At night I still use nail oil, I use Solaroil at the moment, but I keep this in my handbag for the office and on the go now as my cuticles are going crazy with the cold weather!

Pink October NOTD: The Body Shop "Twinkling Pink"

I bought this is the half price sale after Christmas 2011 :) It's amazingly sparkly, especially in sunshine. It's has a pale, cool-toned pastelly pink colour. The formula is a bit gritty with all that microglitter and hard to control - but I think that may be down to the brush as well maybe? This is 2 coats of polish with a coat of Megashine top coat. Once you have top coat on the polish is perfectly smooth! I had some problems with the formula so the application was a bit messy...

Pink October NOTD #3: NYC "Midtown"

I continue my pink polishes for October - and I love a bit of a hot pink shimmer polish so I chose this one for today :) Please excuse the mess, I managed to drop the open bottle which I was finishing and so got polish all over my hands :( I then had to touch up some nails which had got slightly dented so they got a bit messy...

The formula on this is kind of jelly-like but still quite pigmented, but it requires a good 3 coats to cover properly. I have cut my nails really short again so visible nail line is not a problem for me. I slicked on some Megashine top coat to speed up the drying, even though it's a quick drying polish.

Pink October NOTD #2: Barry M "Pink Sapphire"

I continue my pink October NOTDs with a brand new glitter polish from Barry M! They've got some really great new polishes this year including glitter magnetic ones and gel-look ones. I love a bit of Barry M so when I saw this I knew I had to have it :)

I used a coat of my good old pink creme Rimmel LycraPRO "Urban Princess" as a base, as this polish comes in a clear base. Since my nails are still stained with window paint, I needed an opaque base.This is one of those 'blob it on' glitters. You need to slap on a big blob of it and move it about to get it as loaded as you want it. It gets really thick but multiple coats can be just patchy. I used a coat of the holo glitter Essie "Carnival" under it to give it even more bling! I put on two coats of top coat to smooth it out but it's pretty lumpy still. But the amazing sparkle of this manicure far outweighs any awkward application and lumpy finish :D

OPI "A-rose at dawn broke by noon" updated

Here is a daylight photo of my NOTD; it still doesn't look as pink like it does in real life but it's a lot closer!