Weekend Mani #19

Weekend Mani's are back!  I kinda lost my mani mojo although it is slowly but surely coming back, helped along by this little nugget right here.

Let me introduce you to 'My Current Crush' an O.P.I Liquid sand.

As with most of the Liquid Sands I have tried so far, you would get away with one coat, as in the pictures above and below.  That also had the added bonus of drying quicker if you are in a rush.

 This is two coats and it is perfectly opaque.  I really love this colour, it is just the perfect mid-purple and the silver glitter running through it just gives it that extra summin' summin'.

This post is a little picture heavy because I love it so... sorry.  I'm not sorry.

This was part of a set called 'The TXTure Effect' of which the other part was a 'Natural Nail' Base coat which is surprisingly something I have never tried from O.P.I before, I usually just use the Nail Envy as a base.

In sunlight this takes on an added warmth to it and the silver becomes more evident.  The texture is not overly abrasive, just enough so that every once in a while you find yourself stroking your own fingernails... just me then?!

As is standard, it features the O.P.I Pro-Wide brush for quick and easy application, unless you have tiny pinkies like me then the brush is a little bit too wide! 

I got this set in TKMaxx just before christmas for £12.99 and gave it to my mum to give to my brother to give me for christmas, yeah, that's how we roll at christmas.  I think most people are wary of buying a beauty products for someone has a stash to rival Superdrug but at the same time, I couldn't think of anything I would rather have than beauty, skincare or nails bits and bobs.  

Although Limited Edition, there are still one or two places where you can get this. 

I've never used this website before but they are offering free delivery as are Nail Polish Direct, here. If you do go a-browsing, particularly on Nail Polish Direct, watch out for some of the glitters that are priced at £19.95, I think 'The Living Daylights' and 'When Monkeys Fly' were the two I remember seeing priced as such.  There is no need for them to be that price, they are not hard to find so do shop around.

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

Weekend (ish) Mani #18 and a How To!

Merry Day After Boxing Day!

Have you had a look at the boxing day sales yet? I've ordered a few bits and bobs and so will post about them very soon!

My Christmas Day Mani was a bit of a quickie one, we were doing the cooking and prep etc for 11 or so people and so it was very, very busy!

I have made this into a wee tutorial type post too, since it's Christmas and all that jazz!

I have a multitude of different pictures too as my iPhone storage is kinda full and I still haven't figured out how to work my coolpix that I got for my birthday in July!

This mani was pretty simple, I was rather rushed and this was the only thing I could think of that didn't require too much effort (or thought!) on Christmas Day.

Here's the tools I went for: a selection of polishes, a topcoat, thread, scissors, dotting tool and a plastic tray thing for splodging my polish into.

After I applied my basecoat, I applied two coats of OPI 'I vant to be a-lone star, I love this for this particular mani as it is a frosty pale blue with a silver shimmer.  Some of my nails needed a third coat as there were some patchy bits.

Before adding the second coat, I cut the thread to size in preparation for the next step.

After adding the second (and third) coats of polish, I applied the thread to my nails before the polish was dry.  you can apply it in anyway you want, I quite like the loop on my pointer finger!

Use tweezers or the scissors to gently push the thread into the polish so that it adheres to the nail. 

I then applied a coat of topcoat just to seal it all in.

One thing I did forget which would have been really handy for while doing my dots would have been a cotton pad with nail polish remover on it to wipe my dotting tool on after each colour.

I then splodged my polish into the plastic tray, I started with yellow and did all the yellow dots on every finger before moving onto all the blue dots, then all the red dots and then all the green. 

The yellow I used was the Barry M Limited Edition Yellow I posted about here.

The blue I used was Nails Inc. 'Baker Street' quite possibly the bestest blue colour in the world ever!! I posted about it here too.

The red I used was the Mavala Rouge Rubis one I used last week, here, is a lovely little red.  I can't believe I have owned this for a whole year before using this, it really is a lovely, sparkly red and perfect for Christmas!

The green was a cheeky little poundland purchase but I really like the metallic effect.  It is a Sally Hansen Ultra HD in shade 'Resolution'. I have only ever worn this on my toes and although the colour is pretty lovely, the formula is quite thin and needs quite a few coats for opacity. 

I waited (not so) patiently for the polish to dry, trimmed the thread and then topcoated again just to keep it looking nice and shiny throughout christmas dinner!

This design could have so many variations, you could do a darker base or a glittery base, switch up the colour of the thread and silver and gold dots would make awesome fairy lights! 

Let me know if you give these a try, these would work well for New Years Nails too!

Hugs,

Jodi

So...about that 'no buy'...

I failed my self imposed 'no buy'.  Several times.  I went to TK Maxx and I failed.  I went to Boots and I failed.  I went to Semi-Chem, yup, I failed and then I had the audacity to buy a few bits on feelunique.com.  Ach well, as they say, you can't take it with you. 

TK Maxx had these two opi's including a limited edition liquid sand for £12.99.  I saved £12.99 on my winter boots from sports direct though so that balances out... Right? I'm going to give this to my mum to give to my brother to give me for Christmas.  Guilt appeased! 

In Boots, I bought a Max Factor foundation.  I have heard these are quite good for folk with pink skintones so I'm going to give it a whirl, the shade is the lightest one, 100 fair, so hopefully that will do the trick.  I haven't linked it as that particular shade isn't on the Boots.com website.  Also, because you were getting a free gift if you spent over £15, I also bought the wild shadow 2-in-1 gel shadow and liner pencil in the shade 05 which seems to be a nice bronzey brown and called 'Caramel Rage on Boots.com.  The free gift includes a full size lipfinity, a full size polish and a full size mascara which I shall review at a later date.

Now to Semi-Chem, I only went in for ibuprofen on the way over to my chums and came out with ibuprofen, oven cleaner (?!?!?) and a new nail polish, as you do. I got my first NYC polish for less than £2. That has been my mid week mani.

And Feelunique brought me the renowned Dr Bronner's magic soap in peppermint and Caudalie's beauty elixir in a limited edition L'Wren Scott designed bottle.  I had a £5 credit to use for referring a friend to Feelunique and it would have been rude not to use it! 

And I still haven't done my Christmas shopping! Yikes! 

Have you ever tried a 'no buy'?

How's your Chrsitmas shopping going?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx