We're All Stars!

So I promised a wee tutorial on how I did my starry nails and here it is!

First things first, if you are using a base colour apply it as you usually would. You can topcoat it now with a quick drying topcoat - can you say seche vite? - if you want to but it's not totally necessary.

Leave your basecoat to dry as long as possible, there is going to be tape involved and you want to minimise any chances of the base colour lifting.

I got this nifty little gadget from TKMaxx in their crafty section in the home department.  I was on the search for pretty much this exact size of star but had no joy in hobbycraft, all the punches there were too big.  

I found a UK based website which stocks the Knockout Punch Starter Kit for £8.06 + £3.50 Uk delivery, £7 international delivery.  A bit more than my £4.99 at TKmaxx, so please try there first!

That website has a selection of the Border Punch inserts, here, so you can get lots of different designs, they would be quite cute for maybe a scalloped edged french - I may investigate further! 

Get some Scotch Tape and place it on some baking paper, this makes it much easier to punch the shapes into the tape.  Punch the holes into the tape and when you are ready to use it, left the tape gently off the baking paper.

Place the tape over the nail, pop your polish over the top, give it a few minutes to dry and very gently peel the tape up.  The corners, or points, of the stars are inclined to lift - this is where a cocktail stick can come in handy if you need to do any small 'pinpoint' repairs. 

Hoorah!  I was chuffed with this! It is so simple to do and the tape on the baking paper trick was a revelation!

If you give this, or any nail art a go, I'd love to see it on instagram.  Find me @jodisayswhat 

Hugs,

Jodi
xxx

Weekend Mani #20

So, last week when I posted my weekend mani, here, you would be forgiven for thinking that I had pretty much declared my undying love for 'My Current Crush'.  Being somewhat a polish harlot, I have a new love this week and it has left me wanting more! 

Meet 'Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow' an O.P.I Suede. 

This is why I love O.P.I.  This is essentially like a matte polish and was released maybe three years ago now, way before most other brands jumped on the textured bandwagon.

One coat in and things are looking a fair bit patchy but the essence of the colour was definitely there, a nice emerald green.  The shimmer appears very fine and not in a metallic or frosty kinda way. 

With a second coat, it begins to take on a whole new meaning! When first applied you can see glimmery, shimmery things starting to happen and then when it dries it has a gorgeous matte but better finish. 

This is two coats and the colour is a lovely, deep emerald green.  The texture feels quite nice too, there is no roughness to it.  As it is supposed to be a suede finish, topcoat is not recommended so that does narrow down wear time, I had a decent amount of tipwear 36 hours later but it was still presentable.  On the plus side, it dries pretty quick so you can do your two coats in less than 10 minutes. I have some pictures of this with various glitters etc which I might do as a wee collage, I just couldn't resist! 

Aaah, it's like someone took the evil dark fairy 'Maleficent' from Disney's Sleeping Beauty and bottled her! I love the almost villainous glow that the shimmer and finish to this polish evokes and it has definitely left me wanting to try more of the suedes.

Interestingly, the suedes are not really that similar to their namesakes which is a little bit bizarre, see what I mean here and here!

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Hugs,

Jodi 

xxx

Weekend Mani #15

Pinch, Punch, it's the first of the month!

December, seriously?!?  I was feeling a little bit Christmas-y this weekend and so this weekends mani definitely reflects that.  I was also at a a wedding and was wearing a berry coloured dress and so this colour complimented my dark hair and dark outfit quite well. 

Meet 'Honey Ryder' one of the delectable Bond Girls released this year as part of a six piece liquid sand collection by O.P.I. 

Love it. I applied this on a minibus, in the dark, going up some country roads to my chums wedding venue (we were going for the evening reception as we had both been working all day.) This went on like a dream, you could pretty much get away with one coat of this, similar to the other liquid sand, 'Get Your Number' , here.

The colour was more of a metallic sandy gold and dried down well.  It wasn't too gritty but the texture definitley gave it an extra dimension and gave a twist to what could have been a very safe mani.  Did I mention I love it?! I have a wee tutorial coming up involving this which would be great for christmas ;-) 

It doesn't have a multitude of different glitter particles, it does just appear to be a proper 'suits any skin tone' gold.  It doesn't lean too warm, too bronze or too cool, it's just right. I fear I may be starting to gush a little! 

The one problem that I'm finding is that it seems to be sold out on a lot of sites, what I would recommend is to keep an eye on sites such as nailpolishdirect, asos etc in case they restock (it is gold and it is christmas so we can hope!).  You can also get it on the likes of Amazon and ebay but always be wary that there are quite alot of fakes going around nowadays.  Also be aware that polishes sent from the states may never reach you as there are a lot of restrictions in place regarding posting polishes now. Phew.

In this picture, I'm trying to show that although it is a textured polish, it doesn't leave nails looking all bumpy and uneven.  I don't mind the texture of the Liquid Sand polishes but I know for some people it's a big no-no, that is something to keep in mind if you are thinking about buying it for someone else.

The colour doesn't change much in different light sources either.  As I mentioned, it applies easily, even on a minibus, and it has the typical O.P.I pro-wide brush.  It dries super duper quick and after 36 hours I had no chips and that was with no base coat *gasp* and no topcoat.  I didn't get round to trying it with topcoat to see if that changed it much. 

Ideally I would have used the foil method, see here for that, to remove this polish but it's going to be another one of those walking to work whilst removing my polish mornings tomorrow.  Pretty much dragging the weekend out as long as possible!

Also, there is a facebook group called 'Nail Sale' where a lot of lovely ladies buy and sell polishes, I think this is where I got this one.  Some polishes may be brand new, some may be swatched once or twice but for brands such as O.P.I and Nails inc, you can sometimes get them at half price.

Have you tried any Liquid Sands?

Have you got an Advent Calender this year??

Hugs,

Jodi xxx

Mesmerising Flakies!

At Christmas last year, I noticed this Andrea Fulerton Gemstone Overcoat in Superdrug and I hummed and hay-ed about it, when I eventually went back to buy it, it wasn't there!! Sad times! Luckily enough, good ol' Amazon saw me right.

This is OPI Fly with the Gemstone Overcoat as an accent nail.

The Gemstone Overcoat  is so versatile and looks nice over a range of different colours and it can be quite mesmerising, it can go from yellows and blues to oranges and reds.

I love the way it shimmers!!

The polish is known as a 'flakie' as the particles are flake-like rather than small glitters.

How do you feel about glitters?

Have you tried 'flakies'?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx