Crazy Color - Violette

You may have noticed that my hair looked a bit different in the last four posts compared to when I told you I dyed the ends of my hair purple here. Well basically after just three washes, ALL of that colour had gone. That wasn't really an issue for me since I was getting my hair cut a lot shorter, but if I wasn't I would be giving that dye a big thumbs down! But anyway here is the post explaining what's changed.

So, after my haircut last week, I realised I still wanted funky coloured ends. So I went and bleached a smaller section at the bottom again and repeated the whole process.

This time however, I used a different dye. I used Crazy Color Violette, which is described as an "Electric Purple". After using it, I would say it is actually more of a blue than a violet. Actually I would say it is blue (you'll see why I say that further down). Keep that in mind if you are thinking about trying it.

I bleached about 4 inches and then I applied colour to about 6 inches. I did this so that it would look a bit more gradiented, rather than a stark block of colour at the bottom. Again, like last time, I roughly straightened my hair at each step to ensure a level spread of colour. The consistency was that of the thick cream but it applied easily and spread well. No issues there.

I left it in for about 45 minutes, longer than your supposed to, I know. But I'm glad I did because the strand I washed out at 30 minutes was SO much lighter than the rest. This is the result two says after I washed it for the first time:

I really like it! Definitely going to be keeping colourful ends for a while! When this washes out, what colour do you think I should go for next?

Yes I got lazy with the straightening :P

Stay Strong Sweetheart

Hey everyone, you may have noticed that I've been a bit M.I.A recently.

There's two reasons for that, the first is that I've just finished the main part of The Challenge (which I would seriously recommend to anyone if they ever get the chance to do it!) last week, and the second is that my  health isn't getting any better and I'm in quite a lot of pain right now. But that doesn't matter...

I really feel like I'm neglecting the blog, so here's a mani I did today, which has a bit of a story behind it...

The story relates back to both of the reasons why I've been a bit M.I.A.

While on The Challenge, I met some amazing people, people who I will stay friends with for a long time. And one of those people has now become one of my new best friends. And that really is something because "best friend" isn't a title I give out very easily. But the the thing is, she really is the first person I've ever met that I can relate to SO much! She's also probably the only person ever to find out so much about me in such a short space of time. And like I already said, I'm in a lot of pain right now, and for someone who one month ago didn't even know I existed, she has been so incredibly supportive, both then and now. I feel so lucky to have met her, and I doubt most people will understand why but I really do feel privileged.

You might be wondering how this remotely relates to butterfly nail art, well basically they were the reason I first really opened up to her and vice versa. So if you're reading this: Stay Strong Sweetheart <3

Oh and if you were wondering, the base polish is Claire's Speckled Nail Polish and I stamped the butterflies with Layla Ceramic Effect 30.

Glitter Gradienting

Hey everyone, sorry I've not posted since Wednesday. I'm doing The Challenge and was in the middle of the countryside until this morning. I wont really be home for the next three weeks so if anyone would like to do a guest post for me, feel free to type it up and send the HTML to ddshah96@googlemail.com. :)

Anyways, back to the mani:

This is a mani I did a while ago but never got round to posting, so here it is. Glitter gradients are one of my favourite nail art techniques because they are just so easy to do once you get the hang of them and the colour combinations and possibilities are quite literally endless!

For this mani I used China Glaze Traffic Jam, a gorgeous raspberry pink, as my base. I then used Color Club Jingle Jange, a mix of blue, purple and holographic glitters, for the gradient. I topped it all off with a thin coat of W.I.P Midnight, a clear polish with large purple glitter and smaller blue and purple glitter, to tie it all together.

I really like this combo of the icy glitter against summery pink!

Anyway, thanks for reading! x

Hairspray Inspired Nails

So like I told you in this post here, the school play this year is Hairspray and so of course I had to do some nail art to match!

I didn't want to do anything fancy so I just recreated the original logo of the musical.

I tried to replicate the colours and letters as closely as I could. And it was actually really easy to create! All I did was paint the background colours, then using a nail art brush and polish, drew on the letters. Sealed it all in with a nice thick coat of Seche Vite and tah-dah!

Not too bad if I say so myself!

Angelica Brit Pop

I think I may just have found the ultimate budget glitter topper!

Glitter? Check. Multi Coloured? Check. Multi Sized? Check. Densely Packed? Check. Less than £3? Check. Easily Available? Check!

I think we've got ourselves a real gem on our hands!

So what is this gem I'm talking about? Well if you haven't read the title yet, this is Angelica Brit Pop.

And where did I get hold of such an awesome polish from? Primark! Yes, that high-street clothing store that has popped up everywhere! And they have a whole range of polishes available from neons right through to duochromes. And every single one is only £2.50 in store! (You can also purchase them directly via the Angelica website here for £2.75 each)

Anyway back to the polish:

Brit Pop is a mix of large and small hex glitter in a whole array of colours: Red, Gold, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink and Silver suspended in a clear base. Basically a rainbow party in a bottle!

But the thing that really won me over was that it was SO densely packed! A chunky glitter at that sort of price point is usually really sparse but this one definitely was not! And what you see in all of these pictures is ONE COAT!

I started with a base of Bourjois Rose Lounge, which is a neutral jelly/sheer polish. I did about 4 coats to achieve the opacity you see here. I then added one coat of Brit Pop. I didn't use any topcoat at any stage.

And since you probably all know that I love a matte glitter, I obviously had to try it out!

And I love it! Especially since the base was such a neutral colour, it made it look like it wasn't a polish at all. Instead, it looked like all that glitter was carefully placed on, or as if I had confetti on my nails!

Best of all was that the actual glitter didn't go matte, it still shone through and looked really cool against the neutral matte background.

JELLY SANDWICH TIME!! Haha, bit over-exited? Me? Never! ;)

I thought, since I had this polish on anyway, and the fact that the base colour was a jelly, I may as well try out a jelly sandwich! And it totally worked! I used two more coats of Bourjois Rose Lounge on top of the glitter and this is what I got:

(It looked good with just one extra coat but from a distance still didn't look like a proper jelly sandwich so that's why I used two)

So basically, for £2.50 this is one freaking awesome polish!

Mini Italian Polish Haul

A couple of weeks ago one of my best friends went to Italy and asked if I wanted anything....

Of course I said yes! I sent her a nice long list but told her only to get one or two of those things otherwise it would have cost her an arm and a leg and so here's what she got me:

Here's a quick swatch of each of them:

From left to right: Layla Bubbly Effect-Black Forest, Layla Ceramic Effect-30, Kiko Sun Pearl-River Green, Kiko Magnetic-704 Purple

She also got me a couple other bits and bobs that were on the list including some Kiko stuff and perfume from Duty Free (SO much cheaper than in the shops!).

So thank youuuu Aisha!! I love them! :D

Barry M Amethyst Glitter - Glitter Gradient

An old mani for you all today, but one I still love!

Back in September/October last year Barry m released a 'Jewel' collections, full of gorgeous glitter polishes. I didn't wait long before grabbing myself a couple and one of my favourites it Amethyst Glitter:

Instead of wearing it on its own, I tried it as a glitter gradient and I really do love it!

Amethyst Glitter is a beautiful mix of small and micro hex glitters in an array of jewel tones. There is a mix of turquoise, pink, gold, purple, black and red hex glitters and only turquoise micro glitter. It is so densely packed that one coat is almost opaque! 2-3 make it totally opaque and add lots of depth.

The formula was pretty good, slightly thick due to the amount of glitter but fast drying and smooth. It did dry to a slightly bumpy finish but a good thick layer of topcoat sorts that out nicely.

For this gradient I've layered it over Barry M Greenberry, a lovely turquoise one coater. The density of this polish made the whole process so much easier because there wasn't much base in ratio to the glitter so fading the glitter out was delightfully easy.

What do you think? Have you tried any of the Barry M Jewel collection?

O.P.I OPI Ink

Where have I been? Well.... On Tuesday I was about to leave for school when I fell down the stairs and landed on my back on a hard-wood floor! That was the LAST thing I needed especially since this week has been so busy in terms of exams. Anyway I'm okay (ish.. I'm in a lot of pain but it doesn't matter)

So back to the polish. First of all can I say, this is such a difficult polish to photograph!!! But it is so beautiful at the same time!

Here is O.P.I - OPI Ink, a polish that I've wanted ever since I first saw swatches of it!

It is a gorgeous blurple that looks magical in the bottle! The base is right between blue and purple and it is loaded with small glass flecks that shift from blue and purple right through to pink and even gold (although the gold is pretty hard to see on the nail). On the nail it settles as a duochrome deep violet shade in most lights and a deep navy occasionally.

Application was quite good. The first coat was pretty sheer and patchy and a second coat evened out the patchiness but a third coat made it totally opaque. At three coats it has this very luxe look to it.

It really does look like ink, albeit a colour-shifting shimmering ink.

The formula was easy to work with and I experienced no dragging but I was working quite quickly and my nails are quite short at the moment anyway. Dry time is normal but with three coats it did dry faster than I expected.

Under artificial light above, and under sunlight below:

The duochrome can really be seen under artificial light:

Under flash the metallic element really shows through, as does the bluer side of this polish.

So basically what I'm saying is that this is one heck of an awesome polish! It exudes gothic glamour and looks very luxe on.

31 Days of Nail Art Challenge - Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

Music.

Not much to say about it... I like listening to music as much as the next person.

So for this theme I chose the song LaserLight by Jessie J.

No reason in particular, it just so happened to be playing while I was thinking about what to do for this theme.

I did a laser mani using striping tape. It was actually pretty easy to do.

"You make me feel good, You make me feel safe, You make me feel like I could live another day" - Jessie J LaserLight

And here's a video of the song:

31 Days of Nail Art Challenge - Day 21 - Inspired by a Colour

Colour.

I LOVE colour!

Like I've said before, probably the reason why I love nail polish so much!

So for this theme I decided to do a pink to purple scattered holographic gradient. I used Orly Miss Conduct and O.P.I DS Extravagance.

Initially I tried it by sponging on the two colours but it didn't look right because the holographic particles would just sit on top of the colour, so instead I painted on the two colours and layered them slightly in the middle, where I then stippled them to make a smooth blend.

I really really like this!

I liked it so much that I didn't want to take it off! And so I didn't, instead I jazzed it up a bit and wore it all weekend while I went to stay with my grandparents.

Anyway I'm off to school now, for 5 hours of maths, with my headteacher. I'm not joking. 

Revlon Girly

It seems like the mainstream beauty brands have noticed the popularity of indie brands and so are following suit. Enter Revlon Girly.

Now this is a polish that you will either love or hate.

Its a sheer pale milky pink base full of purple, blue and rose gold coloured hex glitter and lilac and peach micro almost-holographic glitter.

The glitter is pretty dense so I found that one coat was sufficient and I didn't need to really place the glitter either which was good.

This is one coat (two on my ring finger) of Revlon Girly over Color Club Blushing Rose, which was the colour closest to the actual base of Girly.

Its a total Barbie-esqe polish and one that will probably look pretty tacky to most people.

I don't really like it much truthfully BUT after putting a matte top-coat over I think it looks sooo much better!

 So much so that I might even consider wearing it as a full mani!

I guess you could layer this up to opaque but it would probably take like 5/6 coats to do so.

I tried it out with one coat on naked nails and I did actually like it, but it showed some very obvious nail line so I don't think I would leave it at that.

What do you think? Would you wear it or is it just a bit too childish?