Best of British: 30/12/12

2012 was the year Em's Little Corner was created, looking back through the blogposts this China Glaze dotticure is a particular favourite!

2012 has been a fantastic year for Kerrie from PishPosh and Polish. There has been some really memorable manicures and some really memorable nail polishes released! To sum up the year Kerrie has posted her Top Ten Polishes of 2012 are your favorites here? What would you have picked?

Polished Art was only created back in the summer, but Sam has had great fun blogging since! The highlight for her has been participating in challenges - being pushed to try new techniques and meeting lots of lovely bloggers :) Her first challenge was the Summer Challenge!

Northern Nails turned one in November , can't quite believe I have blogged for a whole year , so I thought a review of 2012 was called for, and a massive thankyou to you all for still coming back and reading !

Lou from Painted Nails & Baking Scales has her top two polishes to show you. First up, her all time fav, Haze of Love by Wet N Wild Megalast followed by her all time second favourite of the year Khloe Had a Little Lam Lam by Nicole by OPI .

Wendy from Wendy's Delights has really enjoyed the Nail Challenges this year, her fave being home made water decals with mini tutorial go on give it a go, it's fun! !

Anna of Anna's Polish Addiction has posted her top 5 2012 manis

This year The Teenage Shopaholic was... created! She started her blog in September and since then she has created some amazing things such as her Halloween mani , Birthday mani and Christmas mani.

Enjoy!

Sister Saturday! Galaxy Nails!

Good afternoon my little rose petals!

Today I am introducing something new to my blog, 'Sister Saturday'. The last Saturday of every month myself and my sister Letitia will go head to head and try out a manicure set to a certain theme. Then the readers will vote in the comments to let us know which manicure they like the best! We won't tell you who's is who's until we reveal the winner! So onto the Manicures:

Manicure #1:

From left to right: W7 #18, Barry M: Strawberry, Saffron #64: Matte Lilac, Barry M: Teal, Collection Bedazzled: Tea at the Glitz, Barry M Topcoat

 With Flash indoors

Outside in Natural Light

To create this look a base of W7 #18 was used as a base, Then the Barry M Strawberry, Teal, the Saffron Lilac and the Bedazzled Glitter were all dabbed on with a makeup sponge. Finally finishing off with a Barry M Topcoat! 

Manicure #2:

From Left to Right: W7 #18, Collection Hot Looks: Show Off, MUA Amaretto Crush, Miss Sporty Glitter Top Coat, Sally Hansen No Chip Top Coat

 Inside with the Flash On

 Outside in Natural Light

To create this look a base of W7 #18 was used here again! Then Collection Show off and MUA Amaretto Crush were dabbed on with a makeup sponge to create the galaxy colours. Then a coat of Miss Sporty Glitter Topcoat was used all over the nail. Finally this look was finished off with a topcoat of Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Topcoat to keep it strong and make it smooth!

I love both of these manicures, I had been dying to try out Galaxy Nails ever since I started getting into nail art. I'm very happy with my manicure, I wonder if you can tell which is mine ;)! Let us know in the comments which you think is better and we'll reveal who the winner is in the next Sister Saturday!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 12: Santa Claus!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays my little rose petals!!

I hope that you all get some good presents and that you eat and eat until you are stuffed! It isn't Christmas until you've eaten so much that you genuinely need to lay down! At least in my house anyway! This year I'm going to a restaurant for a 5 course dinner, that should be fun!

Anyway onto the manicure, so today's theme is Santa Claus! Originally I was going to paint his jacket on all of my nails, and then I bought this polish from Claudia at Holographic Hussy in her blog sale, and I completely changed my idea. Here they are:

They are supposed to be Santa in the snow! I used Barry M Blue Moon as a base and then my white Saffron polish to paint the snow on the ground. Then using a dotting tool I painted santa with red, black and ivory polishes. Finishing it off with a healthy coat of Glitzology Snow Day to make it look like Santa is in a snow storm! I really love this glitter polish, it really looks like the snow and is perfect for Christmas, it's a shame I didn't have it sooner for some of the other challenges.

So what do you think? 

I've had so much fun with these challenges and they've certainly helped my to improve over this month! I just wanted to thank the ladies over at Overpolished and Pink and Polished for creating this wonderful Christmas challenge and making me more confident in my nail art!

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! Let me know what presents you get in the comments!!!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 11: Tinsel!

Hello my little rose petals! Happy Christmas Eve to you all!

This is the penultimate challenge in the 12 Days of Christmas challenge, and on to my least Christmassy manicure of the entire challenge!

It's pink and sparkly!!! It's so girly and pretty, I feel like a Barbie doll wearing this polish! Now you may be wondering why I chose pink when it's the least christmas colour and I could have gone with Gold, or Red, or Silver. However the tinsel that we've hung in our house here at Uni (at least over our fireplace) is a bright pink, and I wanted to replicate it. I originally wanted to cut some of the tinsel off and actually stick it onto my nails, but I didn't think my housemate would be too keen. So instead I found my most glitter packed polish and used that instead! It's one of the Boots special edition Barry M 2012 Christmas Polishes and it's the only Barry M 2012 polish that I managed to get my hands on. I'm pretty sure that Boots had a gold one too, but when I got there all that was left was pink, seeing as I didn't own a pink glittery polish I snapped it up! Although the Barry M polish was very sparkly on it's own I wanted to add another dimension of glitter, so I used 2 True's Glitterati polish in Shade 2 which is clear polish with larger pink glitters in it! 

I love this manicure it's so simple and is as sparkly as tinsel, it's the perfect tribute to my final Christmas at university with my friends!

Let me know what you think in the comments! Also tell me if you've ever gone for a non-Christmas colour scheme at Christmas! 

Until next time...

12 Day's of Christmas: Day 10: Elves!

Hello again my little rose petals!

The challenge is almost done :') I've has so much fun and I'm definitely going to be joining more challenges in the future! Please let me know in the comments if you've enjoyed what I've been doing!

I wanted to make cute little elves on my nails, and I knew that I wanted to use my Green Envy by Saffron as I love the colour so much! I used dotting tools and nail art brushes to paint these cute little fellows! I know they aren't perfect, I didn't have a lot of time this morning to paint them!  

I hope you like them! Sorry for the short post today but a post is better than no post at all!

Let me know what you think in the comments, I love reading them!

Best Of British: 23/12/12

It's another Festive themed week at Pie's Eyes, including a Candy Cane manicure and a Snow Scene head over and check them out!

Emma's showing her favourite "party glitter" Nails Inc Rainbow St a party on the nails at Emma's Little Corner!

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has some Festive Robins for you this week! Check out her Christmas Tutorials page if you fancy recreating some christmas manicures.

Steph has some new friends she'd like you to meet =D

Has Enigmatic Rambles mastered the festive wrap styled nails? either way they are very pretty!

Anna of Anna's Polish Addiction has a new favourite polish - a gorgeous indie from Glitzology, she's also posted Nails Inc Disco Lane and two Christmas manis.

This week The Teenage Shopaholic has been... getting Christmassy! She created a cute Christmas mani to get into the festive spirit!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 9: Wreath!

Hello my little rose petals!

Oh my goodness It's the 9th challenge today, AND it's only 4 days until Christmas! Today's theme is Christmas Wreath! I've never had a Christmas wreath before although I have an idea of what they are supposed to look like and I am so pleased with how they turned out:

Apologies for the poor pictures, I ran out of sunlight and had to take these under a lamp :-(

Again I used the NYC Full Metal Jacket as a base but I also used Rimmel's Your Majesty on alternating fingernails, but you can't really tell in the pictures above. Then I used my Saffron Green Envy and a dotting tool to make the wreath, and then I went around with a nail art brush to make the edges look more like the leaves.  Next I used Barry M Red Glitter to make the bows at the bottom of the wreaths and finished it off with dots of gold and brown to decorate the wreath.

I'm so glad with how these turned out, alongside my Ruldolph the Red Nosed Reindeer nails this is one of my favourites! I'm thinking of wearing these throughout Christmas and if I don't I'll make sure that I recreate them on someone else!

Let me know what you think, and tell me what you want for Christmas in the comments!!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 8: Christmas Ornaments!

Hello there my little rose petals!

Today is the 8th day in the Christmas challenge! I can't believe how quickly time is going!

Today's theme was ornaments! When I think of ornaments I immediately think of Baubles! They come in all different colours, some are shiny, some are glittery, and they seem to be on every single tree! So here's my manicure:

It's not my most favourite of all the manicures I have done but I absolutely LOVE the gold base colour that I used. It's NYC's Full Metal Jacket and I think it's so beautiful, in fact I can see myself using it in some of the remaining Christmas challenges! Then I used several different colour glitters to create the baubles, although my favourite is the green one in the middle, it's an indie polish that I got in a Grab Bag! I've worn it a good 6 times since I got it and I'm still thinking of mani's to put it into! I can't believe that there are only four challenges left! I've had such a good time doing all of these and I've really loved looking at the work that the others have been putting in too! I'm so glad I've joined such a lovely online community and that I've been welcomed, it definitely makes me feel as though starting my blog was a good idea!

Let me know what you think in the comments, and tell me what your favourite Christmas ornament is!

12 Days of Christmas! Day 7: Snowflake!

Hello my little rose petals!

I am aware that I am a day late for this challenge, I had a seriously busy day yesterday and I just didn't have time to paint my nails! Today however I will be painting my nails lots! I'm trying to get all my 12 Days of Christmas challenges photos done as I am working from the 21st-24th and I won't have any time for my nails :-(

Anyway on with today's manicure:

I'm really happy with how these turned out! I used to fear free hand painting but now I just get on with it! I used Rimmel's Lasting Finish in Your Majesty and then painting the snowflakes on with my White Saffron polish and a nail art brush! I love how simple they turned out and I think they are really pretty! I'll definitely be wearing snowflakes again!

Let me know what you think!

Best Of British Roundup! 16/12/12

Hello my little rose petals! It's time for another Roundup! Check out what the other British ladies have been up to on their blogs down below!

Emma has taken on her polish nemesis Fantasy Fire at Emma's Little Corner.

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has been continuing her month of Christmas themes with Snowman nails. There's a tutorial too!

Danielle has some Christmas nail art this week with Snowflakes, Candy Canes and a festive Glitter Gradient over at Totally Nailed!

Rachel has been doing the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge over at Phoenix Nails

It's all about Christmas again this week at Pie's Eyes. A Christmassy French Manicure and some Christmas Stickers & Glitter are two of the featured festive designs, why not head over and check them out to get yourself into the Christmas spirit!

Beccy has been testing out her lastest indie polish purchase, Hare's King of Carat Flowers, at Two Days Slow

Jo at Northern Nails is showing off her mani she did for her outing to the , Good Food Show, in Birmingham a few weeks ago!

Kerrie gets festive this week with lots of Holiday themed nail art, including a holographic tape manicure go check it out!

Nada, adds some bling to her nails to create Blinging Skittles! check it out!

Kerry at JustTalkNails does a glittered Candy Cane manicure for the run up to Christmas.

Until next time...

Grab Bag from Polished Criminails!

Hello there my little rose petals!

A few weeks ago I saw a post on Facebook from Polished Criminails saying she was selling off some of her polishes in Grab Bags for £22 with stamping plates. Of course I jumped at the chance to feed my polish addiction for another few weeks!

My package arrived the other day and I can safely say I was not disappointed with what I got!

I got my first O.P.I polish!!! I've been lusting after several O.P.I polishes ever since I started this blog, I was just waiting for a time when I had a little extra money to purchase some! So I was so glad when I received this one! It's called Come to Poppy and it was opaque in one coat!

Beauty UK is another brand that I didn't own any polish from but I really love this colour! It's called Jelly Bean, although the colour is lovely I needed several coats of it for it to become opaque and it really shows the streaks from the brush...

Another first for me, a China Glaze polish! This is another brand I have been lusting after but just haven't had the money to invest in! I was lucky enough to get one in this grab bag! This is Icicle and I think it's such a beautiful colour!

Blue is my favourite colour and in my eyes it's a colour that you simply can't go wrong with! This colour from Collection 2000 Hot Looks collection is called BMX Bandits and it's a lovely colour that I can see myself wearing an awful lot!

This was a polish from a brand I had never heard before, but I loved the glitters. It's a polish by Black Radiance and it's called Swag Rock! It's got green, silver and pinky red glitters in it! This is two coats over China Glaze Icicle! My main issue with this polish is that it doesn't dry very quickly at all and I found that I kept smudging it constantly. I still love the colours though so I'll try to make it work!

I was kicking myself that I didn't snap up the Barry M limited edition Web Effects when I had the chance but I don't have to worry anymore as I actually have my own! This is the Web Effects over the Collection 2000 BMX Bandits! I think it's really sweet (even if it does look exactly like the Croc Effects) and I will certainly be trying to incorporate it into more manicures!

This is one of my favourite polishes from the grab bag. I'm not sure on the brand, I think it's a Spanish one and I couldn't find it online when I Google searched it, I'm also not sure on the colour name. It's a cherry red polish with tiny silver specks in it. It's sooooo prettiful and I'll definitely be wearing it a lot.

The final polish I got was an indie one! My first Indie Polish! (there are a lot of firsts in this post!) It's a Shimmer Polish and it's Linna. It's a teal glitter mix with red, blue and silver glitters in it also! I really REALLY love this polish. I'm wearing two coats in the picture above and it's pretty much opaque. This polish has just made me want my indie polishes from Glitzology Beauty to arrive sooner rather than later!

As well as these polishes I also got THREE stamping plates in this grab bag!

I'm so pleased with this grab bag! Seeing as it is the first I have ever purchased I was worried about what it was going to be like and what it was going to contain. I can safely say I'd definitely order a grab bag from another blogger again, I can't believe I managed to get all these fantastic polishes and plates for £22!!!!

Thank you so much to Polished Criminails!

Have you ever ordered a Grab Bag? Were you happy with what you got?

12 Days of Christmas: Day 6: Gifts!

Hello my little rose petals!

I completely forgot we had a challenge today until I got the email so I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was going to do. Fortunately I have managed to come up with something fairly decent! Also apologies for my horribly stubby nails, I really couldn't be bothered to wear falsies today! Here they are:

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, the auto focus on my camera is totally screwed and it won't take decent pictures. Hopefully Santa will bring me a new one (doubtful). I used the Barry M Magnetic that I got from a friend yesterday for Christmas! I've been wanting a magnetic for so long, and I finally have one! Then I used my konad white polish and Cheeky plate #16 to create a swirly pattern on top so it looked like wrapping paper. I then used red striping tape across my nails and finished it off by drawing a red bow with red polish and a dotting tool. I'm really happy with how these turned out overall but I'm kind of gutted that the red bows aren't more opaque!

Sorry this was a quick one guys! Hope you enjoy :) Let me know in the comments what the worst and best presents you've ever gotten for Christmas are!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 5: Holiday Movie

Good evening my little rose petals!

I cannot believe how quickly these challenges are going! It's completely unreal. My nails are still to stumpy to be bare so once again I am adorning the falsies. It seems every time that I put them on they get a little longer, although in the photos they still look stubby on my hands...

Today's prompt was 'Holiday Movie' and I don't know about you but my all time favourite film to watch at Christmas is Home Alone!

It's so funny, it's jam packed with good Christmas songs, and full of all the brilliant Christmas morals that we are all bombarded with every year! I really REALLY wanted to put Macaulay's face on my nails and I tried, but my idea failed so you have to settle for this:

I kind of drew the house from the DVD box and then I made Christmas lights which are obviously very prominent in Home Alone, and a Bauble, which reminds me of the scene when he's booby trapped the house and Marv stands on the baubles... Best. Scene. Ever! I also managed to find Gosh Holographic in Superdrug! So despite my ban on buying polish I had to grab it, and I used it as a base, I really think it sets the whole thing off! 

Anyway I hope you like them, and I hope you are enjoying these challenges as much as I am :-)

Let me know in the comments if you've seen Home Alone, and what your favourite scene is!

Best of British 09/12/12

It's time for yet another Best of British Roundup! Be sure to check out what the girls have been up to this week:

Emma has had a busy week of glittery posts, a liebster award and also followed a tutorial to create created this monochrome dottyicure and some festive penguin nail art at Emma's Little Corner

Jo at Northern Nails has been very busy this week she has been reviewing a British brand of Nails Polish and showing off a bit of Bling!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas over at Pie's Eyes, snowflakes are just one of the festive theme manicures Lyndsay has posted about this week.

Enigmatic Rambles puts the Bundle Monster Nail Plate Holder through it's paces.

Christmas has also exploded over at nuthin' but a nail thing, here are some Santa nails! There's also a tutorial.

Wendy at Wendy's Delights has been trying out her favorite type of polish Blue Magnetic and Bringing on the Bling with some Barry M Ruby Glitter

Who's looking forward to Christmas? Well Anna of Anna's Polish Addiction certainly is!! She's posted 3 Christmas/wintery manis, including a polish from the new Models Own Wonderland Collection and China Glaze's Party Hearty and also swatched Chanel's Peridot!

This week Nada created a simple snakey wavey design using two simple colours and a stamping plate!

Kerry at JustTalkNails does a Matte flakie this week with NYC Matte topcoat

12 Days of Christmas Day 4! Snowmen Nails!

Hello there my little rose petals! I'm posting this one a day early because I'm busy all day tomorrow! Today is the fourth in the 12 days of Christmas challenge, I can't believe how quickly it is going! I'm really having fun with this challenge and I hope you are too. So to my manicure!

One thing I'm noticing throughout these challenges is how much better I am getting a free hand painting. I'm not perfect but I'm certainly beginning to impress myself! I love snowmen so I wanted to focus on just them but to spice it up each nail has a different background colour! I also gave them little scarves just to add a little more colour so that the manicure didn't end up being too black and white! I think they turned out ok, I'd have liked them to be a little more perfectly polished but I'm so new to this polishing thing I kind of have to give myself a hearty pat on the back :-)

Let me know what you think? And in the comments write your best Snowman memory :-)