Swatch : OPI - Live and Let Die

Evening everybody ! So I'm reeeeeeally sorry I didn't get to post last night, or the night before for that matter ! I've been busy socialising with my family while they've been over so I haven't had time to post anything really before having to go to bed ! I promise I will make a concerted effort though to post for the rest of the week for you all, as much as I can manage anyway !

So today I'm showing you OPI Live and Let Die, a goooorgeous deep forest green colour with loads of scattered gold and greenish shimmer running through it. This polish is from the OPI Skyfall collection for Christmas 2012, but I reckon it can be worn any time of the year ! It's such a pretty shade, and it really glows in the sun !

I used two coats for this swatch, although it was already really pretty opaque on the first, but the second coat really adds depth to the polish, and much better shimmer coverage ! The formula was great on this, really easy to apply, and I also used a coat of Seche Vite which really added to the glossiness of the nail varnish !

And that's all for today folks, I'm off to bed as I've got an early start (again) tomorrow morning ! Hopefully the weather is going to start brightening up a bit more now here, I've had enough of this cold weather ! Perhaps I'll do some floral nail art tomorrow, we'll see !

Swatch : OPI - The World is Not Enough

Hey there everyone ! So I'm super tired today, suffering the effects of the drowsy medicine I had to take yesterday and I've been walking most of the day today seeing as my family is over, lots of shopping ! But anyway, I'm doing a quick post for you before I head off to bed, seeing as I said I would yesterday and all !

Today I'll be showing you OPI The World is Not Enough, from the OPI Skyfall collection for Christmas 2012. This nail polish is a light-ish brown silvery shimmer colour, with great rosey pink undertones (which actually show up really well in the above photo for some reason), super super pretty !

The formula for this nail varnish was quite thin an sheer, so I used 3 coats for this swatch, plus Seche Vite, but the consistency of the polish was really great so I didn't have any problems with the application ! The colour of this nail varnish was really hard to capture properly for some reason, but I reckon the first photo is probably the most acurate, but then again, it's one of those polishes that looks different from every angle and every light !

The shimmeriness of this nail varnish really is impressive, and all the different ways you can see its colour is truly amazing !

So yeah, that's all for today really ! I'm super tired now and I've got an early start in the morning with lectures so I'd better go off and get ready for bedtime ! Night night everyone, I'll try and post again tomorrow !

Swatch : OPI - Vant to Bite My Neck ?

Hey everyone ! So I had planned to do some nail art today, but I woke up this morning with really bad vertigo for some reason so I've been bed-ridden all day ! Couldn't even bare to sit down to concetrate on my nails, so instead I've been sitting sorting out the swatch photos I prepared last week, and that's what you'll be getting today I'm afraid ! Plus my Mum and sister are arriving here tomorrow so I'm afraid it's going to be scheduled swatch posts until I'm free to do my nails again on Thursday when they leave (can you believe I've STILL got GoldenEye on my nails ?) !

So today I've got a swatch of OPI Vant to Bite My Neck ? for you all, from OPI's new Euro Centrale collection for Spring 2013. Vant to Bite My Neck ? is a deep deep dark aubergine purple, that can go from being super bright and vivid in the sunlight, to really really dark in the shade.

For this swatch I used two coats, although if you're careful you can do it in just one (I think there's more depth to it with 2 though) ! I also used Seche Vite over this colour, as I had to go to lectures before it would have time to dry completely, but if I had the time I could have easily left it without, as it has an amazing hi-shine glossy finish to it.

I personally LOVE this colour, and I think it's going to come in really useful with future nail art designs and such, so I'm really looking forward to using it more ! I think it'd look great in a floral design with a few other colours.. we'll see !

I'm going to go to bed now and get some rest (even though I've been in bed all day), so tune in tomorrow for another swatch post that I'll sort before my family arrives in the morning (probably won't post until early evening though, so keep an eye out) ! Night night everyone !

Swatch : OPI - GoldenEye

Hey there everybody ! Sorry for the lack of posts these past couple of days, I've been seriously tired and therefore catching up on lots of sleep since Saturday night (only got 4 hours sleep, ugh, long story), and so I've been feeling too lazy to do my nails and post ! Anyway, I got plenty of sleep last night and so I've been swatching again for you today, and here I am with another OPI !

So today I have OPI GoldenEye to show you all, another polish from the OPI Skyfall collection from Winter 2012, and it's soooooooooo pretty ! I had a hard time taking photos that actually showed the colour as opposed to just reflecting the light, but I still managed to find a couple that showed it up okay ! This polish is a yellowy/orangey gold glassfleck polish that's packed with glitter flecks, I love the colour !

For this swatch I used 3 coats to reach opacity, it looked very sheer(ish) at first and didn't cover much of the nail, but as soon as I did the second coat it built up really well, and the third coat was just to hide any nail line you could still see under the polish. The formula for this nail varnish was really good, as with all OPIs, although it didn't dry as quickly as I'm used to, so I've used Seche Vite just to fix it all up quickly !

And that's all I've got for tonight everyone, I hope you like this polish as much as I do ! Do you usually wear gold polishes ? Or do you tend to avoid them ? I only ever really wear gold polish for a special occasion or whatever, but after swatching this one I might have to start wearing it more often !

I'm off to watch some TV now and then I'm off to bed ! See you all tomorrow folks !

Swatch : OPI - You Only Live Twice

Hey there everyone ! So I've decided I may as well post something for you all tonight, seeing as I'm on a roll swatching loads of nail varnishes (in preparation for some scheduled posts for when my Mum and sister come to visit at the end of next week) ! I've got a particularly pretty swatch for today's post, and as a matter of fact I'm currently wearing it because it's such a great colour !

So this is OPI You Only Live Twice from the OPI Skyfall collection for Winter 2012, and it's basically a seeeeeeriously beautiful raspberry pink red glassfleck shimmer polish. The shimmer in this polish is great, making it practically GLOW magenta even in the shade ! I'm in love, and I can't believe I haven't worn it until now, even though my Mum wore it on her nails while I was still in France at Christmas !

I used two coats for this swatch, the formula was great (as with pretty much EVERY nail varnish by OPI) and it made everything come together on the second coat ! I also used Seche Vite on top of the swatch, just to make the shimmer in it really pop !

I seriously can't stop staring at my nails, I think this seems to be a common side effect with most of the nail polishes from the OPI Skyfall collection, it certainly was with Tomorrow Never Dies (need to find some more uses for that colour other than just swatches), not that I'm complaining or anything, I can't wait to have more polishes with the same effect !

So that'll be all for today everyone, stay tuned for most probably another post tomorrow evening ! See you all then !

NOTD : Rainbow Half Hearts

Evening all ! So, as I was moaning about it in yesterday's post, I managed to do my nails this afternoon today and I'm following through with it by posting relatively early as well in comparison to a lot of my posts as of late ! Anyway, on to the nails !

So this nail art design is the idea that suddenly came to me last night while I was writing up the Valentine's Day post, and yeah I have to say I kinda like it, but I'm not as in love with it as I have been with a lot of my previous designs ! I think it looked better in my head, and I would really like a better green nail varnish for my collection seeing as I'm lacking ! I feel the ring finger with the green and blue could have stood out more if I had a better green ! Oh well !

For this design, the nail varnishes I used were (in rainbow order, of course) OPI Big Apple Red, OPI My Back Pocket, P2 Hug Me, Kiko Acid Green, OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and OPI Funkey Dunkey. I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for some good green creme nail polishes, any suggestions from you guys as to what I should get ?

These nails seem to look more rainbow-y from a distance than they do close up, the thumbnails are looking far more impressive right now than what they look like on the nails ! You notice the gradient effect I was going for when you look at the photos from afar ! I really love the overall design though, as you may have seen before in my Half Hearts post that was inspired by Whitney at Dressed Up Nails !

Right, I'm going to watch a film before going to bed, might even put my pyjamas on now and watch it in bed because I'm sick of sitting on this office chair ! Have a lovely evening everybody !

NOTD : Valentine's Day

Hey everybody ! Once again, another late post from me ! I really need to start posting earlier and doing my nails earlier than 7pm because it gets to the point when I'm too tired to do my nails properly ! The fact that I've been reeeeeeally uninspired lately doesn't help either, I don't know what it is, I just can't seem to find anything I really want/can be bothered to do on my nails ! I'm going to try a new routine where I do my nails earlier in the afternoon and perhaps that'll help, we'll see ! Anyway, on to the V-Day nails !

I could have done something soooo much more original than this had I had some form of inspiration, but hey, here's some generic Valentine's Day nail art for you ! I'm quite pleased with the hearts on both my index and middle finger, but am rather disappointed with the other three nails... oh well, that's what you get when you only start your nails at 8 o'clock !

For this nail design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI My Very First Knockwurst, OPI Big Apple Red, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. I've been rather over-doing it on the hearts recently, haven't I ? It seems to be my go-to design at the moment for some reason, I'll just go with it though, I might get some inspiration from it !

So that'll it for tonight everyone ! I promise, next year I'll try and do something more original on my nails, perhaps I'll finally be out of this uninspirational phase and get some more interesting designs out ! I have an idea for tomorrow's post, and I've even written it down so I don't forget what it is, I'm just going to hope it turns out as I plan !

See you all tomorrow everybody ! I'm off to bed !

NOTD : Ikea Floral

Hey there everyone ! I finally had a decent amount of time today to do my nails (Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty busy for me with my new timetable for this semester), and seeing as I got nail mail the other day with several polishes I have been lusting after for a looooong time, I've at last been able to do a design that I've had waiting for a while !

Before I came back to the UK in January, I went on a trip to Ikea with my Mum to buy a Helmer for my growing nail varnish collection, and, of course, we had to stop by the fabric section (my mother LOVES fabric and sewing and all sorts of crafty bits and pieces, so we always spend a long time there). When I was looking through all the bigs sheets of fabric, I came across this rather nice looking floral one, but, naturally, I didn't want to do ot on my nails until I had my off-white polish !

For this design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the base colour, and then for all the different flowers I used OPI Big Apple Red, OPI Skyfall, OPI Live and Let Die, OPI OPI Eurso Euro, OPI Can't Find my Czechbook, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ? and H&M Hunt Me Down. To paint the flowers, I just used a large thick paint brush and just dabbled flowers on randomly, it was really quite easy to do ! A lot less precise than most of the florals I usually do, which was a relief !

I really really like this manicure (although I have taken it off now, as I felt like doing my nails again with yet another new nail varnish), and I think it's really Spring-y, just need the weather here to go with it, we had SNOW earlier on yet again, although I think it's supposed to be warming up tomorrow, hallelujah !

Anyway, I'm going to watch a bit of TV now before I go to bed.. early start in the morning, plus the fact that I went on a huge walk earlier this afternoon and I'm completely knackered from that ! Goodnight everyone, and I'll be back with another post tomorrow !

NOTD : Heart Skittles

Evening all ! So I didn't end up doing my nails yesterday as I had originally intended, I walked down the hill into town in the morning and then walked all the way back up it ! Needless to say, I was knackered, and just watched films for the rest of the day and cooked ! I've been far more productive today though, and so I've got a brand new NOTD for you all ! Enjoy !

Today's nail design came to me thanks to a couple of t-shirts I bought yesterday morning, one of them being a light minty green colour, then other being a bright plum purple. I lined up those two colours in the form of nail varnishes, then added in a couple of my new polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale collection I received on Friday, and then threw a light purple into the mix and voilà, I had my colour combination ! The hearts on top were just an idea to mix up the different colours and bring them all together !

For this design, the colours I used were OPI OPI... Eurso Euro, Essie Mint Candy Apple, OPI Casino Royale, OPI Planks A Lot and OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. I think these colours really work well together, my favourite combination is probably my thumb, the mint hearts just really stand out against the dark and bold background !

Another reason for me to love this manicure even more is the fact that I actually did both hands exactly the same today, so glad I actually had time for it because I love it when they're all the same ! How often do you end up leaving your dominant hand a plain colour or plain design when you do your nails ? I get bored of doing it quite often now, but I try to persevere because I love how it looks in the end when I put the effort into it !

So that'll be all for this evening folks ! I'm pretty tired now so I'm just going to watch something on TV and get an early night.. bliss ! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone !

NOTD : Gliding Lines

Bonsoir everyone ! So here's a quick post for you all before I go off to bed, I managed to spend most of the afternoon trying to find inspiration for my nails (plus a way to use my new OPI nail varnish), and so this is quite a bit later than I would have liked ! Anywho, I'd better get a move on writing this (she says after spending a further 5 minutes trolling through Facebook), if I'm going to get an early night !

I'm not sure where the inspiration for this nail design came from, but I have to say, I'm in LOVE with it ! It's a shame I couldn't be bothered to do the same design on my right hand, but oh well ! The colour combination came pretty much out of nowhere as well, I just picked up a couple of random nail varnishes and they just happened to go quite well together !

So for this design, the colours I used were OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, which is the polish I received yesterday and I have to say I'm thrilled to bits with it ! It just looks so much less stark that full-on white, and I think it makes the colours in the design blend better together ! I also used OPI Skyfall and OPI My Very First Knockwurst for the other coloured lines.

Today's nail art didn't actually take as long to do as I had anticipated, it still took quite a while though (trying to get all the lines just right) but I think it was totally worth the time it took ! This is another design I'm definitely going to have to try again with other colour combinations, the possibilities are endless ! Hopefully next time I'll leave plenty of time to do my manicure, and then I'll actually be able to do both hands properly !

So that'll be all for today you guys, I'm off to bed, my lectures started again today so I'm tired after my first day working again after a rather long break ! Night night everyone !

NOTD : Mini Hearts

Hey there everyone ! So I've been busy catching up on bits and pieces I have had to get done recently and I've been really busy today (giving a tour of the university to prospective students), so I ended up having an early night last night and didn't get a chance to post the nails I did ! Nonetheless, I'm here tonight to post them for you, and I hope they don't disappoint !

So obviously it's the time of year for doing all the lovey-dovey manicures and nail art for Valentines Day, I wasn't really planning on doing anything in particular nail-wise but last night my mother suggested I do this sort of design, and so I did ! I have to admit though, it was a struggle getting them done : I didn't get very much sleep Monday night and so I was super tired yesterday and kept doing stupid things like accidentally knocking my nail on the table and smudging my base colour... ugh, I was getting so irritated, so I just stuck with two accent nails ! I bet it would have looked really great if I'd have done all the nails, maybe some other time !

For this design I used OPI My Very First Knockwurst for the base colour, and then for the hearts on the accent nail I used OPI Big Apple Red. I really love how this design looks, and I reckon it'd look great with other combinations, maybe some brighter, more original combinations to veer off from the "traditional colours" for Valentines Day (plus you can wear it any day of the year then, happy days) !

And that'll be it from me today ! I got a new OPI nail varnish today, the ones from the Euro Centrale collection should be arriving soon as well, so perhaps I'll have to include my new arrival in some nail art for tomorrow's post ! Let's just say it's a colour I've wanted for quite a while now, and I think it's going to prove to be particularly useful for nail art !

I'll see you all tomorrow hopefully everyone ! Have a great day !

Swatch : OPI - Tomorrow Never Dies

Evening all ! I said in yesterday's post that I would post something again today, even though I've left it right until the last minute when I should already be in bed, I've got a super pretty swatch for you all today ! As I've said before, I got the OPI Skyfall collection for Christmas, and I've been dying to try some of them out, specifically the ones I haven't managed to use in any nail art yet, so here you go, today's swatch !

Every time I show the Skyfall collection to anyone, they always point towards this colour, so I figured it ought to be this one to swatch first, and I'm so glad I did ! OPI Tomorrow Never Dies is pretty much what I would call the "definition of blurple", there's just the right balance of both blue and purple, which makes for a really great nail varnish ! The shimmer in this colour is AMAZING, very blue-toned and far more noticeable in person (in fact it looks 10 times better in person than in my photos, believe me) !

The formula of this nail polish was great as well, and I needed just two coats for the opacity in these swatches... in fact I only ever really do two coats, works great every time with most OPIs ! I used Seche Vite on top for these swatches, but honestly it doesn't really need it, maybe for longevity, but it's just as shiny without top coat as it is with !

So what do you all think of Tomorrow Never Dies ? I think I'm actually in love with it, it's just so perfect ! I'm definitely going to start thinking up ways of incorporating this nail polish into some nail art, and I think I might have to start wearing more polishes by themself, I have so many pretty polishes that I really need to wear more often !

Anyway, I'm off to bed for now, but I'll most probably be back tomorrow with another post, aren't you lucky ! See you all then everyone !

NOTD : Gingham Style

Hey there everybody ! Woah, two days in a row ! Can you believe it ?! I've got soooo much spare time at the moment seeing as I don't start lectures again until Thursday, and I'm struggling to find stuff to do ! I even resorted to doing some ironing earlier on as I literally had nothing else to do, oh woe is me ! Anyway, I did my nails first thing this morning, which means I'm actually able to post them at a reasonable time today, woohoo !

My mum suggested that I ought to try doing some gingham nails (and she even came up with the tasteful title for today's post), and I really didn't anticipate how long this design would actually take me. I remembered looking at gingham tablecloths and napkins and stuff and always noticed that the "lighter" colour was actually just the block colour with alternating white stripes, and so I decided to do that for my nails today ! I also saw whilst browsing earlier that Katy from Nailed It did a tutorial on for a gingham design using tape (probably far quicker than my method today).

So for today's design, the nail varnishes I used were American Apparel T-Shirt, and then for the green I used OPI Jade is the New Black. I decided to go with green as it's a traditional colour theme for gingham (as is red, but I didn't fancy the tedious removal process that comes with it and its staining), and I didn't realise what a great Christmas green Jade is the New Black is, shame I didn't realise at Christmas really, I've been looking for one everywhere !

So what do you think of today's design ? I personally think it looks far better from a distance than it does close up, it's just a shame it took such a long time to paint ! I couldn't even be bothered to paint the design on my right hand and so I just went with plain simple stripes on that hand, oh well !

I'll see you all again tomorrow everyone, perhaps with a swatch, or maybe some more nail art, we'll soon see !

NOTD : Golden Royale

Good evening everybody ! So I'm back after my week away, and believe it or not, my galaxy nails from last Thursday's post actually survived the WHOLE week (only a bit of tipwear, nothing major), so today has been the first chance I've had this whole time to do my nails ! I've got a few more days off before my lectures start again, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to fit as much nail art as possible between now and Thursday, I don't have anything planned in particular, so we'll just have to see how things go !

I've been wanting to use some more of the OPI Skyfall collection polishes, and when I did my godmother's nails during the week using OPI Casino Royale, I suddenly got the idea for today's design ! I foolishly didn't take my makeup sponge for doing gradients with me (or my gold flake top coat either) so I couldn't do this design for my godmother, but I knew I'd be doing it for myself as soon as I could do my nails again !

For this design I used a base of OPI Casino Royale, then I used OPI GoldenEye on my index and middle fingers for the gradient, and on all the other nails I used OPI The Man With the Golden Gun (words can't express how much I love this nail varnish). GoldenEye is such a great nail varnish for doing gradients with, it's really easy to build up on the nail, and the gradient effect is really easy to obtain !

So that's all for today everybody, hopefully I'll be back again tomorrow with a new NOTD or a swatch, we'll see what happens ! I'm also super excited because I've just pre-ordered some of the new polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale collection, plus OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, so I'm already planning nail art I can start doing with those, not to mention planning bright Spring nail designs (not that my nails ever really reflect the seasons, I wear anything whatever the weather on my nails), it's just an excuse to do loads of floral designs, happy days !

I'll see you all soon guys ! Have a great day !