Winterberry Nail Art Review - Part 1

 *Some products in this post were discounted in exchange for review.

Hi guys, recently I was contacted by the lovely Rachel from Winterberry Nail Art, to see if I would like to review a few items from her Etsy store.  She stocks a range of nail art supplies including some really cool 3D charms, and one of my favourite things ever - circle glitter!  How could I say no.........

Sunday Spotlight: Sinful Colors - Verbena & Nail Junkie

 Hi guys, sorry it's a little late, but I'm back today with another edition of Sunday Spotlight.  Today's brand is one I have only tried very recently, Sinful Colors.  They are available from Boots at a mere £1.99 for 15ml.  I bought mine in-store, but they are also available online here, with a much better selection than my local Boots.  All they have is a cardboard stand at the end of the others, and that was half gone......it was Boxing Day though :)
* This will be a picture heavy post - yaaaaaaay!

Shimmer Polish - Karen

Hi guys, today I have a gorgeous swatch of Shimmer Polish - Karen to share with you.  This was the base for this mani from the 33 day challenge, and has been sitting in my un-posted folder for ages, so I thought it was about time it got it's turn in the spotlight!  Karen is a stunning mix of lavender pink and purple glitter, with lots of other colours in small amounts.  I won't try to name them all, as there are way too many.  Cindy is a genius at complex glitter mixes, and always seems to know what colours really work together, but I don't think I could ever name every single type of glitter in any of her polishes :)

A-England - Briar Rose

 Hi guys, just want to start by saying that I'm really sorry. I promised you 1 more Christmas mani yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to take a photo of it before going out for a meal with my family.  After the meal, I headed over to the shops since I was already in town, and had a pretty epic shopping trip with my xmas vouchers.  Unfortunately, one of the things I bought was a Barry M Nail Art pen, and in the taxi home, I was doodling (very badly I might add) all over my mani with it before I realised I hadn't taken pictures......duh!  On the upside, I am liking the pen.............

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas everyone!  Just wanted to do a quick post to show you guys the nails I had on yesterday for Christmas Eve.  This is Sally Hansen CSM - Gilded Lily, stamped with A-England - Perceval and MoYou Festive 03.  The glitter accent nail is Dragonglass Nails - Animal which has been sitting in my untried box.  I will be swatching this polish soon, I really like it!

Tomorrow, I will be going out for a meal with extended family, but I should have one last Christmas mani for you later in the day.  Christmas is always spread across 3 days in my family, so I still count tomorrow as Christmas :)
Hope you all had a fab day,and I'll see you guys tomorrow :)

Iconic Effect - Princess Drops

 Hi guys, today I have another gorgeous UK Indie polish to show you.  This has been sitting in my untried box for quite a while now, but since Iconic Effect recently won the category of Brand of the year in the UK Indie awards held on Facebook, it seemed like a perfect time to wear it!

Sunday Spotlight: La Femme Beauty

 Hi guys, I'm back with another edition of Sunday Spotlight, and today we are looking at a couple more La Femme polishes.  First up is this gorgeous red jelly polish called Crimson.  This is packed full of red and gold micro-glitter and a few specks of purple too.  It's available for 99p + 35p shipping here. (Listed as 095 - Crimon Red Glitter)

Festive Abstract Foil Mani

 Hi guys, today I have a mani that I have been planning to do for ages now.  You may remember my Abstract Foil Mani from Day 14 of the Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge.  It's one of my most popular mani's to date, as well as being a personal favourite of mine.  Well, this is a festive version of that mani!

Tara's Talons - Heads Will Roll

 Hi guys, I'm back today with another amazeballs UK Indie to show you.  This is Heads Will Roll by Taras Talons, which as you can see, is skull and cross bone glitters in all sorts of colours in a clear base.  I am very partial to skull glitters, so this baby jumped in my basket the second I clapped eyes on it.

Watermarble - Take 2

 Hi guys, today's post is something I've had sitting in my unposted folder for a while now.  You may remember that during the 33 day challenge, I attempted water marbling.  You can see the semi-successful results here. Well, a week or 2 later I decided to give it another shot, and it came out much better this time.

A-England - Bridal Veil

Hi guys, I'm back today with a stunning A-England polish to share with you.  This is Bridal Veil, and this was an early Christmas present from the Mr.  He got me Red & Black from the Harmonies collection, which is Bridal Veil & Perceval for £15.  I love that Adina has introduced these duos/trios, they're great value, and she has a holiday grotto section too now, with some more great deals. 
I do have quite a weak spot for A-England's, and Adina is making it very easy for me to indulge myself! 

Sunday Spotlight: Gallery Colours (Festive Edition)

 Hi guys, today I'm back with the second post in my new Sunday Spotlight feature.  The brand in the spotlight today, is another purse-friendly brand called Gallery Colours.  This brand can be found floating around ebay sometimes, but I have also seen them at car boot sales and on market stalls too. They generally retail for £1-£2, and have a wide range of colours and finishes.  Unfortunately, I can't find either of these shades on ebay at the moment, but this is the listing I got mine from originally.  May be worth keeping on your watch list if you're interested, just in case it gets re-stocked.

Candy Canes with A-England.

Hi guys, I'm back today with some festive nail art to show you.  The base for this mani is A-England - Perceval, and boy is he a stunner!  I was pretty sure I took photos of this before stamping over it, but since I can't find them anywhere, I must have forgotten. I don't mind though, it just gives me a reason to put it on again!

Indy's Indies - Tinsel

*Products discounted in exchange for review.
Hi guys, I'm back today with one more Christmas polish from Indy's Indies to show you.  This is Tinsel, which is a mix of short red bar glitter, and gold and silver holo longer bar glitters.  I know that there are a number of people with a disliking for bar glitters (personally I don't feel too strongly either way), but I really like this for a festive mani.  It looks just like tinsel, and the holo from the gold and silver bars is pretty impressive, so there will be a little video clip at the end so you guys can see it!

Guest Post at The Crumpet

Hi guys, sorry for going AWOL for the last few days, I've had a really crappy week, and just needed a few days to get myself sorted. I should be back to a normal schedule by the weekend. :)  I have some really exciting news to share with you today though! I have the honour of appearing in a guest post on The Crumpet today :D  I can hardly believe it myself.  I would love if you guys could go and check it out here.

Sunday Spotlight: La Femme Beauty

 Hi guys, sorry it's a bit of a late one today, I didn't get around to doing this swatch until this afternoon!  Anyway, let me introduce you to my new weekly feature: Sunday Spotlight.  Basically, every Sunday, I will be showing you swatches for a couple of very budget-friendly polishes from various brands, with a little bit of nail art here and there.  Everything featured in these posts will be less than £5, however some of these polishes will be priced much, much lower than that.  I just thought £5 sounded like a reasonable limit. 

Crumpets Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge Round up.

Hi guys, I've decided that my replacement feature for Fragrance Direct Friday will be starting tomorrow instead of today. I've not had the time to get everything ready just yet, and after waking up at 4am this morning, I don't have the energy to get it all finished this afternoon.  I figured it could be a Sunday feature instead.  Hope you guys are okay with that.

Today, however, I will be posting a round up of the 33 Day challenge that ended yesterday.  I was pretty nervous about this, as I'd only been blogging for under a month when it started, but I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot.  I'm glad I did, as I managed to do every prompt on the correct day, and I have created some nail art that I would never have tried otherwise. I was really proud of a few of these mani's, they turned out way better than I had hoped.  I have a bucket-load more confidence in my own abilities than I did when I started.  So, a massive thank you to Debbie from The Crumpet for letting me be a part of this, and more importantly, making it happen in the first place. 

So without further ado, here they are.  Click on the link below the picture to go to the original blog post.(opens in new window)

Day 1 - Dots

Day 2 - Most Used Polish

Day 3 - Tape Mani

Day 4 - Tribal

Day 5 - Mexican

Day 6 - Texture

Day 7 - Art with your oldest untried

Day 8 - Chevrons

Day 9 - Indian

Day 10 - Flowers

Day 11 - 3D

Day 12 - A pattern from your home

Day 13 - Chinese

Day 14 - Abstract

Day 15 - Animals

Day 16 - South America

Day 17 - artwork with your favourite brand

Day 18 - a mani featuring 2 patterns

Day 19 - Follow someones tutorial

Day 20 - a pattern from your wardrobe

Day 21 - Europe

Day 22 - 3 colour gradient + pattern

Day 23 - Geometric

Day 24 - mani with the colour you own the most of

Day 25 - a new technique for you

Day 26 - something from pinterest

Day 27 - a mani with 3 patterns

Day 28 - Lines

Day 29 - your favourite pattern

Day 30 - the same pattern, in different colours

Day 31 - artwork with your 3 favourite polishes

Day 32 - Shapes

Day 33 - freestyle/recreate someone else's mani

Phew!  My personal favourites were Day 11 - 3D, Day 14 - Abstract, and Day 16 South America.  How about you guys, do you have any favourites?

The one thing I can't help but notice as I scroll through these pictures is how short my nails used to be, and how much stronger and longer they have become.  A few months ago, I couldn't grow any length without them snapping off, but now, I have 3 or 4 mm of tip length.  Unfortunately, my right hand has not been getting quite the same amount of love, and they're still quite short!  I'm working on it though, so when the right hand has caught up, I will put together a post about the improvement in my nails, and what products/routines have been working so well for me : )