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Monday 25 February 2013

Purpl-ient

It's no secret that I love all kinds of purple... And it's also no secret that O.P.I's Don't Pretzel My Buttons is one of my favourite nudes! So, whilst lusting over You're Such A Budapest from O.P.I's Spring 2013 Euro Centrale Collection through teary eyes, I though 'Hello lilac!'
Hello lilac indeed... I used Barry M - Prickly Pear and O.P.I - Don't Pretzel My Buttons. I think I need to get off gradients, I'm so obsessed lately.

Ariana xo

Sunday 24 February 2013

Lime Crime Goodness!

Hey everyone! Hope you're all well and have had a fab weekend!

Got a little special something to show you all tonight! What is it, you ask? 
LIME CRIME + GRADIENT + SKITTLE = RAINBOWY AMAZINGNESS
What can I say? I loved this manicure so much, the whole time it was on all I could think of were unicorns, merry-go-rounds and rainbows falling from the sky. Doot doot, I love LC!
So, this is what I started off with! A lovely pastel skittle mani which once done I reeeally didn't want to do anything to. It was too perfect! Lime Crime polishes are so amazing, they apply like a dream and the colours are so unique (to my collection, at least). They're all pastel shades that're also slightly neon, it's really cool! The only possible downside - they thicken a little too quickly for my liking, which is nothing a little polish thinner can't fix!   

Anyway, I eventually plucked up the courage to set to work on this beautiful base and produced these babies! 
They were an absolute bitch to photograph, but hey, I dont care! I LOVED THIS MANICURE! If I could, I'd marry it and make it my life. Be mine, Lime Crime. All I need now is violet hair and a tea party.

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Ariana xo

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Bling-tastic!

Good afternoon!

I've got a little bling to show to today, which is weird for me as I never do bling! A girl at work the other day asked me to do black and gold nails for our net shift together, I was slightly dubious at first as I never usually like this combination on me... Suffice to say, I did it, and here is the outcome!
It's a beautiful, sunny day here in Manchester, for once. Even Oberon ventured outside to take pictures with me! He's too cute.
I totally took myself by surprise and liked today's mani! Hope you all did too! 
Ariana xo

Sunday 17 February 2013

A-England Swatching!

Good evening! Last post for today, I swear!

Last week I received my order from A-England of four b-e-a-uuuuutiful polishes! I got Order of the Garter, Avalon, Dragon and Ascalon.

First up, DRAGON!
A-England never fail to amaze me both formula-wise and colour-wise. Seriously, the formula of their holo's is so brilliant and Dragon was no exception. Two even coats and viola, on like a dream! The colour couldn't be more aptly named either, I truly do have a mossy green dragon on my nails which shimmers olivey-bronze in the light! Yum!

Next, (I'm so excited) ASCALON!
Not so exciting yet...Shade
WOOHOO! 
I totally love this polish! I think I'd go as far as to say it's AMAZBALLS! Now I've got to be honest, Ascalon was a little different to what I'd initially expected but I was so pleasantly surprised! It's a gunmetal grey holographic polish with the most beautiful lavender sheen. I'm not sure if I'd go as far as to say it's a duochrome, but it's certainly leaning that way! As for the formula, same as Dragon, fantastic!

Order of the Garter!
Order of the freaking Garter! What can I say? You had me at hello, I love blue. It's rich and regal, deep and aquatic. I found Order of the Garter a really interesting polish and again so much more than I expected (which is always A LOT from A-England!). This polish is actually the Queen personified. Although, I doubt Her Maj would actually wear it... So I'll just widen it out to the entire Royal Family, maybe Princess Beatrice? I'm rambling... The formula was slightly less fantastic than Dragon and Ascalon, a little thinner but still brilliant. Two easy, self-evening coats!

And last but certainly not least, AVALON!
I really don't know what to say about this polish. As soon as I try to form a sentence I get completely lost in the beauty and intensity of this unique purple. Now, I said Order of the Garter was the perfect colour for the Royals, but I seriously think I may have to eat my words after seeing Avalon. Such a deep regal purple with flecks of magenta, red and blue shimmer, Avalon truly glows from the inside. Is this what love feels like? I'm actually speechless! The formula was similar to Order of the Garter, a little thinner than the holo's but equally as perfect in two coats.

Wow, I'm so overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of these four amazing A-England's that I now literally don't know what to do! Hope you all enjoyed my swatches! 

Night everyone, 
Ariana xo

Milani 3D Holographic - Hi-Res

A few weeks ago I said I'd swatch Milani 3D Holographic - Hi-Res and now finally, I've done it! Here we go...
There's never much sun in Manchester, so I didn't manage to get any pictures in direct sunlight.

Hi-Res is such a pretty colour, it's a pale lavender-grape holo and really nice for spring! The colour is really nice both indoors and out and has a lovely glossy finish, even without topcoat! The consistency was nice too, it was pretty thin but not runny. For this swatch I used three thin coats.

See you soon!
Ariana xo

Orange and Yelloww

Hey everyone, hope you're all well!

Last weekend, I had some time to kill before work work so I popped into Sally's! I bought myself three China Glaze's and two O.P.I's all for just over a tenner, how good is that?! I was rather impressed to say the least. I'm using two of them in this mani, O.P.I - A Roll In The Hague and China Glaze - Electric Pineapple. I'm pretty obsessed with tangerine-y cremes at the moment, or just any orange I guess, so A Roll In The Hague was an amazingly pleasant find!
Not the tidiest manicure I've ever done, but I still liked it! The prettiness of A Roll In The Hague definitely hasn't been done justice in this picture, I suck!!

Thanks for reading :)
Ariana xo 

Sunday 10 February 2013

Vintage Roses

Hellooo lovelies! Just a quickie tonight!

I recently tried out a tutorial by CutePolish for vintage roses, it wasn't a great attempt but it was my first so I don't mind! I didn't wait long enough to put my topcoat on (which I cannot blame on being my first attempt) so there's loads of smudging! Ooooopsy!
I felt like such a lady with this manicure (as long as no one looked too closely)!

Hope you're all having a fab weekend, goodnight!
Ariana xo

Thursday 7 February 2013

Ice Truck Killer!

Good evening everyone, hope you're all well! 

I've got a funtastic (fun and fantastic at the same time, get it?!) manicure to show you tonight! I've been wanting to do this mani for soooo long and last night I finally did!

I love Dexter and these nails feature pretty heavily in the first season, so they just had to be done. I'm up to season six now and the ICE TRUCK KILLER has again reared his ugly yet beautiful head! I was so excited to see him and the infamous amputated hand that I jumped straight over to my polishes and started painting! So, here we have it...Ice Truck Killer nails!
The colours I used for this manicure were: Barry M - Shocking Pink, Lime Crime - Creme De Limon, China Glaze - Creative Fantasy, China Glaze - Papaya Punch and Lime Crime - Pastelchio. All topped with a coat of the beautiful China Glaze - Fairy Dust!

I had sooo many ideas for this mani but I really couldn't bring myself to do anything to it, I just loved it! Such a fun manicure inspired by one of my favourite programs in the world! 

OH BUT, WAIT!
Mr Postman came and brought me these this morning...
Needless to say, whilst I thought Ice Truck Killer nails would be on forever, they came off and these babies got swatched the hell out of!

Thanks for reading everyone! See you soon!
Ariana xo

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Tequila Sunrise!

Hey everyone, just a quickie this eve - a tequila sunrise gradient! My thinking behind this manicure: 'I'm sick of winter. Bring me some sun, please?' So I brought it. ON MY NAILS! Oh yeah! Now I must forewarn you, these pictures suck but I really don't care because this mani made me feel so happy!
The colours I used for this gradient were China Glaze - Papaya Punch, O.P.I - Call Me Gwen-Ever and O.P.I - Red My Fortune Cookie. I loved the combination of these three colours together. Plus, orange is one of my favourite colours, so I double loved it! Summery cocktail nails...Swooooon!

Hope you all enjoyed!
Ariana xo

Saturday 2 February 2013

Love/Hate

HELLO! 
This manicure I did last week for my brother's graduation. I really, really loved this design - it stayed on for a whopping three days! 
I got the idea from The WAH Nails Book of Nail Art and was super pleased with how it turned out! 
Ahhhh, after looking at these pictures I want this manicure back noww!!! I LOVED it and got so many compliments! I certainly hope all of you like it as much as I did!

Thanks for reading everyone, have a great evening!
Ariana xo

Stains and Chevrons

Gooood evening everybody and happy Saturday! After an extremely busy two weeks and nine straight days of work, I finally have a day off! I've been sooo drained recently, I've hardly had chance to do my nails, let alone blog. So, here's me playing catch up.

I recently purchased Milani - Hi-Res and it's absolutely beautiful. I'm gonna swatch it soon, but for now here's a mani I did merely featuring it. Now, be warned, the other day I painted my nails with China Glaze - Merry Berry (over two layers of base coat, may I please add?) and my natural nails have been left super stained and I've been left super pissed. So yeah, please excuse the yellowness! ...And the sucky pics and tip wear!
See you sooon!
Ariana xo