I Went AWOL! Update!

Hi everyone! How've you all been? I've not posted in almost a month and I'm super sorry! Work's been incredibly busy (we're short staffed at the moment), my camera broke and just little things have been keeping me busy and away from the blog! BUT, I've finally got an iPhone 5 to replace my 4s which was stolen on Christmas Eve! Yay! So anyway, here's just a little post to keep you updated with what I've been up to and a few of my favourite manis I've done in the past month! All of them are on Instagram anyway, so if you follow me on there, you've probably already seen them (sorry)!

This was a gradient using two polish's I received in some nail mail from Aus. The green is BC - Shade 16? and the blue Boe - #3 topped with some Fairy Dust. 

This mani excited me A LOT! Not only was it my Good Friday manicure (I love Good Friday), it was done using my first Sinful Colors polishes! I'm not sure of the exact date, but I think it was the 20th March that they were launched in the UK and so far I love the brand! £1.99 a bottle, great colours and great formula! What more can you ask for?! I used Barry M - Black, Barry M - White, Sinful Colors - Boogie Nights and All About You (middle finger).

Now this was the day I got my iPhone 5!!! ARGH I5!!! This was inspired by a mani of Chalkboard Nails' and I really loved it! For this I used Lime Crime - Once In A Blue Mousse, Parfait Day and Crema De Limon.

Another Fairy Dust gradient and more Sinful Colors! 

Last but not least, the mani I have on right now! I know it's not super neat or anything, but this was my first attempt at using acrylic paints for nail art and I think I did quite well! It's a lot easier to use than I thought and yeah, LOVE! 

Woohoo! Hope you all enjoyed my quick update! Considering the fact I seem to be getting rather unreliable with my blog at the moment (I'll get better, promise!), follow me on Instagram! @arianaangel :)

Thanks for reading everyone!
Ariana xo

Subtle Snow?

Day 16: Subtle Snow…I have no idea how or why this is subtle snow, but when I started this manicure off it was! Sooo HELLO subtle snow!

Crappy iPhone pic, I didn't like this glittah gradient. Models Own - Silver Fox and Gold Finger.

@Californails

#NailArtJan

Ariana xo

Revlon - Scandalous

Hello lovelies! 

So in my last post I spoke about the amazingness that is Revlon - Scandalous! Needless to say, I had to swatch it and make it its very own post. This is two coats over Barry M - Black.

Mmmmmm tasty!

Ariana xo

ANIMAL

Catch up time gang! 

Californails #NailArtJan, Day 10 - Animal Print!

This is the first time I've ever done leopard print, I think it kind of worked right? The colours not so much… I bought Revlon - Scandalous today and layered it over Barry M - Black. I love it so much that I really didn't want to take it off! So I just tried to find some colours that could go with it and make a leopard print… I'm thinking fail, ha! 

Also, something I've just realised - I did a zebra print mani on the 9th, which I could have actually used for my Day 10 nails! Duh! Why, oh, why did you ruin your beautiful Scandalous nails Ariana? Blarghhh!

These pictures were after two days of wear so they're pretty...worn. I used China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss for the base and O.P.I - Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window for the stripes! Safari!

Goodnight everyone,

Ariana xo

Sparkles!

Quick one today! Day 4: Sparkles! I only got one picture of this manicure, which was the picture I posted on Instagram! 

Barry M - Indigo with Milani Jewel FX - Gold.

I really, really liked this manicure! Like, loads! Glitter placement is my new love :)

Check out the lovely creator of this challenge at Californails and on IG @californails. Also, everyone else taking part, #nailartjan!

Thanks for reading everyone, have a good evening :) 

Ariana xo

Nail Art Dec, Day 7: Sparkles

Hey all, just a quickie today! As usual I'm being rubbish and late, so here's Day 7: Sparkles from Friday. I just couldn't come up with anything good for this manicure, I did two designs and whilst I liked them both they just weren't special enough. Nothing that screamed SPARKLES! Which is something I definitely thought was vital with a prompt like sparkles. My pictures suck due to me feeling so deflated with these manicures, so for that I apologise haha. 

Ignore my chalky acetone white cuticles... Haha.

Day 10 tomorrow, lights! I have a good feeling about that :) 

Night everyone!

Ariana xo 

Nail Art Dec!

Good morning all! 

Two days ago I started Californails December Nail Art Challenge! 

It was supposed to be started on the first of December but in typical Ariana style I started it on the third. I love things like challenges and competitions, they're so fun!! Day 3 1 and the prompt is Snow! Now this isn't some of my best nail art, but I just really wanted to get started!

I used Barry M - Pink Silver Glitter and good old O.P.I - My Boyfriend Scales Walls. The Barry M polish was a nicer shade in the shop…it fell a bit flat for me once I got it home. It has a very slight holo and the glitter, yeah, is nice, but I'm not really sure what colour it's actually supposed to be and not in a good way. Pink? Peach? Silver? White?! Ugh all I know is that when my grandma comes to stay over Christmas, she'll tell me she just LOVES it and would be so grateful if she could borrow it one day! Thanks Granny, you can have it.

Anyway, try this challenge gals! It's SO fun! And if you're all like "whoa, I can't start it now, I'm way too late", DO AN ARIANA, and start late! Woohoo! If you're on instagram check out @californails and #nailartdec (yes, I found my hashtag!). 

Love,

Ariana xo

Being busy is rubbish!

Hi everyone! Ugh, I have been soooo busy this week and not has time to post :( work + christmas + work christmas party + life = blog takes a backseat!

Tonight I'm going to post about a couple of little presents my postman dropped off the other day :) they were China Glaze - Creative Fantasy and China Glaze - It's A Trap-Eze! These are from the Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away collection and I am in love with them both!! Creative Fantasy is just amazing, it's jumped straight to the top of my all time favourites list. The manicure I ended up doing left me feeling pretty uninspired though. The pictures I took sucked too. But I've not posted in a while, so I'll let you see! 

Like I said, Creative Fantasy is beautiful. I've got a top coat on in the pictures but it actually dries slightly matte, which I do quite like! And It's a Trap-Eze is so cool! Multicoloured glitter with a sheer white base and opaque in two coats, what more could you ask for?

Sorry for being MIA guys, hope you enjoyed my return post! 

Ariana xo

Jingle All the Way!

Hiya everyone!

Today I've been doing a little bit of glitter placement with my new Jingle All the Way holiday set by China Glaze.

   Pizzazz                                              Merry Berry

This set is so great! I've wanted Merry Berry for a few weeks after seeing it swatched and it's just as beautiful in person! It's like a big warm mug of mulled wine on my fingertips, mmmm.

And then there's Pizzazz! What can I say?! I absolutely love this glitter! It's like the confetti explosion that happens when someone wins Who Wants to be a Millionaire! I've said I love it and I actually do. Like, really really love love love it! It's made up of two sizes of glitter; a small one and slightly bigger small-medium one. And it's got so many colours in! After close inspection, I found gold, silver, fuchsia, teal, burnt orange and green. I feel like I'm wearing some multicoloured tinsel on my nails, all that's missing is it's plasticy smell! 

Close up of Pizzazz <3

Also this evening, I've been reading some really interesting stuff about Monsanto. They're literally trying to take over the world.

Have a nice evening everyone!

Ariana xo

Snow globe stars

Hey guys. Today I've been playing around with a glitter I've had for a while but have never actually gotten round to using. It's Kleancolor - Silver Star, which has two different sizes of holographic glitter and chunky stars suspended in a clear base. It's pretty freakin' cool! Like most glitter polishes which have larger flecks in, the bigger pieces did take a bit of effort to get out of the bottle. The stars being heavier had sunk to the bottom and stuck to the sides, but that was nothing a little bottle shake couldn't fix!

Argh it's like a snow globe, how beautiful?!

The colours I used for the gradient were Collection 2000 - Wow and A England - Tristam. Collection 2000 has recently been rebranded Collection, so I'm not too sure if this particular colour has been discontinued or what, but it's a pretty generic metallic silver that's everywhere. And Tristam is just the most amazing polish in the world. The colour, the holo, the consistency, everything about it is just wow! I then layered a coat of Silver Star over the gradient, fished out a few stars for each nail and finished it all off with a layer of topcoat. 

I looove this manicure so much, it's like a frosty night sky! Unfortunately, my photography skills are yet to be perfected, so I apologise for the poor photos. Haha. I hope to bring you better pictures sometime soon!

Ariana xo