♪♫ This could really be a good life...

This week is shaping up to be a very very good one! I had a job interview yesterday for a Christmas temporary position as a sales girl in a record shop which I nailed so I'll be starting that next week. Then today, I got a call from another job I applied for which is basically a Chalet Girl position but without the Alps! It's live-in so it also means I'll be able to move out of parents' place for a while. I have to go for an interview/trial kind of thing this Sunday and if I'm successful, I'll start in January - I'll keep you guys posted on that!

And to top it all off, this blog hit 2000 followers today! Thank you all so much for reading and following! I hope I say it often enough but I really don't think I could say it enough. It means the world to me that you all like my little piece of the internet enough to keep coming back and showing your support. THANK YOU!

Today is a Wednesday so here comes the pink!

Stamping Plate: Bundle Monster BM205
Base Colour: Models Own Utopia
Stamping Colour: Barry M Raspberry
Accents: BYS Flirty Sparkle
Top Coat of NYC

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In the Army...

I'm going to a birthday tonight and there is a dress up theme - 'army'. I'm not one for spending money on fancy dress costumes that I'll never wear again so I'm going in khaki clothing and mud/face paint, hopefully I'll look convincing! 

Fancy dress is always such a great opportunity for me to create some fun and original nail art so I painted my nails in a camouflage pattern to match the theme!

I used MUA Shade 23 as a base. To get the camo effect, I painted on random patches using BYS Fern, Barry M Mushroom and W7 Black. The insignia was created with black acrylic paint and Barry M Gold Foil.

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Day 17: Glitter

So today we come to Glitter manicures. Glitter and I have a strained relationship. I go through phases of loving it and at other times I just detest the stuff and get the urge to throw away every polish I own that contains glitter! The main reason for the hatred is the hassle it takes to remove it. I always use the foil method for removal these days to minimise any stress!

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's glittery nails too!

Barry M Blue Glitter

BYS Gold Finger sponged from the tips down

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Day 13: Animal Print

Who doesn't love a good animal print nail huh? This combination of colour and stamping is the one I used to wear the most before I started blogging, but it's been a long time since I wore it. I was going to try something more adventurous today, like freehanding a leopard print, but laziness took over and I pulled out my stamping plates!

If you're craving more animal print manis, check out Cristina and Rie's Day 13 challenges too!

BYS Astro Gold
W7 Black for the stamp
Konad Plate M57
Top Coat of NYC

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Day 10: Gradient Nails

Today's challenge is gradient nails and it's also Wednesday which means PINK. Sorry for the brief post but I have such a busy day ahead, I even had to get up a little early to schedule this because I won't have another spare minute today between work and evening plans. I'm going to see Charlie Simpson tonight which is super exciting!

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's gradient nails too!

Models Own Utopia
BYS Metallic Fuchsia sponged on

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No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Post

This amazing snakeskin look is Kari's brainchild. When she posted it a few months back it quickly spread all over the blogsphere and I fully intended to do it myself but never got round to it.

I was looking through my stamping plates, trying to decide on a design for today's manicure and I decided that I wanted to use a plate I hadn't used before. I still have a few of the 25pc Bundle Monster plates that still have the blue plastic covering on so it had to be one of those. I spotted this plate in the pile with it's shiny blue protective layer still attached and Kari's snakeskin idea came flooding back to me!

Plate: Bundle Monster BM215
Base Colour: Barry M - Berry Ice Cream
Stamp Colour: BYS - Glittering Purple and La Femme - Grey Cream
Top Coat of NYC

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Pink Wednesday: I Missed You, Half Moons

I was scrolling through my archives a few days ago and remembered how much I like half moon manicures. It's been ages since I did one so I'm rocking the look today for Pink Wednesday.

I used BYS Flirty Sparkle as a base, Collection 2000 Moonlight Shine applied with a brush for the moons and some bullion from Born Pretty Store. All topped off with a coat of NYC Top Coat.

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Australian Series: BYS Colour Change nail polish

Hi everyone :) I'm really excited to share with you my experience with mood polishes - or as BYS calls them, colour change nail polish. The most awesome Director Dave over at Fashion Addict was kind enough to provide the Colour Change collection for a review. However, as my nails can only stand so much nail polish remover, I have decided to split this into two posts. Part 2 will hopefully be up shortly!

As it is winter here right now, my hands were seriously freezing when I swatched this; hence I had to run them under warm water to get the colour change. So, first photo shows the cold shade and the following will show the warm shade and/or changing back to cold. I applied two coats in all photos. Also, all the polishes dried to a satin finish so they all have a top coat over them.

The first polish I have for you is Salmon. This was a surprise for me. I didn't think I would like it from the bottle but I really loved the look of it on my tips!

Royal Blue was a stunner. Love it, love it, love it! Blues are seriously growing on me so much. Why ever did I not like them before?! :O

My index and middle finger show the warmer shade while the other two show the cooler and darker shade.

Blue was definitely a polish which requires three coats. It's not as obvious in real life, but you can see how patchy it is at two coats, especially when it's changed to the warmer and lighter colour in the second photo.

Bright purple. Ahhh, what a stunner. It's beautiful, gorgeous, magnificent and look at that shimmer! So, so pretty <3

Love the gradation effect on this the best! The colours go so well together :)

As you can see, it's helpful to have longer nails when wearing these polishes to see the full and grand effect of the colour change. They provide such a fun and easy alternative to gradation nails :). BYS Colour Change nail polishes are available online at www.fashionaddict.com.au for only $4.95 a bottle. Fashion Addict ships internationally - how awesome is that? Now all nail polish fanatics are able to get their hands on these polishes.

What do you think of mood/colour change nail polishes? Do you have any favourites from the BYS collection?

~Sharon

Products provided for review. For more information, view my disclosure policy.

My Kind of Cool Aid

My Cult Nails order arrived last week and I had to go and pick it up from the sorting office because there was a £13 customs charge to be paid. If you're in the UK and are thinking of purchasing polish from a country outside the EU, consider yourself warned about these charges. I was hesitant to buy these polishes in the first place because it's quite unusual (actually, unheard of) for me to spend so much on polish and in the end they worked out at £9.50 each which makes me cringe every time I think about it!

Wow, way to start on a bum-note but don't get me wrong, I am really, really happy that I decided to bite the bullet and buy these. I went for My Kind of Cool Aid and Iconic from the 'Inaugural' Collection and Let Me Fly and Cruisin' Nude from the 'A Day At The Races' Collection. Every single polish applies like a dream and is perfect in two coats.

Konad Plate: Born Pretty M76

Base Colour: Cult Nails - My Kind of Cool Aid

Konad Colour: BYS - Glittering Purple

Top Coat of NYC

Purple or Purple?

I'm going to see Jimmy Eat World tonight! It's very exciting, I just wish I knew more of their songs, haha! I was going to sell my ticket but since Blink 182 have postponed their tour I decided to go to this show because otherwise, I won't have been to a single one this year :(

Plate: Bundle Monster BM201

Base Colour: BYS La Di Da

Stamp Colour: BYS Glittering Purple

Top Coat of NYC

Cat Got Creamed

Does anyone remember the bottle of Manhattan 610k polish that's on a tour of the world? It visited me here in the UK last October (post here) and is currently at its 9th stop in Illinois, US with Melanie.
If you are interested in playing host to this polish and being part of the adventure, visit Melanie's post here to put your name down. You do need a blog where you can post your mani but that's the the only requirement.

Todays nails were heavily, okay wholly, inspired by Marta's recent post over at Chit Chat Nails which you can see here.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM221

Base Colour: E.L.F. Desert Haze

Stamp Colour: L'Oreal LaquiResist Black Bean

BYS Astro Gold for the spots

Top Coat of NYC

I Might Miss My Day At The Races

Things are pretty hectic with my exams at the moment but I'll be squeezing in a post when I have time! My last one is on Monday and it can't come fast enough.

I've seen loads of swatches of the new Cult Nails collection - A Day At The Races - and I fell in love with a few of the colours. However, they're a bit out of my normal 'price comfort zone' for polishes but after some coaxing from a few ladies on Twitter and Maria herself (the owner of Cult Nails) informing me that they were running an offer that ends today, I ordered 4 bottles. The shades I chose are Let Me Fly and Cruisin' Nude from the 'Races' collection (swatches here and here), and My Kind of Cool Aid and Iconic from an older collection.

BUT, I saw a blog post from Cult Nails (here) this morning explaining that they're having some problems with international shipping regulations after one customer's order was destroyed before she received it because the contents broke some rules. So all international orders are on hold for the time being. It's kind of annoying that I may not get my order, but better that than Maria risks posting it and something horrid happening to the package.

Plate:  Bundle Monster BM221

Base Colour: BYS Blue Night Star

Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine

Top Coat of NYC

Lol at the missing handle, I think the bottle got trodden on once a long time ago and the lid cracked to pieces.

My First Pink Wednesday

Pink Wednesdays is a great little scheme thought up by the ladies from Colour Coated, Glitta Gloves and Life and Polish. The premise is really simple. On Wednesdays, you wear pink polish and post it on your blog. If you want to join in, just click here to see more details.

Today is my first pink Wednesday! 

I don't post (or even wear) many pink manicures, but when I was deciding which pink to use, I saw that I have way more than I thought and I hardly ever use them so this will be a great way for me to get more use out of my pink polishes.

Plate: BM207

Base Colour: BYS Pink Radiance

Stamp Colour: BYS Glittering Purple

Top Coat of NYC

Sitting, Waiting, Swishing

I want to thank everyone for the amazing response I had to my recent EOTD post. You all seemed to like it so I'm looking forward to doing more in the future. You also reminded me that it's my blog so I should basically post what I want which is something I sometimes forget and I then start worrying about the fact that I'm not a nail art machine when there's no reason to get all stressed out about it!

I don't really have much of an opinion on these nails and I wasn't even going to post this because I really can't make up my mind about them. I don't dislike the mani but I'm not in love with it either! I think it's kind of 'pretty' but just not something I'm used to seeing on my nails, it's a strange feeling!

Base Colour: Glo Baby Glo from Primark - Fondant

Stripe Colours: BYS in Glittering Purple and Rimmel I ♥ Lasting Finish in Azure

I used a striping brush to paint on the 'swishes'

Have you voted for me in the Bundle Monster competition today? I hate shamelessly nagging and pestering you all but it would be really lovely if you could click over to the competition and give me a thumbs up! Just click here or here. Thanks!!

Scotch Tape Take Two

Try and say that ten times fast?!

I just want to say thank you for all the lovely birthday messages. I truly loved them, thank you so much. It's so good to hear that plenty of you are still acting young for your years and getting away with it!

I've gone for a patchwork look this time with the scotch tape. The base is BYS Metallic Fuschia, then I painted on the purple sections with Barbara Daly Velour and the last layer is Rimmel Lycra Wear Black Satin. I used a thick top coat of NYC in an attempt to flatten out the lines.

Then I added some little sequins which I think is a nice touch but I preferred it without.