Day 24: Inspired by a Book

Can you believe there are only seven days left of this challenge?! I really can't!
So, for nails inspired by a book I decided to go for a children's book - The Rainbow Fish. I did consider a few adult books that I've read recently but this seemed way more fun!

I can't wait to see Rie and Cris's book inspired nails today!







Stamping Plate: BM209
Base Colour: A-England - Tristam
Stamp Colour: GOSH - Holographic
To colour in the scales, I used: Nails Inc - Shoreditch, Kriston - 52, Rimmel - Blue My Mind and Models Own Juicy Jules
Top Coat of NYC



In the style of Rie, I decided to include a close up shot today. Check out those 'scales'!

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 21: Inspired by a Colour

Today's criteria is a bit of an odd one. I couldn't decide if it meant inspired by an actual colour or inspired by a shade name or even something else completely that I didn't pick up on! In the end I decided to rummage through my stash to see if any of the colour names inspired me and this Rimmel polish, Purple Reign, gave me an idea straight away.

I decided to make a mani from the name and stamp crowns on my nails. Get it? Purple REIGN ;)

Head over to see whar Cristina and Rie came up with today.



Plate: Bundle Monster BM08
Base Colour: Rimmel - Purple Reign
Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Top Coat of NYC





Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 18: Half Moons

Sorry today's post is a little later than usual, it's been a very busy and fun few days for me. 

I'm loving this blue/green polish that I picked up in the pharmacy for 99p! It's one of those shades that's stuck right between blue and green so it's been a hot topic of debate today. What do you think?

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's half-moons too!

Rimmel Purple Reign

Kriston 52

Gosh Metallic Blue

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

GOSH Metallic Purple with Konad M60

This idea looked much nicer in my head. It's not that I don't like this mani, I just thought it would come out a bit more striking. I think I had a more 'open' pattern in mind but I couldn't find one in my pile of stamping plates or come up with a freehand one in my brain.

Konad Plate: M60
Base Colour: Rimmel - Black Satin
Konad Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Black rinestones from eBay
Top Coat of NYC

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Criss the Cross and Dot the Dot

I have a little confession to make today. I've been sitting on this for a long time because I wasn't really sure if it was a topic I wanted to talk about on the blog. I guess this has come up now because September has hit and everyone is back to the grind. School, work, whatever.

Some of you may know, or be vaguely aware, that I was studying for a degree in Accounting and Finance and the academic year approaching would have been my final year. However, during my second year (the one just gone, 2010-11) I became really discouraged in school. I didn't enjoy my subject any more, I couldn't find any motivation to put effort in to my work and as a consequence, I failed the year. 

So... I won't be going back to University this year. I'll really miss the people and the place but I'm so glad I don't have the constant worry and stress hanging over my head all the time. I'm currently 'temping' in a little office where I get on with my co-worker and there's little to no stress. All the while, searching for a permanent position to take up when this is finished.

So for now, the only question playing on my mind is 'What do I want to be when I grow up?'. Lots of people say I should study hair/nails/beauty but I don't want to go back to school for a while and I also think that take all the fun out of my hobby. I would love to pursue a career in childcare but, again, that means going back to school. For now I just plan on finding a job that I enjoy (or at least don't mind waking up for every day) and saving enough money to move in to a flat or house with my friends. I'm taking things one step at a time.

Konad Plate: Bundle Monster BM203
Base Colour: Rimmel - Electric
Konad Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Nails Inc - Paris
Top Coat of NYC

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Internet > Chocolate

I have such a short attention span! I've been sat here since about 9pm with these photos open in Photoshop, getting them blog-ready and I've been distracted at least 4356 times. It's now just after 1am and I have managed to focus long enough to upload them and write this post!

When I sit down in front of a computer, I go in to a complete trance and until I snap out of it don't realise that I've just spent 4 hours of my day watching The Shaytards and amusing myself with every single #Parks and Recreation post on tumblr. If I have one addiction in life, it's the internet.

Plates: Bundle Monster BM201, BM224 and BM211
Base Colour: W7 Black Cherry
Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 Moonlight Shine
GOSH Metallic Purple
Top Coat of NYC

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Payday. Payday. Gotta get down on Payday.

Tomorrow will be my first payday for almost two years so I'm super excited! While I was in Uni I was lucky enough that I didn't need a job (just to be clear, I wasn't sucking on a silver spoon the whole time, I was just very scrupulous when it came to spending the money that I did have!).

My eBay watch list has tripled in size this evening and I have a post-it stuck to the wall in front of me with a list of stuff I want to buy! The first thing on that list is the Babyliss Big Hair styler which I have been drooling over for months. If anyone's tried it I'd be very interested to hear what you think of it.

Konad Plate: Bundle Monster BM212
Base Colour: NYC - Prince Street
Konad Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine
GOSH - Metallic Purple for the dots
Top Coat of NYC

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Would You Buyasaurus?

I've been thinking for a while about painting my own nail sets and selling them. Last week, I finally got round to ordering some sets after the lovely Paige gave me a link to a good seller on eBay. I need to do a bit more research about pricing etc. but I'm trying to gage whether anyone would be interested in buying my sets. They will mostly be freehand designs but I'll take personalised orders for any nail design you've ever seen on this blog! So... would anyone consider buying a set of nails from me?

Plate: Bundle Monster BM05
Base Colour: Models Own - Utopia
Stamp Colour: GOSH - Metallic Purple
BYS Fern for the stalks
Top Coat of NYC

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Try My Two Tone

This mani, like yesterday's, came about when I just got too carried away trying to add a dash of whatever came to mind!

I knew I wanted to use scotch tape and a stamp design so I did the base colour and stamp and left it overnight to dry and to give me time to decide what to do. 'Blue' I thought, but when the blue was on it just looked too clunky so I thought I'd set myself the challenge of trying to line up the stamps to get a two-tone effect on my nails. Turns out I needn't have bothered because the pattern is irregular so you wouldn't even notice if it wasn't matched. I think I'll set myself the mission of trying it with a more uniform pattern to see if I can get it to match up.

Konad Plate: M57
Base Colour: Barbara Daly - Purplicious
Konad Colour: GOSH - Metallic Purple
Top Coat of NYC
To create the two tone look, I sectioned off the top part of my nail with scotch tape and painted on Barry M Cyan Blue. I removed this tape straight away and let the blue dry. Then I lined up more strips of tape with the blue polish and stamped over it with GOSH Metallic blue, attempting to line up the patterns and added another top coat.

How do you guys feel about me using larger pictures in my blog posts? All the pictures I post are click through's anyway so you can see a bigger version if the mood takes you, but I thought I would go bigger on the main page. Do you like it or do they just take up too much space?

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

The Nailasaurus Has A Book For Its Face

Exam revision procrastination has reached an all time high today and I decided to create a Facebook page for The Nailasaurus. I was going to make one after my exams anyway but I needed a distraction today. You can click here or on the Facebook button in the sidebar to visit and 'Like' the page.

There's some really good music surfacing at the moment so I thought I'd share some of my new favourites with you. These are the songs I've been playing on a loop since yesterday.

Coldplay - Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Paramore - Monster

Nicola Roberts - Beat of My Drum

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar

Quite an eclectic mix there but some really good tunes. Have a listen if you've got time today

Plate: Bundle Monster BM203

Base Colour: Rimmel I ♥ Lasting Finish - Go Cobalt

Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Blue
Gems from eBay (Seller)

Top Coat of NYC

What's your favourite song of the moment? 

Reprise

This W7 polish is one of my all time favourites. I had a bottle of this all the way back when my collection was 15 strong but unfortunately it went all lumpy and weird so I had to chuck it. I thought you couldn't get this colour any more but I spotted a bottle in a bargain shop that sells all kinds of odds and ends and snapped it up right away!

Plate: Bundle Monster BM208

Base Colour: W7 Purple Passion

Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple

Top Coat of NYC

Calling All British Nail Bloggers

I'm on a mission to find as many nail bloggers from the UK that I can. I really want to find some blogs with content more relevant to me. As much as I love drooling over swatches from the latest OPI, Essie, China Glaze etc. collections, it sucks that I can't actually get hold of them at anywhere near a reasonable price.

I'd love to see more info about brands that I can run in to Boots or Superdrug and throw in my basket. So if you are a nail blogger blogging about British polish or you know of any of blogs that do, I'd love it if you leave a link for me to visit in the comments.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM208 and BM209

Base Colour: Rimmel Wear Maxx Electric

Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Blue

Top Coat of NYC

Got a dink which I didn't even notice until I was looking through the pictures! 

Got Daisies?

This is my favourite so far of all the ones I've done with the new Bundle Monster plates. I wasn't sure how it would turn out when I decided to add a bit of extra detail by filling in the flowers. Sometimes, especially if I pick a bad colour, details like that can make things look overdone but this isn't one of those times. 

I wouldn't expect that green/blue to compliment the purple shades as well as it does but it's just one of those lucky combinations that works without even trying.

 

Plate: Bundle Monster BM224

Base Colour: Models Own Purple Grey

Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
China Glaze Adore applied with a brush for the centres of the flowers

Top Coat of NYC

Sevenhundredandfiftywhaaaaat?

The Nailasaurus has 750 followers! That means giveaway time!
As a big thank you to everyone that reads my little blog, I'll be holding a small giveaway very soon which will include a few polishes I purchased myself and some gifts from an exciting sponsor. I'm behind on everything at the moment (*hangs head*) so it will be a while until I have the whole thing up and running because I'm still figuring out all the logistics since this will be a lot bigger than any giveaway I've held in the past.
Thank you so much for reading!!

Plate: Born Pretty M78

Base Colour: No7 Betty Blues

Konad Colour: GOSH Metallic Blue

Top Coat of NYC

Lots o' Layers

Todays nails took a lot of time and planning! Last night I applied the base colour, stamp and a top coat. Then I waited until this morning to make sure the base was good and dry, before using some scotch tape to section off part of my nail and paint on a darker blue colour. I think it looks kind of like a persian rug but I did watch 'Prince of Persia' this week so perhaps I just have Persia on the brain!

Plate: Bundle Monster BM222

Base Colour: Barry M Cyan Blue

Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple

Rimmel Blue My Mind

A stripe of GOSH Metallic Purple applied with a nail brush

Top Coat of NYC

Tips Please

Belated Happy Easter to everyone! I've had a such a great weekend, I really don't want it to end but unfortunately it's back to reality tomorrow. I'm back home from Uni at the moment so I saw plenty of my good school friends on Saturday night and spent Sunday and today with family. Now I really have to knuckle down and study for my upcoming exams before I get a nice big break for the Summer.

Konad Plate: M35

Base Colour: Carla Di Roma - Grape Wine

Konad Colour: GOSH - Metallic Purple

Top Coat of NYC

I posted a make-up look on my other blog today. When I went to see Sucker Punch last week I couldn't stop staring at the make-up so I decided to try out Baby Doll's look. It's a picture heavy post so I didn't feel like it would fit here!! Click here or on the picture to see the post.

BK Matte Smoky Grey Black

Jessica from Born Pretty Store got in contact with me recently to tell me about some new polishes that she had in stock. They're Matte so I immediately jumped at the chance to review them. I have a long standing love affair with matte nails though I don't actually own many polishes that are matte, I always just use a matte top coat to get 'the look'. The name on the bottle is BK, which I've never heard of before. 

I was pleasantly surprised at the high quality and finish of this polish, especially since it's such a low price. The brush is narrow and flat which made it really easy to apply the polish neatly. It was opaque in two coats but, as I do with all dark colours, I added another for maximum colour intensity. I love that it's full of tiny silver flecks which give a great depth to the polish, as opposed to it being a flat old grey.

Manglaze Fuggen Ugly came to mind when I saw this polish on my nails. I don't own Fuggen Ugly myself but I looked at a few swatches and to my eyes it seems like a really close match.

I added the bluebell design from Konad M54 using GOSH Metallic Purple and finished it off with a top coat of NYC. I definitely prefer this polish matte. The silver speckle is really muted with a glossy top coat.

You can buy this shade from Born Pretty Store here. Shipping is free worldwide! How amazing is that? And all the products are so cheap. I actually just ordered a few of the Konad copies which are only $1.55 each at the moment because I really want to see how they compare to real Konad plates. 

I have to add one thing about Born Pretty which is that the website is kind of a nuisance to navigate and can be hard to understand in some places (example) but I think this is just down to some bad translation. For the prices of the stuff, I'm not really going to complain!