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33DC Day 30: the same pattern, different colours

I had a lovely manicure planned for Day 30 of the Crumpet’s Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge. It would have used seventeen different polishes! But, I hadn’t had time to make a start on it until today, so I decided that, on top of all the work I have to do today, my complicated manicure […] Read more

33DC Day 27: A mani with 3 patterns

I really struggled with the prompt for Day 27 of the Crumpet’s Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge. I just didn’t know what to do. I considered doing a nail with three patterns on it, then repeating that across all my nails, but I only had last night to do this manicure, and that wasn’t going […] Read more

33DC Day 12: A Pattern in Your Home

So, today for the Crumpet’s Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge we have to recreate or be inspired by a pattern in our home. There are only three patterns I can think of in my house; everything else is completely plain. My son’s duvet is patterned, we have a wallpapered accent wall, and a patterned vinyl […] Read more

In praise of HK Girl: the best top coat ever

I’ve tried a lot of top coats. Nine different ones in total. Some of them have been completely awful; some really great. And until very recently, I thought I’d found my perfect top coat. And then I tried Glisten & Glow HK Girl. And I can now say with absolute certainty that I will never […] Read more

33DC Day 4: Tribal

I’ve not done tribal nails before, and it’s quite out of my comfort zone because for the most part it seems that most tribal designs warrant some freehand art of some sort or another. And freehand is really not my forte, but I had to go with it for the sake of the challenge. First […] Read more

Purple stamped tips: stars

In another first, I’ve attempted to stamp French tips today. It’s not my best work, but then I don’t know many people who can get the French tips to stamp well. (That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!) I stamped using Essie Nothing Else Metals and Cheeky plate CH23 to stamp the stars over […] Read more

Barry M Bright Purple stamped with Essie Nothing Else Metals

Stamping is a great way to use my untried polishes. This time I’ve stamped with Essie Nothing Else Metals, which I bought from a local branch of The Original Factory Shop for just £1. Bargain, eh? Especially as I knew that it – like the rest of the Essie Mirror Metallics collection – was supposed […] Read more

Navy, orange and white splatter manicure

This is my first splatter manicure. And I can confirm that it was a lot of fun to create. I used Barry M Matte White and Essie Orange, It’s Obvious over the top of my previous Ciate Power Dressing manicure. After laying down lots of newspaper and taping up my nails, I dipped a straw […] Read more