Peacock Nails

I love peacock feathers. I think their shimmery iridescence is absolutely stunning so when I saw people using the Bundle Monster plate BM212 (which I own) to make peacock nails I just HAD to have peacock nails too.

I had always wanted to do peacock nails and first saw the plate being used when I was searching YouTube for peacock nail art. This is the video I first came across using the plate.  I also saw a blog post by Gwenn at Sugar Nails using this plate too.

I started off with a Goodbye Yellow (Barbara Daly) base and a Rimmel base as the green polish stained my nails really badly, despite a base coat, the last time I wore it.  It's one of my favourite polishes but I always hated wearing it but the base combo seemed to stop any staining, so I'm very happy :)

I then painted two coats of Peacock Green (perfect name for this mani) by Models Own. I added a 2true top coat then I stamped using Nail Supreme's gold and the BM212 plate.  I then used a dotting tool to place alternating dots of Maybelline MNY in 553 and Barbara Daly's Carnival. And topped all of this off with a Rimmel top coat.

All the tutorials and blog posts I saw using this stamp all stamped with a silver polish and I couldn't understand why.  Peacocks have a very warm, golden shimmer through their feathers so I decided to use gold and I definitely think it was the right decision.

I received sooooo many compliments for this mani and it is definitely my favourite of all the manis I have ever done, so this will probably be a regular appearance on my nails!

Thanks for reading!

21. THE END + stamping

I've finished the Plasma Plays In 21 Ways nail challenge! I have to say I am so glad it's over and I can probably say that I will never do a nail challenge again. While it was fun learning new techniques, I hated feeling so constricted and not being able to choose my own colours and things to do.  From now on I will probably just take ideas from challenges but never fully commit to the whole thing. It's much more fun to do your own thing anyway!

Onto the nails

21 Finally, add a black stamp to that yellow

I used the Bundle Monster plate BM201 and MUA black for stamping over mani number 20.  I wasn't too happy with the positioning of the stamp on my index finger and there is slight smudging on my pinkie but I really couldn't be bothered taking it off and doing it again, I just wanted the challenge over with...

I felt that the stamping massively improved the yellow and I received a lot of compliments for this mani!  So it definitely grew on me, although I couldn't shake the image of having ten wasps attached to my fingers...

Thanks for reading!

20. Yellow

20 Go yellow
Let me start off by saying I hate yellow nail polish.  It's okay if it is part of a design or something but on it's own I think it looks hideous.  This did little to change my mind.

This is a coat of Rimmel base, three coats of Lemon Ice Cream by Barry M and 2true top coat. Application was pretty streaky but it evened out with the third coat.  I wasn't happy with it though and went straight on to mani number 21 after I had taken the pictures, I just couldn't bear to leave it like this.

I don't think it would be to bad if it was part of a pastel mani, or a base for a design, but plain yellow is such an eyesore to me!

Thanks for reading!

19. Chevrons

19 Add a chevron (those triangles) to your purple! Use scotch tape if you need help! http://www.nailnerd.com/chevron-nails/


I had never attempted chevrons before this and I though they looked really difficult but I came upon this tutorial which made it so much easier.

I found the tape method a little fiddle-y but once I got the hang of it I was okay. I definitely need some practise on cutting my strips to the right size, I wasn't very happy with the widths of my chevrons at all.  But practise makes perfect I guess and it was my first try at this.

I added the chevrons over mani number 18 with a nameless black polish from Primark.  Over all  I wasn't too pleased with this mani but I will definitely try the taping method again and try to get it perfect because I really do love chevrons I've seen on other peoples nails...

Thanks for reading!

18. Purple

18 Wear a purple

Another birthday polish! Trust me, I'm going to be using all my birthday polishes until next year, there are so many of them!

Anyway, onto the polish.

This is Barbara Daly's Waltzer. The pictures really don't do the polish justice. It is a really gorgeous muted purple with a very subtle dark pink shimmer through it. The shimmer doesn't come through on the pictures at all and the purple looks quite washed out and dull here. It really isn't, it's a very dusky, vampy colour and I love it!

I applied a Rimmel base, three coats of Waltzer and a coat of 2true top coat. Application was pretty thin but not too bad, it probably would have been okay with only two coats but I wanted to be on the safe side and not have annoying patches that I would only notice later.

Thank you for reading!

17. Flowers

17 Add flowers to that pink *stamps, one-stroke, dotted flowers* you choose!

I decided to get a little ghetto with this design! Rhinestone flowers galore!

I had a packet of rhinestone flowers left over from when I was about nine years old just lying in my nail polish box, gathering dust. I knew I was never going to use them seriously because they were so hideous but when I saw this design on the list I knew exactly how I was going to get rid of them.

So I stuck them on over mani number 16 and added a coat of 2true over the top to give them extra shine. To their credit they were VERY sparkly and eye catching, despite sparkly usually being my thing, these flowers definitely weren't doing it for me.

This lasted less than 24 hours before I had to take them off, I couldn't stand them any longer!

Thanks for reading!

16. Pink

16 Wear a pink

For this one I really wasn't sure what pink to go for. I think pink is the colour I have the second highest amount of in my collection, only beaten by purple (I LOVE purple polish!). So after much humming and hawing I decided upon Avon's Pastel Pink. Not a very creative name, but the colour more than makes up for that.

This polish is VERY sheer. I knew that from wearing it before so I painted a coat of a nameless white over my Rimmel base to give the colour more substance. Even with that I still had to use three coats of Pastel Pink to achieve an even coverage... Not great, but I love the polish so much! What a dilemma! I topped it of with 2true top coat.

 I really do like this colour. It makes me think of strawberry milkshakes which is always a good thing!

Thanks for reading!

15. Splatter Nails

15 Grab a straw and do some paint splatters over that blue! One coluor, multicoloured, whichever you please! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see this tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqiCfnXWw9Y

I hadn't ever considered doing splatter nails before this challenge because I always thought they would be super hard to do.  I was SO wrong! They are really easy, the only downside is the clean-up but that's easy enough.

Right Thumb

I decided to use a purple that one of my best friends bought my for my birthday. Maybelline's MNY in 553 (don't you just hate it when companies are too lazy to give their polishes names?! Such a pet hate of mine) is a gorgeous plum purple with a slight shimmer to it, although that isn't very clear here.

Right Hand

So on top of the blue mani from mani number 14 I added a splatter of 553 with a straw.  I found the technique of dipping the straw in polish and blowing through it very easy although it was kinda frustrating when the straw didn't pick up polish and all you got was air coming through. But when it worked it was marvellous!

Left Hand

I taped up my fingers to just below my nail so avoid getting polish all over my hands, but there was still a lot of clean-up to do around my finger nails.\

Left Thumb4

I really loved how every nail had a different design on it, and the colour combo was very vibrant and striking in real life. These pictures don't do it justice!

Thanks for reading!



14. Blue

14 Today, we will wear blues!
I got this polish for my birthday from my Mum, so I was pretty excited to try it out. It looks s pretty in the bottle and I could tell it was gonna be gorgeous.

This polish is called Carnival by Barbara Daly and is a very vibrant blue shimmer. Application was great, the brush is fantastic. I applied three coats (this is the only downfall, it's quite sheer) over a Goodbye Yellow base and topped it off with a coat of 2true.

The polish is part of a collection of similarly fun named (Waltzer, Fun Fair, Pirate etc.) and I have another four of them, so look out for those. If they are half as near as gorgeous as this polish I will be super happy.

Thank you for reading!

13. Ugly

Bonus post today!

13 Add a layer of polish over that green that you think doesn’t go with it! (orange glitter?) be creative! Get ugly!
I really didn't want to do this properly cause I hate having horrible nails so I only made two nails ugly right before I was about to take the polish off anyway... Little bit of a cheat? Yes, but I don't care.

I added a coat of a nameless pink glitter from Claire's that I bought on the same day that I bought Juicy.

This was an ugly combo, wasn't it?! I love glitter polishes, but only in their rightful place... This definitlely isn't one of them.

Short post just to get it out of the way!

Thank you for reading!

12. Green

12 Pick a green

For this stage I used a green I just bought recently and hadn't had a chance to try yet.

This is Juicy by 17. I bought it on a recent shopping trip into town when I realised I don't have any lime green polishes (really I just wanted an excuse to buy more polishes and take advantage of a three for two offer that was on).  This is three coats over a Rimmel base and with 2true top coat. It's a very sheer polish. In the bottle it looks like it'll be quite opaque but on with three coats you can still see it's thin.

Apart from that problem I loved the colour... Maybe next time I'll put a coat of white underneath or something, to bulk up the colour a bit.

Thanks for reading!

11. Untried

11 Pick a colour you’ve never worn (I’m hoping I’m not the only one with untrieds) lol

You may remember a post quite a while ago about a flakie I bought and how excited I was about finding one in my country.  If not you can see that post here.

When I saw that this number was untrieds I new exactly which bottle to reach for.

I applied Rimmel base coat, one coat of Sally Hansen's Beaming, one coat of Nail Pop's Sequin Effect and 2true top coat.

I was very impressed by the coverage from Beaming. It looks like a really thin polish on the brush but on the nail it's practically opaque in one coat, and since I was putting a flakie on top I didn't bother with two coats because I didn't feel like it was needed.

Here is Beaming on it's own.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Sequin Effect.  The flakies are so perfectly golden with the red base but in the bottle the can look blue-ish so I have a feeling it depends on what the base is what colours come through in the flakes.

Again this was only one coat, it had such great flakie coverage.  Over all I am thrilled with both of these polishes.

Thanks for reading!

10. Ombre Nails

I absolutely LOVED this manicure while it was on my nails!

10 Ombre nails
I was really excited to try this design and when I got to it I knew exactly what colour to do... BLUE!

I applied Rimmel base to all of my nails.  I then applied three coats of Golden Rose's number 231 on my thumbs, two Barry M's Cobalt Blue on my index fingers, three coats of a nameless blue by BeautyUK on my Middle fingers, three coats of Avon's Vintage Blue on my ring fingers and two coats of a nameless white by BeautyUK on my pinkies.  I then applied a coat of 2true top coat and I was done!

All of these polishes progressed so well you would have thought I blended them myself instead of using five independent colours.

Thank you for reading!

9. Ruffian

Just a short post today!

9 Ruffian! Example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaEdVmxjtbE
So here is my first attempt at ruffian nails and I did them completely free hand.  I'm actually so proud of them!

I applied Rimmel base coat, one coat of No7 Totally Teal, two coats of a nameless purple-y grey shade by Ruby Recommends and 2true top coat.

I used a striper brush to get the curves just so, and I'm really happy with them.  I even managed to do okay on my right hand!

I love this colour combo.  My sister picked it out because I had no idea what colours to use but I think she did a great job.  Well done Michelle!

Thanks for reading!

8. Stripes...

8 Get your stripe on. Vertical, horizontal, diagonal, one, two, seven?! oh what to do!


This is gonna be a pretty pathetic post, I'm warning you now.

To start with I didn't have my striper brushes yet so I didn't have an easy way to make stripes unless I did stamping. Then I had no stamping plates with proper stripes on them so I had to use a warped stripe design and finally I forgot to take pictures until I was halfway through removing the manicure... So all you have are pictures of solo fingers that kinda survived.  So here we go!

I applied Rimmel base coat, three coats of Fun Fair by Barbara Daly, MUA black for the stamp and Rimmel top coat.  I used a Bundle Monster plate but I can't remember what number it was and it's too late to go rifling through my nail stuff now!

When this was a full manicure it was lovely, I was even getting compliments from teachers!  But in these pictures it looks awful!  But oh well, life goes on, it's only a manicure...

Thanks for reading!

7. Gradient Nails

7 Do a gradient of 2 colours or more (check YT for different kinds of techniques)

For this design I did use YouTube and I found a really easy and simple video showing the way to get Effie Trinket's (Hunger Games) gradient nails.  As a big fan of The Hunger Games I just HAD to do this as part of the challenge.


This is the video I used: Effie Trinket Nail Art (The Hunger Games)

So this is my attempt at Effie Trinket nails :)  This was my first time doing gradient nails and thanks to CutePolish's video I think I managed to pull it off!  I even had friends telling me it was their favourite of all the things I have done with my nails (and thats a lot!).

I used Rimmel base coat, two coats of Raspberry by Barry M and Essence's You're A Gold Mine for the gradient then one coat of 2true top coat.  I used a much darker and redder pink than CutePolish and I think it worked really well.  This could be quite a Christmassy look (will definitely be wearing it for the festive season this year) but it wasn't so festive that you couldn't get away with wearing it at any time of the year.

Thank you for reading!

6. Metallic Stamping

Post number six of the Plasma Plays Challenge :)

6 Stamp some metallic polish over that dark with the image plate of your choice!


For the metallic stamp I decided to go for a silver stamping polish and an no name brand plate with this pretty flower design on it :)  I got the plate in a set of nine for about £4.99 on eBay and they have some really pretty designs on them and they are a really great price!

Now onto the actual design...

Please excuse the horrendous cuticle on my middle finger!  I don't know what happened, I put hand cream on everyday and I use cuticle oil every time I take polish off but for some reason they get all dry and cracked :(

I really like the combo of the dark plum-y polish and the light silver stamp.  It really made the design stand out.  I had a little problem with positioning but I always have that problem if it's small designs and it wasn't too noticeable so no biggie!

The base is two coats of Nails Inc Victoria and I used Nails Supreme in silver for stamping :)

5. Go Dark

Time for number five of the Plasma Plays Challenge :) Short and sweet!


5 Go dark

For this one I decided to incorporate some prom research as I am searching for the perfect deep red/purple to match my prom dress.
This time I chose Nails Inc's Victoria, which I am totally in love with, but I don't think it's the polish for prom sadly :(

I applied Rimmel base coat, two coats of Victoria and 2true top coat.

This is such a rich plum-y colour... I LOVE it.  I'm very into my dark vampy polishes so this is right up my street!  Application was good and it wore well, all I ask for in a polish :)

4. Half Moon

Finally getting into the swing of the Plasma Plays Challenge!!

Here is number four...

4 Execute a half moon manicure!

This picture is much more colour accurate

So I did this completely free hand and it was my first ever time trying the half moon manicure.  And to be honest I think I did a pretty good job!  If I was to do it again I would probably try using manicure guides to get a cleaner line but it was okay free handed if you didn't look too closely!

I applied a coat of Rimmel base coat, one coat of Gleaming Gold by Avon and two coats of Top Turquoise by Models Own.  I then applied 2true top coat.  I really liked this colour combo and after I had done this mani (a few weeks ago now) I started seeing it everywhere!  I'm not sure if i subconsciously picked up on it before or maybe I'm slightly psychic but I've seen a few gold and turquoise half moon manis these past few weeks!

All in all I liked this mani.  Yes the lines could have been cleaner but with practise I should be able to sort that :)

3. Polka Dots

Before I started this challenge I ordered some dotting tools and stripers from Born Pretty Store and I really wanted to use them for some of the designs, especially this one, so I was waiting for them to get here before attempting them.  That's why my posts have been really lacking recently.  Sadly the tools still aren't here and I couldn't be bothered waiting any longer so here is the polka dot design without the dotting tools :(

3 Polka Dots (get creative, do multi colours, do it over the nude from before or change your base colour, go monochromatic) So many options!

I decided to do the polka dot mani with a cocktail stick, so brace yourself for some God-awful dots!!

I applied Barbara Daly base coat, two coats of Blue Mirror by W7.  This is a gorgeous light blue foil polish and I love it on its own.

Here are the polka dots!! I was really impatient with the cocktail stick and ended up tapping it, pressing the side of it to my nail etc, just to get some polish off, so my dots are terrible!! I used a nameless black from Primark for the dots and then 2true top coat.

I loved Blue Mirror by itself and I think that the 'dots' totally ruined it, but hey! I had to do the challenge!

2. Nude + Glitter

Wow not posted in a while!  It's coming up for exam time this month and I'm graduating leaving high school on Friday! Very busy, so May might not have as many posts as I would like :(

But anyway, on to design number two of the Plasma Plays challenge.

2. Add a Layer of Shimmer/Glitter/Anything You Choose, To That Nude

In the first design I used a nameless Revlon nude with a very slight shimmer to it.  To this I added Make It Golden by Essence and added a 2true top coat.

Like I mentioned in my last post, about half an hour after applying the nude a load of bubbles appeared on my nails.

I thought that the glitter might be able to cover up the bubbles but it didn't really work, as you can see...

If it hadn't been for the bubbles this would have been a super pretty combo and I would have loved wearing it.  But like this it only lasted a day and I HAD to take it off, it was driving me crazy!!


Here's to a more successful post three.