Tutorial: Neutral leopard print

Here is my latest NOTD. Having to keep it tame for work so I like to think of it as subtle leopard print.  It's so simple to do yet I got lots of compliments so I thought I may as well do a step by step guide despite the fact that you have probably seen it 1000+ times before :)  Trust me, anyone can do this!

All you need is three things. A base colour, a nail art pen (or fine paintbrush and top colour) and a clear top coat. I used Essie's Chinchilly as my base coat which is a lovely greige! For the leopard pattern i whipped out my trusty Sally Hansen nail art pen in black (don't know what I would do without it)I finished it all off with my favourite Chanel top coat. Viola.

All you do is apply the base coat and wait for it to dry. On top of that draw leopard spots (or attempt to like me) I embraced the messy spots! Apply the clear top coat and you are done.

Rawr!  Told you it was easy!

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday :)

(Also I have a GREAT tutorial heading your direction so watch out)

Neon Nail Polish tip

Here is a quick neon polish tip. I like to apply a coat or 2 of white polish underneath neon nail polishes to make them brighter and more opaque. Often I find neon polishes watery and thin so you need to apply a few coats but applying white underneath makes it so you need apply less coats.  Plus it makes the neon polish appear brighter!

The nail on the left has 1 coat of white polish followed by 1 coat of Essie's Knockout Pout whereas the nail on the right only has 2 coats of Knockout Pout. 

Easy Peasy!

NOTD: Stripey Nails

Good Morning everyone!

So I am sick again so I haven't been wearing any makeup lately so I'm back with another nail polish post. 

Being cooped up inside made me restless so I decided to jump on the nail art bandwagon by copying a WAH design. I love WAH nails and their blog is one of my favourite places to browse and get inspiration. Here is the design I ripped off.

I think I need to practice for a month straight to get to WAH level!

To create these babies I used Sticky Tape, Essie Tart Deco, Essie Van D'go, Ulta3 Lily White, Chanel Laque Brillance Extreme, Sally Hansen Nail art pen in black. 

It was a bit fiddly but I had fun doing it. My right hand is a bit dodge, straight lines are hard with your left hand! 

I am definitely going to track down some of the Model's Own & WAH nail art pens, has anyone tried them??

Happy Friday

Imogen x

NOTD: Neo Whimsical

Good Afternoon lovelies, 

This has been my NOTD for the past week or so which is a long time for me! It's Essie's Neo Whimsical from the Art of Spring Collection and like all this other colours from this collection this one's a winner too.

I loooove this colour. It's a beautiful pastel pink shade with a hint of lilac and totally up my alley. It is a bit more pinky toned than the shows, for some reason it looks quite lilac in the picture. I think this is a great colour for pale skin tones.

It is a bit difficult to apply and it did require 3 coats. However I don't mind because I love the colour and think it's worth it plus with a coat of Seche Vite it lasts for ages.

x

Aztec Inspired NOTD

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Hi Beauties,

I have seen lots of gorgeous Aztec inspired nails all over the place lately so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and here is what I ended up with..

I had a lot fun doing it but my thumb was as far as I was going. I have nowhere near enough patience or skill to do my other fingers that's for sure. It was actually reasonably easy and I am really happy with the finished product. When I have a bit of spare time I will definitely sit down and have another play around and see what I come up with.

Anyway if you are curious how I did it the instructions are just below :)

Here is what I used; 
Essie Lilacism

Ulta3 Spring Fling

Ulta 3 Lily White

Essie Lapis of Luxury

Seche Vite

Sally Hansen Black nail art pen

Sticky tape

1. I started off by cutting the sticky tape into small strips and stuck them on my nail creating stripes, with 2 sections of my nail showing and 2 not. I painted the gaps between the tape, one gap with Lilacism and the other with Lapis of Luxury 

2. After waiting for them to dry I peeled off the tape and painted the remaining two stripes on my nail another 2 colours - Spring Fling and Lily White

3. After that dried I used the black Sally Hansen nail art pen to draw the patterns over the nail, this is where you can let your creative side out and do whatever you please!

4. I simply let that dry and applied a layer of Seche Vite over the top to stop the pen from smudging

5. I then painted the rest of my nails with Spring Fling

And there we have it. Pretty simple as long as you have a bit of spare time hanging about.

Have a lovely day!

NOTD: Knockout Pout

Here is my very subtle nail of the day :P

It's Essie's Knockout Pout. Knockout pout is a creamy bright pink. It is hard to capture the real colour of this polish but it is slightly brighter then it appears in the picture. It is a bit deceiving and looks more pastel in the bottle rather then the neon pink which it really is. The colour almost borders on tacky but I do like it, especially with the right outfit. Perfect for summer!

The application was so so but I always find that essie polishes vary. 

Do you like it?

:)

Glitter Leopard

I got a bit adventurous with the nails today - Glitter leopard. I have been putting of an assignment I have like crazy and this is what I managed to do instead. Very productive I think :p

The photos don't quite do them justice. The leopard print does stand out more in real life and they are pretty sparkly which you can't quite tell in these pictures.  

Here is what I used to create these babies.

It was super easy, here's what I did it;

♥ I started off by applying my Orly base coat

♥ I then applied 2 coats of Essie's Playa Del Platnium (which is a really nice greige)

♥ I then used my Sally Hansen nail art pen and attempted (very dodgely) to create a leopard print pattern.

♥ Ove the top I applied a cheap glitter polish by BYS in silver over the top. The glitter layer works really well at it sort of disguises the leopard print if you have done a bad job like me, especially on my right hand. Next time I would use glitter with a thinner consistency as it covered up the leopard a bit more than I would have liked.

That's it! I was suprised with the amount of compliments I got about them today.  I want to do gold toned glitter leopard next time. I think that would be awesome.

Not long until the weekend, yay :)

Mini giveaway!

One of my local department stores cosmetics section recently got a makeover and when I went to check it out I was super excited to see this - wooo essie heaven!

So along with a few other colours I picked up 2 of the Resort Collections, one for my best friend (which i'm tempted to keep for myself) and one for you! I know it's nothing huge but I couldn't resist picking one up to show my love for you all :)

It comes with 4 mini bottles (which are so cute) from the resort collection 2010;

Lapis of luxury - a dreamy ocean blue
Splash of grenadine - a playful magenta pink
Turquoise & caicos - a flirty and pretty tropical aqua
Slaya del platinum - an elegant and sheer sandy gray

I bet they would look super pretty on your finger tips :p

So how to enter...
You know the drill, anyone can enter as long as you are a follower. To enter comment on this post telling me your current favourite nail polish as well as leaving your email address.

You can also get bonus entries by;

♥ Putting a link in your sidebar about the giveaway

♥ Doing a blog post about this giveaway

♥ Following me on twitter (I am just beginning to get into so bear with me!) If you do this, please include your twitter username or a link to your page so I can find you.

♥ Tweeting about the giveaway if you like, please include @immmyj in your tweet so I can see it, and include a link to the tweet in your comment.

Let me know in your comment if you do any of the above to make sure I count your bonus entries, I wouldn't want you to miss out. 

I will randomly choose the winner on 2nd of November.
Good luck everyone!

xx

NOTD - Essie Mint Candy Apple

I'm currently sporting Essie's Mint Candy Apple. It's the start of Spring and as the weather is starting to warm up so I thought it was a perfect colour. 

It's a great greeny blue and i am really impressed with the formula. It was so easy to apply unlike some other Essie polishes i have experienced. A++

What are you currently wearing on your finger tips?

Nails of the Day

Essie in Tart Deco (love the name)

Gorgeous orangey coral shade!

The formula was a pain to apply but it's such a lovely shade for the warmer weather which is just around the corner and i wish would hurry up

Have a wonderful day everyone :)

♥

Essie

Hey everyone, 

Here are my first essie polishes. I ordered them off ebay from enchantedbeautyspot who were great, i have since ordered candy mint apple which is currently on its way and i can't wait to get my hands on it. They arrived the day before my last exam and boy it was hard not to be tempted to paint my nails instead of study!

Left to right: Tart deco, Van D'go, Neo Whimsical, Lilacism, Chinchilly

I have only tried Van D'go since i got them and so far i love it. No doubt you can expect lots of NOTD's coing up. 

Like a true addict i am already lusting after more, i like the look of jazz and angora cardi. At this rate i need more hands and fingers!

Anyway i'm now on my mid year break from uni and am heading to New Zealand next week, i can't wait. I will be attempting to ski but i am sooo uncoordinated it will be very interesting haha. I'm sure i'll manage to fit some shopping in too - duty free here i come!

x