NOTW: Cows are exotic too!

Hello my lovelies!

Today I bring you a themed, stamped mani - I matched my design with the base colour, China Glaze Exotic Encounters! I was of two minds about this mani to begin with, as you'll see below... but let me show you my initial attempt at awesome before we get onto that:

I know what you're thinking - BUSY! Somehow this design looked very different in my head to on my nails. This is GALS Fairy plates GA32 (leopard print) and GA46 (cow print accent nail - it's a cow print, right?) stamped in Barry M Silver Foil. I'd sort of expected to see more of the base colour through the leopard stamp, and was kind of going for a contrasting stamp effect, but it didn't really work out. I was umming and ahhing over the mani but eventually had to save it, since I hated what I'd ended up with so far... So I reached for my acetone and a Q-tip and very gently swiped off my stamping, just leaving the accent nail untouched. I then top-coated my mani again and this was the result:

Better :-)

COWS ARE EXOTIC TOO!!! I obsessed about having cow print nails this week and I think the print looks much better alone ^^ However, I ended up taking the mani off within about a day; I just wasn't feeling all these cool colours somehow!

Finally, as always, here's the base colour in all its glory - China Glaze Exotic Encounters:

EE is a deep, dusky teal which leans green. This is my first CG polish and I have to confess that I'm not overly impressed formula-wise; I got a bit of cuticle flooding, since the polish is quite runny, but I do love the colour. One amazingly positive point about this polish, though: I didn't get ANY staining (ZOMG)! This is probably thanks to my own foresight, however; I applied my base coat (Essie Feed Me) and then I applied one coat of Miss Sporty It's Too Latte (a nice nude) over the top as an extra barrier against the evil that is all teal polish! Evidently, this worked!


My favourite teals are green-leaning teals, but I'm not that big a fan of animal prints. Cow print may be a strange exception! I think I tend to prefer more abstract patterns, or perhaps flowers/dots/stars. What are your fav patterns for your nails? Let me know in the comments!

'Til next time, curlettes :-)

- Skye x

NOTW: Barry goes tribal

Hello, my lovelies! How's it going?

Today I bring you a relatively short and sweet post - my latest foray into the world of tribal manis and my first ever skittle mani! The last time I tried this, it went horribly wrong, so I ended up doing something else altogether... but this time, armed with my new silver Barry M nail art pen, I was in a position to create something beautiful! Let's take a look at what I came up with: 

Tribal mani!!!

:-) :-) *pride* Here's some close-ups of the designs:

Thumb shot

*Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I did it!!!!!!!!*

Isn't it awesome!? Now, I'm not a very creative person, so I totally ripped off paid homage to Debbie Crumpet on this one, whose patterns I all but reproduced line for line (bar the odd few dots here and there). Check out her AMAZEBALLS tribal post here and you'll see what I mean! They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I hope that she's flattered (and not horrified by my attempt to art) - I take absolutely no credit for this creation at all :-) 

Finally, as always, let me show you the beautiful base colour for this mani - Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Prickly Pear: 

This is actually the second time I've worn this polish, but the first time was when I went to Scotland for my little holiday and I forgot to get a pic amid all the packing and travelling. This may be one of my fav new polishes. After loving Barry M's Pomegranate Gelly, I knew I had to try some more in the future, and when I saw this in store I fell in love! I'd describe the colour as both a warm blue and a cool lilac all in one - the colour is absolutely unique in my collection and has a wicked natural shine, even without a TC. It's delicate and will probably suit absolutely everyone, so go buy it immediately! You need this polish in your collections.

And so my Barry M nail art pen adventure continues! What else should I draw? Hit me up in the comments!

'Til next time, curlettes :-)

- Skye x

NOTW: Nerdy nails - H20

Hi lovelies! How are we this week? :-)

Today I have my nerdiest ever mani to show you! It's a bit different to the sorta thing I normally do, but I ended up obsessing about doing it, so it had to happen! I bring you, my H20 mani!!! Lookie lookie:

Science can be magical!!!

Isn't it groovy?! I think I wanted to do this because I've been getting to know a new friend lately who is a chemist. He sorta gets my geek going, and when I realised that the crummy weather wasn't gonna let me enjoy this holo in all its glory, I knew I had to do something to it. For some reason, water molecules popped into my head (although my chemist friend named them, I just saw the dots - ahem, atoms - in my head)! Here's what they look like for the non-scientists like myself:

Water molecules! An unconventional mani inspiration? :-)

I'd say the mani is a pretty accurate depiction :-) Although I wouldn't normally put these colours together, I may actually be in love; I can't stop staring at my nails! I especially love how the red contrasts with the gorgeous blue holo beauty that is A England Tristam (so sparkly!), and I love the nerdy nod <3 It's just a funky coincidence that water is blue and so is the base :-)

Here's what I used for this mani:

• A England Tristam (holo blue base)
• Barry M Silver Foil (stamping)
• Kiko 238 (red 'atoms')
• GALS 34 (stamp)

Finally, as usual, I wanna show you the base colour for this mani, the beautiful A England Tristam and my FIRST EVER HOLO (squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!): 

ZOMG HOLO! I've been living under a rock!
This pic was taken with flash cos there's no sun :-(

This polish will always be special to me because it was sent to me as a surprise gift by the lovely Anne Catherine Vold Archer (thank you soooo much, Anne). I've learned this year, especially through the polish forums, that people are just insanely kind. I love that I have a material representation of this in my polishes - like a little daily reminder :-) I actually wore this polish expecting the sun to come out and blow me away with rainbow holo goodness, but sadly it was not meant to be :-( I will have to dig it out again in the summer (remember that season?) so I can enjoy it properly. Needless to say, it is GORGEOUS and I'm now totally getting the entire holo hype!

I'm actually considering doing a science mani series now, because there are a few stamping images that I have which make me think of science... but I maybe need neons for some of my ideas. Watch this space! 

Would you be interested in me doing a science series (as a linguist? ha!)? Lemme know in the comments!

'Til next time, peeps :D

- Skye x

NOTW: A England Iseult

Hello lovelies and hello new followers! Welcome aboard :) :)

Today I get to show you a new favourite polish of mine - A England Iseult! This polish will always be very special to me, because it was sent to me along with A England Tristam (a gorgeous blue holo) completely by surprise by Anne Catherine Vold Archer! After my initial confusion at seeing an A England bubble envelope in my postbox, I realised that Anne had bought me these polishes out of the kindness of her heart because I don't own any pretty nudes that are 'interview-appropriate'. Anne told me that she wanted to prove to me that work wear doesn't have to be boring - and I now totally believe her! Thank you SO much Anne. I will never cease to be totally in awe of how much kindness is demonstrated in the polish community, and it's really very humbling. Kindness breeds kindness and I can only hope that I get the chance to pay forward all of the kindnesses I've been shown since I was welcomed into our little community :-)

Firstly, let me show you what I did to the mani after I got back from my interview - I got my stamp on again!

Stampy, stampy!

This is an image from GALS plate #29 and it fitted on my shorter-than-usual nails perfectly. At first I thought I'd maybe got the colour combination wrong again, but the mani eventually really grew on me and I'd definitely do it again. I think my main issue was that the silver image didn't really pop so my accent nail looked a bit much at first, but that's what I get for choosing to stamp with polishes with little or no colour contrast! This was a v. feminine mani and one I'm sure I'll reproduce in the future.


Here's the polishes I used:

• A England Iseult (pink-nude base)
• Barry M Silver Foil
• Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Pomegranate

Finally, here's a couple swatches of the beautiful base colour, A England Iseult:

Iseult #1

Iseult #2

This is a very sheer and delicate, almost-white pink polish with a subtle silver shimmer running through it. At first I thought it wouldn't suit me, because I'm definitely a warm-toned gal, but having worn it for a week I can honestly tell you that this polish will suit anyone and everyone! I'm thrilled, because it's really pretty! This was about three coats, but I think that four would eliminate the VNL. In fact, in most lights this wasn't noticeable anyway. As is fairly typical for these sheer polishes, application was a bit tricky, but not as tricky as it could have been. I think the main challenge was being patient enough to cope with the slower-than-average drying time, but as you can see, I mostly succeeded :-)

I realise that my photos of this polish are not great (weird colours, lobster hands, no jumper etc.!), but this is because I did the mani really late the night before I went to my interview and so I didn't really get a chance to take my time and get good ones. As a result, my nail art pic is ironically the most colour-accurate for the polish! I will definitely be wearing it again, though, so I will get you better pics then! For those curious, I wasn't offered the job in the end, but I think this was a blessing in disguise because the salary turned out to be very poor; I can buy more polish and travel more often if I continue freelancing, and that suits me just fine!


All I can say to sum up is thank you once again to Anne for buying me my beautiful (and first ever) A Englands, and that I can't wait to wear them both time and time again :-) I just hope that the weather plays along soon so that I can finally appreciate Tristam in all his noble and romantic holo-glory :-)

See you later this week for the second installment of my WAUF blog series!

'Til next time, curlettes :-)

- Skye x

NOTW: Geometric Tape Mani

Hi there :-) Welcome to my blog! I have picked up a veritable TON of new followers lately and I really can't believe it - I'm really grateful for each and every one of you :-) So make yourselves at home; grab a beanbag and enjoy :D

Today I have another tape mani to show you! This one gave me hell ~.~ First off, let's see my handiwork:

My thumb is pretty too!

Sadly I couldn't quite capture the silver-green-purple
flash of  the multichrome on camera :-(

This is REALLY pretty, but I will probably never do it again. Cutting the tape up into all the right shapes was making me tear my hair out - and getting everything symmetrical was such a headache! Call me lazy, but I never want to spend that much time with scotch tape EVER again. Also, the tape is now EVERYWHERE. Ugh. Of course, had I planned this mani properly, I would have applied the colours in reverse order, starting with the purple... and come to think of it, I bet it would have been a doddle with striping tape (which I don't own)... oh the gift of hindsight! ;-) At least I had pretty fingers (albeit just on the one hand...) :-)

Here's the polishes I used:

• Essie Trophy Wife (teal base)
• Barry M Silvery Lilac (strong silver multichrome - flashes purple and green)
• Kiko #315 (purple)

This is quite a short post today - go me! All I have left to show you is a full swatch of the base colour, which is perhaps the perfect teal :-) Take a look:

Please ignore the imperfections - I managed to mess up application
big-time but the angle of the photo hides most of it :-P

Y'all don't know this, but this colour is my weakness. If it has turquoise/teal on it, I automatically love it, regardless of what it is. I just can't help myself! My go-to turquoise has always been Rimmel Green With Envy, which is a bit brighter than this Essie, but the formula is awful (much like that of my beloved Black Cherries). In fact, the polish makes me so ANGRY that I don't use it anymore - but now I have a replacement :D

This Essie polish was an untried (staining is my enemy) and is my first ever Essie colour :-) I love, love, love the colour and finish, and I quite like the brush, but I don't love it; I normally always look for a wide brush, but this brush is a bit too wide for my tiny pinkies. It's not a big deal, I guess; it just means I have to paint more carefully! :-P

EDIT: The wear-time on the Essie turned out to be poor! What a shame. On the plus side, no staining :-)


What do y'all think? I enjoyed this mani but would definitely not approach it in the same way again! I'm really enjoying my tape mani spree this month and I can't wait to show you my next mani - perhaps my favourite EVER so far! DON'T MISS IT!!! :-)

'Til next time, curlettes! :-)

- Skye x

A Christmas mani: snowflakes!

Hello lovelies! I seem to have picked up several new followers so welcome one and all :-) I hope you like what you see here.

Today I have a wintry mani to show you that I created for a guest post for Katherine Reed's blog Nail Art and the Sims. Katherine asked me for something Christmassy, and so I chose to do a snowflake mani. As you all know, I've been dying of jealousy with all the beautifully stamped snowflake manis around about at the moment, so this seemed like a good choice – even if it’s not totally original. Looking back, this isn't really a Christmas design (it’s more of a seasonal one), but hopefully my nail art efforts will make up for that haha.

As I had to write an entire post for Katherine, I thought I’d just show you the finished masterpiece ;-)

Snowflakes are finally MINE!!!

This is the most intricate nail art I’ve EVER done, so I’m really pleased with how it came out, even though I had super shaky hands when I did it (it’s an intermittent problem and was a real issue when I did the mani).

If you want to read my full write-up, head over to Katherine’s brilliant blog to see my post :-) In the write-up, I discuss my thought process for the design, as well as the polishes I used. I also show a couple more pictures of the finished mani (which really show off the incredible contrast in my gradient), as well as a pic of my work in progress (which is real pretty, if I do say so, myself!). Finally, I have a swatch of the blue shimmer that I used as a base coat – which is a real winner from Collection 2000!

I hope you enjoy reading my post and hope to see you here again soon :-)

Stay smiley!

– Skye x