B&W French, and new pretties from Nails Inspire!

Hello!

I don't really know what these nails are or what I wanted to do! Last night after trying a few things, I again couldn't come up with anything nice, but didn't want to go to work with bare nails 'cos they look horrible! I decided to just do a simple french mani - I just used white polish and swiped across the tips of my nails. I wore these to work today, and when I was home I got doodling with a black nail-art pen. I first was only going to add the black line under the white, but then I ended up adding the black spike too. Not sure if they look finished or what they're supposed to look like, but these are my nails today!

Also, I've had a rather exciting evening! I saw on Facebook earlier this month that Indie polish maker Kim who makes Nails Inspire polishes was going to be having a stall at a school near to me. I wasn't sure about going along because I don't have a connection to the school so didn't want to look/feel like a weirdo! But me and my mum wanted something to do so we went along, and the fair was fab! It wasn't like a fair for schoolkids with hook-a-duck etc, it was like a proper local crafts fair. It was sooo busy but I eventually found Kim's stall, which was overrun with people interested in her thermal polishes, pretty glitters and CUSTOM made polishes that she was making right at the stall. 

Here's what I bought, after a lot of deliberation:

Aren't they stunning!!! On the left is the thermal polish that I wanted the most, Fairy Lights. I specifically went for a pink thermal, so yay! On the right is Strawberry Jellie, a fantastic shade of pink with holo glitter. So so pretty, I didn't plan to get it but knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it! And in the middle, last but not least, is the mini custom glitter topper that Kim made for me at the table. I chose a dark rich pink, a turquoise and a larger kind of colour-shift glitter, which were all mixed together for me. And what a beauty it's turned out to be! 

I literally cannot wait to try these, but I'm resisting tonight - 1 because it's late and 2 because I'm only going to work tomorrow - I want to save them until I have a special occasion to wear them on, because they deserve to be shown off.

Kim was lovely, her stall was very busy with lots of interest from both adults and children, and I'm so pleased she was getting a lot of custom!

Elf Love - Indy's Indies

Hello!

Today I've got a fourth xmassy indie polish from Indy's Indies to show off and review! This one is the most festive of the lot, I think! It's called Elf Love which I think is a really cute name too. 

Elf Love is a mixture of red, green and gold glitter pieces, in different shapes and sizes. It's a lovely variety - all the different pieces look fab together. I especially love the gold circles! I decided to layer it over black, so started with two coats of my new black Nails Inc polish I got with Glamour magazine.

I then added two dabbled coats of Elf Love. The smaller pieces of glitter come out really easily, the larger ones you have to fish for. The only slight issue I had with this polish was that the big red hearts sometimes clumped together - so you'd either get none or loads! This wasn't a problem though, as a bit of a nudge with the brush would separate them out! 

Here's some pics. It's so Christmassy! :-)

If you want to buy this (quick, before Christmas!!) or any of the other fun and festive polishes from the range at Indy's Indies you can do by clicking here!

Monochrome Snowflakes

Hello!

Yesterday night, I applied my beautiful Utopia by Models Own as a last resort - I'd tried various nail-art ideas but none of them worked out like I wanted and I ended up getting annoyed! I put my nail-art pens in my bag for today, in case I got a chance to doodle on my nails at work. And I did!

I wanted something Christmassy, but neither my base colour or my pens were Christmassy colours really! After having a google for inspiration, I found these rather fab nails by Youtube user, Indigonova1. I loved the bold use of black and white to create snowflake patterns so wanted to have a go myself. Here are the results, with a topcoat of my color club shimmery topcoat!

I totally love these Barry M pens! 

Also, I've had a fab day today for new stuff! Today I wanted a magazine to read, and ended up buying Glamour even though I told myself a while back I wouldn't get it! But I did want something to read, so I got that AND a free nail polish.... I did need a plain black that wasn't matte, so now I have one. Woo! 

I got an amazing surprise as well. My boyfriend is away, but he told me to expect a parcel. I thought it might be one nail varnish - instead it was 24 in the shape of the Ciate calendar! So unexpected, and I feel very spoilt - I know they're very expensive and he was naughty to buy it, but I am so excited to start opening it :-D

Last but certainly not least, I received my delivery of new Nail Lacquer UK polishes! I got two from the Alice In Wonderland collection and they're just stunning. Literally cannot wait to get them on my nails! Here's a pic of everything I got today!

Lastly, just letting you know that I recently got Instagram... I don't really know what I'm doing, but will be posting pretty nail pics there too whenever they feature on the blog. My username is mymintnails if you have Instagram and want to follow me!

Kiko Lace Print

Hello!

While shopping in Westfield Stratford in London over the weekend, I popped into the KIKO shop. I'd heard about this brand of cosmetics through other blogs, so I popped in to see what colours they had and what the prices were. I really didn't mean to buy any - I didn't need any new colours and had just bought a new Maybelline polish from Boots, so my polish-buying-need had been satisfied. But as soon as I saw the polishes were only £3.90, and then spotted this beauty - well - I had to have it.

It doesn't have a name on it, just a number: 346. After a quick google it seems this polish is called Olive Drab. It's a beautiful, dull kind of teal/khaki....so pretty. 

This polish applies BEAUTIFULLY! It's so creamy and smooth and shiny, it looked beautiful with just one coat! I did do two coats just out of habit and to make it look even richer, and just - wow! It's beautiful. I need many, many more KIKO's now!!! I have added a topcoat in this pic, but not to make it more shiny, just to protect it. I've had this polish on for three days now and it's remained perfect.

With flash:

Without flash:

Today I had some spare time at work (whilst announcing trains) and decided to doodle over the top with my Barry M pen. For inspiration I used this fab manicure by AJ over at Nail Lacquer UK. I was at work so couldn't watch the video but I had a look at her pics and picked one of the patterns to try. Cos my nails were so shiny and slippy, the pen didn't work as well as usual, but this actually worked out quite well - the spidery lines worked well for lace print!

Crushed Candy Cane - Indy's Indies

Hello,

I've got another Christmassy Indy's Indies polish to show off today. This is Crushed Candy Cane, which is a mixture of little red and white shards in a clear base. It's so cute and christmassy, and looks exactly like a crushed candy cane, really fab name for it!

I was thinking for a while what to layer it over. Sarah from Penny Pinching Polish produced a fab manicure with it over black, which looked great, but I didn't want to copy! I eventually came up with using pink as a base. Not Christmassy in its self, but I really wanted to see what it would look like.

I started off with two coats of a pale pink by Color Club, topped with a flaky shimmery topper, also by Color Club. I don't know the names of these as I got them from TKmaxx and they came nameless! I think the shimmer makes the pink look more Christmassy/wintery. Here they are before I added Candy Cane - I must use this Color Club flakie more, this is the first time I've used it after getting it in a set months ago. It's so pretty!

I then added a gradient of Crushed Candy Cane to the tips of my nails, except my thumb which I covered completely. This was a couple of dabbed coats to get the shards to spread as I wanted. I love how fun this polish is, like the snowman one I reviewed a few days ago! And it really is Christmassy... I want to try it over green next for maximum Christmas-ness!

If you want to buy this or any of the other fab polishes from Indy's Indies, you can find them on Etsy here.

Ten Favourite Polishes

Hello!

Today I'm taking part in a bloggers' link-up, and we're all posting about our top 10 polishes. Like everyone else, I've found this quite difficult! I have loooads of polishes I love for different reasons - ones that are good as base coats, ones that are glitter or texture, bright colours, plain colours, holographic, indie, etc etc. They're all fab for different manicures.

So for my top ten, I tried to pick one or two from each 'type' of polish I love. They're also my favourite polishes at the moment. Next month they'd probably be different again!
Here they are...
 

 Left to right,
Nail Envy by OPI
Insta-Dri by Sally Hansen
Passion Fruit &
Greenberry by Barry M
Sweetie Belle &
I Will Rainbow On You by Nail Lacquer UK
Charm Bracelet by Seventeen
Dorian Grey by Sally Hansen
Utopia by Models Own
Cinerella by Sinful Colors.

Here's a more detailed break-down of why I picked these, two polishes at a time.

Nail Envy (OPI) & Insta-Dri (Sally Hansen)
I had to pick these, because I use them in every manicure I do and I think they really improve the look of my nails. I use Nail Envy as a base coat, to prevent staining, and to try and keep my nails strong. I use Insta-Dri as a topcoat. This is about my 5th bottle- I love it! It dries so quickly which is fab for me cos I am so clumsy and usually smudge my designs straight away. It also gives a beautiful shine, which makes a lot of people think my nails are either falsies or professionally done!

Greenberry & Passion Fruit (Barry M)
These two polishes were kind of picked to represent the whole Barry M gelly polish range. They are all fab colours, especially the newer, brighter ones, and I have lots! They're so vibrant, and fab for a full manicure or for nail art. These are my favourite two colours, but I use all of them lots depending on what designs I am doing. Here they are in a few past manicures:

Next we have:

Sweetie Belle & I Will Rainbow On You by Nail Lacquer UK
These two polishes were the first indie (handmade) polishes I bought, and I'm totally hooked! AJ creates Nail Lacquer UK polishes and they're all SO pretty. It was hard to choose just two to feature here, but I eventually settled with Sweetie Belle due to the different shades of delicate pink, which is my favourite colour, and I Will Rainbow On You, an amazing multi-coloured glitter. I don't know what it is that makes it so special, but I adore the mix of glitters. Here they are on my fingers looking beautiful:

And then...

 Dorien Grey by Sally Hansen & Utopia by Models Own
Firstly, sorry about the state of these bottles! Shows they're well-used though! These are my current favourite nude/neutral shades. Firstly, Dorien Grey (pound shop buy!!!) is a beautiful creamy pale grey. It applies beautifully, helped with Sally Hansen's big fat brush. I've used it as a base in loads of manicures. I love it. Next, there's Utopia, a beautiful pale nude. It's overtaken Barry M's Lychee as my go-to nude shade for plain nails or as a base for other things. Utopia is a recent buy, but I adore it. Here they are in action:

Finally we have ...

Cinderella by Sinful Colors and Charm Bracelet by Seventeen

I picked Cinderella because I've recently bought it, it's a beautiful pale blue with a shimmer and I've used it a lot recently as a base for stuff. It does need white underneath it though I find. I'm already regretting picking this for the top 10 as I'm not sure it deserves to be here, but it is pretty!

Charm Bracelet is my favourite textured polish ever! I didn't like the pastel textured polishes that were out over summer, but glittery texture is fab. This gold is just SO deep and sparkly. Everyone should have it! Pics:

So that's my 10! I actually store my polish in three boxes, two are just random and stored down the side of the sofa, but one box lives under my coffee table and stores all my current favourites/most used. This changes regularly as I buy new polishes and my preferences change. This is my 'favourites' box at the moment - lots of Barry M Gelly and Models Own. The two on the top are brand new purchases - I'm actually wearing the Kiko polish today and looove it - I think that should have made it into the top 10 but I already sorted these photographs yesterday, haha. The Maybelline Brocades looks lush too, still got to try that out.

There's no Indies in here, because they are special and beautiful and get to live on my hearth so I can see them. These are all so pretty and individual <3

So there we go - 10 favourites and a few additional pretties that were too nice not to be photographed!