Challenge: Day 30 - Inspired By A Tutorial

Hi ladies! It's the last day of the challenge for me and a couple more of you!! I'm actually a little sad that it's over, but I've got some amazing swatches planned to show you all over the course of the next month. Since today is Inspired by a tutorial I chose to do this mani. For my base, I used 2 coats of China Glaze - Traffic Jam and for the details I used Acrylic Paint. I then finished it off with a coat of MASH Matte Polish*.

As if the challenge is over! I can't believe I've made it to the end without giving up or missing a day, though I've been close a few times. Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the challenge with me! I don't think I would have made it to the end if I didn't have anyone to do it with! I hope you've enjoyed the challenge as much as I have! See you in the next one!

Untrieds Used;

China Glaze - Traffic Jam

Challenge: Day 29 - Inspired By The Supernatural

Hi ladies! It's the penultimate day, and I completely flaked. It wasn't until I got home from work that I realised I hadn't actually re-done a mani for 'Inspired By The Supernatural' since the one I was going to use, was actually the mani I've entered into Manicure Monkey's contest and to make matters worse, it was dark outside, so I couldn't take photos! So ultimately, instead of completely fail this challenge, I thought I would just post my first mani, hopefully this isn't against the rules. Since you've seen this before, and hopefully have all voted for this mani daily *angel face* I will give you a little run down of what I used; I started off with a base of Nails Inc - Westminster, then added various spots of Catrice - Heavy Metallic and China Glaze - Sea Spray using a make up sponge. I did the moon using various mixtures/combinations of Acrylic Paint. I freehanded a couple of the bats, but then decided to use MASH Stamping Polish in Black* and BM-213 to do the rest. The house I got from BM-224. I finished it off with a coat of MASH Matte Polish*.

I apologise for my lack of new mani for today's challenge! I hope you can forgive me, But I hope you'll all take a couple minutes and vote for my mani in the contest, click here to be taken to the voting page, you can vote daily too!. How quick has September gone btw?! I can't believe it's the last day of the challenge tomorrow! I'm excited to see what you'll use! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

Nails Inc - Westminster

Challenge: Day 28 - Inspired By A Flag

Hi ladies! Just a quick post to show you my 'Inspired By A Flag' mani, I was speaking to my dad earlier whilst wondering what the heck I could do for a flag mani since I didn't want to do just anything, which was probably going to be a Union Jack flag, when it hit me that I should do a flag mani inspired by my dad! He's a Warrant Officer in the Royal Navy and has been in the Navy ever since he was 17 so I knew I wanted to incorporate the Royal Navy flag into my mani, which you can see on my Middle finger. The Irish, Scottish and English flags are for where my dads heritage is from (Ireland), where he lives (Scotland) and where he was born (England). I started off with a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls on my Index, Middle and Pinky fingers and a base of China Glaze - Want My Bawdy on my Ring finger, then using acrylic paint for all the detailing except for the Irish Flag, which I used BarryM - Spring Green and OPI - Hot & Spicy.

So there you have my Inspired By A Flag mani for Day 28! Only 2 more days to go! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

China Glaze - Want My Bawdy

Challenge: Day 27 - Inspired By Artwork

Hi ladies! Can you believe there's only 3 more mani's to do!? 4 if you're doing the original 31 days! I honestly can't believe I've actually made it this far and that there's still so many of you doing this along with me! Today is Inspired By Artwork, now I'm not really into 'art' as such, so I was a little stuck on what I was going to do, but I knew I wanted to think outside the box with this one. And think outside the box I did, hopefully. I chose my artwork based on British graffiti artist, Banksy, I think the majority of you will know who he is. I started off with a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls (shocker!!! I think I have used this polish in almost every challenge day, I need to get myself a back up) on my Index and Ring fingers, Color Club - Nomadic Nude on my middle finger and China Glaze - Concrete Catwalk on my pinkie finger. All the detailing was done using a nail art brush and Acrylic Paint.

The inspiration for my Index finger

The inspiration for my Middle finger

The inspiration for my Ring finger

I absolutely love Banksy and his art, it's so out there and of course, graffiti is somewhat illegal, so it makes the detailing even more amazing since there's only so much time to spare before you're caught. If you're interested in seeing more of Banksy's work, just type his name into google images! There's some amazing images on there! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

China Glaze - Concrete Catwalk

Challenge: Day 26 - Inspired By A Pattern

Hi ladies! Todays challenge gives us 'Inspired By A Pattern' for this particular mani, I was inspired by the feature wall in my old bedroom at my mums house because I actually miss it! I was so happy when I found that patterned wallpaper in the store what must be 5/6 years ago now! It's a Silver background with a Black baroque pattern throughout, I then had curtains and accents to match. I wish I had taken a photo to add into the post, but since I don't live at home anymore, it's a bit difficult. For this mani, I started off with a base of China Glaze - Devotion then using BM-312 and MASH Stamping polish in Black*, stamped on the pattern.

Sorry for the short post guys! But I hope you liked it, ignore the Yellowish glow in the nails, I was wearing my bright Yellow pajama top, oops. Again, I also forgot to use an untried polish, I suck! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Challenge: Day 25 - Inspired By Fashion

Hi ladies! It's Fashion day today! Now, I'm not going to lie, I had NO idea what to do for this at all. I was trailing through countless images of photos from Fashion Week but nothing really popped out to me. In the end I decided to just go for one of my favourite designer brands, Chanel. Although I don't actually own anything Chanel, besides some make-up (I don't even have any Chanel polishes!), I've always wanted to own a pair of Chanel shoes or a handbag, I will one day fulfil that wish of mine, but until then I will have to make do with just looking. I started off with 2 coats of W7 - Black and then added OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls as an accent nail. I then stamped over using bornprettystore stamping polish in White* and BM-310 on my index and pinkie fingers. I then used Acrylic Paint to paint the infamous logo and also to poorly attempt do Coco Chanel's face.

So there you have my poor and unimaginative attempt at Fashion inspired nails. I didn't actually use an untried polish in this mani, which I only realised after taking the photos, so I failed in that aspect, but at least there's still a mani! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

I NEED YOUR HELP!

Hi ladies! I have submitted the mani above to Manicured Monkey's Nail Art contest in the 'Freehand' section, If you could all take just 2 minutes to vote for me, I would really really appreciate it. I am entry #2 on the list in the 'freehand' category.
Voting will last until October 21st and you can vote for your favourite (mine please *angel face*) daily! Simply click HERE to be taken to the voting page!


Thank you in advance to those who vote for me!

Challenge: Day 24 - Inspired By A Book

Hi ladies! The end is almost here! I honestly can't believe I've made it to the 24th day and haven't thrown in the towel yet! If you saw my previous 31 Day Challenge attempt when I first started blogging, I gave up around day 12/13...quitter. Today's inspiration post comes from a book. Now I searched high and low for a book that 'inspired' me, and I was about to give up when I thought about 'The Mighty Book Of Boosh' which I bought a long time ago, but it was at my mums house. I knew that this was the book I wanted to do, since the cover is so colourful, so when I went to work on Friday, I stopped by my mums house to pick it up. For this mani, I applied the gradient technique with Purple Professional - 52*, OPI - Dim Sum Plum, beautyUK - Bon Bon*, Essie - Coat Azure and BarryM - Red Wine over a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I then used Black & White Acrylic paint for the 'eyes', which I messed up since they weren't supposed to be so big, and the mouth. The Pink 'stitching' is China Glaze - Pool Party.

The Mighty Book of Boosh cover.

So there you have my entry for Inspired By A Book, what do you think? I wish I hadn't have messed the eyes up as much, but oh well! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

Purple Professional - 52

OPI - Dim Sum Plum

Challenge: Day 23 - Inspired By A Movie

Hi ladies, it's movie day! I was so excited about today's challenge, because I am a HUGE movie buff. My boyfriend and I watch so many movies together that we regularly run out of options. That being said, I didn't know what I wanted to do for today's challenge...until I saw Toy Story on one of the movie channels. Toy Story has to be one of my all time favourite films from my childhood, but I know a lot of people have done Toy Story nails in the past. So I thought I would spice it up a little by doing 'Pixar' inspired nails. I used Acrylic paint for all of the characters, but a different base for each nail, from Index - Pinkie I used; Wet N Wild - Black Creme, OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, BarryM - Cyan Blue & OPI - Your Palapa Or Mine?

If you're unsure of the characters and their origin, I have Mr. Potato Head from the Toy Story films on my Index finger, Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc on my Middle finger, Dory from Finding Nemo on my Ring finger and Flik from A Bugs Life on my Pinkie. So there you have my Pixar inspired nails for Movie day, I'm quite pleased with how they turned out, especially since I lack in the nail art department! What do you think to them? Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

OPI - Your Palapa Or Mine?

MINI BLOG SALE!

HI LADIES, I'VE ADDED A FEW THINGS TO MY BLOG SALE.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT!

Challenge: Day 22 - Inspired By A Song

Hi ladies! How is everyone today? I had a pretty interesting terrifying start to the day on my way to work this morning when I was literally inches away from being squished by a huge lorry who didn't bother to look or slow down going on to the roundabout which I was currently going around, luckily my boyfriends dad is a morning person and has super human reflexes. So we had a near miss with death, but none of us were hurt or injured, which is amazing. Anyway, back to today's mani, which is Inspired By A Song. I chose to honour this song which is probably one of my favourite songs from my childhood/early teenage years. Starting from my Index finger, I used; GOSH - Hot Coral as a base, then with striping tape I sectioned off thin lines and painted over with Wet N Wild - Black Creme. For my middle finger I used a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls and stamped over using MASH Nails stamping polish in Black* and BM-322, My ring finger I used a base of Wet N Wild - Black Creme then in acrylic paint using a small nail art brush I added in the words 'Rocksteady' and 'No Doubt' and finally for my pinkie, I painted on a base of OPI - Animal-Istic and using the same acrylic paint and nail art brush painted 'Hey Baby'.

Snapshots from the video I got my inspiration from.

So there you have my mani for Inspired by a Song, how many of you will have this in your head now? It's literally been in my head since I painted this mani, I love Gwen Stefani and I LOVE No Doubt, ever since I first heard 'Don't Speak' and I was actually pretttty young (4/5 years old) when that was first released! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

GOSH - Hot Coral

OPI - Animal-Istic

Products in the post marked with (*) have been sent to me by the company or their PR for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure page.

Challenge: Day 21 - Inspired By A Colour

Hi ladies! How are you liking the challenge so far?! I'm so glad to see there's still a lot of bloggers soldiering through, if it wasn't for you ladies I think I may have given up long ago. Just 9 days left! 10 if you're doing the full 31! Day 21 takes us into the 'Inspired By' category, which I must say I'm looking forward to getting down and dirty with and flexing my extremely limited nail art 'skills'. Today's mani is 'Inspired By A Colour' now I've always thought this was a wierd one to have, I mean how can you be inspired by a colour? So I took this to mean inspired by a nail polish colour. The nail polish I was 'Inspired By' was China Glaze - Ruby Pumps for obvious reasons right?! So I painted each one of my nails a different colour Index; OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Middle; Nails Inc - York Street, Ring; China Glaze - Ruby Pumps, Pinkie; beautyUK - Bon Bon*. I then used Rio Beauty Printing Varnish in White* to stamp with and Mash-50* for my Middle finger and BM-213 for my Ring Finger. I used Acrylic Paints for the Rainbow and 'Road' lines. I then sealed it all in with Models Own 2 in 1 Top Coat.

So there you have my mani Inspired By A Colour. I wish I had switched around the Red & White on my ring finger and actually had 'Ruby Pumps' instead of White ones! Oh well. Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

Nails Inc - York Street

Affordable UK Polishes for under £10!! (Part 1)

Hi ladies! I have something a little different for you today! If you're like me and have an unhealthy obsession with Nail Polish and want to stay 'current' without breaking the bank, then this is the post for you! I'm going to show you 10 UK drugstore/supermarket brands, all of which are available for under £10! Sorry international ladies, this will only feature UK drugstore polishes, I will however, be including links to any retailers that carry the brands and offer international shipping! So you're not completely left out! I do plan on doing a US/European post soon, so if you have a favourite, affordable brand you love, contact me at polishedcriminails@gmail.com!

My failed attempt at a £ sign!

This is going to be a two part post, just because it's going to be SUPER long and I don't want you falling asleep half way though! So I will be showing the first 5 brands availabe for under £5 today and the other 5 brands available for £6 - £10 tomorrow. I have ordered them by price, with the cheapest being first. Enough of my rambling, lets get onto the post!

First up is the cheapest brand I've found, MUA (Makeup Academy). MUA Nail polishes retail between £1 - £2.99 depending on the variants of Nail Polish. For example, their regular line is priced at £1 each (6.2ml), Love Hearts £2 each (6.8ml) and their Quake/Glitter Quake range are £2.99 each (10ml). Overall, I'm impressed with MUA's Nail Polish line, although the formula is a little thick and the brush/bottles are so small, it didn't chip as quick as I thought it would, but for £1-£3 they are definitely worth the money. However, I haven't actually tried their Quake/Glitter Quake polishes, as I'm not a fan of Crackle, so I can't comment on those. If you have, leave me a comment saying how you found them!
MUA can be purchased through their website (which offers international shipping) alternatively, you can find MUA at your local Superdrug store! Keep up with the latest MUA offers/releases by following them on Facebook & Twitter!

Next up we have Collection 2000! Collection 2000 polishes retail for £1.79 for their 'Hot Looks' line or £2.99 for their 'Lasting Colour' line. As with MUA, I have only tried their 'Hot Looks' range, so I can't comment on the 'Lasting Colour' range, but overall I am impressed with the formula of 'Hot Looks' polishes, they apply well and usually only need 2 or 3 coats, they dry within minutes too. My only qualm with the 'Hot Looks' polishes is the brush! They're a bit too wide for my liking, especially for the size of the bottle, I tend to catch the odd bristle when placing it back into the polish. They're definitely worth the £1.79 price tag, though!
Unfortunately, you can't purchase Collection 2000 directly from their website, but they are available to purchase at Boots and Superdrug stores, however, neither stores ship internationally. Sorry ladies!

NYC or New York Color, isn't technically a 'UK' brand, but it is sold in our Drugstores. NYC

Press Release: BeautyUK Adds A Touch Of Glitter

BEAUTYUK ADDS A TOUCH OF GLITTER

National fashion cosmetics brand, beautyuk, has launched its brand new collection of glitter nail polishes under its posh polish range.

The collection consists of nine high coverage glitters. Each of the nail polishes is intense in colour and contains a higher volume of particles than the average glitter polish. Those 9 glitters are;

• Dorothy (Red Glitter)
• Deep Blue Sea (Blue Glitter)
• Intergalactic (Multi Glitter)
• Mermaid (Green Glitter)
• Comet's Tail (Black/Grey Glitter)
• Funky Diva (Purple Glitter)
• Twinkle Twinkle (Silver Glitter)
• Gold Digger (Gold Glitter
• Cosmic Candy (Pink Glitter)

They are now available online at www.beautyukcosmetics.com and in Superdrug stores.

The posh polish range epitomises the brand’s drive to offer outstanding quality at high street prices. The new packaging elegantly combines designer chic with a modern twist.

Individual bottles from both collections are available at £3.49 each.

Challenge: Day 20 - Water Marble

Hi ladies! We're at the most dreaded part of the whole challenge, for me anyway and I know for a lot of other bloggers too. I've always avoided doing water marble mani's because quite frankly, it looks HARD. But since there was no way I could avoid it during the challenge, I have been practising and practising to try and get a half decent mani. Every time I did a water marble, it came out as mush on my nails, until I thought I would try using luke-warm water. So I added some bottled water into the kettle and boiled it slightly, I then added the water into a glass and let it cool a little. Whilst the water was cooling, I painted my nails with a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, once the water was at the desired temperature, I added in Models Own - Peach Puff, Essie - Lilacism, Nails Inc - Power Pink and Essie - Cute As A Button. The polishes didn't separate as much as I'd hoped they would, but I went along with it anyways. This is how it turned out, Oh and I added a coat of MASH Nails - Matte Top Coat* to take out the shine;

As you can see, it didn't turn out amazing especially my middle finger, but it was the best water marble I did out of all the practise runs I had and of course, they wouldn't be my nails if I didn't manage to smudge/dint them somehow, which I did to my index and ring finger on the side of the glass *sigh*. Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

Essie - Lilacism

Essie - Cute As A Button

Nails Inc - Power Pink

Challenge: Day 19 - Galaxy Nails

Hi ladies! It's GALAXY NAIL DAY!! This was one of the challenges I was looking forward to, though I haven't really tried them myself, I'm always in awe of galaxy nails, there's just something about them. I actually did this mani a while ago, just because I was SO excited to do them, so you'll notice all my nails are the same length since it was literally the day before I broke off the side of my index nail IN MY SLEEP?! So you'll have to excuse the messy swatches since I took them just to show my friend, thinking I would be re-taking them the next morning... Now, the downside? I sort of forgot what I used as I can't find the piece of paper I wrote it on! So HOPEFULLY this is right, if not and I find the paper, I will edit accordingly. I started off with a base using 2 coats of W7 - Black  and then using a make-up sponge, I added OPI - DS Magic, OPI - Yoga-ta Get This Blue, China Glaze - Sea Spray & LEX - Love Me More*. I then swiped over each nail with Catrice - Have An Ice Day and added various 'clusters' of Shimmer - Alice* then topped it off with stars I fished out of Nostalgic Lacquer - Pride. I then sealed everything in with China Glaze - No Chip topcoat - the irony since my polish didn't chip, my NAIL broke >.<

So there you have it, my favourite mani of the challenge but yet the most devastating one too! What do you think to my first attempt? Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days! 

Untrieds Used;

LEX - Love Me More

Catrice - Have An Ice Day

Shimmer - Alice

Challenge: Day 18 - Half Moons

Hi ladies! It's September 18th, which means it's time for Half Moon day! Now, I originally had an AMAZING idea for this, but as I was painting it on my nails, it wasn't turning out anything like I had hoped it would, so I completely scrapped it and took everything off. Annoyed at my failed attempt at nail art, I decided to take out my beautyuk nail wraps in leopard* (which I used in my Animal Print day) and trimmed them down so they were a little bit bigger than the half moon size I wanted. I then took out some round french manicure tips and sectioned off the 'half moon' and painted over it with OPI - I Brake For Manicures.

So there's my unimaginative mani for Half Moon day. I'm SO disappointed that I lack the required nail art skills that I needed to do my original idea, maybe once I'm half decent at freehand nail art, I'll show you! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days! 

Untrieds Used;

OPI - I Brake For Manicures