ABC Challenge: E

I started this ABC challenge series on my instagram and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd blog about it too! Check out the rest of my ABC posts here.

I've been really excited to post this one.... E is for Every Month is Oktoberfest by OPI. Oh my goodness, this is the most amazing nail polish in the whole world. This is two super easy coats. 

This is a red shimmer in a deep dark purple jelly base. When you apply one coat the purple jelly is a lot more obvious, the second coat gives it more of a red tone because of all the shimmer. It's such a unique nail polish. 

At first I didn't want to apply any nail art, but I thought galaxy nails would look great over this base! I love galaxy nails, they're so easy to create but look like they're really difficult. I'm not exactly sure which nail polishes I used, but I know I used a white first to make the other colours pop. Then I used a blue/aqua, a purple, a pink and a dark blue to blend it together. I then finished it off with Barry M's Diamond Glitter. The most amazing holographic glitter top coat. 

I left quite a few dark areas surrounding the "galaxies" where the beauty of Every Month Is Oktoberfest is still very obvious. I love how they turned out! 

ABC Challenge: D

I started this ABC challenge series on my instagram and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd blog about it too! Check out the rest of my ABC posts here.

D is for Don't Bossa Nova Me Around by OPI. This colour was part of the Spring/Summer Brazil collection this year. This is actually the only collection where I own every single colour! This colour is the palest colour in the series. The swatch isn't 100% colour accurate, my camera did not like the colour and it was either just white or slightly more peachy toned.. Anyway, the actual colour is a very very pale neutral pink. So imagine the swatch to the right more pink toned than peachy, but still keeping that neutral tone. I just love this colour! The formula was surprisingly easy. I only applied two coats!! 

The nail art I decided to create was this crossed pattern. It isn't perfect, and looked much better in real life, but I'm still pretty happy with it! I use nail striping tape to create the design and carefully coloured it in with OPI Where did Suzi's Man-go, Toucan Do It If You Try and Live.Love.Carnival - which I also used for my pointer and pinky. It's slightly darker than Toucan Do It If You Try. 

ABC Challenge: C

I started this ABC challenge series on my instagram and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd blog about it too! Check out the rest of my ABC posts here.

Essie Chinchilly

C is for Chinchilly by Essie. Chinchilly is a beautiful tape grey colour that sometimes looks slightly more purple, other times grey, and other times brown. It's a beautiful colour. It isn't the most unique colour in my collection, OPI Taupe-less beach is almost identical, but when I bought this I had nothing like it.

It has a great formula, I feel like it's a little more liquid formula than most Essie's but that wasn't a problem for the application. The nail polish is also slightly sheer, but I used two coats for the swatch and everything is opaque!

Dwarf Hamster Chili

I love the colour, but it also has a sentimental meaning to me. I had a hamster called Chili, who was the sweetest and most adorable dwarf hamster ever. Is he not cute???

Anyway, the nail art I decided to create is Chili! I used Chinchilly for the base of all my nails apart from my ring finger. I used OPI's Don't Bossa Nova Me Around for that. I also used Chinchilly to create Chili. I used a black nail art pen from Barry M to create the paw prints and the face, and I used a pink nail art pen from Sally Hansen to create the nose and inner ears.

ABC Challenge: B

I started this ABC challenge series on my instagram and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd blog about it too! Check out the rest of my ABC posts here.

Barry M Blue Grape

B is for Blue Grape by Barry M. Blue grape is part of the Gelly Nail Effects line, which consist of 21 colours. This line has a hi shine super glossy gel effect, without the need for UV lights. The nail polishes are slightly thicker than their normal nail polish line, which makes them more opaque too. This colour seems to be a little bit of a different formula, but still super glossy.

Blue Grape is a bright royal blue. It applies a little sheer, I applied two coats are you still see my nail line. Usually I'm not a fan of that, but the colour itself is so beautiful that I forgive it. The formula is incredibly easy: it easily glides over my nail and is more of a jelly formula than the others from the gelly line.

Barry M Blue Grape, Models Own Blueberry, Essie Navigate Her

I decided to create a floral manicure using Blue Grape as well as Models Own Blueberry Muffin and Essie's Navigate Her. Blueberry Muffin is the most beautiful baby blue I've ever used. I find it's quite a thick formula, but it's super opaque and I only need two coats. I also love it because it smells of sweet blueberry muffins. I used a dotting tool and created some large dots on my nails using Blue Grape. I then used a small dotting tool and Blueberry Muffin to add some detail to the roses. Finally I used Navigate Her to add some leaves. I always use the same green to create leaves for floral nails. I think navigate her is the perfect muted green nail polish that won't over power the flowers.

ABC Challenge: A

I have been following Reach For The Polish for a long time and was inspired by her ABC challenge, so I decided to start my own!  I started it on my instagram already, so I've got a little catching up to do! For the challenge you choose a nail polish starting with the letter of the alphabet, for example E for Elephantastic Pink. You first swatch it and then create nail art using that nail polish!

OPI Alpine Snow

A is for Alpine Snow by OPI. Finding the perfect white is incredibly difficult, they're all streaky and need at least three coats to get even. Although Alpine Snow isn't the perfect white, it's better than anything I've tried so far. With two very careful coats, you can get full opacity. Usually on my left hand I'll apply two coats, but on my right hand I'll need three.

It's a gorgeous clean white. I don't usually just wear white nail polish on it's own because I'm way too tempted to add nail art, but it looks stunning on it's own! Especially in the summer.

OPI Alpine Snow, Kester Black Papaya, Paradise Punch, Dragon Fruit

I decided to create a neon gradient with white stripes. This is probably one of the easiest styles of nail art to create... if you can find the right sponge. I bought my sponges from Primark. I believe they were £2 for a pack of 20? I'm not sure, I bought them over a year ago! Anyway I first added some nail striping tape to my nails in different directions. After that I sponged Kester Blacks' Papaya, Paradise Punch and Dragonfruit onto the sponge and dabbed it onto my nail. I used three coats of the dabbing to get the full neon effect.