Choi's nails

Hey everybody, has it been too long or has it been too long? I know, I know. but I'm getting that blogging mojo back and even updated my instagram! 

UK weather was giving me all the false hope that summer had arrived with some heat and sun showing up on random days so thats when I pulled out these pastels. Suns out, pastels out.

Brightening up the day with this bright hot pink. Essie's Super bossa nova.

I think ageing is affecting my preference for polish. I remember a year or two ago I used to wear this shade thinking it was the bomb. But today I think the purple shimmer is not doing it for me any more.

Regardless it still is a good colour. Two coats, good consistency and capable of making my skin tone look quite yellow against it under the camera lens which is why there's only one picture for show here.

Going to make things stripy and glitter with this manicure

The base I'd decided on was Essie's Absolutely shore which I might have blogged about somewhere in the past but I can't say for definite.

Essie's AS is a light sea foam green but my photo editing may have washed out that little bit of colour in this polish. The photo below shows AS at two coats.

It's very unusual for me to be posting on time but it's more abnormal to be posting at this time of the day. Whilst London traffic is suffering from delays and overcrowding thanks to tube strikes. I've given up on the idea of braving the London buses to get me from one side of the city to the other to go into work so day off it is for me.

Good thing is London weather is picking up again and being able to relax on the balcony in the sun and breeze really gives me a piece a mind. Gives me enough stimulation to sort and get back on track with things.

Today's manicure is quite befitting to London's travel status today, messy but before all that mess we can take a look at what the base looks on its own. This is Essie's Hubby for dessert which is a light lilac. I'd previously use this as part of my Galaxy mix and match nails a while ago if you might recall. Easy to apply, two coats with no top coat because of its shiny finish. 

Oh and I took a bit of length off my nails after my index finger nail kept chipping whilst carrying out some delicate tasks at work. The length difference started to bother me so it was a much needed filing session. Shorter nails does take a little time to get used to though.

I had to think twice before posting this one because things just didn't feel right. I eventually decided on posting it because I liked the design stamped on top.

For so long I've wanted to do a swirly stamping design on a dark base so I went ahead with it after seeing some awesome swirls on the Moyou Suki collection plate No.7. Before doing so I did a test design on my thumb nail where I sponged the tips with a white and stamped the design in both gold and silver. The silver and white combined made things look quite frosty and cool, the effect looked good but to be on the safe side I ended up stamping everything in gold. I couldn't help thinking back at the silver on gradient try out so after taking this off I used the base colour again just to do the design on every nail. My nails ended up looking like duck nails in the photos so here's the gold version only. I will give that design another go though.

One other thing that really got me was the base colour. Essie's Garden variety is a teal shade and it's a stainer! I didn't notice my nail colour the first time I removed it but after the second I found my nails were no longer yellow from too much polishing but instead they had turned green. For those thinking of giving this polish a go I'd say invest in a good base coat and still prepare yourself for some staining.

From start to finish I really didn't know how I wanted this manicure to turn out which is why it became a mix and match in the end. I wasn't sure how to title this manicure so I named it after the nail that had a bit more detail, the galaxy striping design.

It really just feels like yesterday when I last did gradients but only after looking back at my Instagram did I realise it's been a short while. I think a gradient design needs to make an appearance again.

Here's a full polka dot manicure following up from my last post. As I was wearing the last manicure with the pink and black stripes, they felt a bit bold next to the polka dots so I erased them just to see how I'd feel about it if it were a full polka mani.

Now I'm sure that I prefer the mixed and match version but this looks good too. 

I'm starting to have this growing interest in stationery, cards, planners etc. so other than nail and bunny accounts I also follow quite a few stationery instagrams as well. This design was inspired by a picture I saw posted by @kikkik_loves. Polkas and stripes have always been cute to start of with as well.

Yellows are not always first on my list when I'm thinking of the next manicure in line but I do like to incorporate it into some nail art, especially when summer comes around it'll definitely be needed more often.

For this gradient manicure the basic step is starting off with base coat and two layers of a simple white. I painted a sponge with the polishes in the order I wanted them, that's China Glaze's Lemon fizz first and Essie's I Pink I can, my current favourite pink at the moment, second for the tips.

With Misa's I Will survive I stamped the image from the Bundle Monster's BM 224 plate and tada, we're done for the day.

Now that I'm currently taking my annual holidays from work I have all the time to polish my nails more often so I'm trying to catch up with my manicures and posts. 

For today's post I'm showing a turquoise/gold combination on a sea foam green. The base is Essie's Absolutely shore which I'm guilty of neglecting all this time. With it being so soft it's a very good base for designs, only that it requires about three coats for full opacity and smoothness.

I kept looking through the only Bundle Monster plates I had and though not every image had been used it felt like there wasn't enough designs to use. I eventually picked the design which represents one of the deadly sins of fashion. Shoes, shoes and some gradient shoes!

The gradient is a mix of Barry M's Green Berry and Gold foil.

I sometimes feel like the stamping colours weren't bold enough because it doesn't seem to stand out too much but the whole look is quite soft. It was pretty much soft from start to finish.

I was clearly having a good manicure day because these roses turned out awesome. They're not even hard to do either, it's just getting the details right and having to make it resemble a rose that's the trickiest part.

Some of the polishes might even sound familiar because they recently appeared in my last Spring manicure post but you can't blame me. Those pinks are gorgeous and they combine to make the prettiest roses.

I think I really need to fix my posts up. I can't even think of what else I want to include in the written part. English was never one of my strengths. Can anyone give me any advice on how to make my blog posts better?

In the meantime I'll let the pictures do the talking.