Monday Mani; 'Dirty' french

So for this mani I started off w/a clear base coat, then painted two coats of the Sally Hansen Sheer Romance colour. Following this I applied French Mani guides and did the tips- black: Topshop 'Gypsy night'.  This black actually has a multi-glitter in it, using it just for the tip of a French doesn't quite do it justice... 

Anyway this was quite late at night, and perhaps the sheer colour wasn't fully dried , but the smile lines on the tips were pretty crummy so I used the Andrea Fulerton gold and dotted to make it look ... less bad haha. 

Tuesday Storytime- Reading rewards

We didn't go to storytime today, but I did still go to the library. (Apart from nails, I'm always reading!) So I found a leaflet in there for "Reading Rewards- Time to read; A reading challenge from your North West public library service."


What do I love more than books? Reading challenges! So I am totally up for this.  The idea is to get people reading more (10 books- between 1st June - 31st October 2011), and more Different types of books: 

• adventure/ thriller, 
• biog/memoir, 
• classics, 
• contemporary, 
• crime/romance/westerns, 
• historical, 
• 'other' non-fic,
• poetry/drama, 
• sci-fi/fantasy/horror, 
• Young adult

So my current reading is "Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith; I guess I could count it as -adventure/thriller, -crime, -contemporary ...?

The area I see myself struggling with most may be Classics, Poetry/drama,and possibly memoir. 

Monday mani; Olympics round #1

I had a £5 High Street gift voucher in my purse for so long that it was in danger of becoming invalid(thru damage!) so I bought Max Factor 'Max Effect Mini nail polish' #27 Cool Jade and an Andrea Fulerton 'Stripe & Sparkle' "India" from Superdrug.  I never usually go in Superdrug!
The Stripe & Sparkle had a gold striper - which actually reminded me of the brush of that Illamasqua polish. And also what looks like copper(Bronze!) glitter which I need to have a play with, once I get a cheapo top coat for it to stick to.  So just something silvery needed to round it off...

Nail related thoughts

The company I work for is one of the sponsors of the Olympic games, so there's been a lot of fuss made about that, with plenty more to come...
on the plus side we are being allowed to have some 'fun' related to it.  Each department has been allocated a country (we've got China) and will be able to decorate their sections appropriately...
which has just set my mind racing about Olympics/ China related manis!

- I would love to be able to be intricate enough to do a nail with the Olympic rings on!
- or, failing that 5 Olympic rings=5 nails with one of the rings on: white background/ big circle of the apt colour/ smaller white circle in the middle to make it look like a ring

- jade green nails, with gold/ silver/ bronze nail art stripes
I think I was inspired by the jade colour -OPI 'Jade is the new black'

I think this mani would be easier to do for me, allow me to actually experiment with some Nail Art for the first time.  As I'm on a budget tho I'm still looking at different (cheaper) jade green shades.  A nerdy part of me wants to only use a green that has the word JADE in the name ...

Friday fashions: ASOS order #51141852

ASOS order by wonderlake 

ASOS printed scarf; kept for wear in work due to it being so air-conditioned cold! 

Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless "Taint" rubber finish nail polish

ASos Skinny Jean In Hawaiian Print- haha these were the ones I kept! Snazzy! (they were also the cheapest )

ASos PETITE Vintage Indigo Skinny Jean - Blue; returned- these were ok, but the fabric reminded me of jeans/ jeggings from Gap where you only get one wear out of them before they go saggy and need washing to snap back into shape again

ASos PETITE Exclusive Tie Dye Leggings - Grey; these were ok, but they were leggings- so fine for wearing under dresses, but I was after some "Trousers"

Keyhole Sunglasses With Metal Lens Detail & Contrast Lens - Brown; returned - didn't like the blue lenses!  I have since purchased a pair of shades from Tesco for £3 ! 

Monday Mani: Frenchie

My Monday Mani was created using a Sally Hansen French Manicure kit, that I was very pleased to find in TK Maxx!
The colour option I got was "Sheer Romance" (ha, it was the only option, but bargain hunters can't be choosers).  The kit includes the white polish for the tip, curved & straight nail guides (for manis/ pedis) and the Sheer Romance colour.  Overall it's pretty easy to use and I'm happy with the result.  Infact I think it could make a good base for some NAIL ART !!!

Monday Mani; Illamasqua 'Taint'

I bought this on sale from Asos (I needed some new jeans and oops- a nail polish ended up in my basket too!)
It is part of the "Theatre of the Nameless" range, and apparently the polish has a 'rubber' finish.  As you can see from the pic it does have a slightly dull/matt finish... which has become progressively shinier as the days have gone by.  Despite the rubber finish, the packaging still recommended to use a topcoat, which I ignored (apart from accent nails), because I thought that this would make the nail all shiny and well, not Rubbery at all.  I got complimented in work on it today; just not a very summery shade! 
*Edit; I just remembered that the brush for this was long & thin- I did not like!  (Minuses one star)