Happy Easter!

Dear Nail Diary,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but real-life issues have meant I haven't really been in the mood to do anything with my nails.  I thought I'd ease myself in slowly, as X99 is currently taking up all of my time.  I have a new camera (my first DSLR - a Nikon D3200) so I've been retaking photos of all my jewellery so it looks more professional.  I'm still learning all the features, so I thought I'd test it out on taking photos of my nails first.

Happy New Year!

Dear Nail Diary,

This is only going to be a quick photo post, which I'll add details to later, but I thought you'd like to see the nails I was rocking last night.

Wedgwood Mani

Dear Nail Diary,

It's Mani Monday and today's is inspired by the Wedgwood pottery my Gran had.  Also as I now live in the Potteries (specifically Burslem where Josiah Wedgwood was born) what better way to officially start my nail blog?  I apologise for the sorry state of my cuticles, but I've been letting my care routine slide.  On to the mani...

Wedgwood Inspired Mani

I've been looking for a reason to use my recent haul of Nails Inc. polishes and while updating my swatch collection I came across Little George Street, which is a gorgeous powder blue colour.  After applying my base coat I painted two coats, then allowed it to dry.  I then painted Barry M - White onto Pueen plate 44 and sealed it with OPI Matte Top Coat to complete the pottery look.  Pueen Plates tend to be quite big, so there was a bit of clean up involved, however I'm pleased with the end result.

=:x

'Merca Day Mani

Dear Nail Diary,

I don't often do flag inspired nails, mainly because my Mom has been asking me to do them for World Cup games and every time I have they've lost!  I didn't see the harm in doing this homage to Independence Day.

I didn't want to do a traditional Stars 'n' Stripes - mainly because I'm lazy!  So decided stretch it out across my whole hand. On my thumb and index I painted two coats of Barry M - Indigo and then sealed it with a coat of Seche Vite.  Once dry, I stamped Barry M - White with Pueen Plate 44 and there are my stars.
For the rest of my nails I painted two coats of Barry M - White, sealed with SV and stamped the curiously named China Glaze - Aztec Orange with Pueen Plate 32 turned on its side to create the stripes.
I finished with a final coat of SV.

=:x