Tag Archives: Black

January 4, 2016

My Almost New Year Nails!

By Ruth

Hello! I hope you are having a fantastic start to this brand new year!

black and gold glitter gradient

This is the nail design that I was going to be wearing at new year but because I was ill, I ended up not going anywhere other than my sofa and feeling sorry for myself. Boooo!

black and gold glitter gradient

But these nails are so pretty I had to share them with you all! 🙂 So sparkly!

Annoyingly, after only a couple of days of getting better from my last horrible cold,  I seem to be coming down with another one D:

Stoopid germs!

black and gold glitter gradient

The polishes I used for this very sparkly look are Maxxed Out from CrowsToes and Beauty Never fails from A England!

If you’re interested, you can find my swatch of Beauty Never Fails (along with my other lovely A England polishes) Here

I decided on using Beauty Never fails rather than a black cream because of the beautiful greenish gold shimmer running through it, I think it really complements the magnificent sparkles of Maxxed Out.

black and gold glitter gradient

Maxxed Out is quite possibly the sparkliest nail polish I own! It’s one of the lovely collection of polishes I picked up from a blog de-stash from the lovely Debbie over at The Crumpet!

Look at all the holographic glitters! Lots of varying sized hex in different shades of gold, gold glitter and a smattering of quite long bar glitters.

With this super sparkly glitter bomb I was expecting application to be a nightmare but I actually really easy to apply, all the glitters behaved I didn’t have to fish for any of the larger ones, and applied they all laid flat against my nails, the only bits that I moved around where some of the bar glitters.

The first coat of glitter I used a sponge just to add a layer of glitter like a messy french tip, after applying the second coat, with the brush I realised that I really didn’t need to have done the sponge coat at all!

I added one coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out and add a glassy finish, then very carefully filed away the overhanging glitter (some how I forget to file my thumb, I’m going to blame the germs).

black and gold glitter gradient

I’m not usually a fan of gold nail polish, but I really do like both of these! 😀

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Gradient, Nail Art

December 18, 2015

Jólakötturinn – Nails Inspired by the Christmas Cat of Iceland

By Ruth

Hello! 🙂

Jólakötturinn the christmas cat Nail Art

Today my nails are inspired by some Yule/Christmas folklore. This time the story originates from Iceland.  The story of Jólakötturinn or the Yule Cat is basically that he will come and eat you if you haven’t received any new clothes before Christmas eve!

A variation to the story is Jólakötturinn eats the food of those who do not work hard.  The new clothes rule still applies as it is how he differentiates whose food he devours.

Jólakötturinn the christmas cat

Here is a translation of a poem about Jólakötturinn  by Johannes Ur Kotlum.

You all know the Yule Cat
And that Cat was huge indeed.
People didn’t know where he came from
Or where he went.

He opened his glaring eyes wide,
The two of them glowing bright.
It took a really brave man
To look straight into them.

His whiskers, sharp as bristles,
His back arched up high.
And the claws of his hairy paws
Were a terrible sight.

He gave a wave of his strong tail,
He jumped and he clawed and he hissed.
Sometimes up in the valley,
Sometimes down by the shore.

He roamed at large, hungry and evil
In the freezing Yule snow.
In every home
People shuddered at his name.

If one heard a pitiful “meow”
Something evil would happen soon.
Everybody knew he hunted men
But didn’t care for mice.

He picked on the very poor
That no new garments got
For Yule – who toiled
And lived in dire need.

From them he took in one fell swoop
Their whole Yule dinner
Always eating it himself
If he possibly could.

Hence it was that the women
At their spinning wheels sat
Spinning a colorful thread
For a frock or a little sock.

Because you mustn’t let the Cat
Get hold of the little children.
They had to get something new to wear
From the grownups each year.

And when the lights came on, on Yule Eve
And the Cat peered in,
The little children stood rosy and proud
All dressed up in their new clothes.

Some had gotten an apron
And some had gotten shoes
Or something that was needed
– That was all it took.

For all who got something new to wear
Stayed out of that pussy-cat’s grasp
He then gave an awful hiss
But went on his way.

Whether he still exists I do not know.
But his visit would be in vain
If next time everybody
Got something new to wear.

Now you might be thinking of helping
Where help is needed most.
Perhaps you’ll find some children
That have nothing at all.

Perhaps searching for those
That live in a lightless world
Will give you a happy day
And a Merry, Merry Yule.

So if you need a reason to get some new clothes this makes a great excuse 😀

Jólakötturinn the christmas cat

For my nails I used Poppy from Barry M for the background colour then A England Camelot to paint on the images. I used Moyou white stamping polish and my smallest dotting tool for the cat’s eye.

It took me ages to get the Yule cat looking just right, unfortunately I couldn’t fit him onto one nail!

Being eaten by an apex predator… Just what you need for Christmas oO

Jólakötturinn the christmas cat

If you would like to find out a bit more about Jólakötturinn here are a few links 🙂

Yule Cat Wikipedia
Christmas Cat Of Iceland
Malicious Myths

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Nail Art

December 11, 2015

Christmas Spider!

By Ruth

Have you ever heard of the legend if the Christmas Spider?

Christmas Spider Nail Art

I think the Christmas Spider is a really lovely Christmas story.

“According to ancient storytellers, there once was a widow living in her cramped, cold hut with her children. One day, a pine cone dropped from the tree outside and took root. The children, excited by the prospect of a tree for Christmas, tended the seedling and made plans about how they would decorate the tree. Poverty was a way of life for the small family, and when Christmas approached, the widow knew that they would not be able to decorate the tree. The children and the widow accepted their fate and went to bed on Christmas Eve, the tiny tree branches bare.

But the household’s spiders heard the children’s sobs and spun intricate webs on the tree. Early on Christmas morning, the children cried, “Mother, mother wake up and see the tree. It is beautiful!” The widow rose to find that during the cold night a spider had spun its web around the fragile branches. As the rays of the sun crept along the floor and silently climbed the tree, the glow touched the threads of the web turning each one into silver and gold, and, as the story goes, from that day forward the widow never wanted for anything.”

This version is from Ukraine.com

Christmas Spider Nail Art

For My Christmas Spider Nails I started with the lovely Beauty Never Fails from A England.

Then using I’d Melt For You from China Glaze and Golden from Revlon I stamped the gold and silver Spider Webs.

The web image Is from Stamping plate HD04.

Christmas Spider Nail Art

Hardly anyone I know has heard of this story so If you are interested here’s a bit of further reading 🙂

Christmas Spider Wikipedia Page
Spider Wisdom
msichicago Holiday Traditions

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December 7, 2015

Grüß Vom Krampus

By Ruth

Hey 🙂

krampus nail art

Grüß Vom Krampus or Greetings from Krampus!

Here are my nails form the weekend.  As Krampusnacht is on the 5th of December I just had to wear some Krampus inspired nail art! 🙂

If you’re not familiar with the legend of the Krampus, he is the devilish companion of St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas brings gifts and rewards to good children each year on December the 6th and leaves punishing the bad children to The Krampus! The wicked child would be beaten with a bundle of birch sticks, whipped with horsehair, then thrown into a wicker basket and taken down to Hell for a year.

If nothing else it’s definitely a terrifying way to get your kids to behave! Lol!

krampus nail art

I spent ages trying to draw a tiny Krampus on my nail, but it really didn’t go well :/ I decided to see if I had any stamping plates with suitable images, and I did! 🙂

The goat skull is from Plate MM11 from Messy Mansion and the tree branches are from plate 14 from Moyou mother nature collection.

I used Lots of Red Polishes for the base of this Manicure

  • Barry M Red Glitter
  • Chanel Dragon
  • Chanel Rouge Noir
  • Color Club Rad-icle Gypsy
  • Illamasqua Scarab

I smooshed them all together on the back of a stamping plate then used a stamper to splat it onto my nails! It’s a really fun technique, but it is incredibly messy 🙂

for the stamping I used Hit The Bottle Black and Seche Vite to finish it all off

krampus nail art

Have you been good this year or did the Krampus Come to get you?

😀

 

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December 4, 2015

Black And White Candy Cane Nails

By Ruth

Hey everyone! 🙂

Black and White Candy Cane Nail Art

I have to admit that I’m feeling so incredibly un-festive, I have been trying to create christmasy nails but it’s just not working…

I think I’m going to stick with winter nails for now 🙂

Black and White Candy Cane Nail Art

This is a base of Snow Me White from Sinful Colors, with a coat of China Glaze Make A Spectacle.

The tape decided that it didn’t want to play nice, it kept curling up at the edges, and generally not sticking to the polish, in hindsight I should have added a layer of topcoat over the glitter… :/

Then I added a coat of Camelot from A England and removed the tape, then added my topcoat to smooth it all.

Black and White Candy Cane Nail Art

Yay for non christmasy candy cane! 😀

 

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November 23, 2015

Born Pretty Cuticle Tattoo Review

By Ruth

*PRESS SAMPLE*

Hello! 🙂

born pretty cuticle tattoo

Today I have my not so good experience with these cuticle tattoo things to share with you…

These have been sent to me for review from Born Pretty

The product is available here Cuticle Tattoo and if you use the discount code RPG10 you’ll get 10% off your order! 🙂

born pretty cuticle tattoo

So, how did I get on with this product? As you can see from the picture, not amazingly well!

born pretty cuticle tattoo

I followed the instructions on the packet, and I don’t know what was wrong, but the little tattoos did not want to stay where I put them.

I’ve never had to do fake tattoo herding before, hopefully it’s something I’ll not have to do again!

They just kept on lifting up at the edges, and then sticking to anything I tried to use to get them back to where they where supposed to be.

born pretty cuticle tattoo review

I have to say I’m not a fan of the shininess, maybe a little dab of translucent face powder would fix it. But then again my nail polish is matte which could be accentuating the glossiness.

The cuticle tattoos where really easy to remove, they came straight off when I washed my hands!

I have actually been putting off writing this post since last week, I don’t think I would have been so ummm diplomatic (lol) with my description of this product if I had written about it straight away.

Then it occurred to me (while I was typing) that these do have a redeeming use!

born pretty cuticle tattoo review

They do make really pretty half moon nail decals! 😀

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Review

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