Franken - Peacock Feathers

I have another franken to show you today. It is made up of blue, gold, greeny gold, and green glitters of varying sizes and also some strand glitters all in a clear base. I'm really happy with it. I was actually trying to make an opaque glitter but I think this is nice how it is and can be built up a bit although it would take a lot to get it opaque. I mixed the glitter into some fine blue glitter polish and added a fine gold glitter polish to it (these are the smallest glitter pieces) then put clear polish in to 'water' it down a bit. I'm calling it Peacock Feathers because the colours are peacock colours and the strands remind me of the long feathers.

For this manicure, I layered Peacock Feathers over OPI Jade is the New Black. I've also changed the shape of my nails recently, I had a couple of tears and some peeling and decided to get rid of it and chopped them down. Normally I go for an oval shape but I decided to make them more squared - squovalish. I didn't like it at first but it is growing on me, they are definitely more practical!

Jennifer xx

Green-Blue Gradient Nails

Gradient nails have been on my to do list for a good while now and I've finally got around to trying it. I really like the way it came out. To do it I applied the lightest colour and then dipped a makeup sponge into the next darkest colour and sponged it onto my nails. I repeated with each colour until the darkest colour making sure that they blended together. It's not perfect but I think it looks good for a first attempt.

The colours I used were (in this order):
OPI Gargantuan Green Grape for the base colour
OPI Mermaid's Tears
OPI Fly
OPI Ogre The Top Blue

Jennifer xx

OPI Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday & Save Me

Just a quick post to show this mani I wore not long ago. It is OPI Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday and Save Me glitter over the top. Two coats of Pink Friday, one coat of Save Me and a thick coat of Seche Vite over the top.

Jennifer x

OPI Nicki Minaj - Fly & Save Me

Hi all! Hope you are all great. Just a quick post to show you a mani I did a couple of weeks ago using two of the OPI Nicki Minaj colours. They are all beautiful shades and I shall be showing the others in other posts as I wear them.

Fly is an amazing bright turquoise-teal-blue cream finish polish. It is highly pigmented, this is two coats pictured and applies like a dream. It is quite a unique shade of blue in my collection and I really love it. I have a bit of a thing for blue nail polish, quite a few of my favourites are blues.

I topped my ring fingers with OPI Save Me glitter which is a blue and gold strand/bar glitter which is also a bit holographic so changes colour in the light. It also has some regular silver glitter thrown in the mix. I used two coats here but I think one coat would have been better as you would be able to see the strands better.

By the way, I've got cuticle oil on my fingers which is why they are so shiny.

Jennifer x

OPI Nicki Minaj Collection available now!

OPI's collaboration with Nicki Minaj is now available in the UK. It consists of 5 beautiful nail colours and 1 shatter top coat.

Get yours at www.lenawhite.co.uk

While you are there, don't forget to check out the sale section of the website, some lacquers are only £5!

Jennifer x

My Christmas Manicure

I took a break from blogging for the Christmas holiday period and totally forgot that I took these pictures of this manicure until I saw them on my camera. Thought I'd show you anyway even though they're too late.

I wanted to do something really festive and decided to do each nail different because I couldn't pick one thing. I thought it was really fun and got a lot of compliments on them.

What I used:

Thumb (snowflake)-

OPI Ogre the Top Blue as the base - 2 coats

OPI Last Friday Night over the top - 1 coat

Rio nail pen in white for the detail

Index/pointer finger (candy cane stripes)

Leighton Denny Pure White as the base - 2 coats

Rio nail pen in red for the stripes

Middle finger (gold bow)

OPI Affair in Red Square as the base - 2 coats

Rio nail pen in gold for the detail

Ring finger (green glitter)

Orly Here Comes Trouble - 2 coats

Little finger

OPI Russian Navy as the base - 2 coats

Rio nail pen in gold for the detail

Jennifer x

Stamping - Peacock Nails

I got my nail stamps out again for another go. It didn't come out quite as well as the last go but I still really like it. I also wore this for a week and it lasted really well with no chips at all.

Here are some more pictures.

What I used:

Nail Envy x 2 coats

OPI Yodel On My Cell x2 coats

Seche Vite x1 coat

Barry M 319 (silver foil) for the stamping polish

Bundle Monster plate BM-212 (this is from the second set, available from Amazon)

OPI Plugged in Plum to fill in the spots

Seche Vite x1 thin coat

What do you think?

Jennifer x

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoy whatever you're doing tonight. I don't celebrate Halloween but wanted to do some Halloween makeup. This is the first time I've ever done anything like this and I don't have any products such as liquid latex or spirit gum etc to do anything really creative so had to make do with what I had in my makeup collection. As per usual, I leave everything to the last minute and ended up doing this last night. I didn't know what I wanted to turn myself into and ended up making it up as I went along. I think it looks a little bit zombish although could have done with some more cuts and veins and rot haha - maybe next year.

I already had my makeup on from the day, my eyeshadow was very neutral in skin tones with a tiny bit of shimmer. This was mostly covered up. Because I didn't want it to look perfect, I just added more on top of what I already had on.

What I used:

• White eyeshadow (MAC Gesso) applied all over with a small foundation brush, packed onto my skin and 'scrubbed' in to get it to look a little patchy. I couldn't find a very light foundation to use cheaply yesterday so made do with eyeshadow but you could use a light foundation instead.

• Taupe-grey eyeshadow as a contour on a round eyeshadow brush to sketch out the shape and then blend downwards. Soften with a fluffy contouring brush. I used MAC Copperplate through my cheekbones, around the top of the nose to add shadow and depth to the eyes and along the jaw bone.

• Brown-red eyeshadow under the eyes to make them look sore, I used MAC Folie. I also used this colour in areas where I wanted my skin to look bruised.

• Grey eyeshadow under the eyes and on the lids to make them appear deeper set. I used MAC Scene.

• Matte black eyeshadow all over the lid and underneath for a dead and smudged makeup appearance.

• Reddish plum purple eyeshadow, I used the one from Sleek's PPQ palette to use around the bruised areas to darken and deepen the look of the bruises, I also used it in areas around the mouth and also smudged the excess on the brush around the nose to make my skin look blotchy.

• MAC Cream O Spice lipliner all over lips, use something brownish.

• For the blood I used MAC's Kissable Lip Colours in Love Peck and Strut Your Stuff. Fake blood would be ideal, liquid and gel based would give the best effect.

I also did a Halloween nail design.

I already had the base colours on for this, they are one of the new Nails Inc Gossip Girl kits (the Lily set). It is a deep plum black creme finish with a flake polish on top which flashes red-orange-green. I added China Glaze's Ghoulish Glow (glow in the dark nail polish) over the top of all fingers except the ring fingers. I used Illamasqua Gamma (neon orange) for the pumpkin and OPI Jade is the New Black (medium green creme) for the stalk and swirly leaves. I then added the face in China Glaze Liquid Leather (black creme).

I wasn't able to get a photo of the polish glowing in the dark, my camera just wouldn't pick it up, I probably need to figure out the correct settings. It is subtle but does glow. It needs to be in the light for a while to 'charge', it will eventually fade out and not glow, just like children's glow in the dark stars do. It also mutes the colour down but I like it for this as it makes it a swampy greenish colour.

Enjoy your Halloween!

Jennifer xx

Upcoming OPI collections

I'm sure you have already seen these promotional images floating around already but I just wanted to share my excitement for these collections too.

All images 'borrowed' from OPI's facebook page.

L-R: Super Bass Shatter, Metallic 4 Life, Save Me, Fly, Did It On 'Em, Pink Friday

Now, I am by no means a fan of Nicki Minaj's music but these colours are really nice looking! The glitters and purple shatter are calling me.

Metallic 4 Life: This charcoal sparkle flies with the stars in the skies.
Save Me: I drove for miles just to find this silver-rainbow glitter.
Fly: I came to win, to fight…and to wear this aqua.
Did It On 'Em: A lusty little lacquer that loves the “lime”-light.
Pink Friday: Kick off the weekend with this pop! of bubblegum pink.

OPI often bring out collections inspired by countries/cities. This time they are doing a collection inspired by Holland (or the Netherlands). All of these colours look gorgeous so I am really looking forward to them. I don't know what sorts of formulations they are, I'm hoping for some pretty cream, shimmer and micro sparkle finishes.

Top row L-R: Gouda Gouda Two Shoes, Wooden Shoes Like to Know It, I Don't Give a Rotterdam, A Roll In The Hague, Petal Faster Suzi, Dutch Ya Just Love OPI

Bottom row L-R: Thanks a WindMillion, Red Lights Ahead...Where?, Kiss Me On My Tulips, Vampsterdam, I Have a Herring Problem, & Did You Hear About Van Gogh?

I love the names of these, they are quite amusing. The colours I'm looking forward to are I Don't Give a Rotterdam, A Roll In The Hague, Petal Faster Suzi and Thanks a WindMillion.

Head to OPI's facebook page for larger photos to get more detail in the bottles.

Jennifer x

OPI Crown Me Already!

I love glitter nail polish, I especially love glitter nail polish which is dense enough to have opaque coverage. This is one of them! Crown Me Already! comes from OPI's Miss Universe collection, a small four piece offering.

Crown Me Already! is made up of a clear base with silver glitter and then hexagonal glitter pieces in various sizes. It is seriously eyecatching, I had a few people ask to have a look at my nails while I was wearing and telling me that they looked like disco balls! That was my initial thought about it too with the large hexagonal pieces making the light reflect in a similar way to a disco ball.

I thought it would be very gritty and need a couple of coats of topcoat to make it smoother. I used one and it felt like a normal glitter polish, not too gritty, however the free edge of my nails sometimes snagged of hexagonal glitter close to the edge so wrapping the free edge properly with topcoat is a good idea.

Removal wasn't actually too bad, I have had worse experience removing glitter polishes. I ended up soaking a cotton ball in remover and holding it to my nail for a minute and then dragging it downwards. It removed almost all of the fine glitter, leaving the hexagonal glitter. A little bit more soaking and they were easy to pick off.

I can imagine this polish being perfect for New Years manicures, it would look stunning at parties and would definately turn some heads.

What do you think of this shade? I love it :)

Jennifer x

Watermelon Nails

I already had OPI Gargantuam Green Grape on my nails and wanted to jazz it up a bit. The colour reminded me of the stripes on watermelon skins so I decided that I'd do some watermelon nail art.

What I used:
Base colour: OPI Gargantuam Green Grape (light green)
OPI Come To Poppy for the watermelon flesh.
Rio Nail Art Pens for the white, darker green and black.

How I did it:
First apply base coat, I use OPI Nail Envy as a base and treatment - 2 coats, as per instructions.
Then apply two coats of Gargantuam Green Grape (or a light green).
Apply Come To Poppy in a semi circle shape, leaving a smallish gap in the green, one coat.
Let it dry and then use a green nail pen - I used the brush within - or a darker green on a detail brush to paint in the darker green stripes.
Use a white nail pen with a brush or white polish on a striper or detail brush to draw the white line between the green and pink, it will tidy up any mistakes and neaten up the edges of the pink if it isn't quite perfect.
Use a black nail pen and dot on little black dots for the seeds and before lifting the pen away, gently drag it down to create teardrop shaped seeds. You could use a toothpick or a teeny dotting tool instead with some regular black polish if you don't have a nail pen.
Let the polish dry and then apply a topcoat, I use Seche Vite. It is important to let the design dry first otherwise the topcoat will drag it.

I was really pleased how it came out and got quite a lot of compliments on them. I think Come To Poppy works well due to the iridescent in it which looks a bit like the flesh of a watermelon.

More pics!

What do you think?

Jennifer x

Pink Ombre Nails

First of all, sorry I haven't posted in a while, I suck. I also couldn't get Photobucket to work for me over the last couple of days. Secondly, thank you to all of my new followers! I really appreciate you all coming to read my blog :) Lastly, I have a few posts coming up, some on the recent MAC releases, Fashion Flower and Semi Precious and also Bobbi Brown's latest offerings, The New Classics, plus the Chanel Byzance collection. Lots to do! I also want to get some makeup looks up but unfortunately can only do these at weekends when I get time to photograph them so fingers crossed all will go to plan with this coming weekend. Then of course I have lots of other random posts stored up in my head for the future too.

So I've been wondering what to do with my nails, attempting some nail art (nothing good enough to post) but recently wanting something simple, without being boring. I decided to do an ombre manicure, I have an awful lot of polish so it gave me a chance to use a few of them at a time.

Starting with my thumb I have: OPI Come to Poppy, 17 Pink Grapefruit, Nubar Honeysuckle, Leighton Denny All About Me and OPI Play the Peonies.

I really like it and will be doing the same thing with other colours in future. The OPI shades are from the recent Nice Stems collection which has just come out on lenawhite.co.uk if you are interested. The Nubar shade as from their Spring Garden collection and can be bought from feelunique.com. Leighton Denny polishes can be purchased from leightondenny.com or QVC. All polishes apart from Pink Grapefruit were two coats, Pink Grapefruit being three.

I will do my best to get posting more often!

Jennifer x

OPI Fiercely Fiona

This has been on my want list for a while, it is from the OPI Shrek Forever After Collection which came out last Summer. I have a few of the other colours and love the formula so decided to get this one too as I didn't own a good yellow. I got mine from ASOS on sale £7.35. I love it. The formula is just how I'd hoped it would be, the same consitency as the other Shrek polishes I own - all two coats. It doesn't streak at all and applies evenly and levels itself out. The colour really appeals to me, I think it works well on my skintone and isn't too yellow, instead being more of a primrose yellow, making it more wearable. I've taken it off today and I miss it so I think this is going to become a favorite for me. Yellow is also a trend colour for this Summer with Chanel bringing out their yellow Mimosa nail polish soon.

So do you like yellow nail polish?

- Jennifer

OPI Fashionista Today's Special Value from QVC

I am a real fan of QVC's beauty TSVs, they often bring some really gorgeous things and fantastic prices or exclusive products. On the 4th May, QVC had an OPI TSV which was another fantastic offer and I loved.

L-R: Nail Envy, Houston We Have A Purple, Guy Meets Gal-Veston,
You Don't Know Jacques, Silver Shatter
Front:Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go.

This set contains 3 15ml nail lacquers, 1 15ml Original Nail Envy, 1 7.5ml Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go Pen aaaaaannnd the best bit... 1 15ml Silver Shatter! All of this came for the TSV price of £28.78 plus postage. It is still available on waitlist for £35.00 plus £4.45 postage, so if it is something you like the look of, you will need to order it and if it comes back in stock they will send it out to you. It is also available on auto delivery where in 3 months time a second set will be sent out to you with different colours and then in another 3 months time a third set will be sent out (you can cancel at any time). Here is the link for details. I went for this option because I really liked the look of the colours coming out with the next sets and the third one has the new Navy Shatter due for release.

Continue for review...

Zebra Funky French Nail Art

I was inspired by something I saw on another blog but can't remember where it was now but I went home and did this. It took me a little while to do it but I was quite pleased with it. I wasn't overly happy with the colours I chose, I thought it was a bit too much and ended up only wearing it for a couple of days, I think it would have been really nice with a bright and a more muted colour to go with it, say two shades of blue.

OPI Touring America Collection - Autumn 2011

OPI are set to release a collection inspired by American culture and cities. There are twelve shades, featuring the season's trend colours - taupe and grey in different variations and also a couple of neutrals, an iconic red and coral-orange shades to reflect the U.S landscape.

Here are the shades:

Suzi Takes The Wheel
Buckle up—she’s not stopping until she gets to gray!

French Quarter For Your Thoughts
Want beads? Then show us your sexy gray nails!

Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window
You’re gonna wanna pull over for this “unexpected” olive green.

A-taupe The Space Needle
You’ll climb to new heights with this creamy-rich taupe.

Get In The Expresso Lane
An amped-up dark brown that’ll never letcha down!

I Break For Manicures
This gorgeous eggplant-plum has our full attention.

Honk If You Love OPI
Don’t let this gorgeous dark grape pass you by.

Road House Blues
In this case…R&B stands for “Really Blue.”

Color To Diner For
I’ll take the rosy-red with a side of “awesome.”

My Address Is "Hollywood"
We put this pretty rose-pink on the map.

I Eat Mainely Lobster
We “clawed” through crowds to catch this coral for you.

Are We There Yet?
Don’t make me reach back there and take that perfect melon shade!

What do you make of this collection? I think some of the colours are quite interesting, the greys/taupes and the olive green.

- Jennifer