Win a bottle of Beyu 209 Brilliant Shiraz - Competition Now CLOSED

Hey guys I mentioned I would hold a small giveaway when I reached 50 followers as a thank you for reading my blog and I'm close enough.

You can see pics and swatches of this stunner here and here. I know it's not a huge prize but I hope you'll all enter.
OK so all you have to do to win a bottle of unicorn pee is fill in the form below and submit.

Competition Closes 5th Nov 2011.
Open to international readers.

NOW CLOSED

Halloween Scream Nail Art

I love Halloween but I hate horror/slasher movies, not because I'm scared of watching them but I just don't get any pleasure in watching someone screaming, being chased and then killed. I remember watching Wolf Creek and thinking why did I pay to watch some poor girl having her spine being ripped out of her? Anyway saying that I have watched most of the horrors that have come out in the past and today I have been inspired to do a mani by one of them. I'm not going to win marks for originality here but what do you think of these Halloween appropriate nails?

Ghostface and blood splatter

My first attempt at creating splatter using a straw didn't go to plan but it's ok I guess!

I'm going to try to do more Halloween nails but at the moment most of my time is being spent researching for my dissertation :-(

E.L.F. Innocent

With temperatures reaching 27 degrees celsius this week I've had to put all those dark, vampy, autumn polishes that I had planned to wear and swatch on hold! It's just doesn't feel right wearing dark colours in hot weather. This week I've mainly worn holographics but today I fancied a palette cleanser and opted for a nude. The one I chose was ELF's Innocent which I bought ages ago.

4 coats plus a coat of Seche Vite.

My cuticles look awful in this picture but don't let that distract you from the how perfect this nude is... for my skin tone anyway. Like a lot of creme polishes by E.L.F this streaked quite badly and required 4 coats. The awful brush doesn't help matters either. I like this nude a lot and really want to find a dupe with a better formula... any suggestions

September Purchases

Hey guys hope you're all having a fab weekend so far! Those in the UK have you been making the most of the heatwave because I certainly have and it's my excuse for the lack of posts this week! ooops!

Not one to dwell let's get straight into the purchases I have made this month:

Boots 17 Fury
Kiko 348, 255
L.A.Colors Cactus and Twilight
Revlon Rio Cool - Green sparkly polish which I saw on eBay for £1 and thought why not!
Collection 2000 2in1 Base Coat and Ridge Filler with Keratin - cheap and cheerful base which I think does the job.
Orly Cutique - I'm loving this. Works fantastically on my cuticles.

Backups and gifts for others:
L.A. Colors Cactus x2
Revlon Facets of Fuchsia
Beyu 209 x2

I also made the most of the 25% off offer at Cherry Culture and got some NYX Girls polishes I have had on my wishlist for a while. I really wish they offered the full range of colours on the NYX uk site because I resent having to pay more for the postage (which is ridiculously expensive) than for the total cost of the actual products. Still it worked out to be about £2.63 each which is cheaper than the uk store! I should hopefully get these next week and I'll make sure I swatch them for you guys.

NYX Girls:
Emerald Forest
Sea of Cortez
Carnival
Deep Space
Royal Purple
Robotic
Fizz Spots

All in all I've been good and haven't really spent silly amounts of money. I want to say October will be a good month but with all these Halloween and Christmas collections popping up left, right and centre I cannot guarantee anything!!

Cute french mani with a twist

Hey everyone, I hope you're all having a fab weekend so far. I've been quite busy and have only just had a chance to create a design for everyone to try. It's pretty straight forward and if you're good with a striping brush this design will be a doddle. I hope you like it!

To recreate this design you will need:

Black, white and gold polish of your choice
Top coat
Small striping brush
Tape (if you want a neat mani)
And a steady hand.

Firstly paint all your nails black apart from your accent nail which you paint white!

Once that is dried add white tips to the black nails and a black tip to the white nail.

Then with a black/white striper, or striping brush dipped in black/white carefully paint 2 black/white stripes on the tip. Then once that is dried add a gold stripe and top coat. Easy!