The term "shades of grey" has been going around my head since yesterday and I just realised why when I googled it: it's the erotic literature that has been hitting the headlines! I think I heard it on Chelsea Lately yesterday morning when I had a lie in after an eventful 24 hrs (I went with a friend to A&E as she broke her ankle after our Friday night out) and the snippets I heard of the content I didn't want to stick in my mind (gross) but the title seemed to.
Today's dotticure could be termed "shades of grey" with it's base of China Glaze "Concrete Catwalk" and dots in Zoya "Trixie", Sally Hansen "Platinum", Color Club "Worth the Risque" and A England "Merlin".
It was my favourite cousin's wedding on Sunday. Don't weddings make you come over all happy? Especially when it's someone you love. Best wishes to the happy couple! I'm singing a bit of Louis although her wedding song was Etta James' "At Last" but both are below for your viewing pleasure :)
So it's been a busy weekend with helping my cousin make her special day wonderful. One of my jobs was to do some manicures and the weekend before last we tested out some peacock nail art as that is the theme of her two weddings and her hen weekend. Yes, you heard me: two weddings! Yesterday was the first of two, one for a religious ceremony for her parents and the second will be in Mauritius in June (I can't wait!). However on the day, she had to get some gel nails as her own had broken and not grown back yet and she decided once she had her glitter tattoo on her hand and arm, that it was best to keep her nails a simple french.
Thus I was despatched to other tasks and to manicure the other ladies. I did her sister-in-law, her sister and my sister all by 230am on Saturday night. No beauty sleep for me for the wedding! And my own was left until the next day in a rush at 12pm, not my best work :(
All glitter tattoos you will see in the photos below were done by a girl called Nadia. Mine is still stuck hard and fast to my hand through a few showers!
My cousin's swirls in Orly "Luxe" topped with Color Club "Gingerbread"
and swirls in OPI "Cuckoo For This Color"
Her sister-in-law's swirls in OPI "Cuckoo For This Color"
with Zoya "Trixie" french and Orly Artist striper in "White":
My sister's in Orly "Liquid Vinyl" with an Orly "Luxe" french topped with
Milani "Gold FX" glitter and Color Club "Gingerbread" holographic glitter:
***Photo to be updated***
My own manicure in Orly "Luxe" and China Glaze "Little Drummer Boy" v gaps:
August in the Burgh. My favourite time of year. The Edinburgh Festival is on the whole month and I take in many a show of comedians and the arts and this year I went to the silent disco twice which was in the open air this time, on the road behind the university library at the back of a lecture theatre. I bet that I never thought I'd be dancing my arse off in Buccleuch Street with a giant pair of yellow headphones on when I was at Edinburgh University at the turn of the millenium!
As promised, better manicures! My comment on how they always come out better on myself than others proves out with my own next manicure in early August recreating a design of Robin Moses who I discovered on Nails Magazine Art Gallery and then discovered her blog and many others to satisfy my new addiction. These used polishes by Barry M, Bourjois, No.7 and my first glitter (a Revlon one):
I'm a tad enamoured with Cath Kidston and for those unaware of her existence, prepare to be enlightened. This is she at her London showroom with some of her wares:
She is the designer of a few beautiful roses prints that are used in clothes, handbags and kitchenware as well as one of my favourite things; polka dots of course! The polka dot kitchenware I have is actually not by Cath Kidston though as she didn't have much of the red and white variety that I wanted. I am the proud owner of some of her handbags however in the green polka dots and rambling rose prints and since this past xmas, of her provence rose teaseat (thank you to my husband!). This is one of her patterns that I replicated on my nails in the second week of August with Revlon and Loreal polishes:
A week later and the most bubbliest person I have ever met, codename K, an intern at my work was yet another guinea pig for a kitsch manicure: cookie monster! These used two Loreal mocha inspired polishes and a new No.7 blue:
By this time I had discovered that the polish world was awash with those swatching collections of polish released by companies I had never heard of. I had seen OPI in the UK but had never heard of China Glaze or Zoya. Sometimes I almost wish I'd never heard of them actually! BUT these brands are of such good quality that it is blasphemy to say such a thing. Thus, eBay has been my downfall and I've now spent a fortune and amassed a massive collection of 150 (more on that later haha) and my old polishes have fallen by the wayside. One of my first forays into this new polish world was China Glaze "For Audrey" (I also bought another of their best sellers at the same time: "Ruby Pumps") and as my sister is often seen sporting a Tiffany scarf, I decided to give her Tiffany box nails:
I actually haven't worn "For Audrey" myself and haven't even touched the bottle! What a travesty! Here I am eyeing up one of China Glaze's new turquoises in the Electropop collection when I haven't even worn this notable member of the turquoise family. This must be rectified soon. I spy with my little eye, a "For Audrey" and black geometric pattern in my future..... (hope I don't forget!)
The first of my new polishes that I choose to wear is Zoya "Casey", a gorgeous vampy jelly, which now that I think on it, I have also never worn again! Bad Saima! Here it is when I wore it in August. It was such a nice finish that I could only bring myself to do nail art on one finger but it was my first attempt at painting a proper flower and it was beautiful (if I do say so myself!) despite some bald patches that showed up with the flash:
August is also when it is one of my friend's birthdays so I invited her to stay at my house on the night that we went out with our mutual friend, my best friend since aged two :) She laughed at my suggestion that I paint her teeny tiny nails but they were only small, not chewed to bits, so I told her that was no drawback and here is what I produced:
FYI, this picture was taken when we were already out supping cocktails post a peppercorn burger and pre a comedy show that we treated our friend to for her birthday. We saw the Welsh comedian Mark Watson who I have seen every year for 5 years now, he is a lovely person and incredibly amusing. Check him out if you get the chance! This was also one of the silent disco nights:
My next manicure was with China Glaze "Heli-Yum" and "Happy Go Lucky" which I did in a rush one morning before work:
My final manicure in August was with Zoya again, the shiny metallic "Trixie" and matte black "Dovima". My french manicures normally have very straight lines even freehand but this looks a bit bumpy:
This has taken longer than expected transferring photos in date order and adding a watermark etc. but it's been fun! See you tomorrow (I think) for my September manicures!
