12DOC Advent Challenge: Santa Baby!

Hi there!

Good news.. i'm feeling a lot better now and didn't turn in to a zombie, hoozah! Bad news.. i'm so terribly behind on my challenge. So i've decided to scrap the days and just complete a few more of the challenges time permitting. I'm sure i'm not the only one struggling to get everything sorted at the moment!

Here's the Santa challenge manicure. It didn't quite turn out as planned, blame the cold, or my befuddled brain. But it was still a big hit at work the next day so i guess i can't complain.. classics are classic for a reason :)

To create this look i used:

Sinful Colors - Sugar Sugar

Barry M - White & Black Nail Art Pens

Gold Gel Pen

Seche Vite - Top Coat

Ah the moment when people stare at you funny for stealing decorations from the tree ;P

Has anyone else tackled the classic Santa nails look? If so i'd love to see! Leave a comment below with a link :)

Becky x

12 DOC Advent Challenge: All Lit Up!

Hi there!

So apparently everything in the world is trying to stop me from blogging. Silly shifts at work, a Zombie virus  bad cold, annd internet problems. But i'm here with the fifth challenge and the sixth has been photographed and ready to edit so should be up soon! I think for my next challenge i'll call it 'The Oh Well' as in.. if i don't do a challenge post then oh well!

Anywho! On to the nails. I can only apologise for the sheer cruddiness of the photos. I blame my camera, my weird kitchen lighting and the fact that i was concentrating more on being able to breathe than getting a good shot for that. 

To create this look i used:

China Glaze - Running In Circles

Sinful Colors - Snow Me White

Barry M - Black Nail Art Pen

Seche Vite - Top Coat

Various gems from Ebay

Edit: So, i would take credit for this but i didn't do it. I uploaded this post and then Google alerted me i'd uploaded an 'auto awesome' photo and made it all sparkly and stuff for me. Genuine true story. I'm just as baffled as you are.. but it's pretty so i thought id add it!

Edit again: So apparently google is awesome and are turning christmassy photos even christmassy..er.

Not sure how i feel about this one. I do however looove the green.. it's my first China Glaze and i'm a very happy bunny indeed. It looked a little sheer on the brush but went on really well and could of easily gotten away with one coat if i felt like being lazy! I've been making quite a few purchases from Nail Polish Direct and they've always been fantastic. It's free delivery when you spend £10 (lets face it, thats easily done) and they always have loads on sale. They have so many China Glaze polishes for only £5 at the moment, so definitely head over there! Plus it's super quick delivery, didn't even have time to pout about the wait haha.

Next challenge will hopefully be up tomorrow as my connection in so slooooow. Hope you're all feeling festive!

Becky x

12 DOC Challenge: Christmas Critters!

Hello there!

So today's challenge was to create a manicure with lots of cute little Christmas animals.. and that was what i had planned. However, after i sat down, base coat ready to be adorned with some little penguins and polar bears, a thought struck me. What could out-festive a penguin? Only one thing sprang to mind.. and so, i give to you, the armadillo manicure.

Okay, this just got a little weird, even for me. Let me explain! For those of who you don't know the reference to this then shame on you. This is possibly from the best episode of Friends, ever. If you still don't know what i'm talking about, watch this video. If you do know, then watch it anyway because it's awesome.

To create this look i used:

Claire's Accessories - Light Denim Effect 

No7 - Stay Perfect Shimmer Top Coat

Revlon - Stunning

Claire's Accessories - Fluffy

Barry M - Black & White Nail Art Pens

Silver Gel Pen

Seche Vite - Top Coat

So uh, it's not quite what i was expecting to do.. but i like spur of the moment manicures! What do you think, have i made it festive enough? I'm off to shake my belly like a bowl full of jelly!

Becky x

12 DOC Advent Challenge: Winter Woolies

Hi there!

So first off i'd like to apologise for posting this challenge two days late.. i have been one heck of a poorly blogger! I hate taking sick days with a passion, but i've had the weekend off work and i've literally spent it in bed :(

Despite that i've managed to claw together this post, and will show you today's planned post, tomorrow.. hope that's ok with you guys :) 

The challenge is Winter Woolies, and i've got a special manicure to show you! Now i'm a very simple person, it doesn't take much to make me get all nerdy and excited. So when i saw the iddy biddy hats that have been knitted for Innocent Smoothie bottles it's safe to say i freaked the hell out. They're so cute and tiny! And the fact it's all for a great cause just tops it off! So if you haven't figured it out, that's what today's post is themed on :)

If you haven't heard about The Innocent Big Knit then click the piccy below to find out more! It's all been put together to help the older generation through the winter, with 25p from each bottle being donated to AgeUK.

On to the manicure! For this look i used:

Sinful Colors - Easy Going (base colour)

Nails Inc - Pink

Claire's Accessories - Green

Miss Sporty - Pink

Barry M - Bubblegum Feather Effect

MUA - Plum Noir

MUA - Frozen Yoghurt

Claire's Accessories - Purple

Barry M - Black & White Nail Art Pens

Think this entire idea deserves a thumbs up!

Oh i'm so cheesy! Anywho, i'm going to end this post with a few more adorable pictures of knitted hats, because who could get bored of looking at them!? Oh, and head over to my Facebook page to check out the results of my giveaway!

Look at the teeeeeny tiny christmas pudding! *dies*

That's it for today, will be back tomorrow!

Becky x

12 DOC Advent Challenge: Candy Mania!

Hi people!

Apologies that this post is a day late, got home from work yesterday and put my head on my pillow for two seconds and.. zzzzzzzzzz. I was a very tired blogger indeed. But! Hopefully you wont mind the wait, as i think this look is one of my favourites so far :)

So today's (or yesterdays) challenge was to create a look based on candy canes! I ended up with a really bright, fun and cartoony manicure. It went down really well at work, i received loads of comments! I absolutely love it when people ask if my nails were done professionally and where i went to get them done, getting to say 'Oh no, i did these myself' always makes me feel good, even if it does seem trivial to some people. In fact that's why i called my blog Pause For Polish, because if someone stops just to look at your nails you know you've done a good job :)

Anyway, less talk, more nails!

To create this look i used:

Rimmel London - Mind The Gap Victoria

Sinful Colors - Hottie

Nails Inc - Un named Red (t'was a freebie!)

Barry M - White Nail Art Pen

Barry M - Black Nail Art Pen

Seche Vite - Top Coat

So what do you think? Certainly look festive don't they! Hottie by Sinful colors is one of my favourite glitter polishes, it's so gorgeous! These are really straight forward but i'd be happy to make a tutorial if anyone wants one :)

If you want to see all of the challenge posts together (there's only two so far) then pop over to my Facebook page and there's an album just for this 12 DOC challenge. Don't forget you can also enter my giveaway which ends on the 7th! Click the photo below to be taken to the page to enter :)

That's it for today, the next challenge should be up tomorrow!

Becky x

 

12 Days Of Christmas: All Wrapped Up

Hi there lovelies!

It's the 1st of December which means two things.. Firstly, i'm starting my own 12 Days of Christmas Advent Challenge! And secondly, i'm hosting my very first giveaway :D

I'll tell you more about the giveaway in a separate post, but let's crack on with today's manicure. These are the prompts for the 12 challenges, which i'll be posting every other day up until Christmas Eve. Anyone can join in, whether it's all 12 or just the odd one or two! 

So today's challenge is a look based on a wrapping paper design. I chose this gorgeous design by John Lewis that you can purchase here. 

I loved its simplicity and colours, so went for a nice subtle mani to match. 

To create this look i used:

Natural Collections - Unnamed Pink (2 coats)

W7 - Mirror Blue Mirror

W7 - Pink Suede

Claire's Accessories - Unnamed Pink

Born Pretty - Matte Top Coat

Barry M - White Nail Art Pen

Dotting tools

If i'm honest i'm not 100% happy with this manicure. I wish i'd left out the accent nails and just dotted them all the same. The matte effect did look beautiful though and it's definitely one of those mani's that just looks better in real life!

Stay tuned on the giveaway update,

Becky x