Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure

I'm a bit of a nerd, this is no secret.

For years I actually refused to read Harry Potter, I can't remember why. When I did get round to it, I have to be completely honest and say that I really could not stand 2/3rds of the main characters. But I persevered and read all of them, and from considerable thought on this topic I can definitely would (like to) be in Ravenclaw. I even own an official Ravenclaw silk house tie. I loveses it so.

So it was safe to say that when I bought China Glaze Frostbite and one of the new Maybelline glitter toppers - Bronze me up! - this weekend, I had to use them together.

Here be Dragons...

Having this weekend off polish making has actually given me time to paint my nails, and thus there will actually be some posts in the next week or so!

These nails were actually what I wore to work last week - quickly thrown together on sunday night before bed, with the colours being picked by Mr Painted Claws.

Base is Nails Inc New York Noir - since I got this as a freebie in Glamour magazine a month or two ago this has been my absolute best black polish. Its actually a little devastating that I've only got two bottles as its so much better than the other black polishes I've used. The only one I've found that comes close is Sinful Colors Black on Black.

The edge highlights are A England Dragon on my pointer, middle and pinky and Models Own Bronze Rage on my ring finger.

I love tape mani's, they're so easy to do!

What does everyone think? Like the colour combo?

My first gradient

I've never done a gradient before. I've stared at the fabulous tutorial on The Nailasaurus god-knows-how-many-times and thought "I'll do that... at some point. Maybes." Because I am a lazy wuss who is disappointed by anything less than perfection first time.

So, I figured I'd do a subtle gradient on a polish I'd not used yet - Essie's Bahama Mama!

Sponged over top of my ring finger is a lovely muted bronze polish from Sleek called 'Truffle' which actually looks a lot more subtle in real life than it does in these photos. 

I adore both polishes, both Bahama Mama and Truffle, as they both go on quite easily and give wonderful colour. Bahama Mama is difficult to clean up however, as I found last night when I did these and had to scrub my cuticles when my hand slipped! They're still not totally clean on the middle finger.