Snowflake Nail Art

It's officially christmas! Well, it's the week before so it may as well be. I have all my christmas presents wrapped, the decorations are up. I just technically need to finish uni for the holidays (I actually finished on Friday but I'm going in for an extra week to get a heads up on a report due in Januray).

On to the nails..!

These are my wonderfully festive snowflake nails and I'm exceptionally proud of them. They're so christmassy!!

I created the gradient using Barry M - Blue Plum and Collection 2000 - Cloud Nine. I then did one coat of Del Sol - Ruby Slipper (a gorgeous silver microglitter my sister brought back from her travels, it's so sparkly and shimmery!). I then freehanded the snowflakes using white acrylic paint and a striper brush and added some white 'snow' using a dotting tool. I added some clear rhinestones to the middle of the snowflakes with clear polish and finished the look with two coats of Seche Vite. Et voila!

Houndstooth Graduation Nails

Wednesday was my boyfriends graduation as a Physiotherapist. It was such a good day, he even enjoyed himself considering he originally didn't want to go (men, limelight and all that..). I wore a lovely pair of trousers with a houndstooth design on. Naturally, I wanted to match my nails and I remembered seeing a houndstooth design on The Nailasaurus a while ago. So checked back through Sammy's archives and decieded it was too perfect to change so did a 'monkey-see-monkey-do' type mani. 

I did a base coat of W7 - Black and stamped using Bundle Monster BM322 with Barry M - Gold Foil. I added the studs that I got from eBay with a clear polish and sealed everything with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Mine is nowhere near as perfect as Sammy's. She is definitely the stamping Queen! But I love how it turned out, the stamping design is so seamless!

Thanks for stopping by. I have some amazingly-festive nails for you tomorrow!! 

Queen of Hearts!

This past Friday was my university inter-departmental christmas party for all post-grads and staff. The party as a whole has a theme of films and each floor/department chooses a film to go as. My floor decided to go as Alice In Wonderland and I choose Queen of Hearts! I love fancy dress and obviously had to match my nails!

The polishes I used were Barry M - Matt White, Barry M - Gold Foil, W7 - Black and W7 - Pillar Box Red. I also used hex glitters from the Born Pretty Store. The details were created with a striper brush and a dotting tool and finished with two coats of Seche Vite.

Polish Days: BLINGnails

I'm so excited! This is my first ever polish days. If you havn't heard of Polish Days, it's an organised monthly posting event where Hannah from Polly Polish creates a theme and subscribed bloggers sync their themed posts to be posted at the same time. You can subscribe here.

Today's theme is BLING nails in honour of the coming party season. I really think this is quite a festive mani aswel...great for the christmas parties!

I used two coats of Technic - Damson and used a cosmetic sponge to create a glitter gradient with Technic - Carnival. I finished with Seche Vite.

It's a simple mani but I absolutely love the finished result. It's just the right amount of bling for me.

Take a look at all the participating bloggers and their wonderfully blingy designs that'll make Beyoncé proud!

Grey ombre stripes!

I've been M.I.A for a while and I am sorry. It's the last couple of weeks of a uni project and things are abit hectic at the minute. I cannot wait to break up for christmas!

First I did two coats of W7 - Black and waited until it was completely dry. The I sectioned off a section of the nail with striping tape and painted on Essie - Power Clutch. Again, I waited for that to be completely dry and sections off another section and painted on Sally Hansen - Dorien Grey. I finally finished with two coats of Seche Vite.

I do love stripe mani's but this just absolutely ages to do. I suppose using Seche Vite between coats would have sped up the process but at £9 a bottle I'm reluctant to use it for anything but a topcoat!

Tape-icure.

Hey all. Really sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life has been hectic, hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon.

I love all the tape mani's that everyone seems to be able to do effortlessly. Let me tell you, it takes alot of practice! This is my first attempt. I'm really pleased with the outcome, regardless of a few lines that did not work out perfectly.

 I did a base coat of Barry M - Gold Foil on all nails but my index finger. I used striping tape to create the lines and painted over with W7 - Black, then carefully removed the tape. On the index finger I added square studs and I finished all with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Lest we forget. Remembrance Day Nails.

They shall grow not old, 

as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Today, 11/11, is the anual Remembrance Day that marks the end of World War I in 1918 at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. In todays post I give thanks to all soldiers who have fought in our wars, many of whom have sacrificed their lives in order to protect our country. But let us remember that our men and women fight for our safety all year round in many hostile environments and should not only be remembered and honoured on one special day, but all year round.

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day. Poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

I used two coats of Barry M - Matt White and poppy decals from an eBay seller. These decals didn't work as well as previous decals I've used, they seemed more like paper and peeled off in corners before I added a coat of NYC - Grand Central Station and then a coat of Seche Vite. My index finger also smudged when I tried to fix the decal.

Regardless of my awful application. This mani is to show respect to all service men and women, past and present.

Lest we forget.

Bloggers against bullying: No H8!

Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay.

Most of us are, thankfully, residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish blogging community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color...even to our polish application techniques. To marginalize anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog. 

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement. Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.

I'm a blogging baby in comparison to the majority of blogs I read religiously. I couldn't imagine being new to a community, all united by a love; be it polish, films or football, and have people slander something I love to do. I have been very fortunate and have had a lot of encouragement and support even though I'm far from where I want to be; my photo's are awful at times, my cuticles get into really bad states and I've posted some dodgy designs but I love what I do. The blogging bully's far outweigh the supportive and genuinely nice people in the nail blogging community and I'm very thankful for that. Don't let people get you down.

Today I'm wearing purple as a stand against bullying and for any blogger that has ever been made to feel they are not good enough. 

YOU ARE!

For this mani I used two coats of Nail Pop - Glamrock. On the accent nail I added a coat of NYC - Grand Central Station and, while it was still tacky, I sprinkled over MUA Constellations - Scorpio. Scorpio is fill of gold, pink and green mini beads. I added a coat of Seche Vite to all but the beaded nail (I've previously tried this and it ruined the beads).

The MUA nail constellations are really amazing for creating 3D nail art without the Ciate price tag; at only £3 a bottle, you just can't say no! The lid can also be turned up-side-down and double as a funnel for pouring in beads that didn't quite make the cut back into the bottle, minimising waste..genius!

The rest of the collection includes Pisces, Leo, Gemini and Libra.

Nail Pop (Look Beauty) - Petticoat Swatch

As I said in yesterday's post, I got a couple of Nail Pop by Look Beauty polishes from superdrug. This beauty is Petticoat. A lovely pinky nude. The polish is suprisingly opaque, this is 2 coats and a coat of Seche Vite and application was smooth. It's a really subtle colour and will suit most skin tones. Nail Pop cost £5 each but I got this and Glamrock in a 2 for £6 offer.

Nail Pop (Look Beauty) - Glamrock Swatch

I go into Superdrug at least once a week and I almost always buy a new polish. Last week I picked up this beaty called Glamrock buy Nail Pop (Look Beauty). I wouldn't spend £5 on a bottle of polish unless I absolutely needed it, but luckily Superdrug had a 2 for £6 offer on Nail Pop so I bought this and Petticoat (more on this soon). 

Glamrock is an amazing purple glitter in a plum coloured jelly polish. It's just beautiful. Glitters are usually a nightmare to remove but this is actually quite easy. This is almost a dupe for Nails Inc - Bow Street. I finished this with a coat of Seche Vite.

It's a great winter polish. I'm in love! 

Minnie Mouse Nails

Who doesn't love Minnie Mouse?! She's adorable! These nails where inspired by this post.  

I used two coats of W7 - Red and two coats of Barry M - Matt White on my ring finger. I then used a dotting tool to add black dots with mouse ears on my ring finger with W7 - Black and white polka dots to the remaining fingers. I used a detail brush to add small bows to the minnie mice. All finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Peter Pan Collar's

I have many tops with the peter pan collar. They're really cute and very feminine. I've seen quite a few interpretations of this in nail art and so I had to recreate it. I love the outcome! 

I used a base coat of Rimmel Nail Rescue and then used hole reinforcers to create the half moon shape with two coats of W7 - Black. I then used a striping brush to add the 'collars' with Barry M - Matt White and a dotting tool to add the 'buttons' with Barry M - Gold Foil. All finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Abstract Nails!

I'm really excited about showing you these nails. They were really fun to make and I love the outcome. This was one of them designs that sort of took shape as I started using the paint brush.

I used one coat of Barry M - Matt White and freehanded the designs with a striping brush using Revlon - Tropical Temptation, Barry M - Shocking Pink, Barry M - Cyan Blue, Technic - Lolli Pop, MUA - Shade 5, Rimmel - Lemon Drop and W7 - Black. I also used a dotting tool for the dots and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Have you noticed that I've figured out the sizing issues with my images and my cuticles are a lot better? Vaseline and cotton gloves to bed! Who knew?!

EDIT: These nails featured in Reader Nail Art Week - Day 5 of The Daily Nail!! 

I'M TOO EXCITED TO BE ON HER BLOG!!

Halloween 1. Blood Splatter Zombie Nails

Gosh darn it, I got blood on my nails!

Halloween is when the Zombies wake from the dead and come out to play with all us mortal beings. No doubt I'll be answering the door to some hungry-for-treats-not-blood zombies this year! These are my zombie blood-splattered nails. Scaaarrrrryyyyy! (But not as scary as my cuticles....)

I'll be doing a few halloween-inspired nail art posts in the run up to the big day.

I used two coats of George at Asda - Fortune Teller and used a straw to splatter on Nails Inc - Victoria, which is a great blood coloured polish! I finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

I love the splattered nails look. It's a really quick way of getting some awesome results. And this totally looks like blood!

I've been using Lush's Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter on my cuticles religiously and, although it smells amazing, it's really not helping my chapped cuticles. Any help on a really amazing cuticle cream?

Mint Green Polka Dots with Bow

I've got the flu *cough cough* so I thought I'd cheer myself up with some girly nails. I really love polka dots, they're super cute and liven up any outfit.

 I used two coats of MUA - Shade 5 and used a dotting tool and white acrylic paint to create the dots. The bow I did freehand with a striping brush and used black acrylic paint for the outline. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Barry M Gellies Watermelon and Blue Plum

Here are two of the Barry M Gellies.  Many people thought at first that this collection was a Jelly range, as in sheer polishes. But the idea behind these is much more genius. They're meant to replicate the super shineyness of gel manicures. And ohmigawd are they shiney! These swatches are without topcoat.....SAY WHAAAT! 

Here is Watermelon and Blue Plum.

Watermelon is definitely my favourite of the collection. It's a really dark teal and a great winter polish. I struggled to get the colour right with my camera with this swatch. It looks almost black in indoor lighting and I could only get the colour in natural sunlight. I used two coats for this swatch.

Blue Plum is a deep royal blue. Again, it looks almost black indoors but the colour definitely pops when in natural sunlight. I used two coats for this swatch.

Although I used two coats for these swatches, they are very much one coaters..as they were intended to be. And they apply like a dream. There are 9 colours in this collection. The others are Plum, Pomegranate, Satsuma, Prickly Pear, Blueberry, Grapefruit and Blood Orange. The only other colours that really interest me are Plum and Blueberry. I think thats because the other colours are pretty 'normal', if you know what I mean. Although the finish on these colours is awesome. 

How have you found Barry M Gellies?