"A wonderful dream come true"

On my trip to the cinema in 'date night' the other day, I watched the Cinderella trailer for the first time! 

I came across @prestonails Cinderella mani and knew I had to recreate it! 

For this mani I used; OPI start to finish, Essie - mint candy apple, L'oreal - pop the bubbles, h&m - want a lemon, OPI - thrills in Beverly Hills, Seche Cite - fast drying top coat. 

I loved the original so much that I was always going to be a little disappointed with my version! 

Pop the bubbles is one of my favourite polishes. I forgot how good coverage it has with one coat so it completely covered the Essie coat I had used underneath which wasn't what I was initially going for but I actually like how it turned out. 

I also wanted to do more glitter in the hair but it didn't look good at all so I aborted that mission! However, I now feel like its missing something... Nail perfectionist kicking in with this mani. 

Overall, I am happy with this mani but would have loved to try it out with an indie glitter polish and to add more detail. I really want to do another Cinderella mani - maybe after I watch the film I will have some inspiration.

Thanks for reading, as always!

Pixie dust love

My mani today was inspired from a video on Instagram by @nail.art.by.sarah and I absolutely love this design.

To create this I used; OPI - nail envy, L'oreal - Raven, Zoya pixie dust - Bar, Nanacoco - love black, and Seche Vite - fast drying top coat. 

I created this using striping tape and it was surprisingly easy to do. Just got to have a small brush and patience! 

On to the new polishes... love them all! Zoya Pixie Dust is incredible. I've wanted it for so long and it did not disappoint. It is the easiest glitter polish to apply, dries so quickly as a sort of textured polish so gives such good coverage without needing to use a sponge. 

Next is the Nanacoco black nail polish, I got this just because I needed a new black and could never find a great one that didn't stain really bad but I found one (and it was super cheap). Yay.

Finally, saving the best for last... Seche Vite. I have heard nothing but good reviews about this top coat. Oh my goodness it is the best nail polish I've ever used. It lives up to its fast drying name, I mean, it is fast. This mani hadn't completely dried but I just went with it and applied a little early and it was amazing, completely set within 5 minutes. Also, the shine makes any polish look like gel. Get yourself the Seche Vite top coat - it will change your nail life. You're welcome. 

Thanks for reading xox 

Christmas fingers

I'm back! Slight absence of a week - I was enjoying Christmas with my family! 

Here are my Christmas day nails... obviously I had planned which nails I wanted to do for Christmas day way in advance! However, the design that I wanted to create just did not turn out how I had hoped. With little mani time left I had to just put on a bit of sparkle. Basically, these did not turn out like I'd wished but they were still pretty simple and classy for the day. I also added hand painted snowflakes after I'd take the picture which made them look a little better.

This design was created using; OPI - Natural base, L'oreal - Raven's dream, and ELF - Gold star and the gold has no name because it has rubbed off! 

To achieve this effect I sponged on the gold and glitter which I think gets better coverage and creates an ombre effect. 

I'm in the process of changing my nail shape to almond because my nails break so much when they are square. But growing them out and trying to shape them isn't an easy task so bare with me and my random nail shape! 

Hope everyone had a relaxing Christmas break.

xox

Red Zin Mystery

The first Halloween design of the year... Inspired by @ninanailedit. She is so talented, I just had to recreate for the Halloween 'vampire' look. 

Using; OPI - Natural Base, Sally Hansen - Red Zin, L'oreal - Mystery, W7 top coat and Kiko top coat.

First things first, the top coats ruined the colours of this mani. I needed a new top coat urgently and went cheap with W7 which gave a horrible finish on these nails. I then tried to add more shine by adding Kiko and it just didn't work. Waaaah. 

Also, obviously the red was a nightmare to get out of my cuticles, please excuse the messy clean up.

Aside from all that drama - I adore these. 

A colour combo I have never done and studs that I would never have thought to position like that so something different which turned out great. 

This Sally Hansen colour is a great Autumnal colour - I'll be wearing it lots in the next few months.

More Halloween nails to come - I love themed nails! 

xox

My not so halloween inspired come-back

After a well deserved break for my nails I am back! I have been scrubbing them with all sorts of weird home remedies to get rid of the stains. Finally, they are back to a (nearly) normal state! However, all the nails on one hand broke therefore am now on the growth remedies... but my left hand nails are still in tact - there is still hope!

This mani is not one that I spent much time on it was just something simple and fun for last weekend. I used; MoYou, Sally Hansen - Big matte top coat (on top of the white coat) then L'oreal - Pop the bubble. 

I constantly use this L'oreal colour - I just love it and keep going back to it!

Not exactly a Fall/Autumnal colour but I'll just keep pretending it's still summer with my light polish shade choices!  

This polish also isn't a nightmare to get off - providing you know a few techniques to removing glitter it's pretty easy.

The halloween posts have been on my instagram and bloglovin feed in the hundreds and a few of them I am eager to recreate this week! So, Halloween will be making an appearance on Nailstori in the coming weeks of October.

I am thinking of making a light box to take pictures whilst I am at uni because I don't have an easy place to take them outside so find it difficult to get a nice shot. Does anyone have any experience with home-made light boxes? I've been debating giving it a go for ages now. 

 xox

Aerosol water-marble - without aerosol...

More from the Nail it challenge - this design had the simple theme of blue. So, of course I went for a blue base and an aerosol water-marble. This was my first time trying this design and it is really straight forward so, easily enjoyable to do! 

The polishes used were; Wyvnie and L'oreal - Mystery. 

I achieved this water-marble by dropping the polish into water (as you would for normal water-marble) However, instead of making a pattern in the water you use a spray to break up the polish.

It is called 'aerosol' but I didn't use one I actually used a body spray. A Victoria Secret one to be overly precise! I felt that this worked better than hair spray because it wasn't as harsh and fast when spraying into the water. It broke up the polish pretty evenly. 

Love this design because it really is really quick to do (apart from the clean up obviously) and it makes a super effective mani.

xox

Mexican Skulls

This was part of the 30 day nail art challenge; day 16 - accent nail. 

I saw this design on the talented nail tech's instagram @marikonail1214. I absolutely loved the design so gave it a go myself.

Polishes used were; Sally Hansen - White on, Essie - Pure Pearlfection, the eyes; Orly - Passionfruit, Essie - Fiji, and for the rest; Wynie - 698, L'oreal - Mystery. 

I love this mani because it is so different to anything else I would normally do and it was actually really fun do to! 

Will continue to share my favourites from the challange.

xox

Red Arrows

I have been busy doing the Nail It nail art challenge and am up to day 16 so I am still going strong hence the slightly delayed posts. But check out my instagram (@nailstori) to see all of the nails that didn't make it onto the blog. 

This was for the theme; your choice. And I decided to go simple and pretty. 

Using; L'oreal - Raven's Dreams, Essie - Fifth Avenue and LA colors. 

Raven's dream is one of the best nude's I've used, I think it is so pretty. A lot of nude's look odd on my skin tone but I really like this one. (Even though it looks a little yellow in the pictures)

At first I was going to use striping tape to help my lines but I decided to go free hand to get some practice in, and it didn't go too badly. There is definitely room for improvement but isn't there always. 

These pictures are without a top coat - because I forgot! How could i. So it actually looked super glossy and I just loved wearing it. 

I couldn't resist adding a picture of them on my trip to the spa - they looked so good with their lighting. What a sad thing to be thinking about! 

Cannot wait to share some designs I've already done. And hopefully some stamping practice with my MoYou kit finally! 

xox

The most british of brands

I have stuck out the NailIt challenge to day 7 so far and here is my take on 'pattern/fabric'. And if you hadn't recognised it is the famous burberry print. 

I didn't actually expect this to be a success, I had seen the design before and wondered what my take on it would look like. I enjoyed the challenge of freehand lines. 

The polishes used were; Essie - Millionnails, Loreal - Mystery, Loreal - Raven's dream, Model's own - French white, Essie - Fifth avenue and Kiko top coat.

I really like Loreal - Mystery, it is more of a grey than a black but with two coats it looks much darker. It is so much easier to take off than normal black colours and it hardly stains. It also has a shimmer in it that more it a lot less harsh than solid black polishes. 

I have a lot of 'what I would do different next time' thoughts on this design but I like the first attempt. 

Straight lines are so easy to mess up and some nail girls are just too amazing at it - practice make perfect I hope. 

Looking forward to seeing what the next 25 designs bring - how excitingly daunting! 

xox

Quick & simple weekend mani

My slight obsession with striping tape continues (I have used it in my last 5 or so manis - which have yet to be blogged) 

I'm just loving it at the moment... And I love this design so much.

I created this using: Essie - Millionails, Crabtree & Evelyn - Peony, L'oreal - Mystery, Sally Hansen - Top coat and some striping tape from ebay.

This was so simple to do and I think the colour combo works great. It was my first time using L'oreal - Mystery and I really like it! I didn't always love the colour in the bottle because it looked a little grey but with two coats it's lush. And I love the C&E polish, it's such a fab brand, and I'm a sucker for a pale pink. 

My middle finger looks a little odd shaped, I noticed the corner had chipped off just after I'd painted so my nails will all have to be filed down asap. :( 

Not too much else to say about this one really. I hope my next post will be up soon but I have a feeling I will want to keep this mani for a little longer than usual.

Have a fab weekend nail bloggers/readers/friends 

xox 

Letting the boyfriend choose the mani colours day

Who doesn't love a chevron mani - I do! 
For this mani I used: Essie - Millionails, Rimmel London Kate collection - Reggae Splash, L'oreal - Pop the bubbles and Sally Hansen - Top coat. 
For this mani I knew I wanted to do a chevron design but just couldn't choose the colours - I know it's a hard life right. So I gave the million dollar question to my boyfriend and I actually really love how the colours came out. I would never have picked the colour combo myself and I think it really works so thank you very much Aaron! They stand out so well together and it is a perfect summer/holiday mani. 
I love the Rimmel colour, such a gorgeous pastel orange and gives great coverage in two thin coats. At first I wasn't sure on the big brush because I generally don't like them but this one wasn't bad at all, easy to apply. 

In the past I haven't had lots of success with chevron/tape mani's and I fairly recently found out why... DO NOT LET IT DRY BEFORE PEELING OFF THE TAPE! Why did I always do this? The trick is to peel the tape off as soon as you have painted. However, you probably know this tip already, I'm not sure how I missed it! 
It's slightly upsetting that my index finger nail broke again - why is it always the index finger! 
So that's my mani for the weekend. 
Have a great (early) weekend nail peeps.
xox 

Houndstooth

I apologise for not posting for a while, I've been really bugged down on uni work and haven't had much inspiration or motivation to do my nails. What a first! 
This is my first houndstooth design. One of my favourite patterns on anything of all time. I have so many clothes of dogtooth/houndstooth. For this design I used: OPI - natural base coat, Models Own - French white, L'oreal - Top coat confetti, Sally Hansen - Top coat and then black acrylic paint. 
I really like the houndstooth design, it wasn't too neat because I am a leftie and I used my right hand to paint this. So I'm sure when I do it again on my right hand it will be much neater. 
I love the top coat confetti, I don't have anything else like it. However, it is horrible to get off so you're going to need to use the tin foil trick here ladies!
Also, I highly recommend the Sally Hansen top coat, it doesn't chip and gives the nail such a nice shine. Got mine for super cheap too which makes it even better.
More designs soon. I finish for summer on friday! Yay!
xox 

Birthday gifts!

I was so spoilt this year! A post of all my gorgeous new nail related birthday gifts.

Cool nail beads from my flatmates, cuties. They are 'Bourjois Paris' I am intrigued to see how they turn out when I use them - haven't tried anything like it! Has anyone tried these? What did they think?

From my wonderful mother. TKMaxx Sally Hansen beauties. The picture just doesn't do the colours justice they are amazing. 

(From left to right)

610 Red Zin

640 Plum Luck

419 Hidden Treasure

530 Back To The Fuchsia (one of my fave nail names) 

Also TKMaxx bargains, L'Oreal polishes. Really like the L'oreal colour I have so I'm sure I will love these too. The nude looks really pretty - a girl can never have enough nudes.

(from left to right)

690 Amazon's Flare

790 Raven's Dream

320 Charmed, I'm Sure

335 Mystery

168 Gorgeous Gold

So thank you to my mama if she reads this. Very grateful!

This was a present to myself today. I went into lush, not to buy anything in particular. I've heard so many good things about this cuticle butter - I couldn't not get it. Felt guilty until I used it. No regrets! Definitely recommend it. Smells 
lush!

This was a gift from my boyfriends parents which was very lovely of them. It smells so good too. I really like the fact it isn't really sticky like a lot of hand creams, it soaks in well. It has earned handbag must have! 

Last but most definitely not least... Another present to myself - it was only £3 so again I don't regret it. My other nail box is full. Excluding the boxes that I hadn't brought to uni (too many polishes) I absolutely love this TKMaxx buy, so pretty.

As you can tell I love TKMaxx. I have my mum to thank, she has taught me how to shop well and find all the bargains.

An amazing birthday with lovely people and wonderful gifts. Thank you to everyone. And thanks if you pursued this post and read this far down!

xox