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 

Sunshine blogger award nomination

I have recently been nominated by Nailartoholic  for the Sunshine blogger award. Be sure to check out her blog to be inspired and get great tips! 

What is the Sunshine blogger award?

I am still pretty new to the blogging scene so this was very new to me too. The award aims to show recognition to a blog with a fairly small number of followers. It uses the motto "positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogsphere". I love this little phrase I think it nails (pardon the pun) why most of us blog and share what we love doing. 

It has a few steps to complete but they aren't exactly boring ones.

The steps are:

1) Display the award logo

2) Show appreciation to the blogger that nominated you by acknowledging them in your blog - nailartoholic

3) Share 7 random facts about yourself

4) Nominate 15 bloggers that you admire and share the award linking them in your blog.

6) Contact your 15 chosen bloggers and let them know they have been nominated. 

The award seems to have chain mail letter type qualities, however, it doesn't include any threats or pointless messages! It is a great way of sharing and appreciating blogs alike and I love the idea of it - hence why I am sharing this post. 

7 facts about myself:

1) I have always had an interest in nail art but started doing it more about a year and a half ago.

2) I absolutely love ice cream sandwiches but they are hard to find in the UK (maybe for the best)

3) I am really into dance - I used to be a competitive irish dancer and absolutely loved it.

4) I am a lover of travel - I have lived in UK, USA, Belgium and Singapore. 

5) I am interested in film, I did it as an A level but decided not to pursue it at uni. 

6) I have the most gorgeous dog, she is a whippet, jack russell, yorkshire terrier mix and is adorable.

7) I am into all beauty products, not just polish. I would love to follow more beauty blogs - I'm always keen to learn about new products and the latest tips. 

My nominations: (In no particular order)

1) Simplyintomynails

2) Polish and Pea

3) Journails

4) Fife Fantasi Nails

5) Roaring nails

6) La Gazelle

7) Creativenails4fun 

8) The Sequined Nail

9) Dahlia Nails

10) Nailartiste 

11) NicolesnailsUK

12) Jaybee Journal

13) Nailsbykc

14) Nailsfordummies

15) Nailartnovice 

It will be great seeing posts and facts if my nominations decide to share this award and if not that's absolutely fine. You were nominated because I really enjoy your nail/beauty blog and wanted to share it with the blogging world. 

xox

Practice does not always guarantee perfect

Today's post is showing that no matter how many times you have done a nail art technique - there are still off days! This particular water-marble mani just would not turn out how I wanted and I had done it over numerous times. 

For this I used: Essie - millionails, OPI - natural base, Nails inc - Optic Wave and Ciate mini - Kiss Chase and Sally Hansen - Top coat. 

Starting off with polish; I got Nails Inc optic wave in my boots haul (a few posts down) and I absolutely love the colour. It's more of a bright blue which the picture doesn't show. I'm so glad I got it. The Ciate was a freebie in a Marie Claire magazine and I really like it too. Really nice to apply and one coat is enough for even colour. 

Onto the actual water-marbling ... 

I was going for a specific design on each nail and I wasn't prepared for it to go so wrong! 

I used everything I usually do and it just wasn't spreading in the water and was drying so quickly I couldn't create my design properly. The nails inc was spreading okay but the ciate wasn't.  

I wasn't going to give up so I did the mani on both hands but hated it because it took me so long - it only lasted a day! 

It was a disappointing mani but I love the colour combo. 

Not every design is a success.

xox

Jam n' Jelly

The first swatch from my brill boots haul. It is Essie - Jam n' Jelly - what a b-e-a-utiful colour! It's nothing like any other pink polishes I have (which is a fair few) 

The other products I used were OPI - natural base coat and Essie - Millionails for the base and Sally Hansen - top coat.

Essie is by far my favourite nail brand, it is so easy to apply, drys quick and the finish is so smooth. 

Basically, I have a lot of love for Essie. 

xox

Celebrate with Sally

 I have finished uni for summer! Yay! 

So, I decided I wanted I do a very bright summery colour. However, of course in sunny old England, it rained. Photographic evidence below. 

For this simple mani I used: OPI - natural base, Sally Hansen - Kook a mango, Sally Hansen - top coat. And the born pretty store glitter. I am also trying Sally's Vitamin E Oil. So far so good with it - it has a lot in the bottle so worth the price.

As you may or may not know, I'm not a fan of red polish typically but this one is an orangey red and is very pretty. I don't like the brushes on Sally's polishes, they are way too big for my nails which ends in a lot of clean up. Nevertheless, the finish of the polishes is great. The colour also looked great against my tartan shirt. 

I am doing some work experience over the next few weeks so my mani's will be mostly swatches and simples. Acrylic paints will be out as soon as!

Purchase your born pretty store glitter in the link below to create this look. 

http://www.bornprettystore.com/hexagon-nail-glitter-dust-powder-noble-sheet-decoration-colors-p-785.html
xox

Pastel tuesdays

Iphone camera pictures only. 

I keep seeing pastel ombre nails online and they are my favourite! I was hoping mine to be the same but unfortunately these aren't my favourite.

I used: Sally Hansen nail strengthener for the base (didn't have OPI with me) OPI - My boyfriend scales walls, Barry M - Berry ice cream, Essie - Mint Candy Apple, Essie - Fiji and Sally Hansen - UV top coat.

I really like the idea here but it just didn't turn out right for me. 

First, bubbles!! Why the bubbles?! My white OPI never does this, I'm thinking it's because I let them dry in the sun for about an hour, could this be why? 

I'm not sure on the colours used, I did set out to use a fourth colour but it didn't come out too good so I stuck to the three. 

I'm not usually a Barry M fan, I only have a few of their polishes but it works really well on the ombre, shows up well on white so I liked it for this.

The next time I try this - which will be in the next month I expect. I want to get a pastel yellow, test out the colours more and maybe add some studs to it.

I didn't have my Nikon with me today so these pictures will have to do, which isn't too upsetting because the bubbles aren't too much on show!

I won't be posting for a few days because I have an exam friday but will be back shortly!

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 

XOXO Gossip Girl...

After finishing watching the entire Gossip Girl series again I obviously had to create a nail tribute. 

I used: OPI - Natural Base Coat, Sally Hansen - Plum Luck, Sally Hansen - Top coat and Born Pretty Store Glitter. 

The picture really shows how the Born Pretty Store glitter looks in the sun - it is so nice, makes the detailing really stand out. It also shows how good the Sally Hansen top coat is - makes any polish so shiny. I love it!

This Sally Hansen colour is gorgeous, even better because it is a TKMaxx bargain. Definitely going to be wearing this one more. 

I am absolutely loving the shape of my pinky nail - shame the others aren't long enough for that shape yet. 

Also, the clean up of my middle finger is so bad, it went horrible all in my cuticle and I couldn't get it off without ruining the whole mani so I got over it! 

Not sure what designs will be happening next week - need some nail inspo! 
A direct link below to purchase your own born pretty store glitter. 

http://www.bornprettystore.com/hexagon-nail-glitter-dust-powder-noble-sheet-decoration-colors-p-785.html
xox

Water-Marbling

I have a love hate relationship towards water-marbling. It creates some of the coolest designs but is SO messy.
I used: Models Own - French white (for the base colour), Sally Hansen - Back to the fuchsia and Flormar - N014. And many other materials that I will not list. 


I find it difficult to get the same effect on every finger, because of this I tried a different design on each finger to see which one I liked the best... and it has to be the thumb!  I am going to have to try this on every nail soon - even if it takes me 3 hours. 
As my boyfriend pointed out it looks like charlie and the chocolate factory movie colours - gotta love the guy for his elaborate compliments but I'll take that!
I may do a pictorial on this if I have the patience at some point. However, I might end up getting polish all over my camera so perhaps not. 
Anyway, I love my thumb nail but not so much the rest. Definitely going to nail this technique one day. 
xox