Crazy cat lady

Today I am sharing some of my all time favourite nails! 

I would never normally have done this sort of design on my nails but I actually love it and I loved the challenge of doing them!

I don't have a rightful credit for this mani - I found it on a nail sharing Instagram but it didn't credit the owner. If you know who's design it is please let me know! 

The polishes I used for this design were; 

Essie - Fiji, W7 - 29,  Nanacoco - love black, Sinful colors - snow me white, Seche Vite - Fast dry top coat. 

I created this using a dotting tool and a tiny paint brush.

The owner of this design did a great tutorial that I found on Instagram which made this design so easy to recreate! I think my cat looks a little out of proportion but I think it's still cute! Other than that I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

I now really want to try a dog version because I'm definitely more of a dog person!

Again, it would be really appreciated if you know who created this great design so I can credit them.

Much love.

xox 

Mani's for short nails - take two!

Following on from my previous post about designs for shorter nails. I got quite a good response from it so thought I would continue it. 

My all time favourite designs are the simplistic ones. I am always on Instagram for inspo, came across @aliciatnails on Instagram and fell in love with this one! I love this design on my short nails whist they are growing out. Super simple and easy to do with a small nail bed. 

For me this type of design is exactly what I like for a weekly mani because it's so quick to do on a Sunday afternoon. Plus, it goes with every outfit! 

I used; OPI start to finish, mavala - Wichita, nanacoco - love black, Seche vite top coat. I used striping tape from eBay with a small brush to create the straight lines. 

You may have noticed that I've been using OPI start to finish quite a lot. Well I love it. In my opinion it is everything a base coat should be. Dries so so quickly which is a must for me and gives a great smooth surface. Although, I haven't used this as a top coat because for me I don't think it would give enough shine. 

As for Mavala... Well their polishes are just amazing. I don't have many but the ones I do have I love. This is a super subtle light pink and I love it for a very natural colour giving just enough coverage but can still slightly see the free edge. It is also surprisingly quick drying considering the sheer coverage it gives. 

I am obsessed with the simplicity of this design. Definitely more like this to come - they are my fave!

Let me know what you think of these designs focusing on short nails? 

Black Onyx

I told you there would be more of this Essie glitter polish on the blog! 

I wanted to try out this new OPI black polish and I couldn't resist seeing what the Essie Polish looked like over top. 

All polishes used were; OPI - start to finish, OPI - Black Onyx, Essie - pinking about you, Seche vite - fast dry top coat. 

My first try of black onyx was okay... It doesn't have as good coverage as nanacoco - love black. However, after two coats it is a great black colour. It also wasn't too long lasting, a bit of chipage did happen. But this might have been because I didn't cap the ends. I couldn't be bothered for the clean up on my new shirt nails (my bad). So, I think I need to give this another go but I do like the finished colour. 

On to another new OPI... Start to finish. I have only used this as a base coat so far. However, apparently it works as base, top and strengthener! But as a base cost, it works perfectly for me. It dries super quick, in a nice thin layer and smooths out the surface. I would recommend this if you don't have a huge polish collection and want to keep it simple and quick! It would definitely save money too as a 3 in one. 

Hope you enjoyed this post. 

I'll loving black nail polish at the moment so I'm sure I'll have another up next week. 

Thanks for reading! xox 

St. Paddy's day stamp

Happy Saint Patricks day everyone!
As an ex Irish dancer, I love St Paddy's day because I have good memories of doing shows and exhibitions for the occasion.

I can't be so positive about the mani I created though, it was a bit of a nail fail to be honest! The stamping wasn't supposed to be so white, believe it or not there is green stamping underneath. I thought it was going to be darker than it is...
Oh well. I'm over it because I'm just so pleased I had some stamping success! The stamping plate I used was from MoYou, Princess set 10.
I was sent a MoYou stamping set about a year ago but it didn't work at all, I spent so many hours trying to get better at stamping eventually giving up because I wasn't getting anywhere with it. Well it turns out it must have been a duff set because my new (clearance, bargain*) set works amazingly! Yay! I think I'm going to catch the stamping bug. I need new plates...

* I have never seen MoYou in Boots before, but it was in the clearance section the other day. I really couldn't resist. I asked the woman at the till how much it previously was and it was 25 reduced to 10! It included 2 stamping plates (pretty big ones too), 3 nail polishes, the stamper and scraper. I was a little skeptical buying this because of my previous experience (and being on a student budget) but I am so so glad I did otherwise I don't think I would have tried stamping any time soon! I'm very happy with it. So, UK ladies - always check the clearance!

Polishes used for this were; OPI - Start to finish, OPI - gargantuan green grape, Nina ultra pro - leaf me alone, MoYou - Knight white and Seche Vite - fast dry top coat. I also used gold leaf from hobby craft.

Overall, I'm slightly disappointed with how this turned out but I'm kind of too excited for the stamping set to care! I might also do an Irish dance inspired mani soon.

Hope everyone finds time for a drink later! 

(This post is up a little early but I have a long day of Uni tomorrow so you can enjoy it a day earlier!)

xox

Nail art for nubs

Growing your nails out after breakages because of winter? Here is an idea for nail art you can achieve with a little nail bed.  

This is my 'cinderella' hand - odd because I'm left handed. Anyway, they kept breaking over winter and are now horrible and uneven so I wanted to try out nail art for shorter nails. 

I used; Nanacoco - Love black, Seche Vite fast try top coat and silver striping tape from ebay. 

This Nanacoco black has amazing coverage, this was only one coat of colour - perfect when using striping tape.

I didn't stick the tape down with any glue... mistake. If you want your mani to last longer than a day you'll have to glue to tape down before applying the top coat. 

Another idea is adding midi rings to jazz up the mani and create the illusion of longer fingers/nails. 

In my opinion combining these makes the nails look a little longer than they do without nail polish on. I also got a lot of compliments on this mani because of it's simplicity. 

A super chic, quick mani to spice up your weekly nails.

I'm hoping to create more short nail mani's so hopefully you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you recreate this mani and if it worked for you.

Have a good weekend, thanks for reading! 

xox

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