12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 7 - Christmas Animals

Hi lovelies. I hope you're all well. I have had a super stressful day and need a break but I still have to work tomorrow, waah!

It's day 7 of the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge and today's prompt is Christmas animals. I thought long and hard about what animals to do, I was planning on trying to do something different. But in the end I just went with very unoriginal Rudolph nails.

You can't really go wrong with Rudolph though can you.

My base colour is OPI - Don't Burst My Bubble.

The reindeer's heads are OPI - A Taupe The Space Needle and the antlers are OPI - Warm Me Up. Although these two colours don't actually look as different as I was expecting them to.

I added the eyes with a dotting tool using Color Club - White and Rimmel - Black Cab. For the noses I used a coat of China Glaze - Hey Sailor and then a coat of OPI - Underneath The Mistletoe. I wish I had used a more bright, glittery red.

I'm not in love with these, but they are definitely not my worst effort. I probably could have made them better but I was a bit rushed whilst doing these.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 6 - Christmas Decorations

Hi everyone. Happy hump day! Although I have the day off and am working on Saturday, so its not really hump day for me.

We're at the half way point of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge, today's theme is Christmas Decorations. 

Since this is the first Christmas I have been moved out of my parents house I had a lot of fun choosing all my own Christmas decorations for my flat. I decided to do my nails based on the decorations I have on my tree because I like them so much.

I started with a base of Color Club - White on my index, middle finger and pinky. For my thumb and ring finger I used OPI - Can't Find My Czechbook.

On my thumb I did some tinsel. I used a detail brush and Color Club - White, La Femme - Disco and Barry M - Boots C (what a creative name).

For my baubles I used OPI - Dining Al Frisco on my index finger and OPI - Tiffany Case on my middle finger. The silver is Avon - Mercury Metal and the black string is Rimmel - Black Cab.

On my ring finger I freehanded the snowflake using Avon - Mercury Metal and added a bit of Barry M - Boots C over the top for some added sparkle! On my little finger I did the star using OPI - Tiffany Case. All the round glittery bits are individually placed pieces of glitter from OPI - I Snow You Love Me.

Here's a close up shot my boyfriend took of our Christmas tree to give you an idea of what I was working from. We also have white tinsel with little iridescent sparkly bits, shiny blue baubles and glittery blue stars (in a similar style to that tree).

I really liked these, they have kind of an icy feeling which is what my tree is like also. I'm gonna be sad when I have to take my tree down this year!

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Thanks for looking. 

My Birthday Cocktail Nails

Hello everyone. How is everyone? I have finally finished work, a late shift on a Friday is not my favourite thing.

Today I am going to show you the nails I wore for my birthday celebrations last weekend. I had a few friends over to my flat and attempted to make some cocktails. Naturally I needed to have my nails matching the occasion so I created some cocktail nails :).

I started with a black base using Rimmel - Black Cab.

I then freehanded the shapes of my cocktails using a white cream so the colours would show up against the black.

I used about a million colours for these nails so here goes... 

Thumb - an unnamed Color Club orange, NOPI - Hit The Lights, China Glaze - Hey Sailor and Barry M - Spring Green.

Index finger - Barry M - Blue Moon, Barielle - Surfs Up and Revlon - Violet.

Middle finger - Sally Hansen - Green Tea, Barry M - Key Lime and Barry M - Ltd Edition Pink.

Ring finger - Revlon - Violet, Barry M - Berry Ice Cream, Models Own - Peach Sherbet and Essie - Fear or Desire.

Pinky - Barry M - Ltd Edition Pink and Barielle - Surf's Up.

I outlined the glasses with OPI - This Gown Needs A Crown.

I was pretty happy with these, definitely fitting with the occasion. My thumb has to be my favourite. 

Which one is your favourite?

Thanks for looking.

Pick A Polish: W7 - Green Dazzle

Hi everyone. I have just got home and am about ready to pass out, is it the weekend yet? lol.

It's Monday so that means it's Pick A Polish time, this week W7 - Green Dazzle was picked from my stash. I picked this up last Christmas time, thinking it would be a good Christmas glitter but I never got round to using it. So this is the first time it has been used, I have so many untried polishes, its unreal!

Green Dazzle is a green leaning teal glitter in a clear base. The photo above shows 4 coats with no undies, I think you could just about get away with wearing it like this but you can still see a bit of nail. I did find that the base is slightly tinted so it did makes my nails look very yellow in the gaps. It was also getting quite thick at this point and was quite slow drying.

For these reasons, I much prefer this layered over another colour. This photo shows one coat over China Glaze - Keep Calm, Paint On. Glitter pay off is good and I found it applied very evenly and smoothly.

Onto the nail art...

The base colour again is China Glaze - Keep Calm, Paint On.

I added the animal stripes on using a striping brush and W7 - Green Dazzle.

I really liked how this nail art came out, sometimes keeping it simple can be more effective. I am also glad I finally tried this glitter out as I do love it layered.

What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 1 - Presents

Hi everyone. How are we all? I am putting up my Christmas tree today, I'm such a big kid when it comes to Christmas.

I am taking part in the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge! There are twelve themes which and we will be posting every other day. This is my first ever challenge and I am very excited to be taking part :). I also love Christmas, so this is the perfect challenge for me.

The first theme was presents! Who doesn't love presents? I have to admit these did cause me a few issues, everything just kept going wrong. But I got there in the end.

I used a base of Barry M - Watermelon.

I then freehanded the white cross on with a striping brush and Color Club - White.

I freehanded the bows in China Glaze - Goldie But Goodie and outlined the white with this too. It was the bows which were causing me issues, I couldn't get them right. I am still not 100% happy with how they came out but this was my best try. 

So maybe not my best work ever, but I still have 11 more themes to go so that's plenty of time to do something I like. 

What are your thoughts? Let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking.

Winter Textured Gradient.

Hello everyone. I hope we all have exciting weekends planned. I'm having a few friends round this evening to celebrate my birthday so I am spending the day sorting out things for that. 

Today I have some simple nail art to show you. I have seen a few other people do gradients with textured polish and I wanted to have a go too. I decided to go with a wintery, icy feel to match the current weather. I made the stupid mistake of not bothering to tape my fingers up before doing the gradient.. big mistake. Clean up took hours (literally), it made me want to cry! 

I used OPI - Tiffany Case and Barry M - Lady for my gradient.

I did this by painting the two colours next to each other on a sponge and then sponging it onto my nail.

I didn't really get them to blend together very well, gradients aren't my strongest point anyway but I found it even harder with textured polish. I think sponging has made the polish look more textured also, possibly a little too textured. It ended up looking a bit lumpy in places. 

I wasn't completely happy with how these came out, but I have seen other people pull this off. So I think I may just need to practice my gradient skills a bit more. 

What are your thoughts? Have you tried anything similar?

Thanks for looking.

Pick A Polish: Loreal - Opulent Pink

Hi everyone. How are you all? I am super tired after work today.

Tonight I have this weeks Pick A Polish manicure to show you, this week Loreal - Opulent Pink was pulled out of the hat. I have had this polish for ages, my mum gave it to me a few years ago, but for some reason I have never used it. 

The colour is quite similar to last week's polish, but a bit darker.

Opulent Pink is a deep pink cream. It was sooo nearly a one coater, but I used two just to even it out completely. This photo is without topcoat, as you can see it is very shiny. 

I was feeling lazy with my nail art so wanted something quick and easy. I decided to go with the technique I used for the background on my #BritishBloggerSelection nails I did last week as it is so easy, but still looks interesting.

I got the idea from Chalkboard Nails. To do this I wiped most of the polish off the brush on the neck of the bottle and swiped the mostly dry brush over my nail. Which created this patchy effect.

The lighter colour is Miners - Marshmallow. I added a matte topcoat as I think it adds to the distressed look.

So overall I really loved this polish (I don't know why I haven't used it before) and I am pleased with the outcome of my nail art. This is definitely going to be something I do when I am short on time.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for looking.

Half & Half Textured Manicure

Hi everyone. I hope you are all well. 

Today I have quite a simple design to show you which was inspired by this look by Stephanie of A Little Polish. I just loved the mixture of different finishes and the colour scheme so recreated  it on myself. I apologise that these photos are so dark, my boyfriend had been messing with settings on my camera and I couldn't figure out what he had done! He fixed it in the end though so these are the only dodgy photos.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen - Cinnasnap and added a topcoat at this point. I tested out a Color Club topcoat for this, instead of my usual Seche Vite. I have to say I was impressed.

Once this was dry I used a striping brush to draw a line across my nail with Barry M - Countess. I then filled one half of the nail in using the brush from the bottle.

I don't love my version as much as the one I was inspired by, but its still pretty. I think I needed a lighter textured polish than Countess, but that was the best I could do in my stash.

Are you still loving the textured trend?

Thanks for looking.

#BritishBloggerSelection: Favourite Clothes Shop

Hello everyone. How are you all? I have a day off work today as I am working Saturday, I feel this day off is well needed as I am feeling a bit under the weather.

Today I have this week's #BritishBloggerSelection post, this week the theme is my favourite clothes shop. I wouldn't say I have a favourite clothes shop to be honest, I have a few that I like but I'm not sure one stands out on its own for me. However I have recently been eyeing up this dress from Topshop and I do quite often find things I like in Topshop. So I decided to do a design based on that dress.

I started with a white base using my unnamed Color Club white.

Over the white I used a technique I saw by Chalkboard Nails here. To do this I used Rimmel - Black Cab and wiped most of the polish off the brush on the neck of the bottle. I swiped the brush over the nail, but as there wasn't much polish on the brush it gave a patchy effect.

Finally I freehanded the silhouettes of the flowers with a detail brush.

I was pleased with how these came out, they have made me want the dress even more now! I am hoping santa might see this post and take the hint lol.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

Argyle Print Nails

Hello lovelies. I hope we're all having great weekends so far.

Today I have some argyle print nails to show you. I had been shopping before I did these and admiring lots of wintry clothing. So when I got home I decided to go with a wintry jumper feel for my manicure.

My base colour was Leighton Denny - Coconutty.

I then freehanded the darker brown triangles using OPI - I Knead Sour Dough.

I added the white using a striping brush and a white creme.

These nails were much easier to do than I thought they would be and I got quite a lot of compliments whilst wearing them. I am not usually a massive brown polish lover, but I may have been swayed - it isn't so bad after all.

What do you think? Are you a brown polish lover or hater?

Thanks for looking.

Rockstar Studs

Hi everyone. I hope you are all well. Its almost the weekend, one more day to go!

Today I have a design to show you which I copied from Galorious here, so all credit to her for the idea. As soon as I saw this mani I dropped everything and had to put it on my nails immediately, I loved it that much! The original design used gold studs, but I didn't have any gold squares, so I had to make do with silver.

I started with a base of W7 - Black on my thumb, OPI - Don't Burst My Bubble on my index finger and pinky and OPI - My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours on my middle and ring finger.

On my thumb I freehanded the diamond with OPI - My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours, once this was dry I added the studs on with topcoat.

On my index finger and pinky I added the french tip using W7 - Black. I freehanded the half moon with OPI - My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours and added the studs round it with topcoat again.

On my middle and ring finger I freehanded the diamond using W7 - Black and secured the studs with topcoat.

I really enjoyed wearing these, its a bit more edgy than what I usually go for but its nice to change things up once in a while. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

#BritishBloggerSelection: Q&A

Hello everyone. 

Today I have my first post for #BritishBloggerSelection, this week we are doing a Q&A post so we can find out a little more about the people taking part. So lets get straight into the questions..

1. Why do you like blogging?

I enjoy blogging as I find it a good creative outlet. Before I had my blog I still used to do my nails lots but the only people I really shared it with was my boyfriend and my family, but now I post on my blog I get to share my obsession with like minded people.

2. How did you come up with your blog name?

I don't think I did anything special, just wrote down all the names I could think of and picked the one I liked the most, although mine probably isn't the most creative name.

3. Where in the UK do you come from?

I am from Colchester in Essex (its really not as bad as Bouncers on Channel 4 last week made it out to be).

4. Favourite colour?

I am very indecisive and fickle when it comes to this kind of thing, but currently I really like purple and teal.

5. Do you like Lana Del Ray?

I don't mind her, but she isn't my favourite.

6. Hidden talents that you have?

Well I guess my talent is nail art.. but that isn't exactly hidden lol.

7. Celebrity crush?

I don't mind a bit of Channing Tatum.

8. Favourite blog of all time?

Not sure I can pick one... I read way too many. Some of my favourites have to be Chalkboard Nails, Paulina's Passions, Sincerely Stephanie and The Nailasaurus. My favourites that aren't just nail blogs have to be Miss Budget Beauty and Make Up Savvy. But there are so many talented bloggers out there, its so hard to pick a few.

9. What made you want to join #BritishBloggerSelection?

I thought it would be a good challenge to have to think up a design for a theme each week. I hope it will also introduce me to some other blogs that aren't just nail orientated, so I can broaden my blog reading horizons.

So that's it for the questions, but I couldn't leave you guys without something nail related too. After not really knowing what to do I just decided to do some nails based on my blog design. My blog has had a little bit of a spruce up lately in case you hadn't noticed, I think it looks much cleaner now.

For the base I used a white creme from Color Club.

I freehanded the whole design. The black is Rimmel - Black Cab, the turquoise/teal (I don't even know the difference between those two colours) is another unnamed Color Club and the grey is Barielle - U-Concrete-Me.

So well done if you have got this far in this post, I hope my answers didn't bore you too much!

If you are interested in joining the #BritishBloggerSelection then there is more info here.

Thanks for looking!