Copycat Saturday: Black and White Triangle Print

Hi lovelies. It's the weekend! I have just finished work so I am going to relax for the afternoon before going out for a meal this evening :).

Today I have another Copycat Saturday manicure to show you. This week I recreated this pin which was by Pshiiit but the pin doesn't refer back to the correct post. I have been going from the bottom of my inspiration board for these posts and it seems I wasn't very careful with what I was pinning when I first got pinterest.. quite a few of them don't link back to the creator properly, but I shall try my best to credit the correct people.

For more pictures and more details click below.

Copycat Saturday: Gradient Triangles

Hi everyone. I hope you are all having a good Saturday :). Mine has been spent working and then getting my car fixed because it broke down, stupid car!

I am back today to show you this week's Copycat Saturday design. This week I recreated this design by Pshiiit. I really struggled with this design, I re-did it a few times but just couldn't seem to get it right! I am probably being a bit over critical of myself but this manicure just frustrated me :P. Anyway, enough of me moaning..

For full details on this manicure click below.

January Tri Polish Challenge: Red, Yellow and Orange

Hi everyone. I hope everyone's week is going well so far. I have a day off tomorrow which I am looking forward to (as always).

Today I am back with the third instalment of the January theme for the Tri Polish Challenge. I have really enjoyed participating in this challenge so far.

I went with the same three colours as the other two designs as I did, so I may just stick with these 3 for the whole month. The red is China Glaze - Hey Sailor, the orange is Essie - Fear or Desire and the yellow is Nicole by OPI - Hit The Lights.

January Tri Polish Challenge: Red, Yellow and Orange.

Hi everyone. How are you all? I am making the most of my evening today as I have a very busy few days coming up.

I'm back today with this weeks Tri Polish Challenge manicure, if you missed last week's post you can check that out here. 

I went with the same three colours as last week; China Glaze - Hey Sailor, Essie - Fear or Desire and Nicole by OPI - Hit The Lights.

To see what nail art I created click below.

Pick A Polish: NYC - Skin Tight Denim

Hi loves. How is everyone? I am glad to have the evening to myself to relax :).

It's that time of the week again.. which means it's time for Pick A Polish. This week it is the turn of NYC - Skin Tight Denim.

For swatches and nail art read on after the jump.

Belle Glamour Swatches and Review.

Hello lovelies. I hope everyone is well.

Today I am back with some more swatches from Belle Glamour, I have swatched for Belle Glamour before so if you missed that post you can read that here. The owner of Belle Glamour, Catriona, contacted me again to see if I wanted to try any more of her polishes. Of course I said yes, especially since there were thermal polishes to be played with!

Click below to see my swatches and my thoughts on these polishes.

Pick A Polish: Essie - Neo Whimsical

Hello everyone. I hope you are all well, I'm in a surprisingly good mood for a Monday!

So for this week's Pick A Polish manicure Essie - Neo Whimsical was chosen.

For a swatch and some nail art click below.

Copycat Saturday - Tartan Nails

Hi everyone. How are you all? I am enjoying my time off work while it lasts :).

I have the start of another new series to show you today, as you can tell by the title I have called this Copycat Saturday. I find myself more often than not stealing other peoples ideas when it comes to nail art, there are so many cool designs out there to try! But I do feel I should probably try and come up with my own ideas more often. So I have decided to do a copycat manicure once a week, then the rest of the time I shall be forced to think of an idea myself. 

For my first design I decided to go for this pretty, which was a twin manicure by amkuch15 and majikbeenz on instagram. I thought this was seriously cool and on trend.

For full details on this manicure click below.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 12 - Freestyle Christmas Mani

Hello my loves. I hope everyone is okay. I'm not very well at all today, I have had to take the day off work. I hope I shake this off before Christmas! I'm glad I had this post written up in advance because I think I need to go back to bed now lol.

It's the final day of the challenge, as I have said previously I shall definitely miss doing this. I'm not sure I'll know what to blog about now I won't have a theme to use lol. Maybe I need to find another challenge to join :).

Today's theme is a freestyle Christmas mani, so I took that as anything Christmassy. I wanted to do something a bit different and when I came across this design by Nails by Kayla Shevonne I decided that I needed to try it. I was going to try and think up a design myself and be original, but her mani was way cooler than anything I was thinking anyway lol.

Click below for more.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 10 - Santa

Hello my loves. How are we all? One more day til the weekend!

It's day 10 of the challenge, we are so close to the end now. I will miss this challenge once it is over, I have really enjoyed participating. Today the theme is Santa.

Obviously I painted the man himself.

Click below for more..

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 9 - Snowmen

Hi everyone. How are you all? I am needing the weekend already!

It's day 9 of the challenge, today's prompt is snowmen. I was really looking forward to today's theme, I have seen so many cute snowmen nails and I couldn't wait to do some of my own.

I came across this design and fell in love so this is what I went with. Plus its based on The Snowman which I used to watch over and over again as a child.

Read on after the jump.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 8 - Holly.

Hello lovelies. Happy Sunday. I have a roast dinner in the oven which I am very much looking forward to.

Its day 8 of the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge, just a few themes left to go. I will be sad when it is over. Today's theme is holly.

I decided to keep it simple for this manicure.

My base colour is China Glaze - Dandy Lyin' Around.

I then freehanded the holly. The red is China Glaze - Hey Sailor and the green is Barry M - Spring Green.

Finally I outlined it all with Rimmel - Black Cab and added some highlights on the berries with a white cream.

I really loved how these came out, I'm glad I left it as it was and didn't go over the top with detail. 

Let me know what you think 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. 

Pick A Polish - An Unnamed Color Club!

Hello my loves. I hope you are all well. I have a day off work tomorrow, so I am looking forward to having a day to catch up on bloggy stuff. These challenge posts keep creeping up on me too quickly!

Today I have this week's Pick A Polish post to show you, a day late since I was posting for the Christmas challenge yesterday. This week was number 157 in my stash, an unnamed Color Club. I hate having unnamed polishes, but I got this in a set from TK Maxx and I find whenever I get a set of Color Club polishes from there they never have names on.

This a a light pink jelly polish, my swatch shows 3 coats. It was very sheer on the first coat but was quite build-able. There was still a fair bit of visible nail line, more so in real life than in the photo. The formula was good and self levelled nicely. This would definitely be an appropriate polish for a french manicure, so that is what I did a twist on for my nail art...

Over my base I freehanded some french tips using a white cream (another unnamed Color Club). I haven't done proper french tips since my nails were a lot shorter, I think I definitely prefer them on shorter nails.

I freehanded the swirls using a detail brush and Rimmel - Black Cab. My thumb was my favourite.

I added some accents and dots using OPI - This Gown Needs A Crown.

I definitely pushed my freehanding skills with this mani, I'm not 100% happy with the outcome but it is always good to try something different. 

What's you opinion on french manicures? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 3 - Food

Hello lovelies. I hope you have all had a good day. Mine has been pretty terrible but we won't go into that!

It's day 3 of the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge and today's prompt is food! This is probably my favourite thing about Christmas, I do love a nice big Christmas dinner. However I decided to do something on my nails that I don't actually like eating at Christmas (there are not many things I don't like eating lol). 

Christmas Pudding! Yeah I don't actually like it, but I have seen other people do nails like this and I think they look cute. The base colour I used was China Glaze - Ingrid.

I then freehanded the drips with a dotting tool and detail brush and a white cream.

I then added the berries with a dotting tool and China Glaze - Hey Sailor and freehanded the leaves with Barry M - Spring Green.

I did some similar nails last Christmas before I started blogging, its amazing to see how much I have come on in a year! I was pleased with how they came out this year, especially in comparison to last year.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for looking.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 2 - Snow

Hello lovelies. How are you all? 

Its day 2 of the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge and today's theme is snow. To be honest I'm not a fan of snow, I am not a lover of the cold. However snow is very pretty when I am looking at it from the warmth, so I had soo many ideas for this theme.

I finally settled on this idea though..

I started by doing a gradient using Barry M - Blue Moon, an unnamed blue Color Club and Barielle - Surf's Up. You can't see a massive difference between the Barry M and the Color Club, but I quite like the subtle look.

I added a coat of Barry M - Diamond Glitter for a little extra sparkle.

I freehanded the snowflakes using my White Color Club and a detail brush.

I really loved how these came out, they are so wintry and pretty. This kind of snow I do like!

Have you done any wintry designs yet this year? 

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.

#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.

#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!

Neon Pond Manicure

Hi everyone. I hope you all have exciting weekends planned, I am still trying to rest my feet!

Today I have a 'pond manicure' to show you. I took inspiration from Chalkboard Nails' post here, but instead of flowers like hers I did my lines thinner to try and make them look like stars. According to her post this technique was originally by Olive View Fashion. I really want to try this with a dark blue jelly now, so I have ordered one just to try it out, if it comes out how I imagine it will be like stars in the night sky (hopefully lol).

If you are not already familiar with this technique you use a jelly polish (as it is sheer and you can see through the layers) and add nail art or stamping etc. after each coat of polish. So you can see the pattern at different depths through the polish. Did that make any sense? 

I used China Glaze - Shell-o and my usual unnamed Color Club white.

I really really loved how this came out, I didn't want to take it off. Like I said earlier, I will be trying this again in blue. So if it works out you will be seeing this again at some point. 

What are your thoughts? Have you tried anything similar? 

Thanks for stopping by.