Poppies!

A couple of months ago I saw this cute poppy-inspired vintage mani by Katy at Nailed It. I knew I had to recreate this look, I mean.....HOW CUTE! 

So here it is; two coats of OPI Skull and Glossbones with Nails Inc St Tropez and black acrylic paint for the poppy detail using a dotting tool, all topped with a coat of the ultra-shiny Seche Vite Topcoat.

I love this look so much that I'm probably going to wear it for a few more days than usual. If my hectic life allows it to last that long at least; I've spent the day restoring my old antique fireplace in my bedroom and thats been pretty tough on my nails...

(I forgot to take a proper before shot so the first one is after it being heat gunned and partially stripped)

W7 Purple Paradise Mix

I've had a terrible couple of days. My Internet has been down! We phoned our broadband provider and apparently a lightening bolt had hit and damaged something to do with sending our signal. I honestly didn't realise how much I depend on the Internet. I actually rely on it to read the news on the Independent app, how sad. All sorted now though, PHEW!

W7 is a brand of polish I've loved since the beginning of my polish obsession. Purple Paradise has to be one of my favourites. I got my second bottle in the order from Nail Polish Direct I told you about the other day and used it as the base colour. The stamping, gradient and freehand colour is Wild Couture Nailed It Silver and the glitter is Accessorize Crystal Shimmer. The stamping plate I used it my all-time favourite Konad M57. I finished it with a coat of Seche Vite.

I used the same colours to create a galaxy nail on my thumb.

W7 Salt n Pepper Swatch

Yesterday I spent a small fortune on Nail Polish Direct and was amazed at the super speedy delivery. This is W7's Salt n Pepper, a unique glitter that is part of W7's Summer Collection. I think this looks a more wintery polish, reminds me of milk and cookies! I started with a coat of Barry M Matt White as I didn't want to use so many coats of the polish to get full opacity and finished with coat of Seche Vite.

I also ordered Mosaic that I will probably swatch in the near future :) 

Under the sea!

Gradients - so easy to achieve and looks amazing. I had several comments of 'Wow, I love your nails!' while I sported this look. Mr D said they look like they came from under the sea!

I created the gradient following this tutorial by The Nailasaurus (much love for Sammy's mad skillz!) using Collection 2000 Cloud Nine and added the fade with Technic Pacific Blue. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

I'm a little miffed that some of my gradient lines are wonky and not really a smooth transition, my thumb and index finger mainly. This is only my second attempt at gradients but practice makes perfect I suppose :)

Vintage with a twist!

I absolutely LOVE anything with a vintage look, and nails are no exception! Dita von Teese is famous for her 1950's inspired half moon mani's. This was naked half moons with two coats of Next's Get the Look for Runway Urban, this is an awesome varnish and was a bargain at £2! Of course I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

This is my usual nail length/style but I did this mani before I got all my chips and peels. I need them to grow faster!

Horribly flaky nails but I'm going to post anyway!

First things first, you probably shouldn't read this post if you have a phobia of awful nails and cuticles!

I have to apologise for the horrific state of them at the mo. They've been splitting something rotten recently so I had to cut them all down *cue sad face* My thumb and pointing finger are particularly bad.  As this is my first nail post I thought I'd do something simple so decided on a bright skittle and a pastel skittle.

Thumb to pinkie: Jester (George at Asda), Coral (Barry M), Spring Green (Barry M), Shocking pink (Barry M), Cyan Blue (Barry M).

I used three coats of Jester and two of everything else. I wasn't a massive fan of this; I think it was because the Jester and Coral were too similar so I decided to redo the index coral finger with Nail Confusion by George at Asda. I also added Models Own Pink Fizz to my ring finger.

I then used a coat of Rimmel Pro Matte Topcoat and I love the look!

Thumb to Pinkie: Unnamed Lilac, (OPI), Lemon Drop (Rimmel), Shade 5 (MUA), Oyster Pink (Rimmel).

I also did a layer of Rimmel Pro Matte Topcoat over this (did I tell you I love this stuff!) but I'm so impatient and smudged it. Definitely need to work on the waiting part of nail art.

As you can tell by my pictures, my cuticles are in need for some TLC so I sent Mr D (the boyfriend) to get me some Lush's Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter (or the 'Buttery Fluttery Lemony Thingie' as he asked the shop assistant; luckily she understood!). I've read rave reviews about this stuff and I've got to say it smells A-MA-ZING! So hopefully I'll have some soft and less flaky cuticles soon enough :)

Oh, HEY!

First off, welcome to my blog!

I have a slight (..maybe a little stronger word is necassary) obsession with nail art. I'm currently saving for my masters degree and so have a modest budget for nail polish so the majority of my posts are achievable by anyone!

I was originally inspired by Sammy at 'The Nailasaurus', Melissa at 'The Daily Nail' and two sisters, Donne and Ginny at 'Hey, Nice Nails!'. Reading these blogs I discovered Konad stamping (which is definitely worth the investment if you don't already have it) and learnt many techniques, like the amazing nail gradient. I created this blog as somewhere to put all my designs and inspirations.

I'm really looking forward to starting this blog and I hope you enjoy it!