Monday, 17 December 2012

Snowflake Nail Art

It's officially christmas! Well, it's the week before so it may as well be. I have all my christmas presents wrapped, the decorations are up. I just technically need to finish uni for the holidays (I actually finished on Friday but I'm going in for an extra week to get a heads up on a report due in Januray).
On to the nails..!

These are my wonderfully festive snowflake nails and I'm exceptionally proud of them. They're so christmassy!!
I created the gradient using Barry M - Blue Plum and Collection 2000 - Cloud Nine. I then did one coat of Del Sol - Ruby Slipper (a gorgeous silver microglitter my sister brought back from her travels, it's so sparkly and shimmery!). I then freehanded the snowflakes using white acrylic paint and a striper brush and added some white 'snow' using a dotting tool. I added some clear rhinestones to the middle of the snowflakes with clear polish and finished the look with two coats of Seche Vite. Et voila!

Sunday, 16 December 2012

Houndstooth Graduation Nails

Wednesday was my boyfriends graduation as a Physiotherapist. It was such a good day, he even enjoyed himself considering he originally didn't want to go (men, limelight and all that..). I wore a lovely pair of trousers with a houndstooth design on. Naturally, I wanted to match my nails and I remembered seeing a houndstooth design on The Nailasaurus a while ago. So checked back through Sammy's archives and decieded it was too perfect to change so did a 'monkey-see-monkey-do' type mani. 


I did a base coat of W7 - Black and stamped using Bundle Monster BM322 with Barry M - Gold Foil. I added the studs that I got from eBay with a clear polish and sealed everything with a coat of Seche Vite
Mine is nowhere near as perfect as Sammy's. She is definitely the stamping Queen! But I love how it turned out, the stamping design is so seamless!

Thanks for stopping by. I have some amazingly-festive nails for you tomorrow!! 

Monday, 10 December 2012

Queen of Hearts!

This past Friday was my university inter-departmental christmas party for all post-grads and staff. The party as a whole has a theme of films and each floor/department chooses a film to go as. My floor decided to go as Alice In Wonderland and I choose Queen of Hearts! I love fancy dress and obviously had to match my nails!

The polishes I used were Barry M - Matt White, Barry M - Gold Foil, W7 - Black and W7 - Pillar Box Red. I also used hex glitters from the Born Pretty Store. The details were created with a striper brush and a dotting tool and finished with two coats of Seche Vite.

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Polish Days: BLINGnails

I'm so excited! This is my first ever polish days. If you havn't heard of Polish Days, it's an organised monthly posting event where Hannah from Polly Polish creates a theme and subscribed bloggers sync their themed posts to be posted at the same time. You can subscribe here.

Today's theme is BLING nails in honour of the coming party season. I really think this is quite a festive mani aswel...great for the christmas parties!
I used two coats of Technic - Damson and used a cosmetic sponge to create a glitter gradient with Technic - Carnival. I finished with Seche Vite.
It's a simple mani but I absolutely love the finished result. It's just the right amount of bling for me.

Take a look at all the participating bloggers and their wonderfully blingy designs that'll make Beyoncé proud!



Monday, 3 December 2012

Grey ombre stripes!

I've been M.I.A for a while and I am sorry. It's the last couple of weeks of a uni project and things are abit hectic at the minute. I cannot wait to break up for christmas!

First I did two coats of W7 - Black and waited until it was completely dry. The I sectioned off a section of the nail with striping tape and painted on Essie - Power Clutch. Again, I waited for that to be completely dry and sections off another section and painted on Sally Hansen - Dorien Grey. I finally finished with two coats of Seche Vite.
I do love stripe mani's but this just absolutely ages to do. I suppose using Seche Vite between coats would have sped up the process but at £9 a bottle I'm reluctant to use it for anything but a topcoat!


Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Tape-icure.

Hey all. Really sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life has been hectic, hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon.
I love all the tape mani's that everyone seems to be able to do effortlessly. Let me tell you, it takes alot of practice! This is my first attempt. I'm really pleased with the outcome, regardless of a few lines that did not work out perfectly.
 I did a base coat of Barry M - Gold Foil on all nails but my index finger. I used striping tape to create the lines and painted over with W7 - Black, then carefully removed the tape. On the index finger I added square studs and I finished all with a coat of Seche Vite

Sunday, 11 November 2012

Lest we forget. Remembrance Day Nails.

They shall grow not old, 
as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Today, 11/11, is the anual Remembrance Day that marks the end of World War I in 1918 at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. In todays post I give thanks to all soldiers who have fought in our wars, many of whom have sacrificed their lives in order to protect our country. But let us remember that our men and women fight for our safety all year round in many hostile environments and should not only be remembered and honoured on one special day, but all year round.

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day. Poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.
I used two coats of Barry M - Matt White and poppy decals from an eBay seller. These decals didn't work as well as previous decals I've used, they seemed more like paper and peeled off in corners before I added a coat of NYC - Grand Central Station and then a coat of Seche Vite. My index finger also smudged when I tried to fix the decal.
Regardless of my awful application. This mani is to show respect to all service men and women, past and present.
Lest we forget.