watermelon nail art

 

yesterday i was a bit bored and so decided to do something proactive (nail art counts as proactive in my world) and summery as it was wet and grey outside, not how august is meant to be as far as i remember! those of you that read my liebster award post  will know that i've just finished a law degree and so i'm in the slow process of moving everything home and sorting my room out. this meant leaving my beloved bag of nail varnishes behind and so i only have a few here and had to make do with what i've got! i opted for watermelon nails as i've seen a lot recently and pretty much only have pink and green nail varnishes!

           

firstly i did two coats of NYC - bubblegum pink  as the majority of it shows and i didn't want it to be streaky. i then used models own - jade stone  to paint a large french tip over the pink base.

 

i then used a dark red nail varnish (i would have used black if i had it with me!) to create the look of the watermelon seeds. i did this by putting a blob of the nail varnish on some paper and then using a sharpened pencil as a dotting tool to make some little polka dots all over the remaining pink area. i finished with a top coat once the dots were dry.

 

having seen a few pictures recently of watermelon nail art i wish i had my white nail varnish with me to draw a thin line over the join of the pink and green to make it look more realistic and detailed but oh well, you can't have everything! i'm quite pleased with the look as it's so bright and also quite childish in a way too - perfect for cheering up a rainy day! plus, it's really easy to do. let me know if you try it out!

beauty forever - rose gold nail varnish

 

 

just a little post about a new nail colour i picked up the other day. it's called rose gold which i thought could be interesting as although lots of jewellery is rose gold nowadays, i personally haven't seen any nail varnish that looks particularly rose gold. it does look a little more bronze than i had hoped but it's still a pretty metallic shade that would go with a lot of other colours/outfits and best of all cost 99p! it's by a brand called beauty forever which unfortunately i can't seem to find online, but for any londoners, i got mine from pak cosmetics store which has stores all over the city.

NYC nail varnish - bubblegum pink

 

 

 

i'm really starting to become quite a fan of NYC nail varnishes. they're really cheap (around £2, and superdrug usually have a 2 for £2.99 offer on too) and there are quite a lot of colours which are bright and fun :) i'm sure i've got plenty of colours just like bubblegum pink (i know i do but i feel bad saying it) but this was too cute to resist!

the wear is quite good - i got a few days out of mine - and coverage is good too. in the pictures i'm wearing two coats. i like the bottles too, similar to M.A.C, no? definitely one of my new favourite cheap treats!

purple glittery half moon manicure

the past few weeks have been very busy but despite a lack of blogging, i did manage to paint my nails! i fancied something fun and sparkly so did a half moon manicure with a glitter top coat. for my half moon manicure tutorial click here! :)

i painted the base with the latest instyle magazine freebie - a nails inc varnish called 'bluebell'. i then used L.A colors - 'fun in the sun' as the top colour, and nyc - 'lights-camera-glitter' as a top coat. hope you all like it!
 

nude feather manicure

left - 'golden goddess', right - 'nude'

 

 

 

so i finally got round to getting these nail varnishes that i mentioned here and have wanted for aaages!! i've been meaning to get another nude colour to try out before i made an e.l.f order but somehow forgot everytime i went near a nail varnish stand so i'm glad i finally purchased this. 

nude is a lovely natural colour which means that it shows up any scuffs or bits of dirt that manage to worm their way onto your nails when being careless after painting them. so naturally, as soon as i'd finished my final coat i decided to cook dinner. cue said scuffs and dirt.

rather than starting again i decided to take inspiration from a blog i've seen recently and attempt some feather nail art over the top. i can't remember where i saw it but she made it look pretty easy! 

i put a blob of black nail varnish on some paper and used the thinnest nail dotting tool i have to draw the centre line across the nail. i wasn't too at all worried about direction or placement. then, working from the base i did a series of outwards 'flicks' which gradually got smaller as i reached the top. i then painted a thin layer of golden goddess over the top to complete the look.

they're not very neat but i hope you get the gist! ideally, i think this would work better if you used a brush to do the feathers as the dotting tool doesn't make very delicate lines (at least with my heavy hands!) i'm hoping to try this again soon though with different colours and possibly more feathers after a bit of practice! what do you all think? :)

chevron manicure

 

i fancied doing some nail art last week but have been really busy recently so wanted to try something that didn't involve fiddly tape and hours of drying time. cue the chevron manicure! i decided to make mine like a different take on a french manicure by just painting the tips which made it easy to do free hand so only took a few extra minutes once i had painted the base.

i used a white as the base which i like, especially with a tan. i then used my trusty model's own nail varnish in blueboo to paint the tips. i found it quite easy to do as all it is is two separate lines taken from a third of the way down the nail and then joined in the middle of the tip of the nail. i then finished with a top coat and a bit of nail dry spray and i was done!    

how to: take off glitter nail varnish

 

i've seen this done on a few blogs i read so unfortunately i can't take the credit for this, but i thought i'd share it with you all anyway because it really made my life that little bit easier! glitter nail varnish, as great as it looks, can be a real nightmare to take off so here's how to avoid feeling frustrated and wasting half a pack of cotton pads.

you need: some nail varnish remover, some cotton pads cut into quarters and some squares of tin foil. 

firstly, soak the cotton pad quarters in nail varnish remover. i found it was easiest to do this by filling the lid with remover and then dunking the cotton pads into that.

then, place the cotton pad onto your nail and place the tin foil on top of it, wrapping the tin foil around your finger. as you can see from the picture of my hand, i wasn't actually very good at this (really simple) step. once i'd got onto my second hand i realised that it helped if you twisted the foil at the tip of your finger to keep it in place. by then it was a bit late but it still did the job all the same!

after 5 minutes or so it's time to remove the tin foil finger hats. give the nail a bit of a rub with the cotton pad as you do so and hopefully the glitter will have soaked right off. yay!

beauty formulas nail dry spray

 

 

 

 

unfortunately, i'm the kind of girl that paints my nails and then remembers i have to do the washing up. cue lots of smudging and attempts at fixing said smudges. so buying this nail dry spray was a final attempt at solving the problem before having to actually sort out my life and learn to make some kind of mental note to do the washing up before i paint my nails. (not gonna happen...)

luckily, this spray actually works! i usually try to wait as long as possible for my nails to dry before using it, but once i get too impatient to wait anymore a quick spray makes them completely dry. the spray doesn't smell too bad at all and it doesn't leave an oily residue either. 

the can is quite small but it was only about £1.50 which is purse friendly, and i'm sure they do bigger cans which i'll happily be investing in once this on runs out. this was well worth the purchase and a serious time saver!

instyle freebie: nails inc - bluebell

 

 

  

i've seen this instyle magazine freebie on a couple of other people's blogs but decided against getting it even though i loved the look of the colour due to a lack of funds! well, it turns out that there's nothing like a cancelled train and an insanely busy station to make you go back on your word and i'm so glad i did!

this is a sort of dusty light blue with a hint of grey and a hint of lilac - such an unusual shade! it's called bluebell which describes it pretty well i think. it took two coats to get a good coverage and i used a top coat to make it shiny but it dried pretty quickly and lasted for two days before chipping as i was doing the washing up (note to self: buy washing up gloves!)

this is actually my first nails inc nail varnish and hopefully i'll be investing in a few more soon but for now i'm enjoying this exclusive instyle colour! i've heard about a few more magazine freebies coming up soon too. i think they're such a great way to try different brands and products so i'll let you know when i get them too :)
 

oh i wish it could be christmas everyday...

 

so this is the nail varnish i bought the other day on my beauty supply store haul. i decided to use them both at the same time to make it look even more glittery as they're practically the same colour so i painted a base of 'atomic' and then layered over the glittery 'treasure island'.

i really like this, it looks so glittery and who can say no to glitter?! the quality is the same as the other L.A colors nail varnish i reviewed here (for those of you that haven't read it already, not great quality but can you complain for the 99p price tag..?) it chipped after 2 days but i didn't use a top coat either so that's probably my fault!

 

my only problem is that i think it looks like a christmas manicure! i do love christmas so this isn't an awful thing... it's just not very seasonal. hopefully i'll pick up some of the red glitter colour they had before christmas too (likely story) and so i can get creative!

pink ombre nails

 

i did this manicure the other day after my first attempt at ombre nails (see them here) as i wanted something a bit brighter and with more of a faded effect. unfortunately last week was really busy and so i only managed to get a couple of photos whilst i was out and about. hopefully you get the gist though, and like them as much as i do!

i used my go-to base of the moment, ballerina, before sponging on some model's own 'pastel pink' from the top of the nail to about two thirds of the way down. i then waited for this to dry and finally sponged on a layer of O.P.I's 'that's berry daring' from the top to about half way down the nail, blending it in with the pastel pink as much as possible. et voila!

this is a nail art look that i've really enjoyed doing because it's just so easy. no waiting for coats of nail varnish to completely dry and no tricky manoeuvres with sticky tape. and better still, all you need is a (clean!) washing up sponge. yay!

don't forget to do a top coat once you're done to give it a softer edge and to add some shine after all that sponging.

ombre nails tutorial

 

so here's my attempt at ombre nails... i thought i'd try something a little different to blending shades of one colour and i needed an excuse to use my new chanel 'black satin' nail varnish so came up with this. the base is two coats of chanel's 'ballerina' which i reviewed here, and is a really pretty pale pink. a perfect contrast to the black.

 

 

i did the blending by putting a blob of black satin on a piece of paper and then using the corner of a washing up sponge to dab the nail varnish directly onto the nail. the difference in colours means that it's not as blended as it could be, but i do quite like the effect and thought it was an easier way to wear black nail varnish than just painting the whole nail.

 

 

next time i think i'll try something a lot brighter, but i am pleased i've managed to find a use for the black nail varnish because i wasn't sure how exactly i'd wear it. as i said in the review of ballerina aswell, chanel nail varnish is great quality and really shiny. and the bottle is pretty too!

L.A colors - fun in the sun

 i recently went on a bit of a beauty binge in my local specialised hair and beauty store. the place is a mecca of lotions and potions that i've never heard of before. needless to say, i spent a good hour scouring the shelves for some hidden gems and i found this nail varnish.


it only cost 99p and so the quality isn't great, but the colour is quite unusual i think as it's a lot warmer than most purple nail varnish i've seen. not so sure about the claim that it has hardeners in it but i wasn't expecting much for the tiny price tag! hoping this will come in handy for some nail art i'm planning on doing soon... watch this space!

chanel nail varnish - ballerina

   

 

 

 

ooo chanel!! probably the most luxurious nail varnish around. such a pretty bottle, amazing quality and shine and in the cutest colour ever! 

ballerina is a really light pink, almost off-white nail varnish and is nothing like any of my other nail varnish colours. it's extra shiny even without a top coat and dries in about a minute, even after two coats.

the only problem is the price tag (this was a present... i don't actually have £18 to spend on a nail varnish...) but if you also consider it to be an essential dressing table decoration then maybe you could justify the price. so happy saving people, i know i will be!

french manicure with a twist

   

 

today i decided to do a summery manicure, just in case the beautiful weather here in the U.K decides to disappear any time soon... a likely story unfortunately!

i used models own - jade stone as a base which took two coats and is a nice summery mint green colour. i then thought i'd do a twist on the classic french manicure so painted on light blue tips with models own - blueboo (review here). it's quite a subtle colour combination (hence two of the same picture in a different light) but i like it because it's something different but not so bold that it isn't wearable. 

finally, i added a matte top coat just to soften the join as well as attempting to make the pastel colours a little more grown up! hope you like it :)

floral manicure

here's my attempt at floral nails, perfect for the spring days we've been having recently! i used a light pink as a base and then used a nail dotting tool to paint little yellow dots over the nail as the centre of the flower.
 

i then used a coral nail varnish to paint little half moons around the yellow dot to symbolise petals.  i did the same on the other half of the yellow dot with a lilac colour and finally did a tiny fleck of mint green to symbolise the stalk. as an added touch i placed a little diamond nail jewel on two accent nails just to make it extra summery. a cute little manicure which doesn't require much precision, just patience! next time i'd like to try it with a light blue base so it's slightly less girly and a bit more cath kidston-esque.
 

.....and as a little guest post, the friend who lent me her (99p store!) nail jewellery kit decided to let rip on my nails and go the whole hog by COVERING them in sequins! they only lasted one and a half days - unfortunately they weren't that practical! - and i looked like my hands belonged to a six year old, but i know she'll be pleased to know that (after much pleading) i have put them on my blog for the world to see! enjoy!