Top 10 of 2012

Good evening everyone ! So seeing as it's the last day of the year, I thought I'd do a round-up post of my favourite nail designs on my blog from 2012 ! Now I know I only started in July, but I've still managed to grab together a good top 10 for today's post !  So here we go... Try My Hand's top 10 of 2012 !

NOTD : Leopard Print Hearts

Hey there everyone ! I actually finally managed to do my nails again, and am doing a rather late post tonight as I don't know when I'll even have time to sit down and blog ! I really ought to start doing some revision as I have exams at the end of January, but so far I've been spending my time with family and just enjoying their company (plus my dogs, really enjoying having them around) !

So today's design is based on a jumper I got for Christmas, and I'm obsessed with the pattern ! It isn't exactly as I've done on my nails, but I'll maybe have to try doing it properly on my nails some time soon ! I've never painted large hearts on my nails in a design before, and when I've tried they always turned out wonky in some way, so I'm really glad with the way these ones turned out !

The polishes I used for this design were my standard go-to leopard print colours : OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, OPI You Don't Know Jacques and then my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black... great combination ! I think the brown polish I use is a little too dark for the heart design I did on my two accent nails, but oh well ! I think there'll be some heart designs coming along in future posts on this blog, perhaps even with some polishes from the Skyfall collection (which I somehow managed to avoid using in today's design ?!) !

I also have some more bonus pictures for you all this evening, all still very leopard print related, so they absolutely deserve a place on this post, just you wait and see !

Here are my mum's nails which I did with her favourite design - leopard print, of course ! She's got acrylics on at the moment which is the perfect excuse for me to do her nails ! She wanted to use one of the Skyfall collection polishes, so I used OPI The World is Not Enough as well as the usual Don't Pretzel My Buttons and my nail art pen !

And here's my top model puppy dog called Puppy, who today got a dog-icure ! I was surprised she actually stayed still long enough for me to do her nails, and I love the leopard print one on the left ! Needless to say they're covered in mud now and chipping away like crazy, but it was a great photo opportunity ! Do you ever paint your pets' nails ?

So that'll be all for today you guys ! I'm going to bed now as it's waaaaaay past my bed time and I'm really quite tired ! I hope you all like my nails today, I definitely do, and I'm loving the hearts ! I'll see you all again soon everyone, and I'll try and get something up for New Year (even though I'm not doing anything apart from a nice meal at home for it) !

Advent Calendar : Gold Stars

Good afternoon everybody and I hope you're all having a great Boxing Day ! So first of all I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas, and that you've all enjoyed spending time with your family and friends ! I also reaaaaaally need to give you all a huge apology for not having posted for two weeks now ! Truth be told I've been super busy over the last two weeks and have barely had enough time to sit down and relax, let alone paint my nails ! I even kept my Christmas Houndstooth nails on for over 10 days, can you believe it ?! Anyway, I've had a sitting down on the sofa day today, and decided it would be the perfect time to do some blogging ! The nails I'll be showing you today are a design I did last Saturday, but that I didn't have a chance to post until now !

As I'm travelling back to Bath by myself as a foot passenger on the ferry in January, I was only able to bring over a select amount of nail varnishes with me for my one month holiday over here in France for Christmas ! It was a tough decision but it had to be done, so I only have a small handful of nail varnishes (although now I have rather a lot after opening presents yesterday) !

For this design I used OPI Danke-Shiny Red and then for the stars I used Barry M Gold Foil and painted them on with a nail art brush. I'm really pleased with how the stars turned out, as last time I painted stars they looked pretty bad !

And here's the manicure I've got on right now (I changed my nails yesterday in between opening presents and eating Christmas lunch, I was just too excited about my new nail varnishes) ! I received the whole of the OPI Skyfall collection for Christmas, and I had to do the manicure I've been dreaming of since I saw the swatches online ! This is two coats of OPI Casino Royale with one coat of OPI The Man With the Golden Gun :

Gorgeous, right ?! I can't wait to try out all the different colours, they're all so amazing ! Lots of different manicures with the collection coming up on the blog I think, so stay tuned for that ! Also, here are some bonus photos of my doggies relaxing on Christmas Day ! For your enjoyment !

 So Merry (belated) Christmas everyone ! I hope you enjoyed this post, and I'll try and post again very soon you guys !

Advent Calendar : Christmas Houndstooth

Hello again everyone ! I've got another Christmas-themed design for you all today, and I really hope you like it as much as I do, as I think this is one of my best freehand designs I've done ! Also I won't be able to post again until at least Sunday, because I'm travelling back to France for the holidays, so my mother is arriving tomorrow, then I actaully get back home where I'll be able to do nails on Sunday, so hopefully then ! Anyway, on to today's nails !

I'm seriously obsessed with houndstooth at the moment for some reason, and I'm glad I obsessed over it enough to do these nails today, I'm so pleased with how they've turned out, and they actually look a lot like nail wraps !

For this design I used exactly the same nail varnishes as I did for my snowflake nails from the other day, that being Orly On the List, with the houndstooth detailing done with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white. The only thing I'd change about this manicure would be my index finger, as I'm not happy about not having left enough space and blobbing two of the white bits together ! I might just have to re-do that nail !

And so that'll be it until Sunday you guys ! I'm glad I've done a design I really like to last me until then, you know that awful feeling you get when you know you won't be able to change your design for a few days and you really don't like what you've got on ? Yeah, hopefully I'll be avoiding that one this time !

See you all then everyone ! I'll miss you !

Swatch : Butter London - Royal Navy

Good evening everybody ! I've just got a quick swatch post for you all today as I'm seriously tired for some reason, and need to do some work for my lectures tomorrow before I go to bed ! I didn't have much time for nails yesterday evening unfortunately as I spent most of the day (or weekend for that matter) on a German essay that was due in ! Needless to say I wasn't particularly inspired, hence the difficulty writing it out ! Anyway, on to the swatch !

So this polish is Butter London Royal Navy, my very first and only Butter London nail varnish, and I have to say, it really is amazing ! I had been looking for a plain creme dark navy polish for a really long time, and all the ones I found always seemed to have some sort of shimmer in them ! This nail varnish was expensive, but absolutely worth it, and I knew that I needed it as soon as I saw it !

As I said before, this is a deep navy blue creme polish, and this swatch shows 2 coats with top coat. The formula of this was SERIOUSLY so amazing, I've never had a nail varnish that just glides on this well, it's a deram to work with ! Drying time was also really good as well !

And that's it for today everyone ! I'm not looking forward to removing this colour, as I seem to think that last time I wore it, it stained my skin really badly ! Sad times, but I can put up with that for such a pretty colour !

I'll see you all again soon everyone ! Have a great evening !

NOTD : Duotone Skittles

Helloooooo everybody ! Now normally I would have posted something for you all last night, but I had some friends over for an early Christmas meal before we break up for the holidays which was great ! We even had our own personalised Christmas crackers hats (and would you believe that mine had nail varnish on it ?) ! But anyway, I'm back today with a NOTD for you all !

I was going to carry on with another manicure for my Advent Calendar series today, but I wasn't really feeling the Christmas nail inspiration when it came to doing my nails, so I just went with a simple pattern design ! I really love how the houndstooth turned out on my thumb, but for some reason it doesn't look right, and I can't seem to work out why !

So for this design, the colours I used were OPI My Very First Knockwurst, and then I did all the black detailing on top using my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. I just looked up different black and white patterns on google images and it was pretty easy to fill up all 10 nails with a different pattern on each !

And here's an extremely bright iPhone picture to show you all what I did on my right hand (seeing as I can't physically hold my camera in my left hand and take a successful photo) ! Anyway, that's it for today, I hope you like this NOTD in comparison to all the Christmas nails I've been showering you with !

See you all tomorrow everybody !

Advent Calendar : Bauble Pattern

Good evening everybody ! I've got another Christmas design for you all that I'm really really pleased with ! It turned out a lot better than I expected it to, which is great ! I fancied something that would be relatively easy to remove when the time came, because I had a huge session earlier this afternoon when trying to take off my glitter from my last swatch, I stupidly forgot to put on the peel-off basecoat ! Damn ! Anyway, on to today's nails !

So these nails are inspired by baubles, after all, they all come in so many different colours and designs, I fancied something christmassy that wasn't completely obviously festive with the colours ! I think this design could actually be worn all year round, and did I mention I really like it ?

For this design, the different colours I used were Essie Splash of Grenadine, OPI Meep-Meep-Meep, and Barry M Gold Foil. I kept the detailing quite simple with the gold, and I'm glad I did because I was able to paint my right hand preactically just as well as my left hand, something I always love ! I contemplated doing more with the gold at both the tip and base of the nails, but decided against it because I didn't want it to look too over-the-top (and I'm tired) !

Like I already mentioned before, I really really like how this design turned out ! I think the colours go really well together, I think a darker more blue-toned purple would look really nice as a base colour as well (I love the combination of red and purple) !

So I'm off to get ready for bed now, I'm super-tired ! See you all soon everyone ! Night night !

Swatch : Shimmer Polish - Jasmine

Hey there everyone ! I've got an awesome polish to show you all today, and to add to the excitement, it's an indie polish ! Happy times ! Today's polish is from Shimmer Polish, and this one is actually pretty festive (although I don't think it was actually created for Christmas in the first place) !

So this is Jasmine by Shimmer Polish ! It's dominated by a lovely teal colour glitter, described as "aquamarine", with specks of red, green, gold and orange glitter which really adds to the depth of this nail polish ! All the glitter is really quite fine, and is set in a clear base coat.

This swatch shows three coats of Jasmine with one coat of Seche Vite over the top. The glitter is very dense in this polish, the application was pretty effortless and drying time was great ! No complaints about this polish whatsoever, but it is quite hungry when it comes to the top coat, I don't mind that at all though ! I absolutely love the colours in this polish, and I think the mix is very well balanced !

You buy Shimmer Polish either on the Etsy site, or on the actual blog via email ! There is also a Shimmer Polish Facebook page so that you can keep up to date with releases, swatches, and of course giveaways !

PS : Don't know whether this has been done before or whether I'm just really behind, but when I was doing clean-up around my nails today I used selotape as opposed to just aceton and a cotton bud, and it worked really well ! Have any of you tried this before ?

Advent Calendar : Snowflakes

Good evening everyone ! So I'm back once again with another Christmas-themed manicure, I'm seriously enjoying these festive nail designs, so much fun and it's stuff you can't really do during the rest of the year ! So I'm going to use every excuse possible to do as many Christmas nails as possible this year !

I've never actually painted anything remotely ressembling a snowflake before, I remember last year I used the Konad M59 plate to do plain snowflake stamps over red glittery polish, so I'm glad I did this by hand this year ! I think the pattern looks like it could be like a wrapping paper design or something, I love it !

So for this design, the base colour I used was Orly On The List, a little mini bottle I got in Boots last year ! I used two coats for this design as it was the perfect red colour for what I wanted, but I think if you do a third coat the colour gets a lot darker ! I drew on the snowflakes with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white.

And that's it for today's Advent Calendar design, I'm already so excited for Christmas (mainly because I get to go home and see my family), and soon I won't have any work to do here at uni and I can just rest ! Exciting stuff ! Anyway I hope you like today's design, and I'll be back soon with another !

See you soon everyone !

Advent Calendar : Christmas Puddings

Hello everybody ! So I managed to write a whole essay about communism today, I'm so proud of myself ! That's one down and two more to go before all my work load is relieved, not long now I hope ! As you may have noticed, today is the first day of December, which therefore means that Christmas nails are totally do-able, and it's no way too far away from Christmas ! Happy times !

I've wanted to do Christmas pudding nails for absolutely ages, but for some reason I never have done ! I'm pretty sure that last year all I did was snowflake stamps, but I really can't remember and I don't seem to have taken any photos of them at all ! Anyway, the first day of the month is the perfect excuse for Christmas pudding nails, and these ones are quite different from any of the Christmas pudding nails I've seen around before !

So for this design, I started off with a base of OPI Meep-Meep-Meep (which as a matter of fact I got around this time last year, such a great Christmas colour), then for the puddings I used OPI You Don't Know Jacques, OPI Berlin There Done That, American Apparel T-Shirt for the brandy sauce, and then the holly was done using Collection 2000 Ninja and OPI Big Apple Red. I'm really pleased with how they turned out, especially seeing as they're the right way up !

Despite my complete and utter hatred for Christmas pudding, I think these nails are really cute ! Christmas pudding may taste revolting, but they make for a pretty cool manicure ! Now I'm off to brainstorm more Christmas designs, and I'll be back tomorrow with a new one for sure !

See you all tomorrow everyone, have a great night !

NOTD : Thistle Gradient

Hey there everyone ! So it's Friday (finally) but no rest for me this weekend as I've still got plenty of work I need to finish up and hand in ! Still, I'll try and do my nails both tomorrow and Sunday, hopefully I'll have time to do them ! Today's nails are just relatively simple, didn't want to do anything too fancy as it was already quite late into the evening when I finished dinner and actually sat down to do my nails !

So as some of you may know (or if you happen to have passed through Google today), it's Saint Andrew's day, the official national day of Scotland ! I was originally going to stick with blue and white nails, after all, they are the traditional colours of Scotland and the Scottish flag, but in the end I ended up looking up photos of thistles, and instead went with a relatively simple thistle-inspired gradient !

For this gradient, the nail varnishes I used were Essie Splash of Grenadine for the purple, and the greeny colour is OPI Mermaid's Tears. For the gradient, I started with a base of the Essie colour, and then I painted on strips of both the colours I wanted in the gradient straight onto a makeup sponge, and just dabbed it over each nail until I got the desired gradient. Simples !

And that's all for today's post everyone ! I hope you like my slightly alternative take on Saint Andrew's day nails ! I really like how the colours work together, and I think the gradient is quite Summer-appropriate, as opposed to what you may expect in almost-December ! OMG Christmas is so soon, I can't wait !

See you tomorrow everyone ! Have a great day !

NOTD : Dotty Swirls

Well hello there everybody ! I'm back with a brand new NOTD for you all ! Happy times ! Plus today is an extremely good day as the two presentations I had to do this week are all done with (except now I've got an Italian presentation to do next Tuesday), so now all I've got left are 3 essays ! Yaaaaaay feel the enthusiasm ! Anyway, I figured today was a good day to do my nails, and I'm super happy with how they turned out !

So this design is based on an idea my mum had when giving me inspiration for my nails ! She always has the best ideas ! I decided to go with a black and white design as I haven't done anything that's plain black and white for ages (or not that I can remember in any case) ! I also wanted something quick and simple and black and white is pretty much the easiest colour combination to not have to think about !

The two polishes I used for this design were American Apparel T-Shirt, and American Apparel Hassid. For the actual design, I just used two different ends of a dotting tool, one large and one small and created a swirly pattern ! Easy !

And that's it for today everyone ! I'm really tired now, so I'm going to finish up some reading for one of my essays and then go to bed and maybe watch some TV, only two more weeks of uni and then I'll be off home for Christmas, very excited, not to mention not having to work for a good 3 weeks ! Happy happy happy times !

See you all soon everyone !

NOTD : Chevron Studs

Helloooooo eevrybody ! So I'm back after a hectic weekend of major working, and decided to have a relatively peaceful evening today seeing as I've been working non-stop since Friday night ! I've still got quite a bit to do but nothing that's due for this current week, so I've got a little bit of time to chillax and just watch TV, do my nails and blog !

So  today's design is pretty simple, but I really like it ! I think I'm actually really getting in to the whole stud trend that's going around, I just love the way they look on the nail ! For today's design, I didn't use the glue I normally use to stick the studs down, I just placed them on the relatively tacky base colour and then went over them all with some Seche Vite as I do with every manicure ! Hopefully they'll be far easier to get off than last time, and won't rip off the top layer of my nail !

The one single nail varnish I used in this design is OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! and I really do love it ! Some of you may recall that I used it in the last design I did with studs, but it seems that it's my go-to colour for these types of manis ! To be honest though, it's a really great colour : deep grey but still leaning towards a very dark green when you see it in certain lights, a great Autumn colour !

And that's all for today everyone ! I hope you all like this simple stud manicure, I'll have to think up some more different ways to wear studs in my designs, they're just such a great addition to any colour if I happen to do a swatch of a plain colour or whatever ! Also, what are your methods for sticking stuff onto your nails like studs, rhinestones, fimo, pearls etc ? Do you prefer to use glue or just top coat ?

I'll see you all again soon guys ! Have a great day tomorrow !

NOTD : Funky Skittles

Good evening everyone ! So I've got a quick post for you all tonight as I needed a break from working (even though theoretically it's not really that much of a break as I'm still sat staring at my laptop) ! I've been sat here all day and haven't got half as much done as I would have liked to, but isn't that always the way ? I'm planning on getting up early tomorrow so that I can actually get plenty done, there's no way everything's going to be ready on time otherwise !

So this design is pretty much an amalgamation of every idea I had for my nails today, and being the procrastinator that I am when it comes to taking a break and then struggling to start working again, I, of course, had to do all of them ! Oh well, I really like them, and then at least that way if I don't have time to do my nails tomorrow at some point then I'll be quite content to keep these on for another day !

The nails varnishes I used for this design were P2 Elegant, OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, American Apparel T Shirt, OPI Don't Pretzel my Buttons, OPI You Don't Know Jacques, Essie Lapiz of Luxury, Essie Splash of Grenadine, Essence Circus Confetti, as well as my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in black and blue. I was originally going to do a paisley nail, but once I'd started drawing it I thought it looked awful so I switched design ! Never mind !

Right now I'm going to have to get back to work ! I've almost finished making the Powerpoint presentation for one of two presentations I'm doing next week, plus I'd better get a start on my Italian coursework.. and let's not even mention the 3 essays I've got to write up before the end of the semester ! Ugh.. so much work !

I'll see you all again soon guys, wish me luck with all this work I've got to finish !

NOTD : Black Doodles

Hey there everyone ! Hope you're all ready for the weekend, and for the readers over in the US I hope you had a great Thanksgiving ! I've only ever had a Thanksgiving meal once with an American friend of mine but that was years and years ago, still, I remember it was pretty yummy ! So much food ! Anyway, when I sat down to do my nails earlier on, I just picked out a couple of bits and just did whatever first came to mind !

So I wasn't feeling very inspired, but I had major tipwear from my last manicure so I really had to change it, and this is what happened ! I was originally going to do a black and white colour scheme, but decided to choose a colour I haven't used in a while instead ! I'm glad I did, because I absolutely love how it turned out !

For this design, the colours I used were OPI Strawberry Margarita, and I just did the doodles on top with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black ! I'll have to make a purchase of some more nail art pens soon, contemplating getting the silver and gold ones, is there anyone who can recommend them or not ? I don't want to just buy them because they look nice and then end up not using them !

And taht's all for today guys ! I'm off to bed now as I've got lots of work to do over the weekend, so many essays I need to get started on, plus two oral presentations next week.. ugh ! So much work all at once ! I'll probably do my nails again at some point tomorrow because I'll need a break from looking at my laptop screen, but I'm not guaranteeing anything, it's just a maybe !

I'll see you whenever everybody, have a great weekend !

NOTD : Silver Chevrons

Hey there everyone ! Quick post again this evening as I've got to get back to work, but I figured I may as well post my quick manicure I did earlier this evening whilst taking a break from staring at my laptop working ! You may have seen the swatch I posted of an Essie polish I bought at the weekend, and instead of doing something brand new on my nails, I just added to what I already had on !

I generally avoid tape manicures seeing as I'm always too impatient for the base colour to dry enough for me to tape on top of it, but seeing as the base had had a whole day to dry I figured it'd be a quick way to spruce up my nails ! I really love the sharp lines that taping gives to the chevrons in this manicure !

So the two polishes I used for this manicure were Essie Lapiz of Luxury seeing as I swatched it yesterday, and then the chevrons were done using Barry M Silver Foil. For the chevrons I used two different pieces of tape and positioned them into the right shaped triangles, I find that cutting a triangle into the tape doesn't work for me at all !

I hope you all like this design ! I think I'm going to start doing tape manicures more often now that I'm getting into swatching more of my nail varnishes ! I really do love how quick it is to do, and it's a great way to counteract tip wear !

See you all soon guys ! Have a great day tomorrow !