Tribal Transfers

Hey guys ! Today's post is a manicure I did a while ago, attempting to use the selotape transfer technique. Basically what you're supposed to do is paint your chosen polishes onto bits of selotape, leave them to dry, peel the polish off the selotape (not always necessary) and then cut it into the shapes of your choice to stick directly onto your nail.

Let's just say I failed miserably.

All in all I really liked the way the design turned out, I'm not going to deny that ! However the process was painstakingly long, and the actual manicure in itself lasted all of about 10 minutes. I am however partly to blame for the failure of this design. I didn't remove the polish from the selotape because I couldn't be bothered, I hadn't mapped out the actual finished design that I wanted to achieve using this technique, and worst of all, I couldn't be bothered whilst creating the design on my nails to snip off the protruding bits of polish/selotape at the end of my nails ! Sigh. I guess I'm too impatient when it comes to nail art for this kind of technique !

The polishes I used for this design were OPI Alpine White, OPI Big Apple Red and Barry M Cyan Blue. As soon as I finished taking photos of this manicure I started lifting up the bits of selotape at the ends of my nails and lifting all the pieces up, which was fun in itself but frustrating after having slaved over the design for over an hour (not including the time I waited for the polish to dry on the selotape) !

I've seen this technique work for many people over the blogger community, but I suppose I'm just not one of them ! Not for manicure-longevity, in any case !

And there we go, hope you enjoyed the fails !

NOTD : Autumn Floral

Here it is, as promised, a new NOTD ! Finally !

Ok, so I realise it's Summer and everything, but I didn't have any intention of creating an Autumn-appropriate manicure when I first started this design last night !

I didn't really have anything in mind in particular when I decided it was time to change my nails, so I just went over to my polishes and picked out a few colours that I've been wanting to use in manicures for a while, and decided to put them all together onto the same design.

At the moment I seem to be really into unrealistic floral patterns at the moment. I know there was a time a while ago where everyone was doing relatively life-like florals on their nail designs, but I don't think I'm patient enough or competent enough at drawing/painting with polish to actually doing anything remotely realistic !

So the colours I used for this design were OPI Alpine White for the base, fo the flowers I used a dotting tool to paint them on with OPI Steady as she Rose, OPI Jade is the New Black and Barry M Bright Purple. I then drew on three little dots on each flower with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in black and white.

I guess I wasn't really thinking about the current season when I chose the colours for this design, but all the same, I love it ! The flowers are so simple to do and I find it always looks really quite clean in the end !

Hope you enjoyed this post, and enjoy the your day !

Wah Leopard Print + BONUS Union Jacks

Helloooo everybody ! Just a quick post today as I've been supe busy and actually still haven't haven't my Olympic nails yet ! Oh the blasphemy !

So I did this design a while ago, and the colour scheme sort of reminded me of the classic Wah Nails leopard print colours, except obviously I used stamping for this mani ! Can you believe this is the first time I've posted stamping on this blog ?

The colours I used to create this design were OPI Strawberry Margarita for the base colour, then when that was dry I taped off half of the nail and painted on a coat of OPI My Back Pocket ! For the stamping I used the leopard print stamp from Konad M57 with Konad Special Black polish.

So that's it for that manicure, but as you have seen in the title, I have bonus Union Jacks for you ! We had some friends from England over for dinner, one of whom was my lovely friend Kate, and it has become a bit of a tradition for me to her nails every time we see eachother ! And for this time's design, she wanted Union Jacks (after seeing my awesome Union Jack nail from my Olympic Nails) !

The colours I used for Kate's design are the same as what I used for my own Union Jack, that being Kiko Electric Blue, OPI Big Apple Red and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white.

And there we are ! Not such a short post I guess, but tomorrow I promise I'll be posting a NOTD ! I swear !

Pink Floral

So I've got a mani from the vault for you today ! I am planning on changing my nails today, but I'm not sure when I'll be doing them so I prefer to post something now rather than later !

So this was a pretty basic floral design I did a few months ago, which I was overall really pleased with ! I wanted to do a pink colour scheme, and used three different pink polishes, only the lightest one I used didn't really show up that well against the base, which is a shame !

The polishes I used for this manicure were OPI Skull and Glossbones for the base, then for the different flowers I used OPI Dim Sum Plum, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama and OPI Steady as she Rose, and I also used Kiko Acid Green mixed with Collection 2000 Ninja for the leaves.

And that's it ! Yet another floral mani ! I seriously can't seem to get enough of florals at the moment, it must be all this nice weather we've been getting over here ! Now to decide how I'm going to do my nails later on !

NOTD : London 2012

Now as you all know (unless you've been living in a hole for the past 7 years) the Olympic Games are coming to London ! In a matter of 4 hours over a billion people all over the globe will be watching the opening ceremony, and I (of course) had to do some nail art for the occasion.

And there we are ! I decided to amalgamate all things Olympics to create the nail art of London 2012 ! On my thumb I painted the Olympic rings, on my index finger I just wrote "LDN 2012", on my middle finger I painted on the official games logo for this year's Olympics, on my ring finger as you can see by the photo I did the Union Jack (for Team GB or for the fact that it's being held in England, you decide !) and then on my little finger I drew the torch on.

I am overall really pleased with how these nails turned out ! Despite the inconvenience of not having a green or a red nail art pen and having to use my nail art brush instead, I think I managed quite well ! My favourite nail is probably my middle finger with the logo, I was dreading painting on the logo as it is rather abstract, but I am sooo happy with how it turned out !

So I used quite a lot of polishes to make this design, so I'll do a list nail by nail :
Thumb : OPI Alpine White, OPI Big Apple Red, Collection 2000 Ninja, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black, yellow and blue.
Index : Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, OPI Big Apple Red, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black, white and blue.
Middle : Barry M Cyan Blue, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white, OPI Dim Sum Plum.
Ring : Kiko Electric Blue, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white, OPI Big Apple Red.
Little : OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, Barry M Gold Foil, Accessorize Gold Dust, OPI My Back Pocket, Barry M Yellow, OPI Big Apple Red.

And here's a bonus photo of my right hand to show you what I did with that (as I don't think I'd have had the patience to copy what I did on my left hand !). Please excuse the rather atrocious photography, I don't think I've yet mastered taking photos with my left hand, plus the fact I can't actually see the screen to see what I've taking a photo of as it's covered by my hand trying to push to capture button !

 And there we are ! Olympic Nails ! Now I'm currently watching the countdown on BBC1 until 9 o'clock when the opening ceremony starts ! Will you be watching the ceremony ? Are you planning on tuning in to any of the sports during the following 2 weeks ? Have you done any Olympics nail art for the occasion ? Ahhh so many questions !

NOTD : Dotty Gradient

Oh my life, another day of 30°C sunny weather and me expiring in the lounge ! Plus I've been having to sort out hay bales which is actually the WORST job ever ! But anyway, I really haven't been up to much, just sitting around and running a few errands when I have to, I decided my nails needed re-doing !

I've been seeing this design around for quite a while now, ever since gradients became the "in-thing" in the nail art world ! I suppose people wanted to step out from the crowd and do their own thing with the gradient trend ! I quite like the design, and it's actually really simple to do, whether it's quicker than a plain gradient or not I couldn't say !

So the colour I used for the base of this design was Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, then for the dots I used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in pink. Now I wasn't expecting for the pink to be neon in this pen. I can't decide whether it's a good or a bad thing as I mean neon is great and everything, but it's not the most practical colour for me to use for nail art. All the same, I'll still be using it on a regular basis I should imagine !

And there we are ! Another day's manicure, until I get bored of it and start again ! Hope you're still enjoying the weather, and that you're not being forced in moving hay ! If however you are, I feel for you, I really do !

Summer roses

Hey guys ! I've got a design I did a couple of months back for you today, but I decided to keep posting in the Summer theme, even though when I did these nails the weather was rather bad !

This design was my first attempt at doing anything that remotely looked like roses, and without using my trusty nail art pens for detailing. I did this whole design using just a plain nail art brush, which I have to admit is not my favourite technique for nail art. I like how the design turned out, it was just doing it that annoyed me I guess !

So the colours I used for this design were P2 Hug Me! for the base colour, I really like the darkish yellowy colour, plus it's a proper creme polish which I think is great for a yellow ! For the roses I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, OPI Strawberry Margarita and OPI Dim Sum Plum, then I used OPI Jade is the New Black for the leaves.

And there we are for another day of posting ! Hope you like the design, are you getting into the groove of summery manicures at the moment ?

PS : Please excuse the pitiful ring finger, it snapped off just before I did this manicure !

NOTD : Mini Daisies

Hey there everyone ! So I've got another NOTD for you today ! Now seeing as it's finally feeling some what summery at the moment here, I decided I would do something appropriate for the lovely weather.

Daisies ! My first thought for a nail design that was really summer appropriate was a floral design, but I didn't really want to do anything to complicated and time consuming, so of course, I bust out the Models Own nail art pens ! I did a similar design on my Auntie's nails when I went over to England at the beginning of the month and I really loved how delicate the flowers came out.

So the base colour I used for this design is my new go-to pink, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, and then I drew on the little daisies with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in white and yellow.

I love how simple this design was to do, even with drying time it only took me about 15 minutes to do, which is great if you're pressed for time ! To be honest, it's so hot at the moment I don't really want to concentrate on doing anything for too long !

So yeah, that's all for today ! Hope you're enjoying the sunshine (if you've got any, that is) !

More leopard print

Hey guys ! So here goes today's post with another mani from the vault ! I did this design waaaay back in April and I absolutely loved how it turned out ! Simple yet sophisticated, in my opinion anyway !

I guess you have already worked out that I have a love for using accent nails on my index and middle finger, and this is actually the first design I did using that combination of accent nails.

I've seen the combination of red and leopard used together quite a lot recently, this post from The Daily Nail first, then again on this post by Kayla Shevonne for quick examples I can think of. I really love the two of these designs together, as I find that they make for a really awesome duo !

Personally I generally always love how animal print, especially leopard, turns out in nail art ! It's so hard to mess up on as it's really just random blobs of colour !

The colours I used for this design were OPI Big Apple Red for the two red accent nails, and for the leopard print I used Manhatten 95E (this polish was so cheap and it's sooo gloopy now, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh is my new go-to base colour for leopard print), OPi You Don't Know Jacques and then my beloved Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black for the detailing.

And there we are ! Another leopard print manicure, just for you ! Now I'm off to go make burgers for dinner, yum !

NOTD : Spots spots spots

I have to admit, I got bored very quickly with yesterday's nails, I liked them and all but they just weren't doing it for me, not bight enough maybe ? Perhaps it was the white flowers that were bugging me !

Okay so let's take a break from the usual fashion inspired designs for today's nail art : rug inspired nail art ! Who'd have thought that rugs would have such cool designs on them ?!

Now, at this current moment in time I am loving this design, it's so funky and easy to do yet it looks really effective ! But who knows, by tomorrow I may have gone off it completely, it's a hard life, having to constantly remove manicures.

So the colours I used for this design were OPI Steady as She Rose for the base, and then for the dots I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, Barry M Berry Ice Cream, OPI Strawberry Margarita, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream and OPI Funkey Dunkey.

So I found this rug design on the Ikea UK website, along with some other cute textile designs that I saved onto my computer for future reference. I hadn't thought about looking at home store website for nail inspiration until I went to Ikea last month to stock up on stuff I need for when I start university in October, but I'm so happy about discovering a new place for inspiration !

And once again, that's it for today ! Plus, I literally just realised that it's been a whole week since I first started posting ! Ahh so exciting ! Anyway, see you guys tomorrow !

NOTD : Fashion inspired florals

Okay guys, I'm sorry, I can't stay away from the floral designs ! And yes, yet again, I've spent too long on the internet searching for nail art inspiration  on clothes websites ! But I fell in LOVE with a top I saw online (sorry, can't remember which website), and I just had to use it for today's design. Plus, yesterday when I was slicing cucumber for a salad, I sliced my nail polish with the knife, and apparently it went through to my actual nail, because when I removed everything today I've been left with a huge gash on the surface of my nail. Man, that's going to be fun when it grows out ! I've used my trusty tissue/teabag method to make sure it doesn't break on me any time soon, but the time will come eventually.

Now I'm not gonna lie, I adore this design ! I actually prefer the more orangey flowers to the whiter ones, and I would absolutely re-do this design with just the orange flowers !

So the polishes I used for this design were P2 Who Cares for the base colour (seriously, I rediscovered this polish a couple of months back, and I'm sure it's a pretty good dupe for Essie Mint Candy Apple, considering it costs about a third of the price of Essie in the UK), then for the flowers I used OPI Alpine White, P2 Hug Me, OPI My Back Pocket, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, for the leaves I used OPI Skull and Glossbones and Collection 2000 Wham, and then I used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in black and white for detailing.

And here's the picture I saved of the top ! I can't believe I can't find it anymore ! I'll have to troll through my history to find it (I think it couldl well be Urban Outfitters again though) !

So, once again, that's it for today ! Be sure to come back tomorrow for another mani from the vault ! Happy Saturday !

Leopard dress inspired nails

I guess I've started a bit of a streak here with leopard print, but I swear this one's different to yesterday's design ! I did this design a couple of months back and it was inspired by a dress that I saw on Urban Outfitters (just checked, not available anymore) and saved on my iPad for future reference !

So without further ado, here's the nails !

I seem to remember being pretty irritated when doing this design : my ring finger nail had just snapped off and I had to cut down all my nails to make it look presentable. I think I re-did my nails 2 or 3 times until I finally settled on this one. I really liked this design though, and I kept it for a few days (anything kept for more than 48 hours has to be special) !

I seem to be really picky when looking through clothes websites for nail art inspiration for some reason. I end up looking for ages and not actually finding very much that I like and that I think would look good on my nails ! Oh well, perhaps I'm just fussy !

The colours I used for this design were OPI Steady As She Rose, OPI Strawberry Margarita, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, and of course, my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen for the black details !

Here's the picture that I saved of this design, it's a shame it's been taken down from the website !

So once again, that's it for today ! Do you often use clothes for inspiration for nail art ?

NOTD : Every nail blog needs some leopard print !

Okay guys, so I've decided it's about time to get some leopard print up on this blog ! Here I was this morning wondering for the life of me what I ought to do for today's nails ! My original thought was to do florals, but then I decided that I already had enough floral manis on here, and it was time for something new !

So I was trolling through some clothes websites the other day looking for nail inspiration, and I came across a top with this leopard colour scheme and I thought it went really well together, and wasn't necessarily colours I would have straight away put together for leopard print !

Personally, I LOVE leopard print ! I love how versatile it can be (especially as nail art) and it looks flattering on even the shortest on nails. I can't even believe that this wasn't the first thing I thought of when trying to decide on what sort of design to do !

The colours I used for this were 17 Baked Cherry, Barry M Cyan Blue, and then for all the outlining I used my trusty Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black (don't worry, I'm not going to preach about it again today, I think I've made my point on how awesome this thing is) ! I'm currently on the lookout for a similar red colour to the one I've used for this design, the colour is great and everything, but application isn't so much, and last time I wore this colour it chipped really quickly ! Any suggestions ?

So that's it again for today, hope you liked it (although come on, who doesn't like leopard print ?!) !
Ta ta for now !

NOTD : Seeing spots !

Okay, so yes, we're seeing spots, but only as accent nails ! I'm loving this craze at the moment which consists in using your index and middles fingers as accent nails, as opposed to the more "traditional" way of using your ring (and possibly your thumb) as accents !

This manicure is really similar to a previous design that I did a couple of weeks back (but haven't posted yet), but obviously I loved it so much I had to recreate it (different colours, for the obvious reason that I can never ever do he same design twice) !

The colours I used for this manicure were Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream (seriously in love with this polish, it goes on like butter), OPI Alpine White and then I used my new Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in blue for the spots ! I'm getting really into using these pens instead of dotting tools/paintbrushes for dots, outlining, precision work, etc.. as I find it gives me so much more control over what I'm doing ! Even when painting my right hand it still always comes out pretty well (I'll admit however that some practice is involved).

So that's it for today ! I may or may not do my nails again for a new NOTD for tomorrow, mood depending ! Have you used the Models Own nail art pens ? What did you think in comparison to other nail art tools ?

Big Brother is always watching

Right so today I'm going to be posting another old mani from my stock ! I really loved this design, as I think it looked really impressive, especially from a distance !

I found this look really easy to create, and my right hand actually didn't turn out too shabby either. I actually don't think I kept this design on my nails for that long, either because I really wanted to do a different design, if not I probably changed it because I got freaked out by the eyes !

Ok so the colours I used for this design were OPI Skull and Glossbones for the base, OPI Alpine White, P2 Jetset for the irises of the eyes, and then I used my Models Own black nail art pen for all the outlining. I finally got all the colours when I went over to England last month, they're seriously a godsend for nail art, I love them ! I've actually got 4 of the black ones because I just find them so useful for outlining and intricate designs !

So that's it for today ! Hope you like the design, have you ever done a design that you really like but it hurts your eyes looking at it ?

See you tomorrow guys !