NOTD : Coat Fabric

Hey there everyone ! So this is a just a quick break in between writing out Russian grammar tables and watching The Bourne Identity to write up a post for you all seeing as I haven't posted anything since Wednesday ! I've finished all my lectures for this year now so I'm in total revision period at the moment to prepare for my exams, yikes ! Anyway, I'm still managing to find a bit of time to do my nails (one of my many procrastination strategies), so here you go !

So I did these nails yesterday as a template for a design I've been asked to do to match an outfit that my Godmother is wearing to a wedding, inspired by her coat ! I went for a rough representation of the fabric, using the different colours that appear in it, and did a design which is similar to the method I used for my Gingham Nails. Unofrtunately I apparently don't own enough different blue nail varnishes, so the base colour I used is slightly brighter than the actual material, I still think it looks fine though !

For the base colour I used Models Own Blooboo, then for the different lines to create the effect of the material I used P2 Who Cares ?, OPI My Vampire is Buff, OPI Don't Pretzel my Buttons, and then I mixed OPI Berlin There Done That with OPI My Back Pocket for the darkest lines. I think it has turned out really well considering I was only aiming for a rough representation of the actual material and I'm really pleased !

So that's all for today everyone, I need to do and do some more revision before it's time to go to bed, hopefully I'll write something up soon for you all (no doubt I'll find some excuse to avoid revision) !

NOTD : Transparent Lines

Good evening everybody ! I've finally found some time to blog, as I only got back on Monday from my weekend away, and I didn't finish my nails until late last night after I'd finished doing all my work for uni (exams are coming up soon, eep) ! So today I just have a quick design to show you all, I just wanted something plain and simple (and quick) to do last night, and I ended up coming up with this ! (These photos are taking forever to upload for some reason so you'll only be getting 2 today, sorry !)

I didn't actually have any particular inspiration for this design or colour combination, I just picked out some random nail polishes which ended up going in a sort of purple and orange direction ! It's maybe a bit of an autumn-ish colour scheme but I'm happy with it !

So the colours I used were OPI Germanicure by OPI, P2 Electric, Essence Redvolution, OPI My Back Pocket, OPI Vant to Bite My Neck, Essie Splash of Grenadine, American Apparel T-Shirt and Barry M Gold Foil. Wow, that's a lot of different polishes !

Right well I'd best get off to bed, those photos took soooo much longer than I anticipated and I need an early night ! I hope you all liked today's design !

Yves Saint Laurent Floral Nails

Hey there everyone ! Really quick post tonight as it's really late already and I need to get some sleep before the morning ! Just to let you know that I won't be able to post anything from now until Monday evening as I'm going to visit some friends (recent change of plans) and I haven't got any scheduled posts for you all ! So I thought I'd just leave you with a little something to last until I'm able to do my nails and post again on Monday !

So I did this design about a couple of months ago, and it was inspired by a nail art design I found at Moveslightly.com which was inspired by fashion from the Yves Saint Laurent 2012 Resort collection. I really liked the way that the design looked, but I don't really think I've done it justice, I much prefer the original !

For this design the colours I used were OPI Skull and Glossbones, then for the flowers I used OPI Big Apple Red and Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, as well as my Models Own black nail art pen.

And that'll be it for tonight ! I'm going to go and get ready for bed as I'm SUPER tired now, been working all evening, poor little me ! Night night guys !

NOTD : Springtime Pastel Flowers

Hey there everyone ! I'm making the most of this rare free time (where I'm not actually procrastinating) by doing my nails as often as I can, so luckily for you, I've got yet another blog post ! Wow, two days in a row, it's been a while ! So some of you may have seen the new pastel nail art pens that Models Own released the other day, and as soon as I saw them I showed them to my mum who VERY kindly ordered them for me ! I received them yesterday, and naturally couldn't wait to use them !

So I wanted to do a design that incorporated all of the different colours of nail art pens that I received, and I'm really happy with what I came up with ! I think that the dark base really shows up the pastelness of of the nail art pens that I used, plus, there's nothing better for Spring than a good old combination of both a floral and pastel design !

For the base I used OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, then I used all of my new Models Own nail art pens in pink, purple, yellow, blue and green, plus my Models Own nail art pen in black to do the little dots on some of the flowers. I really love the way the different colours come together in this design, and I can't wait to use these pens in other designs !

So that's all for today really, the only real comment I have to make about the pens is that they dribbled quite a bit, but that's nothing too drastic and it's still perfectly manageable ! Maybe soon they'll bring out a red nail art pen to complete my collection !

I'm off to bed now everyone, see you all again soon !

Review : Born Pretty Store - Black Rhinestones

Good evening everyone ! Today I have a very special post for you all, my first ever review ! I was contacted by Born Pretty Store a couple of months ago, and it's taken me a while to get round to finding enough time to do it properly (wouldn't want to do it half-heartedly would I ?), but I finally got the time after I finished the mountains of work I was catching up on from after the Easter holidays ! So behold, my review !

So today I'll be showing you the 1.5mm black resin rhinestones which I used to create an easy studded nail art design that I really really love ! The rhinestones come in a pack of 10,000, so there's plenty to last you ! The bag that they come in is plastified and very sturdy, although once it's open you have to seal it back up with selotape or if not then transfer the contents into a closable container, as there is no reclosable seal on the packet.

For this design, I just layered the rhinestones over two coats of Essie Mint Candy Apple, I wanted to do something simple to show them properly. I really love the size of them, they're not so big that they take up too much space on the nail, and it's nice that they look so small and dainty !

I think I'm going to get quite a lot of use out of these rhinestones, and I can't imagine I'll be running out of them any time soon thanks to the sheer amount that come in the packet ! The only real downside I can think of for these rhinestones is the fact that you can't re-seal the packet, although this is far from insurmountable, so not a real problem with the product !

If you are interested in purchasing these 1.5mm black resin rhinestones, then head on over to Born Pretty Store, they do loads of nail and beauty accessories for really good prices as well as free shipping worldwide. And as if that wasn't enough, if you use the coupon code MQL91, you can get an extra 10% off your order ! Happy days !

Swatch : Models Own - Pinky Brown

Good evening everyone ! I'm doing some manic writing up at the moment as I'm starting to prepare for my first exam next month and I've got a book on short loan which has to be back Monday morning, so I've not got very long to get as much information as possible from it ! Luckily I did this swatch earlier this week, so the photos are all ready and all I have to do it write the post for it !

So this is Models Own Pinky Brown from their 2011Beetlejuice collection. I was expecting the finish to be quite similar to Accessorize Pink Spice which I swatched for you the other day, but it was actually quite different ! Pinky Brown has a glass fleck finish of pink and orangey duochrome, accompanied by a sheer dark brownish/black base.

For this swatch I used 3 coats and a layer of Seche Vite on top. The formula was fine for me so no compaints there ! I was disappointed that the duochrominess of it wasn't as strong as I had anticipated, I found it quite hard to get a photo of the transition and it was really very obvious in person either ! Still, lovely colour though !

If you look hard enough you can see a bit of browny-oranginess towards the base of my nails, but nothing too obvious ! I still this that this nail varnish is really nice, although it is a shame that the duochrome effect isn't totally visible !

I'm going to go and get some more work done before I go to bed, I hope you enjoyed the swatch !

NOTD : Warhol Bananas

Hey everyone ! Sorry I've been away from posting for so long, after I got back from France last weekend, I've been on non-stop catching up with uni work and essays and reading (let's just ignore the procrastination part), so I haven't really had any time at all for nails ! I managed to do a quick swatch on Monday, but obviously didn't get any time to post that so that should be up on here soon ! Anyway, on to today's nails !

So I've been seeing the Andy Warhol Velvet Underground Banana print used in nail art for a few weeks now, and I decided to jump on the band wagon, mainly because I love how bright and summery it looks, and also how effective it is ! We've been starting to get slightly better weather here in England recently this week, so I may as well make the most of what we're getting and brighten it up a bit more while it lasts !

For today's design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI Suzi's Hungary Again ! for the base, then for the actual bananas I used P2 Hug Me, a tiny little bit of OPI You Don't Know Jacques to add a bit of dimension, and then I finished off with a tiny bit of outlining with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black.

I am seriously in love with these nails at the moment, and I'll probably be including them as accents in future nail art I do, they're just such a great addition to brighten up an already summery colour ! What do you all think ? Are you getting in to using bright colours to get in the mood for Spring/Summer ?

I'm off to bed now as it's super late and I got barely any sleep last night ! Hopefully I'll be able to post again tomorrow for you all, either with a swatch or some more nail art from the vault !

NOTD : Water Marble Floral

Good evening everyone ! So I've actually FINALLY done my nails since being back in France for the holidays ! I ended up not having much time at all so far, and so I didn't manage to do any special Easter nails (plus the fact that I didn't really bring the colours I wanted/needed for the design I had in mind), but I've got a great new design for you all today !

So today I decided to bite the bullet and attempt doing a water marble... I had tried doing water spotted again, but failed to find the right spray to do it. I've tried water marbling before and it didn't really turn out that great, but I'm seriously happy about how it turned out today, and I think I'll be doing a full water marble manicure soon !

For this design I started off with two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then for the flowers and the water marble colours, I used Essie Splash of Grenadine, Essie Lapiz of Luxury and Essie Mint Candy Apple. I can't wait to try doing water marbling with brighter colours and loads of different combinations !

And that's it for today everyone, I'm going to go and watch Skyfall (probably not all of it, but a bit at least), and play some Mahjong on my phone, happy days !

Stay tuned for another possible water marble later this week, I'm so excited I can finally do it !