NOTD : Half Hearts

Hola everyone ! It's been quite a while since I posted anything, but it's my last week here in France before I go back to uni, and so I've been busy sorting stuff out, making the most of being out here, etc ! I did do my nails the other day, but I wasn't overly happy with the way they turned out, so I might post those at a later date, who knows !

So I got the idea for these nails from a design that Whitney from Dressed Up Nails has done a couple of times, here and here, a really pretty design with all different types of hearts, super pretty ! I especially liked the half coloured hearts, so I decided to just paint those on all my nails, alternating the pattern on each nail.

For this heart design, I used OPI My Very First Knockwurst for the base, and then painted on the rest of the design using OPI Casino Royale. I reaaaaaaally love this colour combination, and I love the actual nail art design, which is always a good thing, I think I'll definitely be doing a similar design again soon !

So over all I'm super pleased with this design, a very good thing seeing as I won't have time to do my nails until Saturday at the earliest, due to me travelling back to the UK ! I'll make sure I get something posted for you all ASAP though once I get back ! I'll be very happy to get back to all of my nail varnishes, as I've had a bit of a nail art block recently and I think it could be because I haven't had all my nail varnishes with me, I keep thinking up designs but I always seem to need polishes that I don't have with me, frustrating !

And that's all for today everyone ! I hope you all like today's design, and don't forget to go and check out Dressed Up Nails on Blogspot, Tumblr, and on Facebook ! Whitney's designs are all seriously amazing, and always bright and fun !

See you all soon everyone ! Have a nice evening !

El Salonsito Spray Paint

Heya everyone ! So once again I've had a super jam-packed day, and I've been busy writing all the posts for next week ! It's amazing how time-consuming writing posts is, but I'm not complaining, don't worry ! I've had loads of fun sorting out this new series, and I hope you're going to enjoy it (I won't reveal the theme for it until tomorrow) ! And due to all this busy-ness, I haven't had time to do my nails today, I will however give you the outcome of my Essence peel-off base coat tomorrow, so you can all see how it worked out for me ! Anyway, on to the nails !

So these nails (as you may have seen in the title) are inspired by El Salonsito ! I did these nails a while ago, back near around the hommage month in May, but didn't decide to include this design in my "As Seen On.." series seeing as I haven't been reading El Salonsito as long as I have the others. This is however one of my favourite designs I've done on my nails, and I'm pretty sure it was the first time I tried out the index and middle fingers as accent nails !

So for this design I used OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ? for the base, then I used Accessorize Gold Dust, OPI Alpine Snow, Barry M Black and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black to do the spray paints on the accents nails. I really need to try doing this design again, with different colours, maybe big bright colours, because I seriously love this look !

And that's it for today guys ! I've got two more posts to write for next week and then I'll be done ! And tomorrow's post will be the nails I'll be going to England with, so make sure you stay tuned for that !

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone ! And please excuse the late post !

As Seen On : Very Emily

So at this current moment I am on holiday in Cologne (and will be for the next few days), so I've got a whole 6 days of scheduled posts for you, as part of an "As Seen On..." series. So from Monday to Saturday, I'll be featuring some of the very first nail blogs I started reading, bloggers who inspired me to start my very own nail art blog, and re-creating one of their manicures for each day of this series !

Hey there guys ! I can't believe it's the last day of this "As Seen On.." series, and I do really really hope you've enjoyed all these scheduled posts ! It was so hectic to do all the nails and write all the posts, but I've had so much fun doing it ! Today I'll be featuring Emily's blog Very Emily, a blog I've been reading almost since the beginning of when I first got in to nail art ! I really wanted to do one of her manicures using square studs, but I hadn't received my Born Pretty Store order until after I'd already done this design, but nonetheless, I still love this one !

So this nail art design is inspired by this teal and gold nail art over on Emily's blog, I didn't have any actual gold rhinestones, so I substituted them for yellow-y ones, which I think from a distance (and maybe with your eyes crossed) gives pretty much the same look ! I didn't do Emily's technique of leopard print, as I wanted to do my own spin on the design (plus the fact I've never done leopard print with a nail art brush) !

For this nail art design I used Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, Accessorize Gold Dust and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black for the leopard details. I think Barry M Cyan Blue may have been a better match for A England Galahad which is what Emily used, but the colour I did use looks pretty similar ! I wish I had all the different rhinestones and everything that Emily uses for her designs, the amount of different sizes, shapes and colours that Emily owns in the way of rhinestones really is unbelievable !

And can you believe that that's it ? But as I said yesterday, I've got another series with a different theme lined up for the week beginning the 17th September for when I go to England, so not long to wait ! Enjoy your day !

As Seen On : Mr Candiipants

So at this current moment I am on holiday in Cologne (and will be for the next few days), so I've got a whole 6 days of scheduled posts for you, as part of an "As Seen On..." series. So from Monday to Saturday, I'll be featuring some of the very first nail blogs I started reading, bloggers who inspired me to start my very own nail art blog, and re-creating one of their manicures for each day of this series !

Hey there everyone ! So here we go for day five of my scheduled posts, and today I'm featuring someone very special ! Now the surprise has already probably been spoiled by the title, but just in case you didn't read it, today's post is dedicated to Candice from Mr Candiipants ! Candice is super famous in the tumblr world, but she also has a blogspot where she writes loaaaaads more which is great ! So, on to the nails...

Candice has potsed two different koi fish manicures on her tumblr, one from just after she'd started blogging, and again a few months later. She also did a tutorial for the design which is what I used for creating these nails ! I didn't have any of the same polishes as what Candice used for her original designs, so I improvised with colours I already owned to create the same effect.

For the design the polishes I used were P2 Who Cares ? for the base, for the bubbles I used Barry M Silver Foil and then for the fish I used OPI Alpine Snow, OPI My Back Pocket and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. Needless to say, Candice's koi fish look waaaaaay better than mine, but I was quite pleased with how they turned out ! I really need to practise more with my nail art brush so I can get better at details !

So that's it for today ! I can't believe there's only one day left in this series ! But not to worry, I've got another series lined up for you in just over a week ! Hope you enjoyed today's post, and I hope you have a great day !

As Seen On : Nails by Kayla Shevonne

So at this current moment I am on holiday in Cologne (and will be for the next few days), so I've got a whole 6 days of scheduled posts for you, as part of an "As Seen On..." series. So from Monday to Saturday, I'll be featuring some of the very first nail blogs I started reading, bloggers who inspired me to start my very own nail art blog, and re-creating one of their manicures for each day of this series !

Hey there ! So today is the fourth installment in my "As Seen On.." series, and I really hope you're enjoying it ! As you've probably seen in the title, the nails I'll be recreating today are by the wonderful Kayla from Nails by Kayla Shevonne ! I've been reading her blog for several months now, and her blog is so awesome, especially for people who are just getting in to nail art, as Kayla has done a wonderful Manicuring 101 series on how to care for your nails, as well as giving great advice on how to maintain healthy nails !

So for these nails I was inspired by Kayla's Pirate Triangles nail art, and I was so happy becacuse I actually own the colours that she used (the Pirates of the Caribbean collection is the only whole one I own) ! I did contemplate using OPI Skull and Glossbones for the base colour like Kayla suggested she did in her original post, but I decided to stick to a white base because I loved how hers looked !

The polishes I used for this design are OPI Alpine Snow for the base, then OPI Planks A Lot, OPI Mermaid's Tears and OPI Sparrow Me the Drama. I really wish my triangles would have shown up more opaque, but I suppose I'm not patient enough to wait for everything to dry and to do a second coat over each colour ! But oh well !

So that's it for today's post, and like I said before, I really hope you're enjoying this series ! I've had so much fun making it, and plus there's still two days left ! Enjoy your day !

As Seen On : Chalkboard Nails

So at this current moment I am on holiday in Cologne (and will be for the next few days), so I've got a whole 6 days of scheduled posts for you, as part of an "As Seen On..." series. So from Monday to Saturday, I'll be featuring some of the very first nail blogs I started reading, bloggers who inspired me to start my very own nail art blog, and re-creating one of their manicures for each day of this series !

And yes, you've guessed right ! Today the blog I will be featuring and re-creating on my nails is Chalkboard Nails. Now anyone who's anyone should know who Sarah at Chalkboard Nails is, as over the past year or so she has become pretty much the most famous nails on the internet ! Her poses are unmistakable and characteristic to her blog, and the swatches and nail art she does is always flawless !

So I based these nails on Sarah's recent nail art swatches of the China Glaze On Safari collection, where she chose to use several polishes from the collection to create a "blinged out" glitter leopard print pattern. I don't actually own any of the On Safari collection, so I improvised for this design with polishes I do own and aimed for the same effect !

For this design I didn't use any China Glaze polishes, however I did use Accessorize Gold Dust, Barry M Mushroom and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. I did contemplate mixing the Barry M colour with some orange to make a colour that was more similar to the one used in the original design, but then decided against it because the colour I mixed up looked like vomit !

Sarah did a tutorial for how she does leopard print ! Do have a look, she's amazing at it ! I prefer to use my nail art pens for leopard print, but I'll have to try using a dotting tool to see how it looks when I try it (stick to what you know and all that) !

And there it is ! Once again, another day, another post ! I hope you enjoyed this design, and don't forget to go and check out all of Sarah's tutorials, nail art and swatches ! They'll make you drool !

As Seen On : The Daily Nail

So at this current moment I am on holiday in Cologne (and will be for the next few days), so I've got a whole 6 days of scheduled posts for you, as part of an "As Seen On..." series. So from Monday to Saturday, I'll be featuring some of the very first nail blogs I started reading, bloggers who inspired me to start my very own nail art blog, and re-creating one of their manicures for each day of this series !

As you've probably seen in the title of this post, today I will be making an hommage to The Daily Nail, a blog run by Melissa for the past (almost) 3 years. Now, anyone who happens to stumble upon Melissa's blog has to have some sort of respect for her, I mean come on, she did her nails (without fault, may I add) every day for a whole 365 days ! I discovered her blog about half way through her year of nail art, and from then on visited her blog every day to see what new design she'd come up with ! That girl has soooooo much imagination when it comes to nail art it's unbelievable ! So without further ado, here are the nails I re-created from Melissa's year of nail art !

So the nail art I re-created for this second post in this series is the "What's the Mod-der ?" design that Melissa did after her nail-art-year had ended. I loved this design as soon as I saw it, and actually did it relatively soon after she posted it (I'll show you that picture at the end !), but I felt I really ought to re-do it, as it really is a great design, and looks so effective !

The polishes I used for this design (all of which are different to Melissa's original post) were OPI Alpine Snow, Barry M Black (I seriously need a new black, hopefully a China Glaze or OPI one), Barry M Bright Purple, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, OPI My Back Pocket and Kiko Acid Green.

This design is so good for beginners at nail art (as it was for me when I first did it) because the only tool you need is a dotting tool ! Melissa actually posted a tutorial for this design, which I was very grateful for when I first tried this one out ! Who'd have thought that putting 4 dots together could make a flower ? A-mazing !

So here is my first attempt at these nails which I did about 18 months ago (note the lack of photography skills and clean-up), these were one of my better designs ! I personally think I've come a long way !

So there we have it, the second installment in my As Seen On... series ! Tune in tomorrow for another one of my famous blogger manicure re-creations ! Here's a hint : she's a real celebrity in the nail world !

As Seen On : Rebecca Likes Nails

So at this current moment I am on holiday in Cologne (and will be for the next few days), so I've got a whole 6 days of scheduled posts for you, as part of an "As Seen On..." series. So from Monday to Saturday, I'll be featuring some of the very first nail blogs I started reading, bloggers who inspired me to start my very own nail art blog, and re-creating one of their manicures for each day of this series !

Hey there everybody ! So here we go for the first day of my "As Seen On..." series, and I'm kicking it off with the lady who inspired me to set up these scheduled posts : Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails ! Rebecca's blog was one of the first ones that I discovered when I first started searching for nail art on the internet, and I have now been a loyal reader and follower for over a year now. She does an "As Seen On..." series every time she goes on holiday, and I figured it'd be a great way to keep in contact with my followers whilst I'm on holiday ! So, on to what you all came here for : the nails !

The first design I chose to feature this week is Rebecca's pastel watercolour leopard nails. I loved this design as soon as she posted it, and I can't believe I never got round to re-creating it before now ! I used her watercolour tutorial with similar colours to the original ones she used to create the base, and then just stamped over the top once the base design was dry.

So the polishes I used were unfortunately all different to Rebecca's original design, but I think the end look turned out pretty similar ! I used OPI Alpine Snow for the white base, then for the watercolour base I used OPI Strawberry Margarita, Barry M Yellow, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream and Barry M Bright Purple. I then used the leopard stamp from my Konad M57 plate to stamp on top of the watercolour base using Konad Special Black.

I seriously loved this design during the small amount of time it was actually on my nails, that being said, I really couldn't resist not trying out some of my nail mail that arrived from the Born Pretty Store when I had this design on !

And that's it for today's post guys ! I hope you enjoyed today's kick-off for this week's series ! Also, don't hesitate to go and check out Rebecca's blog if you haven't already done so ! Her work is amazing, and good news : she's starting to post more nail art on a regular basis ! This makes me happy !

Enjoy the rest of your day !