Tutorial : Polka Dot Drips

Hey guys ! So today I've got a tutorial for you all (the first of plenty over the next few days) and it's for the Polka Dot Drips design I posted last week ! Here's a quick photo as a reminder, just in case you missed it !

And here's what you have to do to get this look :

1. Start with a base of your choice of white (or off-white) nail polish. I used American Apparel T-Shirt.
2. Use a dotting tool (or a bobby pin, or a pin, or a toothpick) to make a polka dot pattern in your choice of colour. I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama.
3. Using a nail art brush, start drawing a line that swoops down towards the base of your nail. I use black acrylic paint for this, but you can use black nail polish if you prefer (I prefer the ease of application with a nail brush with acrylic rather than polish).
4. Carry on painting the line with another swoop towards the base of the nail and join to the other side of your nail.
5. Fill it in !
6. Add a couple of dashes using white nail polish to give your drips a cartoon effect. I used American Apparel T-Shirt.
7. Top coat it, and you're all done !

So that's all there is to it ! Send me photos of your designs or send me a link if you use this tutorial so I can have a look and see what you come up with ! It's a really forgiving design in that it's quite easy to just add a bit more black around the edges to even things up, and also, top coat does wonders to any design, honestly !

Tomorrow I should have some swatches for you on here, so stay tuned for that ! See you then !

NOTD : Giant Polka Dots

Good evening everyone ! Juuuuuust managing to squeeze in a post before I go up to bed after a super-busy day ! I helped my mum clip and beautify 4 of our dogs (we have four wire haired fox terriers and a jack russel), then did my nails, then had dinner, than re-organised my whole stash and moved it all in to my helmer, then watched What Remains (sooooo good, did any of you follow it ?) and now I'm finally here to write my post but it's almost midnight so I'd better get a move on !!!

So I've been wanting to do a giant polka dots design on my nails for ages but I suppose it always just slipped my mind when it came to thinking up new ideas ! But I've managed to finally do it now so all is good ! I didn't just want to do it over a simple plain colour so I did funky rough stripes underneath to add a bit of extra colour !

I started with a base of OPI Planks A Lot, then did the stripes using American Apparel Office, P2 Hug Me and OPI Sparrow Me the Drama. I then did the mega dots using American Apparel Hassid which took rather longer than I expected, probably because I had to do it with a nail art brush instead of a dotting tool, but hey ho !

And hey would you look at that - it's past midnight ! In any case I'd better go and get ready for bed seeing as I've got a busy day tomorrow packing all my stuff up to take back to uni ! I've also got a load of posts to write up for you (the first of which won't be posted until Tuesday, so no nails until then), so don't miss those !

See you all then ! Byeeeeeee !

NOTD : Polka Drips

Evening everyone ! This post has got to be really quick as I need to go and start cutting out some fabric before I go to bed ! I've been procrastinating all day and I've only done half the amount of stuff I should have for preparing the posts for while I'm away... there's still so much to do ! There was just so much else going on - my mum was busy making my birthday cake (which I'm getting a day early tomorrow, lucky me !), it's a chocolate chiffon cake with salted caramel buttercream and a chocolate ganache topping, and all the components taste soooooo good (if the raw mix is anything to go by, which is usually is) ! Anyway, I'm babbling, time for the nails !

These nails are inspired by a design I saw on Tumblr by Pinkie Grey, I just love the cartoon effect of the drips on each nail, and the contrast between the stark black and the pastel polka dots in the bachground - LOVE ! These techinically aren't a NOTD as I did them on Sunday (I think), but I'm still wearing the same design from when I did them on my right hand, so they still sort of are a NOTD ! Right ?!

I started with a base of American Apparel T-Shirt on all my nails, and then, from thumb to little finger, I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, P2 Hug Me, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Essie Lapiz of Luxury and OPI Planks A Lot for the dots. For the drips I of course used black acrylic paint, then just a dash of T-Shirt on each blob. This whole design was really easy to do, and even doing it with my non-dominant hand was fine, as sometimes I do struggle !

So that's it for today ! I'm going to go and sort out my fabric now, going to do some pressing me thinks ! Fun fun fun ! Wish me luck, I've still got loads and loads and LOADS of stuff to do before I leave for the UK on Tuesday ! Agggghhhhh !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : D for Dogs

Good evening everyone ! I've been busy doing my nails three times (!!!) this afternoon, as I'm not going to have time to do my nails tomorrow or on Saturday as my days are fully booked, so I'll only have time to write the posts ! I'm really happy with what I've come up with for these next couple of days, but you'll have to wait for them all ! It's a shame I can't do my nails every day like I had planned, but then again, I can't just spend every day doing nails ! There's money to be earned and errands to be done, nails come in second unfortunately ! Anyway, onto today's masterpiece !

So as it's day four of the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge, it's "D for Dogs" ! Now I came to a complete stand-still when I had to think up something to do for this dogs theme, I've always avoided doing any sort of dog pattern as I find that they're really hard to draw, even as a caricature ! I was thinking of doing bones and paw prints and stuff like that, but then I remembered my David and Goliath "You so pugly" pyjamas and decided that I needed to do a pug instead !

For the pug nail, I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff, I drew the outlines and shapes with black acrylic paint, and then did the coloured details using OPI You Don't Know Jacques, OPI Strawberry Margerita, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama and American Apparel T-Shirt. For the polka-dot nails I used OPI My Very First Knockwurst, OPI Strawberry Margerita and OPI Sparrow Me the Drama. You may have noticed that the idea for the polka-dot nails came from the pug's bow tie, as I couldn't face drawing more than one pug !

So what do you all think of my little pug ? I was very sad to have to see him go, as I think he turned out really great, albeit a bit "pugly" ! I think his eyes going in different directions really sets off the look ! This is one of the things I'm really enjoying about doing this nail art challenge : having to step out of what would be my "nail art comfort zone" and trying new things and designs I wouldn't have done otherwise ! Definitely something I'll be doing again in the very near future !

And that'll be all tonight everyone, I won't be scheduling a post so I'll write it up tomorrow, it'll be a late afternoon/early evening post, so don't miss it ! See you all then !

NOTD : Spots and Stripes

Helloooooo everyone ! So I've got a really quick post today to wish a Happy 4th of July to all the Americans out there ! I've had to improvise with the few nail varnishes I've bought whilst I've been here in Berlin, and I've managed to (sort of) paint the US flag ! I've gone for a bit of a distressed look, but even then the colours aren't as distressed as I'd have liked them to have been !

I used Essence What's my Name ? and P2 Up in the Air for the base colours, and then I painted the stripes and the spots using my Models Own white nail art pen (I never go anywhere without my nail art pens !). Also, apologies for the not-so-great lighting, I had to improvise seeing as I don't have a lightbox here, but I still think it looks okay, what do you reckon ?

That's all for today you guys, I've got a proper normal post coming up this weekend, so stay tuned for that !

Purple Dots

Good afternoon everyone ! So today I have the last of my scheduled posts for you before I go back to the UK, hopefully I'll have something to post for you all on Wednesday but I obviously can't promise anything as I have exams starting next week so I obviously need to revise... oh priorities !

So this is a really simple design I did the other night, I wasn't feeling very inspired but I knew that I needed something to post for you all, so I just grabbed a nail polish that I hadn't used before and decided to pair it with one of my new Models Own pastel nail art pens !

The polishes I used for this design were an unamed Color Club polish (it's really sad that I can't find out the names, does anyone know what this one could be ?), and then I used my Models Own pastel nail art pen in purple. It was a really simple design to do, and I only used a tiny dotting tool to put an extra blob of the Color Club on top of all the nail art pen dots, I really like how it looks ! I'll probably be trying more of these combinations in the future !

Right so that'll be all for today folks, like I said earlier, I'll try to get something sorted for Wednesday, I'll probably be dying for a design by then as I'll still have my mani on from last week, oh the horror !

Inspired By : Kenzo Resort 2013

Good evening everyone ! I am SO tired for some reason, probably because it's almost time for me to go to bed (and I probably will do just that once I've finished this post), but seeing as it got too late for me to post anything last night, I thought I'd better not leave you without a post for yet another evening !

So I was just looking through the internet for nail inspiration the other day, when I came across this design by Kenzo for the Resort 2013 season. I knew it would translate well into a nail design, so off I went to start with the painting ! Unfortunately I didn't wear this design for very long as I dented my thumb pretty soon after taking the photos, so I went on to do something else !

For this design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI My Vampire is Buff for the base, and then I used Catrice Salmon and Garfunkel for the spots which I then outlined with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. I really liked the way this looked, and it's a shame that I had to take it off so quickly, but there's an endless amount of colour combinations you can do with this design !

And that'll be all for today everybody ! I'm going to go to bed whilst watching some Harry Potter, always a great way to get to sleep ! See you all again soon everyone !

Golden Dots

Hey there everyone ! I've got a lot of work I've got to get going on, so here's a quick post for this evening, just so I don't leave you another day without any posts ! I'm still wearing my floral design, and I'm still just as in love with it, so I'll have to figure what I'm going to do about doing my nails, as I still can't bare to think about what will happen to my baby floral ! Any suggestions ?

So for this design I was just trying out a new Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen that I got for Christmas in my stocking, plus I wasn't feeling very inspired to do any fancy nail art when I did these (I think I was really really tired or something), probably at the point where my nails were bare, but I couldn't not paint them !

For this design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI My Vampire is Buff and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in gold for the little dots. I really like how opaque the gold pen is, and that it really shows up well, it'll definitely come in useful for plenty of nail art in the future I think (especially Christmas) !

And that's all for tonight folks ! I'm better get going as I seem to have caught a cold from when I sister was over here visiting (not at all happy about this) so I'd better go and olbas myself up so I can actually breathe during the night ! See you all soon !

NOTD : Naked Dots

Hello again everybody ! So it got a bit too late to post my nails that I did last night after I finally finished painting them (got waaaay too sidetracked during the day to do them, whoops), so instead I'm posting them for you all this evening ! It's an idea I've had in my head for quite a while, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out !

I've been really enjoying seeing other people's nails leaving bare nail underneath designs, so I thought I'd give it a go, seeing as my nails were looking all pristine last night since I cut them down quite short the other day ! I don't think you can actually see very much bare nail, unless you look really close up, but I think the general effect of the colours is really Spring-appropriate !

For this design, I started off with a thin coat of Champneys Nude, just to tone my natural nail a little bit, then using different sized dotting tools, I put on random dots using OPI Suzi's Hungary Again!, OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, OPI My Very First Knockwurst and Essie Mint Candy Apple. I really love how all the colours come together on this design, and how it just looks like a pastel blur from a distance !

Even though you can't actually see the nail very well under the dots, I really like the fact that my nail isn't completely covered, and that you can still see a tiny bit of nail line ! What do you think ? Do you prefer to have you nails completely covered or would you try leaving some nail visible for a design ?

I'm going to watch a bit of TV before I go to bed now, so I'll try and blog tomorrow (got a busy day, hopefully I'll be able to post something), if not Sunday ! Have a great Friday everyone !

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 !

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 !

Cushion Dots

Hey there guys ! So this is a scheduled post, like I told you all yesterday, because I'm up in Oxford visiting friends for the weekend (and obtaining even more polish, but shh, you can't never have enough polish) ! So I did this design earlier in the week, hoping for a NOTD, but then ended up deciding that I wasn't completely happy with it and therefore didn't really want to keep it on, so I did another design instead, but nonetheless, I will share my personal "fail art" with you all !

I have to admit, the design doesn't look that bad, but it wasn't at all what I'd imagined, partly because of the colours I ended up choosing for the design. The design was actually inspired by part of the fabric on a cushion I bought for my room here at uni, and one that I've been admiring for a while. It's a very light beige with slightly darker spots on, then with alternating coloured spots on top. Unfortunately the two beiges I chose weren't different enough, and ended up just moulding together into an undistinguishable blur !

So for this design I used OPI Don't Pretzel my Buttons for the base, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh for the darker beige dots (that you probably can't even see !), then I used OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me, Barry M Bright Purple and Barry M Cyan Blue for the coloured dots. See what I mean about the two beige colours being too similar ? You just can't see the design without having to look really reaaaaally close up !

And that's it for today everyone ! I hope you like it, even though I didn't really ! I think it would have been better with just the coloured dots and one single beige polish, but I was really annoyed that this didn't turn out the way I wanted it to !

Have a great day everyone ! Tune in tomorrow for a really awesome swatch !

NOTD : Spotty Gradient

Hellooooo everybody ! So just a quick post from me this evening as it's already quite late, and I've got loads to do still ! I'm going away up to Oxfordshire this weekend to visit some family friends (super excited !) and so I've organised some scheduled posts for you all ! But I've still got plenty of packing to do before I go to bed tonight, there's not enough time in the day !

So I was originally going to just to a plain and simple gradient for my manicure today, but of course it had to be something I would be happy to keep on my nails until Sunday as I'm not planning on doing my nails again until then ! I contemplated doing a floral design, then it was going to be a gradient, but I just didn't feel happy with something as boring as just a plain gradient. In the end I remembered a tutorial for a "dot gradient" that Sarah from Chalkboard Nails posted the other day, and I knew exactly what colours I wanted to use !

The polishes I used for this design were OPI Schnapps Out of It for the base, a really lovely terracotta colour that just looks amazing on, like all of the polishes from the Germany collection as a matter of fact, as I've said ever since I got them ! The spots were done with OPI Don't Pretzel my Buttons and then OPI German-icure by OPI.

All in all I'm really happy to have this design on my nails for the next couple of days, a relatively long time in my book, considering I usually change my nails every day, at the moment anyway ! Another reason for me to look forward to this weekend is because I'm going to be acquiring some Dior nail polish, exciting stuff ! I'm sure I'll be showing them to all of you at some point next week, so you've all got that to look forward to ! Happy times !

So I'm going to wish you all a great weekend, and I'll see you all on Sunday ! Stay tuned for the scheduled posts tomorrow and Saturday, I have a super amazing swatch and a nail art design for you !

NOTD : Germany Ruffles

Hey there guys ! So believe it or not, I'm actually posting before 9 o'clock this evening ! Major miracle ! And I've got a pretty awesome nail design today for you all as well ! I've been wanting to do loads of different manicures using the polishes from the OPI Germany collection for this Autumn, as they're all such amazing colours ! So here it is, my Germany collection exclusively shimmer manicure !

I've been wanting to do a "ruffle manicure" for a while now, and used this tutorial post by Sarah at Chalkboard Nails to do the design. I wonder whether I should have used a larger dotting tool to do the dots so as to make them more pronounced, because the size I used means you have to look really close up to see that they're all little dots, and from an arm's length they look like straight lines !

So as I said before, for this design I used all the shimmer polishes from the OPI Germany collection, those being Deutsche You Want Me Baby, Danke Shiny Red, Unfor-greta-bly Blue, Suzi and the 7 Düsseldorfs, Every Month is Oktoberfest and Germanicure by OPI. I seriously love ALL these polishes so so sooooo so much, they're all such pretty colours ! I almost didn't want to do a design once I put the base colour of Deutsche You Want Me Baby on, it was almost too gorgeous !

And again, that's all for today everyone ! I hope you all like it ! I think it's really so appropriate for Autumn now that the weather is officially getting even colder than it was during the Summer ! God knows what Winter will be like at this rate !

See you all tomorrow guys ! Have a great day !

NOTD : Dolly Mixture

Hey everybody ! So I've got a quick post for you all today because I've got soooooo much stuff to do this evening, and it's already getting pretty late ! I've been really quite busy all day but found the time (of course) to do my nails ! My Mum came up with the idea for today's nails (yes, again), she's got so many amazing ideas that always end up looking really good when translated into nail art ! Such an inspiration !

So yes, in case you haven't read the title of this post, they're dolly mixture ! You know the sweet ? Basically what I consider to be any sane person's alternative to liquorice, sort of like the nice bits in the Bassett's Allsorts, in which case not very much ! I know that they're British sweets, so not sure whether they're available in the US, so here's a link to a picture so everyone can know what I'm talking about ! Hallelujiah !

Okay for this design, the polishes I used were American Apparel T-Shirt, OPI Planks A Lot, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, an un-named pink Color Club polish, Collection 2000 Fruit Loop and OPI Berlin There Done That. I do have a green-themed dolly mixture nail on my right hand which you obviously can't see in this photo, for which I used Collection 2000 Mint Mojo.

I decided to stick to the plain coloured-and-white dolly mixture sweets for these nails, and skipped doing the sugar coated jellies. This is because I wasn't sure how I would go about getting the "sugared" look, but I suppose I'll have to brainstorm and keep that idea for another day when I have more time !

So I hope you all liked these nails, and I'll see you all back here around the same time tomorrow (earlier hopefully, but I won't promise anything) for some more nails ! I already have something planned for you guys ! Have a great evening everyone !

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway, only 2 days left !

NOTD : Cupcakes !

Hey everybody ! So I had to take off my floral nails from a couple of days ago this evening because one of my nails has broken so I've had to cut my nails down short to limit breakages ! I don't mind having short nails, in fact I actually really quite like them, I can just never be bothered to sit down each day and file them, and they grow long and then I get annoyed because I can't write anymore, so I cut them all down, and then they grow back... it's a vicious circle really.

So here are my short new nails ! My Mum gave me the idea to do cupcakes when I asked her this morning because I was lacking inspiration ! She always has the best ideas ! I didn't want to do a full set of cupcake nails, so I settled for two accent cupcakes, cute right ? I was hoping the stripes on all the other nails would stand out more than they do, maybe I should have just done pink and brown stripes instead...

For this design the colours I used were OPI My Very First Knockwurst, an un-named pink Color Club polish, OPI Berlin There Done That and then OPI You Don't Know Jacques for the darker brown dots on each cupcake. I'm really happy with how these nails turned out, and I really like only having a couple of cupcakes on each hand ! Plus the little red rhinestones I used for cherries look so sweet, I love it !

And that's it once again for today everyone ! I hope you like these little cupcakes, I actually think they look slightly realistic in that the colour are actually plausible cupcake colours ! What do you think ?

Have a great evening guys !

NOTD : Bath Freshers

Alright ! Hey there everybody, I'm back to normal posting after my week settling in to my new life at university in the UK ! So as you all probably know, Freshers' Week is a uni tradition, and this whole week there's a huge line-up of events and parties (all themed, yay !) for all this year's freshers to go out and have a great time ! Tonight is launch night, and the idea is to represent your halls of residences' colours, so of course, as well as the free T-shirt I as given, I had to coordinate my nails and show my support through the best method I know !

So the colour I am representing for my halls is yellow (groan)... honestly, I really dislike yellow, particularly on my nails (even though I have several different yellow polishes that would suggest otherwise), but nonetheless I have stuck through it and put yellow on for tonight ! I of course couldn't just stick to one single colour, so I did some quick dots on top, hoping they would be slightly bolder than they actually turned out, but never mind !

For this super-quick design, I used P2 Summer to Go and then did the polka dots on top with my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in yellow. The colours looked far more different in the bottle/tube, but I actually quite like the subtle look, it reminds me of Easter eggs for some reason ! I hope these nails look good with my T-shirt, even though the colour on my T-shirt is a lot more pastel-y, a kind of yellow that actually goes remotely well with my complexion (I literally can't wear any orange, yellow or red because it just looks awful on me) !

So anyway, I'm off to get ready for the launch night party ! At least the outfit has already been decided for me, so no difficult choices to make for me ! I'll see if I can get a photo for tomorrow's post of my coordinating nails and outfit, so much fun when things coordinate !

Have a great night guys !

NOTD : Waheeeeey it's my BIRTHDAY !

Yaaaaaaaay ! Hi everyone ! Guess what ? Did you guess already ? Okay, I'll tell you.... it's my birthday today ! I bet none of you would have guessed that from the title, so I figured I ought to just come out and say it here ! And I have super special birthday nails for you all today, super festive and super fun.. nothing beats some good old birthday nails !

I LOVE it ! I obviously had to have a pink thing going on for these nails today, and then I couldn't just have one colour theme, so I had to throw in some nude, and I am perfectly convinced that this combination is just as good as my trusty red and nude ! The cupcake was compulsory, as was the leopard print, and then the glitter I used for my thumb gradient is pretty reminiscent of Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday (even though it isn't) so I thought it would be a good addition to the "birthday" theme !

Okay so the colours I used for this design were OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ?, P2 Flirt With Me, OPI Dim Sum Plum and then Essence Circus Confetti for the DL-esque glitter gradient. The design on my middle finger is my attempt at the 'basket case" design that Wah Nails is famous for.. oh yeah, I also used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black to detail the leopard print, and Nicole by OPI Step 2 the Beat of My ♥ for the little heart cherry thing on my cupcake on my ring finger ! Totally forgot about those... that's not like me, forgetting to mention my nail art pen ! Blasphemy !

So yeah, that's it for ye olde birthday post, and I hope you enjoyed it ! What's your favourite thing to do on your nails for your birthday ? Do you tend to try out new polishes or do you go full out major cupcake mani ?

Hope you have a GREAT DAY on my BIRTHDAAAAAY ! :D ... by the way, the 13th is totally a lucky day !