Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : R for Rasta

Hey there everyone ! I'm trying out a new way of watermarking and presenting my photos today, ready to go with my new layout which'll be up pretty soon too ! Let me know what you all think of it ! Anyway, I wasn't particularly excited about today's theme - "R for Rasta", but here's what I came up with !

I've never really been in to the whole rasta/jamaican sort of trend, a lot of people who were at school with me were though ! I'm really happy with the way it looks though, especially as I used a design I've been wanting to try for ages : half moon + tips in different colours ! I added the marijuana leaf as it just happens to be what the red, green and yellow together makes me think of, although the one on my ring finger looks a bit more like a palm tree than a leaf !

I started with the yellow for the base using Maybelline Electric Yellow as it's the lightest colour, I then painted the green half moons with Collection 2000 Ninja and the tips with OPI Big Apple Red. I used black acrylic paint and a standard google image to paint the marijuana leaf silhouette ! So what do think of the one on my ring minger ? Palm tree or leaf ?

I don't think I'm completely won over with the whole rasta thing, but I do like the way it's turned out ! I think someone who's in to it would appreciate these nails far more than I do, so I think I'll just stick to the florals !

It's really late now, I've spent so long procrastinating since I first started writing this post about an hour ago, so I need to go to bed now ! See you all again tomorrow !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : H for Houndstooth

Hey there everyone ! So it's Monday again and I can't believe it's already been a week since I first started this alphabet nail art challenge ! So as I mentioned yesterday, today's theme is houndstooth. I haven't done a houndstooth design since last Christmas so I was really excited to be able to do it again and here's what I came up with :

So I ended up doing the saran wrap method again like yesterday, and the whole design has actually unintentionally turned out looking a bit like a tweed jacket ! I really like the way it looks though, even though it wasn't really planned !

I started off with two coats of Essie Mint Candy Apple and used the saran wrap method with OPI Jade is the new Black on top of that. I then used black acrylic paint to draw on the houndstooth print. It really didn't take long to do at all, especially thanks to the acrylic paint which just glides on to the nails, and it is quite a simple design to do once you break down all the shapes !

Right, I'm off to bed now as I'm super-tired ! I had to get up early today and I still haven't recuperated from my busy weekend (oh woe is me), so I really need to get to bed now ! I'll be back again tomorrow though, with an ikat design, ugh... I really don't like ikat, it never turns out how I want it to !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : G for Graffiti

Good evening everyone ! It seems yesterday's floral design was particularly popular, and I received a request for a tutorial so that will be up and coming some time this week I should expect ! Other than that I'm moving on again with the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge and today is "G for Graffiti" !

I've never really been in to graffiti as it's never really appealed to me, so I really struggled to come up with something for this challenge. I didn't want to do graffiti lettering or anything and although I did consider replicating a Banksy design, I came up with the idea to do a brick wall in the background and just do a spray paint pattern on top !

I started with two coats of OPI Skyfall and after that had dried a bit I used the saran wrap method the dabble on some OPI Die Another Day and OPI My Vampire is Buff to draw the lines to make the bricks. I then painted on spray paint shapes using OPI Jade is the New Black, OPI Planks A Lot and OPI Dim Sum Plum. The colour choices were completely random for the spray paint, I just grabbed a couple of nail varnishes that were near me, still there from when I did my floral nails !

Right, it's bed-time now, going out two nights in a row is really tiring ! I'll be back again tomorrow though so don't you worry, tomorrow's theme is houndstooth, very exciting !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : C for Camo

Good evening everybody ! This is going to be a really quick post because I have some friends coming over in 10 minutes and so I really need to write this quickly ! I did these nails last night just before writing the post for "B for Bows", and so the lighting conditions weren't great (I prefer having the natural light as well as a lamp to light my lightbox) but the photos still look alright to me ! So, here are the nails !

I didn't think I had done camo nails before, but then I seemed to remember doing them some time last year, and it turns out I had indeed already done camouflage ! Looking back on it now, I much prefer my latest attempt at camo ! I think the different colours show up far better (you couldn't see the beige in last year's one) and the general look of the blobs is nicer ! What do you think ?

So for this design, I started off with OPI Stranger Tides, after umm-ing and ahh-ing for ages trying to decide when to do a darker mossy green sort of colour I finally decided that Stranger Tides would be fine ! I then blobbed on OPI You Don't Know Jacques, OPI My Vampire is Buff and OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! in that order on top of eachother.

I had contemplated putting some gold studs on top of each nail but ended up abandoning that idea as I was already quite pleased with the camo and didn't want to risk ruining it ! Perhaps I'll try adding studs if I do camo again, perhaps some square ones down the centre of a nail as an accent would look nice !

So that's it for today, I'm off to go greet people and enjoy my evening, so I hope you enjoy yours too !

Bärlin

Hey there everybody ! So today's post is coming straight from Berlin, and I know I said I was going to post on Tuesday (today's post is in fact what was supposed to be posted on Tuesday) but I honestly got sooooo sidetracked with packing (which I didn't start until about 11pm, considering my train to Paris was at 6:15am Wednesday morning) and doing bits and pieces before I left I just didn't have any time to write the post ! And anyway, I've been really enjoying my time here in Berlin, I'm still here for a while but don't worry, I've got plenty to post, it'll just be a matter of finding the time to write it all ! So... on to the nails !

I saw this nail design a while ago in a post by Supa Nails who is actually based in Berlin, and I just loved the colour combination and the whole idea of the design, it was just a matter of waiting for the right moment to paint my nails and post these nails !

I didn't use the same nail polishes as in the original post, so instead I used P2 Jetset, Essie Splash of Grenadine and OPI My Back Pocket, for the details I used white acrylic paint. You may remember the tone gradient design I did a couple of weeks ago, well that was inspired by this colour combination, I just liked it too much !

So that's it for today guys, I should be back again soon to write another post hopefully, it just depends when I have time ! Hopefully I'll also be able to post some photos of my trip here in the next post, I just need to sync them to my computer first !

NOTD : Tone Gradient

Hey there everybody ! I told you it wouldn't be too long before I posted again so here I am ! I've been doing loads of nail designs these past couple of days in preparation for me going away for a month, so I'll still be able to post when I'm away, even though I'll still be doing my nails, I don't know what my lighting etc will be like so we'll just have to wait and see !

Today's design is really simple, going off a colour combination from a design that I will post when I go away to Berlin. I don't know where the idea came from, I was tired though and wanted something quick and easy to do, so a gradient it was !

The colours I used for this design were P2 Jetset, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Essie Splash of Grenadine, OPI My Very First Knockwurst, OPI My Back Pocket and Essie Meet Me at Sunset. I like the fact that they're just small gradients, as opposed to the usual half-nails I tend to do for my gradients.

Right so that'll be all for tonight, I really need to go to bed now, I've been writing this post for the last 2 hours ! See you all again soon everyone !

NOTD : Tie Dye

Hey there everyone ! It's really late and I've had loads of stuff on my hands recently with revision and all that (I have my first exam on Monday, not long now), but obviously I still managed to make time to do my nails, I just haven't got round to writing the post until now ! It won't be long as I'm really tired, but I felt I couldn't leave you without anything for another day !

So I did this design yesterday morning, when I was supposed to be revising... I've been wanting to tie dye a shirt for a few weeks now and I figured I'd paint some tie dye on my nails while I wait for the actual thing ! I looked up some images on google and it came up with this photo :

I really like that it's more purpley than the usual tie dye you see around, in my opinion anyway !

For this design, the colours I used were OPI My Vampire is Buff for the base, then I used OPI Dim Sum Plum, Essie Meet Me at Sunset, P2 Hug Me, Collection 2000 Ninja and Models Own Blooboo. I almost left out the yellow accents when I was painting these, but I'm glad I didn't as I think it really brings all the colours together !

So that's all for today, I've got to go and get ready for bed as I need a good night's sleep before MORE revision tomorrow, oh happy days ! Night night everyone ! See you all soon !

NOTD : Bright Harlequin

Hey there everyone ! So today's post is super early to make a change, that doesn't happen very often ! I'm going away today for a week and so I won't be around to post anything, but I'm scheduling a couple of posts that I've prepared (instead of revising, obviously) to tide you over until I get back !

So I did these nails yesterday, and it's a design I've been wanting to do for ages, but I've been trying to think up a good colour combination for it ! In the end I just grabbed a few bright colours and they seemed to go relatively well together so I just started painting ! The design took me a couple of hours to do, I started off with my left hand just in case I didn't like it so I didn't waste nail varnish on my right hand, but as I ended up really liking the design I did it on both of my hands !

For this design, the colours I used were P2 Crazy About Green for the base (this colour would have been absolutely awesome if it wasn't a shimmer), then I used OPI Dim Sum Plum, OPI My Back Pocket and Models Own Blooboo for the different triangles. I freehanded everything as I seem to have problems with the tape method (mainly because I'm too impatient to wait for everything to dry), and I think the lines still turned out pretty crisp ! Result !

Right so that's all for today folks, I've got a couple more posts to write for you all and then I've got to finish getting ready ! See ya next week !

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 !

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 !

NOTD : Converse Floral

Hey there everybody ! I've put a special effort in to doing my nails today (even if this post isn't as early as yesterday's was), so much so that my Russian homework seems to have gone out the window so far today, but that's going to be rectified soon enough ! I don't know what it was, I just seemed to be super inspired today to do some florals on my nails, perhaps because it might actually start warming up here this week, so at least I'll be prepared !

So I went to Bristol with my Mum and sister on Wednesday and when we were in Schuh I was doing some browsing I tried out some really nice floral converses, which really inspired me to do some similar nails, seeing as Spring is coming up and all ! It's a pretty rough interpretation, as once I got going with the roses I stopped using the photo of the shoes to help with the design, but there are still some similarities !

For this design, the colours I used were OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! for the base, as it was the closest polish I had to the colour of the canvas on the converses, I like it though ! For the roses I used American Apparel T-Shirt, OPI Dim Sum Plum, OPI My Very First Knockwurst, OPI Mermaid's Tears and OPI Jade is the New Black. As you can see, I even put in the extra effort of doing my right hand as well as my left, which I think makes me love this manicure even more ! Yay for matching nails !

Sorry for the shed-loads of photos today, six photos was the smallest amount I could narrow it down to, I just love this design so much ! Needless to say, I think I'll be wearing this design for days now, I can't even bare to think about having to take this off yet, I'm loving it too much !

I'm going to go and get ready for bed now, although I might do a little bit of work first, don't want to have to rush it tomorrow ! Goodnight everyone ! Hope you liked the nails !

Swatch : OPI - Live and Let Die

Evening everybody ! So I'm reeeeeeally sorry I didn't get to post last night, or the night before for that matter ! I've been busy socialising with my family while they've been over so I haven't had time to post anything really before having to go to bed ! I promise I will make a concerted effort though to post for the rest of the week for you all, as much as I can manage anyway !

So today I'm showing you OPI Live and Let Die, a goooorgeous deep forest green colour with loads of scattered gold and greenish shimmer running through it. This polish is from the OPI Skyfall collection for Christmas 2012, but I reckon it can be worn any time of the year ! It's such a pretty shade, and it really glows in the sun !

I used two coats for this swatch, although it was already really pretty opaque on the first, but the second coat really adds depth to the polish, and much better shimmer coverage ! The formula was great on this, really easy to apply, and I also used a coat of Seche Vite which really added to the glossiness of the nail varnish !

And that's all for today folks, I'm off to bed as I've got an early start (again) tomorrow morning ! Hopefully the weather is going to start brightening up a bit more now here, I've had enough of this cold weather ! Perhaps I'll do some floral nail art tomorrow, we'll see !

NOTD : Rainbow Half Hearts

Evening all ! So, as I was moaning about it in yesterday's post, I managed to do my nails this afternoon today and I'm following through with it by posting relatively early as well in comparison to a lot of my posts as of late ! Anyway, on to the nails !

So this nail art design is the idea that suddenly came to me last night while I was writing up the Valentine's Day post, and yeah I have to say I kinda like it, but I'm not as in love with it as I have been with a lot of my previous designs ! I think it looked better in my head, and I would really like a better green nail varnish for my collection seeing as I'm lacking ! I feel the ring finger with the green and blue could have stood out more if I had a better green ! Oh well !

For this design, the nail varnishes I used were (in rainbow order, of course) OPI Big Apple Red, OPI My Back Pocket, P2 Hug Me, Kiko Acid Green, OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and OPI Funkey Dunkey. I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for some good green creme nail polishes, any suggestions from you guys as to what I should get ?

These nails seem to look more rainbow-y from a distance than they do close up, the thumbnails are looking far more impressive right now than what they look like on the nails ! You notice the gradient effect I was going for when you look at the photos from afar ! I really love the overall design though, as you may have seen before in my Half Hearts post that was inspired by Whitney at Dressed Up Nails !

Right, I'm going to watch a film before going to bed, might even put my pyjamas on now and watch it in bed because I'm sick of sitting on this office chair ! Have a lovely evening everybody !

NOTD : Ikea Floral

Hey there everyone ! I finally had a decent amount of time today to do my nails (Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty busy for me with my new timetable for this semester), and seeing as I got nail mail the other day with several polishes I have been lusting after for a looooong time, I've at last been able to do a design that I've had waiting for a while !

Before I came back to the UK in January, I went on a trip to Ikea with my Mum to buy a Helmer for my growing nail varnish collection, and, of course, we had to stop by the fabric section (my mother LOVES fabric and sewing and all sorts of crafty bits and pieces, so we always spend a long time there). When I was looking through all the bigs sheets of fabric, I came across this rather nice looking floral one, but, naturally, I didn't want to do ot on my nails until I had my off-white polish !

For this design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the base colour, and then for all the different flowers I used OPI Big Apple Red, OPI Skyfall, OPI Live and Let Die, OPI OPI Eurso Euro, OPI Can't Find my Czechbook, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ? and H&M Hunt Me Down. To paint the flowers, I just used a large thick paint brush and just dabbled flowers on randomly, it was really quite easy to do ! A lot less precise than most of the florals I usually do, which was a relief !

I really really like this manicure (although I have taken it off now, as I felt like doing my nails again with yet another new nail varnish), and I think it's really Spring-y, just need the weather here to go with it, we had SNOW earlier on yet again, although I think it's supposed to be warming up tomorrow, hallelujah !

Anyway, I'm going to watch a bit of TV now before I go to bed.. early start in the morning, plus the fact that I went on a huge walk earlier this afternoon and I'm completely knackered from that ! Goodnight everyone, and I'll be back with another post tomorrow !