Breast Cancer Awareness Month : Moons and Tips

Hey there everybody ! So I apologise for the long gap between writing posts, but I've been busy getting back into the uni routine this week ! I managed to find some time to do my nails but I just completely ran out of time in the evenings ! Luckily I only had one lecture today so I've had plenty of time to do everything I wanted to and now have time to write this post for you !

So as you may already be aware, October is the official Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), a time during which people are encouraged to wear pink to show their support. I'm going to do my best to do as many pink nail art designs this month as possible, so we'll see where that takes us ! In any case I've got my first pink design for you today !

This design is kind of similar to the technique I used for my "R for Rasta" nails I did during the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge, except I've only used two different nail polishes as opposed to three ! Obviously the centre part is much thicker than in the Rasta design which makes the tips smaller, but I really like how it looks !

So these nails were done using two nail varnishes from the OPI Couture de Minnie collection which I received for my birthday : OPI Chic From Ears to Tail and OPI A Definite Moust-Have. I really love pink nail varnishes as it's one of my favourite colours (I have a huge amount of pink shades in my stash), so I'm really pleased to be able to add these to my collection ! What colours do you have most of ?

So that's it for tonight, I need to do some work before I go to bed so I'll have to love you and leave you ! I hope you enjoyed my first design for BCAM, I really loved wearing these nails, although I re-did them this morning with another pink design I'll be showing you soon ! Ta ta for now everyone !

NOTD : Happy Birthday to Me !

Yaaaaaaaay ! It's my brithday !!!!!! My nails ended up being rather last minute as I ran out of time after doing designs to post while I'm away, but they're birthday nails nonetheless ! I've been wondering for ages now trying to think of a design I could do for today and seeing as I won't be getting my birthday nail varnishes for a couple of week,s I couldn't do anything with those !

I thought of maybe doing some candless... but then I didn't want to do that ! And then I was going to use some silver foil... but that didn't look right ! So I settled on using two of my favourite nail polishes with one that I've not used before and I'm pretty happy with how it looks !

I used OPI Tomorrow Never Dies and then OPI The Man With the Golden Gun on all except two nails. The little 2-0 was painted with OPI Moonraker which I haven't used before now, and it's actually really good for this sort of nail art, just not so much as a colour by itself !

I really love all that 18 karat goodness on top of my blurple shimmer polish.... soooo gooooood ! I'm going to go to bed now so I can get up and get stuff done tomorrow - I've still got absolutely loads of stuff to do before I leave on Tuesday and that means I've only got 3 full days left ! Scary ! See you again tomorrow hopefully !

Geometric Gradient and my Belated Blogaversary !

Helloooooooo everyone ! So I was meant to write a post yesterday as it was my official first blogaversary, but I ended up getting completely sidetracked and totally forgot until I'd turned my computer off and was laying in bed, but by that time it was gone midnight anyway and no longer my blogaversary.. oh well, I'm here today ! But anyway, I've got a great design that I'm in love with to share with you today !

So these nails were inspired by a design I saw by Chelsea at Get Nailed, which just happened to pop up on my Tumblr feed when I sat down to do my nails on the day before I left home to come to Berlin. I loved the colour combination and just the way it was so simple and minimalistic, yet really eye-catching at the same time !

For this design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI Funkey Dunkey, OPI Planks A Lot and OPI Steady as She Rose, and topped off each nail with a plain silver stud. I think I prefer the lighter purple base, as on my thumb, ring and little fingers to the darker purple, but I also love the way the colours and reversed designs all fit together ! I'll definitely be trying this with different colours soon !

So that's all for today everyone, I still can't believe it's already been a year since I first started posting here, and I'm so glad that I've been able to entertain you all and share my designs with the world for a whole year now ! Here's to another year everyone !

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 !

May the 4th Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day everybody ! I've been wanting to do May the 4th nails for aaaaages now and I've finally been able to post something properly (albeit a scheduled post and I'm still wearing my harlequin nails), plus the fact that it's my sister's 18th birthday tomorrow and she loves Star Wars, which is an even better excuse !

So I decided to just do plain Stormtrooper helmet nails as they were relatively quick a easy to do ! I was really approximate about drawing them and didn't go into much detail, but I'm really pleased with how they look ! Mayb next year I'll be able to do something detailled and with more characters, we'll just have to wait and see !

For this design I only used two different polishes : OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the base, and then I used my Models Own nail art pen in black, simples ! It only took me about 15 minutes to do the whole design, so it was really quick and easy !

So that's all I've got for today, I have one more scheduled post for you before I'll be back and able to post anything on Wednesday, so stay tuned until then ! Happy Saturday everyone !

NOTD : Valentine's Day

Hey everybody ! Once again, another late post from me ! I really need to start posting earlier and doing my nails earlier than 7pm because it gets to the point when I'm too tired to do my nails properly ! The fact that I've been reeeeeeally uninspired lately doesn't help either, I don't know what it is, I just can't seem to find anything I really want/can be bothered to do on my nails ! I'm going to try a new routine where I do my nails earlier in the afternoon and perhaps that'll help, we'll see ! Anyway, on to the V-Day nails !

I could have done something soooo much more original than this had I had some form of inspiration, but hey, here's some generic Valentine's Day nail art for you ! I'm quite pleased with the hearts on both my index and middle finger, but am rather disappointed with the other three nails... oh well, that's what you get when you only start your nails at 8 o'clock !

For this nail design, the nail varnishes I used were OPI My Very First Knockwurst, OPI Big Apple Red, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. I've been rather over-doing it on the hearts recently, haven't I ? It seems to be my go-to design at the moment for some reason, I'll just go with it though, I might get some inspiration from it !

So that'll it for tonight everyone ! I promise, next year I'll try and do something more original on my nails, perhaps I'll finally be out of this uninspirational phase and get some more interesting designs out ! I have an idea for tomorrow's post, and I've even written it down so I don't forget what it is, I'm just going to hope it turns out as I plan !

See you all tomorrow everybody ! I'm off to bed !

NOTD : Mini Hearts

Hey there everyone ! So I've been busy catching up on bits and pieces I have had to get done recently and I've been really busy today (giving a tour of the university to prospective students), so I ended up having an early night last night and didn't get a chance to post the nails I did ! Nonetheless, I'm here tonight to post them for you, and I hope they don't disappoint !

So obviously it's the time of year for doing all the lovey-dovey manicures and nail art for Valentines Day, I wasn't really planning on doing anything in particular nail-wise but last night my mother suggested I do this sort of design, and so I did ! I have to admit though, it was a struggle getting them done : I didn't get very much sleep Monday night and so I was super tired yesterday and kept doing stupid things like accidentally knocking my nail on the table and smudging my base colour... ugh, I was getting so irritated, so I just stuck with two accent nails ! I bet it would have looked really great if I'd have done all the nails, maybe some other time !

For this design I used OPI My Very First Knockwurst for the base colour, and then for the hearts on the accent nail I used OPI Big Apple Red. I really love how this design looks, and I reckon it'd look great with other combinations, maybe some brighter, more original combinations to veer off from the "traditional colours" for Valentines Day (plus you can wear it any day of the year then, happy days) !

And that'll be it from me today ! I got a new OPI nail varnish today, the ones from the Euro Centrale collection should be arriving soon as well, so perhaps I'll have to include my new arrival in some nail art for tomorrow's post ! Let's just say it's a colour I've wanted for quite a while now, and I think it's going to prove to be particularly useful for nail art !

I'll see you all tomorrow hopefully everyone ! Have a great day !

Advent Calendar : Christmas Puddings

Hello everybody ! So I managed to write a whole essay about communism today, I'm so proud of myself ! That's one down and two more to go before all my work load is relieved, not long now I hope ! As you may have noticed, today is the first day of December, which therefore means that Christmas nails are totally do-able, and it's no way too far away from Christmas ! Happy times !

I've wanted to do Christmas pudding nails for absolutely ages, but for some reason I never have done ! I'm pretty sure that last year all I did was snowflake stamps, but I really can't remember and I don't seem to have taken any photos of them at all ! Anyway, the first day of the month is the perfect excuse for Christmas pudding nails, and these ones are quite different from any of the Christmas pudding nails I've seen around before !

So for this design, I started off with a base of OPI Meep-Meep-Meep (which as a matter of fact I got around this time last year, such a great Christmas colour), then for the puddings I used OPI You Don't Know Jacques, OPI Berlin There Done That, American Apparel T-Shirt for the brandy sauce, and then the holly was done using Collection 2000 Ninja and OPI Big Apple Red. I'm really pleased with how they turned out, especially seeing as they're the right way up !

Despite my complete and utter hatred for Christmas pudding, I think these nails are really cute ! Christmas pudding may taste revolting, but they make for a pretty cool manicure ! Now I'm off to brainstorm more Christmas designs, and I'll be back tomorrow with a new one for sure !

See you all tomorrow everyone, have a great night !

NOTD : Thistle Gradient

Hey there everyone ! So it's Friday (finally) but no rest for me this weekend as I've still got plenty of work I need to finish up and hand in ! Still, I'll try and do my nails both tomorrow and Sunday, hopefully I'll have time to do them ! Today's nails are just relatively simple, didn't want to do anything too fancy as it was already quite late into the evening when I finished dinner and actually sat down to do my nails !

So as some of you may know (or if you happen to have passed through Google today), it's Saint Andrew's day, the official national day of Scotland ! I was originally going to stick with blue and white nails, after all, they are the traditional colours of Scotland and the Scottish flag, but in the end I ended up looking up photos of thistles, and instead went with a relatively simple thistle-inspired gradient !

For this gradient, the nail varnishes I used were Essie Splash of Grenadine for the purple, and the greeny colour is OPI Mermaid's Tears. For the gradient, I started with a base of the Essie colour, and then I painted on strips of both the colours I wanted in the gradient straight onto a makeup sponge, and just dabbed it over each nail until I got the desired gradient. Simples !

And that's all for today's post everyone ! I hope you like my slightly alternative take on Saint Andrew's day nails ! I really like how the colours work together, and I think the gradient is quite Summer-appropriate, as opposed to what you may expect in almost-December ! OMG Christmas is so soon, I can't wait !

See you tomorrow everyone ! Have a great day !

NOTD : Movember

Hellooooo there everyone ! Need to do just a quick post tonight as I still have lots of things left to sort before I go to bed, and I'm rather behind track on everything I need to get done ! Hectic times ahead ! So, obviously needing to gain time on everything I'm doing this evening, I just had to do a quick and simple nail design, nothing fancy, so here it is !

So I already told you yesterday (and the day before as a matter of fact) that I was going to do nails in honour of Movember, and I know that guys are supposed to start with blank canvases, but alas, I'm a girl and the only alternative I have is to paint moustaches on my nails ! What a pity ! I probably could have done something way more intricate than this, but as I said, I really don't have much time to spare this evening !

For this design I only used two different polishes : OPI Berlin There Done That and American Apparel Hassid. I figured I ought to do a mutual base colour (as opposed to the pastel rainbow base colours I was planning out) because it's somewhat more manly for moustache nails ! The moustaches were very simple to do : two big black dots next to eachother on each nail and then just paint a quick flick out to the side !

So that's it for tonight guys ! I'll see you tomorrow with a rather nice surprise for you all ! Aren't you lucky (I just hope it lives up to expectations) ! Are any of you planning on doing special "Movember" nails ? This was my first time doing moustache nails and I'm really quite happy with how they turned out ! None of them are exactly the same either which is cool !

See you all tomorrow everyone ! Have a great day tomorrow, and I'll see you then !

Halloween Nails : Skull Print

Well hello there everyone ! Fancy seeing you here on Halloween Night, what a coincidence ! Who'd have thought I'd do Halloween nails to suit the occasion ? Turns out LOADS of people have, would you believe it ?! So anyway, this is the final installment in my Halloween nails series I've been doing over the last few days, and I hope you all like them !

So just in case you can't tell, I've done lots of little mini skulls (pretty abstract ones to say the least) to make a skull print design ! It turned out exactly as I had planned, but I almost wish I had used a dark grey (OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! maybe) instead of a plain black polish. I suppose the black does go with a lot of the whole Halloween business though !

For this design I used my trusty black polish, American Apparel Hassid (seriously amazing polish if you ask me), and then for the skulls I used American Apparel T-Shirt and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white. The skulls were really easy to do : all you have to do is make a big white dot with the large end of a dotting tool, and then either using a nail art pen or a small dotting tool just dot on three white spots underneath each large one. I then went over the big ones with a medium dotting tool and black polish to paint the eyes... see ? easy !

And that's it for my Halloween nails guys ! I'll be back tomorrow with a Movember moustache on my nails (hopefully), I'm planning the design out in my head already ! I've actually really enjoyed doing all these Halloween-themed nails these past few days, my favourite were probably the pumpkins though ! What are your favourite Halloween nails of all time ?

See you all tomorrow everyone !

Halloween Nails : Ripped Flesh

Hey there everybody ! So today I have some nails that I did a couple of days ago in preparation for today's post, as I knew I wouldn't have time to do them this evening (busy day of lectures, and then the compulsory pub quiz comittment) ! Unfortunately I can't be credited for this amazing design, but it is so unique and perfect for Halloween, I had to recreate it !

So I did these nails using the tutorial by Melissa over at The Daily Nail ! She is seriously such an inspiration to me, as her blog was really the first nail blog I discovered when I started to get in to nail art, and she still does such amazing designs ! This was the first design in her "HalloWEDNESDAY" series, all of which I've really enjoyed looking at !

For this design I used OPI Big Apple Red, OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, American Apparel Hassid and P2 Elegant. Basically all you do is paint a base coat of red, go over the top with your skin colour polish, cover with top coat (I use Seche Vite), wait for it to dry slightly and then pull it towards the tip of your nail. I think the overall look is really effective, and looks seriously gory !

So I'm kind of gutted that I didn't get to keep this design on for longer, but I'm really quite happy about the fact that I get to keep yesterday's pumpkin nails on for slightly longer ! Only one more day of Halloween nails before Movember starts, damn right I'm going to be sporting moustache nails, not just for the cause, but also because moustaches are so fly !

See you all tomorrow guys !

Halloween Nails : Pumpkins

Hellooooooo everyone ! So as another installment in my "Halloween Series" (shall we say ?) I have yet more Halloween-themed nails for you all ! I have to admit, these weren't my original plan for today's nails, as I was going to do Happy Tree Friends nails, seeing as they're all disgusting (yet cute) and kill everything and everyone all the time, but gave up on that idea as I'm rather tired and wasn't ready for any skittles nails today ! They take far too long to do !

So yes, today I went for the oh-so-traditional pumpkin nails. I honestly love pumpkins (I'd rather eat squash, but that's another matter), and pumpkin soup is sooooo tasty ! Unfortunately pumpkins are too big for me to eat by myself, and I have way too much soup I've made in my freezer at the moment, so I'm afraid the pumpkins will have to wait ! For some reason I didn't fancy doing proper Halloween jack-o-lanterns, so I just went for the plain old pumpkin !

For this design, the polishes I used were OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me for the base, then for the pumpkin and detailing I used OPI My Back Pocket, OPI Stranger Tides, OPI Berlin There Done That, Collection 2000 Ninja, and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black for the outlining.

I seriously love how these nails turned out ! I was a bit dubious at first and I was wondering whether it'd actually look any good, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome ! I love the way it spreads out onto each nail andhow it all joins up to make one big illustration !

Okay so that was a pretty quick post ! AND it's not even 9pm yet ! Woah, I'm seriously on a roll here, hopefully I can keep this up for the rest of the week, and I might even get stuff done ! Woohoo ! See you all tomorrow everyone !

Halloween Nails : Blood Drips

Helloooooo everybody ! So I'm posting at a relatively reasonable time today, for once ! I did my nails earlier on this afternoon so I've had plenty of time to do everything I needed to, happy times ! But this early post is needed as I'm going to have to get up early tomorrow morning for my lectures, good news is I have reading week soon, a whole week full of procrastination (oh god I hope not) !

So I've decided that I'm going to be doing Halloween-themed nails all the way through until actual Halloween Night on Wednesday ! I got in the mood for it last night whilst doing my Halloween Skittles nails, and figured I may as well go for a full five days of spooky nails ! I suppose Halloween can be a pretty creative season for when it comes to nail art, so hopefully I can try to do something more original than the traditional Halloween themes !

For this design I only used two different polishes : P2 Elegant for the nude base colour and then OPI Big Apple Red for the blood. For the actual design, all I did was use a dotting tool to place where each drip was going to be on my nails, and then I used a small nail art brush to join them all together for the full drip effect.

Okay, so not to sound disgusting or anything, I really love these nails ! I'm totally in to the drip effect nails at the moment (maybe some drippy framed nails... hmm ideas ideas) so I hope to do plenty more ! I already have a vague idea of what I'm going to do tomorrow for my nails, so we'll just have to wait and see how that one pans out !

See you all tomorrow everyone ! Have a great day !

Halloween Nails : Halloween Skittles

Okay, WOAH ! When did it get to be almost midnight ? There I was, sitting here at my desk doing my nails whilst watching the Hunger Games, and then suddenly it's gone 11 o'clock ! Seriously, I just don't know what happens when I do my nails, time just flies by without me even noticing ! Plus side is the clocks go back tonight, so I can get extra sleep even though I'll still be going to bed at a relatively normal time ! Hooray for daylight saving time ! But in other news, I've got some rather topical nail art for you today, brace yourselves !

I felt I really needed to do some Halloween nails, seeing as it's next week and everyone in the nail art world (and the real-life outside world, wait, does anything exist outside nail art ?) is getting rather hyped up about it and have been doing Halloween nail designs since the beginning of October, some even started in September, now that's just a bit early... and let's not even start to think about Christmas nail art, oh god, there's going to be weeks of it, and I'd better get my thinking cap on trying to think up some designs !

Right, so I used quite a few different nail polishes for this design, so get ready ! They were P2 Elegant, OPi Big Apple Red, OPI Skull and Glossbones, American Apparel Hassid, American Apparel T-Shirt, China Glaze Man Hunt, OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me, OPI My Back Pocket, and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. I love skittles, but they really are just so time consuming ! I always have to plan everything out in advance for skittles, and I always write down what's going to be on each nail... it just takes forever to do everything !

My favourite nails on this design are probably first of all the blood drips on my thumb (I feel a whole blood drip mani coming on), and then the dracula vampire on my index finger, I just maybe wish he had a bit more colour, maybe I could have painted on some blood around his teeth ? They're all pretty traditional Halloween designs, and I've never really done my nails for Halloween, so there's a first time for everything and I'm particularly happy with how my first set turned out ! How about you, what are your favourite designs for Halloween ?

And that's it for today guys ! Perhaps I'll be back tomorrow with another Halloween design, we'll have to see, but I will in case have a design for you all ! Have a great day tomorrow !

NOTD : Back to School

Hi guys ! So tonight's party theme is "Back to School", and tonight is suppose to be a really great night (let's hope it lives up to expectations, at the moment, the fun part seems to be getting ready to go to these events) ! I was sad yesterday because my nails didn't actually glow in the dark like I had hoped, but the green and yellow I had used in the splatter did glow in the UV lights, which was really cool !

So I love these nails ! Skittles, but not completely because there's only three different themes... I like it ! I did the pencils using The Daily Nail's tutorial for her back to school nails, and then just did a standard apple on my ring finger and then some simplified paper with doodles ! I think I might do a plain pencil manicure soon, because I think they're super cute !

For this design, the polishes I used were (in a list):
Pencils : Barry M Yellow, P2 Hug Me !, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama and Barry M Silver Foil.
Paper : American Apparel T-Shirt, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, P2 Flirt With Me and Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black.
Apple : OPI Big Apple Red, OPI You Don't Know Jacques and Collection 2000 Ninja.

And that's it ! Only two photos today as they didn't come out as well as I'd hoped ! Now I'm off to get ready, there's limited entry tonight, so I'd better get there early to make sure I get in ! Hope you have a great evening/night everyone !

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway ! 

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 !

NOTD : Paralympic Nails

Waaaaaah, hey guys ! Oh my god I can't believe how late I'm posting this ! But I promise it's totally related to today's events, as you may have seen in the title of this post, I've done Paralympic nails ! Now there's not as much of a hype about about the Paralympics as there was for the actual Olympics, but nonetheless, I'm continuing the tradition after my Olympic Nails !

So I have to admit, I was actually going to post an old manicure for today's post, but then whilst watching the news and all the reports about the Paralympics opening ceremony, I saw the logo for the 2012 Paralympics and thought it'd look pretty good translated into nail art ! I decided to keep it simple, doing one design on each nail rather than actually copying out the logo, and then I did the Union Jack on my thumbs (as you can see) in the appropriate logo colours.

I only used four different polishes for this design (not too much compared to my original Olympic nails) which were OPI Dim Sum Plum, P2 Hug Me !, H&M U Must Have This and OPI My Back Pocket, plus my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white for the white on the Union Jacks. The design was pretty easy to do, plus I love that framed nail ! My first attempt at one and I think it looks awesome !

So that's it for today ! I hope you liked my second installment in my Olympics series haha, even though it wasn't planned and was purely on a whim ! Are you going to be watching any of the events ? I think I may have to tune in to the wheelchair basketball !