NOTD : Heart Skittles

Evening all ! So I didn't end up doing my nails yesterday as I had originally intended, I walked down the hill into town in the morning and then walked all the way back up it ! Needless to say, I was knackered, and just watched films for the rest of the day and cooked ! I've been far more productive today though, and so I've got a brand new NOTD for you all ! Enjoy !

Today's nail design came to me thanks to a couple of t-shirts I bought yesterday morning, one of them being a light minty green colour, then other being a bright plum purple. I lined up those two colours in the form of nail varnishes, then added in a couple of my new polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale collection I received on Friday, and then threw a light purple into the mix and voilà, I had my colour combination ! The hearts on top were just an idea to mix up the different colours and bring them all together !

For this design, the colours I used were OPI OPI... Eurso Euro, Essie Mint Candy Apple, OPI Casino Royale, OPI Planks A Lot and OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. I think these colours really work well together, my favourite combination is probably my thumb, the mint hearts just really stand out against the dark and bold background !

Another reason for me to love this manicure even more is the fact that I actually did both hands exactly the same today, so glad I actually had time for it because I love it when they're all the same ! How often do you end up leaving your dominant hand a plain colour or plain design when you do your nails ? I get bored of doing it quite often now, but I try to persevere because I love how it looks in the end when I put the effort into it !

So that'll be all for this evening folks ! I'm pretty tired now so I'm just going to watch something on TV and get an early night.. bliss ! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone !

NOTD : Funky Skittles

Good evening everyone ! So I've got a quick post for you all tonight as I needed a break from working (even though theoretically it's not really that much of a break as I'm still sat staring at my laptop) ! I've been sat here all day and haven't got half as much done as I would have liked to, but isn't that always the way ? I'm planning on getting up early tomorrow so that I can actually get plenty done, there's no way everything's going to be ready on time otherwise !

So this design is pretty much an amalgamation of every idea I had for my nails today, and being the procrastinator that I am when it comes to taking a break and then struggling to start working again, I, of course, had to do all of them ! Oh well, I really like them, and then at least that way if I don't have time to do my nails tomorrow at some point then I'll be quite content to keep these on for another day !

The nails varnishes I used for this design were P2 Elegant, OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, American Apparel T Shirt, OPI Don't Pretzel my Buttons, OPI You Don't Know Jacques, Essie Lapiz of Luxury, Essie Splash of Grenadine, Essence Circus Confetti, as well as my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in black and blue. I was originally going to do a paisley nail, but once I'd started drawing it I thought it looked awful so I switched design ! Never mind !

Right now I'm going to have to get back to work ! I've almost finished making the Powerpoint presentation for one of two presentations I'm doing next week, plus I'd better get a start on my Italian coursework.. and let's not even mention the 3 essays I've got to write up before the end of the semester ! Ugh.. so much work !

I'll see you all again soon guys, wish me luck with all this work I've got to finish !

NOTD : A Load of Balls

Hey there everyone ! I have a brand new NOTD for you all today, although not featuring the studs that have been in my two previous NOTDs ! They took forever to take off, the glue I stick them down with is seriously heavy-duty for some reason, and I spent a good 15 minutes on those four accent nails trying to remove the studs ! I suppose the time served me well though, seeing as it was whilst I was taking off my previous manicure that I came up today's design !

So, now you may have guessed what I meant by the title of this post : a load of balls ! Not sure where this idea popped up from, perhaps it stemmed from my recent obsession with Draw Something on my iPhone.. seriously, hours of fun ! That's where the baseball idea came from, and then I suppose the rest of them just went with the theme !

For this design the polishes I used were OPI Unfor-greta-bly Blue, American Apparel Hassid, American Apparel T-Shirt, OPI Big Apple Red, OPI My Back Pocket, OPI Schnapps Out of It! and OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me. In case any of you were wondering and couldn't work out what each nail represents, from left to right they're a bowling ball, a baseball, a basketball, a football and a tennis ball.

I really like this design, and my favourite nail is probably the basketball one ! I wish football patterns were easier to draw, as the pattern never seems to work out for me when I draw/paint it ! What's your favourite nail on this design, or sport for that matter (I hate sport so there's no point me telling you mine, although it'd probably be skiing !)?

Have a great day tomorrow everyone, see you all then !

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 : M&M's

Hey guys ! So I've got a super-awesome mani today that I'm super-proud of ! Turns out I got bored pretty quickly today of yesterday's nails, even though I really liked them, my Mum reminded me of a nail design I did literally aaaaaaaaages ago earlier, and I had to do it again, not just for nostalgia, but to see how far I've actually come in terms of my nail art skills !

Yeah ! M&M's, just in case you hadn't read the title ! I love these nails so much (as I say that just after having split a nail after opening a tub of instant hot chocolate, it's on my right hand, so not too drastic, but a disaster nonetheless), the design is so simple yet it really does get loads of compliments ! I guess it may be the pop culture side of things, having a recognisable design as opposed to just a plain pattern, I love it either way !

So for this design the different colours I used were P2 Hug Me, China Glaze Man Hunt, 17 Baked Cherry, OPI You Don't Know Jacques, and then Collection 2000 Ninja. The only real dilemma I had was the fact that there are six different M&M colours, so I ended up having to ditch one of the colours on my right hand so I could include an orange nail, just to make up all the proper colours ! For the orange (even though you can't see it), I used OPI My Back Pocket. Oh, and I used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white for the little "m"s on each nail.

And that's it again for today everyone ! I hope you like this design, and have you ever recreated a design you've already done to see how you've improved ? The last time I did this design I had to do the "m"s with a dotting tool because I didn't own any nail art pens, I'm so glad I do now though because I love how precise my work can turn out with them ! The "m"s look much more delicate in today's design than in the ones I did (just checked the date, it was in January 2011, officially ages ago) all that time ago !

Have a great day tomorrow guys, and enjoy the rest of your evening !

Oh and also, don't forget to enter my giveaway ! There's only 3 days left, so don't miss out on your chance to win some super amazing polishes !

EDIT : Here's a photo of what my first attempt looked like... just for fun, after Alice from One Nail to Rule Them All suggested I post it !

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 : Dia de los Muertos Sugar Skulls

Okay guys, so the original design I had planned to do on my nails yesterday actually didn't turn out well at all, and I took it all off as soon as I'd finished the design on my thumb, plus the fact that I was too lazy to go and do my nails straight after writing the post like I said I did. But never mind, I've still got a new NOTD for you, so don't worry ! I've had this design in my inspiration file for a week now (I think ?), and so when my initial design for today failed miserably, I turned straight to this.

So I based today's nails on this design by Nancy Mc, a nail artist I've been following closely on Tumblr for the past year or so, and I absolutely love her work ! Her nail wheels she posts are full of wonderful inspiration, plus she uses great colour combinations that always come up so flawless !

Now besides the fact that these nails are highly impractical (the fimo didn't fit on all my nails properly and I didn't cut the slices thin enough to mould to my nails), I absolutely love them ! They look soooo much better in real life than they do in the photos, and both hands put together look amazing (if I do say so myself) !

The polishes I used for this design were OPI Steady as She Rose for the base colour, then I used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in black, white, yellow and blue (plus OPI Big Apple Red) for the mouths and details on the faces. I used fimo slices and rhinestones for the eyes.

So what do you think ? Would you wear something like this on your nails even though it gets in the way and you're worrying about bits falling off ? I'll keep you up to date as to how long the fimo pieces last before they snap off ! Hopefully the nail glue I used is so industrial they shouldn't be going anywhere ! We'll see though won't we !

Also, don't forget to vote for my nails in Makeup Savvy's finalists for the 15 day nail challenge ! All you have to do is comment the letter of your favourite (mine are entry A, hint hint) !

UPDATE : I ended up picking the fimo eyes off individually after 24 hours of perfect wear (major picking though, teeth and everything, it wasn't going anywhere) ! I even jammed my thumb nail in my nail drawer just after I'd written the post and that fimo did not budge !

15 Day Nail Challenge (Day 13) : Film Inspired

Yeah ! Day 13 of Makeup Savvy's nail challenge, and today's theme (as you've seen in the title) is "film inspired". Now, throughout the whole challenge I have had no idea whatsoever as to what I was going to do for today's challenge, and it wasn't until after writing yesterday's post that I had some sort of an "ah-hah" moment and I automatically knew what I was going to do !

So just in case you can't tell which film I've chosen to represent here (the thumb is a bit of a give-away !), it's the CAT IN THE HAT ! Yeah ! I've watched this film approximately 100 times, and never got bored of it. In fact, I watched it so many times that the DVD ended up completely scratched and wouldn't play the sludgey bit when they open up the forbidden box, but that doesn't matter !

So I'll give you a quick description of what each nail represents from the film, along with the different polishes I used !
Thumb (the red and white stripes from the Cat's hat) : OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Big Apple Red.
Index (the cupcake gloop after they explode) : OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, OPI Funky Dunkey.
Middle (Conrad's T-shirt) : OPI My Back Pocket, P2 Hug Me !.
Ring (Sally's dress... kinda) : Collection 2000 Ninja, OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Planks A Lot.
Little (the Cat's bow) : OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Big Apple Red.

So there we are ! I actually haven't seen any Cat in the Hat nail art so far, maybe I haven't looked hard enough, but still, I think they're pretty original ! So yeah, that's it once again, I hope you liked it !

NOTD : Kitty Cats !

Heya guys and gals (figure of speech, I would guess I'm reaching a demographic of mainly gals, but that's the expression I'm afraid) ! Got a brand new NOTD for you all today to enjoy, so I hope you like it !

CATS ! Now what's better than cute little kitties on your nails ? I've been loving cat nails since my previous skittles in my last NOTD, so I decided it was time to do a full manicure of kitty cats !

Now, I spent ages researching the different types of cats I could do on my nails, and even the eyes are coordinated to the different breeds ! On my thumb I did a white persian (which you can't see because I couldn't get a good enough photo of it that I considered to be blog-presentable), on my index I did the same black cat I did on my last manicure, then on my middle finger is a colourpoint, on my ring is a calico and then on my little finger I did a slightly greyer-than-real-life Russian Blue.

So the colours I used (nail by nail) for this design were :
Thumb : OPI Alpine White, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream.
Index : Barry M Black, Barry M Yellow, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream.
Middle : OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ?, Barry M Mushroom, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream.
Ring : OPI Alpine White, Barry M Mushroom, OPI My Back Pocket and OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ? mixed together, P2 Hug Me !, Barry M Black, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream.
Little : Collection 2000 Wham !, Kiko Acid Green, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream

I also used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen to do the black line on each of the eyes (but I really hate writing it out and couldn't be bothered to write it or copy/paste it for each nail !).

And that's it for today ! I hope you all enjoyed my numerous finger-kitties as much as I enjoyed creating them !

NOTD : These Are a Few of My Favourite Things

Hey guys ! This post needs to be reaaaaally really quick today as we're having a BBQ with over 15 guests and some of them have actually already arrived ! AHHHH ! I'm so unsociable !

So I didn't actually plan on spending over 2 hours on my nails, but I guess I got kind of carried away. I did a kitty on my sister's thumb earlier this morning and it's been bugging me all day, but I really didn't want to do just kitties, but never mind. It is how it is !

I've been wanting to do galaxy nails for absolutely aaaaages but have never got round to it, and I've been feeling all patriotic today watching the Olympics so I just had to include a Union Jack flag, and I guess the rest just sort of appeared on my nails in my flood of inspiration for this design !

Right so I'm going to do a list for each nail for the list of polishes I used because I used waaaay too many for one paragraph !

Thumb : OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ?, OPI You Don't Know Jacques, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black.
Index : OPI Steady as She Rose, OPI Dim Sum Plum, OPI Funkey Dunkey, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black and white.
Middle : Barry M Black, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black.
Ring : Barry M black, Kiko Electric Blue, P2 Who Cares ?, Barry M Berry Ice Cream, Essence Hello Holo, OPI Alpine White.
Little : Kiko Electric Blue, OPI Big Apple Red, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white.

And there's a quick recap of each nail for you ! I guess the post wasn't actually that quick but rest assured it was written relatively quickly (please excuse any typos, I'm not checking for them !).

Hope you enjoyed the unplanned madness ! Now it's time to partay !

NOTD : London 2012

Now as you all know (unless you've been living in a hole for the past 7 years) the Olympic Games are coming to London ! In a matter of 4 hours over a billion people all over the globe will be watching the opening ceremony, and I (of course) had to do some nail art for the occasion.

And there we are ! I decided to amalgamate all things Olympics to create the nail art of London 2012 ! On my thumb I painted the Olympic rings, on my index finger I just wrote "LDN 2012", on my middle finger I painted on the official games logo for this year's Olympics, on my ring finger as you can see by the photo I did the Union Jack (for Team GB or for the fact that it's being held in England, you decide !) and then on my little finger I drew the torch on.

I am overall really pleased with how these nails turned out ! Despite the inconvenience of not having a green or a red nail art pen and having to use my nail art brush instead, I think I managed quite well ! My favourite nail is probably my middle finger with the logo, I was dreading painting on the logo as it is rather abstract, but I am sooo happy with how it turned out !

So I used quite a lot of polishes to make this design, so I'll do a list nail by nail :
Thumb : OPI Alpine White, OPI Big Apple Red, Collection 2000 Ninja, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black, yellow and blue.
Index : Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, OPI Big Apple Red, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black, white and blue.
Middle : Barry M Cyan Blue, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white, OPI Dim Sum Plum.
Ring : Kiko Electric Blue, Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white, OPI Big Apple Red.
Little : OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, Barry M Gold Foil, Accessorize Gold Dust, OPI My Back Pocket, Barry M Yellow, OPI Big Apple Red.

And here's a bonus photo of my right hand to show you what I did with that (as I don't think I'd have had the patience to copy what I did on my left hand !). Please excuse the rather atrocious photography, I don't think I've yet mastered taking photos with my left hand, plus the fact I can't actually see the screen to see what I've taking a photo of as it's covered by my hand trying to push to capture button !

 And there we are ! Olympic Nails ! Now I'm currently watching the countdown on BBC1 until 9 o'clock when the opening ceremony starts ! Will you be watching the ceremony ? Are you planning on tuning in to any of the sports during the following 2 weeks ? Have you done any Olympics nail art for the occasion ? Ahhh so many questions !