Beauty Superstar on Cut Out + Keep : Day 1

Hi everyone ! This is a post to let you all know that I am being featured as a Beauty Superstar on Cut Out + Keep this week ! Each day for a whole week a new tutorial that I've prepared will be posted, so make sure you tune in each day to make sure you don't miss any !

Today is the first day, and the tutorial I've done for you all is my go-to design when I'm lacking inspiration or when I want something quick to do. Yep, you guessed it ! It's leopard print !

To see the full tutorial with extra details, make sure you head on over to my project on the Cut Out + Keep website, where you can even read an interview all about me !

Hope you enjoy the tutorial !

Tutorial : Kitties (Alphabet Nail Art Challenge)

Hellooooo everybody ! So I should be back in the UK by now, but as I'm staying with some friends before going back to Bath tomorrow I thought it'd be best for me to schedule a post for today ! I've got another tutorial today for you all, for a design which was really popular during the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge... it's the K for Kitties design !

Here are the steps for creating this design (obviously you can do whatever colour kitty you wish !) :

1. Paint a base colour using a very light or sheer nude nail polish shade. I used two coats of Champneys Nude.
2. Paint the head with the brush from your nail polish : make a rounded motion when painting, the same as you would do near your cuticle. Don't worry if it isn't perfect, you can always do some touch-ups with a nail art brush ! I used American Apparel Hassid.
3.Using a nail art brush, paint some ears for your kitty. I think it looks nice when their ears are quite close to the edge of your nail, so really far away from eachother !
4. Use a medium size dotting tool and some white polish to paint two eyes. Again, I like placing these quite far away from eachother, so I aim to paint them roughly under each ear ! I used American Apparel T-Shirt.
5. Paint on the insides of each ear and the white part of its nose using a nail art brush and some white nail polish.
6. Using a light pink nail polish, paint a tiny nose at the top of the white part and a line coming down from it, then add a smile ! For the nose bit, I paint it in the shape of an upside-down heart ! I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama.
7. Add a couple of whiskers on each side with some white polish using a fine nail art brush, as well as the centres of each eye using either a nail art brush or a small dotting tool.
8. Finish with some top coat and that's it !

This is a very simple design to replicate, and it's easy to find bits and pieces around the house you can use if you don't have all the tools ! A toothpick works really well for tiny dots and fine lines, bobby pins and the balls at the end of pins you use for sewing also work well for larger dots !

If you don't own any nail tools whatsoever I would truly recommend investing in a set of different sized dotting tools - I didn't have any nail brushes for ages but my dotting tools served me really well, I even used them for painting like I would have used a nail art brush ! They're not expensive but are really worth having around if you're in to painting designs on your nails !

Helen Dardik Week : Butterflies Dipped in Eggplant

Guten Abend everyone ! We landed safely in Salzburg this morning after an incredibly early flight and an awfully bad night's sleep at the hotel, so I'm going get this post up as quickly as possible so that I can get some beauty sleep before doing some tourist-y stuff tomorrow ! There's the Saint Rupert's Fair on here at the moment, my mum and I had no idea about it so that was a pleasant surprise ! There were loads of men, women and children dressed in the traditional Lederhosen and Dirndls which look absolutely stunning ! It's so nice to see people all dressed up, and it all fits the scenery so well !

In other news, it's the second day of my Helen Dardik Week series and I've steered away from the florals for this one (spoiler : it's the only design this week that isn't a floral) ! The butterflies in this "Dipped in Eggplant" pattern really caught my eye, and they are quite easy to paint as well !

I hadn't actually noticed the title of this pattern until after I was sorting out what the post titles for each pattern were called that I realised that Helen Dardik had used an eggplant colour for her butterfly. I had already finished the manicure and taken all the photos when I realised that I had painted the butterflies with navy blue instead of deep purple, but I still like it ! I can't help but wonder what it would have looked like had I used an eggplant shade though !

I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff for the base. The butterflies were all done with the following colours : Butter London Royal Navy, P2 Hug Me, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, OPI Dim Sum Plum, OPI Big Apple Red and American Apparel Office. I added the little dots in between all the little butterflies with OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh, a colour which I haven't used in absolutely ages, mainly because it's gone thick and gloopy and I need to buy some nail polish thinner !

I think that this is a really sweet nail art design, it's the first time I've painted butterflies on my nails and it makes a nice change from the monarch butterfly wing nails you see around a lot ! What do you all think ?

Right ! Well I'm going to go and get ready for bed now as I'm super tired and apparently the nap I had this afternoon doesn't want to keep me going for much longer ! See you tomorrow everyone !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : Z for Zebra

Helloooooooo everyone ! So it's the final theme today for the last letter in the alphabet, and today it's "Z for Zebra". It doesn't feel like it's been a month (including the 4 day gap when I went on holiday to Brittany) since I started this challenge as it's gone really quickly ! I'm going out with a bang with today's design though, so here it is !

I've done zebra print once before but that was a long time ago, waaaay before I started blogging and sharing photos on here and to be honest it really didn't look that great and I found it quite difficult to paint ! I loved the zebra print stamp on the Konad M-57 plate but I've gone off stamping recently and so I decided that I really needed to try doing it freehand again and I'm so glad I did !

I started with a base of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, which I left to dry completely before starting my gradient (to avoid getting annoying bits of make-up sponge on my nails) using OPI Planks A Lot and OPI Suzi's Hungary Again, and I used black acrylic paint to do the zebra stripes. The rough effect of the stripes were done by doing a "dabbing" effect with my nail art brush when painting on the acrylic, which I think really adds to the whole look !

I did think about maybe doing the stripes in white to make a bigger contrast with the gradient background, but I'm glad I stuck to the black because it really does look good in my opinion ! I even did both  hands, I'm glad I'll be able to keep my designs on for a bit longer than 24 hours for a while now as there were several days during this challenge when I would have loved to keep the design on !

Right, it's getting late now and I'm heading off to Ikea tomorrow so I'm going to go to bed to make sure I get plenty of sleep ! Goodnight everyone !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : S for Sharks

Evening all ! So I'm writing this post positively early in comparison to the past few days of posts, but I won't complain ! The Great British Bake Off is on now so I'd better get a move on writing this so I'm not torn between the TV and my laptop !

Here's another theme that I wasn't particularly excited about...sharks... There's not really all that much room for creativity but hey, I did what I could ! I looked through google at posters for Jaws and just plain shark images, and I came across this stock image which I decided would be best for what I wanted to do !

I started with two coats of Essie Lapiz of Luxury on all my nails, for the shark I used black acrylic paint to get a good outline, and for the various details I used P2 Flirt With Me, OPI Skulls and Glossbones and P2 Glory. For the water splashes I used China Glaze Man Hunt, P2 Up in the Air, Models Own Blooboo and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. My favourite part about this design is probably the splashes, I think it'd look great just by itself as a mani !

So what do you all think ? What would you have done for the shark theme ? It's a shame I only started this challenge when I did as I might have been able to tie the shark theme in with Shark Week, but hey ho, they're only a couple of weeks late !

I'll see you all tomorrow with the "T for Triangles" theme, I've already got an idea of what I'm going to do !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : O for Owls

Evening all ! I've just spent the last 30 mins deleting a load of photos from my phone as I have no storage space left ! Oh dear ! Mind you.. 7GB of photos is rather a lot to be fair ! So anyway, I seem to be procrastinating and not getting very much of this post written, so here are the nails !

 So today was the first day during this challenge that I've had to stop what I was doing and get rid of everything on my nails ! I wanted to try using o-rings to create half moon designs on each nail to form the ears of the owls, but it just didn't look right after I'd applied the base colour and so just took everything off ! I'm glad I did though because I'm really happy with the end design now !

My base colour in this design is OPI You Don't Know Jacques and for the details on the owls I used Barry M Gold Foil, OPI My Back Pocket, American Apparel T-Shirt and American Apparel Hassid. I put a little white dash in each eye on the owls, I think it really brings the whole look together !

I've been busy sorting out a new layout for my blog today, so I'm going to go and do some more of that before I go to bed ! That and deleting photos ! I'm working all day tomorrow but I should hopefully have enough time before the sun sets to paint my nails and take some reasonable photos, so I'll see you then !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : K for Kittens

Good evening all, I'm back again with another installment in the alphabet nail art challenge and as I mentioned yesterday, today's theme is kittens ! I did cat nails about this time last year and haven't done them since so I suppose this was a good opportunity to try doing them again !

The method I used for doing the cats today was the same as last year, I painted the black rounded face and then added the ears and facial features with a nail art brush - it's really easy to do ! I prefer the way the cats look today to what they did last year, I definitely think I've made progress as far as my nail art skills are concerned !

I started with two coats of Champneys Nude just to make the nail look nice, then I used American Apparel Hassid, Americal Apparel T-Shirt and OPI Sparrow Me the Drama for the little kitties. I like the cartoony look for the cats, it's much more my style than the (sort of) realistic-looking cats !

So what do you all think of my kitties ? I really really like them, and I think if I ever decide to do cats again in the future I'll paint them like this ! They're just too cute !

See you all again tomorrow everyone !

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 !

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 : Leopard Print Hearts

Hey there everyone ! I actually finally managed to do my nails again, and am doing a rather late post tonight as I don't know when I'll even have time to sit down and blog ! I really ought to start doing some revision as I have exams at the end of January, but so far I've been spending my time with family and just enjoying their company (plus my dogs, really enjoying having them around) !

So today's design is based on a jumper I got for Christmas, and I'm obsessed with the pattern ! It isn't exactly as I've done on my nails, but I'll maybe have to try doing it properly on my nails some time soon ! I've never painted large hearts on my nails in a design before, and when I've tried they always turned out wonky in some way, so I'm really glad with the way these ones turned out !

The polishes I used for this design were my standard go-to leopard print colours : OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, OPI You Don't Know Jacques and then my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black... great combination ! I think the brown polish I use is a little too dark for the heart design I did on my two accent nails, but oh well ! I think there'll be some heart designs coming along in future posts on this blog, perhaps even with some polishes from the Skyfall collection (which I somehow managed to avoid using in today's design ?!) !

I also have some more bonus pictures for you all this evening, all still very leopard print related, so they absolutely deserve a place on this post, just you wait and see !

Here are my mum's nails which I did with her favourite design - leopard print, of course ! She's got acrylics on at the moment which is the perfect excuse for me to do her nails ! She wanted to use one of the Skyfall collection polishes, so I used OPI The World is Not Enough as well as the usual Don't Pretzel My Buttons and my nail art pen !

And here's my top model puppy dog called Puppy, who today got a dog-icure ! I was surprised she actually stayed still long enough for me to do her nails, and I love the leopard print one on the left ! Needless to say they're covered in mud now and chipping away like crazy, but it was a great photo opportunity ! Do you ever paint your pets' nails ?

So that'll be all for today you guys ! I'm going to bed now as it's waaaaaay past my bed time and I'm really quite tired ! I hope you all like my nails today, I definitely do, and I'm loving the hearts ! I'll see you all again soon everyone, and I'll try and get something up for New Year (even though I'm not doing anything apart from a nice meal at home for it) !

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 : 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 : Matte Zebra Print

Good evening everybody ! I hope you've all had a lovely Wednesday, mine's been jam-packed with work and nails, I've got so much on my plate at the moment ! Today I have a nice and simple manicure for you all today, something I've never tried before, but I'm really glad I have done now though !

I've seen several different "black on black" nail designs all over the internet, and I'm not quite sure where it actually stems from, perhaps it's just like leopard print or florals or whatever ! I've had this idea in my head for quite a while now, and I don't know why I've only just got round to doing it now ! I did have another design for today's NOTD, but I decided it was too late when I started my manicure session to do anything too intricate !

The only colour I used for this design was OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, which I mattified with my P2 Matte Victim topcoat I got in Germany last year. After waiting for that to dry, I stamped on the zebra design on Konad M57 with the OPI colour, it's as simple as that ! I had originally tried stamping using Seche Vite and then another different top coat, but they didn't show up at all, which I was very surprised about !

So that's it for today guys ! What do you all think of this look ? I don't like the fact that I can't put Seche Vite over it otherwise it'll ruin the design, I'll let you all know how it holds up ! I've already managed to dent the nail on my index finger, but that's because I cooked my dinner straight away afterwards ! Still, nothing major so far !

I'll see you all again for another NOTD tomorrow everyone, have a great day !

NOTD : Animal Accent

Hey there everyone ! I've got a really cool mani for you all today, somewhat simple but super fun ! It's Animal from the Muppets ! The source of inspiration for today's design was, you guessed it, my Mum ! Seriously, she has the best ideas for nail art, and they always turn out pretty well, if I do say so myself !

I have loved the Muppets for ages now, not always the actual films (to be fair though, I still have yet to see the Muppets' Movie that came out last year), but I have always loved the shows ! Animal isn't necessarily my favourite character, that award goes to Beaker, but he is around the top of my leaderboard, along with Fozzie Bear and the Swedish Chef !

For this design, the base colour I used was OPI Danke Shiny Red, I suppose I should have used OPI Meep Meep to fit in with the Muppets theme, but completely forgot ! For the Animal accent nail, I used OPI Dim Sum Plum, OPI Big Apple Red, OPI My Back Pocket, OPI Alpine Snow and American Apparel Hassid, all different polishes mixed together for different shades !

So that's it for today guys ! I've got to go and check through the rest of a German to English translation, and maybe fit in an episode of Dexter (my new obsession) if I can ! Wish me luck, I've got a super busy day tomorrow !

Enjoy your day everyone !

NOTD : Printed Dogs

Hey there everybody ! Oh damn, it's late again ! Seriously, where does the time even go ? I suppose I got used to the Summer when I first started my blog and having the opportunity practically every day at some point to do my nails, usually around midday so I could get a post up in the afternoon, but recently it seems I'm lucky if I get one up before 10 o'clock ! But then it's just something I'll have to get used to, I've coped so far so we'll see how things go ! Anyway, I have a really cute mani today which I hope you'll all like !

So this pattern/print is inspired by a top I got from Primark earlier this Summer. It's got wire haired fox terriers on it which is absolutely amazing because I have four wire fox terriers (and one jack russell) at home, and I'm really missing them now I'm at university ! Seriously looking forward to seeing them all again (and my family of course !) when I go back to France for the Christmas holidays !

For this design, the polishes I used were OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons for the base, then for the little dogs I used OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Berlin There Done That and then I used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black for the little eyes and nose on each dog ! It was getting late when I did these nails (as you can probably tell from the time at which I'm posting them), so I ended up just doing some polka dots with Berlin There Done That on my right hand, I wasn't prepared to sit and do all the dogs with my non-dominant hand for age, both designs do go well together though ! I love the colours !

So that's it for tonight, I'm off to bed as soon as this is posted, I need my beauty sleep before I have to go to lectures tomorrow, thank god it's the weekend though ! I may have loads less hours than my timetable from last year, but these university lectures and seminars are so much more tiring ! Hopefully I'll be able to do my nails at some point tomorrow afternoon as opposed to the evening seeing as I finish somewhat early ! We'll have to see how it goes !

Oh, and I almost forgot ! Here's a photo of the top that inspired these nails !

See you all tomorrow everyone, have a great day tomorrow !

TMH Fashion Week : Betsey Johnson

So hello and welcome to this week's new series : Try My Hand Fashion Week ! I have a full seven days, from Monday to Sunday (whilst I'm preparing my move to uni in the UK), of nail art inspired by fashion designers either fresh from the runway at New York fashion week, or way back from Spring 2012 ! So prepare yourselves for a week of funky prints and bright patterns, it's TMH Fashion Week !

Hey there everyone ! I've got a great design for you all today, as you've probably seen in the title, inspired by Betsey Johnson ! Now although I don't own anything by Betsey, I have been a fan of her designs for quite a while now, they're so bright and fun, and super cute when you recreate them on your nails !

Awesome, right ? This design is from Betsey Johnson's Fall 2012 range, which was full of bright (well, for fall awyway) and bold prints, and I had a hard time choosing which design I was going to recreate in nail art, seeing as I knew from the beginning that I was going to do a Betsey design ! I thought this look was good because I was able to keep it simple on each nail, and not just do the same (plus it had some leopard print in it, always choose the leopard print) !

So to recreate this Betsey design, the polishes I used were American Apparel Hassid for the black, 17 Baked Cherry for the red on my middle finger, P2 Elegant for the nude colour on my thumb and little finger, then I (obviously) used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in black and white for the detail on each nail. I tried a new style of leopard print on the middle finger to represent the shoes, and I was expecting it to turn out slightly bigger than it did, but I think it looks fine how it does, if a little bit small !

I hope you like this Betsey design, I have a feeling I'll be doing more nail art inspired by her designs in the future, I now have a stock in my "inspiration folder" from when I was trying to decide which outfit I would recreate for this series !

Have a great day everybody !

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 !