Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : X for XOXO

Good evening everyone ! Now I'm a bit disappointed with today's nail art as it's a bit boring, but I'm feeling uninspired since the frustration with my watermarbling yesterday, I'm quite looking forward to this challenge being over and done with soon and being able to have a break from nail art for a bit ! Perhaps I'll do some swatching after that as a sort of "palette cleaser" !

See what I mean ? I love the half hearts design and everything, but the colours I chose are just... bleh ! I wanted to write "xoxo" on a couple of my nails, but that didn't really work with the size of letters I wanted to do so I just went with the hearts. I should have really chosen a darker pink colour instead of the light one, or if I'd have paired the light pink with a dark pink that would have been fine, I don't know why I didn't just do that but hey ho, it's done now !

The pink I used was an unamed Color Club polish and the silver was Barry M Silver Foil. I don't know whether it's just me but my Gold Foil polish seems to be a lot more opaque than its silver counterpart, have any of you noticed this if you own these polishes ?

Right well that's all I have to say about this design really, it's nothing special, here's hoping I come up with something slightly better for tomorrow's ying yang theme ! I'm off to bed now as I'm really tired, perhaps a good night's sleep will help with my nail-art-uninspiration ! See you then !

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 !

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 : 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 : 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 : 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 !

NOTD : Half Hearts

Hola everyone ! It's been quite a while since I posted anything, but it's my last week here in France before I go back to uni, and so I've been busy sorting stuff out, making the most of being out here, etc ! I did do my nails the other day, but I wasn't overly happy with the way they turned out, so I might post those at a later date, who knows !

So I got the idea for these nails from a design that Whitney from Dressed Up Nails has done a couple of times, here and here, a really pretty design with all different types of hearts, super pretty ! I especially liked the half coloured hearts, so I decided to just paint those on all my nails, alternating the pattern on each nail.

For this heart design, I used OPI My Very First Knockwurst for the base, and then painted on the rest of the design using OPI Casino Royale. I reaaaaaaally love this colour combination, and I love the actual nail art design, which is always a good thing, I think I'll definitely be doing a similar design again soon !

So over all I'm super pleased with this design, a very good thing seeing as I won't have time to do my nails until Saturday at the earliest, due to me travelling back to the UK ! I'll make sure I get something posted for you all ASAP though once I get back ! I'll be very happy to get back to all of my nail varnishes, as I've had a bit of a nail art block recently and I think it could be because I haven't had all my nail varnishes with me, I keep thinking up designs but I always seem to need polishes that I don't have with me, frustrating !

And that's all for today everyone ! I hope you all like today's design, and don't forget to go and check out Dressed Up Nails on Blogspot, Tumblr, and on Facebook ! Whitney's designs are all seriously amazing, and always bright and fun !

See you all soon everyone ! Have a nice evening !

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) !