NOTD : Leopard and Studs

Well hello there guys ! I've got a super-cool NOTD for you all today which I'm so proud of for some reason, even though they're pretty simple ! As you may know, I mentioned yesterday that I broke a nail whilst swimming (on my right hand, thank god), and so I've chopped down all my nails really quite short (not short short, but shorter than I'm used to). So here goes with my short nails !

So having to deal with the fact that I've now got rather short nails, I went with some trustworthy leopard print, which, in my experience, never fails to look good on tiny nails ! I also decided I haven't used studs in a rather long time, and fancied trying out some square studs for the very first time ! Verdict ? I love them ! I'm thinking I may have to do nails with just studs on in strips on all 10 nails !

For this design I used (once again) polishes from the OPI Germany collection : OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, OPI Berlin There Done That, OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, and for the detailing on the leopard print I used my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in black. I decided to do the detailing slightly thicker this time, just to see what it would look like, and I really like how it turned out !

And that's it from me for tonight everyone ! I've got a couple of swatch posts for you for tomorrow and Saturday, as I'm going to visit my Grandma this weekend and obviously won't have time to do my nails, let alone blog !

Tune in tomorrow guys, and I'll see you again on Sunday evening !

NOTD : Language Nails

Hello again everyone ! I've got a special NOTD design for you all today ! I'll start off with the big news first though : I majorly broke a nail on my right hand this morning when I was swimming, so I'm going to cut all my nails down really quite short because I can't cope with irregularly sized nails ! Unfortunately it broke almost half way down the nail and it's super painful (especially when I had to take the nail polish off the nail afterwards, it stung so much) so I've had to cut it down a substantial amount so it was easier to repair, oh well !

So anyway, as for the nails, as some of you may know, I'm studying Germany and Russian at university ! Today the university organised some talks about careers in translating and interpreting (and of course I was incredibly interested) so I decided to do special nails for the occasion ! On my four fingers on both hands I did a flag to represent each language I can speak and in the order I learnt them : English, French, German and Russian ! Then on my two thumbs I did the UN flag on my left hand, and the EU flag on my right.

For the design, I used Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, China Glaze Manhunt, American Apparel T-Shirt, OPI Big Apple Red, American Apparel Hassid, P2 Hug Me, and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white for the detailing on the UN flag. I really enjoy painting flags on my nails, but I always seem to struggle to get the proportions right !

Right well I'm off now in a bit of a rush, hopefully going to see Skyfall in a bit with a friend so I'm super excited ! Better head off now, will see you all tomorrow !

Have a great day !

Swatch : Pretty & Polished - Chelsea Chelsea Bling Bling

Helloooooooo everybody ! Just a quick swatch post for you today, had a super busy day today with a friend shopping in Bath (first retail therapy since I've actually been at uni here, seriously impressed with myself here), so I prepped my nails last night and am just writing this post now even though it's late (but hey, it's reading week) !

So this is actually one of my first ever indie polishes, I got it earlier on this year but this is the first time I've got round to swatching it for this blog ! It's a Pretty and Polished nail varnish, all of which are super pretty, and I'm really feeling I need to get some more !

Chelsea Chelsea Bling Bling is a really pretty bright pink jelly polish, with several different colours of glitter suspensed in it, and glitter sandwich in a bottle ! I can see medium size holographic glitters, as well as small red, green, pink and blue hexes.

And that's it for today guys ! I'm super tired now so I'm going to be off to bed soon, all that shopping has worn me out ! I've also already sorted my nails for tomorrow, a particularly special occasion as well but you'll all find that out in tomorrow's post ! Suspense !

See you all then everyone, have a great day !

NOTD : Airplane

Well hello there everybody ! Today's nails are slightly different than what I usually do in the way of nail art, but I think they're pretty cool nonetheless ! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out (considering I'm usually awful at drawing planes), so let me tell you the story behind them !

Airplane nails ! So these nails were set as a challenge for me by a family friend who works with buying parts for airplanes, so he naturally wanted me to do special airplane nails for him ! The challenge was set for me as a comment on my Facebook page on yesterday's cherry nails that I posted, and of  course, I accepted ! I hate drawing airplanes, so I just went with a simple silhouette with just a plain colour, and then I did the flypast colours like you get at ceremonial events and all that (I honestly know nothing about planes, can you tell ?) !

So for this design the colours I used were Models Own Blooboo for the base and American Apparel T-Shirt for the clouds. For the aircraft I used OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, and then the coloured stuff that's coming out the back of the plane (that's the technical term, I believe) I did using 17 Baked Cherry, OPI Skull and Glossbones and China Glaze Manhunt. I actually really like the way the clouds look, I did them using just a cotton bud Q-tip ! I got a bit of fluff from it but I just picked it off with tweezers !

And that's it for today ! I'll have to sort out a scheduled post for tomorrow as I've got a very busy day ahead of me ! I may just do a quick cute pattern in the morning when I have a bit of time, we'll see how it goes !

See you all tomorrow everyone ! Have an awesome day !

NOTD : Cherries

Hey there everyone, I'm back ! I had a great time with my Mum and sister before they had to go back home, and they both really enjoyed the surprise visit ! I hope you all enjoyed the two swatches I posted for you while I was away, as they really are seriously pretty colours ! So I'm back today with a new NOTD for you all, in a quick post before I go and make dinner !

I've been meaning to do a cherry design on my nails for a while now, after my Mum suggested them to me several times, and I think this is the perfect occasion to have actually done them ! I really love cherry print designs, and I'm really proud of how they've actually turned out on my nails !

The polishes I used for this design were Models Own Blooboo, 17 Baked Cherry, Collection 2000 Ninja, and my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pen in white. I did originally contemplate just doing a plain white base, but when I thought about other cherry patterns I've seen they've usually got pastel backgrounds, so I just went for a nice light blue !

So over all I'm really really happy with this design, and I'm so glad I finally got around to doing it ! It's really simple to do as well : just two red dots for the fruit, joined up with two quick fine lines of green polish for the stalks, and then finished off with a white dot on each fruit ! See, simples !

I hope you all like this design as much as I like it ! I'll see you all tomorrow (same time hopefully), have a great day !

Swatch : Dior - Bikini

Helloooooo everyone ! So here's the second part of my Dior swatches for this weekend while I'm away visiting my mother and sister ! I'll currently be on the train as this is posted, and although I'll be back at uni soon, I didn't want to risk not having time to do my nails for you all this evening so I got this swatch thing planned for you !

So this beauty is Bikini, from the Dior Summer 2012 collection, containing two limited edition nail varnishes which are now incredibly hard to find (and go for megabucks on eBay) as they've been discontinued completely ! Lucky for me though, I managed to get my hands on both of the polishes, so I could give you all the pleasure of seeing them !

Bikini is a very hot pink coral nail polish, which is absolutely perfect for Summer ! It's bright and easy to wear by itself, and is also completely with the shimmer you can find in most Dior crème polishes (as I said yesterday) ! I love the shimmer you can see in the Dior polishes, very subtle yet just knowing it's there is quite satisfying !

Overall, I think that both Bikini and Saint Tropez go amazing well together as a collection (albeit a small collection, but considering the price, you wouldn't want to have to buy any more than just two to complete it) ! They're such great colours for Summer, and are perfect for wearing at the beach ! And also, have you seen how glossy these polishes are ? No top coat on either of them ! I have to say, I was impressed !

So same time tomorrow everyone, I'll have a fresh NOTD for you ! See you then !

Swatch : Dior - Saint Tropez

Good evening everybody ! So here I am with a scheduled post for you all for the "big surprise" I promised you all in yesterday's post ! I got the train over to near Portsmouth this morning so as to surprise my mother and sister who are over in England at the moment, and this is the only opportunity to see them before Christmas so it had to be done ! And therefore, I have a couple of swatches for you today and tomorrow, so here goes !

The two polishes I have for you this weekend are the Dior 2012 Limited Edition Summer nail polishes that were released, and are now discontinued and rather hard to find ! This is Saint Tropez, and I think that not only the colour but also the name of the polish make it really a really Summer-appropriate colour. I only wish I'd have had this colour to wear this Summer just gone !

So the colour is a really bright light turquoise colour, with the very faint shimmer you can always find in Dior crème polishes. I used two coats for this swatch, and application was very easy (as with all Dior polishes) once you get used to the different brush ! I can't decide whether I prefer the Dior brush or the standard OPI brushes, because the application is actually relatively similar !

And that's it for this post ! I'll be back same time tomorrow to show you the other half of this limited edition Summer collection, and as much as Saint Tropez is seriously sought after, I hope tomorrow's polish doesn't disappoint after this beauty !

Have a lovely evening everyone !

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 !