Helen Dardik Week : Botanical Fantasy

Hey there guys ! So today has been a very eventful day - we caught the train to go to Vienna for the day (well it only ended up being about 6 hours, but it was still very very very fun) ! I thought it was very similar to Prague (except here I could actually understand the language), as a lot of the old architecture was still amazingly in tact, plus the fact that it pretty much every building had a unique characteristic about it ! I'd definitely go back again - there's so much to do there that we obviously weren't able to do due to time retraints, the only problem was that it was very very expensive there !

We're moving on to my final two designs in the Helen Dardik Week series, and I've got my two favourites left to show you still ! I'm not sure I could choose which one is my true favourite, so I've decided that they're both joint first place ! Today's design is inspired by Helen Dardik's "Botanical Fantasy" pattern, which is probably my favourite of all of them !

There are so many flowers on the original patterns that I could have chosen for this design, but I decided that all the bigger ones were quite similar to other flowers I chosen previously for this series' nail designs so in the end I went for one of the smaller, less noticeable flowers. You can actually spot them quite easily in all of the original patterns, but I think it's usually the bigger ones that initially catch your eye !

For this design I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff, then for the flowers I used OPI Planks A Lot, OPI Funky Dunkey, OPI You Don't Know Jacques, P2 Hug Me and P2 Summer to Go. The leaves were done with the usual OPI Mermaids Tears and OPI Jade is the New Black. I'm glad I chose to do this colour combination, with the two different purples, although I do like the alternative reddish/pink combination in one of the other pictures of the pattern !

All in all this is definitely right up there with some of my favourite designs ever - I really love the way each nail is different but still the same ! This is a type of floral design I would do again, the combination of the light and dark shades for the petals is really nice in my opinion ! What do you all think ?

Time for bed again now, we were up super early (although I spent most of our time on the train sleeping) and I'm really tired now ! Night night everyone, see you same time tomorrow for the final design in my Helen Dardik series ! Byeeeeeee !

Helen Dardik Week : Summer Gardens

Hello everybody ! I need to do this post really quickly as I still need to dry my hair before going to bed - we're getting up really early tomorrow to catch a train to Vienna for the day ! Today we took a cable car up to Untersberg, a 1,973m high moutain right on the border between Austria and Germany ! There were some really amazing views, looking way out over the Alps and also back down on to the city of Salzburg.

I've got probably my least favourite of the designs I've done for my Helen Dardik Week to show you today, it's still an OK design, I just prefer all of the others I've done ! Today's design is inspired by the "Summer Gardens" pattern from August this year.

Looking back at the original inspiration-image, I sort of regret not having done one of the other flowers that feature in it. There are loads of different flowers on there that I could have chosen, but then I suppose my flowers do look okay in comparison to the original look of them on the pattern !

So I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff for this design, then I moved on to painting the flowers using OPI Big Apple Red, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, American Apparel Office and Butter London Royal Navy. For the leaves I used (I'm pretty sure) OPI Mermaids Tears and OPI Jade is the New Black. There's also, if you look very closely, some little white teardrops that I painted on as they're in the pattern, but you can't really see them very well at all ! I think it's the navy blue stamens on this one that ruin the look - they look really dainty on the original pattern but on my nails I just think they look a bit "meh" !

So that's it for today ! I'm going to go and dry my hair and then go to sleep ! I'm so worn out from all that walking I've been doing today ! But don't worry, I'll be back again tomorrow, and there are only two designs left which are both my favourites of all the designs I've done this week, so don't miss out ! Byeeeee !

Helen Dardik Week : Joyous Bloom

Hey there everyone ! Today in Salzburg we went on the Sound of Music tour ! It's probably my mum's favourite film of all time, so retracing the locations where different scenes were filmed was an obvious must-do for this holiday ! We already saw the gardens and steps/fountains where they sand "Do Re Mi" (for those who have seen the film), but today's tour took us to see the pavilion where they sing "16 Going on 17", the lake where they fell out of the boat and the church where they get married, very eventful ! We also saw some absolutely stunning views from driving up through all the mountains and in to the lake district !

Today I've got another installment in the Helen Dardik designs, this one is probably up there with my favourites, maybe third place behind two of which I've still got to show you ! This particular design is inspired by the "Joyous Bloom" pattern, but I've reverted to only doing one of the flowers from the huge amount there is to choose from !

The background colour I chose from the final picture of the patterns in the link to Helen Dardik's blog, I thought it made a change from the usual light off-white/beigey colour I've used for almost every pattern this week ! I improvised with the leaves a bit, not wanting to do anything fancy but then not wanting to leave it plain - I chose instead to add some simple leaves and stems to each flower for that extra bit of colour it gives !

So for this floral nail design I started with a base of OPI Skull and Glossbones, then the flowers were done using OPI Funky Dunkey, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, OPI Big Apple Red and OPI My Vampire is Buff (I think, for the little stamen dots), then for the leaves and stems I used OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me. I was surprised to see how well the green leaves came though, and I thought it might be alright just to do leaves on a couple of nails, but I'm glad I did something to each nail !

I think the bright colourful folowers really stand out against the dull grey background, and I especially love the huge purple stamens - it reminds me of the red floral nails I did witht the huge centres, I think they look awesome !

Time for me to get ready for bed again ! Time flies when you're having fun ! Stayed tuned for tomorrow's nails ! See ya then !

Helen Dardik Week : Botanical Asylum

Hellooooooo everybody ! We've just come back from a very nice dinner at the Mozartplatz, both my mum and I had beef broth with a cheese dumpling to start and then pork wiener schnitzel with potatoes and salad - very yummy ! We did our own little walking tour around Salzburg today, lots of walking up and down steps and slopes so our legs are seriously knackered now !

I've got another Helen Dardik nail design for you today, inspired by her "Botanical Asylum" pattern. I ended up going for the colour scheme on the right of the last picture on that link, as I thought the light blue colour worked really well as a background, and I preferred the way they all went together.

This design probably took me the longest out of all of the designs I'm going to show you for this Helen Dardik series, mainly because I decided to do a completely different look on each nail ! My favourite part of this design is definitely the little white mistletoe type leaves that you can see at the tip of my index nail and at the cuticle end of my ring finger.

I started off with a base of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, and then the flowers and leaves were all done using American Apparel T-Shirt, China Glaze Man Hunt, OPI Big Apple Red and OPI Sparrow Me the Drama. I think this design is probably more impressive when you look at it at the same time as the pattern it's inspired by, as you can see where all the different bits came from on the actual pattern !

So what do you all think ? Do you enjoy making your nails all completely different in one same design or do you find it takes too long to do ? I really like the way it all ties together, but then again I do love it when they all properly match !

I need to go and dry my hair now before I go to sleep, so I'll see you all again, same time tomorrow !

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 !

Helen Dardik Week : The Smell of Summer

Good evening everyone ! So I'm currently sitting in bed in a Premier Inn near to Gatwick airport where I'm staying the night with my mum before we head off (incredibly early) tomorrow morning to catch our flight to Salzburg ! I had literally no time left before we left France on Tuesday to schedule more than 2 posts for you, so the laptop is coming with me Austria so that I am able to keep you up-to-date every day with all the nail designs I've prepared !

I've decided to do a "Helen Dardik Week", inspired by an awesome illustrator who has done loaaaaaads of different patterns and prints on her blog. You may remember the Helen Dardik Red Flowers design I did last week, and it was those nails that inspired me to carry on with these amazing patterns ! I've got a whole seven days of these designs to show you over the next week, some of which I really really fell in love with, and I'll be showing you the first of those today !

Today's flowers are inspired by a pattern called "The Smell of Summer", which looks quite similar to the pattern I drew inspiration from for my red floral last week. These nails took quite a while to do, mainly because I was procrastinating at the time, but even if I hadn't have been procrastinating it still would have taken a long time !

So I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then for the petals I used OPI Strawberry Margerita, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama and OPI Big Apple Red, with American Apparel Hassid for the little stamens. For the stems I used American Apparel Hunter, and it could have done with some extra shading really but I'd lost interest by that point and couldn't be bothered to add anything more to it !

And that's it ! I do like these nails and I was sad to take them off, especially as they'd taken me such a long time to do them. At least it's a new type of flower I've never painted before which was a challenge ! Definitely not my usual floral shapes ! What do you all think ?

I need to dry my hair now and then go to bed, need an early night before my alarm goes off at an incredibly antisocial time in the morning ! Night night, see you all again tomorrow !

Ford Retail "Glam It Up a Gear" with Models Own - Fiesta Nail Polish Collection

Hello everybody ! So today I've got some swatches of the new nail polish shades that Models Own have released in partnership with Ford Retail for Autumn/Winter 2013, available only during the month of September. The three shades in this collection have been fashioned to compliment their corresponding Ford Fiesta counterparts, and with just a few simple steps they can be yours as well !

Both Models Own and Ford Retail have teamed up with Glam It Up a Gear so that you can get your hands on these bespoke nail varnishes. All you need to do is fill out the form on the Glam It Up a Gear website to request a Ford Fiesta test drive. Once you've done that then just head off to your chosen car showroom at a Ford Retail dealership and your nail varnishes will be posted off to you (if you haven't got your driving license yet then you could always ask your parents) !

Now, on to the swatches (all of these are two coats, no top coat) !

Models Own - Hot Magenta

First up is Hot Magenta, a deep wine/burgundy shade with a pinky reflection brought through by a fine purple, pink and red shimmer. This is what I would call a typical Autumn shade, one you see around with many variations but along the same line. The formula on this polish was a little on the thick side but wasn't a real problem to work with !

Models Own - Candy Blue

Next up is Candy Blue, probably my favourite shade from this collection ! It's not a colour that I would usually go for, but wearing it just proves me completely wrong ! This is a seriously bright blue with LOADS of silvery shimmer running through it which makes it really reflective. The application for this polish was a dream and was very nice to work with, and there was no clean-up needed !

Finally we have Fashionista, an almost duochrome golden shade, which sometimes can lean towards an olive-y green colour when you look at it from an angle. This formula for this was a little on the thin side, but the second coat got everything to the right opacity. The only complaint I'd have about this one is the visible brushstrokes, but on the other hand I've been wearing this colour all day with some top coat on and you really can't notice the brushstrokes anymore unless you look really closely !

So those are all of the polishes, you know what you've got to do to get hold of them ! They're definitely must-have colours for the coming seasons, particularly for the party-season which will be coming up soon, Candy Blue would be a spectacular shade to wear out !

I hope you've enjoyed these swatches, I'll see you back here again tomorrow evening ! Ta ta !

Tutorial : Polka Dot Drips

Hey guys ! So today I've got a tutorial for you all (the first of plenty over the next few days) and it's for the Polka Dot Drips design I posted last week ! Here's a quick photo as a reminder, just in case you missed it !

And here's what you have to do to get this look :

1. Start with a base of your choice of white (or off-white) nail polish. I used American Apparel T-Shirt.
2. Use a dotting tool (or a bobby pin, or a pin, or a toothpick) to make a polka dot pattern in your choice of colour. I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama.
3. Using a nail art brush, start drawing a line that swoops down towards the base of your nail. I use black acrylic paint for this, but you can use black nail polish if you prefer (I prefer the ease of application with a nail brush with acrylic rather than polish).
4. Carry on painting the line with another swoop towards the base of the nail and join to the other side of your nail.
5. Fill it in !
6. Add a couple of dashes using white nail polish to give your drips a cartoon effect. I used American Apparel T-Shirt.
7. Top coat it, and you're all done !

So that's all there is to it ! Send me photos of your designs or send me a link if you use this tutorial so I can have a look and see what you come up with ! It's a really forgiving design in that it's quite easy to just add a bit more black around the edges to even things up, and also, top coat does wonders to any design, honestly !

Tomorrow I should have some swatches for you on here, so stay tuned for that ! See you then !

Weather Nails

Hey there everyone ! So by now I'll probably be eating out with my Mum at a restaurant in Bath (probably Gourmet Burger Kitchen, there's no arguing with 40% student discount), having travelled all the way over from France on the ferry (and catching the early morning ferry so having to get up at 5:30am, ugh) and moved all my stuff into my new home for the academic year ! Today I have some nails I came up with a couple of weeks ago... guess what it was inspired by !

So the weather has been really changeable both here in France and in the UK over the past two weeks or so, suggesting the start of Autumn and what better way to honour the beginning of the new season than to do some changeable weather nails ?!

For the sunshine nails I started with a base of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and filed in the sun with P2 Hug Me, for the rainy nails I used a base of OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam, P2 GLory and Essie Lapiz of Luxury, as well as a small dash of American Apparel T-Shirt. I used black acrylic paint for all the outlining and the little birds (the ones on my middle finger didn't turn out great, the acrylic paint was starting to dry up and started going lumpy).

My favourite nails are definitely the rainy ones, I love the way the shimmery grey/blue works as a background ! I'd definitely wear those rainy nails as one whole design ! Currently (as of Monday night), the weather looks like its going to be AWFUL and windy and pretty gross throughout most of the week so lucky me !

Tune in tomorrow for the first of my tutorials I have planned for you over the coming days ! See ya then ! Byeeeee !

NOTD : Giant Polka Dots

Good evening everyone ! Juuuuuust managing to squeeze in a post before I go up to bed after a super-busy day ! I helped my mum clip and beautify 4 of our dogs (we have four wire haired fox terriers and a jack russel), then did my nails, then had dinner, than re-organised my whole stash and moved it all in to my helmer, then watched What Remains (sooooo good, did any of you follow it ?) and now I'm finally here to write my post but it's almost midnight so I'd better get a move on !!!

So I've been wanting to do a giant polka dots design on my nails for ages but I suppose it always just slipped my mind when it came to thinking up new ideas ! But I've managed to finally do it now so all is good ! I didn't just want to do it over a simple plain colour so I did funky rough stripes underneath to add a bit of extra colour !

I started with a base of OPI Planks A Lot, then did the stripes using American Apparel Office, P2 Hug Me and OPI Sparrow Me the Drama. I then did the mega dots using American Apparel Hassid which took rather longer than I expected, probably because I had to do it with a nail art brush instead of a dotting tool, but hey ho !

And hey would you look at that - it's past midnight ! In any case I'd better go and get ready for bed seeing as I've got a busy day tomorrow packing all my stuff up to take back to uni ! I've also got a load of posts to write up for you (the first of which won't be posted until Tuesday, so no nails until then), so don't miss those !

See you all then ! Byeeeeeee !