Hey there everyone ! So it's been two weeks since I posted any nails on here, so I thought I'd give you all a quick update and explain why I haven't been blogging ! As you may be aware, I started uni again at the beginning of the month, and the workload this year is proving to be a lot heavier than what I was used to last year ! I've barely found enough time to do my nails, let alone edit photos and write about them ! I hope you can understand my situation, but I will be making a concerted effort from now on to make time for blogging !
I've had the same design on for 10 days now, it's all chipping and wearing away at the tips, but I haven't had time to take it off yet so I'm just having to put up with it ! I have two presentations to do this week (one in Russian, one in European Studies) so I've been working my bum off all weekend trying to get them done and ready for Monday and Wednesday respectively. On Thursday I'm meeting up with my Mum and my sister as on Friday we're going to the Harry Potter Studio in London, which I'm SUPER excited about ! I'll definitely try and do my nails to mark the occasion, and of course, I'll do my best to post them on here !
So that's all I really wanted to tell you, I'll try and get a post up in the next couple of days so make sure you stay tuned for that ! See you all then ! :)
Sarah xx
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Sunday, 6 October 2013
NOTD : Autumn Stars and Stripes
Hey there everyone ! So I really need to get to bed so that I can read for a bit before I go to bed (yay uni work !), but I think I can just about manage to squeeze in a post for you all before I go ! I've been super productive today : I did 3 loads of washing, cleaned my room, did all my homework for uni for next week and still managed to fit in doing my nails after a whole hour of searching the internet for inspiration ! In the end it was my mum who came up with today's theme of stars and stripes, and I picked the bright-ish yet autumnal looking colour scheme for the nails !
I think these colours really work well together, especially as they're all from the OPI Euro Centrale collection, and despite the fact that these were released as Spring/Summer polishes, some of them still work quite well as Autumn shades ! I love having all mismatching nails but still keeping a theme that brings them all together, I think it makes for a really interesting design !
The three nail varnishes I used for today's design were OPI My Vampire is Buff, OPI Eurso Euro and OPI My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours. The latter polish shows up a lot redder in the photos than it actually is in real life - to me it looks far more orange which really adds to the autumnal look, it's a shame it hasn't shown up that way in the photos but oh well !
So I hope you liked today's design, it's really put me in the mood to do more looks to go with the current season - nothing beats autumn shades... except maybe pastels in Spring, let's just stick with Autumn at the moment though !
I'm off to bed now, see you all again soon ! Night night !
I think these colours really work well together, especially as they're all from the OPI Euro Centrale collection, and despite the fact that these were released as Spring/Summer polishes, some of them still work quite well as Autumn shades ! I love having all mismatching nails but still keeping a theme that brings them all together, I think it makes for a really interesting design !
The three nail varnishes I used for today's design were OPI My Vampire is Buff, OPI Eurso Euro and OPI My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours. The latter polish shows up a lot redder in the photos than it actually is in real life - to me it looks far more orange which really adds to the autumnal look, it's a shame it hasn't shown up that way in the photos but oh well !
So I hope you liked today's design, it's really put me in the mood to do more looks to go with the current season - nothing beats autumn shades... except maybe pastels in Spring, let's just stick with Autumn at the moment though !
I'm off to bed now, see you all again soon ! Night night !
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Breast Cancer Awareness Month : Moons and Tips
Hey there everybody ! So I apologise for the long gap between writing posts, but I've been busy getting back into the uni routine this week ! I managed to find some time to do my nails but I just completely ran out of time in the evenings ! Luckily I only had one lecture today so I've had plenty of time to do everything I wanted to and now have time to write this post for you !
So as you may already be aware, October is the official Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), a time during which people are encouraged to wear pink to show their support. I'm going to do my best to do as many pink nail art designs this month as possible, so we'll see where that takes us ! In any case I've got my first pink design for you today !
This design is kind of similar to the technique I used for my "R for Rasta" nails I did during the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge, except I've only used two different nail polishes as opposed to three ! Obviously the centre part is much thicker than in the Rasta design which makes the tips smaller, but I really like how it looks !
So these nails were done using two nail varnishes from the OPI Couture de Minnie collection which I received for my birthday : OPI Chic From Ears to Tail and OPI A Definite Moust-Have. I really love pink nail varnishes as it's one of my favourite colours (I have a huge amount of pink shades in my stash), so I'm really pleased to be able to add these to my collection ! What colours do you have most of ?
So that's it for tonight, I need to do some work before I go to bed so I'll have to love you and leave you ! I hope you enjoyed my first design for BCAM, I really loved wearing these nails, although I re-did them this morning with another pink design I'll be showing you soon ! Ta ta for now everyone !
So as you may already be aware, October is the official Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), a time during which people are encouraged to wear pink to show their support. I'm going to do my best to do as many pink nail art designs this month as possible, so we'll see where that takes us ! In any case I've got my first pink design for you today !
This design is kind of similar to the technique I used for my "R for Rasta" nails I did during the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge, except I've only used two different nail polishes as opposed to three ! Obviously the centre part is much thicker than in the Rasta design which makes the tips smaller, but I really like how it looks !
So these nails were done using two nail varnishes from the OPI Couture de Minnie collection which I received for my birthday : OPI Chic From Ears to Tail and OPI A Definite Moust-Have. I really love pink nail varnishes as it's one of my favourite colours (I have a huge amount of pink shades in my stash), so I'm really pleased to be able to add these to my collection ! What colours do you have most of ?
So that's it for tonight, I need to do some work before I go to bed so I'll have to love you and leave you ! I hope you enjoyed my first design for BCAM, I really loved wearing these nails, although I re-did them this morning with another pink design I'll be showing you soon ! Ta ta for now everyone !
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Tutorial : Rose Floral (Alphabet Nail Art Challenge)
Good evening everyone ! I'm back in Bath now and I had totally forgotten that I hadn't actually scheduled a post for today, but luckily I prepared the tutorial image the other day while I was still in Salzburg ! I start back at uni tomorrow so I don't know how often I'll be posting anymore, but I will still do my best to post whenever I can ! Obviously I won't be stopping painting my nails, but work has to come first and so I'll just have to wait and see what I'm able to fit in ! My nails need painting tomorrow in any case because I've been wearing the same design for 10 (!!!!!) days now, and my nails have grown so much it just looks weird with loads of bare nail near the cuticles !
Anyway, today I've got the final tutorial of this marathon weekend of step-by-step designs for you, and it's another one of the popular designs from the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge, for which a lot of people asked for a tutorial ! Today's tutorial is for the "F for Floral" design, the one with the roses, it's a very abstract way of painting them, just using quite a lot of different colours to add depth to the flowers, so it's not too difficult at all ! Here's a quick photo reminder of the design :
So here's the tutorial for this design, you can use whatever colour scheme you want of course !
1. Start with your choice of base colour. I used OPI My Vampire is Buff.
2. Use a nail art brush with your darkest coloured nail polish from your colour scheme to paint on some round blobs with some frilly bits around the edges. I used OPI Dim Sum Plum.
3. Using one of the other colours from your choice of nail polishes, add some lines to the frilly blobs with a nail art brush. I used OPI Strawberry Margerita (very subtle).
4. Do the same again with another colour. I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama.
5. And again with your lightest colour. I used OPI Steady as She Rose.
6. Using your lightest green polish of choice, paint the shape you would like your leaves to be with a nail art brush. I used OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me.
7. Leave some light green around the edges, and fill in the centre of each leaf using a slightly darker green nail polish and a nail art brush. I used OPI Jade is the New Black.
8. Do the same again using your darkest green. I used OPI Live and Let Die.
9. Put some top coat on and you're all done !
I hope that you all like this tutorial, it's pretty much all about the layering to give the depth to the design, so it doesn't really matter what colours you use, just as long as you use plenty of different shades !
Anyway, today I've got the final tutorial of this marathon weekend of step-by-step designs for you, and it's another one of the popular designs from the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge, for which a lot of people asked for a tutorial ! Today's tutorial is for the "F for Floral" design, the one with the roses, it's a very abstract way of painting them, just using quite a lot of different colours to add depth to the flowers, so it's not too difficult at all ! Here's a quick photo reminder of the design :
So here's the tutorial for this design, you can use whatever colour scheme you want of course !
1. Start with your choice of base colour. I used OPI My Vampire is Buff.
2. Use a nail art brush with your darkest coloured nail polish from your colour scheme to paint on some round blobs with some frilly bits around the edges. I used OPI Dim Sum Plum.
3. Using one of the other colours from your choice of nail polishes, add some lines to the frilly blobs with a nail art brush. I used OPI Strawberry Margerita (very subtle).
4. Do the same again with another colour. I used OPI Sparrow Me the Drama.
5. And again with your lightest colour. I used OPI Steady as She Rose.
6. Using your lightest green polish of choice, paint the shape you would like your leaves to be with a nail art brush. I used OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me.
7. Leave some light green around the edges, and fill in the centre of each leaf using a slightly darker green nail polish and a nail art brush. I used OPI Jade is the New Black.
8. Do the same again using your darkest green. I used OPI Live and Let Die.
9. Put some top coat on and you're all done !
I hope that you all like this tutorial, it's pretty much all about the layering to give the depth to the design, so it doesn't really matter what colours you use, just as long as you use plenty of different shades !
Saturday, 28 September 2013
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 !
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 !
Friday, 27 September 2013
Tutorial : Triangles (Alphabet Nail Art Challenge)
Good afternoon everyone ! I'm writing this post early today as I'll have lots of packing to do later, so seeing as we're in the hotel room now (we went into town this morning, have been inside as it's been raining a lot this afternoon) I decided that I'd be better off posting this now ! I've got tutorials for you all the way through until Sunday, so I hope you enjoy them ! The three I'll be posting over the weekend are all for designs from the Alphabet Nail Art Challenge, and today's is from the "T for Triangles" prompt ! Here's a quick reminder of the original design :
You can choose whatever colour combinations you wish, just as long as you have 4 different colours, plus a white nail polish ! So here's what you've got to do to replicate this design :
1. Start by applying your base colour. I choose to use my lightest colour for the base as it makes painting the lines on top easier. I used two coats of OPI Steady as She Rose.
2. Use a nail art brush to paint on a random thick chunky line with your first colour across your nail. It can look however you want it to ! I used OPI Dim Sum Plum.
3. Do the same again with your second colour just over your first line. There's no need to be perfect here, it's fine to change the way your lines look ! I used OPI Can't Find my Czechbook.
4. Now do it again over the second line with your third colour. Leave a gap between your first line and then paint a new line underneath that in your same third colour. I used P2 Who Cares.
5. Carry on with the same sequence of colours until you have filled your nail.
6. Using white nail polish and a nail art brush, paint on the outline of a triangle which will be your chevron. I do this by looking at my nail and just making a little dot as a marker for where I want the point to be ! I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.
7. Fill it in !
8. Add some top coat, and you're all done !
If you want to do your nails like the accents on my thumb and ring fingers like in the original design, start by painting your white base, then paint on the chevron using what your base colour would have been for the other nails, in my case it was OPI Steady as She Rose. Continue by using your other colours to make your lines inside the chevron with the same sequence of colours as in the normal design. Don't worry if you go over the edges, as you can always go over the sides with your white polish to make it neat again !
So as you can see this isn't really so much a triangles design as it is a stripes and chevron design, but I've named it my "triangles tutorial" as that was what the original title was ! I really hope you've enjoyed this tutorial, and stay tuned for more over the next couple of days !
You can choose whatever colour combinations you wish, just as long as you have 4 different colours, plus a white nail polish ! So here's what you've got to do to replicate this design :
1. Start by applying your base colour. I choose to use my lightest colour for the base as it makes painting the lines on top easier. I used two coats of OPI Steady as She Rose.
2. Use a nail art brush to paint on a random thick chunky line with your first colour across your nail. It can look however you want it to ! I used OPI Dim Sum Plum.
3. Do the same again with your second colour just over your first line. There's no need to be perfect here, it's fine to change the way your lines look ! I used OPI Can't Find my Czechbook.
4. Now do it again over the second line with your third colour. Leave a gap between your first line and then paint a new line underneath that in your same third colour. I used P2 Who Cares.
5. Carry on with the same sequence of colours until you have filled your nail.
6. Using white nail polish and a nail art brush, paint on the outline of a triangle which will be your chevron. I do this by looking at my nail and just making a little dot as a marker for where I want the point to be ! I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.
7. Fill it in !
8. Add some top coat, and you're all done !
If you want to do your nails like the accents on my thumb and ring fingers like in the original design, start by painting your white base, then paint on the chevron using what your base colour would have been for the other nails, in my case it was OPI Steady as She Rose. Continue by using your other colours to make your lines inside the chevron with the same sequence of colours as in the normal design. Don't worry if you go over the edges, as you can always go over the sides with your white polish to make it neat again !
So as you can see this isn't really so much a triangles design as it is a stripes and chevron design, but I've named it my "triangles tutorial" as that was what the original title was ! I really hope you've enjoyed this tutorial, and stay tuned for more over the next couple of days !
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Helen Dardik Week : Swan Song
Evening all ! The weather has been pretty miserable today here in Salzburg, so we stayed in for a few hours this afternoon, but still went out in to town this morning ! There was an amazing farmers' market we had no idea about, which was selling all sort of amazing food - mainly cheese and meat, but there were loads of vegetable stores and pretty autumnal floral wreaths on stands - it was just so colourful ! We fought the rain for a while and did a bit of shopping in the old town and then we went for a coffee (a hot chocolate in my case !), where my mum had a very nice looking slice of Black Forest gateau !
Today is the last day of my Helen Dardik Week series, and it's going out with a bang ! It seems appropriate that the title of this pattern is "Swan Song", since this is the final design in the series ! This is the design that is on a par in first place with the design I posted yesterday, although my mum has admitted that this is her favourite !
When I chose to replicate this pattern I was originally set on painting the swans, the flowers, however, ended up really catching my eye and, knowing me, I of course went down the floral route ! The two different beige nail polishes I've used for this design aren't as contrasted as they are in the original pattern, but I do like the subtlety of it ! I added the tiny flowers on at the end because I thought the design needed something more than just the big flowers, and I really think the orangey centres bring this design to life !
I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff for this design and then painted the big black stamens with American Apparel Hassid. The petals were done using OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, with little accents of American Apparel T-Shirt on the ends and in the black parts. The little flowers were done using American Apparel Hassid and Essie Meet Me at Sunset.
So what do you all think then ? Which design has been your favourite from this week ? I'm glad I was able to wear this design for a couple of days before having to change it, as it was the last design I painted for this series when I was preparing it all back at the beginning/middle of the month ! I'm still torn as to which design is my favourite between this one and yesterday's design !
I need to go and get ready for bed now, but I'll be back again tomorrow, this time with a new tutorial for you all ! See you then !
Today is the last day of my Helen Dardik Week series, and it's going out with a bang ! It seems appropriate that the title of this pattern is "Swan Song", since this is the final design in the series ! This is the design that is on a par in first place with the design I posted yesterday, although my mum has admitted that this is her favourite !
When I chose to replicate this pattern I was originally set on painting the swans, the flowers, however, ended up really catching my eye and, knowing me, I of course went down the floral route ! The two different beige nail polishes I've used for this design aren't as contrasted as they are in the original pattern, but I do like the subtlety of it ! I added the tiny flowers on at the end because I thought the design needed something more than just the big flowers, and I really think the orangey centres bring this design to life !
I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff for this design and then painted the big black stamens with American Apparel Hassid. The petals were done using OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, with little accents of American Apparel T-Shirt on the ends and in the black parts. The little flowers were done using American Apparel Hassid and Essie Meet Me at Sunset.
So what do you all think then ? Which design has been your favourite from this week ? I'm glad I was able to wear this design for a couple of days before having to change it, as it was the last design I painted for this series when I was preparing it all back at the beginning/middle of the month ! I'm still torn as to which design is my favourite between this one and yesterday's design !
I need to go and get ready for bed now, but I'll be back again tomorrow, this time with a new tutorial for you all ! See you then !
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
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 !
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 !
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
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 !
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 !
Monday, 23 September 2013
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 !
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 !
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