NOTD - Leopard print nail art

What's this? Another nail of the day in less than a week? Amazing!

Hahah, well the devil makes work for idle hands... but only when they're nicely polished :)

I've been dying to try this style out but I didn't really have the time for it. I'm waiting for a job to start so I've got a good month of doing very little - which will mean a lot of NOTD posts, especially as I'm not allowed to wear polish at work!

Base coat - Accessorize 'Aquamarine', Spots - (freehand with nail art brush) Barry M 'Gold' with Claires Accessories 'Black' nail art pen accents.

This style looks great and is so easy to do; just paint your base coat on, then when dry do random blobs of your spot colour (as irregular as you can manage - if you have them it's easier to do this with a small nail art brush) and then when that's dry take a pin or a very skinny nail art brush to create a 'shadow' on each splodge. Sorted!

NOTD - Hearts and Shimmer

Being in a long distance relationship due to uni means that once again I won't see my boyfriend on Valentines day - not that we're massively fussed about celebrating it anyway. This doesn't mean I can't do nice love themed nails though!

Base - H + M 'Mon Amie' with H + M 'Snow White' layered over the top

Hearts - Barry M 'Red Glitter'

The hearts were really simple to do with a dotting tool - pick a medium sized ball, dip it in the red polish, and then dot a circle onto your nail. Dot another circle just opposite it and with any luck it'll form into a natural heart shape. If it doesn't or you want a more sharpened heart then get a smaller ball and make a point. 

Close up of the hearts

Twelve Days of Nailmas: Day 1

Hello all!

My little finger has finally grown long enough to paint so I am back on the polish wagon! Today's post is bought courtesy of the 'Twelve Days of Nailmas' challenge facebook group. Today is day 1, and I will (hopefully!) be posting a different nail look according to our nail version of The Twelve Days of Christmas from now up until Christmas eve roughly every other day.

Here's the full song if you want to join in:

Twelve Dots a Dotting

Eleven Copper Stripes

Ten Glitters Matted

Nine Glass Flecks Gleaming

Eight Presents Prancing

Seven Reds A Fading

Six Blues A Spotting

Five Gold Rings 

Four Gradients 

Three Silver French

Two Accent Nails

And

A Polish That Looks Like Berries.

So here is my polish that looks like berries! I am in love with this design, and will probably wear it again over the festive period! I twisted the rhyme slightly and went for holly decorated accent nails. 

Messy pre-clean up photo!

Base coat - Barry M 289 'Gold', Berries - No. 17 'Ruby Glitter', Leaves - Revlon Matt Suede 933 'Emerald City'. I did two coats of Barry M, then dotted the berries and leaves on top. 

Mini haul

I'm sure at some point I promised someone somewhere that I'd stop buying stuff, especially nail stuff... After cataloging my (somewhat modest) collection last week I'm certain it came out my mouth. Seems that that lasted about five minutes... Here's my mini haul from the last few weeks:

1) Chit Chat Lip Pencils 2) Models Own Beetlejuice Mini, 3) Rimmel Matte Top Coat,
4) Chit Chat 'Purple' varnish 5) Allura Nail Art Kit 6) Models Own Glitter Mini

First, two lip pencils from the Chit Chat line - find it in your local Poundstore! I'll review these in a later post so there's not much to say here apart from the colours are Fiery Red and Damson, and they cost £1 each. They're a blatent cheaper version of the chubby sticks that Clinique are currently advertising every time I turn the TV on.

Number 2 is my Models Own Beetlejuice mini, a set I am in LOVE with as the colours really pop and are absolutely stunning, both in the bottle and on your nails. The colours are from left to right; Pink Cocktail (exclusive to the mini collection), Golden Green and Pinky Brown. They apply so easily and only need one coat to look fantastic - which is great as these bottles are unfortunately definitely mini! These were in the ASOS sale for £5.50.

I couldn't resist number 3, the only matte top coat in any of the stores in my town... I was hoping to find a cheaper version of this as at £4.59 it's incredibly expensive for what I initially regarded as a gimicky top coat,  but the truth is it's worth every penny as it transforms nail colours to something completely different. I've been having lots of fun playing around with it and you can expect to see it feature in a few NOTD and manicures from here on!

Another Poundland bargain - I was originally only in Poundland to pick up a drink and see if I could find a bottle of their violet glitter nail varnish... Instead I found lipstick, nail art and this beautiful polish! As I have hardly any nice purples I had to add this to my collection. It's a lovely bright purple and I think it'll be great in autumn for transitioning between summer and winter.

Yes, number 5 came from Poundland as well. They had wheels with both flat backed beads and the glitter-y sequin things as well which to be honest look like a much neater and more practical storage option but it was either beads or sequins and I didn't want to have to make that choice; it'd be like choosing your favourite child. So far I haven't had much chance to play with the sequins but the beads are great for a bit of bling and seem to have the same properties as any other nail art beads so a definite bargain there!

And finally - number 6, the nail varnish set I'd leave my boyfriend for (not really! but it is really lovely) ;) So glittery, so beautiful, so easy to use and so much fun! Sigh. From left to right, the colours are; Emerald City, Scarlett Sparkle and Bluebell. This set was £4.50 in the recent ASOS sale - I'm not sure if they're still in  stock but if they are, go run and buy them now! You won't regret it.

Yes, I definitely fell off the 'not buying stuff' wagon... But it was a spectacularly glittery fall and I'll do it again! What do you think of the Poundland cosmetics range? Matte nail varnish - faux or fashion?

Storage solutions

I realised rather quickly a couple of weeks ago that my nail varnish collection had gone from 'acceptably scattered' to 'all over the place and in danger of breaking' - and with the addition of my new Models Own polishes, I needed somewhere decent to store it all. That might sound like an odd comment but most of my nail varnishes have been gifts or under £3 drug store bargains! Having a proper branded bottle or two around the place has left me wondering how exactly I could store them properly, efficiently and most importantly, safely. Bunging them all into a make up bag just wasn't cutting it; it was heavy, refused to do up and clinked rather ominously every single time I touched it. A disaster waiting to happen!

First, I thought about building myself a rack, such as the racks that you get in nail salons. Unfortunately I am not good at DIY and I don't have spare materials lying around - nor do I currently have the space to place or mount something of a considerable size. Secondly, my nail varnishes are all different brands and I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep them all in it! However along the way I found some great tutorials on how to make yourself a rack which I want to share with you. The first video is a big, wall mounted rack and the second is a smaller, desktop display stand.

Find it here

You can, of course, buy the second type off of Amazon and ebay, but there's no fun in that! For now, making myself a nail polish rack is sadly out (I may try something along the lines of the second video when I go back to uni though, if I have room on my desk). So I started looking into other forms of storage - some quick googling told me that by far one of the most popular storage solutions for nail varnish addicts out there is an Ikea product called a 'Helmer'. What's a Helmer? It's this nifty little thing...


It's very friendly looking, but again, as I pointed out I am massively limited on space (not to mention funds) in my bedroom at the moment. This article points out that they have many uses, and without a doubt the storage of nail varnish is not the most unusual one, which makes me want to buy many when I eventually get my own place and have them in every room. One for nail varnish, two as the legs to a craft desk, one for filing, one just for the sheer amusement of having another one in my house... sigh.

I thought about really useful boxes, an idea bought to my attention by the Super Gorgeous blog... and spice racks, a brain wave of my mum (and various other blogs) - both things that I think would work really well if I had the space to put them or the cash to buy them! Spice racks can be seen in use on Katies Beauty Blog - they look extremely cute and tidy next her make up collection.

Eventually I got a bit desperate and saddened by all the lovely wall mounted and drawer related storage options often displayed on nail varnish related blogs, and started to think there was no storage solution out there for me and my collection! It was then that a poster on one of the forums I use pointed out that she stores her nail varnish in an A4 document box. Hold on, I thought, I have one of them! So I ran upstairs and ditched all the documents out onto my bed (tidy I aint, especially not in times of great excitement) and retrieved it along with my make up bag of nail varnish.

Lo and behold, here is my new and improved nail varnish storage solution:

Eventually, I will organise these, and finish putting the colour dots on top of them. Eventually.

Yes! The solution was sitting in my bedroom all along. An A4 document box from W H Smiths, which you can buy in many different colours and styles (or indeed different retails) to match your room decor. Perfect. Plus it has the lovely side effect of making my collection appear quite small! Mine slides under my bed until I want it - next year at uni I plan to have it on my desk, which I won't feel guilty about as it'll be neatly out of sight! As for the fact that I won't be able to see them all at one time, well... I'm a little ashamed to admit this but I've written up an Excel sheet with all my nail varnishes on in colour order and I shall be consulting it whenever I buy a new one!

How do you store your nail varnish? I'm always on the look out for more interesting and colourful ways! Do you have a list of all your nail varnishes to keep track of them, or do you just buy what you like and hope you don't already have it?

P.S. What do you think of the new look of the blog? :) Drop me a comment and let me know!

Nail of the Week - Glitter gradient

I love this look, it's so simple and easy that anyone can do it. All you need is your nail varnishes! I used a base coat/top coat from Barry M, No. 17 Fast Finish in 'Moonstruck' and Models Own Glitter in 'Juicy Jules' (now possible one of my favourite nail varnishes out of my collection!). 'Moonstruck' is a lovely chrome silver and 'Juicy Jules' is a small glittery holochromatic white/iridescent polish.

The inspiration for this look came from various places; I've seen it done a lot recently on blogs and since my first attempt many months ago was so terrible I wanted to see if I could do it better. Secondly, I was in town today looking specifically for a silver chrome nail varnish and when I saw the new Models Own stand in my local Boots had buy one get one half price on nail varnishes, I couldn't resist 'Juicy Jules' to go with it. For my second nail varnish I picked up one that's been on my lust list since I found out about it and I can't wait to play with it - Yep, the Models Own Hed Kandi 'Ibiza Mix'. Eee! I'll do a post with that soon, trust me!

Anyway, on with the pictures. I'm afraid they really don't do the finished nails any justice, I was hoping for sun so I could get some sparkly pictures but alas it's been rainy and overcast all day. If it's nicer tomorrow I'll take some better pictures and update this post. Better pictures at the bottom which actually show you the glittery gradient!

It's so easy to do. All I did was a base coat in 'Moonstruck', then I painted a (thick with polish) line across the top of my nail in 'Juicy Jules' and wipe the excess polish off onto the inside of the bottle. Then I dragged the line down a bit so that it faded out and there was more polish at the top than the bottom. Wait for it to dry and whack a top coat on to smooth it out and voila! Beautiful, shimmery nails.

'Juicy Jules' would look fantastic over pretty much any colour, and I can't wait til Christmas turns up so I can layer it over icy blues and reds and greens! I think 'Moonstruck' would work really well for water marbling, which is something else I plan to try. What do you think?

Updated pictures:

These photos show rather better the act of gradienting the glitter and how it's done. They also show the massive amount of tip wear and chipping on my thumb and index finger - I'm fairly disappointed with that but it's so easy to fix that if I can be bothered I can restore my nails in no time!

Nail of the Week - Dotty Nails

Nice and simple! Got my dotting tool set through the post yesterday so I set about playing this morning.

Base colour - E.L.F 'Mint Cream'
Dots - NYC 'Pinstripe White'
Top coat - Miss Sporty Clear

Really simple and fun to do! All I did was paint a base colour on, wait for it to dry, then dot white spots on (in as regular a fashion as I could manage) and put a top coat on. Infinitely easier with a dotting tool and on my left hand than my right. Tried it with a cocktail skewer a while back and it worked but wasn't very easy or precise... The actual dotting tools are incredible and they only cost me £3 for a pack of 5 double ended ball tools.

What do you think? Are you dotty for spots? Or are they over done? Creamy pastels or heavy and dark bases?

Coming up next - that dress I promised pictures of :) x

Mauve and gold; an insight into an addiction!

First post, lets jump right in!

There's been a lot of buzz around the beauty blog/nail blog community at the moment about the free gift on this months edition of Marie Claire - a full sized bottle of Ciate nail polish in a choice of three shades (Bon Bon, a browny mauve colour, Purple Sherbert, a lilacy colour and Jelly Bean, a shocking pink).

There were no copies with Jelly Bean avaliable in my local newsagent, with just Bon Bon and Purple Sherbert on sale. Personally, I've never been a massive fan of purpley shades of nail varnish despite purple being my favourite colour, especially not pastel ones. £3.70 later and Bon Bon was mine! I'm still picking my way through the magazine, which is not one I'd normally bother even looking at on the shelf but it'd be nice to read in the bath I guess.

Whilst out on my expedition to town, I also bought poppy seeds (an amazing, miraculous discovery, which I shall cover in a later post), a lemon, some vegetables and three more bottles of nail varnish. Oops. That makes my (combined from buying, getting as freebies and receiving for my birthday) haul of nail varnish from the 26th of May to today a grand total of... 10 bottles? Eek. I think I have a problem. In my defence, the three bottles were on reduced price.. so today, I added a lovely brown, a metallic gold, a white and a beautiful deep blue to my collection.

Here's what I did with my free Ciate colour and the bottle of Accessorize metallic gold (picked up for half price in my Superdrug store, not sure if this is a nationwide offer or not though).

Despite the white balance issues, this is pretty true to life colourwise.

I'm really sorry for the quite frankly appalling photo and nails, my nice camera needs a) a new battery charger and b) a new memory card reader so until I get a job it's a tiny little point and shoot that has colour balance problems! My little finger got the brunt of the damage when I was rooting through a box to try and find cotton buds - as you can see, my nails hadn't quite set at that point. Bad me.

As you can see, I accented my ring finger with Accessorize polish in Jewel and I must say, I am really taken by it. It sits really nicely against Bon Bon and was so easy to apply - it says one coat polish on the bottle and by gum, it's true! The Ciate, unfortunately, I am not so massively impressed with. It was fairly easy to apply but even after half an hour hadn't hardened fully so my little finger and now my thumb finger have dented quite considerably. I'll keep it on for a few days to see how it wears and chips because I like the way it's turned out but if I didn't I'd probably lose it quite quickly (I'm fickle like that). Another complaint is that even though I applied two coats, it is still quite translucent on some of my fingers, which for a top end nail varnish is something that would bother me if I'd paid for it. I'm unsure whether I'll use the 25% off voucher in Marie Claire to get myself another colour of it as yet. I'll probably use it again though I really do adore this look!

My right hand. Not being a fan of symmetry, I decided to accent my index finger this time - and I love it!

I can't help but think that Bon Bon would be the perfect colour for day to day work, it is a lovely subtle colour and one that despite the issues I've noticed I can't help but like.

Did you buy Marie Claire just for the free gift? If so, how did you find it? Which colour did you go for (or could you not decide and buy all three?!)? Comment and let me know!

In my next few posts I'll reveal why the poppy seeds were so important, the other colours I bought today and what this blog is all about!