Day 8 *Black & White Challenge* - Peter Pan Collar

After a while of having a 'nail block' in terms of the Black & White Challenge, I finally came up with a bit of nail art that I thought was good enough to be in here. Although it's taken a while, I have a design for day 8 of the challenge which was to be 'inspired by fashion' and a recent fashion that has caught my eye is the 'Peter Pan Collar'. I see it everywhere and I love the look it adds to an outfit! You can look smart but quirky :) I don't have many items of clothing with this kind of collar, but I know I'll be investing in some very soon!

So here is my take on the Peter Pan Collar :)

To do this design, I used half moon stickers to create the crescent shape near my cuticles.
Nail varnishes: Base/Top Coat - Barry M, Black - Beauty UK, White - Barry M
Also a thin brush for details and to neaten up the collars.

This mani was pretty parallel in terms of style with my previous 'Tuxedo' post which you can find here.

And there you have it - essentially Peter Pan nails!
Thank you for reading :) x

Day 1:White Base With Black

Day2: Black Base With White

Day3: White/Black Inspired By A Band

Day 4: Black With Glitter

Day 5: Coloured Base With Black/White

Day 6: Gradient Base With Black
Day 7: Black/White Half Moon Manicure
Day 8: Black/White Inspired By Fashion

London 2012 Olympic Nails!

Hey guys!

So recently I've done my bit to support TEAM GB in the London Olympics 2012 and did my own design on my very own nails :D

Sadly, I don't have tickets to the event, though watching it on tv is exciting as it is. I genuinely didn't think I would be anywhere near this supportive or into the Olympics, as the prolonged build up to it was getting tedious. Though I'm fully involved and I must say I have had quite a few compliments on my nail efforts towards the Olympics :P

This is the extent that I went to... My orthodontist insisted
on team GB colours (minus the white - it turns a weird
colour when you eat) except she only did it on certain
teeth due to the straightness?!

The olympic circles did get a bit messy because I did them SO many times... But I kinda just
stuck with this attempt.

For this design, lots of various nail varnishes were used:

Sunshine - Rimmel, Jungle Fever - LA COLORS

Metallic Saturn - W7, Navy - Barry M

White - Barry M, Black - Beauty UK

Heart On Fire - Rimmel, Base/Top Coat - Barry M & studs

Was really looking forward to doing another manicure with something different on each nail and LOVE studs so had to include them on the gold pinky finger for team gb :)

I used my thin brush for the details and a dotting tool to help me apply the studs as I usually do with my studded blog posts. This one did take a while to be honest, accuracy and patience was needed! Though luckily I had a day free to just sit, paint and watch the Olympiads on my telly :)

I'm pretty impressed with Team GB and their successes, at the moment they're 4th in the table of medals!

So lets all hope that Team GB get far in the London 2012 Olympics! :)

Shattered Dreams

So my 18th birthday was on July 3rd and I got some new 'full nail' stamps! Was immensely excited to use them and I finally have a chance to do a post on them now :)

They're not the originals, but they work just as well and you can get them off of Amazon in a bundle for a good price ;) Really had trouble with picking one design to do today and I can't wait to use the rest :)

Here is my final design...

Apologies for the messyness!
I actually made my very own light box with a few techniques I learnt in my
Photography AS in terms of lighting and it's made a brilliant difference to
my photos :) Also they're very easy to make! Search on google and plenty of people
have tutorials?

Stamping plate I used

LOVE the shattered effect - hence 'Shattered Dreams' ?

Thought this post was pretty self explanatory? :P

Models Own 'Indian Ocean'

Hey guys, I've realised that I have been doing a lot of swatch posts recently, but I discovered some nail varnishes that your eyes need to be exposed to! I went on a little shopping trip to Westfield Stratford recently and acquired my very first Models Own nail varnish and yes... I was very happy to now have one in my possession!! :D
I really do love this polish and have seen it being swatched on various blogs, but I thought I would post it layered with a few different colours and experiment a little. So here it is... 'Indian Ocean' by Models Own as part of the 'Beetlejuice Collection'.

As you can see on the finger next to the pinky, the nail varnish itself is pretty sheer
and so it's one of those which needs to be layered for the full effect,
though I actually didn't mind it on it's own. Didn't really need a top coat as it's smooth
enough when dry! Isn't a pain to get off either, even though it has glitter.
Nail varnish used: Black by Beauty UK, Sunshine by Rimmel, Misty Jade by
Rimmel & White by Barry M

The only negative thing when wearing 'Indian Ocean' on it's own is that because it's sheer, it shows your white nail tip and so sometimes it can make your nails look a little dirty. Though over all, I think it's a pretty good buy - you get a different effect depending on which colour you use as a base. I'm not into Pink to be honest, but I think it looks pretty good layered on top of the black - would be useful for a galaxy inspired nail design? ;) My personal favourite would probably be with the Misty Jade base. For each of these, I put one coat of the coloured base and 2 coats of 'Indian Ocean'.

You can usually find them in stores like Superdrug/Boots for £5.00 of on their website :)
http://www.modelsownit.com/

Day 7 *Black & White Challenge* - Moonies Are Back!

'Moonies Are Back!'

Today's mani theme was the famous half-moon manicure! But with some sort of black/white... I think I'm gonna give up apologising about the lateness because you all know... The challenge essentially has actually finished, but my posts are not quite there yet :P
Here's my little take on this theme, hope you like it - it's pretty self explanatory.

These are the nail varnishes I used, along with a small headed dotting
tool and some circular half-moon mani stickers that Nada
kindly gave me <3

I actually really liked the way this design looked, no matter how simple it is. I especially like the way the w7 'Metallic Saturn' looks with the black. I know I'll be taking my time in doing this one next time I'm rockin' the little black dress next time I'm out :)

I know this post was pretty short, thought I would explain it all with photos this time, saves you all reading my rambling thoughts that are typed out on here ;)
Let me know what you think of this little number!

Check out Nada's & Charlotte's posts here.

Day 1:White Base With Black

Day2: Black Base With White

Day3: White/Black Inspired By A Band

Day 4: Black With Glitter

Day 5: Coloured Base With Black/White

Day 6: Gradient Base With Black
Day 7: Black/White Half Moon Manicure


Adios amigos x

Day 6 *Black & White Challenge* - Gradient Shmadient

'Gradient Shmadient'

Apologies for the late post!
I had a total creative block with this one and I hit smack. bang. into a brick wall alright :( Nevertheless I had to come up with something, so I rocked this little number on my nails for the gradient base with black part of the challenge! Not the biggest fan of the way it turned out, but hey ho, here you go ;)

For this design I decided to crack out my stamping plates - the same one that Nada used for her Day 1! Its a pretty unusual pattern and I quite like it :) Bit difficult to get it to fit your entire nail though, unless you have small/thin nails - which I kinda do! But not thin enough...?

These are the nail polishes I used!

Didn't really take me too long, but if you're going to apply stamps over a gradient base, you should ensure that the gradient base is fully dry otherwise it will all stick together and smudge and you won't get a good effect :( Patience is a virtue! :)

Hope you enjoy & thanks for reading! x

Day 1:White Base With Black

Day2: Black Base With White

Day3: White/Black Inspired By A Band

Day 4: Black With Glitter

Day 5: Coloured Base With Black/White

Day 6: Gradient Base With Black

You can see Nada's & Charlotte's here.

Day 5 *Black & White Challenge* - Fit For A Queen!

'Fit For A Queen'

"There ain't no black in the Union Jack" - Gilroy, Sociologist.
Well, there is in mine and an accent nail at that, too! You guessed it... My design for Day 5 has indeed been inspired by the Queen's Jubilee on June 5th, so I thought I would pay my tributes to that in terms of nails :) This time, I really did get creative and it's by far one of my favourite nail designs!

Here are the nail varnishes I used for this!

TADAAAA!

This was totally free hand using my nifty little brushes and I decided to jazz it up with an accent nail - black, white and glittery union jack, just to add some presence. I think the Queen would be impressed? ;)

Usually people ask me: "Did that take you long?!" and I often reply with "Nope, not really" but for reals, this time IT TOOK LONGGGGGG. Like forever. Like over an hour.

So folks, don't try this one out if you really don't have patience :P (Which I don't usually have a lot of surprisingly...)
Recently, the weather has been uber kind to us in England! SO HOT. Considering its only May! But I'm not complaining :) So I embraced the sun with open arms, some friends, a picnic blanket and of course... Starbucks! The nails have really matched the atmosphere where I live, everyone's getting patriotic and all summery and I love it!

Me and my chum Hazel sunnin' up :)

I decided that my nails matched what I wore in terms of British style - Burberry/Tartany cropped trousers and a cute little cherry flow skirt. I guess I really embraced the 70's/80's and 50's look whilst these babies were my nails!

Hope you all liked this design just as much as I do :) Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
You can check out Nada & Charlotte's post here.

Day 1:White Base With Black

Day2: Black Base With White

Day3: White/Black Inspired By A Band

Day 4: Black With Glitter

Day 5: Coloured Base With Black/White

So get festive & enjoy! x