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/

Whatever You Want To Call This Post!

I thought it was about time I blogged about an amazing night (and next day!) filled with my nearest and dearest beautiful people, music, dancing (including the macarena...), cupcakes, dresses, suits, heels and of course the inevitable ACHING FEET.

You know when men feel they have to assert their manlyness by fighting... or whatever it is they do? Well, I guess a woman is expressing her femininity by testing her endurance of how long she can keep her massive heels on during a night full of dancing :P

The incrediable night I am talking about is indeed my Year 13 Leavers Prom! I just want to begin the tale by sharing my love for all of the beautiful ladies who have kept me sane (or insane... whichever way you wanna take that?!) for the past 7 years and although we said all of this during Graduation - it really has been the best 7 years of my life! :) <3

So without further ado, I ought to show you my prom nails, of course...

Apologies for the lack of photos of my actual nails lol and the quality of them - I was overwhelmed by getting ready and the night in general.

I used: Electric Beige by Miss Sporty, Black by Beauty UK & Studs

I think the Electric Beige really complimented the colour of my dress - it was a kind of peachy lace dress:

Looks kinda pink here and I hate pink :(

Pre prom prep ;) - Nicole & I <3

It was a brilliant night followed by the next day at my friend Nicole's house with all the girls - we had a massive 'swapsies' session involving loads of unwanted clothes and jewellery. I came out of it successfully having given away stuff I didn't want to either friends or charity and received a lovely dress, cardigan, leotard  and accesories :) I seriously recommend it for groups of girlfriends as a fun day as well as a productive one! Luckily it was a sunny day and was heavily inspired by Gok Wan ;)

My friend makes amazingly yummy and
yummy looking cupcakes! For a batch &
price quote - contact me :)

I also thought I would show you what's been going on with my nails in the mean time as I've been a bit random with them when going out to BBQ's and other events (again sorry for the lack of quality photographs - it was a rush!)

I got a little experimental and decided to apply blue lace to
my nails - all you need is a base colour, top coat, lace and a pair
of scissors!

And here are my strawberry nails :) All you need are the right
colours and a dotting tool

So I've decided that I'm going to end this random post with another random little thing and leave you all with a photo of my lovely holiday to Cornwall :)

Revlon's Matte 'Emerald City'

Hey guys!

I'm not a massive fan of swatch posts, even though a lot of nail bloggers do them often - just think they're a little boring! :( But I think the occassional swatch on a nail varnish that is a bit different is useful. So today's swatch post will be on one I did a while ago of one of new favourite nail varnishes. This one is called Emerald City (Which I love! Because it reminds me of the best childhood film ever - The Wizard of Oz!) and it's part of Revlon's Matte Collection - my nail buddy Nada got this one for me, so many thanks to her :)

At first I wasn't too keen, it seemed pretty liquidy and kind of watery but once it was on my nails I instantly fell in love! Now I'm on a hunt for more matte polishes and top coats. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to buy a matte top coat, but I will get one and review it asap.

Natural light

I put on two coats in this swatch, because I wanted the Emerald Green to look real opaque and matte, it kinda makes people look twice - you don't expect a nail varnish to usually look so full and matte in a good way and I do like the effect of not having a gloss to your nail varnish. You could get away with just one coat and probably a matte top coat, but I wasn't entirely happy with that so I opted for a second. One thing I was also impressed with was the time it took to dry ... SO FAST! And so convenient!

Artificial Light - Flash

Natural Light

Totally recommend this nail varnish to everyone :) It's a really deep and rich colour and pretty much looks good with everything. Thanks for reading and I'll update you all in my next post on how my prom nails went and what I got up to :)

Goodnight x


Ps. I was totally meant to update you guys on my new hair! :)

After

Before

Golden Swirls

Hello from the land of revision zombies O_O
A few things have happened since I last posted on here causing delays and nail withdrawal symptoms, but I'm reunited again and boyyyy, does it feel good!
This has pretty much been my life for a good couple of months whilst I plowed through 5 exams - took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but I finally got there in the end gaining freedom on the afternoon of the 20th July. Literally felt like I had escaped house and daylight arrest after 94883647634 years...
I lived in a house of messy papers, became a caffeine addict, had permanently scraped back hair and was always in a state of grumpyness when someone interrupted my silence - all to play the dreaded waiting game until DOOMS DAY: 16th August (Results Day) I've never wanted anything so much in my life before, to be honest. Going to university and studying Law means getting one step closer to what I've always wanted to do, no matter how cliché it may sound! *soppy*

Anyway, now I feel as free as a bird, literally. I can finally spend my summer chillin', reading the books leisurely, complete the Assassin's Creed games, NAIL BLOG (of course!), spend time with loved ones and party for my 18th ;) (Which is only 9 days away!!) Revision period is always one of those times where even people who LOVE to eat like me, completely forget to due to lack of appetite and stress unfortunately so my friends and I treated ourselves to a well deserved pig out at Pizza Hut buffet straight after our last exam :)

So when I actually had a chance to make my nails look pretty, you can't imagine the amount of satisfaction I felt... Today's nails will be called 'Gold Swirls' because it's self explanatory! I really really like this design and it's actually quite simple when applying if you have the stamps and plates.

I know I've used this stamping plate a few times before but it's one of my favourites and I find that it makes really unique effects when mixing up the colour schemes. At the moment, these are the two colours that I think go best together for this design. You can find the plate that I used on my post on Day 6 of the Black & White Challenge here.

I used W7 - Metallic Saturn, Barry M - Red Black
& Barry M Base/Top Coat

Goodnight from a very tired nail blogger x

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

Beauty UK - 'Cafe Culture' Swatch!

Hello bloggers & blog followers!

Hope you're all having fun Jubilee celebrations, I've definitely had a good past couple of days! :)

London is ABSOLUTELY jam packed with as many Union Jacks as there could possibly be, but it's nice to see everyone coming together *soppyness* ...

Anyway! I decided to do a little swatch the other day on one nail varnish of the haul I've had recently. It's nothing big, or special, or even expensive in the slightest! I just thought it was a really nice colour to add to my collection of polishes :)

I made my way to Superdrug, knowing that they were doing a 2 For 1 on all cosmetics (BOOYAH!) and fully knowing that I was most likely to buy lots of nail varnish...

This polish by Beauty UK is called 'Cafe Culture' and is only a shocking £1.99! Except I probably got it for free because of the offer xD Even though most good nail varnishes are pretty damn expensive (OPI, Essie, w7, etc) I think Beauty UK are actually a pretty good brand! They don't get clogged up easily and they smooth when applying - so it's a thumbs up from me!

To be honest, it was a massive change from my usually vibrant and busy nails, so people actually noticed that they were a plain colour for once! But less can be just as nice as more, so I kept it simple this weekend after rockin' my crazy union jack nails. This swatch only took two coats to be opaque and I really love the nudity of the colour - very natural and simplistic.

If you happen to buy any Beauty UK - swatch it, capture it and show me :)

Thanks for reading x