Angel Eye Flowers

Hello again my lovely readers :)

This is the first of the products I have to show you over the next week or so!  I was sent this silver nail art pen from the Born Pretty Store.

This is totally different to all my other nail art pens - it's literally just like a normal pen.  Sooo easy to use!  You just need to give it a little shake before you start.

I started with a base of China Glaze Man Hunt and Orly Angel Eyes (so much glitter...sigh).

I added some freehand flowers using the pen.  The nib is super fine - I went over these a few times to thicken the lines up so they stood out against the glitter, but you'll be able to get really fine detail with this.  And by the way, it's perfectly opaque without having to go back over it.

I didn't have to stop to reshake the pen or anything whilst I was doing this - the flow stayed perfect.  If you want the colour to come out a little faster, just pump the pen a few times.

Just in case you can't tell they're flowers, here's a close up!

 Added bonus by the way, in addition to being much easier to use than a normal nail art pen, these are water-based.  So that means that if you do make a mistake you can just wipe it off with water and not damage your polish!  These all have a coat of Seche Vite over as well, so as you can see it doesn't smudge :)

You can see this pen here (it's also available in other colours - this is colour 3).  It's $5.99 with free shipping worldwide.  I honestly think this is amazing, perfect for all your nail art needs!  I think I'll have to treat myself to some other colours...

Ooh and don't forget, whenever you buy anything from Born Pretty Store you can use this code for 10% off.

31 Day Challenge - Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

Happy Monday!

I have another 31 Day Challenge manicure for you today (still playing catch up!).  The prompt for day 26 is inspired by a pattern.  I decided to relive memories of St David's Day and go for a paisley pattern.

Reminds me of being a kid and looking simply fabulous in this get up:

I had a paisley shawl of course, like the woman at the back.

Anyhoo, I used Kleancolor Metallic Red and a white nail art pen.  I bought the red a little while ago when I was buying a few Kleancolor glitters, just because I was curious about how their coloured polishes were.  I have to say, I am suitably impressed.  I only used one coat here, and it's such a rich and shimmery colour.  It'll be perfect for some Christmas manicures!

Take a look at all the other participants in the challenge:

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Me, Myself and Polish

Untried: Kleancolor Metallic Red

Halloween: Pumpkins

Happy Halloween!

I may be several days behind with the 31 Day challenge still, but I do have some Halloween nails for you today :)

I've planned on doing these for ages, and they took me a good hour to do.  And I hate them.  They look like they were done by a child.  Or, like, someone who doesn't do nail art.  I'm very disappointed in myself.  Anyhoo, they are at least fun I suppose!  Here you go:

I used Max Factor Bright Orange, and added the details using Barry M Black and Max Factor Cactus Green.  I was going to make them glow in the dark as well, but then I had to go to bed...  I do need my beauty sleep.

I'm loving seeing everyone's Halloween manicures!  What are you wearing on your nails today?

31 Day Challenge - Day 16: Tribal Print

And I'm back up to date!

I've just had a bit of a mani-a-thon (the boyfriend's got the xbox to entertain him) so you'll have some more consistent posting for the next week at least!

Today's challenge prompt was tribal print.  This isn't something I've tried before, but I love some of the tribal manicures I've seen that people have come up with.  So here's my attempt:

After much indecision, I decided to use China Glaze Desert Sun, OPI Who The Shrek Are You and 17 Seabreeze.  Then I just went to town with a Sharpie.  I really like how my ring finger looks, but maybe it's just because it's so simple next to all the busy nails.  What do you think?  And by the way, that's supposed to be triangles on my middle finger, not a radiation symbol...

Next up in the challenge is glitter.  I'm getting out my PVA glue as I type!

Check out all the other tribal manicures:

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Me, Myself and Polish

31 Day Challenge - Day 15: Delicate Print

I don't even know when these are supposed to be posted anymore, but here's my day 15 manicure for the 31 day challenge (almost half way!).  I was originally going to do a lace print for this challenge, but I wasn't really feeling it, so instead I decided to recreate this manicure.  I don't actually recommend clicking that link and looking at the picture, because it puts mine to shame lol.

This was taken with a flash, so please excuse the horrible shadows!  This working business is such a pain - I'm never home during day light hours to take nice pictures.

I used OPI Planks A Lot as a base and then used white and green nail art pens.

In other news, me and my boyfriend are going to get the keys for our flat tomorrow, so I should be out of this staff accommodation next week!  YAY!

Have a look at all the other (more timely) delicate manicures:

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Me, Myself and Polish

31 Day Challenge - Day 14: Flowers

I have been a rubbish blogger this week.  I apologise for my laziness...it's not even just the blogging, I haven't   done any nail art at all.  If I'm honest, I've spent a lot of time playing on Lego Batman 2...  I started my uni course this week as well, which I'm doing in London, so on Friday me and my boyfriend stayed in London afterwards and went for a meal and a couple of drinks, and yesterday we went for a day out to Leeds castle.  So I've had a lovely week, but it does mean my nails have been neglected!

But as they say, better late than never.  So here's my day 14 manicure for the 31 day challenge.

This is one coat of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, topped with one coat of OPI Teenage Dream, and the flowers are drawn on with a nail art pen.  I have to say, this photo does Teenage Dream no justice.  It's a seriously beautiful polish, well worth every penny my boyfriend spent on it...  Google some better swatches of it if you haven't seen it before, although be warned - it was a limited edition polish, so if you want it you'll be at the mercy of ebay sellers.

I probably won't be able to post my day 15 manicure tomorrow, seeing as my nails are still naked, but hopefully other than that one they should all be on time from now on!  I have a few other things planned for this month as well, as long as I can get on top of everything!

Have a look what every one else came up with for their floral designs:

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Me, Myself and Polish

Purple Leopard Print

This was an attempt at sensible work nails, that possibly went slightly awry...  I still wore them to work though, of course.

It's just a basic leopard print (I was feeling uninspired).  My black nail art pen was misbehaving, so the lines ended up being thicker than I'd have liked.

The polishes used are OPI Skull and Glossbones and Planks a Lot from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection.  I am totally in love with this collection, every colour is so pretty!  I just need to order Steady As She Rose and then I'll have a full set...

I should just mention that Planks a Lot is much warmer toned than it appears here.  It's so frustrating when your camera won't capture the colour properly.  I get it all nicely ready and in focus and all that to take the picture, and it looks fine on the screen, and then I press the button and it comes out blue...  So please don't use this as a colour reference for this polish!

So while I had this on I went on a little shopping spree.  I won't tell you how much I spent.  One of the polishes I picked up was Barry M Silvery Lilac.  I was too impatient to take my manicure off before trying out my new polishes, so I just whacked them on top.

This is one coat of Barry M Silvery Lilac on top. I really like the effect :)  Although I probably wouldn't bother with an accent nail if I was to do this again, as you can't really tell my ring finger's a different colour.

What do you think of Silvery Lilac as a layering polish?  Do you like to prolong the life of a mani by adding something to freshen it up a few days later?

31 Day Challenge - Day 9: Rainbow Nails

Hello again :)

Here, as promised, are my super geeky rainbow nails!

A nice little bit of dispersion for you!

For the base colour I used Barry M Grey.  The white was done using a nail art pen, and for the prism I used 2true No. 49.  Then for the spectrum, from red to violet, I used Barry M Bright Red, Max Factor Bright Orange, Rimmel Sunshine, Barry M Spring Green, China Glaze Manhunt and Jessica Ruffled Bottoms.

Next up the challenge is gradient nails *ponders whether or not to do something involving graphs...*

Check out all the other rainbow nails :)  There are some really great manicures today!

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Me, Myself and Polish

My Favourite Things: Final Post!

Good evening ladies (and gentlemen?).  Today is the final day in the My Favourite Things challenge, hosted by Kelly over at Ooh La La Polish!  The theme for today was to recreate our favourite mani from the challenge.

I decided to recreate Becca from Horcrux Nails' Favourite Animal mani, because of it's awesomeness.  I do feel this should come with a little disclaimer.  My attempt really does not do Becca's nails any justice - so please check out the original!  Mine looks like a child did it (I'm blaming the lighting...).

Yeah...bit of a mess.  But I love the idea nonetheless!  The green is Barry M Spring Green, and then we've got Barry M Bright Red, Jessica Ruffled Bottoms, a combination of Max Factor Bright Orange and Rimmel Sunshine, and China Glaze Man Hunt.  The black and white are both nail art pens.

And with that, the challenge is over!  Don't forget that if you want to take another look at all the manicures I produced for this challenge, you can click on the Challenges tab at the top of this page :)

My Favourite Things: Flowers

I was intending to come back for this second post with a far more positive outlook, along the lines of - yes, I may live in a dump, but hey!  I get to fire x-ray beams, whilst making sound effects (sound effects aren't necessary, but they add to the firing experience).  But then I went into the bathroom.  Both bathrooms.  Both made me disappointed in humankind.

Today's theme for the My Favourite Things challenge is flowers.  A little while ago I did this manicure for another challenge, and at the time I thought it'd be nice to do it again some time with something like tulips instead of sunflowers.  So that's what I did :)

Bit of a Barry M fest here - I used Berry Ice Cream, Blueberry Ice Cream, Matt White, Bright Pink, and a green nail art pen.

Thursday is the last day of this challenge!  I still haven't decided what to do...hmm...

Teal Tuesdays: Geometric

Hello!  It's time for another Teal Tuesdays post.  Sorry it's so late!  I had a flat viewing after work today, and I've been looking online for more flats since I got home.  I haven't even had my tea yet - that's how committed I am to escaping from staff accommodation AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  I just wasn't made for shared accommodation.  I went in the kitchen this morning and there was dough all over the counter from where one of my flatmates had been rolling it out last night...  And every time I step in the water that someone hasn't cleaned up after dripping everywhere after their shower, I get a little bit closer to committing homicide.  I am a woman on the edge.  And I've ran out of chocolate.

But anyway, you don't care about that.  So here are my geometric nails!  I'll be honest, I wasn't really feeling this theme, but I do quite like how they turned out.

I can only apologise for the fact that my fingers look like they belong to an 80 year old woman (or possibly man).  I'm blaming all the alcohol gel I use in work.  Definitely nothing to do with all the acetone...

Oh, I should probably tell you what polish I used as well!  It's Barry M Teal, and I cheated and used blue and green sharpies for the lines.

So, we have inlinkz again, because we're all fancy these days :D  So go check out what every one else came up with this week!

My Favourite Things: Hearts and/or Love

So I've shelled out the ridiculous prices once again for a meagre amount of internet usage. Sorry I haven't been replying to any comments over the last few days, it's just a pain with having such limited internet access. Hopefully on Saturday I'm going to find my way into town and locate somewhere that can sell me a dongle.

Anyway, on to more important matters! It's day 8 in the My Favourite Things challenge hosted by Kelly at Ooh La La Polish! The theme is hearts and/or love. This is also one of my attempting-to-wear-nail-polish-to-work-without-getting-told-off manicures. Expect to see more of these...

I used OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons and Barry M Matt White.  I think my heart drawing technique needs a bit of work...but I did do these at like 7am...

Only two more manicures left now!  Next up is flowers on Tuesday and then my favourite mani on Thursday.  I shall have to have a nose through everyone's manis so far and decide what I want to do for that one...

Also, what do you all think of the bigger photo size and the border I've added?  Yay or nay?  It'd be great to get your opinions in the comments.

Polish Days: Geometry

Yes, it's that time again!

This month's theme, in celebration of all the kids going back to school (and me not having to!  Thank goodness I gave up teaching!) is geometry.

I decided to interpret this very literally and draw some triangles.  

I used to HATE geometry.  I love the rest of Maths, but geometry...ugh.  Our teacher used to give us like 50 questions to do of the same thing, and we had to draw a diagram for every single questions.  And our diagrams had to be done using a ruler and pencil and all that business.  So this meant when you were doing something like Pythagoras' Theorem, you'd end up drawing like 50 identical right-angled triangles.  ARGH!

Anyway, I used China Glaze Stone Cold (a recent addition to my collection) and a white nail art pen.

And I'm done with my posts for today!  I don't know when I'll next be online, seeing as the NHS haven't been so kind as to provide me with internet access, but hopefully I'll get on again in time to post the next My Favourite Things post on Thursday!

Paralympics

So today is Friday...I'm sure for a lot of you this is a "Yay, it's almost the weekend!" sort of occasion.  For me, it's a "Argh, only three days til I have to work!", my last day of work being the 22nd June...  Oh well, for those of you who haven't been spending your summer slacking off, happy Friday!

I have some Paralympic nail art for you today.  I would like to say before I show you...it's a little bit messy, and one of the colours is a bit off, but it took me aaaages, so be nice!

I think I need to cut down one of my nail art brushes, they were all too fat to do the little blue stripes on the two!  Anyhoo, the colours I used are Barry M Matt White (you should really be able to guess that one by now) and Blueberry Ice Cream, Max Factor Disco Pink and Bright Orange, and China Glaze Exotic Encounters.

In other news, my sister's just discovered she's going to have her Headteacher for some lessons this year, hahahahahhhhaha.  She's gutted :D

Anyhoo, hope you're all enjoying the Paralympics and the last few days of the summer holidays!

My Favourite Things: Stripes

Happy Thursday!  Today is day six in the My Favourite Things nail art challenge hosted by Kelly at Ooh La La Polish! and the theme is stripes.

I've got a fairly simple mani for this - I just wanted to play around with zebra print a little bit more.

I used Barry M Matt White and Teal, and Max Factor Disco Pink.

Next up is glitter!  I'm hoping I can find some PVA glue to try out using that as a basecoat, as I really don't think I can face removing glitter!

31 Day Challenge - Day 4: Green

A second post today!  Might as well get a load in before I start my new job, the frequency is seriously going to decrease as of Monday (although after a month I'm going to be in uni for a couple of months, so obviously then painting my nails will take priority over essays).

Today is day 4 of the 31 day challenge being organised by Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner.  We're working our way through the rainbow, and today we're on green.

I'm finding it quite difficult to get inspiration just from a colour, I think I need a bit more guidance than that...Coming up with ideas is always the hardest part of a manicure for me (so keep the suggestions coming on Facebook, in comments or by emailing me).  So, today's manicure is in no way inspired by the colour green, other than being green, but I thought I'd seize the opportunity to try out the cling film technique.

I used China Glaze Exotic Encounters and Zoya Meg.  I really like the effect this technique gives, and it's so quick and easy - perfect if you're in a rush but want something more interesting than just plain nails (which you should, all the time...).  From what I've read on other blogs, you can do this via two methods.  You can either paint the second colour on and then dab it off with some cling film while it's still wet, or you can use the cling film to sponge the second colour on to the nail.  I used the former (I always get former and latter mixed up, but I think I mean former...).  I was going to try both techniques, one on each hand, to see if they produced different results.  But I didn't.  So...yeah, no idea which technique is better.

Anyhoo, next up in the challenge is blue nails on Saturday.  I have a manicure using China Glaze Man Hunt...such a pretty blue.

Check out all the other blue nails:

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Birthday Manicure

Today is my boyfriend's birthday :)  He's away working at the moment, and apparently you can't post things to ships.  So instead of getting a card, he's getting a manicure dedicated to him.  I'm sure he'll appreciate it :p

My boyfriend's from Liverpool, so on my index finger there's a liver bird (a bit of a stocky liver bird with a bit of a dragon's head...).  I was going to attempt the Liverpool FC badge, but then I looked at it.  They could've gone for something a bit simpler, I mean really...

Next up is Batman Lego.  My boyfriend made me play this with him one day, and so began the lego game obsession.  Now he has to put his Call of Duty aside and play lego games with me whenever we get our hands on a new one.  The lego at the bottom is purple naturally, because purple studs are worth the most money.  And it's all about the money (as Jessie J wouldn't say).

My ring finger is evidently an anchor (hopefully), although I assume the chain's far too slack to actually be of any use.

Prepare yourselves for the beautiful image I'm about to create to explain my little finger.

My boyfriend and I met in this place called the Raz.  Anyone from Liverpool reading this will need no further explanation lol.  Upstairs in the Raz is sort of like an old man pub (but with students instead of old men...) and downstairs is like a little club.  Resembling a cave.  A very wet cave.  There's a liquid that the Raz produces, a juice if you will, that no one really knows the source of.  It's suspected that Fat Frogs (a luminous green alcopop mixture) and other spilled drinks contribute to it, almost definitely some sweat, and perhaps even some urine.  Who knows.  All we do know is that for some reason it's bright orange, it covers the floors and drips from the ceiling.  This nail is my tribute to Raz Juice.  Yum yum.

Rose Nail Art Tutorial

This is a tutorial for my rose nail art, originally posted here.

To create this look, you will need:

• Your base colour of choice (Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream)
• Two shades of green (Barry M Spring Green and Barry M Mint Green)
• Two shades of your rose colour (Barry M Bright Pink and Max Factor Disco Pink)
• White polish (Barry M Matt White)
• A small nail art brush

The colours in brackets are the shades I've used, but play around with different base and rose colours :)

Here's the step-by-step picture tutorial.

1. Start by prepping your nail as usual (I buff and apply a base coat) and apply your base colour.
2. Using the brush that comes with the polish, apply about 3 blobs of the lighter rose polish onto each nail.  Do more or less blobs depending on the size of your nails.
3. Using your nail art brush and the lighter green polish, dab two bits of polish next to each rose to create the leaves.
4. Using your nail art brush and the darker rose shade, paint two C shapes on to each rose.  You want one large C on the edge of each rose, then a smaller c facing the other way closer to the centre of the rose.
5. Using your nail art brush and the darker green polish, add a line to one side of each leaf.
6. Still using your nail art brush, use the white polish to add highlights to your roses.  Do this is the same way as you applied the darker shade, but on the opposite side.
7. Add white highlights to your leaves, again on the opposite side from the darker green.

Finally, apply your top coat and you're good to go :)

If you decide to give this look a go, I'd love to see your pictures.  You can post them on my Facebook page here.

Also, if you have any tips for how to improve my tutorials or any ideas for tutorials you'd like to see, please post your suggestions in the comment area.

My Favourite Things: Polka Dots

Evening all :)  This is day 5 in the My Favourite Things challenge hosted by Kelly at Ooh La La Polish!  I'm posting this slightly early so it doesn't clash with my Teal Tuesdays post tomorrow.

The theme or today is polka dots.  I still wasn't ready to take off my Holographic Hero, so I just went for a dotticure on top of it :D  I was aiming for a gradient-type look.  It's  not quite how I envisioned it, but it's alright :)

The dots were done using OPI Roadhouse Blues and a dotting tool.

Next up in the challenge is stripes.  I've prepared two manicures for this, so now I need to decide which one to use...hmm...

31 Day Challenge - Day 3: Yellow

Happy Sunday!  Today is day 3 in the 31 day challenge,  and the theme is yellooooow.  Fortunately, I did these nails a few days in advance, so I'm still happily sporting my holographic polish.

I did these nails initially trying to replace what has been missing in my life this summer...

He's got his hat on as well, you just can't see it.  The sun's actually out today though, woohooo!  I don't remember what to do with sun though...do I go sit in it?

I used Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream and Lemon Ice Cream (mmm...ice cream), Max Factor Bright Orange and 17 Nightshade.  Oh, there's also a layer of Barry M Matt White underneath it all (yellow polish isn't allowed near my actual nail surface since...an incident).

Next up is green nails on Wednesday.

Take a look at all the other yellow manicures today :)

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance