Teal Tuesday: Braided Manicure

Morning everyone :)  This is my first of two posts today, and it's Teal Tuesday!  This week's theme is a braided manicure.

I saw this technique done a few weeks ago, and have fancied giving it a go since.  I didn't actually have any idea how to do it, but I assumed it was something involving tape.  So I whipped out the selotape, taped off some stripes on my accent nail and went for it.  When I'd done all the striped in one direction, I got a little confused as to how to do them the other way to complete the braided mani.  I googled away, and discovered I'd done it totally wrong.  I persevered anyway with the tape version on my left hand, and then did it the way the internet told me to on my right hand.

So, in a controversial and unexpected turn of events, you're seeing my right hand today.

I did consider flipping this photo horizontally so that it'd look like my left hand...

Anyway, all the polishes are Barry M.  We've got Teal, Gold Foil and Matt White, topped off with Seche Vite (which has caused a little shrinkage, argh!).

Have a look at how everyone else fared:

Gnarly Gnails

Nails Beautiqued

Geeky Owl

Mandy's Polish

Fancy Phalanges

Colorsplash Nails

Simple-and-Beautiful

Persistently Glittery

No Holos!

Cherries Sweets

The Frenzied Polisher

Caitlin's Creative Corner

Lacquered Libra

Nail Polish Lane

Once Upon a Polish

Subtlety is Overrated
Elyssian Beauty

French Tips

Just a simple manicure today.  I did these the other week for a wedding reception I attended - I didn't want anything too busy going on, but I wanted them to coordinate with my black and silver dress.

I used Collection 2000 French Pink and French White, and then nail art pens for the black, silver and glitter lines.

Only a short post today sorry, but I'm far too distracted by the Olympics still.  I hope you all saw how well we did yesterday :p  The last time we won five gold medals in one day was in 1908, and then we went and won six :D  Good times.

I'll have two posts for you on Tuesday, as I'm taking part in both Teal Tuesdays and Polish Days.  I'm looking forward to seeing what manicures everyone else comes up with!

Olympic Torch

Just watched Team GB win another gold - good times.  We're doing far better now that the track cycling's started and all the rowing finals are happening :)

So naturally I have some more Olympics nails today - this time in the form of the Olympic torch.

I used all sorts of polishes on this (you should've seen the dining table after I'd finished...) so I won't list them all.  Just ask in the comments if you want to know what polish a particular colour is :)  I should add that I also added glow in the dark topcoat over the flame.  Everything's better when it glows in the dark.

Hope you're all still enjoying the Olympics!  I've been enjoying watching the athletics today and yesterday - fingers crossed for Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon!

Blog Awards

I was recently awarded two blog awards, which I’m finally getting round to posting about!

First up is the Versatile Blogger Award, which I was given by LuckyLoveNails.  Thank you very much!

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers who are relatively new to blogging.
2. Let them know that you have nominated them.
3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
4. Thank the bloggers who have nominated you.
5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

I read blogs more for nail art than swatches, so the blogs that I’ve nominated are because they’ve done some amazing nail art.  I know some of the blogs already have these awards (most of the blogs I follow do, so I couldn’t choose all ones that don’t!) but I’ve tried to make sure there’s a few new ones in there as well.

Olympic Gold

Today Team GB got our first gold medal of the Olympics!  If you didn't see the women's pair rowing final, I have to say we won it in style.  No one was getting anywhere near us :D  Very proud.  So in celebration, here are some gold rowing nails.

For the background colours, I used the colours of the Olympic rings, then the image is the rowing logo.  The polishes I used, from left to right, are 17 Seabreeze, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, 17 Nightshade, Barry M Spring Green and Barry M Bright Red, and the gold is Barry M Gold Foil.

Expect to see lots more Olympics nails over the next couple of weeks - I'm getting very excited and apparently I'm venting that excitement through redoing my manicure several times a day.  There's individual gymnastics on tonight, so I'm looking forward to seeing how we do in that after the boys did so well in the team final :)  Has Olympic fever got you too?  Which events do you most enjoy watching?