Monday 5 September 2016

Blue Distressed Grid Nails

Hi there everyone, if anyone is still here cause I know I've been away for quite a while. Can't say I'll be back much either though. To explain my absence basically I just stopped doing nail art cause I got super into knitting. They don't contradict each other so to speak, like I can have nice nails and knit but I've just kind of invested all my time into knitting (and been loving it). I still like nail art but I've moved on, you know the natural progression from nail art to knitting hahaha.
It's bad that I didn't say I moved away from the blog because of A levels haha. But yeah I got my results and I did pretty well, 3 A's and I've got into uni so this is why I think I will be retiring this blog. I do have one more nail art look before I go but I think it's time to say goodbye. I've had such a good time writing this blog, the point was always to document the creativity cause I've always loved art and while I've felt behind so frequently on this blog it's always been a good time. And while it's been small the feedback I received from anybody always made my day and I've met such lovely people in the nail community so thank you for even reading a few words or taking some time to look at my nail art.
I don't think I'll start a knitting blog, I think I've had my share of blogging but I might start an instagram cause I love pretty things really. I might put up the odd bit of nail art there. I've knitted like a maniac since Christmas and I moved away from the blog, I have a real affinity for hats, I love knitting hats, I don't even know why cause I look terrible in hats but that's where I'm at now. Anyway after that huge explanation I'll get into the nail art, which I obviously did a while ago. I have been doing nail art but it's mostly geometric and I haven't been bothering to photograph (and my cuticles have been a mess haha).

It's been so long since I've done this, I can't remember how to do this anymore. I saw this on someone's instagram but honestly I cannot remember. But they did it in warm colours. I think it's pretty rad, love a bit of distressed and geometric is always so clean. The glitter makes it more clean too.

Trying to keep the same format as before, even though it's not gonna be for long. You know the distressed nails procedure, wipe most the polish of the brush and swipe. Got my toothpick and drew the grid on top.

This is hilarious cause I cannot remember at all what was used so I'm gonna guess.
Blues and purples: Barry M - Sugar Apple, Rimmel - Disco Ball, M&S - Light Mix, OPI - Plum & Get It and I don't think I can guess anymore haha
Black: Rimmel - Black Pearl

I hope you've all been doing well these few months and you've been keeping well, I hope you guys have a great day and until my next and last post!! :')

Monday 18 January 2016

Geometric Metallic Stripe Nails

Hello there guys!! I hope you're January is going sweet. I'm desperately trying to motivate myself to do work. We'll get there. So today I have a nail art look, I'm not the happiest with this, I think with a different colour scheme it would've been way better. I should've just enjoyed the glitter nails I was rocking with.

So there's a super glittery base and some metallic stripes. I really like the stripes but I think the whole thing looks very dull because of the colours. It had potential.

This is a simple one, where I just painted lines and hoped that they weren't too lopsided. That's really the extent of it.

Base: M&S - Peacock, Barry M - Aqua Glitter, OPI - Polka.com and Revlon - Belle
Silver: w7 - Silver Mirror
Pink: Barry M - Boots Xmas LE 2012 B

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a nice day!! :)

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Pink Nails: Orly - Miss Conduct

Hey there guys, this polish is actually very very special. I've wanted this polish since 2012 no joke, The Polishaholic triggered it when she showed it in the Orly holiday collection and I knew I needed it. But the thing is Orly's never been a brand that's been easy to access here and I'm not a fan of ordering mainstream polishes online (seems a waste) so when I found Orly in TK Maxx a couple of years ago I've been holding out that maybe, just maybe I would find Miss Conduct. Well I think this post has confirmed that the quest is over ;) I actually found 3 bottles which was a bit overkill, and I wanted to get them all but restraint haha.
Now the polishes for my favourite polishes of last year are complete, so that'll be coming up in due course, I love seeing everyone else's favourite polishes around this time of the year, more things to get :P

The subtle holographic shimmer in Miss Conduct warms my heart. Miss Conduct is a raspberry subtle holographic polish and it's beautiful. I should just buy a proper holographic polish to bite the bullet but this is definitely satisfying, I think the subtly actually makes it more compelling.

I've loved Orly for a long time but it's seriously annoying that they're still not sold in major shops here. They used to do minis in Boots but not any more and the selection was poor. Now I have to rummage through TK Maxx and see what random selection I'll get. Not that that's a bad thing, I love TK Maxx surprises. And TK Maxx in general.
I don't know why I love Orly, I just think their colours are more fun (their neons tho) and I like the bottles (lol) and their nice colours are pure beaut. Miss Conduct is a really cute name too.

The formula was so good, it was opaque in 1 coat and I just did 2 for banter. It was so so easy to apply and was perfect.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a really nice day!! :)

Saturday 9 January 2016

Reindeer Fair Isle Nails

Hiya!! This is um a leftover Christmas design, but I still think it's winter appropriate so we're still all good. Fair Isle designs are so nice, I have a jumper with a fair isle design. Hey it's more nail art!! What this blog is about!!

So you can definitely see a Christmas colour scheme, well you can't have enough Christmas. The main shapes of this design are just dots and asterisks and hearts. So it was really easy to paint but still looks pretty complex. The reindeer were definitely the best part of this design, but yeah overall I really like this design, repeating patterns is fun.
Oh yeah and matteing everything, but I had issues with my matte topcoat. Don't know why but it leaves white chunks on my nail art which is pretty terrible when you've spent ages on a design. Thankfully I was able to remove a lot of them but it really jeopardises a design cause the white bits get stuck in the topcoat then everything can get wrecked. You have to tread carefully.

Again this one was very simple, got my peach base then I got my toothpicks and painted the various designs. I worked from top to bottom (cause that makes sense) and did dots and all the other stuff. i'm so good at describing.

Base: M&S - Sun Glow
Green: Barry M - Kiwi
Red: Seventeen - Dark Heart (or something like it, all reds are the same)
Light Green: Illamasqua - Nomad
Blue: The Face Shop - GR501
Light Red: OPI - Jinx

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)

Tuesday 5 January 2016

Nude Nails: Seventeen - Forever

Hello!! This is my final Seventeen polish to show you that was in the set my dear friend got for me for my birthday. It was a very nice set and haha if you couldn't tell I swatch in order of which one I want to try first. Normally I'm a best for last kind of gal but not with polish haha. Nudes are the most boring for me tbh but that doesn't mean they can't be nice and you know what this one is.

Soz my fingers are a bit green, was probably colouring or something lol
Forever is a light nude-y mushroom-y kind of jelly polish (I'm good at describing) and it'll be very nice for a nude base which is actually pretty great for nail art. I like that it's lighter than my other nudes too, it's softer and that.

I don't know why this is called Forever but we go with it. I think Seventeen are so on point right now, I think they did a brand redo like Collection did and they're super legit now. I got a lip gloss set from a friend for Christmas and the packaging is so nice!! But moreover the lip glosses are so pretty and the colour selection is bomb. So once again Seventeen are doing really good right now, they're definitely a brand to look into.

There's a nice shiny finish because of the jelly aspect, now we all know that jellies have slightly rubbish formulas but actually Forever is very good considering. I used 3 coats and it built so well, the first coat was super sheer but after another coat I knew we'd be fine.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)

Friday 1 January 2016

Pink Glitter Cherry Blossom Nail Art

Hey guys, Happy New Year!! I'm sure we're confused where 2015 went but 2016 is here and I think it's a good thing for a metaphorical new start :) Please tell me we're all watching the Sherlock new year special today.
I actually did look this ages ago, before any of the Christmas nail art but I think me being behind is a given now. Just really enjoying this holiday while I can and before my life gets mental again. I think we've all been busy bees (lol at this phrase that I've never used before). My plan was to post a load during December and that didn't even happen haha. I forgot to mention that during December I had a load of choir things and one of them was broadcast on TV (where I looked like the boredest person alive lol) and I did a reading on the radio (now that wasn't too bad :P). Anyway, cherry blossom.

I think cherry blossom designs are always nice, I think the all pink thing was a mistake on my part but I think the look still pulls through. I'm still on a total matte kick and thankfully my matte topcoat hadn't turned on me (but it's early days yet, I'll tell you what I mean in a future post). The glitter totally helped this look out, it adds magic and that and a windswept effect. 

I started with the black branches and kind of just dragged the toothpick and hoped for an arty effect. My branches could've been done better but we go with it. Then I added the flowers and did a dot and dragged the black to the centre. I was trying to do gradient flowers but it didn't really work, it works better once I point it out but you wouldn't notice it otherwise. 

Base: Seventeen - Pink Lemonade
Black: Rimmel - Black Pearl
Light Purple: Seventeen - Parma Violet
Purple: Orly - Frolic
Glitter: Barry M - Fairy Lights and Maybelline - Bouquet

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a fab day!! :)

Thursday 31 December 2015

Red Nails; Seventeen - Dark Heart

Hi there you lot, I have a swatch today. As I say, there are only so many red polishes you need i.e. one. But My mind has been slowly swaying, like I love light orangey tone reds. But today's polish is your run-of-the-mill red, but everyone should have one. It's a nail art staple and sometimes you want to be classy. The shade is slightly different from my other reds but when it comes to red I think it makes no difference. I hope you guys have a good safe New Year's Eve, I'll probably be staying at home and despairing at how soon school is coming, trust me I'm despairing. Why are holidays never long enough???

To be honest it does look nice, I think red suits me much better than other colours but Dark Heart is still just a red creme polish. Do you agree? Do you think when you have one red you have them all?

I think Dark Heart is an interesting name for a polish that isn't a dark red, that's what I'd expect at least. But I still think Seventeen are doing a very good job with all their polishes.

The formula was very good, 2 coats and I'm pretty sure it was completely opaque and it was easy to apply. That's a better formula than some of my other reds so kudos. Lol I don't know what kudos means.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)