Summer Union Jack!

Hey Guys! Long time no see! Normal service should resume once I've officially moved into my new house! I've been painting walls not nails!

Anyway I couldn't let the Jubilee weekend pass without some kind of manicure tribute! I didn't fancy the traditional colours so I went for a more summery version despite a 100% chance of rain tomorrow and a temperature of 9°c in JUNE!!

I used Barry M Bright pink for the main colour and Essie Mint Candy Apple for the accent nail. I used the Topshop nail art pen for the white and then I used a dotting tool to create the pink lines over the white! It's not the best work I've ever done, in hindsight I'd start the diagonal lines a little further away from the centre so you don't get that big blob in the middle! I also wish I'd done my pointer finger too!

My plans for tomorrow have been scuppered by the weather somewhat! My village is hosting a picnic on the green tomorrow however you won't catch me sipping champagne out in the rain! There is an all day long beer festival with beers brewed in the village, loads of games for kids and then there is a BBQ in the evening. I was really looking forward to a good village day out in a 50's style dress and loads of bunting!

What are your plans for tomorrow if you are in the UK?!

xoxo

Aztec Addiction!

So I am being consumed by another obsession! 

Aztec or tribal prints!

On anything!

This trend has been in fashion for a couple of seasons now and I didn't really think it was my style however small accents are going to be all over my wardrobe this spring!

Ok, so I may be over-exaggerating a little bit here as I currently only own one accessory on this style, a scarf I purchased on Saturday from Accessorize - Link!

It's a circle scarf, it's my first one in this style and I have to say I find it a little annoying to get it to sit just how I like it! Never mind, I'll deal!

I just love the colours, cobalt blue and a bright coral, I can't wait to wear in bit more when the weather improves!

Another way to wear the trend is on your nails. I have always admired WAH Nails amazing work and their Aztec nail designs are amazing! 

Inspired by this final image I decided to try out my own last night!

Now before I show you the picture I want you to know that this look will take a bit of practice and I lost my cool a bit with the nail art pens and I ran out of room on my nail!! So I am calling this work in progress but I still like it!

They are not Easter eggs as my friend thought!

I love the colour combo but obviously I have got a bit of work to do on the pattern! I need to work on making it smaller so there is more room for squiggles and zigzags!  I used the WAH Models Own nail art pens and the colours are both from Nails Inc, Portobello Road and Portobello Market ( Both Portobello's are just a coincidence!!) 

Please ignore the grotty label on the black pen! I hope Models Own release more colours soon as they promised when they first announced the nail art pens, they said they would be available in the whole Models Own colour range, I fear they may miss the boat if they don't act soon.

I'll be practising this more for the summer, I can't wait to get out my black maxi, gold glads, Tribal scarf and bright Aztec nails!

What do you think? Do you like this trend? Have you tried this nail look?

xoxo

NOTD - Polka Dots

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed their New Year celebrations and aren't feeling too fragile today! I had a late night and a very leisurely morning all I've done today is look around the internet at furnishings, watch You Tube videos and eat my Mum's amazing homemade sausage rolls! 

I did muster up the energy to paint my nails earlier today with the gorgeous Essie Mint Candy Apple but I felt it needed something else. I've always wanted to do a polka dot manicure but I don't have a dotter and have never got round to buying one! Still keen to try out my Topshop Nail Art Pen I bought in December I thought I'd give it a go with the pen!

I'm pleased with the outcome but I wish I had done them a bit more uniform. I found the pen very easy to use on my left hand hand but almost impossible the other way around my right hand's dots are bigger and a bit messier. I found I had to go over the dots to make them more opaque, the first coat of white was a bit watery for my liking. I love the look, the white dots on a duck egg base remind me of a Cath Kidston fabric and it feels a bit vintage. I think I'll invest in a dotter if I do this again. I really want the dots to all be the same size and not looking so random! 

xoxo

Accessorize Nail Wraps

I've always wanted to try some nail wraps, the early ones seemed to all be of a leopard print design and I've always preferred to paint my own leopard! Now however there are many different designs to choose from and I was quite taken with these floral ones from Accessorize.

They were a total impulse buy at the till. I had been saving them a bit but since it's New Year's weekend I thought I'd give them a whirl.

The instructions were simple, cut to fit, peel off and apply. It suggests using a hairdryer to warm the wrap to make it more pliable. Application was easy, I cut them down to size with some excess which I filed off, I tried a few sans hairdryer but they weren't sticking so I decided to use some heat, however they didn't actually go on very smoothly and each one has a lump or a bump in it. 

Be very careful when filing the excess, the wraps are very soft and will tear if you are too rough, I chipped almost all of them with the nail file.

I chose to apply a topcoat as the wraps themselves were clearly peeling away from my nail and I thought a topcoat would help to adhere them to my nail. This was initially successful however throughout the night and during my bath this morning the topcoat completely peeled off. 

Wear on these is pretty bad. I chipped it within the first half an hour of wear and I was only getting ready for bed! I've had a leisurely day today and they have somehow chipped some more! 

I absolutely love the design and the look of these wraps and although I have no other brand to compare them too I would suggest these were fairly bad quality, cheaply made to jump on the nail art bandwagon. Price wise they were £5 so I'm not too upset that they haven't worked out and there is enough in the pack for two uses on my tiny nails. I would  suggest they are best used for a party or night out as they would never last more than a day or two.

They have whet my appetite for trying a different range, maybe a Nails Inc or Sally Hansen. Have you had any success with nail wraps?

Festive Fingers!

Merry Christmas!

I just had my Christmas dinner and I'm chilling by the fire for a bit and since we've just had some Christmas pudding I remembered I wanted to show you a manicure from earlier in the week!

I purchased on the of the new Topshop Nail Art pens earlier this week with the intention of doing a wintery snowflake manicure after seeing some amazing nails on The Illustrated Nail, here and on WAH Nails, here. However I thought I try out my new pen with something a bit more fun! Since I was wearing brown anyway I thought I'd try out a little Christmas pud!

I have no idea why my fingers look so pink! I can assure you I didn't have freezing fingers!

I found the pen extremely easy to use with my right hand on my left finger but I was a bit clumsy the other way around! I've never been very ambidextrous! I had to do a couple of coats to get the white opaque and the polish itself was a little chalky, a top coat was most definitely needed.

I have the WAH Nail art pens from Models Own but I've never got on well with the white one. I prefer this style as the nib is much more like a pen making it a lot easier to use, the WAH pens have a metal nib that you can't really control the flow of polish and it can drag on your design. I think I'd still prefer the black WAH pen for leopard print as it looks less uniform.

I still want to have a play around with it but so far I like it! I hope they expand the range and I'd like to try some of the other colours as I've always wanted to do an Aztec design. The pens are £6.50 from Topshop, link!

Have you tried these? What designs have you done?!

xoxo

NOTD - Neon Leopard

Woah!

I thought I'd freshen up my China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy with a spot of leopard. I first did this look on my cousin in France, she loved it and so did I! 

I don't really know how to describe my feelings about this look other than amazing, tacky, cool, trashy and glitzy all at the same time! It reminds me of something WAH nails might do on a trendy girl going to Ibiza for a posh clubbing holiday! I bloomin' love it!!

Of course my camera can't capture the brightness of the neon base colour or the sparklyness of Orly Luxe but what do you think? Too much or the perfect summer manicure?!

xoxo

Birthday NOTD - Candy Apple Leopard!

So today has been my birthday! I haven't done anything today and have mostly hung out with my family and eaten.... a lot!!

I wore a plain black maxi dress from H&M and wanted to something cool with my nails, it was a choice between this look and China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy!

 

I went with Essie Mint Candy Apple and Nails Inc Portobello Market for the leopard dots, I love the summery feel of this leopard and I ADORE the combo of minty/turquoise with peach/coral. 

I'm keeping this look for tomorrow when I'm off to the cool city of Toulouse for a spot of lunch and shopping with the fam on my last full day on holiday!

xoxo

NOTD - Purple Leopard

I thought I'd try out another different coloured leopard print nail this time, I saw this combo in a Look magazine a couple of weeks ago and the loved the colours.

I used Nails Inc Cambridge Circus for the main colour, OPI Shorts Story for the dots and my trusty WAH Models Own black nail art pen!

If I do this again I think I'd use a lighter purple or a lilac, I don't think there is enough contrast between the base colour and the pink dots! Anyway it looks really cool with my lipstick today which is Candy Yum Yum and it totally matches the pink of Shorts Story!

xoxo

NOTD - Ding Dong The Bells Are Gonna Chime!

With the royal wedding happening on Friday and inspired by FleurDeForce's YouTube tutorial on this manicure, I am celebrating using my favourite accessory, nail varnish!

I used Jessica Majesty Blue, of course the name is perfect, for the main colour then I striped the Union Jack using the white WAH and Models Own nail art pen and Nails Inc Aspen.

I wanted it to have some sparkle and I knew glitter would be extremely difficult to work with! It was hard enough with out adding glitter to the mix! I have to say from a distance it looks good but the perfectionist in me isn't happy with the wobbly lines on the flag. 

Majesty Blue is such a gorgeous colour! I actually couldn't decide between blues and lined up many for the task. I matched the sparkly-ness of the blue with an equally sparkly Aspen but I also needed a colour that was opaque in one swipe, no room for second coats here! The opacity of the white nail art pen was a problem for me, I needed a second coat and that made it look a little messy however I'm not sure I could have done it without the very fine tip of the art brush.

Are you planning a royal wedding manicure?

xoxo

NOTD - Neutral Leopard Print

Now you know I love a bit of a leopard print nail and I have been experimenting with different colours. So I tried a less blinged out version with my newest polish purchase, Essie's Sand Tropez.

I used my trusty Models Own nail art pen for the black detail and Nails Inc Cadogan Square for the brown spots. 

I'm really happy with it and I'm sure I'll be doing this again soon!!

Whaddya think?!

xoxo

A Leopard Can Change It's Spots

I played around a little bit last night after looking through some amazing pictures on The Illustrated Nail. Now usually I am really only a fan of a traditional leopard but I thought the coloured ones looked pretty cool! So I gave it a go!

I call this my "summer leopard" I just love the combination of the blue and coral. I used Nails Inc Portobello Road and Essie Haute As Hello. I used the Models Own Black nail art pen to do the black bits.

I've had many compliments today which surprised me as I thought people would question what on earth I was wearing! 

I'm keen to try out new colour combinations and I may try this out on my toes for flip flop wearing weather!

xoxo

Crackle-ing Up!

I'm sure you are all very aware of the recent trend for crackle and shatter top coats.

OPI were the first announce they were bringing back this look with their Black Shatter polish from the Katy Perry and Glam Slam collections. They were pipped to the post by Barry M who quickly produced their own black version. 

I really was not a fan when I first heard rumblings of the look however when I heard China Glaze were doing coloured crackles it piqued my interest. I also saw the Barry M version on a couple of real life friends and thought it actually looked better in reality than on the screen, although I still wasn't sure about the black colour.

The China Glaze Crackle collection has caused a bit of a stir and not wanting to miss out I bit the bullet and purchased two of the coloured crackles this week. I decided on Crushed Candy and Broken Hearted.

Crushed Candy is a Tiffany blue very similar to their most popular polish, For Audrey. I felt this would be the one I would use the most however I'm not sure how many colours I will wear this over. Pink shades are a match made in heaven but other than those I feel it's pretty limited. I thought about using it over First Mate which is a navy.

Broken Hearted has many more options. Pink compliments so many other colours and I have done my first manicure with a bright orange underneath, I used Eaton Square from Nails Inc. This colour combo is tipped to be big in the colour blocking fashion trend hitting the catwalks.

 As for the application, I was nervous. Having never used a polish like this before I cannot compare it to anything else. I found they were a little on the thicker side and dried very quickly, almost on the brush if you don't work quick enough. I like the way they crackle, not to chunky and I don't mind the irregularities of each nail, I thought this would be something I would hate as I like everything to be perfect and the same when I do any nail art. 

I have enjoyed wearing this manicure today, I've had a really casual day, a bit of shopping, coffee with a friend, I have worn a denim dress and felt really relaxed and my nail look has really fitted in. 

Although I feel I have got the colour combo right this time and I love it, I'm sure it will be very easy to get it wrong so experimenting before hand for me is a must!

I'm looking forward to trying different combinations and for new colours to be released. I hope this look isn't fleeting and becomes another acceptable nail style giving those that enjoy this look another stylish option when painting our nails.

I bought the polishes from BeautyChamber.co.uk, they were £8.99.

I know this is a love it or hate it look, what do you think? Have you bought any crackles?

xoxo

Getting WAH'd?

I don't mid a bit of nail art, nothing outrageous, a little leopard print, some polka dots or a few stripes will do me.

I recently came across a nail art salon in London called WAH and quickly became a fan of their work. They have their main salon in London and they are available at Topshop on Oxford Street too.

They do some fab nail art and their artists are very talented.

They have a blog where they post many of their manicures from the day, here are a few of my favourites.

I could go on.....!

Depending on the design a manicure costs around £30, I'd love to go. Check out wah-nails.com for more pics!

Models Own and WAH have teamed up to create some nail art pens, the first colours will be black or white. I will most definitely be trying these out and upgrading from my usual cocktail stick dipped in polish! Nail art is huge at the moment and this is just the right time to bring something like this out, Models Own claim eventually their whole colour range will be available in pen form allowing you to create some fabulous designs. 

What do you think, would you sport any of these designs?

xoxo