Hugs for Emily - Clouds and Stars

Hey everyone! Today's post is a little different, as it's dedicated to my wonderful friend Emily of Very Emily, who's been going through a tough time recently and we, her blogging friends, were invited by Sarah (Chalkboard Nails) to take part in 'Hugs for Emily', where we recreate one of Emily's designs. I've raved about how fantastic I think Emily is before, but she really has done so much for me, in blogging and in life, I'm proud to call her my friend and I wish there was more I could do than paint my nails to help relieve her problems. 

I decided to recreate this clouds and stars design of Emily's. I really loved the combination of bright and dark colours, and the addition of glitter. It's cute and simple, but also looks fab. Emily's original design was done using cut out nail vinyls, but as I don't own them I had to freehand them and they don't look quite as perfect obviously!

Fruit Nail Art for Avon

Hey everyone. It's been a busy week for me, with the Cosmo blog awards on Tuesday, and my trip to Fosse Park in Leicester yesterday, I'll be posting about both in the next couple of days, but it's been over a week since I posted my own nails on here, so I think it's about time I show you some nail art! I created this fruit nail art for Avon a couple of weeks ago, and if I'm honest I was expecting it to turn out to be a bit of a failure, especially the kiwis. Last time I attempted kiwis a few years ago they were just a big mushy mess, so I'm glad to see my skills have improved at least a bit since then!

Gel Series, Part 3: Removing Gel Manicures

Hey everyone! Part 3 of the gel series was supposed to be 'applying and removing gel manicures' with a video tutorial for the application but unfortunately I still cant get my iMovie working so I'll put the video up as a part 4 whenever I can fix it, however long that might take! You can see part 1 here, and part 2 here. Part 3 is the removal of gels, and I know that for some this can be the most daunting part of gel manicures. I often hear people saying that they don't want gels doing as they will damage their nails. Gels SHOULDN'T ruin your nails, unless they are applied and/or removed badly.  Today I'm going to compare two gel removal kits, and also talk about what to do when removing gels to prevent damage.

I'm doing nails at New Look, Fosse Park, Leicester!

Hey everyone! I have some super exciting, slightly last minute news for you today. This Saturday I'm going to be doing nails with Graffiti Nails at New Look, Fosse Park in Leicester. It's going to be between 10-4, so pop along any time between then for your nails doing by me! You can have either nail wraps or a nail design done, there will be a choice of 4-5 designs available, which you'll be able to see on the day. I can't wait to meet you!

Hopefully I'll get to meet some of you there!

Alice

Gel Series, Part 2: Practising Gel Manicures

Hey everyone! I'm a bit late with posting this, but part 2 was actually supposed to be a video and unfortunately my iMovie has broken and wont open so I'm going to try and fix it but if not I'll have to have a rethink for part 3! So instead, part 2 is a collection of all the nails I've done on other people (and on myself) using gel in the past 2 months. If you missed part 1, where I compared gel starter kits, you can see it here. Because these nails were all done at different times of day in different places the picture quality is definitely not consistent so I apologise in advance!

Ciate x Vente Privee Sale - Floral Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have some more nail art brought to you by Ciate and Vente Privee, you can see my last design (which explains who Vente Privee are if you're not sure!) from a few months ago here. The sale started on Wednesday at 6am and it's a limited time flash sale, finishing on monday. It is for members only but it's super easy to become a member, just click here and fill in the details and you're done! There are some fantastic discounts available, for instance the Beach House Set* that I used to create this design normally retails for £22, but you can get it for just £8 in the sale! There's also other gift sets on sale, and colours on their own too, it's definitely worth having a look at if you really love a bargain (and who doesn't?), you can see the full sale here.

Gel Series, Part 1: Comparing Starter Kits

Hey everyone! Today I'm starting a brand new 3 part series on gel nails. I should be posting today, tomorrow and Saturday night, but I wont make any promises because we all know how great I am at time keeping! If not everything will be up by Sunday. My first part in the series is a comparison of three gel polish starter kits. I've got the Gelish Pro 5-45 Kit*, the Elegant Touch Lux Gel Starter Kit*, and the Red Carpet Manicure Gel Polish Pro Kit*. I'd like to point out before I start that I am not qualified to do gel nails (although I am hopefully going to be soon!) and these are purely my perspectives as a consumer, and of course as a blogger. Gelish is a more salon-based brand, but both Elegant Touch and Red Carpet Manicure are for home use, and I think it's useful to compare the three to see their pros and cons.