Saturday 30 November 2013

QVC Spring/Summer 2014 Press Event

Hey everyone! The other day I went to London, to work on something awesome for Clothes Show Live TV, and I thought whilst I was there I may as well pop along to the QVC Spring/Summer 2014 Press Event, and I'm so glad I did. There was so many beautiful things, and I got a gorgeous hand massage from Gatineau. I also got to eat some amazing cakes, and I may have had a few sneaky Thorntons fudges. I definitely feel that it would have been worth going even if I hadn't already been in London for the day. Unfortunately I completely forgot to bring my camera, so all the photos I have are from my phone, hopefully it wont be too noticeable! 

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Tutorial Tuesday: Saran Wrap Nails

Hey everyone! Super quick post, it's late and I have to be up early to go to London tomorrow. I'm off to do something exciting, which you shall see very soon. Today's tutorial isn't a very original one, in fact I think the idea originated from Nailed It, but hopefully you will appreciate it nonetheless. I have a load of christmas tutorials coming your way, but they wont start until December, I'm a strict scrooge!

Step 1: Paint your nails with a base colour, I used Barry M – Dragon Fruit
Step 2: Once your base layer is dry paint a layer of a contrasting colour over the top, (I used Barry M - Blueberry Ice-Cream) do your nails one at a time with this and the next step - and be quick
Step 3: Roll up some cling film in to a ball and dab it onto the wet blue nail varnish
Step 4: Finish off with a topcoat (I use Seche Vite) to seal in your design, and you're done!

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

P.S Have you entered my giveaway yet?

Sunday 24 November 2013

Scratch Nail Wraps GIVEAWAY!

Hey everyone! Today I have a really exciting giveaway to share with you, I'm going to be giving away all 3 of the nail wraps I designed for Scratch. There will be two prizes, one winner will receive all 3 wraps, and the runner up will be able to choose one wrap from the 3. You can enter using the Rafflecopter widget below, terms and conditions are listed at the bottom of the widget but for those of you who can't be bothered to read them, here they are:

  1. The giveaway will be open for 2 weeks, any entries after that will not be counted. 
  2. The giveaway is sponsored by Scratch, and will be open internationally
  3. The prizes are non-negotiable, you will receive the three nail wraps I designed for Scratch as first prize, and the runner up prize will get a choice out of the 3. 
  4. Please do not lie about your entries, I will be checking and any false entries will be disqualified. 
  5. And finally, good luck! 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you can't wait to see the end of the giveaway, my nail wraps are still available here.
Alice

Saturday 23 November 2013

Butter LONDON Polka Dots

Hey everyone! Today I have some very bright polka dot nails for you. I know polka dots have been done a million times, but I always like to come back to them now and again because there's something about them that just entices me. These nails were inspired entirely by these wellies* - or 'rain boots'/'galoshes' (definitely didn't google that) from Shop On My Go Go. I got mine in the post a few weeks ago and I absolutely love how warm and comfy they are. Also, now it's starting to snow (yay!) I can finally wear them without looking like a fool. As you can probably see, the nails don't exactly match the colouring of the wellies, but I wasn't at home and the only colours I had to hand were the Butter LONDON Colour Clash collection, I'm sure you don't mind too much?


The base for these nails was Butter LONDON - Cake Hole, and then I used striping tape for the accent nails, along with Butter LONDON - Cotton Buds and a dotting tool, which I also used on the alternate nails.


What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way. Please see my disclosure policy

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Tutorial Tuesday: Bows

Hey everyone! It's 1am here in the UK, and I just got in to bed and turned out the light, only to remember that I'd completely forgotten to do a tutorial tuesday! So the light is back on and I'm going to be super quick in writing this so I can go to sleep, second time around. This week's tutorial is for these glitter bow nails, which you might remember from here. This time I used a base of the gorgeous Shimmer Polish - Kim*, which you can see swatches of below. I'm going to include the rest of the post after the jump otherwise it might be too long!

Sunday 17 November 2013

Skin Art UK Nail Art Polishes Review

Hey everyone! I know it's been a few days, and I'm really sorry about that. Essay writing is driving me insane so I decided to take a bit of a break and write a blog post finally! So today I have a review of these gorgeous Skin Art Nail Art polishes (a bit of a mouthful). Skin Art create temporary tattoos, but they also create nail tattoos and a limited selection of nail polishes. Today I'll be showing you three of the polishes, all which can be found on their website here. The full review will be after the jump!

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Tutorial Tuesday: Rose Polka Dots

Hey everyone! Today I have a brand new Tutorial Tuesday for you, this time for this gorgeous rose polka dots that you might remember from here. I had originally intended to post a tutorial for these bow nails today, because I was absolutely certain that I'd posted this tutorial already. However, after discovering (and double checking) that I hadn't, I decided to push the bow nails back a week and post these instead, considering I promised you a tutorial 'soon' over 3 months ago!  I can only apologise for my idiocy.


I wont bombard you with pictures as you've already seen these before, but just as a reminder for the colours I used 2True - Sienna for the base, 2True - Taylor for the roses, MASH - White, Barry M - Key Lime, and these studs from Born Pretty Store.


Step 1: Paint your nails pink
Step 2: Using a dotting tool and white polish draw dots on alternate nails
Step 3: Using a larger dotting tool paint on darker pink spots, more loosely than the white dots
Step 4: Using a thin brush paint on the shapes of the inside of the roses. For this shade I mixed the base colour and the white together to create a more opaque light pink
Step 5: Using the same brush paint on the leaves in green. 
Step 6: Finish off with a topcoat to seal in your design, and you’re done! You can also add studs whilst the topcoat is still drying if you wish

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

2 True Nail Polish Review

(EDIT: I've no idea why this is showing up as having been posted today, even though I posted it in August, so my apologies for those of you who already read it) Hey everyone! I know I promised this post a couple of weeks ago in this post, but as I mentioned last week, things have been super hectic around here. I also, again, never got around to posting my final comparison post so that should be around in the next fews days - hopefully! I apologise for being such an awful blogger at the moment, hopefully things will return to normal soon.

So today's post is a review of the lovely 2 true polishes I used in this post, Taylor and Sienna which can be found here, the rest of the post will be after the jump


Sunday 10 November 2013

Butter LONDON Colour Clash Collection, Autumn/Winter 2013

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to show you today's post, because I have a review of the absolutely gorgeous Butter LONDON Colour Clash collection. It's been a few months since I reviewed any Butter London polishes, and I'd almost forgotten how consistently amazing they are. I must admit I'm surprised that this is an autumn/winter collection, as they're very bright and colourful, and would probably be more suited to a summer collection. Nevertheless, I must admit I'm glad for a bit of brightness in amongst all the browns of autumn. The full review will be after the jump otherwise it may end up a bit long!


Friday 8 November 2013

Rio Original Nail Art Pens Review

Hey everyone! How are you all? I'm so excited to have a week off uni! Although, I have 2 essays to write, so maybe it's not so much a week off, but at least I get to see my family and friends for a bit. Anyway, today I have a review of the Original Rio Professional Nail Art Kit. The kit includes 8 colours: white, red, yellow, blue, black, dark green, silver and a metallic pink. It also comes with a bag of rhinestones, a pot of gold glitter, a full bodied brush, an instruction book, and a step-by-step DVD. As you can see the box is full to the brim with stuff, so you're definitely getting a lot for your money. I decided to just review the pens, but perhaps one day I'll use the rest too! I decided it would be better to review each pen separately and then I'll give my overall views at the end.


Black pen: Good consistency, opaque and comes out easily
Yellow pen: Much better consistency than I was expecting, nearly as opaque as the black and not too blobby when coming out
White pen: Opaque but a bit too free-flowing, meaning it blobs a bit. Although, this may just be my bottle, and if not, putting it in the fridge often helps
Green pen: Opaque, great consistency, easy application (as in, it doesn't come out quickly) same as the black
Pink: Much too free-flowing and as a result it was difficult to control. Also, not very opaque as it's a shimmer polish, this was probably my least favourite of the bunch
Red: Opaque, although less creme that the others, but free flowing like the white
Silver: Not as opaque as I was hoping for, free-flowing but manageable
Blue pen: Exactly the same as the green and black

The base for these nails was 2 coats of the gorgeous NYC - Raindrop (which seems to now be called Blue Sky), and Nicole by OPI - Spring Break, with a coat of Barry M - Crystal Glaze topcoat on the latter. The design is all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite


What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
If you're interested in buying this set you can find it on their website here although the pink seems to have become purple. You can also find them on Facebook here 
Alice

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Tutorial Tuesday: Glitter Jellyfish

Hey everyone! Today I have a brand new tutorial tuesday for you, this time for some cute little glittery jellyfish. Don't forget to check out the tutorials tab at the top of my blog to see my previous tutorials! I've wanted to do jellyfish for ages, and I was really tempted to do them with needle dragging but I was in one of those 'it will probably fail so I wont even try' moods, and I'm quite glad because I like how these turned out. Perhaps I'll try needle dragging some time in the future instead. I'm starting to run out of ideas for tutorials, what would you'd like to see on future tuesdays? I only have a couple more tutorials left to post before I need to make some new ones, so any suggestions are welcome. Just don't ask for Christmas tutorials, I'm one of those spoil sports who doesn't even like the mention of Christmas before December begins. Anyway, the rest of the post will be after the jump! I've seen a few of you saying that you prefer it that way, as you can scroll through my blog much easier