Saturday 31 October 2015

Cute Halloween Witch

Happy Halloween!! Hope you're all having a fun day, I've had an entire day trying to find a last minute outfit but I've had zero luck. Which will teach me to leave it until the last second. I'm ending up just wearing devil horns, even though I actually tried to make an effort this year, which is frustrating. Anyway, at least I can be a bit more Halloween-y with my nails. This year I went with these cute witch nails inspired by these nails by Laura Merino, which I've had saved in my 'inspiration' folder since last year. I really love how these turned out, I got a tonne of compliments on them, I think the colours made them stand out as Halloween nails.

Thursday 29 October 2015

Barry M Halloween Accent

Hey everyone! I received the gorgeous new Barry M Glitter Gellies last week and whilst I was swatching Sparkling Amethyst* I couldn't help but add a halloween accent nail. I'll have my full post up on the gellies soon, but as you can tell here they're absolutely stunning. This shade is perfect for halloween, but I wanted to keep the polish itself on show so I minimised the nail art. 


Wednesday 28 October 2015

Matte Glitter Triangles for Avon

Hey everyone! I've had such a busy week, my life normally seems to revolve around sleep and work but this week I've managed to catch up with friends and I've just been to see Spectre tonight. I enjoyed it but I must admit I think I prefer Skyfall, although it seems like I'm alone in my opinions. Today's nail design is not a Halloween design, instead I'll be posting Halloween nails for the rest of the week. Unfortunately I haven't finished editing my pictures yet so they'll have to be squeezed in somewhere else. These are just some simple triangle nails combining glitter, matte and regular nail polish to create a multilayer effect. I dont think I've ever really used all three in a design together so I was pretty happy with the outcome

Sunday 25 October 2015

Gradient Pumpkins for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I must admit I'm a bit of a scrooge when it comes to celebrating holidays early, Christmas is from the start of december, and Halloween from a week before (two at the earliest). I love both holidays, but I don't want to ruin them by dragging them out too long. Not because I'm boring (at least I hope not!). This is why I'm so late in posting my first Halloween nail art. I actually created these weeks ago for Divine Caroline, but I took them off almost instantly after painting them because I didn't want people at work questioning why I had Halloween nails in September! I was quite sad to take them off though because I really did like the design. I was trying to go with a cross point between galaxy and halloween nail art and this is what I ended up with. I reckon these could probably stretch after Halloween and just be autumnal, but pumpkins will always make me think of Halloween. If you want to see the tutorial on how to create these, click here.


The base is OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked? Then I used Barry M - Full Throttle and Cult Nails - Captivated for the gradient. The pumpkins are done using Essie - Fear and Desire, and the green is OPI - Don't Mess With OPI.      Remember to check out the full tutorial here.

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

Thursday 22 October 2015

Green Autumn Leaves

Hey everyone! Today has felt more like autumn than any other day so far, I woke up to the loud noise of the wind and the entrance to work was littered with leaves. So it felt like the perfect time to post these nails, which I'm also currently wearing. I feel like I've jinxed it and made it all the more autumnal by wearing them! Luckily I've got a nice new coat to keep me warm, but it's always nice to get home at the end of the day and get warm in bed whilst you can hear the wind outside.

Monday 19 October 2015

Negative Space Florals for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Just a quick post on these negative space florals I created for Divine Caroline. You can read all about them here and see the tutorial on how to create them. You all know how much I love negative space designs, but I've always done smaller florals and I really wanted to try something a bit different (ish). I just wish I'd made them matte, because I feel it brings out the design a bit more.


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

Saturday 17 October 2015

Black and White Film Nails for Avon + Tutorial

Hey everyone! I've been feeling lately that my nail art has got a bit same-old, florals and leaves and whatever else in between. Whilst that is my style (and will inevitably be posted again in a couple of days) I also don't want to completely bore you. So I was searching my files on my laptop to find something to post, and I came across these film nails I created for Avon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for some reason I never posted these. I've tried searching my old posts and I can't see any sign of them, so I must have just completely forgotten about them. I actually really like them, so as soon as I saw them again I knew that I needed to post them for you all to see, and for you all to have something a little different! There's also a tutorial to go alongside these if you want to see, just click after the jump! 

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Barry M Autumn Glitter Leaves

Hey everyone! It's been so long since I created these nails that I'd completely forgotten I did them. I did them last Autumn, but Autumn had finished by the time I got around to thinking about posting them and it was too late. So instead I thought I'd save them for this year, and luckily I remembered before it was too late this year. I created these for Barry M using their Autumn 2014 Gelly collection, and a full tutorial is after the jump.


Sunday 11 October 2015

Gelish Hello Pretty! Collection Floral Outline Nail Art

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I did any nail art using gel polishes, the last time I wore any was when I was on holiday back in June. However, recently I was sent the Gelish Hello Pretty! collection* and I couldn't resist doing a bit of nail art using them. I was going to do individual reviews of each colour, but I normally use PVA as my base and my PVA has gone gloopy and is taking about 45 minutes to dry each time. I tried it first with Manga Round With Me* and then realised it wasn't going to be possible to do each colour until I buy some more PVA, so instead I thought I'd create some fun nail art with the colours, as they work so well together as a collection. I wore these for a week and I was really sad to take them off. I wanted to do something similar to the floral outline I did in these nails, but I make the bigger flowers a bit smaller and I loved how they turned out. 

Friday 9 October 2015

Breast Cancer Awareness Nail Art for Avon

Hey everyone! I'm afraid tonight's post may be slightly more subdued than usual, as tonight I've been watching all the Stand Up To Cancer specials on Channel 4 (mainly my usual favourite Gogglebox) and I must admit I cried quite a lot. Whilst it's a morbid topic, it's also one that many of us have to deal with, directly or indirectly, and I think we should all do our bit to help as much as we can. Today's nails were created for Avon for breast cancer awareness, but I think they're also synonymous with the disease as a whole. If you want to read more about Stand Up To Cancer, or to donate, visit their website. I believe the charity also exists outside of the UK for those of you elsewhere.


Wednesday 7 October 2015

OPI Nail Envy Strength & Colour - Bubble Bath Daisies

Hey everyone! Recently I unexpectedly received an exciting parcel from OPI through the post, of three of the four new 'Strength and Colour' Nail Envy polishes. These are a coloured version of their popular strengthening base coat Nail Envy, which is an old favourite of mine. I wasn't aware that these were being released until I received them but I think they're such a great idea. The colours are subtle so there are no worries about staining (which you definitely don't want when they're doubling up as your base coat), and you get all the benefits of Nail Envy with a dash of colour. They're also recreations of OPI favourites, such as Bubble Bath* (this one) and Samoan Sand*. They are unfortunately on the expensive side, RRP £19.99, but Nail Envy alone is pretty expensive too, and you can grab them on Amazon for £14.75. 

I also wanted to try out a new polish I received from Avon, called Lovely Lace* which is part of their new lace collection. I thought the two would pair up really well, but you know I'm not very good with plain nails (hence, the nail art blog) so I had to add a few daisies too. I love how these turned out, they're subtle but sweet, and also really good for my nails at the same time! The OPI polishes arrived at the perfect time as my nails were starting to peel at the ends so these gave them the extra strength they needed. I intend to try out the other colours in turn too (I received three of the four) so I'm sure you'll see them around, but I wanted to showcase Bubble Bath* for you first and foremost.

Sunday 4 October 2015

Grey Half Spots

Hey everyone! I've been debating whether or not to post these nails, as they didn't really turn out how I envisaged. I'm not really sure what I wanted them to look like, but I definitely wanted the accent nail to be a bit more bright and bold. I thought the yellow would work a lot better than it did, it just doesn't stand out enough, especially not for photography's sake. However, this is a diary of my designs, good and bad, so here you go. It's simplistic but there's something about it I really like (except the accent nail).