Shiny Pumpkins

[AD*]    Happy Halloween-eve! Halloween is one of my favourite holidays of the year (second only to Christmas) because I get to dress up, decorate my house, and also because it presents so many opportunities for nail art! 

This year I was asked by Naio Nails to create some Halloween nail art using their Urban Graffiti gel polishes, and I wanted to try and mix of matte and shiny with this pumpkin design. 

I've been wanting to try a matte gel top coat for ages so I made sure that was one of the polishes I chose for this collaboration, and I was like a kid marvelling when I saw that it doesn't go matte until you put it under the light. Science! (Or not science just magic who knows...). Anyway, read on to find out how I created these nails. 

Red Accent Tribal

Hey everyone! I don't want to make any excuses for why I haven't posted in a while, but I also don't want to leave you with no explanation. The basic rundown: I went travelling, some crappy thing happened, and then I've been super busy and demotivated. Luckily, I seem to have got my motivation back, and I've done 4 nail designs this week, all of which I'm pretty pleased with. It's nice to have my motivation and my inspiration back, and I want to throw myself back into blogging. I've got a new office which I love working in, so that's definitely helping. The shortened version: I'm sorry it's been a while but I'm back now and feeling inspired! 

Anyway, I tried my hand at some tribal nails because it felt like ages since I did a proper tribal design. They take me forever to do (is it just me?) but I always love how they turned out. However, rather than torture myself I just decided to do it as an accent nail. I don't know if it's just because I'm a little rusty, or because I was distracted by New Girl, but these took me two hours and that was just with two fingers, I couldn't face another 3 hours. 

Barry M Rose Gold Geometric

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a lovely weekend. I've had quite a busy weekend so far and we're off to Chester today to go the zoo and do a bit of shopping so another busy day ahead. Whilst I'm waiting for my boyfriend to be ready I thought I'd write a quick blog post as I haven't had much of a chance recently. I created these rose gold geometric nails a couple of weeks ago whilst I was playing around with the gorgeous autumn releases from Barry M. Their recent Molten Metals collection from a few months ago contained a copper shade which was close enough to rose gold that I thought that they wouldn't possibly create anything closer. Well I was wrong, their newest releases include Twinkle Twinkle*, a limited edition polish especially for Superdrug. You'll know how much I love creating nail art with rose gold if you've been followers of my blog for a while, so of course I had to do something with this. I wasn't really sure where I was heading when I started these nails, but I just went with the flow and I really liked the end result. 

Madam Glam Gel Polish Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a lovely week so far. I've still got a lot going on at the moment which is why it's been quiet from my end, but I've still got a few posts edited and waiting for me to write them up. I was recently sent a selection of Madam Glam gel polishes to try out. It's a brand I've heard a lot of but I hadn't got around to trying yet. So when they reached out and asked if I'd like to pick a selection of colours I jumped at the chance. I chose colours that I don't really own in gel shades as I wanted to add something different to my collection. I had high hopes based on the things I'd read, and they were proven to be correct. I really loved all of these shades, and I'm sure you'll be seeing them again.

Unlike other gels I have tried, I did not receive a lamp with my polishes from Madam Glam. This isn't a problem as I own a couple of curing lamps, but just as I agreed to review these Melody Susie contacting me asking me to review their new Pro48W lamp*, and I knew that the two reviews could go hand in hand.  I will do a more thorough review of the Melody Susie lamp at some point but I just wanted to say that I was really impressed. For the price ($109.99) you get a really high quality lamp. As it has three settings it meant that I could set it to the correct curing time for Madam Glam, which is 30s per coat. This is actually quite quick for gels, the majority take 45s or longer. The lamp also has a sensor so that it knows when you have inserted your hand, and how long to keep the light on for, which made the whole swatching process much easier.

A England - To Emily Bronte Collection Swatches + Review

 Hey everyone! I feel so frustrated with myself, I had intended to post every day this week to catch up on reviews but I've come down with an infection and I just feel awful. It's also making me really emotional for some reason, like I've cried at my own nails at least twice, so I decided to have a few days break. I'm still not feeling great but I can't deal with the not-posting guilt so I wanted to post this gorgeous A-England collection.

A England is a brand that I've wanted to try for a very very long time, their polishes are always awe-inspiring and unique, and the collections always intrigue me. I was lucky enough to be approached by Adina to review for A-England recently, and I absolutely jumped at the chance. I was sent this collection, (the To Emily Bronte Collection*), and a duo that I'll be showing you in the next few days. All of the polishes are gorgeous, but I feel a special affinity to this collection because they're all inspired by Wuthering Heights which is such a brilliant book. I used to be such a bookworm before uni and work took over my life and Wuthering Heights was definitely one of my favourites. 

I felt a lot of pressure to get my review of these perfect, not just because I want to impress Adina and my readers, but also because I want to do these beautiful polishes justice. I decided to use my new camera for my 'other' shots and my usual lightbox camera for my five finger shots. Unfortunately I wasn't very happy with the five finger shots, I didn't think they did the polishes justice, but I don't have it in me to break tradition and not have five finger shots. And anyway, it gives a perception of what the polishes look like inside and outside, but it also definitely highlights how much I need to get a lightbox set up for my new camera because the quality is 100x better!

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

Edinburgh Fringe Drama Masks for Avon

Hey everyone! Today I have some slightly creepy nail art to show you. I expected this design to be quite straightforward, but as always watching TV meant that it took a number of hours longer than it should have! I created these nails for Avon to go with the current Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I've never been but its on my list of things to go see and Edinburgh is top of my places to go visit. I just have to wait until I've managed to move out before I can start thinking of going away anywhere again just yet.

Review Week, Day 3: Barry M - Regular Collection 2014 Nail Polish

Hey everyone! Are you all impressed that I've managed to post three days in a row? We all know how awful I've been recently, so I'm even shocking myself, let's hope I can keep it up until Sunday. Today's post is the three polishes Barry M released last autumn to add to their regular collection, and is again one of the reviews I didn't realise I hadn't posted! 

New Years Fireworks for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I'm going to be posting twice today because I have two great tutorials to show you for New Years nails for tonight and there's no point posting them after the event. These are some simple and fun firework nails that I created for Divine Caroline. NYE wouldn't be complete without the sound of fireworks banging in the sky, so it seemed only fitting to have them on my nails too! 

Don't forget to check out the steps on Divine Caroline here.

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

Alice

Happy New Years! for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of the year, I know it's cliche but this year really has gone fast, and so so much has changed. I have a new job, a new boyfriend, a new flat, and I'm ending this year on a truly happy note, even though it's not always been an easy ride this year. I intend to celebrate in style, and what better way that a glass (or two) of champagne? So of course I couldn't resist putting them on my nails! Head over to Divine Caroline for a full tutorial on how to create these nails yourself

Don't forget to check out the steps here.

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

Alice 

Tutorial Thursday: Halloween Black Cat Nails for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Today I have a design that I've been really excited to show you, cat nails! I wasn't sure that these were going to work out as I planned in my head so I was so proud of them when they did. I've left my halloween costume for tomorrow until the absolute last minute so I'm just going as a cat (how original) so I might re-do these nails to go with my costume, or maybe some other cat design. I've created a tutorial for these for Divine Caroline so you can see how simple these are to create yourselves, if you dont want to do the smaller cats you can always just do the larger ones. See the tutorial here. Also these only take two colours: Barry M - Lychee and Graffiti Nails - Jet Black. ALSO, Graffiti Nails currently has 50% off everything for halloween, use the code 'SPOOKY' at the checkout. Go on the website here.

Don't forget to check out the tutorial here. 

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

Alice

Guest Post for Very Emily - Tribal Jelly

Hey everyone! Today I have a guest post over on my dear friend Emily's blog, which you can see here. It was about time I repaid her back for the guest posts she's done for me in the past, including this one that you saw a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, I'm not going to say anything about the nails because you can head over to Very Emily to see all the info there.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments. And dont forget to check out the post HERE for more info

Alice

ghd aura™ Professional Hairdryer - Review and Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have something a little different for you, combining beauty and nails and mixing things up a little bit. Recently ghd got in contact with me and asked if I wanted to review their new aura™* hairdryer, and I of course said yes. Whilst my monthly favourites do include some beauty products, I am still primarily a nail blog, and I wasn't exactly sure how to combine the two. But I decided to push myself out of my nail art comfort zone and create something a little different. On my thumb and ring finger I recreated the ghd aura™* logo, on my middle finger I drew the hairdryer itself, and on my pointer and baby finger I drew the outline of luscious blow-dried hair. Colours will be after the jump, as will my full review of the hairdryer itself.

Graffiti Nails - Swatches Part 3

Hey everyone, sorry for not posting for a few days, I was working all weekend and now I'm having a few personal issues, and so I'm not going to promise that the schedule is going to get any better at the moment, but I'll do my best! I'm really sorry if not. This post alone has taken me more than 48 hours to pluck up the courage to write. But today I have the final part of my Graffiti Nails review, and I know you've all been looking forward to it so I couldn't put it off. The colours today are Jet, Ice White, Mellow, Deep Red and Morning Mist, and you can get them all on the Graffiti Nails website for £3.99 if you're in the UK, and if you buy 3 then postage is free!

Review Week, Day Six: Born Pretty Store Sweet Color Glitter Swatches

Hey everyone! So we're nearing the end of review week now, I'm surprised with myself for actually managing to post 6 days in a row, although I must admit I almost didn't make it tonight, but I'm here, and the show must go on. Today's review is of these gorgeous Born Pretty Store Sweet Color glitters, numbers 106, 105 and 118, which you can find here and here. And don't forget to use my code KHL91 for 10% off

Daisy Nail Art + TUTORIAL for Clothes Show Live

Hey everyone! So, as you may remember me mentioning, last week I went to London to film some tutorials for Clothes Show Live. The first tutorial is now live and I can't wait for you to see it! I've also done my own nails to accompany the tutorial. I absolutely love the simplicity of these nails, they're easy to create yet they really stand out. I definitely think this is a design to do if you're in a rush but you still want something that looks good.

For these I started off with a base of MASH - Black, then I used acrylic paint for the white flowers and dots, and then I used Butter LONDON - Jasper for the yellow centres of the flowers, all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

And here's the tutorial on Clothes Show Live TV:

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

Alice

Slenderman

Happy Halloween everyone! I'm so excited to show you my final Halloween design: Slenderman nails! I know all my other designs have been quite cute this year but I wanted to try something a little different. For those of you who don't know what Slenderman is, he's the character of the game Slender, which is basically just an incredibly creepy game. I'm too much of a wuss to have played it personally, having got scared enough just watching someone else play! If you want to read more about it, the wiki page for the game is here. Hopefully though, most of you know what the game is, and therefore can understand the meaning behind each of these nails.

On my thumb I have the Slender writing (albeit a bit thicker than the actual text), on my ring and pointer finger I have the trees and moon which represent the creepy setting of the game, on my middle finger I have slenderman himself, and then on my pinky I have one of the eight pages you have to find throughout the game. 

The base for these nails was Alessandro - Midnight Black, then I sponged on No. 7 Grey Skies, the white and black is all done with acrylic paint, I then used a coat of Seche Vite before finishing with a coat of Butter London Matte Finish 

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

Alice

Tutorial Tuesday: Models Own Velvet Spiderwebs

Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been a few days since I last posted, I've been trying to get on top of the mountain of coursework that's due in very soon, and unfortunately that means my nails have fallen by the wayside. However, I still have 3 halloween posts for you (yep, I did an extra design) and I'm so excited for you to see the one I'll be posting on halloween itself. Today's post is a tutorial for these cute(ish) spider nails, which were done on a base of Models Own Obsidian*, from the Velvet Goth collection. The tutorial and swatches of Obsidian will be after the jump

China Glaze Monsters Ball Halloween 2013 Collection Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! I'm so excited for today's post, because I have the amazing China Glaze Monsters Ball collection to show you. This is my first time reviewing for China Glaze and the collection certainly doesn't disappoint. This a much more glitter-led halloween collection than I've seen China Glaze do before, but it works extremely well. And not only is it great for Halloween, but also for the rest of Autumn too! The rest of the pictures will be after the jump, as the post is probably going to be a long one

Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2013

Hey everyone! I have some super exciting news for you all today. Some of you may remember that a month or so ago I was asking you all to vote for me for Best New Beauty Blog 2013 in the Cosmopolitan blog awards, and this week was the awards ceremony. I went with the intention of meeting up with some amazing bloggers (aka The Nailasaurus, xameliax, Brit Nails and Lucy's Stash) and with absolutely no expectation of coming away with a prize. So imagine my surprise when I won! I'm still not sure it's entirely sunk in but I'm absolutely honoured to have been chosen and voted for, and I have all you amazing readers to thank, so thankyou. I still cannot believe that I run a successful blog, let alone a prize-winning one, and it is purely down to you, and I really cannot thank you all enough.

I of course couldn't attend without doing my nails, and although I wanted something that I could do on both hands, I also wanted it to be something that stood out, and so I finally settled on this glitter/swirl/stud combo. The base for these nails was 2 coats of Alessandro - Midnight Black*, and 3 coats of Alessandro - Glitter Queen*. I then applied a layer of China Glaze - Fairy Dust to the black. Once that was dry I used a thin brush and white acrylic paint for the swirls, and finally I added the black studs (which I unfortunately cannot remember the origin of but they're most likely from Born Pretty Store) I've also included a few pictures of the event and whatnot after the jump!