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!

Can't Let Go of Summer

Hey everyone! So summer is officially over, but I couldn't resist one last summery design. These were my original design for the beauty and the beach competition, of all my failed designs this was my favourite but looking back on it now it's probably the worst and it's a good job I didn't choose it. Even still, it would make great a simple and easy design for summer, if it wasn't over!

The base for these was Essence - That's What I Mint, sponged with Barry M - Blueberry, then with MASH - White, then with Butter London - Cuppa. I'm not sure about the colours used for the details, but it was topped off with Seche Vite

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

Alice

Digital Dozen Does Fashion: Day 2 (and GIVEAWAY)

Hey everyone! I'm not going to write much today because I have to be up in 6 hours for work. I'm beginning to regret this week's digital dozen, I've only just started a full time job and I'm struggling to find the time to post twice a week, let alone once a day for 5 days! But I shall soldier on ;) 

Today's nails are based on this* jumper from Romwe, who have kindly offered to sponsor a giveaway for my blog. More information on that at the end of the post, first up: the nails!

The jumper design is a simple gradient, and as I was in a rush I felt it best not to over-complicate that. However, I do quite like the look of the gradient alone, even if it seems a bit boring for my taste. 

The colours are Butter LONDON - Cuppa and Essence - Stuck on You, topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

As I only received this top yesterday, I didn't have time to take a picture of me wearing it or of it in full, so for a full picture see the website here. I promise you it's worth the look! I absolutely love this jumper and I will certainly be wearing it a lot, especially as the British summer seems to have ended already

Now for the giveaway! Romwe.com have kindly offered to give away this dress and this dress to one lucky reader. All you have to do is enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. It is open internationally

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For those of you who cannot wait, or don't wear dresses, Romwe currently have a sale on back to school clothes here, or you can visit their website here

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

Alice

Additionally, if you have time, I would super appreciate it if you could vote for me for 'Best New Beauty Blog' in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2013 here

*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 

Seaside nails

Hey everyone! Summer has finally arrived in the UK and I'm loving it! Of course I had to bring you some summer nails to match. These nails were actually another design that I thought about entering into the Beauty and the Beach competition, but decided that they weren't up to much. I know these aren't great but they're definitely something simplistic that you can wear to the beach if you're feeling a bit uninspired.

The base for these is Essence - That's What I Mint but I'm not entirely sure of the other colours because I did them over a month ago. I then used a coat of Seche Vite to finish off.

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

Alice

Which is best? Comparing Top Coats

Hey everyone! Today has been a great day for the UK, as Andy Murray became the first Brit to win Wimbledon in 77 years. Today is also great because I have the start of a new weekly series I'll be doing; comparing the things we nail girls need and love. Base coats, matte top coats, hand creams, cuticle care, and today's post; top coats. I will be comparing Seche Vite*, Dior Gel Coat*, INM Out The Door*, Guerlain Gel Topcoat*, and Essence Gel Look*. I'm going to mark them on shine, drying speed, if you can prod them (and not leave a mark) after 10 minutes, how much they smudge the design below on application and how well they last, I will give them a ranking of 1-5 and a score out of 10, and then I will give my overall view at the end. The rest of the post will be after the jump because it's going to be pretty long.

Seven Deadly Sins: Week 5 - Wrath

Hey everyone! I'm afraid this post is a little bit late because my brand new laptop broke (only a month old) but I took it back today and they gave me a brand new one so HOPEFULLY I should be okay now. 2 broken laptops in just over a month is not how I like exam period to go, or any period of time for that matter! 

Anyway, I'm back now and I have the next week of the Seven Deadly Sins challenge for you: wrath. The prompts for this were either 'get mad trying that technique you know is going to be a fail' or 'find something that blows your top and express it with your art' and I decided to combine the two and go with something that really annoys me about nail art/nail polish: the removal of red polish! It seems to get everywhere and I hate it, so I thought I'd go against my hatred and do some nail art with it.

I had this red to review anyway from the lovely Sally over at Sally Magpies, as she wanted me to let you all (in the UK) know that you can get a wide range of products on her store that are sold abroad usually, which you're all lusting after. For instance, Essence. As I've mentioned before my lovely friend Emily provided me with a few Essence nail varnishes and it included my new favourite blue: 'that's what I mint' which is luckily sold at Sally's store, as its already half empty. Anyway, here is the red that Sally gave me, it's called 'redvolution' and along with many other Essence products it's sold here for just £2.75

This is 2 very easy coats, it's not quite as neon as the picture suggests but it is pretty bright

Essence 'Redvolution'

Of course, I couldn't do that without adding a bit of nail art, so I removed a couple of nails (eugh) and added 'Something Sweet' by China Glaze and added some mini strawberries. 

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

Alice

Barry M Summer 2013 Confetti Nail Effects/Polish Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I have a review of the new Confetti Nail Polish* from Barry M to show you. I intended to post these weeks ago but never got around to editing the photos, so even though I'm sure you might have seen these around I hope you enjoy them anyway! I decided to try something a little different to the other reviews I've seen and show you what they look like alone or layered over another colour, rather than just layered.

These are available now on the Barry M website and will be available in Superdrug on the 5th June and Boots on the 12th priced at £3.99. These have been compared to the feathers effect collection by Nails inc but these are definitely the more affordable option if you're looking to buy some. I dont own any to compare but I'm assuming these are just as good. As always the pictures and review will be after the jump!

Barry M Nail Art Pens Review

Hey everyone! Today I have a post which I'm super excited to show you, using the 4 new Barry M nail art pens. They were released in Superdrug and online today (10th April) and will be released in Boots on the 17th April. As you will see, I highly recommend getting at least one of these pens because they're awesome and completely unlike any other nail art pens I've tried before. More after the jump!

Then and Now: Week 15

Hey everyone! It's been a while since my last 'Then and Now' post. I think until the end of may (when my exams finish) I probably wont be doing it every week, but I shall try my best! This week's post I wasn't actually going to do, because I really hated the original nails and I remember taking them off after about 10 minutes, but I decided it would be a good test of how far my skills have come if I could make the same design look good, and I think it worked because I really like how they came out, I think they ended up looking a lot like buttons actually. As always the 'then' post will be after the jump 

Over the top tribal print

Hey everyone! I've been traveling all day and I really just want to crawl into bed so this post wont be a long one I'm afraid. 

To do these nails I used these brushes from Born Pretty Store, I absolutely love this set, I'd say my favourite is definitely the smallest one. I'd definitely recommend getting them if you're just starting out with detailed nail art because they're great for variety. Don't forget to use my code KHL91 for 10% off!

These nails were definitely not planned out, I painted a base coat of Essence - I'm Bluetiful and decided to add some white acrylic paint detailing, but it looked a bit plain so I added red, yellow and blue acrylic paint, and Collection 2000 - Ninja to add some extra detail to the design. Personally, I feel like it ended up being a bit too much, but for some reason I still really like them. 

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

Alice