Trying out the pens again!

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic christmas, mine was lovely but unfortunately now I feel really ill and working with nail varnish tonight really hasn't helped! Anyway, today I decided to try out using pens for nail art again, I got a lot of questions about them last time so here is where to get them if you're interested. They're also the only pens I'll ever use for writing for some reason because I love them so much!

I thought it would be nice to do something using China Glaze 'Something Sweet' which I've wanted to use again for a while. I was going to do some more paisley print but I didn't think you guys would want to see the same design again, at least not for a while! So I decided to do some flowers, and although they looked pretty good plain I decided to add a bit of Barry M Gold Foil, and now I kind of wish I'd added white too but I still quite like them.

Hope you like them! Alice

Then and Now: Week 7

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the delay in posting, I've had a pretty busy week because I got back from uni and I was seeing all my friends who I hadn't seen in a while, I hope you dont mind! So today I have week 7 of my then and now 'challenge' which, as promised, is christmas related. I was debating whether to include these at all because I actually did these last year but I promised last week I would, and I also think it's a good way of seeing how I've improved throughout the past 2 years, and I guess these nails are becoming a bit of a tradition as well! More after the jump.

Matte christmas nails!

Hey everyone, I had the idea originally of doing these nails with studs, and then I thought perhaps studs and gold dots, and then once I'd just done the dots I quite liked them as they were, especially as they'd somehow developed to have a tree, so I added a (wonky) star on my thumb and topped with one coat of seche vite. Then I went to photograph them and no matter what I tried they looked AWFUL, the way the light was shining made them look streaky and awful so of course I decided to whack out the matte and make photographing 1000x easier (any excuse) and I actually do really like them like this, so I hope you do too!

I used a base of Nails Inc Hampstead Heath and Barry M gold foil to create the nail art and the matte top coat was one by Rimmel which doesn't have a specific name.

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

Alice

Then and Now: Week 6

So todays post I'm actually a little ashamed to show you, I was expecting so much more from these nails because I really liked the original 'then' nails, but I guess it's just a design that only really works on long nails and I feel that it's ended up looking worse than before, but I hope you read on and see nonetheless! The original picture is after the jump

Snow scene nails!

Hey everyone! I've decided it's officially time for christmas nails! We had our flat christmas meal tonight before some go home for christmas tomorrow, I'm not going until Saturday but I'm still feeling very christmassy! These nails were inspired by quite a few designs but I also wanted to use my Hexagon Glitter from Born Pretty Store and I suddenly had the idea that the perfect way to do so was by using them to make snow.

I'm pretty bummed that these photos really really dont show how glittery these nails are. The blue base is Barry M - Blue Glitter and you can barely see it, and you really cant see how wonderfully holographic the Hexagon Glitter is, so hopefully you can just guess because as much as I'm dreading the removal (I have no cotton pads or tinfoil in halls sadly) I can't stop staring at the sparkle!

I started off with a base of Barry M - Blue Glitter, and sponged Barry M - Matt White over that, then I painted on the snowflakes in acrylic paint, after which I painted on the snowy hills using the brush from the Barry M white but if I did these again I'd probably do that with a brush or dotting tool because they ended up way too thick. After that I painted on the snowmen, trees and house and outlined them and the house in black acrylic paint and sponged Barry M - Silver Glitter onto the snowy hills, followed last but not least by the Hexagon Glitter and Seche Vite top coat.

If you would like to buy the hexagon glitter (which I would recommend as it makes awesome snow) then you can get it at Born Pretty Store for $2.38 (around £1.50) with free shipping(!!!), and you can also use my code KHL91 to get 10% off!

Hope you like them! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Alice

Kalahari studs

Hey everyone! Today I have a post for you using Born Pretty Store's black rhinestones and China Glaze's Kalahari Kisses. In a way I've substituted Kalahari Kisses for a nude base but I think it works, I really like the look of these nails. I decided to create random swirls with black acrylic paint on my other fingers, and whilst I was worried it wouldn't worked I do quite like how it turned out, I hope you do too!

I really enjoyed using these rhinestones and although I normally pick them off within an hour I have managed to last with them for 3 days so far, probably due to the size but also because I'm too tired to redo my nails just yet! 

If you use my code KHL91 to buy these studs you can recieve 10% off! I would definitely recommend them as I got a bag of 10000 for around £5! 

What do you think of the nails and the studs? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

This product was sent to me for review but any opinions included are entirely my own and were not affected in any way by anyone else

Then and Now: Week 5

Hey everyone! Today's post very nearly didn't happen but I set Saturday as the date as Saturday it shall stay, even if it means coming back to uni from home to do it! This time is another summery design, just to opt out of the christmas nails (which I promise will happen soon enough), I did go through my 'archives' for the then and now challenge to find something more christmassy but I only have one design so I shall do that nearer christmas, turns out I was a sucker for bright colours 2 years ago!

I actually remember doing this design, mainly because I did the bees so thick that after 4 hours they still hadnt dried and were instead smudged all over my dressing gown (which has since pretty much just turned into a paint palette and I've got a new one for when I'm not painting my nails). So this time, I obviously didn't want to repeat that, but I knew I wouldn't because I have learnt from my mistakes (or so I hope!). Anyway, aside from having to do the acrylic paint that was coming off on my thumb there were no mishaps this time, and I am typing this with the manicure still perfectly in tact! See the original picture after the jump!