Challenge 26 - Think Pink!

Hi!

Oooh, I'm back sooner than I thought I would be. I managed to catch a couple more hours of sleep, so felt all refreshed. My boyfriend was asleep on the sofa, so figured I'd just play around with my nails.

Today it's all about 'Think Pink' I decided quite quickly I would do something like my blog background. I should learn that my thinking never does any good. I despise striping tape. A lot of girls use it in their manicures, but I have zero patience. It's so fiddly, I'm not ashamed to admit I threw the bloody reel a few times. Stupid thing.

Still, I had my mind set on it, & I didn't have any other ideas for the challenge so I went with it. To be fair, it doesn't look too much like the background, but you get the idea.

(Look how freaking fiddly it is!!!!)

Ignoring the horrible striping tape, it was pretty easy. Normal gradient, then gradient again but swapping the colours. Take tape off & Boom!

Whilst we're on a pink theme, Look what I have!

As I mentioned before, I watch a Kitten Cam. (I love it, but I always feel when I admit it, I should be dodging Crazy Cat lady jibes!) A fellow viewer has been creating mini felt kittens of the litters, then auctioning them to raise money for Purrfect Pals, the cat Shelter a certain Foster Dad works for. The lovely viewer then surprised a couple of us with out own mini kitties! My red hair turned an awesome candy floss pink, so yay for pink haired kitty. I had a huge grin when I saw the photo of this, & an even bigger grin when she said she would send it to me. It's absolutely amazing! Check out her page HERE, she is so talented. You will be able to see all her creations. 

I shall now go think up ideas for the next challenge. I don't think I'm going to look forward to it! 

Huuuge Love to you!

Edit: I just found this. YES!

Challenge 22 - Gradient!

HI!

I quite like gradient. I never used to be able to do it, & I hate not being able to, or being told not to do things. I'm far too stubborn for my own good.

Sadly, the batteries on my camera died, & again I'd left it 'til evening so crappy light, still, imagine that the light is great!

I had a shitter of a time doing the clean up. I love Sally Hansen polishes, but they stain my skin BAAAD!

I used SH 'Thinking Of Blue' & "Anenome of mine" Plus Barry M's 'Pomegranate' I then used Cheeky plate CH11 with an unbranded silver polish. I finished up with my Rimmel Matte finish.

I keep saying this, but they really do look better than I'm able to photograph them right now. I am my own worst critic, but I actually like the end result of these.

I do have batteries somewhere, but I tidied, which means they could be anywhere. It's hard taking a photo when you're trying to go as quick as you can because you're being warned the thing is about to die.

If I remember, before I do tomorrow evenings manicure, I'll try & take better photos of this one.

Challenge 13 - Inspired by Spring!

SPRING IS HERE!!

... Well, that's the rumour. Looking outside my window this weekend you wouldn't have thought so. I had plans of daisies & bees & all the happy spring things, but it's been snowing!

Therefore, my inspired by Spring nails may look a little odd.

I went a bit crazy with the clean up. My fingers look like old ladies fingers as I fell asleep in the bath. I've just started watching The Tudors, so whilst I was cleaning with acetone, I may have got a bit sidetracked.

I really do think these look better in real life. I need to sort out my home made light box again so I can make the most of my camera. The Seche Vite makes my nails ridiculously shiny. (Also, it smells gorgeous! I can't be the only one in love with the smell?!)

Challenge 11 - Glitter Nails.

"I'm like a shooting star, leaping through the sky..."

Hi, Girls!

Sorry for being AWOL. I've had a bad week. My Grandmother is in hospital, & my Brother had a car crash yesterday. The Good news is, someone is watching over us! It's strange, when my Nan went in hospital, I went outside for some me-time and 'spoke' to my Grandpop. He died when I was five, but I was very close to him. I asked if he could watch over all my family & make sure everyone is safe. I'm not a believer in God as such, but I really do believe that he may have helped. 

In other good news, I had a ridiculous amount of things arrive from my Amazon wishlist. Seriously, a ridiculous amount. Our cats are good for food for months.

Because of this, I wanted to do a shooting star manicure to go along with this weeks challenge. They're lucky, & you make a wish on them. Seemed perfect for this week. 

I've said it before, & I'll say it again. Sally Hanson polishes are a bitch to tidy up. Major staining. I've acetoned & I've had a bath, & this was the best I could do clean up up wise.

I'm using a very shoddy camera right now, & this manicure looks so much better in person. All fingers were supposed to be the gradient, but I buggered up the shooting star on the accent nail, & I couldn't be bothered to re-do the gradient. I don't think it looks too out of place. I ended up using a star gem I got in a kit from Poundland. I thought it would make it look very tacky, but I don't think it looks too bad.

I also got a few presents from people to help with Nail Art. I am getting a new camera from a lovely person, so I can't wait for you to get some decent photos.

Love to you all.

"Like a shooting star, across the midnight sky, wherever you are you're going to see me fly."

Challenge 10 - Blue!

Hi Girls!

HAPPY 1st OF MARCH!!!

We have new kittens at The Kitten Cam which gives me something to watch whilst I do my nails. They are adorable. I love black cats!

This weeks challenge is BLUE! I'm not the biggest fan of the colour blue. I used to love it as a kid, then I grew out of my tomboy stage & became more girly. I don't actually have a huge blue selection in my nail polish collection
 I was going to do a blue ocean type design, then I saw Sammy at The Nailasaurus had done this, & after seeing her AMAZING mani, there was no way I was going to touch that one, not without a lot of practice (& tears!)

In the end, I've gone with a simple gradient. As I've said before, it's something I struggle with so will use any excuse to practice the technique.

I don't have hairy fingers. Just a fluffy white cat who has fur that gets EVERYWHERE!

I used Sally Hansens 'Navy Baby' & a silver L&B polish. I still need to work on my sponging, as it still has sponge marks which is annoying.

As you know I'm a big SH fan, however I find the darker shades stain my skin like I've never known. As you can tell, I might have got a bit OTT on the clean up, & then I led in a bath for an hour. I think I've managed to do a good enough job.

You may also be able to tell I broke the nail on my little finger. Sad Face. He's being held together by some nail glue but this weekend I will have to sort him out as  he's a tad ugly, poor fella.

One last thing. My Mum thinks she has a spare camera lying around. This means I get a hand me down & may finally be able to get some decent photos of my manicures, which will make easier viewing too.

Good times.

EDIT: I almost forgot, please go visit my lovely friend, Kathie's Blog. She's pretty awesome.

Laid Back Nails.

Hi Girls.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentines Day.

Today, I wanted something simple & I wanted to use some of my polishes I'd gotten from Alans sisters.

I decided to go for the gradient design again, something laid back, so I went for some quite neutral this time.

Neither of the polishes have a written colour on them, & the middle one is completely unbranded. 

I'm quite proud of this attempt,the photos don't do it justice. It's not as perfect as I'd like, but I'm improving on the smoothness of the finish.

I decided that I wanted to go over with my Matte top coat, just to give it that extra laid back feel. My phone then decided it had enough battery to use the flash, so you can see the colours more clearly. I wish I wasn't so impatient & waited so I could have taken the glossy photos with a flash too.

(Ignore the remain of water marble under my thumb that I missed... oops)

I love these even more with a matte finish. Sometimes a girl just needs something that isn't in your face.

I have to say, I'm quite excited for this weeks challenge. If it goes right, it should be freaking amazing! So keep your eyes peeled for that this weekend.

On a final note, big hello to all my new followers. My blog is still a baby, but my followers have doubled in the last few days, & that's always lovely to see.

Sunday Morning Laziness.

When I say Sunday morning, I mean ridiculously early Sunday morning. It's chilly, so I came out to the living room, Boyfriend put on Doctor Who & I played with my nails.

As I've said before, I really want to perfect the Gradient technique, so what better time than the very early hours of the morning.

I'm very bad at choosing colours which work well together. I've looked at other blogs & so many colour seem to work, but when I try it, it never goes to plan. Still, My Mother taught me never to give up, so on I plod.

This time I went with an unbranded Pink, Rimmels Grey Matter, & an unbranded Black. I didn't know if they would work, but I don't think it went too bad considering.

I was given the advice to make my photos bigger, which I think looks amazing, sadly it shows even more I need to work on my cleaning up. I'm also looking at making a lightbox after another suggestion given to me.You guys have honestly been amazing. 

I still need a lot of work, but I'm quite proud of these. I don't think the colours look too bad. Where I used a White base colour, it almost looks like I used four colours.  My actually technique is a bit crap. I dislike how you can see the sponge-y marks still, but I'm guessing over time I will figure it out, (Unless some lovely people can give me some tips?)

I definitely need to sort out my extensions. They need infilling, plus the ones that have lasted the longest are the ones I did first. You can tell this in the photo above where I still hadn't figured it all out, & the extension is actually too big for that specific nail. Oops!

Of course, I was on a roll, so I thought What the Hell, Let's play with my stamper too. I've only used it a couple of times, as to be honest, I'm not great at it. I can't get the placement right, which is quite annoying, especially seeing other girls using it with amazing results.Again, practice, practice, practice:

I think I may have ruined he manicure doing this, but it was still fun to play. I'm in a total nail playing mood, which is bad for 0400hrs. Must go to bed, not clean off & star more playing! Naughty Kay!

Catch you laters,

X

Summer Gradient.

Hi girls!

I'm not sure what's going on with me. I seem to be sticking to a summery theme. It's so cold right now, I must  be making up for it by making my nails warm.

I will admit now, I'm not great at Gradient, hence why I'm needing all the practice I can get, It's going to come up in our year long challenge some time in the next eleven months, so need to try & master it.

I've gone with Sally Hanson - Yellow Kitty & my cheap pastel blue from New Look. Despite finding the sponge so difficult to use, I think the Gradient looks so much prettier with it.

I still need a lot of practice, but I think I'm finding my technique. I went over with the Matte Top Coat, as I haven't used it in at least a day or two.

The lighting in here is terrible & I did take a photo with flash & my Barry M topcoat:

So BRIGHT! You need sunglasses. The yellow is a hell of a lot more subtle than this, actually, this looks nothing like it does, but I thought I'd included it with the glossy finish.

I think I might try to update this tomorrow using tape. We shall see whether inspiration comes my way.

Catch you laters,

x

Sunset Lovers.

My lovely Boyfriend gave me the idea for this manicure. I wasn't sure what to do for the yellow challenge, & Alan came up with this idea. Whilst I didn't use it for the challenge, I was determined to give it a go today.

Of course, it's now February, the month of love. So theme for this is definitely love. I'm one of those annoying people who love Valentines day. I adore seeing hearts all over the shops, & couples walking arm in arm.

I've wanted to practice gradient for a while. It's a technique that I just haven't been able to get the hang on, which frustrates me to no end. I went with a Pink, Orange & Yellow for the sponge gradient. I then used a un-branded black polish along with one of my brushes to create the silhouettes.

I'm not great when it comes to freehand, I've seen a few other manis that used a stamper, & they look freaking amazing. Sadly, neither of my stamping plates had anything which could be useful.

It's so cold outside that this just makes me feel all warm & snug.

I'm trying to think up an idea for my next manicure, so until then,

Catch You Laters,

X

Challenge 6 - Yellow Nails

Hi Girls!

Back again for another challenge, this time, yellow. I had two different ideas for this one, so I've done both of them.

The first one I wanted to try after seeing it on another blog, however I'm not sure which one, so apologies.

I started by doing a yellow/orange gradient, & then used the nail art pen to draw the outlines.

I'm quite annoyed with these. I had been practising to try and get the flames right,& I was really getting there, but when it came to doing them on nails, they did not go how I wanted, & I ended up cleaning them off not long after taking the photo.

 My Brother bought me some 'Fingers' for Christmas, & I have pre-glued nails which I get from the 99p shop. It saves me from have to practice on my own nails & ruining them from nail polish remover.

These were a few of my practice runs, I think they look a lot better than what I ended up with, albeit still not perfect. 

My second attempt, was what I originally wanted to play with.Bees! I love Bees. They scare the crap out of me if they manage to get near me. I just don't understand how they work. They should not be able to lift off & hover. After watching The |Bee Movie, I fell in love even more.

Poor Bee, ended up with weird stripes & eyes. I was getting a bit sleepy, so was lazy  freehanded the stripes instead of waiting for them to dry & use tape. 

I used some rhinestones from the 99p shop for the trail. As you can tell, this took about 5 minutes, but it's still quite eye catching. I have named him Gilbert.

So these are my two attempt for this weeks challenge. I have a few ideas of things I want to play with, so I'm quite excited about that. I'm spending a lot of time applying for any job I can find. It's hard finding something which doesn't need experience though, so wish me luck!

Catch you laters,

x