Challenge 15 - Black & White nails

Hi!

I didn't realise how far behind I am on the challenge. Bollocks! Going to take a while to catch up.

This is just a quickie, something to try & get me back into the habit of doing my nails.

My Birthday was on the 16th & a friend bought me Rio Lace Nail Foils. I tried them how on her on Monday but couldn't get it right. I figured I'd just stick with an accent nail when I tried it on myself, which I managed to get right.

The annoying thing about this, is there is no clear indication which side down you're meant to stick the foil, or if there is, I'm blind to it. Still, it's pretty, & the adhesive reminds me of primary school!

There is only one photo as my camera has run out of batteries so I had to see what I could do with my phone.

I actually painted my nails black at the weekend, so there is a little bit of wear

Hopefully the next mani will have a bit more oompf!

Zebra foils.

When I got my Rio UV extension kit I was quite excited that I got FREE foils with it. I love freebies! I'd already tried a cheapy version from Sainsburys in my Polka Dot Challenge so was quite interested to compare the quality between the two.

You get three designs for free, a polka dot, rainbow gradient & Zebra. Considering it is the week of the animal print in our challenge, I went for Zebra, borrowing a friends nails to do so. (I spent bloody ages on my fish tail, I wasn't getting it off for foils!)

As I've said before, I do think foils are cheating a little bit, you don't get the same satisfaction of completely a project. These foils were unfortunately quite difficult to apply. They're a lot thicker than the Sainsburys ones, so putting them on took about as much effort as painting them on free hand!

As you can see, I had trouble getting the excess off. I think I nearly tore away my friends cuticles trying to get it shaped, the problem was, it was very easy to end up tearing what was supposedly stuck fast to the nail.

Don't get me wrong, I love Rio. They're affordable (says the girl whos Rio products were all bought for her) & a great way to get you introduced to the world of Nail Art, but I can see why these foils were freebies. I've seen good reviews of their actual kit you can buy, so these have not put me off the brand just yet. Pity I have to wait 'til June for my Birthday!

On a separate note, We made a lightbox! Sadly I'm still using my phone for the photos, so the quality of the photos are still pretty shoddy, & I can get close-ups to focus, but I can see the difference in the lighting. My boyfriend has an awesome camera, but, ironically, despite my previous electronics employment, I'm a jinx when it comes to technology. It all breaks on me, so I'm banned from the pretty camera. Might give my Mother a little hint & see if she has any hand-me-downs I can 'borrow' I love hand me downs.

We're getting all our stuff back from the old flat today, I'm dreading it. On the plus side, I know I have a lot of make-up & Nail Varnish to come back. Wish me luck that it's still usable, & I don't lose my temper with boxes!

Catch you Laterss
x

Challenge 3 - Polka Dots!

Hi Guys.
I know I promised a blog post at the weekend, so I'm a little late (oops!) Real life got in the way. I was planning on doing this earlier, but I had to go watch my baby (he's 19!) Brother play football. It tried snowing, & I got excited. Whilst his team lost, it was funny listening to the other teams goal keeper getting shitty because he let another goal in!

However, to make up for it, I did three, yes THREE different attempts. I really need to get a job. I have way too much time on my hands!

Attempt One:

I don't know what you guys thought of the Xmas sales, but in my area, they were terrible. The best I found was, surprisingly Sainsburys, about a week after. All their Christmassy things were 70% off. This included nail-y goodness! I've never heard of LB brand before. I got a manicure set for £1.50 & a foil kit for £2.25. Turns out they are actually a really good brand. The varnishes I've tested dry very quickly, & after coats you've got a beautiful nail.

I'll admit now, I've never been a huge fan of foils. It almost seems like cheating, but I actually quite liked them. They're very easy to put on, however for something simple like this, I think I'd rather do it by hand.

I roped the lovely Megan into letting me play with her nails, & this was the end result:

They really are quite eye-catching. I did them after eating a huge kebab, so was feeling all bloated & sick, so was probably a lot easier to do than my attempt. One downside though, the bits you cut off, I just put them on the desk. Turns out, it's near impossible to get back off once it's stuck to glass. Bad times.

Like I said, I think I'd only use foils that had a very intricate design, not something like this.

Attempt Two:

I'm going to use this section to gush about my lovely boyfriend. We've been together nearly five years I think. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't have an anniversary date? It happened over time, there was no one defining moment when we decided we were together) He has early onset Osteoarthritis & is currently waiting for a hip replacement. He's in pain constantly, but never takes it out on me, which is quite common in these situations. He really takes an interest in my new hobbies. We have a silent agreement, I pay attention when he talks about his shooty PS3 games, & he pays attention when I go "ooh pretties"

I told him about this weeks challenge, & he wanted me to try this out. Everyone loves Ladybirds (Ladybugs if you're weird :-P ) This really didn't take long at all, as you can probably see, plus the design was attempted on my right hand, which never ends up pretty. 

I was an idiot & forgot to put the pupils in, poor, blind Ladybirds. I used LBs brand, which I mentioned above, for the red. The Black & white I used Rios nail art pens. I'm a big fan of Rio. They're affordable & they give you so much flexibility with your designs. My only fault with them, is they take too long to dry, & after a couple of hours they're usually ruined if you were in a rush. I think if you leave it half hour before putting a top coat on, then it is fine, but I didn't have the time with these. I love the idea behind it, so will definitely come back to this design when I have a bit more time, & hopefully improve it a lot. 

Still, I promised I'd post photos of attempts I'm not so proud of, so here you go.

Attempt 3:

Riiight, this one. This is the one I spoke about in the previous blog. I found a picture a few months ago of a Polka dot design. I remember it was stunning. I remember it looked impossible to do. I don't remember where I found it.

This is purely from memory. I don't think it's anything like the gorgeous art I found, but unless I had it in front of me, I don't think I would have been able to achieve it anyway.

Tada:

So yes, nothing like I wanted, but it still has Polka dots! At the moment I'm having to use my HTC Desire HD for a camera (which is rubbish FYI) So I don't know why some parts look dirty. It isn't in natural light.

I hit a bit of a stumbling block in way of my dotting tool. I only have one, but it's very small, & I wanted bigger dots. I used  my brains though, & used the ends of two nail art brushes though. I think the dots are slightly too big, but better than being too small.

If I ever find that bloody picture again, I will attempt it properly, as it was just beautiful.

You will be getting another blog post this week hopefully, as I have an idea of something I want to try, although I have no idea if I'll manage it. We shall see.

So, Until next time...

x