Quick Christmas Mani!

Hi Girls!

So, I did a quick Christmassy mani this afternoon whilst talking to a friend. I started then realised I needed a cup of tea, so it was a bit of a rush job, & I used it more to practice mixing up colours & seeing what I could get. I also wanted to get back into doing freehand.

Ignore the messy finish & pretend it's magificent!

I'm hoping my next one should have a bit more focus on neatness. After abandoning my poor hands & nails for a few months, they're in a very sorry state. New Years resolution is to get them into a beautiful condition.

I have a few ideas of what I want to do next, so may get to work tomorrow evening & get another post up.

I will get back into it. Rawr!

Challenge 30 - Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice!

Hi, Girls!

I'm so very near catching up. Go Me!

I've had this idea in my head for a few months now, & lucky it fit in with this challenge. I have no idea what the typical idea for this challenge would be, but who likes following the norm!

I have to admit, I wasn't a huge Powerpuff Girls fan. I don't remember ever watching it as a kid, I much preferred the cartoons aimed at 'boys' Girly stuff was not my thing.

I did not get on anywhere near as well as I'd have liked, still I did it, sort of.

I hate free-hand. I'm not an artist, I can't even draw a stickman to save my life.

I'm stuck in the bedroom at the moment, not feeling too well, hence bad lighting. I keep promising I'll sort it out, & I really will. I just remember that lighting is crap, then can't be bothered to do it or the current photos, & tell myself next time I will do it. I really need to stop putting things off.

I'm hoping the next challenge will be quicker, easier, & far less stressful, though, watching Downton Abbey whilst doing the nails made it a bit more fun. I live down the road from Highclere Castle, so it's always fun watching it.

Challenge 9 - Delicate Nails.

NOT. A. FAN!

Sorry this is so late. For one, I dislike this challenge a lot. Who's idea was this? Secondly, I got viciously attacked with the Flu Jab on Monday Morning! It was only meant to be an asthma review. Since then, I've suffered, so I haven't felt like doing my nails.

I finally picked a design that I wanted to do, & I'm quite proud of it. I saw a Youtube Tutorial & also, a friend of mine (Hi Nicoya) Did this design. Rather creepy really, as ten minutes after I found the tutorial, I saw hers on Facebook. Great minds, & all.

I will apologise now for the lack of the clean up. I was so exhausted & didn't know where my phone battery would last long enough to take them. They're also only taken with the living room light. No flash & no lightbox. Again, because I was exhausted.Bad Kay.

In other news, New kittens will be arriving on the kitten cam soon. Thankfully I've finally got round to sorting out the flat, so I can watch in the evening whilst doing my nails completely guilt free.

Challenge 7 - Animal Print

Hi Girls!

So it's the SEVENTH week of the challenge! How are we seven weeks in already?! This weeks theme is animal print. I did have ideas of doing a white tiger face on my accent nail, with stripes on top of a gradient on the remaining fingers. However, when I first got into Nail Art, the first design that made me think "Hang on, I really like this!" Was leopard print. This was my attempt last summer:

It's very basic, but I was so pleased with myself back then.

I had to use the same idea for this challenge. Can you feel Nostalgic only six months later?

Anyway, I want to play around with half moons. Sadly, I don't how any of those hole punch reinforcers so I had to go freehand.

I'd like to think I've definitely improved with my technique. I used a non branded Black from the 99P shop as my base. I then painted on Barry M Gold foil. I used Barry M Mushroom for the spots, using a dotting tool. I finished with using a cocktail stick to go round the spots & a Barry M topcoat to finish. 

Six months ago, there was no way I would have even tried something like this, so yay me. I would have used different colours, but I wanted them similar so I could compare. 

I have so many ideas for what I want to do throughout the week. Too many, as I can't decide what I want to do first. I've discovered some new amazing Blogs, & they're all so talented. 

I really love the Blogging world!

Catch you Laters,

X

Painting the town Pink & Black.

I've had itchy fingers! I've really wanted to do a blog post that wasn't entirely to do with the year challenge.

So what does any self respecting twenty five year old girl do on a Friday evening? She puts on her jim jams & paints her nails of course.

To tell the truth, I actually started last night, but nothing was going right. I'd figured out a design whilst washing up, I even drew it on a piece of paper, but would it go right? Bollocks would it. I had a little play around this afternoon, & still nothing was working. I googled, I nearly growled at friends putting up photos of their newly painted nails, wondering why I couldn't figure anything out. This of course led to a grown woman having a bit of a tantrum of sulking.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I have a sulk, I do everything a bit half arsed. A friend has left all her nail polishes at mine, as I do her nails for her anyway, so I was just playing around with her Christmas ones, and I discovered the most beautiful pink. I now know how Columbus must have felt.

I'm a big fan of pink & black, and since getting into nail art, I find a plain manicure a bit boring, so there will always be two colours.
Ten minutes later, I ended up with this:

Granted it's not great,  like I said, it only took me ten minutes. Isn't it the most beautiful shade of pink you've ever seen? 

If I had pennies, I know the perfect outfit I would wear with these nails, were I to go out. However, I shall not solely depend on cleavage power to ensure I'd actually get a drink.

These will of course be coming off this weekend, & I shall be posting my nail challenge! Exciting. I've already done one, as I had two different ideas. The one I'm going to attempt tomorrow, will most likely end with me in tears, as I've lost the photo I had, so will be trying to do it from memory. Trust me when I tell you I couldn't work out how it was done when I had the bloody pic in front of me, let alone from memory.

I promise, that regardless how big a cock up I make, I'll post a pic. I always feel a little downhearted at seeing perfect nail blogs. I'm still learning, & want to know that even amazing artists go wrong a few times. 

Catch you at the weekend.x

Challenge 1 - New Years Eve Nails

The first challenge was using the prompt New Years Eve. I was very spoilt at Christmas so had lots of new Nail Art toys to play with, including new pens & brushes. Before I had got along with using cocktail sticks, (which are amazing little tools to use when you don't have the proper set.)

I ended up doing two designs, as the first I wasn't happy with. It went completely wrong, & it was nearing midnight so I couldn't start again. I'll share with you, as you can see the direction I was planning to go with my idea:

You can see how I wanted to have the 2013 on each nail, but I'd used the wrong brush, & in complete laziness, just tried painting over it in red. It didn't work & I lost my temper & went to bed.
It's a huge learning  curve trying to figure out what brush is best for what design, I'm slowly getting there though.

The Second design I was a lot more happier with. I made sure I had plenty of time & completed one nail at a time. Technically, I did this after New Years, but that's the beauty of having a week to do a challenge. You can go a completely different direction half way through, & end up with something you're a bit more proud of.

I maybe should have tried cleaning it up a bit before the photo sesh, but I will admit I'm rubbish at that. I end up taking half the design off, so tend to wait til I have my bath the next morning, where it comes off beautifully.
I really had the chance to play with my different brushes & pens. Whilst it's not to an amazing standard, I really was proud of this one.

I really enjoyed looking at the other girls designs, it's amazing how we all have different interpretations, & how our nails end up.