Challenge 23 - Tribal!

HI!

Everything about this Manicure is new!

I was NOT looking forward to this one at all. I do like challenges, but this one is just a total shit to do. I'm not usually a fan of it when it's done amazingly, so I wasn't ever going to like this one.

Still. I have it a go, & whilst it is messy, it's not too bad for a first attempt at the design. I just ended up doodling whilst watching my boyfriend play The Last of Us on PS3, watching kittens on Livestream, & listening to Frank Turner. I AM WOMAN, WATCH ME MULTI-TASK.
Sadly, Alan has stopped playing to watch this weird film, Livestream wont let me watch anything &, well, I could listen to music still, but I'm not...

Anyway! For this design I used Mainly Barry M! I used the fancy black nail art pen for the doodles (Yay doodles!) I also used Dragon, Papaya, Blueberry, a limited edition yellow one & then Sinful Colors (Colours*) Pistache. I also used a couple of studs, just because I hadn't used them before.

I still haven't gotten new batteries for the cam, so bad photos again. Though, my kitchen light seemed brighter tonight!

I've got a new top coat on the way, so hopefully that's going to make things easier, stupid cheap & crappy top coat that ruins the nail art. I will get back into doing the clean up properly, starting by not being so messy in the first place, & by not using the palm of my hand to wipe my acetone soaked brush on!

I also need to focus on making my lines sharper. This was the first time using the nail art pen, so it was never going to be perfect. Then again, even if I was amazing, I'd find a fault. I'm my own worst critic sometimes.

It was a fun thing to do on a Friday night though, & I really think I'm getting the nail mojo back. I didn't have to force myself to do these, which is the first time for a long time. I'm looking forward to my nails being stronger, so I can shape them & make them look awesome, instead of different shapes & lengths.

Tomorrow I shall be doing metallic... I have zero ideas or this. Ah!

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 21 - Inspired by the Supernatural!

Hey!


Again, another quick-ish mani. I really need to find somewhere with some decent light though. The photos do not do this any justice at all. Sad face.

ALIENSSSS!

Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnnnn!

Bit messy & shiz, but I will catch up!

Challenge 20 - Inspired by a book.

Evening!

This challenge was inspired by a book. I love reading, but didn't want to do anything so simple like Harry Potter. In fact, I was totally uninspired by this challenge.

I ended up looking at my bookcase, & seeing if anything caught my eye. I wish that something had been one of those books you own purely so house guests will see it & automatically think you are well cultured & bordering on genius. Instead, sorry, chic lit it was.

I do actually love this book quite a bit. Sometimes a girl just needs a good trashy book to escape from the world for a bit.

This is definitely not one of my better manicures. I really want to make sure I do every challenge, & catch up so I can be back on target of doing them weekly & being able to do whatever I fancy in between. This was a ten minute jobby type thing.

(As you can see, my boyfriend does not appreciate good literature & uses my girly books as a place to put his tea!)

Yes, not too great, but as I said, really quick mani! I'm getting there!

Challenge 19 - Rainbow Nails! (Guest post)

I'm on a roll! 

Rainbow nails! These were done by my beautiful friend, Quinlan, Who, as you will see, is awesome. I shall pass you over to her!

AHOY MATEYS.  I'm taking over this here blog for the week!  I was actually invited to do so by Kayleigh herself, so I suppose this makes me a pretty bad pirate.  My name is Quinlan, you can call me Quin, or Q, or whatever you like as long as it's nice.  I'm from South Carolina, which makes me an American *flags and guns and eagles HUZZAH!*

I was very honored to be asked to do a guest blog, as nail art is not exactly my forte (as you will soon see).  I just don't paint my nails often enough to master nail art.  I didn't use any kind of acrylic nails, which is why they are so uneven.  This week's theme is "rainbow" I used a stippling technique to layer the colors and make a "confetti" effect.  I randomly alternated colors on my left hand until all my nails were covered.  On my right hand, I followed more of the standard ROYGBIV rainbow order, just in monochromatic stippling on each fingernail.  I had a lot of pink polish so I kind of threw that in there on my thumb.

Nail polishes used:  WAY too many to name.  See the photo provided!

I hope you enjoyed my attempt at nail art.  Now go get you some BOOTY, ARGHHHHH!

x,

Q

Challenge 18 - Water Marble.

HI!

I promised I'd be back sooner, but bleurgh.

Still, I think I'm getting back to my old self.

This challenge is Water Marble. Not going to lie, I HATE WATER MARBLE!!! When I first got into nail art, it was this technique that made me fall in love. I spent so long trying to perfect it,  I was so proud the first time I managed it.

I then completely overdid it. Again, & again, & again. Doing anything too many times will turn love into hate. I last did Marble back on Valentines Day, so it has been a while, & it took me more time than I'm proud to admit to.

They're not as good as I would have wanted, but I did get fed up with them. The light was also TERRIBLE!

However, guys, those are my REAL nails! Oh, yes! I've had extensions & fakes for so long, as my nails have always been weak, & nothing worked to strengthen or harden them. Then in Sainburys they had a nail hardener on sale, so thought, why the hell not, it was only a couple of quid, & I had that in change.

I've only been using it for a couple of weeks, & it's AMAZING! I keep thinking I have false nails on as they're so hard & long! I haven't tried filing them into shape yet, hence why they're no so pretty. I've never been able to file my nails as they'd just split, so I'm going to wait a couple more weeks before attempting that!

The next challenge is Rainbow! I have a friend who has done a mani for the challenge. It's pretty!

Last, but not least:

JOHN HAS NEW KITTENS!

Challenge 17 - Flower Nails (GUEST POST!)

Hi guys!

Today I have a special gift for you. A friend of mine is freaking amazing at Nail art, so I wanted you all to be able to experience the awesomeness that is Nicoya. She doesn't have a blog yet, but hopefully soon! I am also ridiculously jealous of her polish collection!

Love you, Kay! x

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi! First off, I'd like to thank Kayleigh for asking me to guest post on her blog, I'm truly honored!

I 'know' Kayleigh through a Livestream Kitten Cam.  I knew she was awesome when I discovered not only is she a cat fiend, but a nail art fiend as well!

A little about myself - My name is Nicoya.  I was born and raised in Santa Cruz California, a beach town that I feel is one of the best places on Earth ;)  I just turned 25 this past June, and have been living with my boyfriend of 5 years in the mountains of Santa Cruz.  I discovered nail art around Halloween 2012 and have been hooked ever since.  To be honest, I had no clue nail art was such a thing, but I have been religiously painting my nails for the last five years.

I decided to share one of my favorite designs that was inspired by a top of mine.  Vintage/floral/roses/wallpaper etc...  

 

Products used - 

OPI Nail Envy base coat and Seche Vite top coat 

OPI Light My Sapphire (shimmery dark grey, bluish, purple) I felt was the best color I had to portray the color of my top. Two Coats.

OPI Alpine Snow I used for the Polka dots with my largest Bundle Monster dotting tool.  Since then, I've discovered a better way to place the polka dots, and if I ever do this design again, I'd use a smaller dotting tool.

Essie Fiesta (dark pink) I used for the roses painted with the regular brown brush shown in picture.  Essie Off the Shoulder (medium pink) was used to add more depth to each rose using same brown brush and not completely covering Fiesta.  And lastly, Essie Fiji (light pink) I used to make the petals using the striping brush shown.

With floral designs I always save the leaves for last.  Revlon Posh was used for the base color of the leaves painted with the brown brush.  Then to add a little extra to the leaves, I smudged Sinful Colors Pistache on each leaf.  

Well, that wasn't so hard *phew*  I am such a procrastinator, and have yet to make a nail blog, but this was pleasant!  Thanks again Kayleigh, and Kayleigh's followers! <3

Rio Lace Nails Review

Hi, Girls!

Just a quick little post. I know I featured the Rio Lace Nails in my Black & White challenge, but I wanted to play again!

As you can see it comes in a cute little case, which I love, purely because I am NO good at keeping things tidy & together. Whilst it does come with the red polish, you can use your own, & we did.

For the base colour, we used OPI - If You Moust You Moust. I have become a HUGE fan of OPIs. & Fragrance Direct have a large selection for the bargain price of £3.99! Yay for Birthday pennies.

As you can see, this was before the clean up. The lovely Megan let me play with her nails. We did this before football, so it was a bit of a rush. This only took two coats. We could have gotten away with one coat, but it does smell quite nice.

The instructions say to leave the base coat to dry for 30 minutes. When this is done, you put a layer of adhesive on each of the nails, as I'll explain, we ended up doing on the accent nails. The adhesive smells JUST like the glue you used to use at primary school. I could easy take up a glue sniffing habit! You leave the adhesive for ten minutes,

Next was putting the foil on. We did have trouble with this. It says cut out enough for all the fingers, so we cut the foil in to ten little squares, as we were going to do every finger. Bad idea. Seriously, unless there is an easy way to tell which way down the foil has to go, you can easily bugger it up (which we did) You put it on the wrong way, when you take it off, you get no design, & you lift up have the base coat too!

We decided to just do the accent nails, & cut off as we needed it. You place it on the nail with the adhesive on, then it needs pressing down. They supply you with the same cuticle pusher you get in the Rio UV Gel Extensions kit, but honestly, I like causing Megan pain, so I just you my hands to push it down & make sure it's all smooth,

Then, you carefully peel it off, leaving behind pretties!

With a bit more practice I will definitely do all the fingers, & I do have some ideas of some colour combinations.

I will also sort out getting batteries for my camera so I can take some better quality photos, these were done with Megs iPhone, so not the best, but you get the idea.

I do have some exciting news. For the next challenge, I have a guest post! Is that cheating? I don't know  & I don't care. She is a fantastic nail artist, I can't wait for you to see her design.

Love you all!

Challenge 16 - Inspired by a colour

Two posts in a row! I will catch up!

This is a manicure from a few weeks ago.

I originally took a break from blogging as I broke my wrist & I was quite poorly. I would have been back sooner, but on the 14th May, I lost my Nan.

My Nan was one of the most important people in my life, & I'm still struggling to come to terms with the loss.

For her funeral, the dress code was bright & ridiculous.

My Nan was a big fan of colourful knee high socks. I'm sure people who saw the funeral goers had to take a double look.

Because of this, I wanted bright nails. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with them. I did them the night before the funeral, & I just wasn't getting any inspiration, so I went with something very simple.

This was before the clean up, & taken on my phone, so again poor quality, but I didn't expect to blog about them, but it was definitely inspired by bright & cheerful colours.

RIP Nanny. I love you, & I miss you. 

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!

Will be back soon!

HIIII!

The last few months  have been a bit shit, with illness & major loss in the family.

However, I am hoping to have a new post up this weekend!

Exciting times! It's taken a while to want to even do my nails, but I've got that itch back.

Also, I dyed my hair:

This is me with my brand new laptop Hilda. Some amazing people got together and raised the money so I could get her, as sadly, Lawrence decided to give up on me.

All my laptops have had male names, & they've all let me down. Will be interesting to see if now I have a 'female' laptop, she will last forever.

Can't wait to catch up with you all. <3