Day 17: Glitter

Let me get one thing straight before I write this post, I am not a glitter person. I dont like glitter on my clothes etc, and I dont like it on my nails. Unlike with the clothes though it's because I dread taking them off because I use remover pads rather than polish remover and cotton buds so I can't use the foil method. That being said, if I can try forget about removing them I quite like the look of them, even though I dont own very many (aka 5). I wanted to do a gradient (surprise surprise) and also decided to mattify it.. so here you go :)

The nude is Models Own and the glitter is China Glaze - Blonde Bombshell topped off with Rimmel Lycra Matte Top Coat

Alice

Day 16: Tribal Nails (Part 2)

I really didn't want to take these nails off, so I did what I originally intended to do with them (but forgot to do like a doofus) and mattified them! I love mattified nails as I've said before, not only do they make taking pictures a billion times easier but they also look so cool! I hope you like them as much as I do :) (Part 1 here)

I used Rimmel's Matte Top Coat in addition to yesterday's colours

Alice

P.S. Do I get some kind of woman/blogger points for actually managing to post this before midnight (shock horror)?

Day 16: Tribal Print

I love doing tribal print. Somebody asked me to do a tribal nail set for them a while ago which forced me out of the 'I won't be able to do tribal print and I'll feel like a failure so I'm not going to try' mindset and made me do them, and they're great because my OCD can fade away and I dont have to be precise, I can just splodge whatever the hell I want on there and hope for the best. However, I did get a bit carried away on the detail today, I can never be simple can I? I hope you like them :)

I used toooooo many colours to list but the black and white is acrylic paint :)

Alice

Day 15: Delicate Print

This one had me stumped for ideas until I changed 'delicate print' into just delicate, and then I instantly thought of fairies. My fairy is not very delicate and neither are the stars from her wand but she's still cute right?

I used China Glaze - 'Something sweet' with Essie 'Shine of the Times' and acrylic paint, topped off with seche vite

Alice

Day 14: Flowers

Sorry again for the lack of posting, I've been so busy!  So I present to you lovely readers... abstract flowers! Hope you like them, I wanted to try something a little different to my usual floral designs and I based it around a scarf I saw a few weeks ago. Hope you like them!

Alice

Day 13: Animal Print

Hello! So today was animal print in the challenge and (again) I wanted to be as original as possible, so I googled around a bit (trusty google, eh?) and saw lots of pictures of pretty frogs (okay, not that pretty because they're frogs but interesting) and decided upon a simple design because I knew I didn't have much time. Hope you like it!

I used:

• China Glaze - Refresh Mint
• A mix of Barry M Black and Barry M Mushroom 
• Topped off with Seche Vite

Alice

Day 12: Stripes

Day 12 was stripes and I had loads of ideas about what to do for them, but whilst deciding the wonderful mrcandiipants published a tutorial for zig zag nails and I just had to do them, hope you like them!

I used China Glaze - Electric Pineapple, the pink in the picture (again I dont have it with me) and acrylic paint for the black

Alice

Day 11 - Polka Dots

Hi everyone, sorry for not posting yesterday, my body was aching all over from a class at the gym and I wasn't ready for my battle with photoshop. So day 11 is slightly delayed but I hope it's worth the wait! Anyway on to the nails...
After day 10 I realised how super easy gradients were and I wanted to incorporate them into my design for 'polka dots', I also felt like I've been using too much blue recently and not enough pink so here you go. I'm sure this design has been done before but I dont know who by I'm afraid. Hope you like them!

Decided to try the usual blogger's way of posing..

I used Barry M - Baby Pink, Barry M - Matt white and the China Glaze in the picture (I'm not at home so I can't tell you for sure, sorry!) topped off with one coat of Seche Vite

Alice

Day 10: Gradients

I was a bit worried about today's challenge because I've never done gradients before, but it is SO easy. I was told a variety of methods of doing them but I actually found it easier to sponge with just one colour. I was so proud of these for a first attempt but my camera failed to pick up the colours properly, I promise that they weren't as similar in reality. I think gradients will be my new thing to turn to because they really are super quick and easy. Hope you like these nails!

I used China Glaze - 'For Audrey' and Barry M 'Cyan Blue' topped off with seche vite


Alice 

Day 9: Rainbow Nails

Today was rainbow nails in the challenge and I came up with tonnes of ideas but they were all so boring, so I had to choose a boring but slightly original idea and this is what I came up with, hope you like it :)

Alice

Day 8: Metallic

I've been dreading this day because I hate the look of metallic nails on their own, but then I thought, why not add something else? I couldn't really think of anything and so I googled 'metallic things' (so original) and a picture of a paperclip came up... BRAINWAVE. Remember that annoying paperclip from microsoft word? "How can I help you today?" by leaving me alone :D Anyway, I decided to do him/her on my nails (do paperclips have a gender? maybe it should just be it) this post is rambling so I'll be quiet and let you see the nails. They didnt turn out as I hoped but the idea is there nonetheless :)

I just found this funny :P

I used Barry M silver foil and acrylic paints topped off with Seche Vite top coat

Alice

Day 7: Black and White

Hello! Today's challenge was black and white and I wanted to be as original as possible, as I've tried to be throughout (though I've sometimes failed *cough* looking at you generic flowers *cough*). I really really couldn't think of anything, so I googled 'black and white'. Maybe if I wasn't English and we actually had these here I'd have thought of it sooner, but I decided to do.. skunk nails! I've never seen a skunk (the English thing like I said) nor smelt one, gladly, but I'm guessing they're not as cute as these. I should have probably done some more research because APPARENTLY skunks have hair. Oh well. I chose a cute skunk clip art picture and based my design around that. I kind of gave up looking at the image half way through as well so they don't look identical, but I hope you like them!

The skunk is all acrylic paint and the white is Barry M - Matt White, topped off with a coat of seche vite

Alice

Day 6: Violet Nails

Hi guys! Sorry for the 2 day delay, I've been super busy with a wedding and a birthday party to attend. I struggled for inspiration for today, I even took to googling 'violet things' but all that came up was violets, as in the flower, NOT HELPFUL. So I went with the flower thing, especially as I was about to go to a "summer" wedding (we should be so lucky in Britain, tsst). So I'm sorry these are so generic/uninspiring but I hope you like them anyway!

I used an unnamed purple from a Boots gift set and China Glaze 'Something Sweet'

Alice

Day 5: Blue Nails

The long-awaited (2 days) blue nails are here: laser/stripe nails! I am knackered again though so I wont be writing much, my bed is calling! 

If I were to do these again I would choose a more defining base colour but nevertheless I quite like how they turned out (aka not my usual failure with tape and nail varnish seeping underneath)

I dont know what's happened to the second picture, it was fine before I uploaded it on here I promise, not all blurred (boo)

I used Barry M Turquoise and China Glaze Electric Beat as the base

Hope you like them!
Alice

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Tribal nail set

Sorry everyone, no challenge post today. I have done them, and taken the pictures, but I am SO tired, I've been tidying my room and sorting out paperwork for a good 5 hours so I just can't bring myself to edit them, even if it does only take seconds. (Technically hours on my computer, I counted the other day and it took 1 minute 40 seconds to crop a picture!!!!!) So here's a post I prepared earlier (blue peter reference for all you Brits). This tribal nail set is also available on my Etsy :)

Alice

Day 4: Green nails

Hi guys, today I'm returning to the challenge :D A few months ago I did Sesame Street nails but ever since I've wanted to try Kermit, so today's green challenge was the perfect excuse! Enjoy

I used a dark green OPI (I'm too tired to look I will tomorrow)
Barry M - Aqua Blue (yes I realise it's not green but can you really tell?)
And in the first picture there is also Essie - Shine of the Times on the tips
For Kermit I used acrylic paint and Barry M - Matt White for the b/g

Alice

Something a little different

Hi guys, today I'm having a break from the 30 day challenge to present to you a wonderful opportunity I was given. I was recently emailed by Della, here's how they describe themselves on their website:

Della is a Los Angeles-based fashion line that is changing the way people shop. We are a woman-owned and woman-run business working directly with a community in West Africa, providing jobs, education and skills training to our employees. We are driven by awareness of the need for a global market that provides socially-responsible, quality products. We are not a charity; we are a business done – and doing – “right.”

Tomorrow (the 10th) they are launching a new range of macbook covers and have asked me to participate in their launch by doing some nails based on one of their designs. There are tonnes of fabulous designs and they are also doing brilliant things so you should go check them out!
Anyway, the design I chose to do is 'Pink Guava', which you can check out here. I didn't really know where I was going with this one but I just wanted to put colours on and not bother about perfection as my OCD self always does. I hope you like them and I hope you give Della a chance too!

Alice