Then and Now: Week 8

Hey everyone! Hope you're all well, I must say I can't wait for this period between christmas and new year to be over, it always feels so odd! 

So today's 'challenge' is just a simple floral design, I'm still feeling a bit unwell and there isn't much to say about these nails, both times I used Revlon - Mad About Mango and both times I used a dotting tool, but as you'll see they photographed completely differently! More after the jump

Trying out the pens again!

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic christmas, mine was lovely but unfortunately now I feel really ill and working with nail varnish tonight really hasn't helped! Anyway, today I decided to try out using pens for nail art again, I got a lot of questions about them last time so here is where to get them if you're interested. They're also the only pens I'll ever use for writing for some reason because I love them so much!

I thought it would be nice to do something using China Glaze 'Something Sweet' which I've wanted to use again for a while. I was going to do some more paisley print but I didn't think you guys would want to see the same design again, at least not for a while! So I decided to do some flowers, and although they looked pretty good plain I decided to add a bit of Barry M Gold Foil, and now I kind of wish I'd added white too but I still quite like them.

Hope you like them! Alice

Then and Now: Week 7

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the delay in posting, I've had a pretty busy week because I got back from uni and I was seeing all my friends who I hadn't seen in a while, I hope you dont mind! So today I have week 7 of my then and now 'challenge' which, as promised, is christmas related. I was debating whether to include these at all because I actually did these last year but I promised last week I would, and I also think it's a good way of seeing how I've improved throughout the past 2 years, and I guess these nails are becoming a bit of a tradition as well! More after the jump.

Matte christmas nails!

Hey everyone, I had the idea originally of doing these nails with studs, and then I thought perhaps studs and gold dots, and then once I'd just done the dots I quite liked them as they were, especially as they'd somehow developed to have a tree, so I added a (wonky) star on my thumb and topped with one coat of seche vite. Then I went to photograph them and no matter what I tried they looked AWFUL, the way the light was shining made them look streaky and awful so of course I decided to whack out the matte and make photographing 1000x easier (any excuse) and I actually do really like them like this, so I hope you do too!

I used a base of Nails Inc Hampstead Heath and Barry M gold foil to create the nail art and the matte top coat was one by Rimmel which doesn't have a specific name.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Then and Now: Week 6

So todays post I'm actually a little ashamed to show you, I was expecting so much more from these nails because I really liked the original 'then' nails, but I guess it's just a design that only really works on long nails and I feel that it's ended up looking worse than before, but I hope you read on and see nonetheless! The original picture is after the jump

Snow scene nails!

Hey everyone! I've decided it's officially time for christmas nails! We had our flat christmas meal tonight before some go home for christmas tomorrow, I'm not going until Saturday but I'm still feeling very christmassy! These nails were inspired by quite a few designs but I also wanted to use my Hexagon Glitter from Born Pretty Store and I suddenly had the idea that the perfect way to do so was by using them to make snow.

I'm pretty bummed that these photos really really dont show how glittery these nails are. The blue base is Barry M - Blue Glitter and you can barely see it, and you really cant see how wonderfully holographic the Hexagon Glitter is, so hopefully you can just guess because as much as I'm dreading the removal (I have no cotton pads or tinfoil in halls sadly) I can't stop staring at the sparkle!

I started off with a base of Barry M - Blue Glitter, and sponged Barry M - Matt White over that, then I painted on the snowflakes in acrylic paint, after which I painted on the snowy hills using the brush from the Barry M white but if I did these again I'd probably do that with a brush or dotting tool because they ended up way too thick. After that I painted on the snowmen, trees and house and outlined them and the house in black acrylic paint and sponged Barry M - Silver Glitter onto the snowy hills, followed last but not least by the Hexagon Glitter and Seche Vite top coat.

If you would like to buy the hexagon glitter (which I would recommend as it makes awesome snow) then you can get it at Born Pretty Store for $2.38 (around £1.50) with free shipping(!!!), and you can also use my code KHL91 to get 10% off!

Hope you like them! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Alice

Kalahari studs

Hey everyone! Today I have a post for you using Born Pretty Store's black rhinestones and China Glaze's Kalahari Kisses. In a way I've substituted Kalahari Kisses for a nude base but I think it works, I really like the look of these nails. I decided to create random swirls with black acrylic paint on my other fingers, and whilst I was worried it wouldn't worked I do quite like how it turned out, I hope you do too!

I really enjoyed using these rhinestones and although I normally pick them off within an hour I have managed to last with them for 3 days so far, probably due to the size but also because I'm too tired to redo my nails just yet! 

If you use my code KHL91 to buy these studs you can recieve 10% off! I would definitely recommend them as I got a bag of 10000 for around £5! 

What do you think of the nails and the studs? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

This product was sent to me for review but any opinions included are entirely my own and were not affected in any way by anyone else

Then and Now: Week 5

Hey everyone! Today's post very nearly didn't happen but I set Saturday as the date as Saturday it shall stay, even if it means coming back to uni from home to do it! This time is another summery design, just to opt out of the christmas nails (which I promise will happen soon enough), I did go through my 'archives' for the then and now challenge to find something more christmassy but I only have one design so I shall do that nearer christmas, turns out I was a sucker for bright colours 2 years ago!

I actually remember doing this design, mainly because I did the bees so thick that after 4 hours they still hadnt dried and were instead smudged all over my dressing gown (which has since pretty much just turned into a paint palette and I've got a new one for when I'm not painting my nails). So this time, I obviously didn't want to repeat that, but I knew I wouldn't because I have learnt from my mistakes (or so I hope!). Anyway, aside from having to do the acrylic paint that was coming off on my thumb there were no mishaps this time, and I am typing this with the manicure still perfectly in tact! See the original picture after the jump!

VW campervans

Hey everyone! So today I have a post for you that I've had on my 'to do' list for a while. My family used to own a vintage VW campervan in dark green, but unfortunately we had to sell it, so ever since I've been meaning to do it on my nails. Last night I painted my nails with China Glaze's 'Electric Beat' without any clue of what to put on it, and whilst browsing my list I came across' VW campervans' and my nails seemed like the perfect campervan colour! Strangely, 'thenicolesnailsyoutube' on Tumblr appears to have had the same idea, which is one of the weirdest coincidences I've ever experienced but I guess great minds think alike!

I painted Rimmel's 'Nail tip whitener' for the white, Barry M's 'Silver foil' for the silver headlights and rim, Rimmel's 'grey matter' for the windows and outlined in black acrylic paint, all was done with a small cut down paintbrush, a dotting tool, or the brush from the bottle.

Hope you like them! Alice

AQmore water-based polish nail art and review

Hello everyone! Today I have a wonderful polish review for you today sent to me by the lovely Uniqso, a water-based polish by 'AQmore', this means that rather than being solvent based it is made of 50% water, and is 3-free as a result. It is also peel-able in warm water. When I first read that I was worried about taking a bath but it appears you must peel it off yourself rather than it doing it automatically. I shall explain more about that later in the post!

More after the jump!

Then and Now: Week 4

Hey everyone! Here is week 4 of my then and now 'challenge'. You'll find this completely different to any christmas manis you're going to be seeing on the 1st of December because this is completely and utterly summery. (oops!) As I mentioned last week I've decided to add certain things to these nails because some are a bit too simple, and as you'll see with these nails I've adapted the roses. More after the jump!