Paisley print tutorial

Hey everyone, today I'm going to show you a tutorial for my paisley print nails! All you'll need is a base colour (or more than one if you wish), a gel pen and a top coat. Everything else will be after the jump to avoid photo spamming you guys

Gel pen doodles

Hey everyone! Today I have a post for you that some of you may have seen a sneak peak of on instagram: gel pen doodles. I've done this design repeatedly in lectures for a while, and since I discovered that I could use gel pens I've been wanting to do it on my nails. 

There's very little to say about these nails because for me they truly are just doodles! I started off with a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and used a Muji 0.38 Gel Pen for the design topped off with a coat of Seche Vite when it completely dried

Hope you like it! Let me know what you think :)

Alice

Then and Now: Week 13

Hi everyone! Firstly I just want to start with an apology, firstly for not posting for a few days and secondly for not posting these yesterday like usual. Everything has been a bit hectic for the past few days and I've had bare nails for ages, so I hope you'll forgive me! I try to post as much as possible but sometimes it's difficult to balance everything. 

So back on to today's post, due to my lack of time at the moment I chose a really simple design from my 'archives' to redo: Yin Yang nails! So it's probably one of the least original designs you'll see the whole time in this series from me, but it's the best I could do in an hour. There's not really much explaining to be done so as usual the 'then' post will be after the jump with colours used :)

Spotty bow 'rhinestones' review

Hey everyone, today I've got some really lovely bows to show you. I know I promised a really exciting post yesterday but I didn't have time to edit them so these shall have to do. I received these from KKcentreHK to review and I absolutely love them. However, I was really struggling to think of any ideas for what to do with them, even though I've wanted bows for ages, so I just decided to do a simple design with a dotting tool, but I actually really like how this turned out. I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty more designs with these bows as they're definitely reusable. 

There's not really much to say about these as they're pretty self explanatory. I started with a base of Collection 2000 - Angel Wings, and then used China Glaze - Liquid Leather for the black dots, which I did with a dotting tool. Then I put a coat of Seche Vite on, and then a coat of Essie - Matte about You. Then I used nail glue to add the bows.

You can get these bows here for $4, and you get 2 in a pack. At first I did think that was a little bit pricey, but considering the amount of times you will be able to reuse them I think it's definitely worth it. You can also use my code 'ONTRTA' for 10% off :)

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

Alice

Nail It! Magazine launch

Hey everyone, just a quick post today to let you know about the launch of a new nail art magazine: Nail It! You may have seen my post here about the interview and tutorial I did for them on their website, but now they have a magazine out in the US and Canada, released today. Here's (part of) the front cover:

I'm really excited to have been part of the launch of this magazine, and I cant wait to see what else is to come. I think we will be seeing a lot more of Nail It! 

You can stay up to date on their Facebook and Twitter

What do you think?

Tomorrow I have some more nail art to share with you which I'm pretty happy with, so I hope you will all like it too!

Alice

Shiny Owls

I know you've already seen these nails in yesterday's post for xameliax, but I really wanted to show what these look like shiny. You all know my obsession with matte, but for once I couldn't decide which looked better, so I left it up to Amelia to decide. So considering the pictures are already edited I may as well post them, see the original post on Amelia's blog for more information, the only difference is that I used Seche Vite top coat for these instead of Essie - Matte About You 

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

Alice

Giveaway winner!

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of my Born Pretty Store giveaway is.....

Entry #2902Sthefannia U

Thankyou all so much for participating and being such lovely followers, and thankyou to Born Pretty Store for sponsoring this giveaway! 

Alice

Guest post for xameliax

Hey everyone! Second post today, do you feel special? You should! I'm afraid I'm just linking you to another post again because I've done a guest post for the lovely xameliax, so if you want to read more about these nails you can do so here

Hope you like them!

Alice

My first video tutorial!

Hey everyone! Today I am excited to show you my first video tutorial. I decided to start off with a simple design using things that can be found around your house as this way it can be done by everyone. For next time, I'd like to hear what you would like to see so let me know in the comments! You can view the video here 

Hope you like it! I'd love to hear what you think.

Alice

Then and Now: Week 12

Hey everyone, today's then and now post is a little different from previous posts as I actually have two examples of what these looked like 'then'. There's probably a years difference between all the posts so you can see how much I've improved each time (I also apparently was incapable of keeping my nails a similar length previously). As usual, the 'then' posts will be after the jump

Valentines Day Tutorial

Hey everyone, happy Valentines day! You might remember this post from a few weeks ago when I said I had a tutorial coming soon for it... well it's now ready. I've done this tutorial for Nail It! magazine so you can view it here 

I also did an interview for them which you can see here (and finally see my face!)

Hope you like it

Alice

Is your heart made of gold?

Hey everyone! I'm super super super tired so please forgive me if this post isn't too long. Today I'm reviewing some more studs for you, this time in the form of 3mm stars, again from KKcentreHK. I wasn't going to include these stars with this manicure because I had the idea for the hearts seperately, but I got the idea that the gold together might work, although I'm not sure it's exactly how I pictured. These were inspired by some fabric I saw, minus the stars. 

I really like these studs, and I'm sure you'll be seeing them in a few more posts yet. You get about 50 in a pack which is easily enough.

The base for these nails was OPI - Ski Teal We Drop, with Barry M - Gold Foil used for the hearts with a small detailing brush. 

You can get these studs here for $5 and with my code 'ONTRTA' you can get 10% off! 

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

Alice

There's only half an hour left to enter my GIVEAWAY! So be quick :)

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

Heart shaped studs review

Hey everyone! I totally forgot to post last night, I spent most of my night doing nails, not just my own, and didn't have the energy to post when I finally remembered at 1am. So here I am today, which means you'll probably get 3 posts in a row this week. (Surely that's a bonus?)

So today's post is a review of some awesome 6mm heart shaped studs that I recieved from KKcentreHK. I decided to create a valentines design with them (duh) but I probably should have chosen a different colour for the flowers because they're not very clear as you can see! 

I actually really liked these studs, they're not very practical as they dont lay completely flat, but for the many of you who wear bows and studs and whatever else on your nails I really dont think that will be in an issue. I'd love it if they were miniscule but even at the size they are I cant wait to use them again. 

They come in a small packet with around 40-50 studs inside. But that's actually a lot considering that you can easily reuse these multiple times. The base for these nails was OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape, and I used OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the 'white' and Essie - Beyond Cozy for the glitter.

I know a lot of you come here for nail inspiration, so for those of you who anxiously waiting the arrival of your 6mm heart studs that you just realised you wanted, here is an alternative design for valentines day:

The studs sell here for $5, which I think is actually really good value for money. especially when you can use my code 'ONTRTA' to get 10% off!

What do you think? Will you be buying these studs? And which manicure do you prefer? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Tomorrow is also the last day to enter my GIVEAWAY so dont forget!

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 11

Hey everyone! Another 'Then and Now' post today. I dont know what I'm going to do when I run out of old designs because reading through the comments of the giveaway you all seem to love these posts, I was thinking about perhaps going through some old designs that I have on my Tumblr which I'm not really happy with or the photographing isn't great, is that something you would be interested in? I still have about 10 or 11 posts left before we get to that but I thought I'd ask you all.

Today's post makes a nice change from all the valentines posts I've been spamming you with (and there are a few more to come yet) as it's just dots. I quite like this idea and I've been meaning to redo it for a while, even before I started the Then and Now posts because as you'll see from the 'then' picture I didn't even manage to keep the whole hand complete. As always the 'then' post will be after the jump.

Barry M Lychee nail art

Hey everyone! I couldn't think of a very interesting title for today, but it only tells the truth, today I have some nail art using Barry M Lychee for you. I know the whole idea of the polishes is that they're super shiny but you know how I am with matte, and this design looked a bit odd shiny. These nails were inspired by this design by mani--ac on tumblr. It really stood out to me and although I couldn't find a blue that exactly matched it (clearly I need more nail varnish) I decided to try it anyway. 

For these I used Barry M - Lychee, Collection 2000 BMX Bandit, white acrylic paint for the dots, and striping tape for the triangles. I dont really have much else to say about these because they're so simple, but I hope you like them!

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

And dont forget to enter my GIVEAWAY

Alice

Oh how I love you... Rob Ryan valentines nails

Hey everyone! I'm very excited to show you today's post as I'm super proud of it. I know I should probably be modest but I love Rob Ryan and I'm so happy to have his work on my nails finally! If you dont know who Rob Ryan is I suggest you do some googling, he's a British artist who does lovely paper cut outs and screenprints which have been transferred onto many things. And you can find his blog here. This year for christmas I got a mug, a calender and a money box. And today's design is based off the money box, which you can see below, but I adapted the text to be more valentines-ey. 

I'm really happy with how this design came out, I probably chose a green that was a tad too bright but even so I really think you can tell that they're based on his style. He does a lot of designs with birds and this specific text. 

I used a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and then I added OPI - Greenwich village using a small, cutdown, detailing brush, which I also used for the birds in Barry M - Bright Pink, the birds feathers in white acrylic paint, and the writing in white and black acrylic paint. All topped off with two coats of seche vite. 

This picture of the money box was the only one I could find online and I dont feel it shows the colours very well, my nails were pretty accurate to the colours of the money box in reality. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments, I love reading what you have to say!

Alice

Dont forget to enter my giveaway

More valentines and a new technique!

Hey everyone! So yesterday you got 2 posts in one day, dont expect that very often because it probably wont happen again haha. Anyway, today's post is yet more valentines day related nails, please tell me when it gets too much because I absolutely love doing hearts and I have a couple more designs planned yet! I also wanted to test out a new technique that I'd heard about, using my new bottle from Born Pretty Store. 

I know many of you like to use empty used bottles for this technique, but I've always struggled to completely empty them, and for those of you who are out there, and incapable like me, but really want to use the PVA glue technique, this is for you. The bottle is pretty similar to a seche vite bottle, with a slightly longer lid. The brush isn't too wide and all round it's quite easy to use. You all know how much I hate glitter just because of the removal, but now I can't get enough of it, seriously GIVE ME ALL THE GLITTER. On that note if anybody wants to buy me a new bottle of Essie - Beyond Cozy I wont say no ;)

So I filled the bottle with PVA, and then applied it to my nails just like normal polish. My lovely friend Emily advised me to wait 20 minutes, or at least until it was completely clear and dry to touch, so I did. And then I removed it tonight, it was SO easy, I will be using this every time without a doubt. I'm afraid the removal picture is awful quality because my camera is dead and I need to buy some more batteries so my phone shall have to suffice. 

Before I show you the removed nails though it's probably best that I actually explain the nails! I used my set of Essie minis from the Winter 2012 collection which includes leading lady, snap happy and beyond cozy, all of which are beautiful, and I also added Barry M - Bright Pink. The base is of course leading lady. I used a small detailing brush for the hearts. These pictures truly don't capture the beauty of leading lady, it's so so beautiful. 

As you can see they all removed perfectly and there was absolutely no damage to my nails after at all. If you put PVA on your skin and peel it off (which by the way, is AWESOME, and your childhood probably included doing it at some point) it doesnt damage the skin, and it doesn't damage your nails either. I would 100% recommend this technique, and for those of you who are incapable of cleaning bottles just like me then you can get an empty bottle here at Born Pretty Store, and if you use my code KHL91 then you can get 10% off!

What do you think? Both of the nails and of the technique? Let me know in the comments, I love reading what you have to say.

Alice

And dont forget to enter my giveaway! If you win you could buy this bottle ;) 

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 10

They're back! The then and now posts have returned! Have you missed them? I know from reading the giveaway comments that a few of you have. These nails were done about 2 weeks ago, maybe even longer, but the past couple of saturdays I've just been too busy to post them, but they should return to being weekly now. This is a design that I remember doing, and remember removing straight away to try another design (which I'm sure will make an appearance at some point), something I'd never done before and something I never did again until I starting painting more regularly (aka now) because I didn't much like 'wasting' nail varnish. As you'll see, the design was also pretty rubbish so it was no big loss to the world that they didn't last very long!

I'm sure many of you will know that this design isn't original, but as with all of these posts, I can't remember where I got the original inspiration from, so for now I cannot give credit, but if you know who originally created these then please let me know. The original picture is after the jump!

So many textures!

Hey everyone! These were meant to be on schedule last night and it completely failed on me so I'm finally back with some nail art. Although don't get your hopes up too much because they're not that exciting! These nails were just an experiment, I wanted to use Barry M's textured nail varnish for some nail art, and Born Pretty Store had also sent me some flocking powder to review, so I thought it would be a nice experiment to combine the two. I know I promised some nail art using Lychee, but that shall be coming up in the next few days. 

So after applying Barry M - Atlantic Road, I used a dotting tool to paint on Barry M - Greenberry with as much polish as possible on the tool, and then I dropped on some flocking powder by hand (I'd advise using the tweezers, really, I was just having an odd moment - it went EVERYWHERE) and brushed it off using the brush that comes with it after a couple of seconds. 

I quite liked the look, but after taking photos I felt that they needed something more, so I scraped (yes, scraped, it wasn't nice) the flocking powder and polish off my ring and pointer fingers as they weren't completely dry, and then I used acetone to clean up in the remaining space, leaving me with 'cut out' hearts, and then I filled it in with Barry M - Shocking Pink. You can see this after the jump otherwise this post will be too long!