Spotted Rose Curtains

Hey everyone! Just a quick post today because I've left it until late (yet again). I decided to recreate my 'rose curtains' nails for a tutorial for lookfantastic.com and once that was done I decided that I wanted to add a bit of a twist to them. I just got this Nubar Black Polka Dot nail varnish* from feelunique.com and I just couldn't wait to use it, so I thought I would combine the two. 

You can see the colours I used for the roses within my tutorial but the base is OPI - My Vampire is Buff and then I used 2 coats of Nubar Black Polka Dot*, with a bit of placement for the bigger pieces. I absolutely LOVE this glitter, and if you dont own it, you should. You can get it here 

Please let me know what you think of my tutorial, I tried something a little different this time around by not using my full hand, so let me know if you still think it's okay!

What do you think? Will you be buying Nubar Black Polka Dot?* You can get it from feelunique.com for just £6.80 (definitely worth it) and they have free worldwide delivery!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Rejected from the beach

Hey everyone! Today's nail design was one of my original designs for the beauty and the beach competition, but I felt that it didn't quite make the cut. Nevertheless, I wanted to share it on my blog because it's still a design that I've done and this blog is a document of my designs. I have a couple more still to show you too which should be up in the next couple of weeks.

I'm not sure of the exact colours I used, but I know that the base is OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape, probably with Barry M - Yellow sponged on top, and then Barry M - Blueberry for the sea. But I do know that the black is the black Barry M nail art pen, and the silver is Clinique - Strappy Sandals

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

Alice

Then and Now: Lilac Roses

Hey everyone! I'm back (finally) with a new then and now post. I know a lot of you said in the comments of my giveaway that you'd like to see a few more then and now posts so I thought I'd bring it back. Although, I wont be doing it every week like before, just when I feel like it. This week I'm redoing a stripes and roses combination that a few of you may remember as it was probably around a year ago that I did it, in fact you can actually see it on my blog here, but the difference in nail size is huge. I actually cut my nails a bit too short this time around, so the difference is even bigger than it should have been, but oh well! As always the 'then' picture will be after the jump. 

Neon Beads Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have a few new products to show you from Born Pretty Store and Models Own. I decided to do a simple swatch and a bit of nail art (because we all know that's what you're here for really). So here we go!

For the blue (219)* I needed 2 coats, it's a pretty thick polish but it looks really great. For the pink (214)* I needed 4 coats, it's pretty sheer so it needed a bit of build up but I think it would work great for a jelly sandwich

The colours I have here are 219 and 214, unfortunately they dont have names but you can find them both here for $6 each

I loved how these polishes looked together but I really wanted to add my new Models Own Artstix Nail Beads* to the design. 

I have the beads in Neon Pink and Neon Green, and, as you can see from my camera's inability to photograph them, they are incredibly neon, and I absolutely love them. These are also nothing like any other caviar beads I've tried, they're not painted over a silver base, so when you apply a top coat to them the colour doesn't run, which is brill! 

You can find these beads here on the Models Own website or in your nearest Boots store for £4 each, these are definitely worth the price and I would 100% recommend them.

I also used Butter London's matte top coat, which I shall be reviewing soon, but can be found here if you're interested. 

What do you think? Will you be buying either the polishes or the beads? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, my opinons are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Butter LONDON Marbs - Review and Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have a quick review of Butter LONDON 'Marbs'* from Butter LONDON's new Summer Holiday 2013 collection. It's a lovely gold with a hint of silver in it as you shall see. I couldnt resist creating a bit of nail art for you too using my new Orly Dotting Tool* and Orly Striping Brush* that I received from HQhair (a deceiving name considering they also sell nail products too). 

I originally tried to create a design with dots and triangles together on the alternative nails but it looked overcrowded so I ended up redoing it. I used the striping brush for the triangles and touched it up with the dotting tool. For the ring and pointer finger I used striping tape. The black is China Glaze - Liquid Leather 

For me the striper was too long to use as it was so I cut it down, but once I had it worked brilliantly. 

This was just one coat of Marbs* with no top coat, it's ridiculously opaque and it looks brill!

What do you think? Will you be buying Marbs? You can get it here on lookfantastic.com for £12 with free postage worldwide! You can also get the striper here and the dotting tool here on HQhair.com for £7 each, again with free shipping worldwide, and I'd definitely recommend them!

Also, my giveaway is now over so dont forget to check your emails to see if you've won!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but my opinions were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 5 Penguin Books

Hey everyone! I'm sorry this post is (2 days) late, things have been super busy for the past 2 days and I barely had time to do these nails, let alone post them. I managed to find a few hours free yesterday to do them, and I intended to post them straight after, but these took much longer than I ever anticipated. Anyway, for day 5 of digital dozen book week I chose to do a selection of penguin books. I absolutely love the look of these books, and I've been meaning to do these nails for ages, so this week was the perfect opportunity. 

The books I used were chosen at random, and I based it more around whether they'd fit on my nail rather than whether I'd read the book, although I'm sure you'll still recognise most of the titles. These nails are the most frustrating nails I've ever done, they took so much longer than I thought they would and they kept going wrong. I also couldn't fit on the author's name or 'penguin books' in full, because my nails aren't big enough, but overall I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.

To do these I started with 2 coats of Jacava - Mont Blanc* and once that was dry (sped up using my Beauty Narcotix Mini Ultimate Fix Quick Dry Spray*) I used striping tape and Essie - Fear & Desire for the orange, I didn't really want to wait for that to dry as well so I sprayed my mini Ultimate Fix once again, then I used acrylic paint and a cut down brush for the details. 

Ultimate Fix Spray

A bonus bottle shot of my Mini Ultimate Fix*. Perfect for your handbag

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

Alice

*Some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, my opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 4 'Alice in Wonderland'

Hey everyone! I'm back for another day of digital dozen book week, and today I'm doing Alice in Wonderland. I couldn't go a whole week without at least ONE reference to my name after all. I chose a mix of other peoples ideas and making things up as inspiration for these nails, as you shall see, rather than using a book cover as with all the other designs. 

On the thumb I did a the cheshire cat using OPI - Chic from Ears to Tail, and then I used striping tape and an unnamed purple polish from a set for the stripes, the mouth was done using acrylic paint. The checkers board remains from yesterday on a base of Jacava - Mont Blanc* which is a gorgeous white which only takes 2 coats for opacity, I used this on my ring finger too. My middle finger is Essie - Borrowed and Blue and acrylic paint. The outline on the ring finger is Essie - Beyond Cozy and the numerals are acrylic paint. My little finger is China Glaze - Kinetic Candy with MASH - Black Nail Varnish* over it using striping tape. The tag is done using acrylic paint. And they're all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

The ring finger is inspired by this design, the thumb is inspired by this design (I know the link isnt to the artist but I cant seem to find who did it, if you know please let me know and I'll credit correctly) and the middle finger is inspired by this design

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

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided for review, my opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 3 'Noughts and Crosses'/'Checkmate'

Hey everyone! We're now on day 3 of Digital Dozen book week and today I've based my nails on 2 books rather than one, both from the same 'Noughts and Crosses' series by Malorie Blackman. The two books I used were 'Noughts and Crosses' and 'Checkmate'. I wanted something simple to do today and these were perfect.

The two books:

As you can see I added a bit more detail to these than was on the covers originally, but I thought they'd be a bit boring if not.

To do these I used a base of Jacava - 'Mont Blanc'* which is a gorgeous white which only 2 coats for opacity, and then I added black and white acrylic paint using a small brush, topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

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

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but my opinions were not influenced in any way

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 2 'Ruby Red'

Hello everyone! As I mentioned yesterday, I was really struggling to come up with ideas for this week's digital dozen theme, so I had to resort to rifling through my bookcase for inspiration. Luckily I didn't have to search for very long as I came across Ruby Red by Linzi Glass and I knew instantly that I wanted to use it. 

The book:

To do these I started with a base of OPI - My Vampire is Buff, (which I FINALLY HAVE!) and then I used a tiny brush and white acrylic paint for the background flowers. I then added a coat of Seche Vite and decided to take a picture of them alone in case the next step went wrong (see below). I then used red acrylic paint and the same tiny brush for the flowers and writing, I just added different amounts of white and black paint for the different shades of red.

I actually really like the design on its own like that, and I was afraid I wouldnt like it with the flowers but I equally love both of them. Which do you prefer?

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

Alice

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 1 'Phosphorescence'

Hey everyone! I am now a member of the digital dozen, I have actually been a member for a few months but I've not had the time to complete the challenges. If you dont know what the digital dozen is, it's a group of nail bloggers who post 5 days a week once a month, based around a theme. This month's theme is books. As a massive book lover I'm surprised how hard I found it to come up with ideas for this week. I haven't even got 5 ideas yet! (Any suggestions are welcome in the comments). 

Today's post was quite easy to think of though, as this book is right at the front of my bookshelf (I have so many books that I have to put some behind) and I've been meaning to make it into a nail design for ages. The book I chose is 'Phosphorescence' by Raffaella Barker, which my younger teenage self read a LOT. You'll probably find that the majority of my posts this week are books for children or teenagers, as their covers seem to a thousand times more inspiring, and this of course is no different. This will be quite a picture heavy post so I'll put the rest on a read more after the first picture. 

$30 Born Pretty Store GIVEAWAY!

Hey everyone! Today I have my second giveaway for you. I was meant to post this 2 months ago (!!!) to celebrate having my blog for a year, but I've been SUPER unorganised, and for that I apologise. So this instead can be to celebrate June, and I will end the giveaway on my sister's birthday so that there is at least some form of celebration! This giveaway is kindly sponsored by Born Pretty Store, and I would like to give them a huge thankyou for doing this for my blog! I would also like to thank my wonderful friend Emily who designed my giveaway picture. 

Giveaway rules:

• There will be one prize - a $30 gift card to spend on whatever you want at bornprettystore.com (and remember, they have free international shipping! And you can use my code KHL91 for 10% off)
• Entrants must be 18 years or older, or have parental permission in order to enter
• The winner will be chosen randomly using Rafflecopter, which uses random.org
• Whoever wins must respond within 48 hours of me choosing, otherwise I will pick another winner
• The closing date is the 19th June at 12am 
• This giveaway is open internationally
• For the option to 'leave a blog post comment' you must state which post of mine you like most and/or what you would like to see more of on my blog, it's always great to hear your feedback, even if I have to blackmail you into it ;)
• And finally, good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Seven Deadly Sins: Week 7 - Pride

Hey everyone! This is the last post in my Seven Deadly Sins challenge, and I'm quite sad to see it go. I'm hoping to bring it back next year if the other challengers will join me. This weeks sin is pride, and the prompt is to 'brag about how good you are at...'. I'm not big on bragging, but I feel that I am quite good at gel pen paisley designs so I thought I'd do another one, hope you dont mind!

For this I used Barry M - Bright Pink and Barry M - Red, I'm going to do a quick tutorial on this design for Licila so you should see that soon! As always I also used a Muji 0.38mm gel pen, topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

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

Alice

Butter LONDON Spring 2013 Collection Swatches

Hey everyone! I have some more fabulous Butter LONDON polishes to show you after yesterday's post, this time from the Spring 2013 collection. You probably all by now that I'm a sucker for pastels, so I absolutely love all 6 of these, especially Fiver. 

Butter LONDON Glitter Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I have a selection of glitters from ButterLONDON to show you, as I mentioned yesterday in this post. This was my first time trying ButterLONDON and I must say that I'm really really impressed. As always the rest of the swatches will be after the jump

Beauty and the Beach 2 Competition - My Entry

Hey everyone! So for my second post today I'm bringing you my Beauty and the Beach competition entry. I'm sure most of you know what it is but for those who don't it's a beauty competition held by Travel Supermarket for a chance to win £500 or £1500! All you have to do is upload an entry inspired by the beach, you can find the rules here, but it ends tomorrow so be quick (I am the queen of last minute!). I know this is a nails blog, but of course I'd like to be in with the chance of winning the full amount, so I hope you'll excuse pictures of my face! I'll put them after the jump and the nails before for those of you who dont.

The Nails

So for the nails, I went directly with the 'beach' theme, and painted a beach on my nails. My style is definitely more cartoon-ey so I wanted to stick with what I know best. I decided to add things you can find and do on the beach.       On my thumb I did a rock pool with a crab next to it, on my pointer finger I did flip flops, on my middle finger is the edge of a picnic rug, on my ring finger is a bucket and spade and a sandcastle with a flag, and on my baby finger is a starfish. 

To do these nails I started off with a base of Butter London - Fiver, and then I sponged on Barry M - Blueberry, but I decided it didn't look very good so I used a paintbrush to make it more of a straight line. Then, on the tips of my nails I sponged Butter London - Cuppa. Then I got a tiny piece of sponge using tweezers and sponged on the white for the foam of the waves. I then mixed Barry M - Blueberry with some white to create the 'waves' with a tiny brush, and I used the same white (MASH - White nail polish) for the clouds (which unfortunately haven't shown up too well in photos). The yellow on the rug, sun and bucket is Clinique - 70 Degrees and Sunny, the red on the rug, flag and spade is Essence - Redvolution, and the crab is redvolution mixed with a tiny tiny bit of brown, the green on the flipflops is Clinique - Hula Skirt, the orange starfish is Clinique - Juiced Up, the black detailing, such as the birds, is China Glaze - Liquid Leather, and the darker brown for the stones and sandcastle is Barry M - Mushroom, either on its own or mixed with white. I did all the details with a tiny cut down brush. (Phew that was a big paragraph)

Seven Deadly Sins: Week 6 - Envy

Hey everyone! I'm a couple of days late with this post, I've been enjoying the sunshine and freedom from exams for a few days, but now I'm back! We're nearing the end of the challenge now unfortunately, and I'll be sad to see it go, perhaps I'll redo it next year! We shall see. This week's prompt is for envy and it says 'who would you like to be? let us know by recreating another challenger's work'. I would like to be Ana, who is a very lovely friend of mine, so these are loosely inspired by this design and this design by her, but I tried to make it my own as much as possible.

The colours I used for this were:

Butter LONDON - Bit Faker*

Barry M - Blueberry

Butter LONDON - Molly Coddled*

Essence - Upper Green Side

Barry M - Bright Pink

There were tonnes of Ana's designs that I would have loved to recreate but I really wanted to use my new ButterLONDON glitter polishes (review coming soon) so I decided to create these with a base of 'Bit Faker' which you can buy here at lookfantastic.com. I am surprised by how much I like this polish, copper colours are not usually my thing but it looks really beautiful, as you can see from the swatch below. This was 2 coats of Bit Faker with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat. 

Butter London - Bit Faker

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

Alice

*Products in this post were provided to me for review, all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Part 2: Clinique - A Different Nail Enamel For Sensitive Skin Review

So, exactly a month yesterday I posted this review of some brand new Clinique nail varnish that I had been sent for review. I absolutely loved it, and I am absolutely honoured that I was sent some more for review. This time all 4 colours are from the limited edition summer colours, so if you like the look of them you better get on it fast!    These polishes are specifically designed for sensitive skin, and to 'reduce the chances eyes will burn, itch or water upon contact', and I think you can definitely feel the quality within them. As always the rest of the review will be after the jump

Look how cute the boxes are!