Blue Checkers/Gingham

Hey everyone! I decided to redo my orange checkers nails from the other day in my favourite nail polish colour: blue. I really love the look these nails have and I think I prefer them even more in blue. I probably will end up trying this in other colours too, now I've realised how simple they are to create. It's not as hard as it looks, just paint your base, stripe in white, and fill in the centre of the stripes in light blue ... although that sounds really patronising probably if you're only just starting out! A good striping brush goes a long way, I've recently been using these (mainly the smaller one) from Born Pretty Store but I've also used a variety of others over the years. If you want to try out those brushes, you can use my code KHL91 to get 10% off. 

I used Barry M - Sky Blue* for the base, then I used Barry M - Cotton* for the stripes, and a mix of the two colours for the lighter blue. Then I added Seche Vite topcoat to seal it all in. Unfortunately I wrecked these in the middle of taking photos by hitting them on my lightbox (it'll teach me to wait a bit longer!) so I didn't get to take more than one photo unfortunately, but I'm sure there will be more versions in the future.  

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

Alice

I Love You Beary Much

Hey everyone! When I did my valentines 'I Whaley Love You' pun nails I said that I was annoyed that I hadn't had the time to create more punny nails. I had a few comments saying that I should just do them throughout the year anyway, so that's what I've decided to do. I love a good pun and cute puns are even better. Today's pun is 'I love you beary much'. I wasn't really sure where I was going with these, I just added things to them until I liked them, such as the hearts, and I actually really liked how they turned out. I used Barry M - Fondant* as the base as I was reviewing it and decided that it would look good with nail art (full review coming in the next week), and I think it works really well. I also actually did this on both nails which is a total rarity for me, but I unfortunately didn't take any pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it. I ended up wearing these for well over a week without any chips, but I got a bit bored of looking at them in the end!

Barry M - Sunset Daylight Curing Collection Summer 2015 Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! Today I have my review of the gorgeous new Barry M Sunset Daylight Curing collection*, which are claimed to (as the name suggests) 'cure' in daylight. They are supposed to be harder and last longer than regular nail polish, but they are still removed the same. Alongside curing in natural daylight, these polishes also cure under regular artificial lighting. Which is good for night owls like me! They also contain the new wider brush that was seen in the recent Speedy Quick Dry collection. Normally I'm not a fan of wide brushes but I honestly love these, it just makes application so much easier.

The collection consists of seven new colours and a matching topcoat. The polishes do not work without the topcoat, and the topcoat cannot be used to make other polishes (outside the range) cure in daylight. I wasn't sure what to expect from this collection, for me they would either be a complete failure or something completely new and brilliant. I'm happy to report that I think they're the latter. Whilst there isn't a great colour selection in my opinion, all of these polishes dry quickly (and they really are dry, not just touch dry), and they're all great for nail art. In fact you'll see quite a few of them as bases for nail art in the next few weeks. The speed that they dry at makes it a lot better to use them as a base colour as the polish doesn't drag.

Orange Checkers/Gingham

Hey everyone! I couldn't really decide what to call this post as I'm not sure whether these really are gingham or not. With my previous gingham designs (see here and here) the white has always been the base colour. Here, however, the orange is the base colour so I'm not sure if it's just a checkered design or if it can still be classed as gingham, you'll have to let me know! This design came about because I realised that Barry M - Cotton* is incredibly opaque for nail art, so when using it for stripes it doesn't go blotchy, which is an issue I normally have when striping with white. All the lines created with this are solid, and it made it easier to do these.

'Dry Brush' Nail Art

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a lovely weekend, I spent mine editing and relaxing. I've got quite a lot of posts for you this week, I just hope I can find the time to write them as I have a lot planned. I wish I was the type of person to be able to write multiple blog posts in one go but I just can't bring myself to do it, I prefer to write them on the day so that they're relevant, even if I dont say much. I think I'm going to write a couple today though, just in case!

Today's design is the first time I have tried the 'dry brush' technique which I've seen a number of bloggers create. I also saw a tutorial on Chalkboard Nails, although she calls it 'distressed' nail art. You can see the tutorial here. I wasn't really sure where I was going with the colour scheme, I wanted to use some of the OPI - Hawaii collection*, and I chose a few others that I had in front of me and it ended up being quite hippy-ish. These have grown on me more since I did them, I was debating whether to add yellow to them as well but I'm glad that I didn't now.

Grey Hearts

Hey everyone! This is my second attempt at writing and posting this. Yesterday I wrote it all out and then my internet went down for 45 minutes and I was too tired and angry to rewrite it once it came back on. Hopefully this time will be a bit better! I'll be sad to leave my uni flat because of my friends but I definitely will not miss the terrible wifi, it drives me mad. Today's nails are some nails I created a really long time ago, over 6 months ago in fact. I'd completely forgotten I did them and when browsing my nail art folder on my laptop I came across the photos and decided it was finally time for them to see the light of day (or night, as it's currently 1am). I've spent today doing lots of nail art and reviews so I have a lot more to show you soon than I have been doing recently.

Tutorial: Butterflies For Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Can you believe I've never done butterfly nails? (Unless I'm going crazy haha - correct me if I'm wrong). They're such a typical "girly" design that they aren't really my usual thing, I'm not a big pink fan and I definitely don't own anything with butterflies on. But I do think they look good on nail art, and I decided it was about time that I created some. I also did a tutorial for these nails which you can see here at Divine Caroline. I wore these for quite a few days and I couldn't stop staring at them, I think I'll be trying them again with different colours.

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

Alice

Summer Blues

Hey everyone! The weather here has FINALLY been sunny and it's been so nice to be able to go out and do stuff over the past few days and not be drenched/windswept when I get back in. I've been having a few days relaxing to celebrate finishing my dissertation and it's been so nice to just not have to worry about it for the first time in months. Today's nails are some summer flower gradients I created for Divine Caroline, I also have a tutorial on their website for you to use if you want to create these yourself.

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

Alice

Happy Easter!

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely easter weekend, I still had to work Saturday but I got Sunday off so it's fine. I've had a really relaxing day, especially now I've finally finished my dissertation! I feel so relieved. Today's nails are some quick easter nails I created for Avon. I was going to do all the nails patterned but I ended up liking it on alternate nails, so I left them like that. I think skittle nails always work well for Easter as well, especially in pastel.

March Monthly Favourites

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I last did a monthly favourites post. In fact, the last one was all the way back in October! But I decided that it was time to bring it back, especially as I'm home from university for Easter and it's a lot easier to take the photos at home! (AKA my dad takes the photos for me haha). My March favourites feature quite a few nail polishes, including the Speedy Quick Dry Collection* from Barry M, and I'll Make It Fit* from the Gelish Cinderella Trends collection. I've also got Easy Nails Fast and Fruity Nail Polish Remover, and Barry M's Orion Gelly Hi Shine Lipgloss.* Last but not least I have this gorgeous Classic Sheffield Lady* watch from Daniel Wellington, which is my new favourite accessory. Click below to find out why these were my favourites this month.