Side Florals for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I'm absolutely exhausted, I have been all day but for some reason I'm still awake past midnight as always. It's so easy to get distracted and recently I've started to watch Spooks from the very beginning and I'm completely hooked (and distracted), which isn't good in the middle of exams! I'm trying to push myself away from it until my last exam is over but I also wanted a day off today so I'm re-hooked. Anyway, onto the nails. These are some cute spring florals I created for Divine Caroline, I also did a tutorial for them if you want to check that out. I love how these look, I think they're effective but simple and I think I'll probably try them with different colours some other time. The flowers themselves are quite similar to my french florals from the other day, I seem to be following a theme with my flowers recently!

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

Alice

Navy Polka Dots

Hey everyone! I've now done two exams and I only have one left next week, I'm starting to taste freedom (and regular posts!). I created a load of really simple nail art designs one night a few weeks ago and I'd completely forgotten about the pictures until I was looking through my files last night, so here's one of them. It's not much, but I always think that polka dots are a really effective design. They're also always noticed by people, which is sods law because designs that take hours don't tend to get noticed!

Mod Nail Art for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Sorry for the radio silence, as I mentioned last week I have exams this week so I've been busy studying and it was also my boyfriend's 21st this weekend so I've not really been on my laptop much. My first exam is tomorrow, I'm not feeling overwhelmingly confident but I've done as much work as I can do so we'll see. Today's nails didn't exactly turned out as I had planned. I was given the prompt of 'mod nails' by Divine Caroline and I did a bit of googling on mod patterns and decided to wing it based on a variety of patterns. I'm still not sure whether I like the end result or not. I did end up wearing these for a good week, but only because I didn't have time to take them off! I think they ended up looking a bit like bacon and my flatmate thought they looked like DNA strands, neither were really the effect I was going for! If you like them you can see the tutorial on how to create them here.

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

Alice

Revamped French Manicure Florals

Hey everyone! So yesterday's manicure was a freehand french manicure, and I mentioned in the post how they had been ruined once I added topcoat. Rather than taking them off entirely I decided to add flowers to them to disguise the lack of straight line and I really ended up likely the end result. I wore these for quite a few days until I spilt acetone on them and ruined them and it was time for something new. Revision has meant I've not been painting my nails much recently but I hope to be back in the swing of things soon! Less than two weeks to go and I will be finished with university for ever, it's bitter sweet but it's definitely time.

Freehand French Manicure for Avon

Hey everyone! Today I have a simple French manicure to show you that I created for Avon using their French Manicure Kit. I know it's nothing too exciting but I've never actually posted or created a full one before. I tried to this with stencils, and I tried to do it with a dotting tool, but it ended up being that using a brush was a lot simpler and a lot neater. I was really happy with how these turned out, I took the picture before I added topcoat and unfortunately when I added topcoat they completely got ruined. There's something up with my bottle of Seche Vite which is ruining a lot of my manicures so I've decided to take the plunge and buy a bottle of HK Girl, which is quite a big step for a Seche Vite worshipper like me! I added some nail art to the after mess to clean it up a bit which I'll show you in my next post.

OPI Hawaii Collection Swirls Nail Art

Hey everyone! I promised you a review of the OPI Hawaii collection* a couple of weeks ago but I just haven't had time to edit the pictures with revision, so in the mean time I've got some nail art using my favourite three polishes from the collection. It's nothing complicated but I like the abstract look it creates. All I used for these was OPI - That's Hularious*, OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked?*, OPI - Do You Take Lei Away?* and a striping brush, they only took me 5 minutes and I liked the end result. I think maybe if I was to try them again I'd add white, but who knows!

Skittle/Ombre for Avon

Hey everyone! I'm completely in the midst of revision now. These are my final finals so I need to make them count. It feels good to have got started properly but I'm also trying to balance it with grad-job hunting and having a life so it's nice to take a break now and again and paint my nails. Today I've just got a quick post for you using Avon's Gel Finish range in a skittle/ombre manicure. I never really know what to call these, what's your preference? It's not necessarily nail art, as I've not done any 'art' on my nails, but I still think it looks really effective. 

Nailbox Review + Nail Art

Hey everyone! For a long time what the UK has been lacking is a nail polish subscription service, the US have quite a few but it's taken quite a while for the idea to reach us here. So when Nailbox got in contact with me and asked me to try out their subscription service I jumped at the chance. Each month you get three to four polishes and one or two extras. With this month's box I got four nail polishes and a cuticle pusher. All of them were from decent brands, so you're easily getting value for money. You can pay for a one-off box for £15 or an annual subscription for £13.50 per month, it's definitely worth it for what you get. If you want any more information you can check out their FAQ page here. I decided to create some nail art with some of the polishes I received, I wanted to do the dry brush technique that I tried for the first time last month but with different colours, and I really like how it turned out.

Foil for Avon

Hey everyone! I hope those of you eligible to vote in the UK all voted today! I'm watching the live election updates now but I'm not sure how long I can stay awake watching not very much happening. Today I'm documenting my first attempt at using foil, it's not the best and I'm not afraid to admit that these were the most frustrating nails I've ever tried to create as it took me forever to work out how to use them. Unlike usual foils, Avon nail art foils* do not require an adhesive and it really confused me. Once I got the hang of it I did like the look but I'm not sure it's something I would wear as I think it looks too much like crackle nail polish, which I utterly hate! But that's just an issue with me and my application, not an issue with the product.

Barry M Spring 2015 Gellies Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been revising and working a lot recently and I just haven't had a chance to edit pictures, so I decided to set the time aside tonight and get posting. I also spent the day in London on Friday filming something very exciting for Leighton Denny, which you'll see soon hopefully. Are you all excited about the new Royal Baby?  I was really hoping to share a name with the new princess (I even placed a bet), but I was wrong, which only proved to me why I don't bet on things!

Anyway, today's post is a (well overdue) review of the Barry M Spring 2015 Gellies*. This spring they released three new shades, and a little birdie (aka the Barry M catalogue) tells me that there will be one more released this summer. The three released for this spring are not entirely dissimilar from last year, as they are again pastels, but what else can we expect from spring? And I'm definitely not one for complaining about new pastels!