Tribal NYE Glamour Nails for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I can't believe it's almost 2016, this year has absolutely flown by. I've graduated, moved in with my boyfriend, gone on holiday, started working full time and a multitude of other things, so I'm very excited to see what 2016 will bring. It'll start with a new job in January, so that's a good start! But before 2016 begins, we have to see in the new year tomorrow, and new years (especially when it comes to nail art) is all about glamour. I wanted to combine that with one of my favourite looks: tribal. If you want to learn how to create these yourself, for new years or just for fun, I've created a tutorial for Divine Caroline which you can see here. 

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

Alice

Ice Trees for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, it was so nice to spend some time with family and friends, and I really loved seeing how much people loved the presents they received. I loving giving gifts, and I definitely went over the top a bit, but it seemed to go down pretty well in my house which is relieving. You may have noticed some radio silence from me over Christmas, despite the fact that I actually had two Christmas designs left to post. That's because I fell asleep ridiculously early on Christmas Eve (without even taking my make up off tut tut) and Christmas itself didn't end until very late. I expect the designs will show up next year, if my style doesn't change too drastically! 

Anyway, I'm back with the glittery snow scene that I created for Divine Caroline. You can see the tutorial on how to create these yourself just here. I hope you like these as much as I do, I wore these for over a week and I was sad to take them off in the end.

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

Alice

Candy Cane Holly

Hey everyone! I can't believe how soon Christmas is, the presents are under the tree and I just have half a day at work left before four and a half days of freedom, I can't wait! As I promised in my Candy Cane Mistletoe post I'm back today with another candy cane border. These seemed to go down pretty well first time around so I'm hoping you all like the holly and the pastel pink base just as much. I love this candy cane border and I think I'll spruce it up throughout the year to make it more fitting to the rest of the seasons. 

Matte Christmas Trees

Can you believe how close to Christmas it is? I've been swapping christmas presents with my friend this evening and I've spent all weekend wrapping, and making my own gift tags (those things are expensive to buy!), so I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit now. Just a few more days of work until 4 days of freedom. Soooo... time for some more Christmas nails. When swatching the Autumn/Winter Barry M Speedy Dry Polishes, I felt that Dead Heat*, this gorgeous red, would be perfect for some Christmas nails. I didn't really know where I was going with these nails, I started with just the white outline and I intended to leave them at that, so I took my pictures and went to remove them. But I just wanted to see what they looked like with a pop of colour, and I ended up loving them more. 

Christmas Polka Dots

Hey everyone! As I mentioned yesterday in my Secret Santa nails post, I actually created two designs inspired by Peachy Polish, but I was a bit more unsure of these nails and I didn't think they turned out as well as yesterday's design. However, I still wanted to post them because this is after all meant to be a documentation of designs I've done, good or bad. Valesha's original design is much much better than mine but if I wasn't comparing mine against any others I think I'd probably like them. 

Paint All The Nails: Secret Santa Edition

Hey everyone! This month's "Paint All The Nails" prompt was a little different. Instead of creating our own designs based on a prompt, we've all recreated each other's designs for a Secret Santa edition. My secret Santa this month was .... (drum roll) ..... Peachy Polish (also know as Valesha)! I hope she likes what I've created. I'm really excited this month to see what everyone's posting (more than usual) and I can't wait to find out who has me and what design they chose! We could choose any design, it didn't have to be seasonal, but as I'm mainly posting seasonal designs at the moment I wanted to stick to that and I also found these nails by Peachy Polish that I just couldn't resist recreating. In fact I actually found two designs but the second one didn't come out as great. I may post that in a few days but I didn't really want to showcase it in this post because these were definitely better! 

I used the new OPI Hello Kitty collection for the pink and red because I really wanted to showcase these beautiful polishes. I'll have a full review up after Christmas but the pink is 'Look At My Bow'* and the red is '5 Apples Tall'*. For the white I used Barry M - Cotton. The studs are from Avon. All finished off with a coat of Seche Vite 

If you want to find more of Valesha's work you can find her on the channels below:

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Blog

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

Alice

An InLinkz Link-up

Pearly Santa Hats

Hey everyone! I've got another cute Christmas design to show you, I have so many Christmas nails to post that I'm worried I'm not going to get them all up in time. I'll probably end up posting twice a day nearer Christmas if I'm not careful because I'm always so busy in the evenings. I feel like working full time has taken the magic out of Christmas a little bit because what I'm really looking forward to is 4 days off! Anyway, on to the nails. I was recently sent the Avant Le Lettre* collection by Soigne, a high end brand that were completely new to me. I'll have a full collection review up after Christmas but I wanted to post these santa hats I did using Cherir.* There's currently a 70% off sale on and Cherir is the only one from the collection not sold out so if you want to get your hands on it I would hurry! I wasn't expecting these to be so simple to create but they were super quick, and you can always do slightly bigger ones if you don't like fiddly designs.

Candy Cane Mistletoe for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I've tried out something a little new today with this cute candy cane border. It was a complete accident (which you might be able to see if you check out the steps here) but I ended up really loving the result and I've done a second design with the border, which you'll see soon. In fact I'd probably do another if I didn't already have a tonne of christmas designs to post. It's super simple to do and it looks really effective. This is also the first time I've ever done mistletoe and I was really proud of how they turned out, I hope you do too! If you want to learn how to create these I've done tutorial for Divine Caroline - here. 

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

Alice

November Favourites

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted any monthly favourites. I actually meant to post these as my October favourites but I completely forgot I'd taken the pictures until it was too late. There were a few products I wanted to showcase for this month but they can wait for now and these are still really great products and I still wanted to showcase them for you. The products in the months favourites are:

Barry M - Get Up & Glow* and Super Natural Eyeshadow* Palettes 

OPI - Nail Envy Strength + Colour polishes*

Gelish - Tan My Hide*

Barry M - Midnight Gelly Collection* 

Palmers - Coconut Oil Hand Cream*

Christmas Wreaths for Divine Caroline

Today it's time for my first christmas design of 2015, I've posted a couple of wintery looks up to now but these are my first full christmas nails this year. I've had a couple of comments asking when Christmas nails would start. I usually don't start posting them until much later in December, but I've done so many looks this year that I don't know if I'll have time to post them without starting now! I seem to have gone christmas mad a bit this year with my nails. Last year I really struggled with design ideas and this year I've already done at least seven and I'm sure there are more to come. These wreaths were created as a tutorial for Divine Caroline, so if you want to learn how to create them click here. They're much easier than they look I promise. I've never actually done wreaths as a design before but I really loved the end look, and I wore these for a week (despite the fact it was November and I got a lot of comments asking me why I was so eager!).

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

Don't forget to check out the tutorial for these nails here.

Alice

Pink Snowflakes for Barry M

Hey everyone! I took a few days break from posting to have a bit of a rest, and enjoy my anniversary with my boyfriend yesterday. It was nice to have a day off work and not think about anything negative apart from how cold and rainy it was! With that in mind, I've got some chilly nails to share with you today. I was asked by Barry M to create some nails for their stands for Autumn/Winter and this is one of the designs they chose. The stands are currently in Superdrug so give them a peek next time you're in there! 

Multi Coloured Stripes for Barry M

Hey everyone! I'm starting to feel like I have nothing to post, as the past couple of Saturdays I've been busy and not really able to do my nails. I do have a few designs but I'm not sure whether I like them much, and I also have a few christmas designs but it's too early for them to be posted! Instead, I took to trawling folders and discovered a couple of tutorials I created for Barry M this summer but completely forgot to post. So that gives me something to post at least! These were just a design I created when I was wanting to experiment a bit and I wanted colour. You can do them with or without the black stripe it's up to you but I did it for consistency! 

Nude Glitter Gradient for Avon

There's something so elegant about a simple glitter gradient, especially with a nude base. They require minimal effort but they always get a lot of attention. They're the perfect design if you're in a rush but still want a bit of nail art. This design for Avon was the only design I had time to create this Saturday as I was, in fact, in a rush. Whilst I love to wear complex nail designs for the week, I've quite enjoyed having a more simplistic look this week. Although, as ever, now we're towards the end of the week I can't wait to change them, but they were nice for a while!

Burgundy Barry M Swirls

Hey everyone! I've spent all day Christmas shopping and I'm absolutely exhausted. I always forget how tiring shopping is but I cant wait to fall asleep after 8+ hours of wandering around. And I've still not got everything I need. I'm trying to be organised this year and also avoid the crowds, so I think I'll be doing the rest online. Anyway, today's nails are quite Christmassy, burgundy and gold is always a favourite of mine at this time of year. I was in the process of reviewing the Barry M Autumn/Winter 2015 Speedy Quick Dry collection* (review soon - just need to edit the photos!) and I couldn't help but create some nail art with Sprint Finish*

Stone Marble Nail Art for Avon

It's no secret that I hate watermarbling. Every time I've tried it over the years it's just made me angry and never come out successfully. So I was well aware during the stone marble nails trend a year or so ago that they would make me angry and incapable just as much, and so I never attempted them. So when Avon asked to create some for them this month, I went into a bit of panic, but I decided to give them a go nonetheless. These took 2 and a half hours to get anything vaguely resembling stone marble, and I'm still not entirely convinced. BUT they're not that bad considering how they could have looked if I'd just kept each fail rather than repainting my nails time and time again, so I guess they're not too bad. I added studs as I felt it made them a bit more interesting, and if I hadn't need to paint other things I would have probably worn these for a few days in the end!

Give Me Space

Hey everyone! Today's nail art may well be one of my favourite designs I've created. Whilst they're relatively simple, I absolutely loved how they turned out, and OPI - Give Me Space* from the recent OPI Starlight collection made the perfect base for these. It's a gorgeous navy holographic and even the name alone suggests a perfect space manicure! I got the idea for these designs from this design by 'Glitter Fingersss' on Instagram. Lexa is an absolutely amazing artist and there was no way I could recreate her design with such skill, but I tried to make it my own. I was also incredibly rushed when creating these, I had around 20 minutes which just wasn't enough time so they're not as perfect as I would like. I would definitely have liked to perfect the alien a bit more. Nevertheless, for the time I created them in I'm really happy with the outcome. I've also included swatches of Give Me Space after the jump so you can see the full beauty of the polish.

Autumn Tribal

I'm so so glad it's friday, this week just seems to have dragged and dragged. Nothing in particular has happened but I'm very happy to see the beginning of the weekend. Especially as the weekend means I get to paint my nails, by Friday I'm sick of seeing the same nails I painted on Saturday still on my nails. Although chip-free, they are growing out considerably so I'll be glad to change them tomorrow. These nails aren't the ones I'm currently wearing, those I'm saving for another day, and I hope you like them as much as I do!

Today's design is another tutorial I created for Divine Caroline. This is a design that I could very easily have gone OTT with, and that was originally my intention. But once I'd done the 'first' part of the design, I loved the look so much that I decided to stick with a simpler design, which is something I never thought I'd say. If you want to see the full tutorial click here.

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

Alice

Glitter Striped Stars for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I've been debating whether or not to post these nails for a few weeks. These were one of those designs that just didn't turn out as I'd imagined. I love a combination of nude polish and glitter, and you all know I love pastels, but I'm not sure if the decision to combine all of them worked. Nevertheless, it's quite a fun design and with a different colour scheme it could work for christmas too, so if you want to create them yourself you can follow the tutorial here on Divine Caroline.

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

Alice

Blue Glitter Daisies

When scrolling through my Instagram the other night (please tell me I'm not the only person who looks at my own stuff now and again?!) I noticed that it's been quite a while since I posted anything blue. I like to keep the colours varied on my Instagram but recently they've been quite dark. It is autumn, and autumn is full of darker shades, but I wanted to brighten things up a bit. This is definitely a manicure more suited to summer, but who makes the rules? And rules are there to be broken after all. I guess you could say the accent nails are 'autumnal', but I love the combination of the two together. 

I tried a couple of blue ideas before settling on this one. I tried a hearts design first, which I hated and didn't photograph and now I wish I had. And then just a couple of plain blue designs which weren't the right shade of blue or just didn't feel right. Then I decided to just go with the flow, and these happened, and I really didn't want to have to take them off! However, because at the moment I can only do nails on Saturdays, they had to be removed and replaced. Although I must say that the final design I've settled on for the week is one of my absolute favourites ever (no spoilers) so these weren't too big of a loss after all.

Pink Cartoon Acorns for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Today I have these cute acorn nails to show you. If you want to see the tutorial for these, you can see it here at Divine Caroline. I wanted to do an autumn design that was a bit more colourful, and I came across these nails by Nailbees. I didn't have time to replicate the full design but I liked the idea of just doing the acorns on their own.

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

Alice

Sugar Skulls Nail Art for Avon

Hey everyone! I know it's a couple of days past Halloween/Day of the Dead (yes, I know they're not the same thing) but I wanted to share these sugar skull nails with you nevertheless. If people are still sharing what they dressed as for Halloween I dont see why I can't still showcase these nails I created for Avon

Cute Halloween Witch

Happy Halloween!! Hope you're all having a fun day, I've had an entire day trying to find a last minute outfit but I've had zero luck. Which will teach me to leave it until the last second. I'm ending up just wearing devil horns, even though I actually tried to make an effort this year, which is frustrating. Anyway, at least I can be a bit more Halloween-y with my nails. This year I went with these cute witch nails inspired by these nails by Laura Merino, which I've had saved in my 'inspiration' folder since last year. I really love how these turned out, I got a tonne of compliments on them, I think the colours made them stand out as Halloween nails.

Barry M Halloween Accent

Hey everyone! I received the gorgeous new Barry M Glitter Gellies last week and whilst I was swatching Sparkling Amethyst* I couldn't help but add a halloween accent nail. I'll have my full post up on the gellies soon, but as you can tell here they're absolutely stunning. This shade is perfect for halloween, but I wanted to keep the polish itself on show so I minimised the nail art. 

Matte Glitter Triangles for Avon

Hey everyone! I've had such a busy week, my life normally seems to revolve around sleep and work but this week I've managed to catch up with friends and I've just been to see Spectre tonight. I enjoyed it but I must admit I think I prefer Skyfall, although it seems like I'm alone in my opinions. Today's nail design is not a Halloween design, instead I'll be posting Halloween nails for the rest of the week. Unfortunately I haven't finished editing my pictures yet so they'll have to be squeezed in somewhere else. These are just some simple triangle nails combining glitter, matte and regular nail polish to create a multilayer effect. I dont think I've ever really used all three in a design together so I was pretty happy with the outcome

Gradient Pumpkins for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I must admit I'm a bit of a scrooge when it comes to celebrating holidays early, Christmas is from the start of december, and Halloween from a week before (two at the earliest). I love both holidays, but I don't want to ruin them by dragging them out too long. Not because I'm boring (at least I hope not!). This is why I'm so late in posting my first Halloween nail art. I actually created these weeks ago for Divine Caroline, but I took them off almost instantly after painting them because I didn't want people at work questioning why I had Halloween nails in September! I was quite sad to take them off though because I really did like the design. I was trying to go with a cross point between galaxy and halloween nail art and this is what I ended up with. I reckon these could probably stretch after Halloween and just be autumnal, but pumpkins will always make me think of Halloween. If you want to see the tutorial on how to create these, click here.

The base is OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked? Then I used Barry M - Full Throttle and Cult Nails - Captivated for the gradient. The pumpkins are done using Essie - Fear and Desire, and the green is OPI - Don't Mess With OPI.      Remember to check out the full tutorial here.

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

Alice

Green Autumn Leaves

Hey everyone! Today has felt more like autumn than any other day so far, I woke up to the loud noise of the wind and the entrance to work was littered with leaves. So it felt like the perfect time to post these nails, which I'm also currently wearing. I feel like I've jinxed it and made it all the more autumnal by wearing them! Luckily I've got a nice new coat to keep me warm, but it's always nice to get home at the end of the day and get warm in bed whilst you can hear the wind outside.

Negative Space Florals for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Just a quick post on these negative space florals I created for Divine Caroline. You can read all about them here and see the tutorial on how to create them. You all know how much I love negative space designs, but I've always done smaller florals and I really wanted to try something a bit different (ish). I just wish I'd made them matte, because I feel it brings out the design a bit more.

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

Alice

Black and White Film Nails for Avon + Tutorial

Hey everyone! I've been feeling lately that my nail art has got a bit same-old, florals and leaves and whatever else in between. Whilst that is my style (and will inevitably be posted again in a couple of days) I also don't want to completely bore you. So I was searching my files on my laptop to find something to post, and I came across these film nails I created for Avon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for some reason I never posted these. I've tried searching my old posts and I can't see any sign of them, so I must have just completely forgotten about them. I actually really like them, so as soon as I saw them again I knew that I needed to post them for you all to see, and for you all to have something a little different! There's also a tutorial to go alongside these if you want to see, just click after the jump! 

Barry M Autumn Glitter Leaves

Hey everyone! It's been so long since I created these nails that I'd completely forgotten I did them. I did them last Autumn, but Autumn had finished by the time I got around to thinking about posting them and it was too late. So instead I thought I'd save them for this year, and luckily I remembered before it was too late this year. I created these for Barry M using their Autumn 2014 Gelly collection, and a full tutorial is after the jump.

Gelish Hello Pretty! Collection Floral Outline Nail Art

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I did any nail art using gel polishes, the last time I wore any was when I was on holiday back in June. However, recently I was sent the Gelish Hello Pretty! collection* and I couldn't resist doing a bit of nail art using them. I was going to do individual reviews of each colour, but I normally use PVA as my base and my PVA has gone gloopy and is taking about 45 minutes to dry each time. I tried it first with Manga Round With Me* and then realised it wasn't going to be possible to do each colour until I buy some more PVA, so instead I thought I'd create some fun nail art with the colours, as they work so well together as a collection. I wore these for a week and I was really sad to take them off. I wanted to do something similar to the floral outline I did in these nails, but I make the bigger flowers a bit smaller and I loved how they turned out. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Nail Art for Avon

Hey everyone! I'm afraid tonight's post may be slightly more subdued than usual, as tonight I've been watching all the Stand Up To Cancer specials on Channel 4 (mainly my usual favourite Gogglebox) and I must admit I cried quite a lot. Whilst it's a morbid topic, it's also one that many of us have to deal with, directly or indirectly, and I think we should all do our bit to help as much as we can. Today's nails were created for Avon for breast cancer awareness, but I think they're also synonymous with the disease as a whole. If you want to read more about Stand Up To Cancer, or to donate, visit their website. I believe the charity also exists outside of the UK for those of you elsewhere.

OPI Nail Envy Strength & Colour - Bubble Bath Daisies

Hey everyone! Recently I unexpectedly received an exciting parcel from OPI through the post, of three of the four new 'Strength and Colour' Nail Envy polishes. These are a coloured version of their popular strengthening base coat Nail Envy, which is an old favourite of mine. I wasn't aware that these were being released until I received them but I think they're such a great idea. The colours are subtle so there are no worries about staining (which you definitely don't want when they're doubling up as your base coat), and you get all the benefits of Nail Envy with a dash of colour. They're also recreations of OPI favourites, such as Bubble Bath* (this one) and Samoan Sand*. They are unfortunately on the expensive side, RRP £19.99, but Nail Envy alone is pretty expensive too, and you can grab them on Amazon for £14.75. 

I also wanted to try out a new polish I received from Avon, called Lovely Lace* which is part of their new lace collection. I thought the two would pair up really well, but you know I'm not very good with plain nails (hence, the nail art blog) so I had to add a few daisies too. I love how these turned out, they're subtle but sweet, and also really good for my nails at the same time! The OPI polishes arrived at the perfect time as my nails were starting to peel at the ends so these gave them the extra strength they needed. I intend to try out the other colours in turn too (I received three of the four) so I'm sure you'll see them around, but I wanted to showcase Bubble Bath* for you first and foremost.

Grey Half Spots

Hey everyone! I've been debating whether or not to post these nails, as they didn't really turn out how I envisaged. I'm not really sure what I wanted them to look like, but I definitely wanted the accent nail to be a bit more bright and bold. I thought the yellow would work a lot better than it did, it just doesn't stand out enough, especially not for photography's sake. However, this is a diary of my designs, good and bad, so here you go. It's simplistic but there's something about it I really like (except the accent nail).

Crazy Peace Nail Art for Avon

 Hey everyone! I'm not really sure how I feel about these nails, it's one of those designs that just didn't turn out as I pictured in my head. I had to wear these for a week so I had a lot of time to contemplate whether I liked them or not and I still couldn't decide. Weirdly, I did get quite a lot of compliments whilst I was wearing them, but that might just be because they're very bright and a lot more noticeable. I suppose they're not too bad, I'm happy with the design execution but I think they're just a bit garish.

Glitter Geometric Leopard Print for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Today I have some glitter geometric leopard print nails to show you, which I created for Divine Caroline. I know leopard print is a design that's been done a million times, but it's also simple and effective and as it's not something I usually incorporate into my designs I wanted to mix it up a little bit. You can read all about the nails here (and also see the tutorial on how to create them)

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

Alice

Negative Space All The Nails!

Hey everyone! Today's post is another monthly link-up from a Facebook group I'm part of called Paint All The Nails. Each month we do a non-compulsory monthly link-up with a theme we've all voted on. This month's theme is 'negative space', and I'm sure you all know that this was definitely my vote. There's so many designs you can do with negative space and I always love how they look. Funnily enough, I must admit that I completely forgot about this month's link up being today, and on Saturday (which is the only day I paint nails at the moment) it didn't even cross my mind. But, it happened to be that my subconscious clearly remembered, because I had an urge to do negative space nails, and I did. So rather than panic when I remembered I'd forgotten, I had a design waiting for me, and it's actually one of my favourite designs I've done. These nails were based off this post by Sakura Nail&Beauty on Instagram. The design instantly stood out to me, but I must admit I thought it might look better on shorter nails, so I gave it a go and I ended up loving the finished result. If you want to see what the other girls created this month then check out the InLinks below!

Cupcakes for Avon

Hey everyone! I have some simple cupcake nails for you today. It's a design that's been done a thousand times but, like most designs done a thousand times, it always looks effective. It's a cute and quick mani that you can create with very few tools, what's not to like? I created these for Avon and I thought the negative space around the top of my nail would make them stand out a bit more, and I think I was right. It also makes it a lot easier to paint with a negative space background as any mistakes can just be cleaned up with a bit of acetone! 

Barry M Sunset Cotton Bud Stamping

Hey everyone! I have some more nail art using the Barry M Sunset collection for you today. You can see the first lot here, and my review here. I'm sure it's clear by now that I really like doing this cotton bud stamping design. It's just so easy to do and it looks really effective, I might even do some more this weekend. I apologise if you're bored of seeing them but they probably wont be going away anytime soon.

Peacock Nail Art for Avon + Tutorial

Hey everyone! A while ago I created some peacock feather nails for Avon, but I'm just not happy with how they turned out (even if I thought I was at the time). I must admit I didn't really step out of my comfort zone with them and I made them incredibly simplistic. So when Avon asked me to create some more, I knew it was time to try something new and push my boundaries a bit. Turns out.. they're not that difficult! I just expected them to turn out a disaster but all I did was paint a few flicks, add a bit of glitter, and a stud, and they looked like peacock feathers ... easy peasy. The peacock itself was also relatively straightforward. In fact, if you want a tutorial to create these yourself, or info on colours used, just click after the jump! 

Lilac Stamping

Hey everyone! I have another try from when I decided maybe I could stamp after all to show you today, and then I tried again and realised I couldn't and knocked my confidence once again. These were from the middle point in between the two. I'm sure it will be another two years before I give it a go again (I hope not though), unless a magical stamping fairy comes along and helps me out. Today's nails are just a really simple design that I wanted to try whilst I still had the confidence. Whilst they didn't turn out perfect, I was still pretty happy with them and I wore these for a whole week - so they can't have been that bad!

Navy Paisley for Avon

Hey everyone! It's been ages since I created any paisley nails, but I think this is the first time I've ever actually used nail polish for a full paisley design. Previously I used gel pens for precision. I also did this design using nail polish, but I did smaller and more straightforward print. And I also did these using nail art pens. However, when Avon asked me to create these I fancied a challenge. Paisley is definitely a lot more fiddly to create without a pen, but I really like how they turned out for a first try!

Dark Romance Roses

Hey everyone! Today I'm showing you the second roses design that I promised in this post when I mentioned that I hadn't created roses in a while but ended up creating a couple of designs at once.  It's also my first nail art post using the newest Barry M - Sunset Collection*, which I reviewed here. I don't want to claim these to be 'realistic' but they're probably as realistic as I'm going to get as I don't tend to try to make roses look real, ever. With these I really did just mix pinks together until I thought it looked okay and they ended up looking a lot like petals (or at least I think so), I just wish I'd added more detail to the leaves!

Exclusive: Barry M Autumn/Winter 2015 Sunset Daylight Curing Collection Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! I have my first ever exclusive to show you, which is pretty exciting. Today Barry M released 4 new polishes to add to their Sunset Daylight Curing collection* for Autumn/Winter, exclusively for Boots. I was sent these last month to create some exciting things with (which I'm sure you'll hear about soon) and I was given today as the first posting date for these, so here I am! The new collection consists of a dark purple, a dark red/wine shade, a dark mushroom shade, and a light pink. The light pink seems to be a bit of an anomaly in the collection, but I think it helps to brighten them up a bit. If you didn't see my review of the original collection you can see it here. The Sunset polishes cure in daylight, and they're supposed to last longer and be harder than regular nail polish. Yet, with the same removal as regular polish. Although, they also cure under artificial lighting, which will be helpful in the Autumn and Winter months. As we saw with the older collection they also have a wider brush than regular Barry M colours, just like the Quick Dry collection, which makes application a lot easier. 

OPI Autumn/Winter 2015 Venice Collection Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! It's been absolutely ages since I posted a full review, so long that I'm actually a bit ashamed! It's just much more fun and less time consuming (believe it or not) to create nail art with collections instead of reviewing them individually. I only paint my nails on a Saturday at the moment so I need to prioritise any nail art commitments first. However, the OPI - Venice Collection* deserves to be showcased, and whilst it may have taken me three saturdays to complete the review, here it is. You've seen a few nail art designs using the colours already (like this, this, and this one) but they're just as beautiful as individual colours. I've also got a couple more nail designs coming up with them too. This is probably my favourite collection from OPI this year (as you can probably tell), and they've released quite a few. We all know I love a good pastel, but they manage to be both autumnal and pastel at the same time. 

Gradient All The Nails!

Hey everyone! Myself and a number of very talented bloggers are part of a small Facebook group called 'Paint All The Nails'. Each month we will be doing a themed link-up (although I may not do it every month) and this month's theme is gradients. I must admit that I just went basic with my design, it completely bypassed my to do anything extra to it, which is very unlike me! But I love a gradient on it's own anyway so why not. Also, my memory card broke and decided to delete the other half of my photos so I'm afraid I've only got one photo for you today. I've bought a new memory card now so fingers crossed it wont happen again.

I used OPI - A Great Opera-tunity* (from the Venice collection), and Barry M - Cotton for the gradient, topped off with Seche Vite

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

Alice

P.S Don't forget to check out the other lady's designs in the inlinks widget below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Glitter Stud Stamping

Hey everyone! Since trying stamping with July's Nailbox I've been wanting to try stamping again as it seemed a lot easier than I remembered. My friend Emily of Very Emily showed me a picture of a design she created on her toes recently and I knew I wanted to recreate them as soon as I saw the design. However, the stamping just didn't work for me as it did with the Nailbox. I'm not sure what I was doing differently, although this time I was using a Bundle Monster Plate rather than a Mo You plate so that might be the defining difference. Either way, I liked how these turned out and I wore these all of last week. I even managed to keep the studs on for a whole 5 days (although I was starting to get very annoyed with them) until one fell off and then I picked the rest off.

Mermaid Chevrons Video Tutorial for Shopcade

Hey everyone! Today I finally have a new Youtube video for you after more than a year thanks to shopping website Shopcade. They kindly sponsored these nails, if you wish to see the products provided they're all linked in the description of the video. You can also see their post on Mermaid Chevron Nails here. The full video is included at the end of this post so make sure you click after the jump!

Hello! for Avon

Hey everyone! (Or hello! if I want to match the nails). Today I've got a really simple design to show you that I've always uhm'd and ah'd about posting.  I created these for Avon in November last year and despite the fact they're neat and colourful, I've never been quite sure of them. But the more I've scrolled past them the more I've realised it's time to post them. I also dont really post that many designs with text so I thought it would make a nice change. 

Outlined Polka Roses

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I did any rose nails (in fact it's been well over a year as I just discovered from scrolling through my Instagram) but I actually have a couple of rose designs to show you over the next couple of weeks, and I'm hoping to have a third soon enough as well. I hadn't realised that it had been so long since I did any, especially as they're so cute and easy to create. I always love to combine roses with polka dots too, I think they go well together and the polka dots really make the roses stand out. I didn't want to add roses to all my nails and I found they were looking a bit plain once I'd finished so I added polka dots around the edge of my other nails and it was just what was needed to finish off the design.