52 Week Challenge: 'Make It Sparkle' Mani!

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope you all had a good night celebrating in the New Year. My Boyfriend, his friends and I went down to our local city for a night out on the town, which was eventful to say the least! Especially having to treck up an almost vertical hill to get to where we were being picked up from!

I thought I would show you a quick look at my NYE nails I did before leaving. I wanted to do something amazing, but as I didn't have time to do that, I thought I would just do something simple yet effective. For the base I used 2 coats of Ciate - Superficial with China Glaze - Atlantis over the top. I then used a small nail art brush and BarryM - Silver Foil to write the numbers. I was pretty impressed with how the '20' turned out as I did it using my left hand (non-dominant).

What did you do for NYE? And did you do any special mani's for the occasion? Let me know!

EDIT; If you've read the below post, you'll know I'm now partaking in the Year Challenge. So instead of redoing a glitter mani, I thought I would recycle this mani, as it is now no longer on my nails!

Make sure to check out the other challengers posts too!

Nicel
Jenna
Charlotte
Kevan
Lissa
Liz
Cindy

A quick NOTD

I thought I would do a quick NOTD post for you whilst I have some peace and quiet as my boyfriend has his rowdy friends round, but they're currently pumping iron in the gym downstairs. Ahhh, bliss!

I first saw this on Missglamorazzi's YouTube channel and I thought it looked pretty cute. It's simple yet different to the normal french manicures. I did change it up a little and used China Glaze - Cosmic to do the black tips as I wanted a little bit of glitter in there, but even that didn't fulfil my glitter needs, so I added a swipe of my Saffron polish (pictured) to add a bit more sparkle to it! The base I used is Basil Street by Nails Inc, which I got free with Glamour magazine - wooo!

This is probably going to be my last post of 2011 :'(. I was going to do a top 10 polishes this year, but everyone seems to be doing so. BUT if I have time before I go out tomorrow I may have a little swatch fest and get them uploaded sometime. If not, then i will possibly do it first week into the new year. Happy 2012 (let's hope we see Christmas 2012 ;))

My first attempt at 'Frankening'

Hey guys, so I've been seeing so many frankens around the blogging community lately and I thought I would try my hand at it. It's not the most complex of colours but for my first attempt I didn't want to go crazy.
I saw a YouTube video a while back, where a girl took a clear nail polish and added eyeshadow pigment to it, creating a nail polish...so that's what I thought I'd do...Granted it's not really a franken as such. I used BarryM's silvery black dazzle dust in E.L.F's clear polish, then added half a bottle of two holo glitters I have. The pictures aren't too great as it's dark now so they were taken in unnatural light, but I will try and get some outside in the daylight tomorrow. Have you ever tried your hand at Frankening? I'd love to see what you've come up with! Leave a link to your creations below and I will have a look at those!

NOTD: Black & White

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you just can't seem to be inspired by anything, well for me, it's one of those weeks. However, I looked down at my plain boring nails, and I just wanted something on them. So I cracked open the bottle of ELF's black polish and gave myself a black manicure. Feeling satisfied I left it there. It wasn't until late last night that I wanted something quirky on my nails and I remembered about the L.A colors Art Deco pens I picked up from the Poundstore earlier that day. So I went back to my nail station and got the white pen and just let my brain do the painting.
This is what I came up with. Please excuse the state of them though! I went in the shower with what I thought were dry nails, and they started to smear a little. So yeah, these are currently what I'm sporting on my nails.

NOTD: Bows & Stripes

Please excuse the writing on my fingers, they're my tattoos.

I realise I've been a bit MIA when it comes to blogging, and I apologise for that. But I am nearing 50 followers! And there are still 12 days until the release of the Beetlejuice Collection from Models Own. Can we do it?
Anyway, I thought I would end the absence with a little NOTD post. I got inspiration to do this from a YouTube video (I can't remember for the life of me the name, sorry!) and it's a simple(ish) design to do. I say simple-ish because if you're like me and SUCK at doing bows, then it's a bit harder to master, but I think I did an alright job, don't you?
The whole manicure was done with Models Own polishes; Base; Purple Ash, White; Snow White, Black; Nail Art pen, Bow; Lilac Dream. Unfortunately, my nails no longer are like this :(. As I've accidentally smudged 3 of my fingers (after they'd had 20 minutes drying time!) NOT HAPPY.

However, as my birthday is coming up, I have requested I get a Konad stamping kit, and made sure that my parents are aware this is HIGHLY ranked in what I want. Let's hope they get the message!

I'm currently rummaging through my collection to find some dupes, so be on the look out for those! And ALSO I'll be posting my Winter Nail Trends asap. So keep an eye out for those!

Ciao for now

NOTD: Pastel Hearts

Seeing as I was unhappy with my previous mani, I decided to do something different. I saw something similar to this on YouTube, but the hearts were stitched round the edges. I did originally start to do this, but some of them didn't even look like hearts in the end, so I decided to just do normal styled hearts. I do like how this turned out, but I know I could have done better, and I definitely need some practise painting with my left hand, the hearts on my right nails are absolutely horrendous, so these will be coming off shortly after this post has gone up!
For the base colour I used China Glaze - Pelican Grey. I then used BarryM - Berry Ice Cream (Purple), Strawberry Ice Cream (Pink) and Blueberry Ice Cream (Blue) and Models Own - Jade Stone (Green) and Snow White (Polka Dots). For the outline I used Models Own/WAH Nail Art Pen.

I think this is SO cute, I just wish that my right hand turned out as well as this, otherwise I'd have been sporting this until it chips. Hey ho, that's life I suppose...If anyone has any tips for getting the right hand to look like the left. Leave me a comment below!

NOTD: Minnie Mouse Tips

I decided I wanted just a simple french, with a twist. So I decided to do a Minnie Mouse inspired french tip. I definitely need more practise when it comes to the bows, and I was in a rush so it could have been a lot better if I'd had the time. I used Collection 2000 - Big Hair to do the tip and dotted it with Models Own - Snow White. I then used the Models Own Nail Art Pen for the bows (or what was supposed to be bows). I then sealed it with China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat.

NOTD: Hello Kitty Manicure

I've been feeling really under the weather at the moment and I wanted to do something to take my mind off of the fact I'm 'dying' (goddamn you flu!). So I took the opportunity to get creative. I got the idea from cutepolish on YouTube, and I thought, why not give it a go myself. Unfortunately, my Nail Brushes aren't here yet *BOO* so I had to make do with what I had. So here's what I used to create this manicure;

• China Glaze: 108 Degrees on my thumb, index, middle & pinky fingers & for the polka dots
• Models Own: Snow White on my ring finger
• ELF - Black for polka dots & lines
• ELF: Clear Polish
• China Glaze: No Chip Top Coat
• Cocktail Stick
• Hello Kitty print out 
• Piece of A4 paper 

How To:

Take 108 Degrees (Or a pink colour of your choice...BarryM's Pink Flamingo goes well with this too) and apply 2 coats to your thumb, index finger, middle finger and pinky finger.
Apply 3 coats of Snow White (Again, or a white colour of your choice) to your ring finger.
Once this is dry, take the white polish and paint a triangle across the tip of your pink nails.
Whilst these are drying, get your piece of paper and drop a bit of the pink and black onto the page.
Take your toothpick/dotting tool and place dots of each colour onto the white triangles.
When these are completely dry (to avoid any smudging) take another toothpick/striping brush and dip in in the black polish.
Stripe directly across the nail where the white meets the pink.
When this is done, take your hello kitty print out and cut around the outline so there are no bits of paper around the outside.
Dab a little bit of clear polish onto the middle of your ring finger and using tweezers, secure the Hello Kitty printout. Carefully pressing the sides down.
When this is done, take the toothpick/dotting tool you used for the polka dots on the other fingers and dot around the cutout.
Apply your favourite top coat, and voila! You're done.

 

This is the Hello Kitty print I used! Feel free to take it ^.^

Hope you enjoyed the post! ^.^

NOTD: Polka Dot

So I thought I would give myself a little mini-manicure, but something that was simple and not time consuming and here they are.
This design is so cute and yet simple to do. In order to do this look, I used a total of 5 things, all of which you will find in your house, if you don't have any dotting tools.

• Base colour of your choice
• A colour of your choice for the dots
• A top coat (optional)
• A piece of paper
• A toothpick/cocktail stick.

First paint your nails the colour you've chosen (you can apply a base coat before this step, I chose not to). For mine I used Blueberry Ice Cream by BarryM.
While this is drying take the colour you chose for your polka dots and dot the brush onto the piece of paper until you have a generous dollop.
Then take your cocktail stick and dip it into the nail polish, for this I used Lemon Meringue by Models Own (note: you have to repeat this step a few times, until there is a build up on nail polish on the end of the cocktail stick to achieve larger dots, you can dot it on the paper to test the size)
Once you've done this, your base colour should be dry. Dot the cocktail stick into the polish and apply to your nails, you will have to repeat this two or three times for each finger.
When all your nails are done, leave them to dry for about 5 minutes and then apply a topcoat of your choice, for mine I used No Chip by China Glaze.
If needs be, tidy up the edges with a cutip dipped in polish remover, and voila.

You're DONE! :)