Harry Potter Nail Art

I'm so happy it's the weekend, I've booked Monday off to get my Christmas shopping finished so I've got three whole days off and it's almost Christmasssss. Now it's December I feel like I can finally start getting excited for it. I know that these nails aren't Christmas related, but I thought that I had posted these in October but when I was looking on my Instagram I realised I never did, so I wanted to make sure you saw them before they got lost in the depths of my drafts folder. Seriously there's so many posts in there that just aren't relevant anymore, desk tour of my house from 2 years ago anyone? I've moved twice since then! 

Back in October I was lucky enough to be able to go and see Harry Potter and The Cursed Child in London, and we decided to make a weekend of it and also go to the Warner Bros studio tour, of course to mark the occasion I also had to do some Harry Potter nails, and to be honest I'm surprised it's taken me so many years to get round to doing any because I am a hugeeee Harry Potter fan. The play is amazing by the way, and I really really want to see it again. 

Gelish Chilly Christmas Trees

I'm trying to be strict with myself on Christmas this year, especially in terms of food. I've lost weight recently and I don't to gain it back by pigging out on mince pies, but they're so delicious I'm struggling to resist. However, I decided that I didn't need to resist doing Christmas nails, what's the harm right? And apparently Twitter agreed, as I did a poll earlier and these were the popular choice! 

These aren't the first Christmas nails I've done this year I have to admit, I've been playing around with nail wheels to decide on some designs and these are a by-product of that.  As I was swatching the Gelish - Thrill Of The Chill Collection* (review coming soon), I couldn't help feeling Christmassy and I wanted to do some quick Christmas nails to show off the gorgeous shades of the collection, and to play around with one of the designs from my nail wheel. 

Red Accent Tribal

Hey everyone! I don't want to make any excuses for why I haven't posted in a while, but I also don't want to leave you with no explanation. The basic rundown: I went travelling, some crappy thing happened, and then I've been super busy and demotivated. Luckily, I seem to have got my motivation back, and I've done 4 nail designs this week, all of which I'm pretty pleased with. It's nice to have my motivation and my inspiration back, and I want to throw myself back into blogging. I've got a new office which I love working in, so that's definitely helping. The shortened version: I'm sorry it's been a while but I'm back now and feeling inspired! 

Anyway, I tried my hand at some tribal nails because it felt like ages since I did a proper tribal design. They take me forever to do (is it just me?) but I always love how they turned out. However, rather than torture myself I just decided to do it as an accent nail. I don't know if it's just because I'm a little rusty, or because I was distracted by New Girl, but these took me two hours and that was just with two fingers, I couldn't face another 3 hours. 

Twinsie Nails With Very Emily

Hey everyone! Today I've got a post that I've been super excited to share with you: Twinsie nails with my good friend Emily of Very Emily. Emily was one of my first blogging friends, if not the first, so it was about time we did something like this. We've been talking about doing it for a while, but as we've both had a lot on we only got around to finishing our designs last week. We decided to use marimekko flowers as inspiration for our design, specifically these nails. We found that it was really hard to coordinate on colours, as we seemed to have none of the same polishes, so we just went with what was closest to the original design. My shades are a bit lighter than Emily's but I like that it gives it an individual twist. Emily also created this gorgeous collage of our two designs together which I absolutely love. Don't you think the flowers down the side look great next to our designs? You can see Emily's design on her blog.

White Poppies Inspired by @ane_li #sharingtheloveforaneli

Hey everyone! I recently heard the awful news that @ane_li passed away earlier this month. I was very shocked to hear that she is no longer with us, she was so talented and very much respected in the community. We all wanted to pay our respects to Ane Li, and a few nail artists have come together to recreate her designs today, the day of her funeral. I hope Ane Li's family take some small comfort in knowing that we all respected her very much and are sad to see her gone.

Daisy Dixon Rose Gold Floral Nail Art

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a lovely weekend, I spent mine exploring the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and eating ice-cream in the unusually warm weather. It was nice to have a whole day relaxing and not having to think about anything. Normally I spend Sundays doing all the washing (it's boring being an adult sometimes), but our washing machine is currently broken so I managed to escape that task for this week. In my review of Gelish - Last Call I mentioned that I wouldn't be able to resist using it again, and it seemed like the perfect colour to use for this nail art inspired by this Daisy Dixon watch*. Daisy Dixon recently contacted me and asked if I would like to pick out a watch from their collection, and of course I said yes. It took me a while to decide which I wanted as there are so many to choose from on their site, but I eventually decided on the Chloe White Floral Print watch*, mainly because I knew it would work so well for nail art. 

Paint All The Nails Presents Pastel Geometric

Hey everyone! It's time for another Paint All The Nails link up, this month we decided to do 'pastel' as our theme, and then we realised that was probably a bit vague, so we went with 'pastel geometric' instead. I must admit, I'm not too happy with how I've done this prompt. I couldn't quite tear myself away from my new favourite colour, which is Gelish - Last Call* (full review soon), so I decided to just add my pastel geometric on top. But unfortunuately I don't think there's quite enough pastel for them to be considered pastel, if that's makes any sense. Emily, of Very Emily, persuaded me to post them nevertheless though, and I didn't want to back out of the challenge when I'd already created something, so here we are!  

Simple Summer Florals

Hey everyone! I'm back from the best holiday I've ever been on. We had perfect weather for the whole week, and it was so nice to be able to relax and not think about anything after months of dissertation work and exams. I managed to read for the first time in over a year, in fact I read 4 books in the week, I'm clearly not very good at lying on a sunbed doing nothing! I'm still pale as anything, despite my best efforts, and I'm very jealous of my boyfriend's tan. I'll be doing a 'my nails on holiday' blogpost in the next few days once I've got the photos off my boyfriend's phone. But today I have for you some simple floral nails I created a long time ago. These are probably from last November time, they were hiding away on my computer and I'd completely forgotten about them but I thought it was time to show you all. 

Tutorial Thursday: Pink Checkers Stripe

Hey everyone! Because this week's Tutorial Tuesday was done by the lovely Amelia (see here), I decided I'd post my usual tutorial today instead! I'm so excited to show you this design, after seeing this image by Madeline Poole on Instagram I just knew I had to recreate it. The design itself is pretty simple but I think the simplicity is what makes it stand out so much. I definitely got a lot of comments on my nails whilst I was wearing these, and as they're so easy to do I think I'll be recreating them with quite a few colours! 

I didn't actually intend to do this design in pink, I had meant to do it with a nude base, but for some reason I picked up the pink and painted my nails with it without even thinking, and I didn't want to remove it after that so I just decided to go with it. I'm so glad I did because I think it works really well with the pastel colour. I guess my hand knew what I wanted more than my head! Tutorial will be after the jump.

The base for these nails is OPI - Mod About You, then I used striping tape from Born Pretty Store, MASH - White, and MASH - Black, but you can also use acrylic paint if you'd prefer! Then I finished off with a coat of Seche Vite

Tutorial Tuesday: Romance Isn't Dead for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Today's tutorial tuesday is going to be a little different. From now on, the steps for every other tutorial tuesday will be available to view on Divine Caroline, but I will only be posting the finished design look on here. The first tutorial I've done for DC is this cute heart design, which you can find on DC here. I knew I wanted to do some form of pattern within hearts, and I originally thought I'd do a tutorial for this design I did a while ago but once I started I realised I wanted to go for something a bit more cutesy. 

Don't forget to go check out the steps for this design HERE

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

Alice

Daisy Nail Art + TUTORIAL for Clothes Show Live

Hey everyone! So, as you may remember me mentioning, last week I went to London to film some tutorials for Clothes Show Live. The first tutorial is now live and I can't wait for you to see it! I've also done my own nails to accompany the tutorial. I absolutely love the simplicity of these nails, they're easy to create yet they really stand out. I definitely think this is a design to do if you're in a rush but you still want something that looks good.

For these I started off with a base of MASH - Black, then I used acrylic paint for the white flowers and dots, and then I used Butter LONDON - Jasper for the yellow centres of the flowers, all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

And here's the tutorial on Clothes Show Live TV:

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

Alice

Orly Black MegaPixel FX Review + Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have another review for you (I have a lot to get through), using the new Orly Black MegaPixel FX polish*, but this time I've included a bit of nail art. I'm actually really proud of these nails and I kept them on for a whole 3 days! Hopefully you will like them as much as I do. There's quite a few pictures in this post so I'm going to put them after the jump.

Digital Dozen Does Fashion: Day 5

Hey everyone! Today I have the final post of the digital dozen does fashion week today, albeit a day late. It was inspired again by a La Moda bag, this* one, which is currently on sale!

For these I used a base of Barry M - Green Berry, and Barry M Gold Foil Special Effects, then I used striping tape from MASH and MASH Black polish. Then I used drops of Seche Vite to add the studs, and then topped off all nails with 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 all opinions are entirely my own 

Digital Dozen Does Fashion: Day 4

Hey everyone! First of all I just wanted to announce that the giveaway winner has been chosen and contacted, and she has replied. Nail Girl's will announce her name on their Facebook page in the next few days I think. Anyway, I'm really sorry I didn't post last night, I was just too tired. I'm so happy to have a day off tomorrow! Day 5 will be tomorrow, and my very delayed 'which is best' for matte top coats will hopefully be Sunday so there's quite a bit coming up in the next few days. 

Today's post is based on another La Moda satchel, which has unfortunately sold out in this particular colour, but this is similar for those who fancy it.

The base of this is MASH - White, the nude is Butter LONDON Cuppa, the red is Jacava - Crimson Crush and the black is acrylic paint.

I decided to again mix the outside and the inside into one design, but it took me quite a while to work out how. This design was actually a bit of an accident because I had originally intended to post my nails fully with Cuppa but I forgot and painted them all with white and had to improvise! Nevertheless, I'm really happy with how it came out!

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 all opinions are entirely my own

Digital Dozen Does Fashion: Day 1

Hey everyone! I'm back with another week of digital dozen posts for you. I unfortunately missed July but hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this week's post. I've just started a new job though so I might dwindle later in the week but we shall see. I apologise in advance if that does happen! 

So for the first day I'm bringing you some nails inspired by this* gorgeous La Moda satchel. I'm going to put the rest of this post after the jump because it's going to be a pretty long on.

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. 

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

Pop out nails

Hey everyone! I dont really know what to call these nails, so 'pop out' shall have to do. Unless you have any better ideas? I was inspired to do these by Nancy Mc Nails, mine are nowhere near as good as hers but I aspire to be as good as her one day! (Teach me your secrets Nancy!) I love this new pink I got from Very Emily and I really wanted to use it, so I put the two wishes together and created these.

I originally did these shiny as Nancy does, but I didn't feel like they were photographing very well so I added a matte top coat (any excuse, ey?), but I've included a shiny picture for you to compare and tell me which you prefer. 

To create these I started with a base of Essence - Free Hugs which is a brilliant vibrant pink and I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of it on the blog. Then I added China Glaze - Liquid Leather around the edges with a small paintbrush, and any mistakes I just went over in pink. Then I added a line of MASH - White Nail Polish, and topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite. And then to make it matte I added MASH - Matte top coat (which is half price on their website at the moment by the way!). 

Here's the design shiny, which do you prefer?

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Alice

Neon gradient + tribal nails (and an announcement!)

Happy Easter everyone! I'm going to hopefully be posting twice today because I'm going to quickly try and do a 'Then and Now' post for tonight because I didn't have time to do one last night. But I just wanted to show you these neon gradients I did, and then decided to add a tribal design to. I shall have a tutorial coming up for this soon if you're interested? These were meant to be my 'easter' nails for this year but I fancied something a little different to the usual pastel combinations.

I actually quite liked the design with just a neon gradient but as always I knew I wanted to add more to it, oops. The base for this design was MASH - White, which is meant to be for stamping but as it's so opaque it works great as a base too. The neon colours were Models Own - Toxic Apple, Orange Sorbet and Pink Sorbet, all of which as you can see are really bright and great neons, I would definitely recommend getting them if you haven't already got them. As neons tend to be quite translucent they're great for gradients. 

(The number 2 is there as it's part of the tutorial)

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

Also, today is my blogiversary! This little blog is one year old today, I had started a Tumblr 8 months previously so it's not a year since the start of my 'nail art journey' but it is via blogger! I shall be having a little giveaway soon to celebrate so stay tuned! 

Alice

EDIT: the tutorial can be found here

A bit too much neon?

Hey everyone! I'm finally back with my own nails, have you missed me? This design is very similar to this one I did previously but is a lot more neon. I received these studs from Born Pretty Store to review and this nail art pen from Models Own and knew instantly that they had to go together! 

I chose to apply the studs using dotting tools from MASH, which can be found here, by applying an extra coat of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls and before it was dry placing the studs on. I love these studs, as you can see from the awful quality of the pictures my camera had a hard time picking up the neon on these because they're super bright, and they're also a great size. Remember you can use my code KHL91 to get 10% off these too!

Next, I used the nail art pen to draw random swirls all over the rest of my nails, I started on my thumb and as I'd never used them before it went a bit thicker, but I quickly picked up how to use them and the rest of the nails were easy to control, I definitely preferred doing this design with a pen rather than a brush due to the control, and it's really opaque (and again, super neon!)

What do you think? Let me know in the comments, and dont forget to use my code KHL91 to get 10% off your order at Born Pretty Store!

Alice

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