Wednesday 26 December 2012

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Second year in a row of advent calendar nails! Enjoyed the success of painting them last year so this year I wanted to pick a theme for them. With the help and ideas of a couple of my closest friends I chose the theme of toys so that each day would be like opening a little present on my nail.

To start with I painted each nail to look like a present with a bow and the numbers for each day. I decided to paint them with bright Christmassy colours with a layer of glitter colour over the top for extra sparkle.


Then I've re-painted a nail every evening up to Christmas eve to uncover a toy for each day.

15th:

The first nail is a spinning top. Unfortunately I broke this nail recently so I had to choose a small design for this one.

16th:

The 16th is my mum's birthday so I decided to do a teddy bear as it was her favourite toy when she was little. It's also holding a pink birthday balloon.

17th:

A tiny wind up mouse.

18th:

A roller skate.

19th:

A jack-in-the-box. Took me a few tries to do this one as it only just fit on my nail.

20th:


Ball in a cup.

21st:

A toy train.

22nd:

A doll. I based this doll on the one from Toy Story who gets her head swapped over with a pterodactyl.

23rd:

A rocking horse with festive patterns.

24th:

A Nutcracker soldier with festive glitter. The glitter varnish is the Barry M Yellow Topaz Glitter which I discovered recently. Have been looking for an excuse to use it in my nail art and it makes my Christmas eve nail look very festive.


Here are my final Christmas nails.

The colours used here are all Barry M base colours with a layer of glitter colour over each one. All of the detail is painted using a variety of nail art pens, which were a Christmas present last year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Friday 7 December 2012

Mi Chico Latino

 I created these especially for our lovely Spanish holiday over the summer. Stayed for a week in Calella near Barcelona, which was a perfect way to wind down after finishing my final project at uni.
Originally these were a mixture of Spanish flags and Catalonia flags but after being told by a local that they're not so friendly with the Spanish in those parts I decided to add a yellow stripe to all my nails. This was also the time of the UEFA European Footbal Cup I added an English flag to support the team when we went to watch the matches at our local bar.


A couple of days into the holiday I decided to spend one of our evenings creating some holiday nail art whilst watching films dubbed into Spanish, the best was The Lost Boys.
I painted a sunset over the sea, a cocktail, a palm tree, an ice cream and a beach ball on one hand. A sandcastle, a watermelon, a bucket and spade, a parasol and a sailboat on the other. These were some of my first nails which I created without having any reference images in front of me as we didn't have internet access in our apartment.


This picture was taken from the top balcony of our lovely apartment at sunrise. Hope we get to go back someday...

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Queen's Pyjama Party



Was the Queen's Jubilee weekend this year and as I had plans to go celebrate it with my friend Dave in Battersea park I thought I should probably get some themed nail art on.
I have the Union Jack flag, the royal crown, a tea pot and victoria sponge cake, a stamp, the Queen Elizabeth the 2nd symbol, '60' for her 60 years of reigning, a diamond, another Union Jack, bunting and a royal carriage (didn't do an outline on this so its a bit hard to see).
I even painted my toe nails to match:
I also went to the first Pyjama Party at the Prince Charles Cinema the night before the Jubilee. This was an all nighter of 8 awesome girly films- Mean Girls, Clueless, Empire Records, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Reality Bites, 10 Things I Hate About You, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club. Was an awesome night of film fun. Here's a pic of the start of the night and my Catbus pillow which served me well and kept me comfy:
And a pic of everyone who survived the night til the very end:

I would've done themed nails for this but decided on the Jubilee ones instead as I then went straight from the cinema to the celebration the next day:


Big day


These were for my cousin Ben's wedding which I went to in May. Thought I'd make them fairly plain with a white background so they're not too flashy and also so they'd go with my nice dress which I bought specially. The dress was a pink floral 50's style halterneck which I bought from modcloth.com, most beautiful dress ever!
On my nails I did a 'Just Married' (luckily no-one noticed them until after the ceremony), a champagne bottle with glittery champagne, a wedding cake, wedding rings on my ring finger, mini hearts, confetti, a silver bow, gold wedding bells, a grooms hat and a pink and silver bouquet.

Hen do!


This weekend (27th-29th April) was the hen do of my lovely friend Grace who I was a bridesmaid for this year. We had an awesome weekend in Brighton with booze, karaoke, dancing, fun, games and a chocolate penis! Had the best time ever with my girlies!
Unfortunately the camera flash makes it a bit hard to see what's on my nails. I have a champagne bottle and glass with lots of glitter, handcuffs, a big purple dildo, an engagement ring on my ring finger, lips, mini hearts, pink balloons, a learner symbol, a cocktail glass and a pink corset.
Pic of the lovely bride Grace and me before our night out at the surprise AC/DC tribute gig:
While we were there we discovered an awesome American style diner which we went to more than once called JB's:
Best hangover food EVER!

My Easter will go on...


Had to do some form of Easter nails this year but as it was also the 100th anniversary of the final voyage of the Titanic on the same week I decided to dedicate a hand to each.
On the Easter hand I have a hot cross bun, a chick in an egg, a cute bunny, a carrot and a decorated Easter egg. On the Titanic hand I have a life saver ring, the front of the ship, the captain's hat, an iceberg and finally the sinking Titanic.

Easter is coming...

Been a huge fan of Game of Thrones since I was first introduced to it by my brother last Christmas. As series 2 was about to start I thought it was about time I did some GOT nail art. Took me a while to paint on each one of the sigils but I'm very happy with how they came out. Did the iron throne on the thumb but it didn't come out quite as well as I'd planned but you can still make out the swords spiking out the top. On the rest I have the Targarian sigil, the Stark sigil, the Lannister sigil and the Baratheon sigil. Unfortunately I didn't give myself enough time to do something with the other hand, I just had base colours, so I don't have a pic of that. Also I couldn't think of anything else apart from sigils to paint on it so if anyone has any ideas for GOT nails part 2 let me know!
Had an Easter party that weekend which we themed as an 'E' party where everyone had to come dressed as something beginning with 'E'. I chose an Egyptian Mummy costume:

Girly vs Goth


Went out to Electric Ballroom in Camden when I did these and was having a dilemma of what to wear - a nice dress or my Alice Cooper t-shirt. Decided I'd paint my nails in both styles then decide.
I have a cute bow with polka dots, cherries, a cupcake with glitter frosting, lips and mini hearts on the girly hand. A cross, a coffin, dripping and smeared blood, a spider web and the Alice Cooper logo in blood on the goth hand.
I went with the Alice Cooper T-shirt and Dr. Martens in the end and had an awesome night!

St. Patrick's Mother's Day


St. Patrick's Day and Mother's Day were in the same weekend this year so I decided to do a hand dedicated to each. With the St. Patrick's ones I wanted to just include a few stereotypical Irish things so I have a four leaf clover (with a layer of glitter on top for the celebration), a leprechaun hat, a pot of gold, a pint of Guinness and an Irish flag.
Then the Mother's Day ones a bit more feminine with a pink bow, a pretty flower, a butterfly with grass and sunshine, a 'Mum' love heart candy and 'Mum' heart tattoo.

Du Hast!


Went to see Rammstein at the O2 on the 24th of February. Was probably the best gig of the year so far. They put on such an awesome show with fire and foam galore! Did these before I went. Can't wait to see them again!
Bought this awesome t-shirt and a poster there as well. Love it!
I also discovered the best ever varnish top coat this week called Seche Vite. I would recommend it to anyone doing nail art, it dries super fast and doesn't smudge the colour like most other top coats.

Cutesy or evil...



These are my Valentines nails I did this year. Decided to go with a cutesy Valentines theme on one hand and an anti-Valentines on the other. As I didn't have a date for Valentines this year I preferred doing the darker ones.
On the cutesy side I have a heart with cupid's bow through it, a love letter with a heart seal, a saucy red corset, a 'he loves me, he loves me not' daisy and a heart beat moniter. On the anti side I have a broken black heart, a voodoo doll with pins in, a tuxedo (not very anti but it matches the corset on the same finger of the other hand), a bleeding human heart and a heart and crossbones.

You're a wizard now Harry!




Wowser I have neglected this blog for far too long. Time to update my back catalogue and show you guys what I've been up to this year so far.
These are my Harry Potter nails I did back in February. I did these because I went to IMATS make-up convention where I watched Warwick Davis having his Professor Flitwick prosthetics and wig applied by Nick Dudman. Here's a pic of Warwick being made up:
Decided to do the four house sigils- Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin- on one hand and the Harry Potter 'HP' logo. Then on the other hand I painted the Deathly Hallows symbol, a broomstick, Potter's glasses and scar, the golden snitch and the sorting hat over the four colours of the different houses.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Bangorang!

















Created 27th January.
Hook is one of my childhood favourites and as I'm creating a pirate look for my make-up project this term I decided to re-watch it for inspiration (and to re-live my childhood).
It took me a while to decide on the designs for each nail. I've made it a pirates vs lost boys theme with pirates on my left hand and lost boys on my right.
On my left hand I have Hook's hook (I wanted to write the film's title above it as well but thought it would look a little too busy so I decided to just add a shine to the hook). Then I have the pocket watch Peter gave to his son before he was kidnapped by Hook. I wanted to put Hook on my nails without having to draw his whole face so I just drew his moustache and eyebrows as they really define his face. Then there's Hook's red coat and buttons. On the last nail I drew a crocodile print, Hook's worst enemy.
On my right hand I have a baseball, which is a big storyline between Peter and his son. It's also what gives Peter his happy thought and makes him fly again. Rufio is my favourite character so I had to include him somehow, I've drawn his black and red stripes and his name. I had to add Tinkerbell in there so I drew a golden silhouette with glitter fairy dust trailing behind her. The food fight is one of my favourite scenes so I wanted to get some bright colours in there, then I had to put the 'bangorang' over the top.  The last nail is a silhouette of the lost boy's tree house with the sunset behind.
I really enjoy doing film nails and would like to do them more often because it's not something that other people do a lot. They can also be far more personal and original than just choosing a theme.
Also a little shout out to my lovely kitty Bubbles who was 2 on the 27th!


 She likes to sit on my lap when I'm doing my nails.