Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

 

 

Finally got tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in February! It was absolutely magical! Of course I had to paint my nails for the occasion.

On my left hand I have the book cover (with yellow gradient base), Gryffindor scarf colours, a time turner, a golden snitch, and Gryffindor tie colours.

On my right hand I have the Deathly Hallows symbol, Slytherin tie colours, the sorting hat, Slytherin scarf colours, and the Cursed Child logo.

I also painted a Barry M Matte top coat over them and I love the finish it makes:

 

Would like to try this more often as it really brings out the detail in my photographs.

Naturally I had to dress for the occasion too with my Harry Potter clothing and jewellery. Here's a few pics from the day:

 

Really hope I get to go again one day. If you're a Harry Potter fan don't miss out, it's so worth it!

Happy 2017!

 

New Year's Eve 2016-2017. Using Barry M glitters and metallics and Model's Own Hypergel in black and white for the detail.

🎉

Advent jumpers

For last year's Christmas advent nails I decided to paint themed Christmas jumper nails based on either a movie or TV show. Usually I start at 16 and just paint the last 10 days before Christmas. This time I gave myself an extra challenge of starting from day 1. I was also planning on painting a whole hand for each day but that idea soon went out the window (pardon the pun) due to mega busy working hours.

Day 1:

 

Friends. With "Paper, snow, a ghost", Central Perk, and the holiday armadillo.

Days 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6:

 

 Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Harry Potter Gryffindor (with golden snitches) and Slytherin (with snakes), and Adventure Time.

Days 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11:

 

 

Toy Story, Frozen, Elf, Home Alone 2 and Home Alone.

Days 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16:

 

Bad Santa, Star Wars (with a 'Merry Sithmas'), Die Hard, Mickey Mouse, and Santa's Little Helper from The Simpsons.

Days 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21:

 

Gremlins, Scrooged, Arnie in Jingle All The Way, Trading Places, and Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. 

Days 22, 23, 24 and 25:

 

 

Muppets Christmas Carol, A Nightmare Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and a Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄

The Winter Mermaid

 

After the (almost) success of my Halloween challenge I decided to take part in a little November nail art challenge on Instagram. Needless to say this one didn't go as well and I only got as far as the first day.

The theme of this one was 'mermaid'. Decided to go with a winter mermaid theme and use some icy blue colours. Also added a little scarf on the silhouette of Ariel.

31 Days of Halloween

*Warning* longest blog post yet!

Last October I decided to give myself a little nail art challenge. Turns out it wasn't quite so little and was definitely a challenge (especially whilst working full time) but it was so much fun.

The challenge was to paint a different Horror or Halloween film on my nails every day for the entire month. I also watched each of the films as I was painting them.

Day 1:

 

The Shining (1980)

I'm a huge Stephen King fan and although he's not a fan of the film, it's still a classic.

Day 2:

 

Hocus Pocus (1993)

My favourite Halloween film since I was a kid. It's one of my traditions to watch this every year at Halloween.

Day 3:

 

Scream (1996)

One of my first ever horror films when I was 13.

This was also the first ever portrait I painted on my nail and I was so happy with how it turned out, it became a bit of a theme...

Day 4:

 

Dracula (1931)

Love an old black and white classic and no one does Dracula like Bela Lugosi.

Day 5:

 

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The prosthetic makeup in this film is so iconic. It still gives me nightmares.

Day 6:

 

Carrie (1976)

Another Stephen King. This was actually the first King book I read and the film holds up really well in comparison.

Day 7:

 

The Exorcist (1973)

Another prosthetic make-up classic which still holds up as absolutely terrifying.

By this point I started to get a bit behind because of work so the next few are all painted on the one hand.

Day 8:

 

Beetlejuice (1988)

You can't go wrong with a Tim Burton classic at Halloween! And what a soundtrack too! My favourite quote has to be "Live people ignore the strange and unusual. I myself am strange and unusual."

Day 9:

 

The Birds (1963)

This was actually my first time watching this film. Hitchcock really knows how to make an intense thriller.

Day 10:

 

Candyman (1992)

This one definitely still scares me the most, yet it's really quite beautiful. Just don't say his name 5 times.

Day 11:

 

The Addams Family (1991)

Morticia and Gomez are life goals for sure; "When we're together darling, every night is Halloween." Also super pleased with how Uncle Fester turned out. Took about an hour to get the shading just right on that one.

Day 12:

 

Psycho (1960)

The most classic of the Hitchcock's.

Day 13:

 

Friday the 13th (1980)

Can't beat a good old classic slasher film. The variety of deaths in this are so creative. Amazing prosthetic makeup work by my idol Tom Savini.

Day 14 and 15:

 

The Blair Witch Project (1999) and The Witches (1990)

Decided to get two witchy films on the one hand for these.

I saw Blair Witch Project at the cinema back in the day, was a lot more terrifying then. The Witches was another childhood classic for me.

Also my nails had started breaking off at work by this point so they're looking a bit worse for wear. Didn't stop me continuing on with the challenge though, just gave me less painting space.

Day 16:

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

A spoof of my favourite film of all time, Dawn of the Dead (1978). It's definitely become a British classic choc full of awesome references. (You may also notice I cheated a tiny bit and left the blood splatter on one of my nails from the Friday the 13th set.)

Day 17 and 18:

Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Another two classic black and white horror films. Such a beautiful and sad story. I also have these two tattood on my arm because I love their iconic makeup.

Day 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23:

 

The Omen (1976), Jaws (1975), Saw (2004), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Suspiria (1977)

Another mega catch up after a week of late shifts. Suspiria's definitely my favourite film of the bunch. It has stunning cinematography and a super creepy soundtrack.

Unfortunately I didn't manage to complete the challenge as it got a bit much for me with my work schedule. I did manage to do my final hand however:

Day 31:

 

Halloween (1978)

Had to do Halloween on Halloween. Jamie Lee Curtis is one of my favourite actresses and she took the title from her mother as scream queen after this classic. Love a horror film with a strong female lead. 💪🏻

I also finally got the Halloween tattoo I've been wanting for a couple of years now! Done by the fabulous Rhiannon at True Tattoo London.

 

And here's a pic of my Halloween makeup:

 

Just got this awesome Ariel wig so I decided to go with a skeleton mermaid.

Might only be April now but I'm looking forward to Halloween again already! 🎃👻

Friday the 13th Flash

 

My annual tattoo nails for the London Tattoo Convention.

Decided to paint Friday the 13th flash tattoo nails this time. Including my Jason mask which is one of the many Friday the 13th tattoos I have.

Totes TOTS!

 

Totes TotS!

After I returned to hmv we began the annual Top of the Shops competition to be the best store in the company. I got into the spirit by painting our store motto on my nails. The 177 is our store number.

Unfortunately we didn't win but we worked our arses off and were runners up. 🎉

We also had a few dress up days for our 'Decades' promotion. These are my costumes:

 

Gryffindor student and Lumpy Space Princess.

This is also my 150th blog!! 🎉🎉🎉