Birthday rollercoaster

I created these for my birthday at the end of July last year. It also marked a one year anniversary of my nail art creations. I've been painting nail art on a (almost) weekly basis since soon after my birthday in 2011 and I'm very happy with all the creations I have painted so far. Looking forward to another year of it. Lets hope I don't run out of ideas any time soon!
Anyway for these nails I painted a rollercoaster with a fast pass ticket on one hand because I went to Thorpe park on my birthday with my brother and my friend Dave. Had an awesome time and it wasn't very busy so we managed to get on all the rides we wanted to with hardly any queing.
The other hand is a Leo symbol - my star sign, a bunch of balloons, a glittery present, a party popper and confetti and a birthday cake.

Graduation

 

Graduated my Foundation course in Hair and Make-up for Film and TV in July. Of course I had to paint my nails in preparation. The colours are the same ones which were on our robes. We hadn't actually seen the robes in advance so I had to guess the correct pink and purple but I got them pretty much spot on. I also painted a little scroll and mortar hat on one thumb and the logo for the University of the Arts on my other thumb.

Me in my graduation robes. Am very happy to have finally graduated from university doing something I really enjoy.

However it's not over yet, will hopefully be graduating again this July with a full BA degree if all goes well...

 

Epic!

Went to see Faith No More at Brixton academy last July and they have just the right amount of letters for my nails so thought why not write it on. Was the third time I've seen them now and they're still awesome as ever. Love watching Mike Patton work his magic on that stage. Can't wait to see them again!

Day of the Dead

Created July 2012.
Was planning on painting sugar skull nail art for ages when I finally created these. Wanted to make each one different with lots of fun bright colours. The detail on the teeth took the longest. Enjoyed deciding on all the colours and patterns though.

That week my friends and I went to London Film and Comic Convention and got this awesome pic with some of the Game of Thrones cast. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic with my favourite, Iain Glen who plays Ser Jorah Mormont because I get way too nervous around celebs but I got to see him from afar like a creepy stalker.

Bonne année!

Went to the beautiful city of Paris for New Years this year. Not only that, it was for my best friend's mum's 60th birthday which was on New Years day. Had a fabulous time with plenty of yummy food and amazing sites. The best part was the fact it was a couch tour which meant we could sit back and relax while being driven around to see all the sites.

So these are the nails I painted before we left. I decided to paint things that immediately make you think of Paris when you see them. Starting with the Eiffel tower on my left hand. I decorated it with fireworks and glitter for a new year theme. Then the Moulin Rouge windmill, the Sacre Coeur at the Montmartre, the Chat Noir (my favourite of the bunch) and a Chanel necklace (which came out a little smudged as the detail was a bit too small). Then on my right hand the French flag, the Louvre pyramid, the Arc du Triomphe, a croissant and an 'I love Paris' (I wanted this to look sparkly with my new Barry M glitter nail varnish but it came out looking like something you get in a tacky tourist shop, I still love it all the same).

It was a lovely sunny day when we went into the city on the first day. Unfortunately it rained New Years eve but we still had a fantastic time.
Happy new year and bonne année to all you lovely readers!
New years resolution this year is to update this blog more regularly so will try to keep on top of things. Final year of uni now though so no guarantees. Will try my best.
Happy reading!

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!

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...