These cuticles are off for an early retirement...

Hi Nail-enthusiasts!!

I have been hearing through the internet and real-life grapevine that some people have been looking forward to my next post and have been wanting to know when I will be back on le blog. I'm not even sure if anyone will care either way (I'm not arrogant enough to think that anyone does!!) but thought it best to explain myself innit!!

Now, the truth is that there won't be another blog post after this (unless I completely regret it and start posting again!) as I got a bit disenchanted with the whole blogging arena.

It was very enjoyable at first but then as time goes on I realised there was so much blog politics going on and I found that I was having to do blog posts for the sake of it or even because I felt guilty that someone had tagged me in another post. That shouldn't be the motivation for blogging, folks!! I am still, however, enjoying reading all your posts and nail news so I guess I am still involved in that way :)

But fear not!! If you are desperately seeking some nail-based nourishment (i.e. photos of the nails I do) of the Wig Wam variety (who am I kidding it might be no one!!!) you can head over to my personal Instagram where I still like posting piccies of ma nailzzz. You might even get a glimpse of my face!!! Shock horror!!!

I have really appreciated all your follows and comments, and hope that visitors to this blog (old and new!) find at least one post/photo/word/letter/punctuation mark in this humble blog useful!!

Lots of love Nail-fans!

See you on Instagrammies!

Wig Wam xx

Important announcement!! // Animal carnival

Heeeeeey Everyone!!

I realise there has been a super huge gap between the last post and this one. Don't worry, I'm still alive and have been painting my little nails off every few days. I have just been a bit busy at work (super unsociable hours) and haven't checked blogger for a long tiiime.

Also, Figgy Lane and I have been concocting a brand new never seen before event!!! Now I don't want to call it a "challenge" per se, as I think calling it a challenge makes it sound like a task. Figgy Lane and I are all about the fun times and want this to be a little crazy celebration of animals and make up and creativity. And thus was born: The Animal Carnival!!!!

The carnival will take place every week for 5 weeks starting towards the end of September (the exact week will be posted at a later date once we have spread the good carnival word!!) The idea is that you have a week in which to create and submit your look, because I know that a lot of us find it difficult to find the time to keep to strict challenge schedules right?! No one should feel guilty for not posting in time should they!! 

There aren't too many rules to the carnival as Figgy Lane and I are pretty easy going relaxed peoples BUT!

1. No face paints.

2. Show us any sources you get your inspiration from. The wackier the better.

3. Umm.. yeah that's all the rules. Told you we're easy going.

Some of you have already expressed your interest in taking part in a bit of an off-the-wall challenge, but if you would like to be included on the inlinkz and wanna take part, re post the poster above and link back to this page so people know what to do!

Send me an email on email.wigwam@gmail.com if you would like to take part!!! I am so excited to see what everyone comes up with!!!! I await your e-mails with super duper charged up excitement!!!

Wig Wam xx

Penguin Makeup Challenge // White and Colour

Heeeey Everyone!

This is a bit later than I was supposed to do it, but I finally got round to it last night. My sister Figgy offered herself as an eye model for this one. Czech it out:

I created this look using an LA Colors white eyeliner, 3 colours from my £2 (yes that's right. £2 from Portobello Market!!) Saffron 50 colour eyeshadow palette, and sugar stars from Morrisons usually used for cake making.....

Again apologies for lateness but I did it in the end!

In other news, Figgy and I are contemplating a new sort of makeup challenge. When we have decided what direction we want to go, we will make more of a concrete announcement. If you enjoy makeup challenges, are currently loving this one or have never tried one and wanna get involved, please contact moi! If you're up for a challenge that's a bit crazzzyyyy and off-the-wall then I think you would love it. Keep those beautiful eyes peeled, yo!

Wig Wam (and Figgy) xx

Diagonal cheetahs tape mani // Budge's nails

Heeey Everyone!

As I am house sitting this week with free reign of a lovely big house, I thought I would invite my good friend Budge over. She has been asking me to do her nails for aaaages but one of us is always busy when the other is free. She let me do whatever I wanted, and as I was so in love with my trianguleopard nails I decided to do a little variation of that on to Budge's nailies. It's lucky she has similar nails (but in smaller form!) than me so it was kinda easy to paint them.

Whilst I painted away, we sat listening to five million rewinds which perfectly suited the super hot sunny day we had in Londres.

Check out what they ended up looking like:

This is what I look like when I'm hard at work drinking gin and tonics (with added cucumber) and painting naiiiilz!

Apparently as soon as I said goodbye to Budge and she waited for her train at the platform, she had a lovely comment from a bystander. Result!!!

So there you have it. Budge has finally made it to my blog. Hoorah!

Wig Wam xx

Sowee the Penguin Makeup Challenge will be delayed somewhat...

Heeeey Everyone!

This week I will be house sitting and as such will be nowhere near any ridic makeupish things to take part in the PMC on time. Hopefully Kaki will have the InLinkz open long enough for me to get in on the action later on...? But who knows. Maybe my male friend will have some fun stuff knocking about his house that I can stick on my face!

For now, here are some nails I wore last week:

I hope everyone is making the most of their summer times!!

Wig Wam xx

Patriotic nails // Olympic stylee

Heeey Everyone!!

Super quick post today. As you may already know, I'm working at the Olympic Village (I am too excited by it can you tell?!) and have been seeing loads of female athletes with their flags painted on their nails. Upon enquiring, I found out that there is a dedicated beauty salon for athletes in the village, and they get it all done for free. Amazing!

Not to be outdone, I painted on a little union jack on my singular nail (it was too hard to do on any more haha). I was at Team GB HQ the other day and met loooads of athletes I had been watching on tv. Bizarre!

Not amazing photos, and the union jack is a bit shaky but not too bad for my first ever go. These are my two most prized pins I've received from athletes and delegations. The Olympic Village one was given out by the London Mayor Boris Johnson, and I gotgiven the Team GB badge by one of the team's doctors/ Result!

Right, I must dash off to workies now. Happy Olympicising!!

Wig Wam xx

Penguin Makeup Challenge // Black and Colour

Heeey Everyone!!

Hectic times at the Olympic Village this week. Have managed to make friends with lots of athletes and that I know of, am currently mates with the Mexican football team and the Japanese women's football team. The others I have no idea about... I think it's rude to start asking them about their sport?!

Aaanyway. Today is the second leg of the Penguin Makeup Challenge, details of which can be found on this post. It is black and colour day!!! I got all colourful and started drawing on lots of streaks of different hues. I started thinking a bit outside the box and marry my 2 loves of eye makeup and nails by putting striping tape on my eyes. Did NOT work unfortunately. I reckon the tapes are duds as they weren't sticky at all boooo. I'm a bit annoyed that the photos didn't come out as good this time. I'm home alone so have no Figgy to take my photos grr. And here's what I came up with:

I used an eyeshadow palette from Beauty Base (super cheapos brand) and a Saffron eyeshadow palette with about 50 colours in it for £2 from the lovely Portobello Road Market.

This one's not as creative as the last one, as I honestly forgot that the challenge was on today. I am absolutely shattered from working 6 consecutive days waking up at 4am to get to the Olympic Village for a 6am shift. Phewf! Today is my day off though yeyyyy!

Happy penguin challenging! 

Wig Wam xx

Penguin Makeup Challenge // Day One, babies!!

Heeeeey Everyone!


Today is the 1st of August (well, it is here in London at least) which can only mean one thing....... DAY ONE OF THE PENGUIN MAKEUP CHALLENGE!!


I may have mentioned once or twice that I was excited about this one, so it gives me great pleasure to show you what I did with the instructions for today.


Day One // Black and White

In this photo you can see that the flower petals I attached with eyelash glue are white and a bit greeny pinky too. I hope this will be overlooked with regards to the challenge rules!!! It is all otherwise black and white innit! 


Eyebrows: Don't laugh but I made them super black and filled them in with a slanted brush and black eyeshadow for a striking, defined look. I used Natural Collection's black eyeshadow. Super cheap. Does the job.


Eyes and stripe: Max Factor Masterpiece liquid eyeliner // Max Factor False Lash Effect Fusion


Petals: pinched from a dried up flower on the kitchen table.


Origami crane: made by yours truly with a microscope. Jokinnnggg! But yes I did make it. 


Check out what the other ladies (I think we are all ladies? Or are there some men doing this challenge too?) have come up with for this challenge below!

Wig Wam xx

Announcing the impending Penguin Makeup Challenge!!!!

Heeeey Everyone!!!

Ever since Alexis from xoxoalexisleigh, Kaki from Glitterobsession and Mini from Makeup Withdrawal first suggested this brand new never seen before (I think?!) makeup challenge to end all challenges, I was SO excited!!!!! One of my favourite past times is playing around with all the makeup I own and creating wacky looks I would probably neeeever dare to wear outside the house. There is just something so freeing about going nuts with an eyeliner and giving a sheet about what others think.

So this challenge is an opportunity to get a bit bonkers with colours and shapes and something actually non nail related. I don't know about you, but constantly changing my nails to make them beautiful can be quite time consuming when you're waiting for eeevery single little layer to dry. Before you know it you've watched 3 episodes of Friends straight whilst doing your nails and they're STILL squidgy and wet. Who knows, maybe I am just slow?!! Aaanyways, with a makeup challenge you thankfully don't have to wait ages to progress to a different element of the makeup process, and it wipes off easy. Brilliant!!

Without further ado, here are the challenge rules as originally set out in Alexis' post.

• This is a makeup challenge only, not nails, just makeup! :)
• You do not have to put your entire face on the internet! Obviously many people aren't comfortable with putting a picture of their entire face on the internet for all to see and I'm telling you, you don't have to! As long as you follow the theme/day color rules (ie. black and white) you can photograph any single part of your face for this challenge! Black & Color makeup for lips, go for it! Black & White makeup for ears, weird but again, it qualifies! However if you're brave enough to put your entire face on the internet we'd love to see what you come up with as well!
• This is a three week challenge. As you can see there are three themes on the poster (black and white, black and colors, and white and color). Each seperate theme will be posted on Wednesday exactly one week apart.
• Kaki will be emailing out the inlinkz code the day before the challenge starts (July 31st she'll be sending it out). Inlinkz is so easy to use but if you haven't worked with it before Kaki will provide easy directions in the email with the code. Because we are emailing out the code, if you want to participate please email either one of us so we can put you on the list to email on the 31st.
• You don't have to be a professional, heck you don't even have to be 'good'! This challenge's sole purpose is to have fun! Don't be self conscious because I for example am not amazing at makeup; but, practicing does help you get better so if not for fun, do this to gain some makeup practice!

If you wanna get involved, get in touch with the 3 masters of ceremonies as linked in the first paragraph so that you can be sent the inlinkz code thing. All you have to do is write up a post about the challenge and also of course mention them in the post so that others can refer back to the info as they first set it out! 

The first day of the challenge is TOMORROW babies! So get cracking on some ideas! I am pretty busy with this Olympics job thing so I might even have to do a later post than that but fear not. I am toootally on board! Yeaaaa!!!

I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!!

Wig Wam xx

Conceding to Olympic fever!! // leopard spots and humbugs

Heeeey Everyone! 


So  a lot has happened this week. I bagged myself a job at the Olympics!!!! I will admit now that I wasn't really looking forward to it coming to London at all and I didn't even bother to apply for tickets. But I got a last minute job at the Olympic Village and suddenly started loving it! Even just hanging around near the Olympic Park in the huge Westfield shopping centre with my mum, you could defos feel the buzz. On Friday I watched the ceremony in a pub with a big group of friends from school and it really was like the best New Year's ever! People  clapping at the screen and everything! Did you lot do anything fun??


Here are my current nails. No fun Wig Wam editing as photobucket is NOT cooperating with moi today. Also I think I have an obsession with leopard spots... can you tell??

 Awkward pose, yes. But in the background is an opening ceremony party at the Tower of London that neither my friend or me (err grammar fanatics, apologies) were invited to. We spent a good 15 mins bitching about all the nice dresses the women were dressed in. Just cos we were jealous...!

This is my little lanyard that keeps my Olympic accreditation around my neck. It's like an Olympic passport and gains me access to the Olympic Village. How snazzy am I!! The badges in this pic are the hot thing to trade in the village. The only way you get them is if athletes or their coaches casually hand you one. You do NOT ask!!! So it's aaaall about the prestige. Yesterday was my first day and I already have 2! One from Germany and one from Luxembourg. Yeaaaawww!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics as much as I am!!!

Wig Wam xx

Trianguleopard

Heeey Everyone!

The sun is ACTUALLY shining here in London and the first hectic-ness of the Olympics is taking hold. The games haven't started yet and already people are waiting 2 hours to get on the tube..... NOT looking forward to the crowds. Seriously.

Anyhooo, these nails are some of my favourites I've done in recent times. I actually decided to get a bit more technical and spend more time doing my nails as lack of inspiration has attacked me recently. Buuut I really like how these turned out! I saw a similar design here from Boom Nails and fell in love.

I hope everybody is having a briiiilliant start to the week. I'm off to the park in the sunshine to squidge my baby cousins.

Wig Wam xx

PS Don't spend too long looking at my cuticles... They are suffering from severe neglect.

Giraffe nails // Figgy Lane

Heeey Everyone!

I'm feeling a little bit under the weather and have been accompanied on the sofa by my duvet, so a bit of a short post for you lot today.

I want to share some nails that my sister, Figgy, from Figgy Lane did on my own nails for a competition featured on Fingerpainted. They were sooooo cute and original that I knew you guys would like them too.  Have a looksie:

For the full post click here.

I hope everyone is feeling well. That's all for now, nail-lovers!!

Wig Wam xx

Nails Inc, Queensgate Terrace // Wig Wam back from Latitude

Heeeeeeeyyy!

I'm back after a looovely long weekend at Latitude Festival! I got to stay in a private area where I got treated like a celeb. Not even joking. We were cooked breakfast in the morning and dinner in the evening to order. And there was a group of people just a bit younger than me at the house, and it took me aages to realise that they had been hired there to serve us drinks and respond to our demands....!!!!! So me and mes amis took it upon us to order pints, yes pints, of wine. I mean, it would have been rude to say no and it made it less boring for the people working there... right??

I really enjoyed the festival as it was soo laid back and actually quite family-oriented. Here are a couple of bands that I enjoyed watching the most:

Dingus Khan // A hilarious band with three drummers, three bassists and an electric ukulele. Pure attitude and comedy!!

I Break Horses // A Swedish group with loads of synth, progressive sounds and a whole load or reverbed vocals. Lovely!

Whilst it was a good weekend for music, it was a shocking one for nails. They pretty much got destroyed and ripped to bits over the 5 days so one of the first things I did when I got home was to re-paint! I wanted something quick, opaque and a one-coater so plumped for a polish I haven't shown you yet.

Not the most amazing piccies ever (cuticles in a bit of a state and visible nail lines, eek!) but I did them in a rush as I had to go out straight after coming back! It's a really pretty colour and the bar man last night said he liked them. I will take that as an excellent sign.

Thanks for reading, yo!

Wig Wam xx

I'm not sure what to call these nails?!

Heeeey Everyone!!

Firstly I have to share some good news that I received yesterday. My friend got me a ticket to Latitude Festival and I am gonna be staying in the campsites with all the artists and their families. Pretty showbiz hey? So I'm super super excited to be going! It means I will be away from Thursday to Monday and possibly no posts until then... unless I squeeze some scheduled posts in if I have time :)

I had seen a few designs like these floating around on the internet and thought I would give it a go. They were actually kinda tricky to get perfect on both hands (espesh the right one. My sister made my middle finger look too fat!!) Does this style of nail have a name??  I saw a design on Lana del Rey's nails (who will incidentally be performing at Latitude :-) which is a smigeon similar (don't laugh!!) but obviously I don't have her claws... I think hers are a bit TOO long and pointy. So not exactly inspired by hers but there's a small, er, kinda, similarity.... ISH!! haha. Let's call it a Wig Wam toned down interpretation.......!

Anyway, I love my nails so much I took a million piccies:

Something about these nails made me think of the 1920s so I matched them up against a flapper style beaded clutch bag 

Eek you can almost see the yellowness of my nails... I blame Essie for that :-s

My nails got very shy at the end of the photo shoot.... "Don't look at me!!! I'm so shy!!" to quote old sketch show Titty Bang Bang (NOT rude I promise!)

On another note, does anyone have any tips on ways to get rid of yellowness on nails? An Essie polish made my nails all yellow and witchy looking so on the above mani I had to put a few coats of a nude colour before applying the red petal/leaf-type things.

Thanks for viewing and I hope all you nail-lovers are having a good start to the week!

Wig Wam xx

Dotty matte nails

Heeeey Everyone!!

Today's nails are pretty simple and are a variation of "interview" nails. AKA nudey nails so as not to offend the interviewers. Apparently it did offend them as I was "pipped to the post" by another candidate and didn't get the job. After 45 mins of solid crying and a trip to Yo Sushi (my Dad's way of consoling moi) I was over it. So instead of having a reminder of how I lost out on the job on my nails, I decided to jazz them up. I will say now that I have been feeling particularly uninspired and unmotivated to do anything new on my nails for a while... I also lost ALL my dotting tools recently (cue the bobby pin) and have no money (NO job innit) to buy some cool striper brushes. I have no clue whether I am good at nail art, but being sans brushes I feel like I will never know...

Enough rant.

More nails!

Actually wait, maybe more rant. I have a question for you nail-lovers: does anyone else find that China Glaze Matte Magic shrinks your nail colour? I used it in the above photos before going to sleep and upon waking I found that the colour had shrunk in from the tips and made the colour sort of lift up and off the nail around the cuticles. Is this a common problem? Or maybe I put too much on??? 

Thanks for viewing!! And have a lovely week ahead! I will be back soon......

Wig Wam xx

PS I am suuper excited about the nails I literally just changed to. Excited to write the post yeyy!!