I mentioned in my last post that I was feeling adventurous and wanted to try new things out nail-wise, so at this moment in time I have a bright neon-esque gradient going on. Thanks to the Nailasaurus' tutorial the gradient look has been popping up everywhere in Blogland, so I thought I would give it a go!!
I used Rimmel's Sky High and my new Essie Tart Deco as I love my brights!
You might have noticed that my photos look a little different. That's because I found fotoflexer to edit my photos which seems to work well but it takes a loong time to load or it fails. Hrrmmph! I've also decided to start putting watermarks on my photos as I have come across several of them on Pinterest so reckoned it was about time to put a little Wig Wamness onto them!
Has anyone got any recommendations for an online or free program I can use to edit photos? I use a MacBook! Any suggestions much appreciated!!
This is a super summery sunshiney post today. As I write this, the sun is blazing in London and I actually got an opportunity to sunbathe and got actual tanlines!!!! For those of you not in the UK I can tell you that it is quite a rare occurrence. This is probably the 2nd of 5 total summer days we will have in a year sob sob!
So I mentioned in my last post that I was super excited to have bought my second Essie colour: Tart Deco. And how right I was to be excited because this colour really delivers. I would say though that the application is a bit hit and miss as some nails came out a bit streaky so I had to use 3 coats to make them perfecto!
On my skin the colour is a pastel bordering on a neon and I truly love it. It is quite a hard colour to capture on photos as it seems to come up quite orange when it's actually a bit more coral-esque. So I decided to take lots of photos in different environments so you can get the gist of the colour.
That last photo is a sneaky one of my new tunnels that I bought yesterday in Brighton when I went to visit my sister. Nice and blingy! What do you guys think??
I've been finding some great new nail blogs recently and feeling more inspired than usual, so thanks everyone for the great posts! I reckon I might attempt a nail gradient with this colour thanks to the Nailasaurus' super easy tutorial. So watch this space!
Before I start this post, I will interrupt myself because I am a bit too excited about my first encounter with the Essie counter at the massive Boots on Oxford Street (in London). I almost wanted to take a photo of it and then realised I would look a bit weird slash suspicious but I can promise you I saw it with my own eyes cos I bought the Tart Deco colour that I've been loving in some of you bloggers' posts. But that's not all my dear friends... I had a lovely £5 voucher for No 7 so bought the limited edition gold glitter topcoat too. Once I have got bored of my current mani and try these out I will obviously post some photitos of designs with hte polishes.
Now I will shut up about that and show you what I actually wanted this post to be about.
For those of you who haven't watched Cutepolish's incredible videos on youtube, you have to check them out here. She offers "easy and cute nail art" which is certainly true! The designs look great and the majority of them are quite simple, only requiring a few colours and a dotting tool which she shows you how to make if you haven't got them already. I have to admit that some are pretty challenging and require a suuuuuuper steady hand but that all comes with practice practice practice (as my Dad repeated to me a million times when I was frustrated with drum kit practice).
I've seen gradient manis all over the shop, appearing in tonnes and tonnes of you lovely bloggers' posts and I suddenly thought: I feel brave enough to do one!! All that sponge business seemed a bit faffy so I found a brilliant video tutorial from Cutepolish that actually looked do-able (that is a word right...?) Check it out below:
The brilliant thing about this mani is that glitter covers all the sins of misplaced brush strokes and instead makes it look super amazing and tres chic baby!
I chose to use blues and used:
No 7 Minty Fresh as it is a thin layerable formula for the base coat
Nails Inc Queensgate Terracehalfway up and dabbing on to the nail, then when that had dried I dabbed it on the end to make it solid colour
Miss Sporty Sparkle Touch for the forgiving glitter over the top
CY Stamp It! in Star For a little star on each nail that you can just about see on the photos
And this is how they came out:
I liked the overall look but it's not something I would usually go for. Maybe if I tried a more striking colour with some neons it would be a bit edgier and bolder (just how I like it!!) and a bit more me.
About 3 months ago I opened the new look edition of Company magazine and almost threw up when I saw all the pastel colours dominating the pages. I seriously thought "WHO would wear colours like that?!"
But since then I have had to eat some humble pie and have realised that pastels look GREAT on nails. That, or the fashion industry has infiltrated my brain godammit!! Pretty much after the purchase of my lovely candymintapple Essie I have luuurved pastels on nails. Especially since it brings out your tan, ohh yeahhh!
Colours used: Model's Own Lilac Dream, Nails Inc Wellington Square, Essie Candy Mint Apple
So it seems my blog has become monthly!! I think it's mainly cos I love my manis and let them last for ages (along with a little help from Seche Vite's staying powers) so hardly ever change my nail varnish around.
I recently saw a luuurvely colour onWhat I Heart Today in an instagram pic and fell in lust with it. A quick rummage around ebay and 2 day's worth of waiting for the postman to come and TA DA!! An amazing colour. I honestly can't think of the last time I have loved a colour so much. And the formula was incredible too.
Bit of a silly shot but I thought it looked good against my hair!!
