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

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.

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!!

Gradual glitteriness

Heeeey Everyone!

Today's post is short and sweet. Nude but sparkly!

I used the gold glitter from the "Under the Mistletoe" collection from Colorclub that I luuurve so much, over a non-named nudey colour. I dabbed a bit of the glitter at the base of the nail and then spread it out in mini strokes with a brush!

Hope this post finds you well wherever you are! Thanks for viewing :)

Wig Wam xx

Nails Inc - Wardour Mews

Heeeey Everyone!

Recently I bought a little bargain Nails Inc set at TK Maxx that I just couldn't resist. Moi and Linzi are staunch fans of Nails Inc and bargains!!! 4 came in the sets and they all looked very sparkly and lovely in the box. This one is called Wardour Mews:

I did about 3 layers on these nails (I can't stand anything less than 2 coats innit!) and it turned out to be a slight holo polish (Is it a holo?? Does it count? I've never had one... but for these purposes I shall call it a holo!). It looked pretty cool but I actually think it turns out I'm not much of a sparkly holo girl. Looks stunning but it's just not very moi. Great for you girls (and maybe boys who may read this...?) that love a multi dimensional colour.

Whadya think, crew?

Wig Wam xxx

Kkcenterhk nail decals

Heeeey!!


It has been a while since my last post as these past couple of weeks I've been rather busy. I got a random job for 2 days as a Spanish interpreter for some I.T. meetings at a university and have been working in a baby clothes shop. All spells monies!! Yeaaaw! And you'll be pleased to know that I have been furiously applying to lots of nice jobs, which have resulted in a couple of interviews. Please keep those polished fingers crossed for me that I get some good news!!


I have a whole load of photos from new nail stuff I've used, so I shall be realeasing them in posts to come this week. 


Last week I tried out some nail decals from the Kkcentrehk that I bought after seeing some lovely ones on Sunny's nails. These are the ones I bought and this is what they looked like on my nails:

If you lot have ever put on fake tattoos when you were younger, you'll have no problem in putting these nails on. All you have to do is:

1. Peel away the top plastic layer

2. Cut out the design you want

3. Soak it in water for a few seconds

4. Pull the design off the paper (I found tweezers to be helpful in this!)

5. Place on the nail.

If the design isn't quite where you want it, you can add a little more water on to the design and move it around. You need to wait for it to dry before touching it again or adding a top coat.

While I think water nail decals are a great time saving idea, I really don't think they are very me. They look cool on other people but I don't think I pull them off very well and I ended up looking a bit tacky! Oh deaaar! Saying that, I still have two other designs to try out from kkcenterhk so they might work out better.

What do you guys think of them??

In other news, I have been busy making cakes with my sister, Figgy. Check out our efforts over here on her own blog. She has a lovely little fledgling crafts blog with her friend Lane so go and check them out for some cuteness, creativity, sparkle and crazy chatter!!

And please please tell me what has been happening in Blogland in my 2 week absence???

Wig Wam xx

China Glaze - Midtown Magic swatch

Heeeey Everyone!


After a recent trip to Sally's in Golders Green, I gazed longingly at all the expensive lovely OPI and China Glaze bottles. Row upon row of luxurious colour and not enough casholas in my purse for even one. I sighed and went to the cashier with my singular £1.69 acetone bottle and almost jumped at what I saw in the bargain box. Super cheapos China Glaze!! YES!!


So I managed to purchase a brilliantissimo bottle of China Glaze Midtown Magic. My Mum agreed to be my nails for this post so you lot can have a little look at the colours! It's a dark chocolatey brown as my Mum rightly put it, with a lot of goldy orange glitters inside. You could defos leave it after one coat as it's quite a thick potion this one! Buuuut I never feel like I've properly finished a mani without two coats! 


It was quite a tricky polish to photograph as the choclatey-ness is so strong and the glitters like to hide away a lot! I took a few photos in different lights (including, er, bathroom light) Take a look:

To those readers in the UK: check out the bargain box in your local Sally's for a super steal! 

To Mummy Wig Wam: Thanks for the use of your nails. Even if you little finger is wonky and likes to stray from the others...!

Hope that is useful to anyone thinking about buying this lovely dark brooding colour. I can't wait to actually put it ON my own nails hehehe!

That's all for now, Nail-Lovers!

Wig Wam xx

Hangover Nails - stripy stripes

Heeey Dearies!!


Today's nails are so named because it just so happens that these are the nails of the day and I have a stinking hangover (it is 6.30pm here in London... that's how bad it is!)

They're pretty much the same nails as I had in my last post below, with some added stripes. A great way to update a mani if you just can't be bothered to go to too much effort!!

It's the third time I've used the striping tape I bought from ebay all the way from Hong Kong via this seller. I tried using the tape to create clean lines but even after putting tonnes of top coat it still kinda peeled off after a few hours and ruined the mani! Annoying!! Lots of other bloggers have had similar reports so I reckon the best way to use the tape is for laying it down, painting over the top and then removing them to reveal the colour underneath. You can see a photo of the striping tapes in this post. What do you lot think about striping tape? Any strong opinions out there?


I've also been having fun playing around on Picasa thanks to Alexis from xoxoalexisleigh, which is why the photos look kinda cosmic!! Normally I don't tweak the colours so that you lot can get an accurate representation of the colours I use, but since a black can only really black I played with these ones!

I went to Hyde Park yesterday for a picnic gin and tonic sesh and watched the jubilee concert on big screens. I hate the monarchy and could not give a sheet about the queen, but there was a great atmosphere yesterday so in that way it was a nice day/evening out!!


Hope everyone has had a good week!!


Wig Wam xx

No 7 Me! Me! Me! - barbie style

Hey Everyone!! 

Last week my nails get super duper long so I decided to use my new No 7 polish to Barbie-fy them! Those of you in the UK I'm sure you know that the £5 Boots voucher is really handy when you want to buy a polish on a budget. I snapped this one up for a mere £2.50. As with the other No 7 polish I own, I found it to be slightly streaky and needed a good 2 or 3 coats to get a smooth colour. I added some hearts with a white nail art pen to make it extra girly and sickening haha!!

Thanks for le read!

Wig Wam xx

No 7 Gold Glitter Topcoat

Heeey Everyone!


I've been getting a bit glitter topcoat mental at the moment, so I just wanted to show you how the new limited edition No 7 glitter top coat in gold looks on nails.


The glitter is suspended quite sparsely, so unless you want a little mini coating of sparkles you might need to do a few layers, or simply squish it on top of the area you want it on. Take a look:

 I've also been getting up to a little bit of baking for a friend's housewarming:

It was a lovely day and the party followed me back to the train station with armfuls of wine and glasses in a wine carrier. Didn't realise that it's illegal to drink on public transport in London so shhhhhh don't tell anyone!!

Wig Wam xx

Watermelon nails

Heyy Readers!


My cousin is over here from Australia and asked if I would do a cute design on her nails. She came up with the idea of watermelons as she's just ended a study abroad year in Mexico, and she reckoned watermelons were Mexican enough to help with the separation anxiety she was feeling from leaving.

This is how you have to eat when your nail art is drying!! 

Careful maneuvers are necessary to avoid nail spoilage.   

Watermelons in their natural habitat with fellow fruit.

They were fairly easy to do. All you need is:


♥a red polish
♥a green polish (I used a striper)
♥a black polish with dotting tool or a nail art pen
♥top coat 


Start with a red base then use the green striper for the tips of the nails to form the skin of the watermelon. You can use a lighter green for some highlighting to make the skin look more realistic but I didn't have enough colours that blended well enough. Next you use the black polish/art pen to make the seeds. These were kinda tricky to make uniform but you get the hang of it in the end. Make a dot, then sweep slightly upwards. 


And voila! Watermelon nails!


As a side note, I would say that if you can, use a slightly more pinkish red as my Dad thought they were strawberries. NO they are not!! So for a more distinct watermelon look, I would go for a pinky red :)


Thanks for reading, Nail-Lovers!


Wig Wam xx

Essie: Tart deco!!!

Heeey Everyone!!


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!

Wig Wam xx

Easy peasy glitter gradient mani - Cutepolish stylee!

Heyyyy Nail-lovers!!


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 Terrace halfway 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.

Have you guys tried any of Cutepolish's designs??

Wig Wam xx