Video all nail artists NEED to watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW7VilLcy3Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

CHRISTMAS IS HERE

Hey guys,

The Christmas season is upon us, I have purchased fairy lights and Christmas presents and my list has been sent off to Santa. It's officially time to paint my nails for the festive season.

This first mani was a quick one that I did just before a night out - the picture is taken from my phone because I didn't have time to photograph properly before it got smudged and chipped :(. The blue used in this is W7 - Blue Mirror and I love it!

The next mani that I will show is my most recent one (it's still on my nails). One of friends urged me to create Rudolph nails - so I did.

Colours used are:

Rimmel Lasting Finish - Double Decker Red

Nails Inc - Cadogan Gate

Sinful Colours - Easy Going

Barry M - Mushroom

Revlon - Hot for Chocolate

Rio Stripers - black, white and red

And that's the beginning of my Christmassy nail art. Expect quite a few more posts this month because it's one of my favourites and there are so many designs that I already have in mind. See you soon!

Love Emily x

World War II - History Nails

Hey guys,

Sorry about the lack of posts! I have just been on school placement as part of my course at university and I have had so much work to do. I haven't had the chance to sit down an write a blog post so you missed one last week - to make up for it, you will get 2 today! 

So I created these nails as I was involved with 'History Day' at my placement school. Basically, each year dresses up and does activities from a different era of time. The year I was placed in did World War II. This is my take on WW2 nails - the children were impressed!

To quickly run through them - my thumb is Churchill's famous bowler hat, index is obviously the union jack, middle is a spitfire plane, ring is an Anderson shelter and baby is a shovel and fork (I did this to signify the rationing and Dig for Victory).

I'll be back soon! Let me know what you think of these nails. I haven't listed the colours as they can be mixed and matched to polishes that you already have - also, I used around 11 different polishes :')

Love Emily x

Tribal/Aztec/I don't even know

Hey guys,

This is my second post of the day! My first one contained nail art in the theme of No Shave November, check it out here if you missed it.

So as you may or may not know, I won a giveaway! It was hosted by Marisa from Polish Obsession and she is such a sweet lady. Check out her blog if you haven't already, she's awesome!

These are the polishes that I won:

Pomegranate Nail Lacquer - Helitrope, Raid the Arcade! and Showgirl

(The 3 middle polishes are the ones that I won)

Helitrope is a gorgeous bright pink, I would say it's neon and has a creme finish. Raid the Arcade! has the best polish name ever and it certainly packs a punch - this is a bright neon yellow, again with a creme finish. Showgirl is a blue glitter topper suspended in a clear base - it's amazing.

This is the note that Marisa sent with my polishes - evidence of how sweet she is! 

p.s. Don't you think her handwriting is awesome?!

For these nails, I painted a white base and used a thin detail brush to do the rest. I didn't have a plan, I just knew I wanted to use my new polishes and this is what I created - a kind of tribal, aztec-y print.

I would just like to say one last thank you to Marisa for holding such a great giveaway. I've never tried Pomegranate Nail Laquer before and it hasn't disappointed me thus far. Look out for some more nail art featuring these polishes in the future. For now, I hoped you liked these random nails, let me know by leaving a comment! 

And don't forget to check out Marisa's blog!

Love Emily x

Suits and a Mustache for No Shave November

Hey guys,

It's that time of year when boys show their support for testicular cancer (find out more here) and don't shave for a month. As I'm not a boy and I don't grow facial hair, I decided to paint my nails in the theme of No Shave November or Movember as it has been aptly named.

I fee handed the whole thing. I created pin stripes on my thumb and baby finger using stripers and I used a fine detail brush to do the suits. For the mustache I used a dotting tool and a thin brush.

Colours used are:

Sally Hansen Salon Manicure - Dorien Grey (base colour)

AVON Matte Nailwear - Grey Cement

Revlon - Black Lingerie

Rio Nail Art - Silver

I hope you liked these! I'm sorry for the lack of pictures on this post!

Love Emily x

Rimmel Space Dust - Total Eclipse

Hey guys,

Just look at this colour *drools*. This is one of the new Space Dust collection by Rimmel London and oh my, they've out done themselves this time! I already adore this collection. I picked up Total Eclipse which is a black base packed with green and turquoise glitter, in the bottle it sometimes looks like it has a purple/pink iridescence Unfortunately, I haven't found that this transfers onto the nail. 

The polish has a textured finish and I haven't put a topcoat on as I really love the effect (and I didn't want to ruin it!). This is 3 coats, one thin and two thicker coats to build colour but it was opaque in 2. The application was super easy - applied like a normal polish - and wasn't at all gloopy or thick.

And here's some indoor pictures, the above are all in sunlight.

Gah! I just can't get over this polish! I love it! I will be taking another trip to Boots to get myself the other colours!

Love Emily x

Gold and Green Triangles

Hey guys,

Finally managing to post this!

These are some nails that I did after purchasing a new Butter London polish (my first from this brand). I was so excited to try it out. I saw this post by Lucy's Stash when I was scrolling through her blog for inspiration! 

 I started with a gold base and then just painted triangles on my thumb and ring finger until I liked the effect. I switched between 4 different shades of green. To bring the design together, I painted small triangles at the base of my remaining nails in various greens.

The colours I used are:

AVON Nailwear Pro - Golden Vision

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint - Greenberry

Butter London  - Slapper (such a great name)

Rimmel London Lasting Finish - Block Your Green

AVON Nailwear Pro - Sea Breeze

I hope you liked this post! Leave a comment if you did! And look out for more nail art involving this Butter London polish because I am obsessed.

Love Emily x

Models Own Velvet Goth - Amethyst

Hey guys,

This is a swatch of the new Velvet Goth collection by Models Own. I have the limited edition bottle that has a furry/velvet lids. The colour I have here is Amethyst which is a really nice purple base with pink, silver and purple glitter suspended.

The polish dries to an almost matte finish and looks stunning on its own. Below is a swatch with a matte top coat and then with a normal, glossy finish top coat (which makes the colour POP).

Hope you liked this kind of post where I swatch a polish, I haven't had much time to do my nails properly this week. Also, sorry I haven't posted in a while, blogger has been playing up. Back to normal soon! 

Love Emily x

Breast Cancer Awareness

Hey guys,

These are the nails that I have done in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and so it's only right that I wear pink on my nails. You can find out more about Breast Cancer Awareness here.

I've had so many compliments for these nails! I can't tell you the amount of cashiers and old people that have said "Oooh, they look lovely, did you do themself?" hahaha. They're also a firm favourite with my new university friends!

I based my thumb and ring finger design on this One Nail To Rule Them All tutorial/infamous manicure. I wanted to use this design in the manicure but decided not to do this for all of my nails. I decided to add some sparkle and cover my index finger in glitter, I painted the Breast Cancer ribbon on my middle finger and did a cute polka dot design for my little finger.

The colours used are:

(As a base for my thumb and ring) Models Own Velvet Goth - Amethyst

Barry M Nail Paint - Shocking Pink, Strawberry Ice Cream

Barry M Nail Paint Gelly Hi-Shine - Grapefruit

AVON Nailwear Pro - Pink Radiance

I hope you like them! Don't forget to wear it pink this month!

Love Emily x

p.s. I have some exciting things planned for my blog so stay tuned!

Negative Space

Hey guys,

This is my first attempt at a negative space manicure and to be honest, I think it turned out pretty well. I set myself an hour aside to do this design but it was done in under 20 minutes!

I don't know the real technique for this type of nail art but here's how I did it anyway:

First, I painted my index, middle and ring fingers with a smooth glitter topper to make my natural nails look a bit nicer. I also felt it would add to the mani as I was only planning to use one other colour. Next I outlined the shapes for the negative space using a small, thin brush. I then filled in around the shapes with my chosen colour and hey presto! 

Quick nail art in minutes!

Colours used are:

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - Diamonds (05)

Rimmel London Lasting Finish - Black Cherries (193) [the camera really doesn't show the colour properly - it's more of a dark burgundy than a purple]

I'd love to know if any of you have attempted a negative space design and what shapes you decided you use. 

Love Emily x

Black Lace/Inspired By a Dress

Hey guys,

You know how I said I was planning a design for my nails and you would find out soon? Well this is them. 

On Friday night, I went to my Fresher's Ball at uni and it was sooooo good. They had some great live acts including Chipmunk and Radio 1 DJ Greg James (he was the best!). I had a really great night with my new friends and the after party was pretty good too :).

Back to the nails....

This 'lace' design is based on the dress that I got especially for the ball. I tried to re-create the top half of my dress using small brush strokes and tiny dots. 

Here's the dress and a close-up of the top.

And here's loads of pictures of my nails - left and right hand.

The colours used are:

Revlon - Black Lingerie

No 7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour - Golden Pearl (I think - the label has worn away)

And this is me (far left) with 2 other girls from my flat and 2 girls from the flat below. My feet have only just recovered from wearing heels from 7:30pm - 1:30am. I woke up with cramp in my foot the next day. I'm not joking.