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.

A Quickie...And Washing Dishes Has Ruined My Life

Look at me - blogging again! 

To those of you who read my life update, you will know that I recently moved to uni. Moving to uni of course means no dishwasher, which in turn means I have to hand wash all my dishes. Now, washing dishes is not a problem, however it is a problem when you are profound nail painter like me and you would like your design to last for more than a day. To combat this problem, I am going to purchase some washing up gloves to save my nails. In the mean time though, it means another nail design and another post.

These nails were super quick as I didn't have a lot of time and I plan on doing a more extravagant design on Friday (you'll find out why soon). I literally painted them all and then thought "I want a bit of glitter". So I reached for a glitter topper and painted it on to cover half the nail.

The colours used, as you can see, are:

Barry M Nail Paint Gelly Hi-Shine - Guava

Sinful Colors - Nail Junkie

Expect to see another post either Friday or Saturday. Until then, have fun living your life and I'll get on with making something to eat for my dinner :').

Love Emily x

Purple Mix and Match

I couldn't decide what to do on my nails so I chose to just do a skittle/mix and match manicure. I used purple tones because it's my favourite colour of the moment. I added a matte top coat to the design to add a little more depth - and because I love the finish of a matte nail.

(The light makes it look as though my thumb nail is chipped - it's not)

For my thumb nail, I did a chevron design using the lightest colour first and working to the darkest. For my index, I just painted my nails and placed light purple diamonds down the centre. My middle finger was the easiest as I just did 2 coats of the darkest colour and added the Nails Inc glitter topper over it. My ring finger was done by painting it with the lightest colour (as I didn't want to use the dark colour too much) and I just used a small dotting tool to create a polka dot pattern. For my little finger, I painted it again in the lightest colour and used striping tape to create a striped design.

Colours used:

Barry M Nail Paint - Berry Ice Cream

Barry M Nail Paint Gelly Hi-Shine - Plum

Nails Inc - Elm Park Road

Rimmel 60 Seconds - Oh Boy You're So Fine

Leave a comment if you like them and feel free to follow :)

Love Emily x

Life Update

Grab a cuppa and biscuit, this could get long and ramble-y...

Last week, I moved to uni. I never even thought I would be able to go to uni and here I am, sat in a room that I now call my own. It's been a stressful first week but also a week that has taught me a little about myself. If you've been to uni you'll know that fresher's week is one of the craziest weeks of your life. I've met about a billion and one new people who are either freshers like me or are in their second or third year. I can't tell you the amount of names I have learnt and then forgotten again. I now live in a flat with 5 other girls whom I already call my friends after such a short period of time. 

I've learnt a lot about myself during this first week. I surprised myself at how confident I can be when thrown into a situation that calls for you to speak up and make friends. I'm surprised at how much I miss home already when I thought I would be fine. I'm surprised at how independent I've already become. I'm surprised that people actually notice me and take note of my name when usually I'm forgotten in the crowds. I'm not the loudest person in the world and moving to uni is tough, for anyone, not just for someone who is naturally a quiet person.

I moved into university accommodation which has meant I have met so many more people than if I had stayed at home - not that I could have stayed at home since I came to a uni over 3 hours away. My halls are not the best quality which kind of made it hard in the beginning, it doesn't feel like a home yet but I tried my best to make it look like a nice place to be in.

(my desk area)

While I'm here and was taking pictures, I thought I would let you know how I'm storing my polish whilst staying here. I got some PVC plastic boxes from IKEA and they are really good for storing nail varnish. They are the perfect height for all types of polish and have good compartments for organisation.

I'm already shocked at how much work we have been given. I'm studying a BEd in Primary Education, I was prepared for the workload but we have already been given an essay to write and I had to complete a presentation this morning which we had 2 days to prepare. 

Of course I've been out on the town. Freshers events are not something to be missed. I've loved socialising for the past 3 nights but the partying is taking its toll and I feel very tender right now. An early night was called for and I opted to stay in tonight but I have ended up writing this and watching youtube with a coffee (my drink of choice) and a packet of chocolate digestives by my side. A quiet night in, just not the early one I had planned.

So I hope you enjoyed my rambles of the past week's events and I'll keep you posted on my activities in the weeks to come. Sorry about the lack of nails this week but honestly, I've painted them once and it was just a solid colour manicure. Anyway, for now I need to sleep.

Speak to you soon!

Love Emily x

Autumn Owl

Hey guys,

I did these nails because I just bought a new Essie Polish (the berry colour I'm wearing) and really wanted to use it straight away. I thought it was a really good autumn colour and so decided to do an accent nail with an owl as I haven't had chance to any 'real' nail art all summer. Plus owls are super cute and I am yet to draw one on my nails.

The colours I used from l-r:

Rio Professional Nail Art Pens - black and white

Essie - Big Spender (totally IN LOVE with this colour)

Barry M Nail Paint - Mushroom

Ciaté Paint Pot - Pocket Money

Revlon - Gold Coin

AVON Nailwear Pro - Coral Beat

And that's a shot of my left hand. See you guys soon :) 

Summer Fun

Hey guys,

So I did these nails a while back (whilst it was still warm out). They are already on my tumblr but I didn't have a blog then. I really liked the way these turned out and so I though I would document them in a more detailed way. They were inspired this cutepolish design.

The colours I used were:

Rimmel Lasting Finish - Misty Jade, Tangy Tangerine

Barry M Nail Paint - Blueberry Ice Cream, Berry Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream

Rio Pro Nail Art Striper - white

Hope you liked them!

London

Hey guys,

I went to London recently. These are the nails that I did. My thumb nail was supposed to be Big Ben but I had limited resources and little time so that is what I managed to create...I'm hoping you can tell that my middle finger is the London Eye :')

Colours used are:

Barry M Nail Paint - Blueberry Ice Cream

Rimmel Lasting Colour - Double Decker Red

Sally Hansen - White On

I actually come from Manchester, England however have never had the opportunity to properly explore my capital city. So when my boyfriend and I both had a spare weekend, we thought “why not?!” and hopped on a train. I have to say it was one of the best weekends of my life. IT WAS TRULY AMAZING. This is one awesome (if I do say so myself) picture that I took.

We only went for two days and one night and in that small period of time, I managed to do so many things that I've wanted to do for a long time. We went on a tour bus ride around the whole London (a super-touristy thing to do but we were short for time and wanted to see as much as possible). We then had lunch in this really lovely restaurant called Black and Blue, just outside Waterloo Station.

We then went on a river boat tour along the Thames which was good apart from the open top, the wind spray from the river. Wind and my hair do not mix well! Then, of course, we had to go on the London Eye. Typically, after such a beautiful day, it started to rain so I couldn't get any good pictures but it was still a great thing to do. 

The next day we went to Harrods and bought loads of things we don't really need but at the time it was essential to get 5 bars of chocolate and a teddy bear. We also went to Madame Tussauds, which I have to say, may have been the highlight of my trip. IT WAS SO COOL. I took about a thousand pictures, all of them embarrassing in some way but totally worth it for the memories. 

My weekend in London ended with a tube ride to Waterloo and a train journey home. It's safe to say I would do it all again in a heartbeat. It's funny how some of the best trips of your life can be so short and in your home country. 

That's all for now. Bye!