Geometric Negative Space Nail Art

Hey guys,

Today, I have some nail art that was inspired by a picture I saw on instagram (unfortunately I can't find the image). I decided to use some holographic polishes as it was sunny (for once) in England and I wanted to see the full effect of the holos. Get ready for lots of pictures of these beautiful polishes.

I used striping tape to map out where my lines would be. I then filled in each space using a detail brush/the brush in the polish bottle. I think I would have liked the negative space to be slightly wider but I still like the effect that it has. 

Colours I used are:

A England - Sleeping Palace

Lilypad Lacquer - Tanzanite Twinkle

Ciaté - Sugar Plum

I cannot get over how amazing these polishes look in the sun, they catch the light so perfectly and really show the spectrum of colours in the holo. What are your favourite holo polishes?

Love Emily x

Birthday Nails!

(I'm just going to pretend like I haven't been away for over a month, okay? Okay.) 

Hey guys,

As many of you won't know, it was my birthday on Tuesday (1st July) and so of course, I had to paint my nails for the occasion. This was the first time in a long time that I had sat down and done some proper nail art (aside from dotting and striping) and so I'm not really pleased with how these nails turned out. 

The nails were inspired by this blog post I saw ages ago and had saved in a my favourites as I knew I wanted to use the design at some point.

I used the ring finger design from Heather's nails as my main design. I began by painting my thumb and little finger in  solid pale/bright blue.The rest of my nails received a glittery base. I then used a detail brush to draw on the balloons and outline them, adding a 'string' to each. I finished everything off with a coat of my glitter topper and a coat of shiny top coat.

Here is a close up shot of my artwork nails:

The colours used are:

(Base) Rimmel 60 Seconds - Too Cool To Tango

(Base) Essence - Space Queen

(Balloons) OPI Brazil Collection - Kiss Me I'm Brazilian, Amazon...Amazoff, Live. Love. Carnival, I Just Can't Cope-acabana

Who else had a birthday this week? I'd love to see some more birthday nail art so leave links in the comments and I'll check them out!

Love Emily x

Apologies....and Vintage Spring Florals

Hey guys,

I'd like to start by saying how sorry I am that I haven't blogged since the start of last month *hangs head in shame*.

As some of you may know, I'm currently studying at university, I'm training to be a primary school teacher and so my course is one of the most intense courses you could pick. I had 3 assignments to do last month and I have another 2 to do that I have to hand in in 4 weeks. So I'll be a little MIA for this month as well...I am honestly going to try and update you guys a little more though (you can go follow me on my social sites for even more updated up to date info ;)).

Anyway, on to the nails....

I did these nails a couple of weeks ago and they lasted me for at least a week before they started chipping, I took them off and I haven't painted my nails since. That should be an indication of how busy I have been!

I began doing the roses first because I think they are quite spring like and then I wanted to add something else to the rest of my nails. I stumbled across this blogpost and decided that polka dots were the way to go.

They turned out like a vintage rose design - I love them! Someone said to me that they resemble Cath Kidston and I kind of agree with them.

That's all for this week guys, I am going to try and back to a regular blogging schedule. Leave a comment below telling me which day you would like me to upload and I will try my absolute hardest to have a post for you.

Love Emily x

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

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

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.