NOTD: The Festive Mani

New Rings and Things

NOTD: The Floating Manicure DIY

The Cool Toned Mani

NOTD: The Evil Eye DIY

If my bank account were a bottomless pit of money, (or if I had any amount of skill) nail art would be my thing. Sadly the reality is that I'm a student with very little hand-eye coordination! However, summer break has caused me to whittle away rainy afternoons by attempting nail art designs, and I finally have one to show you that went well.

The Evil Eye has been all over my tumblr dashboard recently in various shapes and forms - remember that design that Alexa Chung wore? 

Get this nail design in four steps! 

1) Paint a semi-circle at the base of your nail. Wait for it to dry! 

2) Take a nail dotting tool, or cocktail stick, to paint a small light blue dot in the centre of the semi-circle.

3) Once this is dry, paint a small black dot in the centre of the blue dot, to create the pupil. 

4) Paint over with a top coat, and you're done!  

Let me know your thoughts on this design- do you spend money on manis, or do you DIY? 

NOTD: Exposed, Topshop

After a few weeks of bare nails, it was time to try out a new polish. Queue Exposed by Topshop. Ever since I saw Master Plan by Essie I've been wanting a pale, off white grey so I picked this one up on my last trip to Topshop because I have no will power in that shop when it comes to their nail polish stand. The shade is everything I wanted, although slightly paler than Master Plan- you probably know that I'm not all that into bright shades on my tips and this is so muted and pretty. Now here comes the kinda bad news. I know I'm usually safe with the Topshop formula but this polish was so streaky that I needed three coats. That's something that I usually reserve for a shade as pale as Ballet Slippers, but if you're willing to put the effort in the final result will be super smooth and shiny. I'm willing to overlook this little hiccup because I'll get lots of wear out of this little babe all throughout the year. 

I hope you all enjoyed yet another long weekend? I spent my weekend at work from a ridiculously early time on Saturday, before spending some time with friends, and revising in between. I can't wait until these exams are all done so I can just enjoy summer, although I'll undoubtedly be worrying about my results until August 14th comes around.

NOTD: Ballet Slippers, Essie

Rings- Topshop and River Island 

Ballet Slippers has just been added to ever-growing nail polish stash and I couldn't be happier. I'm sure you've heard all about this shade because there's constant hype around it, but it's the perfect combination of pastel, off-white goodness. It's pretty sheer, so you'll need three coats before you get a nice, opaque effect. But I kind of like that about it, because you can have a really subtle wash of pink, or build it up. 

Granted, you need a good dollop of top coat to protect this from chipping (I think I lasted 3 days tops), but you can't fault Essie on their colour selection. What's next on my list, I hear you ask? It's definitely Master Plan. After Suzie at Hello October blogged about this shade I have decided I need it. The perfect taupe-y, lilac grey? I'm sold. 

NOTD: Luxedo

Last week I visited the shops for a bit of a search through the sales, and only bought one thing that was actually in the sales. This Essie polish isn't it, but that doesn't matter because it's so pretty that I couldn't resist. Luxedo is a polish that I've heard lots of people rave about, and it's just as pretty in person. It's reminiscent of Chanel's Vendetta, (remember how much I went on about that one?) minus the little bit of shimmer it has. 

With two coats it comes out much more black than I thought it would, but when it catches the light it's a gorgeous plum colour. The two coats lasted about 3 or 4 days before I saw a chip. Pretty good to say that I couldn't be bothered with a top coat. The formula is lovely, and the brush is that perfect size- just big enough to cover the nail in two oh-so-easy swipes. 

Have you ever tried an Essie polish? (If not, why not?) 

NOTD: Beyond Cozy by Essie

Queue the festive nails. I spent the grand sum of £1.01 on Amazon a few weeks ago, which got me 5 different tools. I feel like it's still slightly early for the full on, bright red, christmassy glitter nails, so I went a tad subtle with lilac and silver. 

It took me a few attempts to get it right, but I'm pretty happy with me attempt at nail art. Essie's Beyond Cozy was used to create little blobs of silver, over two layers of Berry Ice Cream from Barry M. 

Stick around- the nails are set to get more and more festive in the run up to Christmas! 

Insta lately #2

I thought it was time that I gave you all a little catch up on what I've been doing lately, and what's been on the blog. Here are my instagram posts over the last month. 

01- Last saturday night was the last gig of the month, which meant Lewis Watson. If you've been reading my blog for a while I'm sure you will know how much I love this guy. It's the 2nd time I've seen him live- click here to see the post I wrote last time I saw him live. 

02. Lewis Watson merch with a Pug on it? Yep, I bought one!

03. Barney and Cassie, having cuddles in front of the Aga. 

04. Another subtle, smokey eye look going on. Click here to see the full post!

05. Back at Rock City, this time for Disclosure. Read my Music Monday post from way back, here.

06.  The German Christmas Market in Birmingham!

07. After watching Tanya Burr's Haul, I got inspired to re-visit Polyvore, and this happened. The full post is here!

08 + 09. Before and after: experimenting with some new nail art tools!

10. At work- I found a pear as small as my finger.

11. Gabrielle Aplin, live at Rock City. 

12. Barney again, looking all cutesy.

13.  Barney's first appearance on the internet! He's a little Yorkshire Terrier rescue puppy; the new addition to our family.

14. Reading an interview with Lorde.

15. Taking inspiration from Tumblr. See the full post here. 

 

16. Wrapping up warm in an outfit post, which you can see here! 

Queen Victoria Street

I'm back with a new nail offering- Nails Inc, Queen Victoria Street. 

It's the first time I've tried a Nails Inc polish and I really can't make my mind up about this shade. 99% of the time it looks like quite a dark green, and I can't decide if I like it or not. However, in some light it looks more blue than green, and on camera it looks surprisingly turquoise. 

Aside from colour, I really like the formula of this polish. I've been wearing it for about a week now, and I am wearing a top coat, but my nails haven't chipped. The only thing I'm not so sure about, however, is the lid. (This is me being really fussy now) but I feel like the top is quite hard to work with because it's so large. 

Have you ever tried a Nails Inc polish, and what do you think about a green nail polish? I'm still undecided on this one...

NOTD: Lychee and Sour Apple

If you read my last post, you'll know that I love a textured nail polish every now and again, even if my nails don't. You'll also know that I got this new beauty to for my birthday, and it was only a matter of time until I tried it out! 

It's Sour Apple by Barry M, and is described as a confetti effect polish. The polish is clear, but there are tiny flecks of turquoise and neon yellow in there, which I think have a really striking effect. I toned it down a little with my favourite nude, Lychee. I've waxed lyrical about this polish and my seemingly undying love for it, all of which you can read about here. 

I'm all ready for Autumn and to me, this looks more like a spring/ summer colour, but who cares, it's so darn pretty. I have yet to try and remove the stuff though- and something's telling me that it ain't gonna be easy. 

Wearing: Vendetta

I can't believe I've never blogged about this nail polish. Along with a few pastels and nudes, it's my favourite nail polish colour. It's purple, almost black colour means that I only wear it in Autumn and Winter so I have to admit, it feels a bit strange to be wearing it mid August, but I couldn't resist any longer. 

This polish was a birthday present from a friend a few years ago and I've used it so much it's not far away from running out. *cries* It's the only high-end nail polish I own so I'll probably still keep it once it's all gone, just because the packaging is so pretty and I'm a sucker for it. I like a really opaque colour on my nails and for that you would definitely need two coats, but its finish is really glossy and in theory, you could get away without a top coat, if only it were more chip resistant! Having said that, I couldn't say a bad word about this nail polish (even though I have £4 polishes which are more chip resistant). 

Wearing: Districtly Come Dancing

I've been trying to push the boat out with my nail polishes recently. I would usually stick to pale colours, like lilacs, nudes, peaches- you get the idea. But I fancied a change and thought I would try out some new colours, and this one really caught my eye. This picture is a little deceiving because I think that, in real life, it's a bit greener than it looks here. 

On the first coat it was so streaky and patchy, but actually, with one more it looked pretty good. I'm not overly mad about the formula because I prefer a thicker polish (think Barry M Gelly Nails) but the brush is nice and big, which makes painting my nails super quick. I've just been eyeing up the collection on Boots and it looks like they have loads of nice colours. For just over £2, I'm not complaining.   

Have you tried this collection? What's your favourite polish at the minute? 

RNIL: Lychee & Greenberry

I've heard numerous bloggers talk about how fab they think the Gelly Hi-Shine range from Barry M is, so on my last trip to Boots I had to pick a few up. First of all, I can't get over how amazingly priced they are! At only £3.99 each they are a bargain if I ever saw one. Keep an eye on the offers too, when I bought these they were two for £5.99

Anyway, back to the nail polish. I love them. Personally, I don't think one coat is enough but with two you get a nice opaque finish. Just a few things to mention- definitely use a base coat, although I think they last fine without a top coat, and they're already pretty shiny. Barry M usually have a great colour selection, so I was kind of disappointed when I saw how few there were in Boots. The colours they did have were nice, but there weren't many. Maybe it's because it's quite a new range, so finger's crossed they bring out more!