Sunday 5 January 2014

Leopard Recreation!

Hello everyone!

So today's blog post is my recreation of a design by Amber Armstrong - you can find her on Instagram: @armstrongnails. Her nail designs are so good! 
This one is a leopard print design with the colours black, pink and gold, incorporated into it. 


I'm not usually a fan of gold, but when it's with pink, I love it. 
The colours I have used here are Black Magic and Bubblegum by models own, and Penny Talk by Essie. 
Leopard/cheetah print, is my favourite animal print; mostly because I've not tried any others!! 


Here is a closer photo of the leopard print. This colour combination is just gorgeous! 

Thank you to you for looking at my blog. I'm surprised at myself for actually keeping this up! I'm quite enjoying it because it gives me a reason to do my nails more often even if nobody is reading this. Feel free to share my blog, but please give credit to any photos of my nails that you use, unless they aren't my design. 
Watch out for another post during the week!

Amy :-)
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Thursday 2 January 2014

Dotty New Year!

Happy New Year! 

I hope you all had a fabulous NYE :-) 

I can't believe it's 2014! Time just seems to fly by so very fast. My 2013 was alright, nothing majorly important or exciting happened. This year, however, is hopefully going to be great! 

On to the nails. 
I was running out of nail art ideas, but then I remembered a nail art book that I have. Flicking through it, I found a certain dotty nail art design by Christina Rinaldi, and I did mine inspired by hers! 

I thought it was something a bit different so here is what I did! 


I am loving purple colours at the moment, I just think they always look nice. The one I used here is by Seventeen, but there is no specific name for it. It came in the "Nail Clash Complete Collection" by Seventeen. The white I used is a Rio professional nail art pen! 
This was fairly quick and simple to do. If ever you want a tutorial on how I do any of my nail designs, don't hesitate to ask! 


This is my thumb feature nail close up. I'm so glad I got the purple bit in a straight line! 
Also, I rarely push back my cuticles anymore, it may be because I use Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticles cream; it's so good! 


Finally, a close up of my other finger! 

I hope you liked this design which was an inspired one. 
Enjoy the first few days of the New Year and start as you mean to go on :-) 

I'll be back with another post in a couple of days - as usual! 

Amy :-)
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Monday 30 December 2013

Feeling Glitzy!!

Hey everyone!

I'm so happy with myself, I've managed to upload a new blog post every three days, which is two a week! 

Well the year 2013 is nearly up, and this is my last post of the year. 
My year has been pretty average if I'm honest. I've been at college, presenting radio, working and learning the piano! I lead a very exciting life as you can tell ;-) 
I have no regrets and I hope that 2014 brings good things for me, and for you all too! I have recently sent my University application, which is exciting. I'm hoping to study Music Composition! 

Anyway, back to the nails. 
I'm feeling a bit glitzy tonight and decided to use some glitter. (Side note: if any of you know how to make glitter polish from not peeling off, I would love to know how!!) 
The two glitter polishes I have used are 'Spank You Very Much' by Dollish Polish and 'Set in Stones' by Essie. The purple colour underneath is 'Vivid Purple' by Barry M. 


Keeping it simple. I just painted all my nails purple and added some glitter; Essie on my ring finger for a bit of contrast!
I think it looks really nice and colourful! 

 
Close-up of the green and purple glitter 'Spank You Very Much'. Big and small circular sequin/glitter things. Goes on really smooth too! 


Ah, here's the 'Set in Stones'. This has big and small hexagonal shapes. Elegant-ish!! 

Apologies for the messiness of my manicure. I'm not as advanced as many of you! Glitter gets every where as well. 

So, thank you all for clicking my blog. Don't forget you can find me on Bloglovin, by clicking the link below, and I shall be making an Instagram account just for my nails - how exciting! 

I hope you all have enjoyable New Year celebrations whatever you are doing.

Amy :-)

Friday 27 December 2013

Mini Stars!

Hello everyone!

Christmas has now been and gone; can you believe it? 
I was very lucky, and I'm so pleased with what I've got. I hope you all had lovely Christmas' and received lots of lovely things. 

Onto the nails!! 
I didn't get a whole lot of nail stuff for Christmas, but I got a few bits. 
The colours in my nail design for today are OPI 'The Thrill of Brazil' and a white polish, with glitter you sprinkle on, by a brand called Lumiere. I really am loving red colours at the moment, it's probably due to the time of year! I have also found that the OPI colour I have used is similar to a colour by China Glaze called 'Red Satin'. 


You will notice that there are little black stars! These are from a nail set called 'The Nail Clash Compleye Collection' by Seventeen; it was a Christmas present also. It has lots of nail art things like stickers, foils, gems, nail art pens, a few tools and some nail polish. I shall do a blog post about this within the next couple of weeks! 


I must say, this red was lovely to apply, and it is quite opaque after first coat. I was relieved to see it wasn't a watery colour that takes like 3 coats! I'm very impressed. The square brushes in a lot of these OPI polishes are really helpful as well. 


Here's a close up of the glittery nail. I promise it's shiny and glitzy!!! 
If you've ever seen things like caviar and fuzzy nail kits, then you'll be familiar with this type of thing. It comes with a little container of glitter that you either dip your nail into, or sprinkle on, when the polish is still wet (it will stick then!) 
These kits can be a bit fiddly and annoying, but if you wait for it to dry and then put a top coat on, it should last longer and look a bit better. 

So that's it! You have all the details about today's manicure. 
I am improving slowly, and I'm trying to get my nails into a square shape. 
Also, since using OPI Original Nail Envy (I put it under every manicure), I haven't had any nail chips or breakages! I'm so pleased :-) 

Anyway, enjoy the last few days of 2013. I'm looking forward to the new year and all of the exciting things it will bring. 
Word of warning: I may post a sentimental and heartfelt post on New Years Day just sharing my thoughts on the year just gone, and what is yet to come! 

Take care, share my blog with your friends and I'll see you in the next post!

Amy :-)

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Models OWN // Part 3 // Christmas!

Hello guys, Merry Christmas Eve!

Today is the final Models OWN polish series until I buy more of them. I have tried this in with my Christmas nail design, which I'm so excited to show you. 

Apart from my poor glitter polish application, it went well! I do however, think I need a new top coat. I've been using Sally Hansens Insta-Dri, but it's over half used and is getting a bit gloopy. I've seen other nail bloggers using Seche Vite, and I think I might search the internet for a cheaper price. 
Anyway, here is the first photo of all my nails (minus the thumb).


I have used Scarlett Sparkle by Models OWN and This is Tree-Mendous by China Glaze. They are both gorgeous glitter polishes that have colour in them so you don't need to put one underneath. For the stripes, I was going to use some striping tape, but it wouldn't stick to my nail so I had to do it free-hand with an Avon nail art brush. I'm rather happy with the outcome! (Yes, I managed to do my other hand pretty much the same!!)
Both of the polishes are pretty smooth to apply. The Scarlett Sparkle is really quite opaque during the first coat, but This is Tree-Mendous, needs at least two to look good. I highly recommend them both. 
Right, here are the last two photos. 

A close up of my thumb nail, which I found a tutorial for. 


I think it's adorable :-) 
And here is a photo of the stripes close up.


I use my iPhone camera, it's pretty decent, but I may resort to my other camera for the macro shots! 

Well, thanks for reading! I hope it got you feeling a bit more festive. 
I'm enjoying this blog stuff quite a bit! 

Until next time, have a great Christmas! 
I will be trying to do one or two posts a week (depending on the state of my nails!!) 

Amy :-)

Saturday 21 December 2013

Feeling Blue and Sparkly!

Hello everyone!

So, the other day I went out, and a few polishes caught my eye. Two of these are a set of Essie polishes I got from Boots for £12.99. They just caught my eye, especially this dark navy blue colour. Anyway, I just decided to paint my nails tonight after the previous ones decided to peel off; no idea why! 

Here are my nails. The blue colour is called Bobbing for Baubles and the silver glitter is called Set in Stones ( both by Essie). 


It looks darker than the actual colour is. It is a dark navy blue colour, but it looks black here! Trust me it's not. 


A close up, you can sort of see it's not black, but it looks grey. Ugh, lighting is annoying sometimes! 
You can see the glitter a bit better in this one too. 


Let me just say, Bobbing for Baubles is such a nice colour! Well done, Essie :-) 
The brushes in both of these polishes must be new because I haven't seen Essie use flat brushes, until now! 
This colour goes on so so well, and is pretty opaque after first coat, but I added a second one just to be safe. 
I highly recommend this colour!


This glitter polish - Set in Stones - is really nice and simple, but also elegant as well. They compliment each other well, and it also has this flat brush and is very nice to apply. 

Overall, these polishes are SO good!! 
One more thing to add. 
My Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat is beginning to thicken, which makes it not so nice to apply. I have however, found a new quick drying top coat, which at the moment, is fantastic! 
It's by Nails Inc. London, and it's called Save the Nail 45 Second Top Coat. 


It retails for about £7, and I highly recommend this at the moment!! 

That is all for today. 
Expect a blog up on Christmas Eve, because it's my Christmas nail blog and also part of the Models OWN series I'm doing. 

Thanks for reading!! 

Amy :-)

Monday 16 December 2013

Models OWN // Part 2!

Hey guys!

So today, I have tried out two more Models OWN polishes - Bubblegum and Aqua Violet. The Bubblegum is from their neon colour range, but when it's applied, it's not too bright; it's just the right shade! The Aqua Violet Polish is a bit thin when applying the first coat but after a second coat, it looks lovely! 


Here's a photo of both of them. Please excuse the messiness, I am getting better I promise! 
I really do think they compliment each other well. 

The Bubblegum polish is such a joy to apply. I think you could get away with using just one coat as it's quite opaque; I was surprised at that! 
I put two coats on just to be safe. 


I singled out the Aqua Violet because it just looks beautiful in the light. My photo does not do it justice, but you can sort of see the effect. It is true to the name as the Violet and Aqua colour is clearly visible, and they look great together!

Anyway! 
I have one more Models OWN post to make, which will be my Christmas nail design. I'm quite excited to do it, fingers crossed it goes to plan! 

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. 
Until next time! 

Amy :-)