31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 1: Red Nails!

Hello there my little rose petals!

I'm finally beginning the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge and I'm really excited about it! I've seen this challenge posted on pretty much every single nail blog that I have read and I've been wanting to start it myself for a while now. Check out the image below to see what the challenges are:

One of the main reasons that I had been putting off this challenge for so long is because I physically didn't have the polishes to complete the first 10 days. I really didn't want to start before I had everything I could possibly need and now I do so I can! (Thanks to the 33 Saffron polishes I bought). I should say that there is no way that I will be doing this every single day, I simply don't have the time for that. Also I'm undertaking a Christmas Nail Art challenge which you can find here if you want to join. My aim is to do 2 of the 31 day challenges a week, if I do more then great, but having 3 Christmas challenges a week to complete too is definitely going to be pushing it. Especially since I'm new to this Nail Blogging stuff!

I also have a confession to make before I go into my first manicure. This morning I woke up and was immediately excited about the fact that I was starting this challenge and then I looked at my nails. To my horror my nails had begun to flake and peel, unfortunately my nails are prone to this. So in today's post and probably for the next few days I am wearing false nails. Normally I wouldn't bother because I find that they don't agree with me, but this time I've cut them right down and shaped them (when normally I'd just leave them). I've got to say I'm pretty happy with how they look and feel and I might think of wearing falsies more often!

So here is my first manicure in the 31 Day Challenge! I wanted to keep it simple today mainly because it took my so long to put on the false nails, and partly because I have other things to do today! I was going to go with plain red but I decided I'd get into the holiday spirit and add a little Gold. Here are the polishes I used:

From left to right: Saffron #28: Bright Red, Saffron #08: Gold Glitter Specks

I bought these two in a massive haul from saveonmakeup.co.uk and I bought 33 polishes for £32.67 at 99p each. Considering how cheap they are I was pleasantly surprised at the coverage that the Bright Red gave, I would have been fine using only 1 coat however I decided on 2 to make it stand out more.

The Gold glitter polish was a little more stubborn. I only used 2 coats of it however I feel maybe next time I use it I may venture to use 3 or even 4 coats of it. The glitter itself has 3 different sized pieces in it from tiny, to small, to medium. For 99p each I can't really complain, these two polishes look great together and I even found myself singing Christmas songs as I was painting them on. So I've finally found something that gets me into the Christmas Spirit... Nail Polish!

Let me know what you think in the comments and tell me if you've gotten into the Christmas spirit yet, or whether you are still in denial!

I've Joined the British Nail Bloggers!

Here's what they've been up to this week! - 25/11/12

Emma practices polka dots in this China Glaze dotticure at Emma's Little Corner.
Nada got her hands on Miss Sporty's new nail polishes Metal Flip Duochromes! Check out the swatches!
Lyndsay from Pie's Eyes has been playing with fire this week Max Factor's Fantasy Fire. It's fast becoming a Top 10 polish!
Jazz at Glitter Infatuation has been continuing the Lazy 15 Challage Even if that means interpreting it in her own funny way.. Glitter is appropriate no what what the ocassion!
Wendy over at Wendy's Delights has a Yellow Mani with Glitter for the 31 day Challenge!
Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has been fishscale manicuring it up - there is a tutorial too!
Rachel at Phoenix Nails has been getting all childish with a Disney mani for day 9 of the Lazy 15 challenge
Vic's been experimenting with layering and has come up with a Swishy Junk Yard.
Sally of NailPron has found some new Speciallita polishes, and they look amazing.
Anna from Anna's Polish Addiction has tried Nails Inc Southwark from the most recent QVC Today's Special Value, posted a rainbow mani and more pics of her stash.
Sam at Polished Art created this pretty half moon manicure using dried flowers!
Kerry at JustTalkNails has a swatch of Essie Smooth Sailing this week.
This week there was some Quilted Nail Art going on over at Enigmatic Rambles.

Swatched! Models Own: Raspberry Crush

I actually got this polish for free with my MORE! Magazine yesterday and I couldn't be happier with it. I only had to apply one coat to achieve great coverage and colour. This was the only Raspberry Crush left and the other colour was a nude beigey one which I wasn't too keen on. This colour is actually very deceiving, when you look at the bottle you think that it will come out red. However it actually has pink tones in it. Anyway considering I got this free with a £1.50 magazine I'm pretty happy. I will be looking to buy some more Models Own polishes in the near future so if you have any suggestions for shades then let me know!

Also today I received my massive order of Saffron Nail Polish. I ordered 33 in all... I may have gone a little overboard. They are going to take me forever to swatch but I am planning to start with my favourites from the ones I have ordered. I've already added the colours to the 'My Collection' page of this blog so if you want to know what's coming up then check that out. I'm not expecting these polishes to be amazing considering I only paid 99p each for them but we'll see!

That's it for today! Please let me know any Models Own polishes that you recommend! Also if you also bought MORE! magazine but got the other Models Own polish then let me know how it turned out!

Stamping and Sponging: Starry Blue Nail Art

Seeing as this blog is looking a little bit bare I thought I would repost my first proper Nail Art post which I had originally posted on my Personal Blog. Wow, How many times can I say 'post' in a sentence? Word of warning, the image quality of these pictures is shocking because I haven't discovered the best way to photograph my nails yet. I'm working on that though!

These are the polish's I used for this manicure:

From Left to Right: Miss Sporty Lasting Colour in Hypnotic Turquoise, Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours in Pop Fiction, Barry M Blue Moon, Miss Sporty Top Coat, Konad Special Polish in White and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Maximum Growth!

Here's the finished manicure:

I always start with a base of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Maximum Growth, this is to keep my nail strong as they are prone to flaking and splitting! Then I used 3 coats of Barry M, Blue Moon as a base colour. Then I found an old makeup sponge in my bag and decided to attempt some sponging. I started off with the Hypnotic Turquoise by Miss Sporty and could have stopped there but I wanted to add a little more to it. So I took Pop Fiction and attempted to sponge it only onto the tips, but I managed to mess that up so it ended up being sponged over the entire nail, although I could still see the turquoise underneath! If you try out sponging for yourself be prepared to get it all over your skin, this is easily remedied with a cotton bud dipped in nail polish remover. I could have left it at that but the manicure reminded me of Galaxy style manicures that are popular at the moment so I decided to add some stars. I used my Konad Stamping Kit and image plate M3 to create a curved starry image on the edge of my nails. To clean up I simply go over the edges with a cotton bud dipped in remover, and then finished it off with a top coat!

So there is my most recently posted manicure. You can find several horrific Blackberry pictures of my Nail Art over on my Twitter so be sure to check that out!

  

Welcome to my nail blog!

I've been thinking about starting a nail blog for a little while now, mainly because I have a new found love for nail polish and all things nail art. I did make a few posts on my personal blog about Nail art and I'll be sure to rewrite them into this blog at some point. So what are my plans for this blog? I'm hoping to showcase my nail art designs, maybe do a few tutorials or swatch some polishes (when I can afford them). So if you are interested in any of those things then please follow my blog :)

I thought I'd start by doing a very boring/informative list of the polishes/tools that I currently own. I will be creating a page for this which you will be able to find here when it is finished. So here we go!

Varnish's:

Accessorize:

• Ivory Lace

Barry M:

• Blue Moon
• Ruby Glitter
• Croc Effects, Black

Collection (Formerly Collection 2000):

• Fruit Loop
• 225 (Collection 2000) This polish is really old and I have no idea what it's original name is but it's a metallic blue with purple shimmer in it.

Gosh:

• Gypsy Blue

Konad:

• Special Nail Polish, Blue
• Special Nail Polish, Red
• Special Nail Polish, White

La Femme:

• Glitter Polish, Mirage
• Glitter Polish, Cosmos

Maybelline:

• Forever Strong Pro, Purple This is another polish that I can't find the original name of, It's kind of a grape purple with silver specks in it.

Miss Sporty:

• Et Voila! French Manicure, White
• Et Voila! French Manicure, Pink
• Clubbing Colours, Blue Bath
• Clubbing Colours, Popcorn
• Clubbing Colours, Pop Fiction
• Lasting Colours, Hypnotic Turquoise
• Crack Me Up, Blue
• Sparkle Top Coat, Clear I don't think their colour description is very good for this polish so I wanted to add that it has blue and silver glitters in it

MUA: Makeup Academy:

• Shade 5 (Minty Green)
• Bright Pink
• Amaretto Crush 

NYC:

• Black

Pure Ice:

• Free Spirit 

Petites:

• Blue Frost

Accessories/Tools:

• 5 Dotting Tools (Various sizes)
• 3 Striping Brushes (Different Lengths)
• Wheel of Nail Pearls (Various Colours)
• Wheel of Diamante's (Various Colours)
• Konad Stamping Kit
• Konad Plate m2
• Konad Plate m3
• Konad Plate m64

So that's what I currently have in my bag of tricks although I'm hoping to get my hands on some striping tape and foils fairly soon. I'll also be adding to my polish collection so keep checking that page!

Hope you enjoyed my (boring) first post and there are some more to come shortly!