HOW TO; Leopard Nails!

Hello lovelys! My nails have been seriously chipping and I had a bit of time on my hands so I decided to go for a classy leopard print look ;) I couldn't decide on the colour scheme so I went for quite a few!

You will need atleast two nail colours, the lightest to act as a base and the darkest for the spots. Make sure neither of these colours are black because black is used to create the outline afterwards! For this you can either use a nail art pen (available pretty much everywhere online) or a cocktail stick can be used!

L-R Barry M Berry I/C, 17 Forever, Barry M Turquoise, Barry M Strawberry I/C, Barry M Mint Green. 

Ignore my abnormally long ring finger nail! Paint your base coat on, usually for lighter shades like I used it takes 2-3 coats. Wait for this to dry FULLY!

L-R Barry M Turquoise, Barry M Mushroom, Barry M Peach Melba, Barry M Raspberry, Barry M Cobalt Blue.

Get your second colour and add random splodges onto the nail, they don't need to be perfect or even because leopard print is so imperfect, it usually looks better if you don't take too much time or think about it too much! Again wait for this to dry fully or you'll end up with a smudged mess!

Next get your nail art pen/alternative and messily outline the spots. If you look at leopard print the outline is rarely joined up so don't worry too much if you mess up, it really makes no difference the majority of the time. Again, wait to dry and apply a clear topcoat and VOILA! Gorgeous leopard print nails!

This is ridiculously simple, I nearly feel stupid doing step-by-step on it, it's probably the easiest nail art I've ever tried, definitely worth a go!

xoxoxoxox

Marble Nails?!

Job hunting is going painfully slowly, there's just no jobs I'm interested in at the moment, and no money means not much going out and definitely not much spending! So I decided to waste a few hours trying to master marble nails, I've watched so many tutorials on youtube, and they make it look so EASY! But it's definitely harder than it looks, and a lot messier!

What you will need;

• A cup/glass/container full of not too hot and not too cold (I know, so PICKY) water
• Nail polish remover
• Cotton buds to wipe off excess nail polish around your nails
• Sellotape and scissors
• Cotton wool to remove any nail polish should it go wrong.
• Something with a point (Cocktail stick, etc) to swirl the nail polish in the water
• A surface that should you spill any nail polish, you can easily remove it with nail polish remover (i.e. not your duvet or something!)
• Nail Polishes of your choice, I chose Sally Hansen Pardon My French, Barry M Black and W7 Bright Pink.

Excuse my manky unpolished nail! Sellotape all the way around the nail, so when you dip it in the water/nail polish combo it goes on the tape instead of all over your fingers!

Now the tricky bit! It took me a good while to get this right, but get your nail polish and drop a bit into the water, then get your next colour and drop that colour INTO the little circle the previous colour has created. If all goes to plan you'll end up with something a bit like the image above. This has to be done fairly quickly, so make sure all your colours are in easy reach and all their tops have been opened. 

Now with your cocktail stick or alternative, swirl the colours around in the surface of the water to create a marble swirl effect (above). Then dip your finger in, with your cocktail stick move any of the nearby nail polish still on the surface until it's clear and take your finger out of the water!

It should end up a little bit like this, see why you put the sellotape on now?! Now repeat these steps on all of your nails!

When your nails are done, remove the sellotape and you should end up with a slightly messy look similar to the one above! You will never get the same effect on every nail so embrace the uniqueness of each nail!

Tidy your nails up with nail polish remover on a cotton bud and then add a top coat, I used Andrea Fulertons Gloss Up Overcoat. Clear up any mess, aaaaaand your done!

Hope you like them! It's my first time giving them a go, I don't think they look too bad!

xoxoxoxox

My New Favourite Lipstick, Haul and NOTD!

Hello my lovelysssss!

So I've been trying to quit wearing red lipstick ALL the time, so I dug this out. When the whole Sleek Lipsticks took off a few months ago, in a rush at Superdrug I picked this up, and from then I've pretty much shoved it in my lipstick collection and never reached for it again. But the other day I gave it a go and I actually LOVE it! Looking at the lipstick it looks a frankly terrifying purple, but on it goes on more of a bright fuschia and I really love it! I have pale skin and I've got so many compliments on it, and in my opinion this would look  flaming fabulous with a tan!

Also I'm just going to put it out there now how excited I am for Sleek Pout Paint! I've been meaning to try OCC Lip Tars for so long and never got round to it, so these are really something I'll be running to the shops to buy! I'm going to try and restrain myself and buy a only a few colours, and then the blue (Peek a bloo) and white (Cloud 9) to change the shade of them. I could easily buy them all but I'm going to do the best to try and be sensible! From blog posts and swatches I've seen I definitely fancy picking up Pin Up (top, far right) and Mauve Over (bottom, 2nd left).

So today I hit TJ Hughes after news a couple of weeks ago it was closing down. It's somewhere I've always gone now and again, maybe once a year or so and picked up a few cheapo nail polishes. I couldn't resist going before it closed so I went and picked up a few colours, I can't wait to give all these a go! Altogether they came to £7.23, so literally about a pound each, which considering a Revlon nail polish alone would cost you about 6 quid I'm a very happy girl :) I'm also definitely becoming an old woman as I was so fuming when two 12 year old girls were messing with all the makeup, product was spilling out everywhere. I don't mind if people mess around with testers, but when you're playing about with makeup people are actually going to buy it gets a little beyond a joke, especially when after opening every product on the shelf, they walked off not buying anything! 

I've transferred my nail polish collection into the office/spare room because it was taking up far too much space in my room! I've been trying to improve my nail art collection, and I've been thinking about buying some more nail art pens from Ebay, so if you guys have, let me know if they're good quality or not! I'll definitely do a nail polish post soon showing you everything in more detail!

And while we're on the topic of nails, say hello to my leopard print ones! If you've read my blog for a while you'll have seen these before, but whilst I'm job hunting I'm making sure I've always got them painted to perfection incase I get a last minute interview and I can impress with them!

Hope you beauts had lovely weekends!

xoxoxoxox

7 Days In Topshop & NOTD.

So, I did my week of just Topshop. I don't think until you start limiting yourself, you realise quite how much you put into an outfit. All my belts pretty much are from Primark, and going a week without a belt really limited my outfit choice. Same with the shoes, the jewellery, I really had to think it out. Even when exercising, I had to think about grabbing the topshop joggers and not the Nike (yep, I know. Nike. I'm one of those "all the gear, no idea" exercisers.) Here are 3 of my "favourite" outfits of this week, I decided not to include all 7 purely because somedays I didn't wear make up and I don't think any of you are ready to see that face! My bodycon got a hell of a lot of wear, it's definitely one of my favourite pieces and it's always on atleast once or twice a week normally so it's no real surprise!

So I took on the ring finger trend using my barry m nail effects in white. I'm a bit late on this trend because I wasn't really sure about it if I'm honest, but Vanessa Hudgens kept reoffending (see below) so I decided to give it a go!

I also sorted out my tops/dresses wardrobe out. I think it's just a case of having too much stuff in a small wardrobe, but I took literally everything out, chucked a few things and shoved other things into my other wardrobe and now there is a good cm of space for more clothes ;) Genuine dream one day is to have a walk in wardrobe, everybody always laughs when I tell them that but I'd probably spend my entire life in it. So in love with clothes it's ridiculous!

Plus I've started decorating the insides of my wardrobe doors. I know some people do the same kind of thing on their walls, but my walls have big canvas photographs already and I don't have a bare wall to donate to, so the inside of my wardrobes will have to do. I have done ONE HALF OF ONE and it took me bloody ages! I love the result though :)

Also on a slightly random note, how gorgeous does Blake Lively look in US Glamour? LOVE the polka dots, and love her, always get inspiration from her style :)

Hope you had a lovely weekend in the sun!

xoxoxoxoxo

OOTD #008; I'm Just Saying, You Could Do Better. & Leopard Print Nails!

blouse; republic skirt; topshop belt; primark bag; tesco

rings; h&m and topshop bangles; primark

I've not really done much today, just been out to the shops briefly and visited some family. I really don't want to get my hair cut, but I haven't now for about a year and I think I probably should. I just hate the fact with my hairdresser, I say 2cm off, and next thing I've got literally shoulder length hair. But I don't want to end up like Rapunzel so I think I'll have the chop just before I go on holiday :)

So this morning I decided to paint my nails Leopard Print! It's probably one of the first nail art designs I could ever do, because leopard print is so beautifully imperfect, mistakes most of the time make it look better! I've always stick to original leopard rather than colour leopard print as I always get worried it's going to look tacky, even though so many people recently have looked amazing with it. I used 17's Forever for the base, Barry Ms Mushroom for the dots and a black nail pen for around the edge. 

Hope you have lovely weekends! xoxoxox

Nails #004 It's Never Too Late To Jump On The Bandwagon...

OMBRE NAILS!

white - 17 Lasting Fix in Mini Skirt, blue 1 - Barry M in Pure Turquoise, blue 2 - Barry M in Cyan Blue, blue 3 - Barry M in Cobalt Blue, blue 4 - No7 Stay Perfect in Betty Blues

My first attempt on the ombre nail trend! I've seen this on so many blogs recently so I decided to give it a go! I went for blues because I thought the Barry M colours blended beautifully! I'm definitely gonna try this is different colours, such a pretty effect! I fancy a try in pink and maybe browns.

I think I'll probably skip college tomorrow afternoon because revision sessions are so boring! If so I'll probably do a bit of bargain hunting and might have a little haul for you guys!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Nails #003 AZTEC!

I followed this tutorial watch here

I really wanted to do aztec inspired nails, and they've turned out a bit messy this time around but i think it adds a little something that they're not completely even and perfect (that's my excuse anyway). so I loved the colours used in the tutorial I took inspiration from, though obviously I substituted the nail polishes used for similar ones I own.

Nail Polishes: Barry M Mushroom, Bright Pink and Peach Melba, Black & White Nail Art Pens, Natural Collection Clear as top coat :)

xoxoxoxo

Nails #002 Fuzzy Peach

Models Own Fuzzy Peach

One of my new favourite shades, i've been loving bright colours on my nails recently to inject a bit of colour and add contrast with bright rings. I love this colour, and I'm definitely looking to add to my models own collection! xx

Nails #001 Leopard Print!

Products used:
17 Lasting Fix in Forever, Barry M in Mushroom, Professional Nail Art in Black, Natural Collection in Clear