Tiger Nail Art

I saw a photo of some zebra patterned nails, and thought that they would look good with an orange base, to be tiger nails!

It's a very simple design- All you need is a base colour, and either a thin paintbrush and black nail varnish, or a black nail art pen.

Start by painting your nails all over in your chosen base colour. I used an orange Nails Inc Polish.

Next, using the nail art pen, or thin paint brush, paint stripes on each side of your nails.

And there you have your tigerrrrr nails ;)

You could also do bumble bees, zebras, or other stripey things if you used a different base colour! But I liked tiger stripes best :)

Newspaper Nail Art :)

This is a young, fun and cool look to experiment with.. and also its really really simple to do!

All your'll need to recreate your own newspaper printed nails is nail varnish, a cotton wool pad, a newspaper, and some good old surgical spirit :)

This is my first attempt, which I tried a few months ago.

 Sorry about the state of my nails(There not AS bad anymore!), but I liked the colours!

So, firstly, you need to paint your nails. This may be stating the obvious, but stick to pale colours! I also found that the printing worked better on some polishes than others. I am using Barry M 'Berry Ice Cream'.

Next up, saturate the cotton pad with surgical spirit, and place a piece of newspaper onto the cotton wool.

Place onto the nail and press down firmly. Making sure the newspaper is covered in surgical spirit, hold against the nail for about 20 seconds.

Carefully remove the newspaper and cotton wool, and there you have your newspaper nails!

This looks best with a top coat over to finish it off :)

Celebrity Looks: Lana Del Rey Inspired Nail Art

Heyy!

I was recently watching the video for Lana Del Rey's 'Born to Die' the other day and I noticed how good her nails look in the video. They are painted in a really simple and sophisticated way, and look sleek and well-groomed.

Sorry it's only a tiny picture

I had to use false nails for this, as my natural nails are too short at the moment, so I am wearing Elegant Touch in 'Totally Bare'.

Start off my applying a basecoat, and afterwards a nude colour polish. I used Barry M 'Pinky Caramel', although any polish for the base coat of a french manicure would be right for this.

Next, use a bright red polish (I've used 17 Fast Finish in 'Knockout Red') and apply a small triangular point on either edge of the nail. These points need to meet in the middle and will need to be as symmetrical as possible.

Finally, using a very fine brush or a nail art pen draw a very thin line between the red and nude colour. I've used one from a Rio nail art set in Silver, although you could also use gold :)

And ta-dahhh there you have Lana Del Rey's nails :)

Shades for Spring!

When March arrives, so does Spring, and it's time for pastels!

Pastel nail polish looks amazing all year round, but is particually nice to wear in spring time. Here are some of my favourite spring shades from my extensive collection of nail polish :)

1) Barry M 'Blue Moon' £2.99

I generally HATE the way blue nail polish looks against my skin tone, but this shade is very delicate and beautiful, without looking 'tipex-y' (your'll know what I mean if you've ever tried using Collection 2000 Hot Looks in 'Button Moon'... its well hard to make it look half decent). I also think this shade looks better on shorter nails, which is good for me at the moment! I love Barry M nail paints, and although they have a tendancy to peel sometimes, they have a lovely shine to them and only cost £2.99 :)

2) Barry M 'Peach Melba' £2.99

One word- gorgeous. This is perfect for spring. I worked at Tescos all last year and everyday would get nail envy from one of my collegues who wore this all the time. I finally asked her where it was from and never looked back... its a lovely gentle and feminine colour.

3) Barry M (again...) 'Lemon Ice Cream' £2.99

This is the last Barry M polish:) I find yellow doesn't suit my skin tone at all. However, if you are lucky enough to be able to pull this off it looks really cool. My cousin is very arty and wore this colour polish with a retro style swing dress to a wedding, which finished the look off perfectly :)

4) George at Asda 'Sherbert Fizz', £1.25

I bourght this last week, and what a bargain! It's a very similar shade to 17 Lasting Fix polish in 'Fairy Cake', but is a much easier consistancy to apply, and is less than half the price! It is such a cool colour, like a lovehearty pink! I love pink polish, and this shade is a young and barbie-ish shade which I love! I'm also keen on this shade as I find it compliments both shorter and longer legnth nails.

5) Models Own 'Grey Day' £5

This is a totally different shade to the others, as it is a delicate pastel shade of grey. It sounds a bit odd, but I saw Lauren Conrad wearing this shade and thought it looked really nice.

What are your favourite shades for Spring? Have you tried any of these colours? :)

Time to get painting, ladies...

Which nail shape is best for you? :)

I have the most relaxed schedule ever at the moment.. after a few weeks of millions of essays, all my works in and i've got hardly any lectures yayyyyyy!

Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to cover the basics and do a post on nail shapes.

The shape of your nails can have a huge affect on the overall image, weather you require a classic, modern, stylish, practical or simple look.

These are the most common nail shapes, which (from left to right) are the oval, 'squoval', square, round, and 'stilletto' or almond.

The Oval

This is the classic nail shape which suits both wide and narrow nails, and is versatile enough to look elegant and beautiful on both long and short nails. However, oval nails are not always the most practical shape as they may break more easily than other nail shapes.The look can be acheived by evenly filing each side of the nail, making sure that both sides are symetrical into a gentle and rounded tip.

The Round Shape

Similar to the oval, the round nail shape is created by filing a sharper point then that of the oval, which is still gentle and elegant.

The Square

This is the typical shape used in a french manicure and acrylic or gel nails. It can be created by filing perfectly straight and symmetrical sides, with a blunt edge, giving a strong and fashionable nail shape.

The 'Squoval'

In simple terms, the squoval shape is simply the best of both the square and the oval the oval. It is one of the most popular nail shapes due to it having the classic elegance of the oval, but with much more strenth, which means that it is a very practical, everyday shape. This shape can be acheived by filing a square shape, and symetrically rounding the corners, giving a softer look.

The Almond Shape

This is a shape which is frequently seen to be worn by Rihanna, creating a structured, femme-fatale, dominating look. The look was also a popular choice of Marilyn Monroes. This nail shape looks good on longer length nails, and the pointed shape means that breakage is easy, so it can be a difficult look to pull off. The shape can be aquired by filing the side walls of the nail about half way down the nail into a pointed shape, until the desired point is acheived.

My favourite nail file to use is a crystal nail file which my auntie got me for Christmas a few years ago. They generally cost about £10 (although cheaper versions are available), mine is from Marks and Spencer. I hate the feeling of normal nail files and crystal ones do a lovely gentle job without the wierd feeling! And they last FOREVER!

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Marks-and-Spencer-Crystal-Nail/dp/B00263GI3C?extid=ps_ggl_BeautyHands,NailsFeet_HNFCrystalNailFiles&kwid=100680076_Google+Adwords

Remember: When you file your nails, only file in one direction. This is because filing from side to side can weaken the nail, so that they are more prone to breakages.

Avon 'Grow Potion' Review

Hellooo!

I need to apologise firstly for being ridiculously negligent since Christmas... As a closet nail biter, at the first sign of stress I slip back into biting them, which I did over Christmas! I felt so ashamed of the sorry state of my bitten nails, that I couldn't face logging onto here because it made me feel guilty for biting them!

Seeing as my nails still aren't looking their best, I thought it would be good to make a few posts about nail care, for all those who, like me, want long, strong and beautiful nails :)

About a month ago I purchased 'Grow Potion' from Avon, a nail 'gel' which claims to create 'longer stronger feeling nails in 5 days!'. The product is originally £5, but was half price in the sale, and at £2.50, I thought it was definitely worth a try to help get rid of my incredibly short nails!

The solution comes in a very little 5ml bottle, and looks a bit like a mini lip gloss due to the lip gloss style applicator. The product is very different from a nail polish, and is an unscented, clear pink gel solution, which is simply applied onto the bare nail beds and left to dry, which took about 4 minutes on my nails.

The product came with no instructions and I was unsure of how long it would take to see results, but after about 1 month of use 3-4 times a week, I could not see any real difference in the speed that my nails grew.

However, although I didn't notice a dramatic change in the strength or speed of my nail growth, I was impressed by the way in which the gel made my nails look instantly healthier and naturally shinier. In the winter my nails become brittle in the cold, and the product definitely helped to keep them moisturised- they looked as though they were in much better condition.

The product didn't dramatically aid the growth of my nails, but it may have different effects on different users, and for the price I would recommend this product as a remedy for anyone with dull and brittle nails.

Have you tried this product, and what were your thoughts on it? :)

Any suggestions for posts would be appreciated :)