Saturday, December 29, 2012

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 12

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

Zooey Deschanel's Christmas Sweater Nails

I made it to the final day of the challenge (even if it was a little behind schedule)! The last theme in the challenge was my favourite Christmas design. Last year I saw Zooey Deschanel's Christmas sweater nails on Instagram and I was instantly hooked on nail art!

 Before this point I had only ever dabbled in French manicures, so I had never actually done a nail art design. I attempted to recreate Zooey's design on my own nails but these were the days before I discovered dotting tools and paint brushes, so from what I can recall I used a bobby pin and a sewing pin. Needless to say it ended in disaster (and very nearly tears) when the nail polish went flying through the air and splattered my brand new Iphone, thankfully because it was shiny and new it had the ultimate protection and was saved - it really was a Christmas miracle! I ended up going on YouTube and discovered CutePolish's channel and followed her step by step tutorial on santa hats, and with that my obsession with all things nails began...

So I decided to face my fear and attempt the Christmas jumper design again...

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

I decided to shake up the design a little by doing red on a cream background, which I think worked really well. I am also very pleased with the reindeer, as I attempted a similar design on a friend a few weeks ago and the reindeer was too fat and antler-less.

I have learnt a lot about nails and nail art by doing this challenge, and I feel I have improved my skills by attempting more difficult designs.

I hope you have enjoyed my challenge :) Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Until Next Time...

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 11

Day 11 of the nail challenge was based on my favourite Christmas film - The Muppet Christmas Carol. It is a family tradition to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol every Christmas Eve, and this year was no different although we did manage to fall asleep halfway through - sacrilege! 

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

Originally I had grand plans to do all of The Muppets but it ended up just being a festive Kermit. 

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails


Until Next Time...



12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 10

I know I am VERY behind on my blog posts, Christmas coupled with my sister coming home from University has meant its been a week of Christmas TV/films, chocolate, presents, cupcake making, chocolate, sale shopping and more chocolate, but I am officially back!

Day 10 of my Christmas nail challenge was based on the song ' Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas', so I decided to do little gift-wrapped presents on each nail.

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

I decided to alternate the red and the green to make it feel extra Christmassy. 

Until Next Time...



Tuesday, December 18, 2012

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 9

Time is definitely not my friend at the moment! The countdown is now officially on to Christmas, which has resulted in a lot less time! So I decided to try a quick and simple design for today's challenge, 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer'...

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails
Although the design is simple I think it is still very cute and if nothing else the red nose gives away that it is Rudolph inspired if nothing else (well I hope so anyway!).
Until next time...


Sunday, December 16, 2012

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 8

Holly & the Ivy was today's nail art theme. I wasn't looking forward to it thanks to my Christmas pudding ivy attempts. After a little google search for inspiration I came across Cutepolish's recent YouTube video for a quick and simple design...

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

I don't particularly think the ivy looks like ivy but I still like the overall look and I think it definitely feels Christmassy. 

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

I started with a French manicure design, using masking tape and Rimmel's French Manicure White. The then used a festive red and green to complete the holly and ivy look.

Until next time...



Ciate Advent Calendar Days 13 to 16

On day 13 I finally got one of Ciate's special edition nail polishes, specifically created for the advent calendar. It is blue glitter polish called Glass Slipper. 

















 Ciate Mini (5ml) - Glass Slipper

Next I got a coral polish called Speed Dial. It is very thin and required 3 coats for a full coverage (plus there was already nail varnish on the bottle upon opening the door, tut tut)!

  Ciate Mini (5ml) - Speed Dial

Day 15 has to be one of my favourite colours so far - a beautiful sea blue green (or turquoise if you wish). Another 'thicker' polish from Ciate, which I like better than the thinner more watery ones. 

                                                         
                   Ciate Mini (5ml) - Headliner

Today a bright canary yellow was behind door number 16. I love the name - Big Yellow Taxi - it instantly transported me back 5 years when my friend and I visited New York for Christmas!

                                                
                  Ciate Mini (5ml) - Big Yellow Taxi

Until next time...


The Holidays Are Coming...

It has been a hectic weekend filled with festive fun and frivolities, so I am a little behind on my posts. Yesterday I went to Birmingham with a friend to see the Coca Cola lorry, which is currently touring the UK. I also aimed to get the last of my Christmas shopping done but I ended up buying more for myself than for anyone else (opps!).

Birmingham's Bulldeer
Always Coca Cola!

The rest of my weekend has been spent wrapping presents (felt like an elf Santa's workshop!), thankfully today I had Michael Buble to keep me company.


Until next time...

Thursday, December 13, 2012

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 7

Today's nail art challenge was centered around Christmas fairy lights or the song Christmas Lights by Coldplay. 

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

It was my first time using a sponge to create a gradient effect but I'm not sure about it. I think the design would look better on longer nails as I struggled to fit the lights on. 

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

I used Revlon's Blue Lagoon as the base, it is a beautiful baby blue colour with a white/silver sparkle (I brought it last week from Poundworld - bargain!). I used Essie's Blanc and a make up sponge to try to create the snowy gradient effect. I then used a black striper to create the wire and a small brush to create green, blue, red and yellow fairy lights.

I feel my motivation has been lacking a little today, not entirely sure why (maybe it is because I'm half way through my challenge - phew)! Holly and the Ivy next...I'm hoping to muster up an easy-ish design as I struggled to do the holly on my Christmas pud nails. 

Until next time...



Ciate Advent Calendar - Day 12

So the gold theme continues! Behind door number 12 there was Twilight - a black with a gold glitter sparkle. 



 Ciate Mini (5ml) - Twilight

Until next time...

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 6

For today's nail art challenge I wanted to do a Christmas food related design hence choosing The Christmas Song for my theme ("chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."). I toyed with the idea of doing candy canes or gingerbread men but I decided to do little festive Christmas puddings.

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

The ivy was particularly difficult to do, I ended up using a toothpick to create the outline of the ivy and then filling each in with a small paintbrush.

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails
Until next time...


12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 5

My fifth nail art challenge was based around the relatively unknown song 'The Happy Elf'.


I was originally going to do a typical red and green elf design but after watching the movie Elf, with Will Ferrell, on Sunday night I decided to use the film as my inspiration. 

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails

Buddy = The Happy Elf!

nailart_nails_nallchallenge_design_art_nailvarnish_christmaschallenge_12daysofchristmasnails


 Until next time...


Ciate Advent Calendar - Day 10 & 11

Gold seems to be Ciate's colour theme at the moment. Yesterday, day number 10, I received a shimmering gold polish called Ladylike Luxe.


                                                 
 Ciate Mini (5ml) - Ladylike Luxe

Today, day number 11, I received another caviar bottle of beads called Bumble Bee - a mixture of gold and black pearls.



                                                   Ciate Caviar Pearls (10g) - Bumble Bee


Until next time...


Sunday, December 9, 2012

Introducing... I Heart Nail Art

After much deliberation I have decided to change my blog/domain name. I know this is potentially blog suicide but I felt I had to do it. I started this blog with the intention of covering all things fashion and beauty, but I feel I have been a little biased in my posts since I have focused primarily on nails and nail art.

Keep Calm and Paint Your Nails is the way I like to think about nail art. Painting my nails is my form of relaxation, the time in my day I get to dedicate to myself and my passion. I also enjoy wowing people, I have never been particularly musical or creative in any other way, so I like the fact I can say I've found something I am good at and like to do. 

I hope you will pop back for more nail related posts in the future :)

Love,