Ice Cream Nails

First time in a while I have attempted nail art, it took a lot longer then expected! Well in case you couldn't guess, the red parts are meant to be cherries, and the other parts are sprinkles. Most of the colours are China Glaze, with a couple of Barry M's chucked in for good measure. I have seen ice cream nails all over the place at the moment so thought I would catch onto the craze, they fit in quite nicely with the fact that its a lovely sunny day outside!

Some more nail art

I think everyone will get pretty sick of me experimenting soon! Anyway I am very proud of my latest creation, and here it is:
For the pink I used China Glaze Something Sweet, for the blue I used Essie Mint Candy Apple, the dark pink of the flower is China Glaze Sugar High, and the green is China Glaze Starboard.
For the white stripes and polka dots I used my Models Own nail art pen, and for the flower I used my cheap nail art brushes I got off eBay.
I think it looks very pretty and I'm impressed with myself! What do you think? Sorry for not cleaning up the cuticles!

First attempt at water marbling

So after watching a few tutorials on YouTube on water marbling, I decided to give it a go. I used Essie Angora Cardi, Color Club High Society and China Glaze Below Deck. Here is how it turned out:

First off, oh my gosh I knew my hands where dry but I never realised my cuticle/nail bed where that disgusting!
That aside I am pretty happy with how this turned out. I like my ring finger the best, but I think my pinkie is quite quite too.
My middle finger has a huge dent in it where I got a water bubble and didn't fix it properly.
I also like the colour selection, but I think I chose colours too similar so next time I try it I will use more contrasting colours.

The process itself was really easy, but it was very messy to clean up. I put tape underneath the nail around my finger to make cleaning up a bit easier, but I still got a lot of polish around my fingers, and when trying to remove it I ended up with bruised looking fingers! Will definitely be trying this again!

Models Own/WAH Nail Art Pen

So I feel like I have used my Models Own/WAH nail art pens enough to give them a decent review.
They retail for £6 each and at the moment the only available colours are black and white, but Models Own intend to introduce the whole of their colour range in these pens.

They are designed to have a pen like top, and also a stripper tool when you unscrew the top. Pretty similar to most other nail art pens on the market to be honest.

I will start with the pen tip. This is my favourite part of the pen. Unlike other nail art pens you don't have to press down on the tip to get the polish out. You just squeeze the pen constantly, and when you are done you replace the pin into the head. This has its good points and its bad points, the good being that you don't have to worry about scraping your base colour off, the bad points being that you have to continually squeeze it which can be a effort, and its very easy to squeeze out too much.
So here we have a picture of the pens with the pins in:

And here is a picture of the pen tips and the pin:

So you see the tip is lovely and fine which is great for drawing fine things easily, but as you can see there is a blog of polish at the end and that is with very little pressure which shows how you can easily waste it or mess up your designs.
Putting the pin back in can also be tricky at times because the pen tip is so fine, and I can imagine this product wouldn't work second time around if you didn't replace the pin.
So next up is the striper part of the tool, which in my eyes is very disappointing. I will show you how mine arrived:

So as you can see, the white one is fine. The brush is a decent length, could be a bit thinner but still is fine for doing stripes, but then we get the black one, and oh it bent. Awesome I can totally do straight lines with a bent brush!
I would've sent it back, but the striper part wasn't what I really wanted it for and I didn't have the patience to wait. It was over Christmas I got these as well so there was a lot of snow and I didn't want the hassle of it getting lost.
I have also had a couple of friends use the striper brush and it all the hair completely fell out, so in my eyes, the striper tool needs a lot of work because at the minute it is useless.

The only other thing I can comment on is the quality of the polish. I really like Models Own nail polish, and these are no exception. The white is lovely and opaque, which you need for nail art really, but both of the polishes are nice and thick but without being drippy or runny and the drying time is decent, so the polish itself gets a thumbs up!

Despite the rubbish stripping tool, I do enjoy using the pen part, but at £6 a pop I'm not sure they are completely worth it when I managed to get a load of brushes for less then that. I guess it makes it less fiddly than brushes and with less to clean up but at least with brushes you can use whatever colours you want.
Has anyone else tried the pens? If you have did you have any issues with the stripper?

Nail Stuff Haul

So for those who don't know, I am visiting my parents at the minute. Where I am at the moment I don't really have anywhere I can have my post delivered to, so when I visit home it often means I have a pile of parcels waiting for me and its like Christmas all over again.
In case you hadn't noticed, I have been a bit obsessed with nails at the moment, so I have a Trans Design haul for you, and a couple of random nail accessory buys off eBay.

I will start off with the Trans Design haul.
For those of you who don't know what trans design is, it is a company where you can get very cheap polish. The best way to get value for money is to order 9 bottles at a time so that you can go for the small flat rate shipping box.

Shipping itself is pretty pricey at $20, which is quite a lot considering the cost of the 9 polishes themselves was $28, but that is still $48 for 9 polishes, which according to google is about £30, so I see it as even with p&p one its about £3.35 for a bottle of nail polish, which is still a lot cheaper then what we can get it for over here. Anyway lets get down to the haul. First up we have the more neutral colours:

From left to right we have, OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys, Color Club Jewel of a Girl, China Glaze Below Deck, Color Club High Society and China Glaze Pelican Grey.
Next up we have the jewel colours:

These are all China Glaze colours, and from left to right we have, Emerald Fitzgerald, Starboard, Hey Sailor and First Mate.
I am very happy with all these colours, and have already tried out a couple of them so expect to say NOTD with them and reviews soon!
Next up are just a couple of little bits that I got off eBay:

So I got the Seche Vite top coat, I think I got this for £6.50 which was the cheapest price I could see on there. Its such a cult product I'm surprised I held out on getting it for so long, but now I have it I love it.
I also got a set of nail art brushes. I was hmmming and ahhhing other whether or not to get these, but 15 brushes for £3.99 with p&p, even if they do break its not like it broke the bank. One of the brushes is actually a dotting tool anyway which I am sure I will get used to, but expect to see a lot of dodgy looking nail art posts coming up!
So there is the end of my hauling. Anyone else enjoying nail polish/art as much as I am or is it just me?

I'm going home! And NOTD

It is very early on a Saturday morning as I start work at 8am today. None of that matters though because I get to go visit my parents for 9 days!

Me and my mum will be getting our hair done and going to Covent Garden and I will get to see my old work friends on my way home after work tonight and lets not forget about all the parcels waiting for me! Hopefully a Trans Design order, some Sugarpill and some ebay purchases!

So a very excited and happy me today!

To keep this beauty related, here is a NOTD, because I am a bit too obsessed with them at the moment.

So from left to right starting with the thumb we have:
Barry M - Berry Ice Cream
Models Own - Dove Grey
China Glaze - Something Sweet
Essie - Mint Candy Apple
Models Own - Utopia
And the polka dots where done using my Models Own nail art pen. Have a great weekend!

Love/Hate Nails

So here we have my second attempt at nail art (please excuse the very messy cuticles) :

Despite how messy and wonky they are, I still love them! It's so nice to have something a little bit different at work where I am only allowed to wear black.
For the base I used Models Own Utopia, I had to do 3 coats because it went a tiny bit streaky. For the writing and the black heart I used my Models Own/Wah nail art pen and for the red heart I used my OPI Off With Her Red.
It's stupid how excited about nail art I am at the minute, I'm thinking about my valentines day manicure already!

My first attempt at nail art

So here is my first attempt at nail art. I used O.P.I's Off With Her Red for the red, and for the polka dots I used the Models Own nail art pens.

The black splodges are meant to be bows, inspired by Minnie Mouse, nice and tacky.

I also have lots of nice nail varnish all over my skin, how sexy.

Despite all the spolodgyness of this manicure, I still really like it and I'm proud of myself. Its a little different and it is a really nice talking point.

I am quite impressed with the models own nail art pens, they are a lot easier to use then a lot of other nail art type stuff I have tried.
Hopefully I will get better at this whole nail art shebang and have some better pictures to show you soon. I will also give the Models Own pens more of a whirl and hopefully have a review up soon!

But what do you think about nail art, tacky or creative?