French Polka Dot Mani

I love this twist of a French Manicure! I can't lay claim to it unfortunately, I came across it randomly a few weeks back and decided to give it a go.

Basically instead of doing a white stripe at the tip of your nail, you do white polka dots instead! So easy and quick to do.

I'm not a big matte fan but I really think it helped to finish this look. I mattifed it before I took the photos so I don't have any before photos to show you but it really looks so different and so much better when it's matte!

What I used: 

Essie Topless and Barefoot, OPI Alpine Snow and Essence Matte Top Coat.

My Easter Mani!

I hope everybody is having a good Easter weekend and isn't too sick after eating too many eggs! 

Isn't this such a cute Easter design? I can't lay claim to it unfortunately, I saw it on Cosmetic Cupcake's blog during the week. (This post) As soon as I saw it I knew I had to re-create it this weekend. I put it on yesterday and a few people guessed what it was supposed to be! (Even when I didn't have the creme egg!)

I would have preferred a stronger, more definite yellow but this was the darkest yellow I had. 

My poor nail on my index finger is still a bit stubby looking after a bad break:( Really need to re-shape my nails as well but I wanted to keep as much length as I could for this design!

The polishes I used for this was:

• No7 Salsa over the entire nail (Red)
• Essie Sexy Divide diagonally on the top of the nail (Purple)
• China Glaze Icicle as a dividing line between red and purple (Silver)
• OPI Fiercely Fiona for the splat and dots (Yellow)

Once again check out Cosmetic Cupcake's blog, she has some great designs:)

Did you do an Easter mani this year?

Silver Polka Dots

This is the beautiful Cuckoo for this Colour by OPI (Swiss Collection A/W 2010).

It's a deep, slightly blackened green with shimmery undertones.

I was wearing it for a few days and although it started showing some tipwear, I didn't quite want to take it off.

Instead I decided to freshen it up with some polka dots!

The silver I used is Icicle by China Glaze (Holiday 2011)

I love adding polka dots  to manicures as it's really quick and simple but looks great! 

What's your favourite way to revive a mani?

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 31

Day 31

And this is it, the final day of the challenge. And it's not even a challenge today, just a recap! 

I have to say I enjoyed this nail challenge immensely. Whilst I am the first to admit that I still need plenty of practice in the nail art department I do feel that this challenge has allowed me to experiment a bit more with nail art and I'm really looking forward to doing even more experimenting with it. 

Another bonus with this challenge is that you really go through your nail varnish collection and root out varnish you otherwise may not have used! That being said I did end up using OPI's Alpine Snow and 17's Nightshade quite frequently! 

Another thing I loved about this challenge was blogging every day. I thought I might struggle a bit with it but aside from having to schedule a few posts due to being away, I really didn't find it that bad. I'm looking forward to blogging more frequently in the future but I don't know if I'll do it on a daily basis or not. I want to but I don't know if readers like it? People might not have the time to read a post every day by every blogger they follow. What do ye think? Would ye like to see a blog a day?   

I can't have the final post of the challenge without a picture so I'm going to include a few pictures of my favourite designs throughout the challenge:) 

Day 11

Day 10

Day 19

Day 20

Day 26

Day 27

Let me know if you decide to do the challenge!

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 30

                                                                            Day 30

Today is going to be my last nail post! I can't believe that we are at the end of the month already and that it is Halloween tomorrow! I have enjoyed doing this challenge so much but I'll expand on that in tomorrow's recap post!

So for today, the final challenge was to be inspired by a tutorial. I decided to use a tutorial given by one of my all-time favourite nail bloggers, Kayla. She first started off as a general beauty blogger but recently changed her domain name to acknowledge that her main focus is now on nails. This girl does epic nail art (and epic hauls and swatches!) so I was delighted when she started doing step by step tutorials of some of her nail art designs. 

The one I chose was of course a Halloween themed one. This is her 'Mummies' nail art design and I love it! Check out her tutorial of it here. 

 

I used

OPI Alpine Snow (Base and Eyes)

Revlon Grey Suede (Sponged over base)

Revlon No Name Gold (Sponged over Grey Suede)

17 Nightshade (Stripes and Eyes)

So that's the last design in the challenge:( But check tomorrows post for the recap and my thoughts on the challenge!

And go check out Kayla! Seriously you won't regret it!

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 29

Day 29

The weekend again! And it's Halloween this weekend,I don't even know what I'm doing for it yet!

I can't believe that this is the second last day of the challenges! (Day 31 is a kind of recap) 

The challenge for today is Inspired by the Supernatural. I couldn't have chosen a better weekend for this challenge to fall on. 

I couldn't really decide on one solid theme for this so I decided to use a few different things. Apologies for the desperate photos, my camera was not in a co-operative mood. 

Little finger is supposed to be a blood stain

Ring finger is fangs

Middle finger is a broomstick

Index finger is a witches hat

 

I think I'm starting to wane and lose imagination at this stage:/ This is certainly not my best look!

 

I used:

China Glaze Pelican Grey

OPI My private Jet

OPI Decades of Shades

OPI Rising Star

OPI Alpine Snow

Rimmel Desire

Don't forget to turn the clocks back tonight!

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 28

Day 28

Today's nail challenge is to be Inspired by a Flag. I searched google images for flags and what I initially decided to do was the South African flag but then this one jumped out at me! The Olympics flag! Seeing as the 2012 Olympics are being held in neighboring London next year, I thought it would be a good flag to do.

 

It should have been simple, but this is me haha! Ah it turned out fairly acceptable. It looks decentish from afar and even close-up it's okay albeit the circles are a little bit wonky!

 

I used

OPI Alpine Snow

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui

GOSH Yellow Doll

17 Nightshade

OPI Jade is the New Black

Rimmel Hot Gossip

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 27

Day 27

Today's post is Inspired by Artwork. I decided to use this painting by Van Gogh as my inspiration.
                             
                                

And this is how mine turned out. Obviously it was never going to be a carbon copy and mine is a bit more.....blobby. Despite this, I quite like this manicure!

 

 I used:

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui (Base)

Barry M Navy (Sponged over base)

17 Nightshade

GOSH Yellow Doll

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 26

Day 26

Today's nail challenge was to be inspired by a pattern. This is what I came across when looking for a fashion design for yesterday but I felt it was more suited to today. 

My inspirational pattern is from tartan (or plaid, is there a difference other than name?) 

Tartan/Plaid

My take on it.

 

I used 

Rimmel Hot Gossip

OPI Jade is the New Black

Catrice Sand Francisco 

I was way happier with today's design than yesterday's. I could definitely improve it more and I'm really looking forward to wearing it on my nails again! Especially around Christmas:) 

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 25

Day 25

Today's theme is inspired by fashion.

I tried a few of different things, including one which I feel is better suited to tomorrows theme, but none of them were right. So I decided to go with something very simple, the iconic symbol of Chanel. To me on hearing Chanel, it evokes images of elegance and grace. Unfortunately, my nails did not turn out like either!
I was getting very tired and frustrated when I was doing these I just could not get them right. The pictures are my second attempt after my first ones turned out completely buthchered.

The only plus side is that they kind of remind me of bones. Bones can be Halloween themed, right?

 

I used:

OPI Alpine Snow

17 Nightshade

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 24

Day 24

It's the start of another new week:) I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend, as some of ye know I was away for the weekend visiting friends and I had a brilliant time:)

  

This is the last week of the challenge! It's the 31st next Monday, it's hard to believe that the month is nearly over, it has flown! 

This is the 3rd of the Inspired days and today it is inspired by a book. I decided to stick with a Halloween theme today so I chose a book by Stephen King, probably the top horror novelist there is. The book cover that I chose 'Cell' aptly has orange and black as the colours of the cover, perfect for Halloween.

The book cover and the polishes I used - Kiko 112, Rimmel Black Pearl and OPI Alpine Snow.

 

I took my inspiration from both the colours of the cover and the little phone on the cover. It's a cute design, I think and not the hardest.

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 23

Day 23

Today's theme is Inspired by a Movie. The movie that I used for inspiration for this is The Devil Wears Prada. I absolutely love this film!

I took inspiration from the movie promo picture and decided to use that in the mani. It's a devil's pitchfork and I think it turned out okay. I love the way that the red polish I used wasn't completely opaque as I feel it gives kind of a streaky blood effect. Blood and devil's pitchforks - very appropriate this month I feel!

 

I used:

OPI's Alpine Snow

No7 Salsa