The Fault in our Stars nails!

About a month ago I read "The Fault in our Stars" by John Green, after my friends recommending it for ages and ages. I've read another book by John Green, "Looking for Alaska" and loved that one so I figured that TFioS should be just as awesome. I was right. TFioS is probably the saddest book I've ever read, I was crying all through the second half. But it's SO good! I finished it in two days because I couldn't put it down. :P I seriously recommend you all go and read it (but don't blame me for any emotional damage it may cause).

I based my nails on the book cover and a quote from the book. The inspiration for this design came from a poster design on tumblr, but I don't know who originally came up with it (sorry!).

 

This is also my first Franken polish (I think that's what they're called). I didn't have a blue that was the right shade for the base, so I mixed some Max Factor "Candy Blue", Rimmel "Aqua Cool", Barry M "White" and some clear polish into an empty polish bottle. I didn't really measure how much of each colour I was putting in, I just added them until I got a shade that I liked. I'm actually really happy with how it came out, even if it is a little sheer. This is two coats of my polish. Then, I added details in with Barry M's "Black" and "White" using a thin paintbrush.

Have any of you read The Fault in our Stars? Are you planning to? Tell me what you think!

Flocked nails!

The Nailasaurus is probably my biggest inspiration in the nail blogging world. Ever since I stumbled across her posts I've been hooked, so when I saw she tried velvet nails I thought, "Why not?".

Mine didn't turn out half as elegant as Sammy's, they kinda look like fluffy red tennis balls. I added a line of gold glitter to the ring finger to jazz things up a bit. I used a base of Barry M's "Bright Red" then applied clear polish one nail at a time. Whilst wet, I picked up some flock with a pair of tweezers and dropped chucks onto the nail. Then, I pressed down the flock and knocked off the excess with a fan brush.

Even if I'm not too happy with how these look, they're still fun to wear. At the minute, my friends all love stroking my nails because they're so fuzzy! But having people stroke your nails is the weirdest feeling...

Children in Need nails!

These are technically a day late, because Children in Need was yesterday, but oh well. :P

If you don't know, Children in Need are a charity from the UK who hold a television event once a year to raise money for children and young people who are less fortunate. With this money, they aim to provide every child in the UK with a life which is safe, happy and secure whilst giving them opportunity to reach their goals.

The charity's mascot is Pudsey Bear, a giant yellow bear with a spotty eye patch. He's who my nails are inspired by.

 He's so adorable! To do these, I started with a base of Barry M's "White" then added details in with a small paint brush and Barry M's "Yellow", "Black", "Spring Green" and "Bright Red", Rimmel's "Aqua Blue", and finally Nails Inc's "Atomic".

Rainbow nails!

It's been ages since my last post... again. Sorry! :( I would say that I have reasons, but honestly I'm just kinda lazy. And when I have to choose between doing homework and writing a blog post, I'm not sure my teachers would appreciate if I chose to do the blog post instead. :P

Recently, I've been lacking in inspiration for designs. I think it's mostly because I just want to do Christmas designs but it's still slightly too early for them. Anyway, whenever I'm stuck for ideas I tend to just throw a bunch of colours around and go kinda crazy. And so, these rainbow nails were born!

 

They aren't the neatest lines, but I think that makes it look even more fun. The colours I used were; Barry M's "Bright Red, Nail Inc's "Atomic", Barry M's "Yellow", Barry M's "Spring Green", Max Factor's "Candy Blue", Barry M's "Indigo" and finally Rimmel's "Ultra Violet". All of these were over a base of Barry M's "White".

Hopefully I can get into a habit of blogging more regularly but it all depends on school work... sorry guys. :( Also, on a side note, are there any qualified nail technicians out there? I've been looking into doing some proper nail courses and it would be great to get some advice. :)

There weren't any pumpkins left. :(

Happy Halloween everyone!

Yes, I carved a watermelon instead of a pumpkin. I think it's kinda cute. :P

I'll probably post some nail art later, stay safe if you're going out tonight!

Halloween skyline

Today's post is a little later in the week than usual, but I have reason! This week is half term for me and over half term my school runs a program to encourage children to spend the week doing arts and crafts. I decided it might be fun to help out on a few of the days, and to link it back to my Arts Award I'm helping the children to learn how to do nail art. How exciting is that?! Let me know in the comments if you want to hear more about it and I'll do another post. :)

Halloween is a week away now and most of the other bloggers started with Halloween nail art ages ago, so I figure now would be a good time to join in.

I didn't want to do anything too obvious for my Halloween nails (candy corn, pumpkins, etc), so I thought of doing some nighttime nail art. I started with a base of a purple by Stargazer (number 157) then sponged on a gradient with A-England's "Lady of the Lake" at the cuticles. Then, I used a small paint brush and Barry M's "Black" to paint on different sized rectangles for the cityscape. I used Barry M's "Yellow" to dot in some windows and Barry M's "White" for the stars. Finally, I used white and the end of a thick handled paint brush to make a big circle for the moon and added the silhouettes of some bats with black.

Where's Wally nails!

It feels strange to be posting normal nail art whilst everyone else has started posting for Halloween. Then again, Halloween isn't really celebrated as much in the UK so it's not something we build up on for the whole month (except shops trying to sell sweets). Halloween nails will be coming next week though!

A couple of weeks ago I brought a white and red striped jumper, like what Wally (Waldo for the Americans) wears. When my friends saw it, they demanded I do Where's Wally nails to match, as well as a list of other nails I should do. So here they are at last, I found Wally!

I started with a base of Barry M's "Bright Red", then painted the white stripes in with white acrylic paint. This was surprisingly difficult, I'm still not happy with the lines. I wish they were straighter... I guess striping tape will have to be added to my list of nail art wants. Then, I used a small paint brush to paint Wally's skin tone with a mix of acrylic paints and added the hair in with some brown paints. Then I added the hat, jumper and face details in with Barry M's "Bright Red" and "White" and W7's "Black". Unfortunately, I didn't wait long enough before adding a topcoat so his face is a little smudged but it's not too noticeable hopefully.

I'm happy with how these have turned out, I think by doing designs like this it really shows how far I've come ability-wise. Considering I can't draw with paper and pencil to save my life, being able to paint tiny little pictures on my nails is awesome.