Organisation | Nail Polish, Polish Book & Tools

Hey all!


For the last 3 or 4 years I have had quite the nail polish collection. I used to be obsessed with nail polish and racked myself up about 130 nail polishes! However, a couple of months ago I did a big tidy out and chucked away all nail polishes that had gone gloopy and gave away ones I knew I wouldn't use (i.e. the pink ones). I was also not happy with the way I organised them as I struggled to find anything I wanted and would forget about half the ones I had! 

After getting rid of all the polishes I didn't want, I had the idea of making a nail polish book. My collection is too large to remember all the shades I have so to help this I grabbed an old notebook and made a page for each colour. Then, I painted a swatch of each and every colour and wrote their name next to it. I find this extremely helpful because when I want to paint my nails I have a flick through the book and decide what colours I want to use. I can see the colours and I can see the different shades which means I manage to use everything in my collection and not just the ones I remember! If you have a large collection I really recommend doing this. 

The other way I organised my nail polishes was by organising them into colour categories in my drawer. Rather than having them all mixed up I keep them in their colour groups which makes it simple to find the one I'm looking for after choosing it from my nail polish book. I know some other people keep their polishes in their brand categories but I prefer to do it by colour. When I've chosen my polishes I will keep them out of the drawer on my bedside table ready for any touch ups and then when I'm done they go back into their groups.

When I was younger I also used to be really into nail art so I have quite a few tools, glitters and stickers too. Before I organised them they were just all over my nail polish drawer and I would forget all about them so now I keep them separate and together. As you can see in the photo above I keep all my nail files, nail art brushes, dotting tools, sponges, tweezers and nail scissors together. I keep them in a jar which is actually a Nutella jar! My favourite trick for organisation is cleaning out Nutella jars when you've eaten all the yummy goodness because the jars are actually quite nice. 

Another thing I've done to keep certain tools together is by using a tray. This is a tray I used to use on my dressing table but now I've recycled it for my nail file blocks, nail glue, stickers and gems. The tray ensures that the sheets of nail stickers don't end up getting lost amongst the jungle of nail polishes and all stay together instead.

Last of all are my nail glitters. I don't use these much if I'm honest but I keep them anyway just in case (and come on- they are pretty!). To keep these together I have recycled a cotton buds tub and put them in there. Now if I want to go for a really glittery look I can just pull out the tub and pick which colour glitter I want to go for.

So that's my nail polish and tools organisation! I am well and truly happy with my collection and how it is all laid out now which is the first time I have been happy with it. I find it easy to pick and choose what I want and it how tidied it is makes it visually pleasing for me. I didn't have to buy anything to do it and just recycled things I already had. You can do this too with things you just have lying about in your house!


How do you store your nail polishes?

Nails | Blue & Black Glitter Bomb

The application of nail polish in the photo above certainly isn't my finest of nail polish applications, but nevertheless I wanted to share what I had on my nails at the moment! Since seeing what it is like to have your nails done professionally I have been trying hard to resist constantly getting nails done and instead trying to use what I have in my own kinda big collection. 

I really like black and I really like blue, so why not mix them together? I haven't actually worn black nail polish that wasn't gel in years! Here you can see I have used Collection Work The Colour 'Sonic Blue' on my index finger and ring finger. How can I resist a nail polish that is a reminder of Sonic the Hedgehog? As for the black I have used Rimmel 60 Seconds 'Black Out'. It applies quite opaque for a black polish and doesn't take long to dry which is a relief. After my nails dried I used Rimmel Glitter Bomb Top Coat 'Bedazzle' which are medium sized glitter pieces in colours of red, blue and pink. 

Admittedly they haven't been lasting on my nails long and chipping everyday, but overall I like how they look and don't mind having to fill in the chips.

Nails | Red & Textured

So far this year I have had gel nails done professionally (for the first time!) but now I have started to paint my own nails again for a while. They may chip more easily and take more time for me to do but it is definitely a cheaper option and I have more of a colour range at home!

On the majority of my nails I am wearing Essie 'Jump In My Jump Suit' which I got in a Essie Winter Collection back in 2014. It is an ever so slightly deeper red and gives that classy look to your nails. 

As accent nails, I painted my ring fingers a different colour. For this I used the BarryM Nail Paint Textured Nail Effects in 'Countess' (which instantly makes me think of Lady Gaga in American Horror Story). The base of this nail colour is brown with hints of purple. There are also gold flecks in it which help make up the textured feel. It is hard to describe but the nail polish feels bumpy with grains. I like this because it adds something else to your manicure and looks pretty cool! Additionally it seems to make the nail polish last longer as they haven't chipped at all!

What are on your nails?

Easy & Simple Christmas Nails!

Hello!

The other week I needed a quick, simple and easy nail manicure to do before work and this is what I did. I know it nothing ground breaking but I wanted something festive for the Christmas period so I knew glitter would be on the cards!

For this I used the L'Oreal Colour Riche Rouge Pin Up which I actually got last Christmas. As the name suggests, it is a classic pin up red which I always associate with Christmas. It goes on lovely and I like to use 2 coats to make it completely opaque. Additionally, I also used the Models Own Silver Glitter on my ring fingers so I could have a glitter accent. I love glitter as it catches the light and looks festive, but I don't want to put it on all my nails because glitter is always a pain to take off!

To adhere the glitter, I painted my ring fingers and waited until it dried before adding a second coat. Before that coat dried, I sprinkled some glitter over my finger so it could dry into the polish. The best way to do this is to do it over a piece of paper or tissue to catch the excess and then you can put some of the excess back into the pot. I also found it is best to rotate my finger so the glitter can go on evenly over the entire nail.

I also showed a Christmas nail design last year that includes glitter and candy canes, so to check it out click here.

 So there we go! Simple but effective. What are going to be your Christmas nails?

Nails | Halloween Spider Webs

Hey!


Halloween is my favourite time of the year. As a lover of all things alternative, Halloween means I can wear the things I normally like to wear without standing out too much. If it has a skull on it, I want it! But anyway, one of my favourite things is that I get to do some Halloween nail art.


First I put on a base coat, where I used the Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat. Then, I did two coats of Models Own Coconut Cream to give me an opaque white base. I made sure I gave this half an hour to dry so I wouldn't smudge it when I went to draw on the spider webs.


To draw the spider webs, I used the BarryM Black Nail Art Pen. I find this is the easiest way to do this as it is just like a pen. however a striper (a thinner nail brush) can do the same job. I start off by drawing 3 semi 'circles' with three straight lines. I then use the little corners of the edges of the lines to determine where the lines of the web are going to go through. I do 3 of these. It is really difficult to explain in words, so it is easier to just look at the photo.


When using black on white it is SO important that you let it dry completely before applying a top coat. Otherwise, you will smudge the black into the white and ruin your design! To avoid this I actually did these nails at night time and went to sleep afterwards so the black had all night to fully dry and then I did the top coat when I woke up. I understand this may not be possible for everyone, but I really cannot stress enough how important it is to let the black completely dry.


That's it! Spider webs are my favourite design to do at Halloween as it is easy to do and because it is only made up of lines it is easier to do on the other hand where you need to use your non-dominant hand to draw them. 


What have you done on your nails for Halloween? Let me know!

Nails | Halloween Dripping Blood

Hey!

I thought I would share with you a post I made last year at Halloween. Last year I did some dripping blood nail art which I thought were really cool and they actually received a lot of compliments. If you'd like to see how to do it, click here.


Are you doing anything for Halloween? I absolutely love the idea of Halloween but I never get to do anything. I love the designs, the clothes and the general spooky-ness. Plus the great YouTube tutorials of different make up designs!


Have you got any plans for Halloween?

Boots Mega Shine Colour Lock Top Coat

Hey!

As an avid nail painter I have had my fair share of nail polish top coats. This is the Boots Mega Shine Colour Lock Top, obviously sold in Boots, which I got as a present from a family member a while ago.

This top coat claims to have 'mega shine'. Can I agree? Yes. This is one of the best top coats I have used in terms of shine and you get a very shiney manicure out of it.

Other positives of this top coat include that the consistency is thin enough that it makes it extremely easy to apply, makes application smooth and doesn't leave any air bubbles. I've had it a long while now and it hasn't gone gloopy and hard to apply like some nail polishes do.

However, there is a major flaw that I have found in this top coat: Does it stick to it's claim of being a 'colour lock'? No. The major flaw in this top coat is that it actually makes your nail polish more likely to come off than by itself and it doesn't lock anything in place. No matter what nail polish I use it somehow makes it really easy to chip off! I then tried it as a base coat but it still had the same effect. I want my top coat's to make my nail colour last, not make them chip easy! 

Furthermore, I did a bit of an experiment for 3 days where I had just this top coat on bare nails on one hand and the Models Own Hypergel Top Coat on the other. I found that the majority of this top coat came off within 1 day whilst the Model's Own one lasted those 3 days. How rubbish!

So overall, this top coat works good at making your nails super shiny but makes your nail polish come off straight away. I can't find any way to make use of this as no matter what layer I use it as in my manicure it works to make the polish come off straight away. For that reason, I will not be using, recommending or buying this nail polish again.

What is your favourite top coat to use? Let me know!

Nails | BarryM Aquarium 'Pacific'

Hey guys!

Here are my current nails. I absolutely love the colour! It is from the Barry M Aquarium collection in Pacific and I got it as one of my birthday presents from my friends. 

The colour is a stunning petrol blue colour which is super shiny with a hint of seaweed green. Perfect for the theme!

I  particularly like the brush on the nail polish because it is thin so you can do your nails easily without getting any polish on the skin surrounding it. The packaging is also beautiful with a gold lid and scales on. It reminds me of a mermaid!                         

As for the polish, it has great wear time. I have had the polish on for 3 days so far and it hasn't even chipped! I love long lasting nail colour as it means I don't have to fill in the chips every night wasting time which I have to do with a lot of nail polish.

Overall I love this nail colour, the packaging and the wear. I couldn't ask for anything more and I will definitely consider the rest of the collection. You can get it for £3.99 which is an a fantastic price.

Have you used any of the Barry M Aquarium Collection? Let me know!

Nail Art | Cats

Hey!


As I sat and wondered what to do for my next nail design my boyfriend suggested to me that I should do cats jokingly. But I thought, actually- challenge accepted! I am a total cat lover so this is perfect for me.

First I painted my nails with a base coat. I then painted the the tips of my nails in a strip of black. Then, using a black striper I had drawn half a circle on top of the stripe and coloured it in for the head. Still using the striper I then filled in two triangles on the head for ears. I allowed all this to dry.

Next I used a white striper to fill in two small eyes. I heard you can also use a toothpick for this but for some reason I always struggle with toothpicks. The white is so you can make the green eyes pop against the black. I then got a neon green nail polish and used a thin paintbrush to go over the white. I allowed this to dry.

Last but not least I used the black striper to draw lines down the eyes for the pupils that look like slits.

I recommend using a very good top coat for this design as you don't want your new design that you've put hard work into to chip within one day! However I'd definitely leave it a while before applying a top coat otherwise you're bound to streak the design and ruin it. I did my nails before I went to bed and then applied a top coat after I woke up.

As for my thumb, I had some sticker letters I wanted to try out so I decided to have 'Meow' across my thumb which is optional. I topped this off by painting the tip of my nail black which I also did on my left hand as there was no way I could paint cats with my non-writing hand!

What do you think? I got this idea from CutePolish on YouTube so be sure to check her out!

PS- Have you seen the film How To Train Your Dragon? If so, don't you think my cats look like Toothless?!

Nails | 2 Shades of Blue

Hey!

Here are my nails for the week. I have used Essie's 'Lapiz of Luxury' and 'No more film' which are a colder blue and a navy blue. On my middle finger I have used a bow sticker as I didn't have enough time to do some real nail art which I got from a nail art set from Seventeen which you can read about here.

I love these colours and think they look lovely together.

What are you wearing on your nails this week?

Essie Nail Polish: Mint Candy Apple & Jiggle Hi Jiggle Lo

 Hey!

I am a massive nail polish fan with over a 100 polishes so it is pretty surprising I didn't own any Essie ones! But at Christmas I received 6 different shades and mint candy apply and jiggle hi jiggle lo were two of these. 

Mint Candy Apple is a beautiful cold blue with a hint of turquoise that I have had my eye on for a while. It has always reminded me of Elsa from Frozen! Jiggle Hi Jiggle Lo on the otherhand is one from Essie's Winter Collection and is a beautiful sparkly silver that reminds me of melted metal.

I really like Essie nail polishes. They glide on well and seem to be the most long-lasting nail polish I have come across. These polishes seem to chip less than other ones I use.

I also like these two colours together. I imagine it as matching Elsa's dress in her Let It Go number haha! But that's just me. 

What do you think of Essie nail polishes? Let me know!

#BigBlogmasProject2014 | Candy Canes and Sparkles Nail Art

Hey guys!

Today I FINALLY painted my Christmas nails! I have decided to go with candy cane nails with a blue glittery accent nail on both ring fingers. Want to know how I done it? Read on!

You will need:

• Light blue nail polish
• White nail polish
• Red nail polish
• A striper
• Glitter nail polish
• Top/Base coat

1. Paint your nails with a base coat and let them dry fully.

2. Paint all nails but your ring finger nails white. They may need more than one coat to create a solid colour. Leave them to dry.

3. Paint your ring finger nails with the light blue nail polish and let that dry.

4. Once your ring finger nails have dried, paint a coat of the glitter nail polish on both of them and leave that to dry.

5. Coat the striper in the red polish. Begin to draw diagonal stripes across your nails. I think doing 3 red stripes on each nail looks super effective. Also, try to make each red line similar in thickness. Leave them to dry.

6. Paint a top coat on to your ring fingers like normal. When it comes to putting on a top coat for your candy cane nails, do them following the diagonal lines as opposed to just straight down like you normally would. Do all the white stripes first and then all the red ones. This is because if you do it like you normally would you will smudge the colours together and ruin the design!


There you have it! Alternatively, you can try cutting tape into thin stripes and using them on your nails to create the perfect stripes. I tried this but it didn't work well with the white nail polish I was using and just pulled it all off!

What are on your Christmas nails? Let me know if you recreate this!

#BigBlogmasProject2014 | Christmas Nail Art Inspirations

 Hey,

As you guys should know by now, I'm a big fan of nail art. But none of my own nail art come without inspiration! I take the majority of my inspiration from Instagram, so I have compiled for you 5 of my favourite Christmas nail art inspirations from Instagram.

1. CutePolish (Insa: @cutepolish Youtube: CutePolish): She is the Queen of nail art on YouTube and has inspired so many of my designs. She is definitely one to check out. She always does these fantastic Christmas nail art guides every year!

2. Insta: @Sherrinessparklies: This design is flawless, artistic and sophisticated. It is a beautiful design, my favourite part being the snowflakes, that would go well with a Christmas dress to a Christmas do.

3. Insta: @BonitaJuanita2: These are too cute! These Christmasy polka dot tips would be super easy to do and very effective. 

4. Insta: @Kristyhomolya: I always love it when a nail artist creates these nail wheels so you can see various designs. Each and every one of these designs are beautiful and you could even merge one or two of them together in to one design! A definite artist.

5. Insta: @Nailsbytinav: I don't know about you, but this design reminds me of a traditional Christmas jumper! The reindeer are just too cute!

What do you think?

#BigBlogmasProject2014 | Christmas Tree Nail Art!

Hello!

Last year these were my nails for Christmas. I'll show you how to do them!

>You Will Need:

• Silver nail polish
• Yellow nail polish
• Red nail polish
• A dotting tool/tooth pick/small paintbrush
• Base coat/top coat
• A striper

1. Paint your nails using a base coat to make a nice base for your Christmas design.
2. Paint your nails silver. You may need to paint more than one coat to make it a nice solid colour. Let them fully dry.
3. Using your green polish, paint a triangle shape with the base of the tree at the end of your nail. You can try doing this just with the brush, or use a striper to help you. Let it fully dry.
4. Either using a silver striper, a thin brush or a toothpick, draw zigzag lines across the tree like tinsel and let them dry.
5. Using the round end of a paintbrush or a toothpick, dot various red circles along the silver tinsel to look like baubles.
6. Using the round end of a paintbrush or toothpick, dot a yellow dot at the top point of the tree to look like a star. Alternatively you could but a little gem here.
7. After your design is completely dry and won't smudge, add a high-shine top coat to protect your design.

And that's it! What will you be doing on your nails this Christmas?

Let me know!

Halloween Nails: Spiderwebs

Hello!

Here is another Halloween nail art idea for you: Spiderwebs!
To check out my other Halloween nail art blog post (dripping blood), click here.

What you will need:

• A black striper/Toothpick with black nail varnish on/Black nail art pen. I used the Barry M black nail art pen.

1. Start in the corner of the top of your nail. You need to draw an inner shape first. This kind of looks like a circle but has three points to it, kind of like this: /-\ but with the '-' along the top and the same length as the other sides. Perhaps google images of cartoon spiderwebs for inspiration.

2. Draw another one slightly bigger above it with a slight width in between. Repeat this with an even bigger one above those two with the same width in between. Make sure the sharp points go above one another in the same line so you would be able to draw a straight line through them.

3. From the middle of the smallest /-\ draw a straight line that goes up through the middle of the web and out. 

4. Similarly, start a line from underneath the first /-\ but underneath one of the points. Draw a straight line that goes up through all of the points in line with the bottom one and out. Repeat this for the other point on the opposite side.

5. Optional: You could draw some spiders! Draw a straight line down one of your nails that finishes just before the midde of your nail. Then, make a black spot at the end of it for the spider's body.Add four small lines on either side for legs!

And that's it! It sounds really complicated when written down but if you have a look at my nails and perhaps some cartoon cobwebs you'll understand what I mean. I only used a base coat underneath the spiderwebs as I wanted them to show on my natural nail but you could do a white base coat first and then the black spider webs!

What is going to be on your nails for Halloween? Let me know!

Halloween Nail Art: Dripping Blood

Hey Guys!

Here is a super easy and quick nail art idea for Halloween I have to share with you. I did this last year and could not resist doing it again!

1. Paint your nails with a base coat. To help make the blood look more 'wet' looking you could use a matte coat. However, you do not have to do this- I didn't!

2. Grab a tool with a rounded point (I used the end of a paint brush) and dip it in to red nail polish. Then, carefully dot three dots near the bottom of your nail at different heights.

3. If needed get more nail polish on to the tool and slowly drag a line from a dot to the top of your nail. Ensure you leave spacing between each line.

4. After you have done your three lines, join them up at the top by using the dotted tool to add curved lines. This really gives the effect of dripping blood!

5. Put on a top coat to the blood. I highly recommend a high shine top coat to make the blood look wet! If you used a matte base coat underneath this will really stand out against it.

And that's it! What do you think? Also, what are you going as for Halloween? Let me know!

Models Own Microdots Nail Polish Review!

Hey!

So today I am reviewing Microdots by Models Own. It is a clear nail polish with yellow, blue, orange red and turquoise miniature particles. You can use it over other nail polishes to give a polka dot effect.

I really like this nail polish. It is easy to use and is a quick way to make your nails look more fun and interesting without the hassle of doing nail art. It is easy to paint over your nails and you can use the brush to poke the dots to spread them out in a better way across your nails so they don't end up in a cluster.

It is also probably the easiest glitter nail varnish to take off too. I love glitter nail varnish but never wear them as I am too lazy to deal with the hassle of removing it but this was generally okay to take off.

Here is a photo of it when I used it on my ring finger over Model Own's Coconut Cream:

Overall I really like this nail polish and I am glad I have got it. I will definitely use it again!

Do you have it and what do you think of it? Let me know!