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31 Day Challenge, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 31: Honour Nails You Love

1st October 2013

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So here we are! The 31st and final day of the challenge. I definitely enjoyed it more this time around than I did in previous years. I know that because not once did I consider giving up part way through! It’s always so satisfying when you get to the end of a big task like this that you commit yourself to and see through to the very end. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m very proud of myself right now!

For the last prompt of the challenge, we have to honour nails we love. There’s one manicure that I’ve loved since the moment I saw it and it’s by Deniz, a now-retired nail blogger, at Emerald Sparkled. This particular manicure is titled Look Rich, Be Cheap and since I first saw it back on that day in February 2012, it’s been burned in to my memory. I have a long standing love of glequins and I think I can pinpoint Deniz’s mani as the one that sparked it! Black and gold is a favourite of mine and I think Deniz’s design is so timeless. It’s jazzy but very elegant at the same time.

I used W7 Black as my base colour and used round glequins from Born Pretty Store to frame my nails. (Video tutorial here)

The Chanel decal is also from Born Pretty but they don’t seem to be selling them any more.

I topped it all off with two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

In other news, I’m headed to London tomorrow for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards where I’m nominated in the Best Established Beauty Blog category. I’ll be teaming up with Allie, Lucie and Alice; all my fellow nail blogger nominees and I’m so excited to get there and meet everyone but very nervous at the same time. I’m still at a loss for something to wear on my nails and I only have the rest of the evening to decide! Can you say #nailbloggerproblems?

Day 31: 2012 (Part 1) (Part 2)

Day 31: 2011

Catch up with the 31 Day Challenge on Pinterest!

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Harlekwins

5th March 2013

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Sorry this ain’t no tutorial – as promised it is coming this week, just not today. I’ve had these little diamond glequins just as long as the hexagonal ones but at the time I saw so much potential in the hexes that these got swept under the rug and neglected until now. I know I say this too often but I love this manicure! Since the new year I’ve really done a u-turn and these days I can’t get enough pink. I blame the Avant Garden collection! The diamond glequins are available from Born Pretty Store here (#5) and I can see myself investing in a couple more colours very soon.

I used China Glaze Pink-ie Promise as my base colour and applied the glequins, which are from Born Pretty Store (colour #5), in a harlequin pattern using this method. Finally I topped it off with one coat of Seche Vite.

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What’s a Glequin?

27th January 2013

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‘Glequin’ is a word that I use a lot on this blog, often forgetting that it’s a made up word. I’m sure some of you out there will be left wondering… ‘WTF is a Glequin?!’

Well hopefully that question will be answered soon and I’ve answered a few other Glequin FAQs while I’m here.

The word ‘Glequin’ was formed by mashing Glitter+Sequin together. Glequins are small pieces of plastic that resemble glitter but are kind of too big to be described that way – when most people hear ‘glitter’ they think of something powdery. But they’re also too small to fit in to the category of sequins, which are bigger and much easier to handle!

Where can you buy them?

I always buy them from Born Pretty Store because they have a huge selection of colours and shapes and they’re cheap as hell! Not forgetting the free worldwide shipping.

I have the 12 Pack of little pots which is $6.45 and a few Individual Large Pots which are $2.38 each. I mostly have hexagonal shaped ones but you can also buy diamonds and circles.

Sooo many people have asked me what stores you can buy them in and the truth is I’ve never seen these in UK shops. If you have, please let us all know in the comments. Same if you know of any US stores where you can buy them.

Top row: 12 pack Red, Pink, Orange, Gold, Pistachio Green, Lime Green, Bright Green, Aqua Blue,
Royal Blue, Purple, Clear, Silver.
Bottom row: Silver Holographic (#1) and Gold Holographic (#2)

How big are they?

Sizes do vary slightly but most of the ones I’ve used are somewhere around 1mm in diameter. It’s hard to tell exactly how big they are when you only see them in pictures of other peoples’ nails so for a bit of perspective I lined them all up next to a ruler, the lines each mark 1mm.

You can see that most of the ones I own are just slightly over 1mm except the silver one (top row, far right) which is almost double the size of the others, and the silver and gold holographic ones (bottom row) which are smaller.

How do you apply them?

I use a toothpick dipped in clear nail polish (so it’s tacky at the end) to apply them whilst I have wet polish on my nails. I made a video of me doing this which you can watch here. I’m sure there are many other tools and methods you can use to stick them to your nails so if that method doesn’t work for you, try something else that you think will!

You will need a steady hand but I don’t think patience is particularly important. With a bit of practice, you’ll be able to apply them really quickly.

Sally Hansen Green Tea

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Glitter, Uncategorised

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

16th July 2012

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I found out today that I made it on to the shortlist for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2012! It really is all thanks to you guys. Thank you to everyone that put in a nomination for me, I love you all so much! I’m even getting a little teary eyed writing this *le cry*!

If you would like to vote for me, you can do so on the Cosmo website and I’m in the Established Beauty Blog category. I’m not getting my hopes up for the win but I’m really overjoyed just to be on the list! I say this all the time (and I still find it hard to fully articulate my feelings on the subject) but when I started this blog I never imagined it would evolve in to the one you’re reading today but I’m so glad that it has. To be receiving such recognition for doing something that I love is just overwhelming. Once again, thank you!

Today’s nail art is something I’ve had in mind for a long time, well the basic premise anyway. I knew I wanted to do naked half-moons but I didn’t know how I would dress them up. As hard as I try, I can’t shake this glequin obsession so I’m just going to keep rolling with it!

Half Moon and Glitter by The Nailasaurus

I did not use a ‘base colour’. I just used my base coat (Cult Nails Get It On) and waited for that to dry before using some hole reinforcers to mark of the half moons at the base of my nails. I painted a coat of W7 Black on each nail and quickly removed the hole reinforcers. I used a striping brush with W7 Black to neaten up any mistakes and let it all dry.

To attach the glequins, I painted on a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast and used a sticky toothpick to place them while that was still tacky.

Finally, I added another coat of wicked fast and that was that!

Stuff I used:

Cult Nails Get It On Base Coat, Hole Reinforcers, W7 Black, Glequins from Born Pretty Store, Cult Nails Wicked Fast Top Coat, A Striping Brush

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