As the awkward, yet reassuring, transition into a new year and back to normality continues, I’ve been thinking long and hard about my blog, content and where I want my life online to go from here. And in 2017 I really want to up my blogging game. The good news is, I think I know how to do it. So I made a list of things that I hope will make me a better blogger in 2017.
For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to start building up a collection of gel supplies for at home but I kept finding reasons not to. I wouldn’t have space to store it, I change my nails too often for it to be worth it, I don’t want the hassle of soaking off gel, and so on.
Well when I found out you can use a peel off base coat to experiment with techniques and shades, and I discovered the Mylee LED lamp which is super compact and would easily fit in my desk drawer, I ran out of good reasons to delay!
A few months ago, I found out that I was one of five Finalists in the Best UK Nail Blogger category at the Scratch Stars Awards which are ‘the only awards solely dedicated to recognising technicians and businesses in the UK nail industry.’ I’ve been nominated here and there for a few awards as a ‘beauty blogger’ but at its heart, The Nailasaurus is a blog all about nails. So to be recognised by one of the industry’s leading publications was a huge honour. The awards are in their fifth year now and ‘Best UK Nail Blogger’ was one of two brand new categories making its debut in 2016. So yeah… pretty dang exciting.
The Nailvengers are getting in to the festive spirit today as we tick over in to December and Christmas Mania can officially begin. I made a start on my Christmas shopping this weekend and let’s just say I’ll be doing as much as possible online from now on. Carrying giant shopping bags whilst trying to navigate through hoards of people also carrying their own hauls doesn’t make for a fun Sunday and it even resulted in a few bruises!
For this nail art I used Delush Glam Squad, the perfect festive red then added a few gold accent nails with Sally Hansen Coat of Arms and L’Oreal Platinum Chic.
For the details, I stamped on some designs from MoYou Festive Collection Stamping Plate 06 using BK Matte White.
It’s all topped with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.
When I tweeted about a certain new video game the week before last, you may have thought I was joking when I hinted that I wouldn’t be around much in the coming days. I seriously wasn’t joking! I’ve been out of commission for a while (although not just because gaming) and for that, I’m sorry. Noone wants to hear my excuses and I don’t really feel like bringing the mood down around here so let’s leave it at that. I’ll try to do better next month!
For this nail art, I’m borrowing heavily from an art design that I did over a year ago for the 31 Day Challenge 2013. I can’t believe it was that long ago! I didn’t even have to go back to the pictures or watch the tutorial to remember the pattern. I loved it so much that it’s been ingrained on my brain since the day I first pained it. I switched it up a bit this time with different patterns on all the nails and I had so much fun doing it. It’s definitely reignited my nail art spark.
In other news (still related to this nail art), I stumbled across one of those incredible odds-and-ends beauty stores in Bridgend over the weekend that seem to pop up all over the place before disappearing within a few months. I can never walk past one of these stores without going in. EVER! This one had a whole wall of neatly stacked nail polish, which I really appreciated because normally you have to dive through huge bins full of bottles to find the good ones! I restrained myself and left the building with only 5 bottles and a few make-up items. Two of them feature here today!
I used Sally Hansen Blinding Blue and Sally Hansen Coat of Arms as my base colours. For the lines, I used NYC Full Metal Jacket with a skinny brush from Winstonia. It’s all topped with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.
I think I died and went to heaven. They have all my favourites!! pic.twitter.com/J3Jcwx2kxw
— Sammy|TheNailasaurus (@TheSammersaurus) November 23, 2014
Last weekend, I was on the hunt for NYC’s new peel off base coat which, amazingly, I found on the first try. While I was there, I spotted the 3 for 2 offer across all cosmetics and inevitably got sucked in to buying two extra bottles of polish! One of them was this new NYC shade I spotted, Velvet Chic. Although we’re a bit trained to think of dark colours as winter nail colours, this caught my eye as a perfect winter shade. It’s like a cool pastel; not too bright but not dull either, just somewhere in the middle as classy to boot.
For the nail art here, I was inspired by this post at Chalkboard Nails although instead of dotting on the colours, I used some little round glequins from Born Pretty Store over NYC Velvet Chic. I think the iridescent effect is interesting paired with the matte top coat.
I topped it off with one coat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl and then one of NYC Matte Me Crazy.
Winter is coming so it’s officially acceptable to crack out the chunky knit jumpers and your sparkliest nail polish. While I’m not a big fan of the chill or inevitable British rain, I’ve always been a night owl so I do really love when the dark nights start closing in. I’m more than happy to spend the evenings snuggled up under my favourite fluffy blanket with a hot chocolate and my Kobo or couple episodes of Grey’s Anatomy.
I’ve been pretty much inseparable from my thermal cup recently (although less because I need the thermal properties, more because I’m a huge klutz and the sippy cup is essential!) and I’ve teamed up with eBay to create a collection around this image. If you follow me elsewhere, you may have already spotted the inspiration pic. It looks so cozy and warm so I thought it would be perfect for some autumn inspiration.
My new collection features some of my Autumn Essentials when it comes to nail art and I’m still adding to it. Let me know if you think I’ve missed anything!
For this nail art, I used Barry M Coconut as my base colour. I stamped on the design using the most perfect winter stamping plate, MoYou Festive 06, with Sally Hansen So-nata Problem and Rimmel Rock N Roll. In order to get the two colours on one stamp, I had to carefully paint the design on the plate first and scrape very carefully to leave the colours where I wanted them. It’s all topped with one coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.
For the chance to win a £20 eBay Gift Voucher all you have to do is hop over to my ‘Autumn Essentials‘ collection and give it a follow. It really is as simple as it sounds:
