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Inspired

Nail Art, Stamping, Uncategorised

Fair Isle Nail Art, New eBay Collection and a Giveaway

14th November 2014

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My Inspiration

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!

The Nail Art

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.

Giveaway

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:

Click here to go to the Collection
If you like what you see, use the ‘Follow’ button in the top right of the page (just make sure you’re logged in to eBay)
eBay will contact the winner at the end of the competition (more details to follow)

This content was created in partnership with eBay UK

Freehand, Uncategorised

Freehand Nail Art Inspired by LucyDarlingPrints

12th January 2014

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On the spur of the moment today, I decided to go out and buy a Kobo. The older models (I got the Touch) are an absolute steal at the moment and I’ve been considering purchasing one for a while so it all worked out very well for me! I’ve spent the afternoon loading it up with books and I’m determined to get back in to the habit of bedtime reading. Before I went to University I never went to bed without a book but gradually the late nights and textbooks took over and before I knew it, I had completely given up reading for fun. This year I’m going to get back in to it starting with the Divergent trilogy and then catching up with A Song of Ice and Fire! Any good book recommendations are very appreciated!

Speaking of old habits, today’s nail art is a 100% freehand concoction – something not seen around here much recently. It was inspired by a print that I came across on Etsy by LucyDarlingPrints. You know me, I just can’t resist a pretty and simple design!

I started with a base of Barry M White and freehanded on all of the details using a nail art brush and a selection of nail polish colours.

To finish up, I topped it all off with two coats of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

31DC2012 Day 24: Inspired by a Book

22nd November 2012

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Like last year, I’ve gone with a children’s book again. There aren’t a lot of books for grown ups with pictures in them so kids books make for way more interesting nail art!

In case you couldn’t tell, these nails are based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I remember loving this book as a kind but my copy is long gone.

We’re postponing the challenge a little this week because we all have super busy schedules but we’ll be back on track next Tuesday with Day 25. I’m feeling the pressure following the completely unexpected and overwhelming success of last year’s Inspired by Fashion mani.

Pop over to Cris and Rie‘s blogs to see how they’re getting on with the challenge!

I used Barry M White as a base colour. The caterpillar is made up of Barry M Watermelon, Barry M Spring Green, Essie Navigate Her and a dark green Sinful Colors polish that I can’t remember the name of and I’m not at home right now to check!

Also mixed in there are W7 Coral, NYC Lexington Yellow, Essie Glamour Purse and a blue Rimmel Polish that, again, I can’t remember the name of!

It’s all topped off with two coats of Seche Vite.

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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

31DC2012: Day 23 Inspired by a Movie

20th November 2012

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I’m here with Day 23 of the 31 Day Challenge and the film I chose is Watchmen. We all know how I love everything superhero so this was the obvious choice as I’ve exhausted most of the other ones. If you haven’t seen the film, watch it!

This is the first really detailed freehand nail art I’ve done for absolutely ages and I love it! I wish I had more time these days to do nail art like this. I miss it!

Don’t forget to stop by Nails and Noms and Let Them Have Polish to see how they’re getting on with their challenges.

Thumb to pinky: Silk Spectre, Dr Manhattan, Watchmen, Rorschach (kind of!), The Comedian

All the details were freehanded with nail art brushes and here’s a run down of the polishes I used…

Urban Outfitters Denim Blue, Cult Nails Quench, Essie Mezmerised, Collection 2000 Sherbet Lemons, W7 Black, Barry M White, Deborah Lippmann Fashion*.

I also used white and black acrylic paint here and there for the small details.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

YEAH SCIENCE! Breaking Bad Nail Art

3rd September 2012

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Breaking Bad is a series I started watching ages ago but I only saw the first few episodes before I was distracted by something else. Well I picked it up again yesterday and have been watching back to back episodes since! A few episodes in to my Sunday afternoon marathon, I decided I had to dedicate some nail art to Walt and Jesse.

The Radioactive and Biohazard symbols don’t fit perfectly in to the theme but when I posted these yellow nails way back when, someone said they looked like Breaking Bad Nails. So I thought I’d slip them in there today.

I used BYS Fern as the base colour on my first and middle fingers, then painted on the frame and lettering with white acrylic paint and a striping brush (pictured).

I painted a base of Barry M White on to all the other nails before adding Collection 2000 Sherbet Lemons for the yellow and H+M New Moon for the ‘crystals’ (unfortunately I don’t have a blue flakie!). The black details are acrylic paint, again with the striping brush.

If you’re wondering what the nonsense on my ring finger is, it’s the 2D structure of Methamphetamine according to Wikipedia, so if there are any chemists reading and I got it wrong, go easy on me!

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Freehand, Uncategorised

Olympics Nails!

28th July 2012

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Most of you will have probably seen the opening ceremony by this time and some of you may even be watching live coverage of the 2012 Olympics right now!

I was watching the coverage of the opening ceremony live last night and I felt so patriotic. I’m sure you’ll all agree that it was a fantastical sight to behold, I really wish I could have there! I was tweeting throughout and anyone reading could tell that I was getting a bit too excited! James Bond, Mr Bean and even Her Majesty The Queen made some hilarious appearances.

As for the games themselves, I normally only ever watch the Gymnastics – I’ve been watching the men’s qualifiers most of the morning and was happy to see Team GB take an early lead there. I might tune in for some field events this year too though and see if anything else can peak my interest.

Loads more pictures under the cut!

There are too many polishes to list them all but the white base is Barry M White and the gold is Barry M Gold Foil. I used a striping brush for all the freehand details.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

Blink 182 Nail Art! What’s My Age Again?

11th July 2012

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I went to see one of my favourite bands EVER in Cardiff last night! BLINK 182! Needless to say, they were amazing and definitely worth the two year wait! Travis Barker’s drum solos were just epic and he didn’t miss a beat or even break a sweat.

On stage, Tom said something about it being 30 years this year since they started ‘playing songs about growing up’ and it just reminded me that I’m an adult now and I’m not really growing up any more. Well I’m 21 so maybe I still have a few years of reckless abandon left! But every time I listen to their music, I’m reminded of being a teenager and going through those things they sing about and I just love them for being the soundtrack to my youth.

The nail art is based on some of their album covers – Neighborhoods, Enema of the State, Greatest Hits, Self-Titled/Untitled and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.

It would be really amazing if they saw these nails so if you have the time and inclination, I would love if you could tweet a link to @markhoppus or @travisbarker or @tomdelonge or heck, even all three of them!

To make it easy for you, here’s a short link I prepared earlier! http://bit.ly/M3ndLZ

More pictures after the jump!

I used a small striping brush to freehand all the details. My base colours are Barry M White and W7 Black. The small black and white details were done with acrylic paint but I used polish everything else.

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