Calendar Nails! - Burns Night

Hey guys!

Ready for some seasonal nail art?!? I am! In a bid to improve my nail art skills, I shall be creating manicures based on calendar holidays, as and when they occur this year. The first one up this year is Burns Night. 

Burns Night is a celebration of the life and poetry Scotsman poet Robert Burns. This event is celebrated on the anniversary of his birthday, the 25th of January. Traditionally, a Burns night supper would include a meal of haggis, neeps and tatties. Yum.

For my take on Burns Night nail art, I opted for a tartan print:-

 

I used MAC Shirelle for the red base color, then I used my Rio Beauty striping pens to do the green and blue stripes. I really wanted to use my gold nail art pen for the dots (to imitate threads), but it was paying hide and seek, so I used my yellow pen instead. My nail art pens are getting kinda lumpy now, its maybe time to invest in some new ones!

I want to do this tartan mani again, but next time, I want to do a pastel tartan print. The new Butter London collection is something I particularly have my eye on!!

FUN FACT! Haggis isn't a real animal. The truth is far worse. It is a meal consisting of sheep's heart, liver and lungs (known as pluck) minced with onion, suet and spices, which is then encased in sheep's stomach and simmered for hours. Ooh err.

Next Calendar Nails!:- 10th February: Chinese New Year. 

31 Day Challenge: Day 15- Delicate Print

Hey guys!

Woohoo! We're now halfway through the challenge! Today's challenge was Delicate Print nails. In my mind, a really delicate nail art pattern requires stamping of some form. However, because I have no stamps in my nail art collection (yet!), I set about a simple, delicate print with some striping tape and my trusty Rio Beauty nail art pens!

 

Bourjois 1 Seconde in Shade 50 Bleu

Now, you will have to excuse the knock on the index finger! I bashed my hand at work, and trust me, the nail looked a lot worse initially! I managed to patch it up a little, but I didn't have enough time to restart the whole nail! You may notice my accent nail looks like its bulging- it is. With topcoat, to seal the striping tape in! As great as striping tape looks in the beginning, it can peel off the nail and go astray. So I just glued the little sucker back down!!

The Bourjois polish is a previously unused polish, and I just adore it. I love the colour, and I love how these One Second nail varnishes apply. But more on that later, as I have a bit of a Bourjois special post in the pipe line!

31 Day Challenge: Day 14- Floral Nails

Hey guys!

Now, I have never done floral nail art before. I mean, where do you start? A sunflower? Daisy? Hydrangea? (lol) So, I thought about what I wanted to do, and as I was cooking dinner one night, I glimpsed some of my Cath Kidston crockery. Hence this cute little rose design:-

 

Cute or what?!?

I really, really liked how this mani turned out. I think its by far my best work yet! I shall be re-visiting this pattern again soon, and may throw some polka dots into the mix. Or better yet, a whole Cath Kidston inspired mani with a different print for each nail!

Here's a rundown on the polishes I used:-

BASE COLOUR: Nails Inc Sumner Place
ROSE PETALS: Nails Inc Regents Park and Warwick Avenue
ROSE LEAVES: China Glaze Aquadelic and Rio Beauty Green nail art pen.

I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with for today's challenge!!

31 Day Challenge: Day 11- Polka Dots

Hey guys!

Sorry for missing yesterday's challenge! I will make it up to you and do a gradient mani at some point in the near future. Today's challenge however, is Polka Dots and it just so happens that I recently bought a set of dotting tools!

 

Q. Which Disney character inpired this mani?

 

Minnie Mouse!

 

 

I loved using my new set of dotting tools! Ah, I am going to have endless amounts of fun using them. I always think that Polka Dot manis are simple, but still striking and effective. They are also easy to master for beginners in nail art.

 

I really must apologise for the quality of pictures today- they have been taken under artificial light. The nights are drawing in here in the UK which can only mean one thing- Fall is a'comin'!! :)

31 Day Challenge: Day 9- Rainbow Nails

Sorry for the late publication of this post, but as the saying goes, better late than never! Let's hop right into today's challenge:-

 

How cute is this?!?!

 

 

I just love the silver glitter 'raindrops!'



Under artificial light.

 

I had great fun doing this mani, even if I was shattered from doing a busy 6am-3pm shift at work! I just kinda made the design up as I went along, and it was one of the instances where my gut instinct came up trumps!

 

Here's what I used:-

 

BASE: Chanel Le Vernis in Coco Blue

RAINDROPS: No7 Glitter Top Coat in Silver

RAINBOW AND CLOUDS: Rio Nail Art Pens

GLITTER SUN: Models Own in Hed Kandi Disco Heaven

 

The Model's Own polish was untried- I had to crack the cellophane off another polish! Tomorrow's challenge is Gradient Nails. I've never attempted these before so it should be rather interesting!!