British Nail Art - Using Scotch Tape

I've not really been fazed by the the Olympics being in London this year but this week we had the Olympic Torch pass near where I work. With it being the Diamond Jubilee next weekend and seeing the torch in the flesh, I did actually feel a little more excited and quite patriotic.

I've also been writing for a website created to help promote Jubilee events happening in Bristol and one of the posts I'd written for the website, I thought I would share here in honour of all things British.
I decided go down the popular nail route and go a bit red, white and blue with my nails and paint the Union Jack.

Now I'm not particularly good at painting in straight lines so I thought I would try a technique I've seen around on the blogosphere and try using Scotch tape.

The results actually were much better than I thought they would be, especially for a fist attempt. But i think the results are quite largely dependant on what kind of nail polish and tape you use.
But give it a go and I think it would work really well using pastel shades, neon or even try doing the American flag.
I'll post the written instructions later this week.(UPDATE: which are now below)

• Buy some tape on a dispenser –  Scotch Tape or Magic Tape seem to be the best. It’s not too clear or too thick, comes on a dispenser and I know it worked for me. However, feel free to try any kind of tape and see what results you get.
•  Paint two thick strips, one white and one red. Make the strips a tiny bit longer than your nails – you’ll be cutting them shorter.
•  While that’s drying paint your nails a shade of blue.
•  Once all nail polish has dried, cut strips of white and red from the tape (make the white strips larger than the red so you can see them beneath.)
•  If you find the tape is sticking to everything in between using it (as I did) hang each strip off the edge of a piece of grease proof paper, or anything that won’t pull apart when you take the tape off to use.
•  Once you’ve cut your strips, you can start to make your flag shape (I had a picture of the Union Jack in front of me for reference, just in case)
•  Start by making a cross with the white strips and then diagonally lay another set of white strips over the top of your first cross.
•  Then do the same with the thinner red strips.
•  Don’t worry if the strips over lay onto your fingers or the top of the nail. Just trim the sides with nail scissors then fold the top ones over the back of the nail and use a nail file, filing downwards until they come away.
•  Once you’ve done that you should have something that resembles the Union Jack and then to finish, put a clear top coat on top.

You don’t have to stick to the traditional blue, white and red. Try pastel shades, neon or match them to whatever you intend to wear.
 If you find that it looks too 3D for your liking (which will depend on what thickness of tape you used), paint the white and just use the red strips or vice versa.

Nail Art Tattoos

Things have finally calmed down after the build up from my friends wedding so I actually have time to do things, like blog. It was an amazing day and I can't believe how quickly it came and went. 
I only had a small part in the wedding but gosh that stressed me out, I can only imagine how the bride felt. As it was a close friend it felt like there was so much prep work leading up to the big day. Maybe it would of been different if we weren't as close or if it was someone I didn't know as well. But it was the first wedding from our group so it was a really important day for me and my friends so I wanted to put extra effort into everything.
Firstly was the table plan (which I'll post later this week) but also the choosing of the outfit, tanning, even the planning of what to do with the nails (I'm a devil for detail). 
My dress was quite floral (the dip back dress in my last post) and my blazer and shoes were a coral pink. I originally was going to paint my nails a matching pink but I did a trial run and they looked a bit too Barbie (especially with the fake tan and blonde hair.)

Bag - H&M
Rings - Pretaportabello
Nail Varnish - Rimmel Matte top coat & Nails Inc Elizabeth Street

So I decided to go for a nude pink and went for a matte top coat. I had also bought some Nail Tattoos from Topshop so chose some swallows, which I put on the thumb and middle finger so they weren't too plain and boring.

I really liked how they turned out and was so much easier and quicker than trying to draw something.
Only downside was I think I put on the top coat too quickly so it made the nail transfer crack a little but I left a bit more time before I did the others and they were fine.
Apologies in advanced if the next couple of blogs are all wedding related in someway. Like I said I'm all about the prep and detail.

DIY - Laundry Bag

When I was doing work experience last year, I was pretty much strapped for cash all the time. Other than not having any money for clothes :) I always felt bad on friends birthdays as I couldn't give them much, which is when I started to make presents instead.
And actually from what I could tell they appreciated and liked my gift far more than if I had just bought something (though they could have been lying so as to not hurt my feelings). 
At first I started making calendars but I also ventured into printing. 
I bought a few cheap cotton laundry and make up bags from Bee Crafty and some photo printing paper and then just let my imagination run wild.

One of my friends is a dancer so I did a ballet theme make up bag and another had done a lot of travelling so I created a postcard style print creating the stamps from her images from travelling (above).

Stupidly though I forgot to take pictures of the finished products but I had two more friends birthdays coming up and actually remembered to take some photos.

The first one was for my friend who loves New York. I took a couple of her images from FaceBook and played around with them on Photoshop to create a print for the front and a collage for the back (above). 

The second one was my first attempt at using the laundry bags, which I found harder to design for as I couldn't initially find a theme that would work with the space and colour of the bag. 
I settled on using her favourite colour as the basis then created a dreamcatcher (using Photoshop again) and then found a drawing of a girl which I played around with so it matched the colour scheme and then just added a few buttons around the edge just to add a bit of detail. 

The pictures are a bit naff but it was the best I could do in a rush but overall I was pleased with the final result. I'd like to find somewhere that did relatively inexpensive screen printing as the only downside to the printing paper I used is that it came off in the corners. The best one I've used so far is from Crafty Computer Paper but I think they would look seamless if I'd used a screen printing process.
Well least i'll know if I ever go into business :)

I saw this picture recently and really wanted to try a reverse cuticle manicure.

As it snowed this weekend, meaning I didn't go out Saturday night I decided to give it a try. I chose to use two shades I got recently from the Daphne Guinness range for Mac. Hyperion- which is like a frosty blue/grey shade and Blueblood- a deep plum/purple.

I first tried using cuticle strips to help create a smooth line around the cuticle but they didn't curve enough and kept ruining the nail polish base.

(excuse my horrendous chapped cuticles)

In the end I went free hand style and though not perfect I quite like the effect and the colours together.  With a bit more practice I think I could make it look a bit neater and would look great with any nail colour combo.

Beauty: Remove Glitter nail polish

This is such a good idea. I don't know why I've never seen this before. 

I always ruin my nails after wearing Glitter nail polish because as it flakes off, it seems to take a fair amount of my nail with it leaving them rather chipped and un even.

This video shows you how to take your nail polish off without damaging your nails which means I now can wear glitter nail polish all the time. Well as often as I want. :)

Nail Art

Literally the night before I flew to New York I was manically panicking till about midnight but still decided it would be a good idea to paint my nails. 

But not just paint them, I decided to do a little american themed artwork. And whats more american then the american flag. 

I just used cheap nail pens off Ebay (it came in a pack of about 30 with some pretty weird colours, but most of them are quite nice and they work pretty well). 

I only did the thumbs as I was shattered at this point so painted the rest a glittery hue from Butter London. 

All the glitter nails chipped within the first 5 days but the flags miraculously lasted the whole time I was there.

I'm now trying to think of some festive nail designs I can do for Christmas on Sunday but my last attempt at snowflakes went a little bit wrong so maybe this time I'll go for something a tad easier.