Tuesday 4 December 2012

Getting into the Christmas spirit with rudolph and some reindeers

Its 3 weeks today until Christmas day, I have most of my shopping done, i saw the Coca Cola Advert last night and i decided to paint my nails with a Christmas theme. It's offically Christmas for me! Im getting super excited :)  Here's a photo of the nail art i done last night, of some reindeers, including Rudolph!


I used Models Own Nude Beige for the base colour, then Collection 2000's Hot looks Moda for the reindeer, and for Rudolphs nose, i used Models Own Scarlet Sparkle. The rest was done with my black and white nail art pens from Ebay.

Has anyone else been doing Reindeer/ Rudolph/ Christmas themed nail art yet?

Update:

My reindeer nails have been featured in More Magazines mani's of the week section on their facebook page. really chuffed :)

Belfast Giants Ice Hockey

Im a big fan of the Belfast Giants Ice hockey team, and have been to several games to watch them play. In Nov, i attended a game and decided to try some nail art to match the occassion:



Has anyone else been trying nail art relating to a favourite spoarting team?

Monday 3 December 2012

Halloween

The next set of nail art i attempted, was some, Halloween themed nail art.



What does everyone think of my pumpkin/ghost/spider and web/eyeball/gravestone?

Thursday 29 November 2012

Science geek

I wanted to do some science themed nail art, in particular, nail art with the theme of DNA. I attempted to do this on my own nails, but again, my nails were still short and there wasnt enough room. So, using some false nails, my friend Claire had given me, i attempted DNA nails. This was the result:



Has anyone else tried some Science nail art?

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Film inspired nail art

When the latest batman film came out, i went to the VIP Cinema in Victoria Square with three friends - Mark Gary and Emma. This was a little birthday treat for Gary. So i decided to try out some batman themed nails. I will admit, i found it difficult to draw the batman symbol onto my thumb nails. I think if my nails had been a little longer it would have been easier.



Heres how it turned out:

 
What does everyone think of these? Did anyone else do any batman nail art?

Tuesday 27 November 2012

More outfit inspired nail art

On another night out, i was wearing a nice dark blue lace dress, again with black accessories, and so i thought some black and blue nail art was required:


Again, this nail art was created with the use of some sellotape. Anyone else been creating nail art with sellotape?

Sunday 25 November 2012

Outfit inspired nail art

On a night out in Derry, i was wearing a lovely wee red dress, with black accessories (shoes and handbag), so i decided on some black and red nails.






Saturday 24 November 2012

Noughts and crosses

I used to love playing 'Noughts and crosses' when i was younger. So this has been my inspiration for some nail art:


I have to admit i loved the finished result of this nail art attempt and it was super easy to do.

Has anyone else tried these?

Thursday 22 November 2012

Watermelon attempt #1

I decided to try and do some nail art with the theme of watermelon. I however wasnt fussed on the finished result. I think i should have done a thinner white line. So at some point i am going to try these again. Heres how the first attempt tuened out:



Has anyone else done any watermelon themed nail art?

Friday 16 November 2012

Barry M discount

I have signed up to the Barry M newsletter and today recieved an email about a special discount they have currently going on. They are offering 20% of all orders placed on the  Barry M website. This offer runs until midnight on Tuesday 20th November. All you have to do is enter the following code, at the checkout: MMM20.

So, take advantage of this lovely order and get your glitter nail polish in preparation for Christmas!

Happy Shopping :)

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Panda Nail Art

Ive probably mentioned it before, but i love animals. Im one of those people, when watching a film, i get more upset about an animal dying than the humans lol. Anyways, i like pandas, i think they are so adorable! So, i decided to try some panda nail art.

For the base colour, i used a Barbara Daly white nail polish that i bought in Tesco and they used my black and white nail art pens to do the rest. Here's how it turned out:


And here's me wearing the lovely panda ring i bought from New Look:



Has anyone else been doing panda nail art?

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Piggy nail art

I was standing in work one day and saw a customer buy some percy pig sweets and it inspired me to do some pig related nail art. I used Avons Nailwear Pro+ Pastel Pink along with the nail art pens i bought on ebay. This was how it turned out:



Heres a close up photo of my thumb nail:


Has anyone else been Doing piggy nail art?

Monday 12 November 2012

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

When i was growing up, both me and my brother LOVED the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:


So i decided to do some T.M.N.T inspired nail art:


I was quite happy with the result and they were really simple to do. Even my brother complemented me on this nail art. He thinks they are my best yet! :-)

Has anyone else been doing cartoon inpsired nail art?

Thursday 18 October 2012

Stripes

 
This was another mani i done using sellotape. I started by painting all my nails whote and then when they were completely dry, sticking on small pieces of sellotape and then painting my nail in either pink or blue. The next step was to remove the sellotape. This was the result:
 
 


Has anyone else been using sellotape to do some cute nail art?

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Glitter

What girl doesnt love a bit of glitter in her life, and what better way to have some glitter, but on her nails. i decided to use some glitter nail polishes, which has the following result:



Back in July i bought a 3 pack of mini Models Own glitter nail polish in green red and blue. I havent used them yet, but im really looking forward to using them at Christmas. The only thing i dislike about glitter polish, is that its so hard to remove!

Has anyone else been doing glitter nails?

Has anyone got any tips on removing glitter nail polish?

Thursday 11 October 2012

Pastel Colours

 
I decided to paint my nails using some pastel colours after being inspired by an advert advertising the pastel colours of the Models Own range. I used a range of colours from Maxfactor, Barry M, Avon and Miss Sporty.
 
 

I love using pastel colours and was so happy with the result, that i decided not to create any nail art designs.

Has anyone else been using pastel colours lately?

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Crackle / Croc effects

 
 
I've had the Barry M Crackle effects nail polish for a while and after shopping in Superdrug and purchasing the Croc Effect Nail polish, I thought I would do a blog posting about them all.
 
 
I used the Croc Effect polish on my thumb nail and then the pink, purple, white and blue crackle effects on my other nails.
 
 

I love all of Barry M nail polishes, and of the 5 i have used here, i love the croc effect the best and the blue crackle effect.

Has anyone else tried the croc effect and crackle effects nail polish?

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Pok-a-dot

I decided to try and create some pok-a-dot nails, but using 2 different colours. I didnt like my first attempt at it:


And so i decided to try again:


 
And heres what i used to create the second look:
 


What do you think of these? and has anyone else been doing pok-a-dot nails recently?

Monday 8 October 2012

Sweeties inspired nail art (Skittles)

I was in work one day and while packing out sweets, i was thinking of what nail art i could do next. At this point i happened to be packing out Skittles and so the idea of creating nail art based on the sweets came to mind. This is how my nails turned out:


And this is me holding a packet of the skittles:



To create this nail art i used the following nail polishes, and drew the 'S' on using a white nail art pen:

  • Collection 2000 number 218
  • Stargazer number 103
  • Rimmel number 055
  • Stargazer number 101
  • Collection 2000 number 144
What do you think of these?

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Barry M Magnetic range

As a bit fan of the Barry M nail polish range, i was excited to try their Magnetic polish. So i went off to superdrug again and decided to buy the blue polish. The instructions on the bottle said to paint your nails and let the first coat dry and the photo below is a photo of how it looked:


The next instruction was to do another coat and immediately use the magnet on the nail. It is best to do each nail individually. I tried this polish several times and wasnt overly pleased with the results. As you can see from the photo above, my nails were not very long and i think thats why i wasnt getting the whole design on my nail. The photo below is a photo of how it turned out:


Im having problems again with my nails peeling, so when they have finally grown a bit, i want to try this nail polish again to see if i can get it to work properly and then i'll update this post.

Is anyone else having similiar problems with this nail polish or is it just me?

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Liebster Award

I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Sinead Taylor. Thank you Sinead :)
I have to write 11 interesting things about myself,
and answer 11 questions that Sinead has tagged me to answer.
The next step is to make up 11 questions that i want other bloggers to answer,
and finally i have to tag 11 bloggers and let them know i have tagged them.

11 interesting things about me:
1. I have become obsessed with nail art. For this obsession, i balme my friend Claire, who first got me into nail art.
2. It wasnt my idea to set up a blog. It was Claires suggestion that i set it up to talk about the nail art i do, though i do blog about other things as well.
3. I have a secret obsession, that most of my friends dont know about. I have been collecting keyrings since i was young and currently have over 250 keyrings.
4. I am a book worm lol. I love to read books and will often sit up really late at night to avoid putting down my book.
5. I have my bacheors and masters degrees and still dont know what i want to do with my life!
6. I like a wide variety of tv programmes, such as: Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, CSI: Las Vegas/ Miami/ New York, Law and Order: original, UK and SVU, Criminal Minds, Sons of Anarchy, Smallville, Charmed, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, 2 Broke girls... the list goes on lol.
7. I have never broken a bone, though i have chipped my elbow.
8. I love Horror films.
9. Ive not yet blogged about clothes or fashion. Im trying to lose weight at the moment, so maybe when i have lost some weight, i might do a couple of blog posts and fashion and clothes.
10. I love the jewellery from New look, Topshop, and some pieces from Claire's Accessories and some from Primark.
11. I believe in 'what goes around, comes around'.
Sinead's 11 questions:
1. London or New York?
New York. I would love to travel round America one day, and New York would be one of my top places that I want to visit.
2. What really annoys you?
When you text someone and ask them them a question and they reply to the rest of the text but not the important question! oh, and some of the ignorant customers i have to serve in my work place (spar) lol.
3. What is your favourite colour?
I have two favourite colours - purple and green.
4. Have you any secret talents?
I think they are still secret 'cos i dont know about them yet. lol.
5. What was your favourite subject at school?
At GCSE level, my favourite subjects were Spanish, History and Business Studies.
At A-level, my favourite subject was Biology.

6. What item of clothing do you love wearing?
The item i love to wear most, is not very fashionable lol. I love cold wet days, where i know i dont have to go outside, and i can sit in my room, by the window, with my favourite green hoodie on, and read a book or watch a dvd.
7. What does fashion mean to you?
At the moment, not much. I want to follow fashion more, but im waiting until i have lost more weight.
8. How would you define your city's fashion?
I am from a small town in N.Ireland, and the fashion / sense of style is widely varied!
9. What are some of your favourite clothing stores / catalogues / websites?
New Look

10. Where do you get your inspiration for your blog?
Everyday items. Like, lifting a packet of skittles gave me the idea of skittles nail art. Or, putting on my panda socks, gave me the idea to do Panda themed nails.
11. Where can readers find out more about you and your blog?
Contact me on here, or
Twitter: https://twitter.com/batwoman24
Or facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/nicola.scott.37
 
 
My 11 questions:
1. Do you have any secret collections? e.g i collect keyrings.
2. What is your favourite nail polish brand?
3. Tell me a secret that no one else knows about you?
4. Why did you start your blog?
5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
6. If you won the Lottery, what would be the very first thing you would do?
7. What is your ideal job?
8. Lipstick or Lipgloss?
9. What are your favourite clothes shops?
10. Of all the different brand of foundations, which do you feel is the best?
11. How often do you try to blog?

The 11 bloggers i wish to tag and nominate for the Liebster Award, in no particular order, are:

 

Thursday 26 July 2012

Barry M Chamelon

Day one of the nail challenge arrived and i decided to test out one of my new nail polishes - Barry M Chamelon. Below is a picture of the bottle and what it looks like when on your nails:




According to the bottle, all i needed was a top coat of clear nail varnish to change the colour of the nail polish. I have to admit, i was a little skeptic, but Barry M has a reputation for good nail polishes so i knew it should work. And it did! I used Collection cosmetics clear nail polish to do different designs on my nails and the colur of the polish changes instantly. Below is a picture of my final result:




I really liked this effect and after seeing how it worked i went and bought the blue nail version, which turns pink, though ive not tried it yet.


Has anyone else tried any of the Barry M Chamelon nail polishes? 


Nail Challenge

I had decided to set myself a nail challenge and try to do different nails every day, but when some of my days, im working 8-3pm and then 4-10.30pm it doesnt leave me with much time. So i decided to change it so i am doing different nail every other day. Unfortunately my laptop had to be sent back to HP due to 'immenient hard drive failure' so, i wasnt able to blog for 3 weeks! :(  But i did continue with my nail challenge. So im going to try and blog every day for the next while to catch up with the nail challenge.

Garnier 7 day challenge

I recently took part in the Garnier Intensive 7 day challenge and i have to recommend this product. Its something i will definitley be buying in the future. You can apply for a free sample here. I didnt really stick to using it every day as i didnt really feel i needed to. The skin on my legs and arms had gotten quite dry and flaky and my usual moisturisers werent working. Then Claire recommended this sample. It couldnt have arrived at a better time.

You receive 7 samples and before using them, they ask that u use a skin reader, which shows you how dry your skin is. Immediately after applying the first sample, i could see the effects. After that, i applied the samples every couple of days, so instead of doing it over 7 days, i really done it over 2weeks. But my skin is so soft and smooth that i didnt need to use it everyday. After you have used all 7 samples, they ask that you use the second skin reader.


Heres how my two skin readers looked:


You can clearly see how much dry skin i had before using it and how little i had, after using the samples. I would definitely recommend it! Now i have lovely soft legs for going out on sat night :)

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Final of the Collection Nail Art Competition

I was recently contacted by the Collection team, to say i had made it into the final of their Olympics nail art competition :)

There are five finalists in total and a photo of each of our nail art has been uploaded to the Collection facebook page. Until mon, anyone on facebook, can look at the finalists nail art and vote for who they like the best, by simply liking the photo they want to vote for.

This is a photo of my nail art:


So, now i would like to ask, that if you like my Olympics nail art and wish to vote for me, click here to vote for me.

Thank you

Nic x

UPDATE:

I would just like to thank everyone who voted for me in the Olympics Nail Art competition. I came in 3rd place, so im really happy. The Collection Cosmetics team have emailed me asking for my address to send me a prize :)

Saturday 30 June 2012

Collection blogger nail art competition

Collection recently tweeted that they wanted to recruit beauty / nail bloggers. If you want to take part, all you have to do is email your blog name, with a link to: collection@mosquitodigital.co.uk

You will then receive an email giving the following details:

To enter, you simply need to create Olympic themed nail art/nails (your design MUST use at least two Collection Nail Polish shades) and send it to the above email address.
All entries must be received by 3rd July at 12:00PM and include a list of product names and shades you have used to create your nails. And the best bit is, you can enter more than once. So, if you are feeling creative, feel free to send them as many designs as you want.

Once the Collection team have received all the entries, they will pick their favourite 5 nail designs. These 5 designs will then be uploaded to the Collection Facebook page, along with your name, the name of your blog and a link. The Collection Facebook fans will then vote on their favourite design to win the competition.The winner will receive the full Hot Looks Nail Polish range, whilst the runners-up will receive a selection of Hot Looks Nail Polishes.

So, i picked out all the Collection nail polish shades that i owned and sat down to do some nail art. I had completed 4 of the 5 nails on my left hand and couldn't think what else to do. Given that im from Northern Ireland, I was relucant to draw a flag, but i had run out of ideas. So, if your from N.I, please do not take offence, i simply drew the flag as the olympics are taking place in London.

Here is a picture of my nail art:


I used the following Collection shades:

Thumb nail - Collection Hot Looks number 5 - Siren.
Pinty finger nail - Collection Vernis a Ongles - number 185.
Middle finger nail - Collection Hot Looks number 13 - Vogue.
Ring finger nail - Collection Vernis a Ongles - number 230.
Wee finger nail - Collection Vernis a Ongles - number 144.

So, what do you think of my nails? Is anyone else taing part in this competition?

Tuesday 26 June 2012

More Janchristie Nail art Stickers

I have previously blogged about JanChristie Nail Art Stickers. They provide a wide range of stickers, at a really low cost (£1.80 for 24 stickers!!) and they can make personalised nail art stickers too, which i have blogged about previously as well.

I’ve bought several of their designs and wanted to use the again recently, but i couldn’t decide which one i wanted to use, so i decided to use a variety:

Butterfly, snarling tiger, blue periwinkle flower, husky dog and a robin.


chestnut horse, tiger, cat, lion and rose.
I love these stickers, so will definitely be buying a load more :)

My lastest shopping buys....

I went for a little shop yday, Heres a little picture of my purchases:


Best part is, if you spend over £6 on Barry M, you get a free retro nail polish, which is why, i got the two on the left free (the red and the blue) :)

Any one else buy any nail varnish lately?

Thursday 21 June 2012

Nail Art challenge

Im considering challenging myself to do differnt nails every day of the month of july. now i just have to come up with 31 different challenges! lol.

Anyone any suggestions?

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Pastel Nails

In a recent posting i blogged about the different products i had bought from Avon. I have since used the Nailwear Pro+ nail polishes – Lemon Sugar and Pastel Pink:



 It took 2-3 coats to get an opaque colour, but they are really nice when on. I had intented to either do some nail art or use some of my janchristie nail art stickers, but i changed my mind after i had my nails painted. Instead, im gonna repaint them on fri (after they have chipped due to working in the off-licence) and then use the janchristie nail art stickers. When ive done that, i'll do another wee blog post.

 i saw on the Avon facebook page that they are testing new shades for that range. I can not wait until they release them. The Orchid Splash looks like a really nice shade of purple, which im definitely going to have to try!

Has anyone else tried any of the Nailwear Pro+ range?

Thursday 14 June 2012

Soft soft skin

I am always complaining to my friend Claire about parts of my face being dry and about having ‘flaky’ skin. So, when my mum recently bought me the Witch exfoliating face wash, i assumed it would just be one more product that wouldn’t work for me.

I have to admit, this time i was wron!. I now have lovely soft, non-flaky skin! Smile  I have been using it for 6 days now, but after 3 days of use, my skin was noticeably softer. I use this exfoliating face wash along with the Simple hydrating moisturiser, which i love also.

Here’s a couple of photos of my two favourite facial products:

2012-06-14 15.28.35
2012-06-14 15.23.56

Does anyone else use these products?

Update: Please be careful to read the back on products carefully! I read this one and another and ended up mixing up which was a 'daily ' and which was a 'regualr' use product. Thankfully Claire commented on this posting and i went back to read the products and realsied my mistake.

Thursday 7 June 2012

My photo(s) of the day /Avon delivery/bargains

My Avon delivery came today Smile

So below is a couple of photos of what i ordered:



The first photo shows the cherry blossom body lotion and room spray.

In the middle photo there is the Avon Peeling and Brittleness solver, Liquid Freeze and two Nailwear Pro+ nail polishes – Lemon Sugar and Pastel Pink.

The last photo shows the strawberry  room spray and body scrub.

I purchased these products in the last Avon brochure, and my local rep delivered them to me today Smile There was a sale on for some of these items, when i bought them. I have to say that spending £19.73 on 8 products, wasn’t bad going!

The nailwear pro nail polishes are up to £6 now in the new brochure, though they are still £2.49 on their website today, however not all of the colours are available at the moment. I will do a review of each product as soon as i get time to try them out.

Has anyone else been buying Avon goodies?

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Nail Art Stamping Plates…the good and the not so good….

Last week, i posted about the different nail art stamping plates i had recently purchased.
Transformers Smile

I decided to give them a go yesterday before work. For my first attempt, i used the QA4 plate which had transformers on it:

SAM_2228

For the nail on my ring finger i used Collection 2000’s Black, number 87, Ebony and to do the stamp i used Rimmel’s Silver, number 239 called ‘Your Majesty.’ For the rest of the nails, i used the Silver by Rimmel and to do the design on the thumb nail i used the black by Collection 2000.

When the nails are painted, the next step was to put the nail polish onto the plate. You don’t need a lot of nail polish to do this, just enough to cover the design:

SAM_2238

Once that is done, you scrape off the excess nail polish using your scraper:

SAM_2237

Once you have scraped off the excess nail polish, you lift the stamper and press it gently onto the plate and this lifts the design:

SAM_2239

Now comes the part that needs to be done fairly quickly. Once the design is on the stamper, you need to quickly put the design onto your nail before it dries. To put it onto your nail, it is best to hold the stamper at one side of the nail and gently roll it across the nail. The design will now be on your nail. Remember to clean the stamper, scraper and plate with nail polish remover, every time you use it.

This is how it turned out:

2012-06-05 16.14.43

I have to admit, it seemed really complicated and i wasn’t sure if i would be able to do it, but it turned out to be easier than i thought it would be. When the nails were dry, I then put a top coat over the two transformers nail art, using Collection 200’s clear nail polish, number 2, called ice cube.

The only thing about the nail art is they aren’t overly straight, though i think it turned out ok, for a first attempt. So overall im really pleased with my Transformers Nail Art.

Care Bears Sad smile

So having done the Transformers on the nails on my left hand, i thought i would give the Care Bears plate, SdP 3, a go, on my right hand:



I painted my nails using the same black and silver colours as i mentioned above.

However, i was not as pleased with the results of this plate as i was with the previous plate. After putting the polish onto the plate and scrapping away the excess, i used the stamper to lift the design. Only, the design wouldn’t lift properly, so i tried again:

SAM_2240

It still didn’t lift the design. I then tried several different colours on several of the designs on that plate and still the stamper wouldn’t lift the design. I cleaned the stamper again and still it wouldn’t work. So, I went back to the transformer plate and used the stamper again and it worked fine with it.

So i have now contacted the administration of the website where i purchased the plate to ask if there is a special nail polish i should be using or what the problem could be.