Manicure: Is it by mistake or design?

I stumbled upon a picture of a manicure very similar to this last week - I can't remember where now, so I apologise! - and thought that I'd have a go at recreating it myself. Anything to get out of writing my dissertation!

FYI my fingers look really shiny throughout because I use a quick dry spray (from Avon) that's really oily and gross! Also, I suck at painting nails lol.

Firstly, I applied Barry M Silver Foil Instant Nail Effects. I think I used two coats just to get rid of the streaks a bit.

Then I applied Barry M Blue Moon (317) to three fingers on one hand and two on the other. Leaving a little bit at the bottom for the silver to show through.

Then I used Barry M Peach Melba (318) on the remaining fingers, again leaving a bit at the bottom for the silver.

After that I applied elf Matte Finisher to all nails except for the silver parts. 

I love the colours and I love the way I've alternated them on each hand. However, I don't think I'll be doing it with the silver again. It looks strange. And people keep asking me why I've left a bit at the bottom - not cool. Still, better to have tried it in the first place! 

Whats your current manicure? Link to any posts below, I'd love to check them out :) 

Friday Night Manicure

Every Friday night - unless I'm busy - I redo my manicure without fail. After a hectic week at work I like to just chill and pamper myself all night whilst watching a film or some crap tv :) 

This week for my manicure I decided to try out a technique I have seen a few people do within the blogging community. It varies from design to design but it basically is a manicure involving make up sponges at some point. 

I started by painting a white base coat on each nail. I used a random one from my collection by NYC. I think these retail at around £2/3 in Boots and Superdrug - don't quote me on that, I've had mine for ages!

I then used a grey nail polish by Barry M (excuse the bad picture) and a black polish with small specks of silver glitter by W7 with...

...these make up sponges from Asda, to create:

This look. I cleaned up the excess round the edges once I had finished BTW. I don't walk around with nails like that lol! 

To achieve this look I poured out a tiny bit of the grey and black nail polishes onto a piece of tissue paper. Using one corner of the make up sponge at the thinnest end, I dipped it into the grey first and dabbed onto my nail, covering half to 3/4 of the nail. I then dipped the opposite corner into the black nail polish and applied over half (ish) the grey. 

Not many people have liked how I have done my nails haha but I do :) And that's all that matters!

NOTD: Blues

I have a huge (to me at least) collection of nail polishes and decided recently it was about time I started to use them all at least once.

This week for my manicure I couldn't decide which new one to wear so I just chose a variety of random blues. I was initially thinking of doing a gradient manicure but at the last minute decided to go for a random pattern instead. 

From left to right:

Beauty UK - Jade (No. 52)

Barry M - Cobalt Blue (291)

17 Lasting Fix - SeaBreeze

Missguided - Misstique

Collection 2000 - Button Moon (33)

Avon Nail Experts Liquid Freeze Spray

E.L.F. Clear Polish

Barry M Crackle in Blue (315) 

The finished look! I quite like it! I chose to only do the crackle on the ring finger as a sort of accent nail. Do excuse the poor picture and the state of my fingers! I am a nervous biter and was rushing to take pictures before I went to work :( 

A Week In Pictures

The past week (and a couple extra days) has been quite busy for me. It's weird how filled up my time is this summer compared to last. And that's despite the fact I had two jobs last summer! Anyway, I'm not complaining, it makes a change to have things to do. 


I thought I would upload a few pictures taken over the last week or so for a quick blog post. 

One of the IT Technicians amazing car! Highlight of my morning was definitely walking past this in the car park. 

Well, I thought I had rotated this but clearly it failed. Read this little fact in cosmo and am currently figuring out whether it's got some truth behind it! 

Gorgeous little bracelet my boyfriends sister brought back from Turkey for me :)  I'm a sucker for quirky bracelets and the turquoise stones are very in fashion at the moment! 

Enjoying the luxury that is having a bath whilst visiting my mum for the weekend! (We only have a shower in my student house)

Enjoying winding up my Grandma's budgie for what could be the last time.
Last time I saw him in May he had managed to rip a claw off whilst in his cage, we didn't think he'd pull through as he bled a LOT and was very timid afterwards. He still hasn't healed properly and is still in pain a lot of the time. It makes me very sad leaving him every time knowing it could well be the last time I see him. He's been a part of my life for such a long time despite budgies supposedly having short life spans, it'll be odd going to my Grandma's and him not being there. 

Cooking Mum Sunday lunch! I will admit it doesn't look that amazing in this picture, but I can assure you once it was drowning in gravy it was delicious.

Randomly spotting old friends in the paper! (Adam, on the left)

Wondering why Lidl were selling equestrian accessories (especially in a city like mine where people don't really have a lot of money)

Stock take yet again - possibly the worst part of my job.

New manicure (details to come) and handmade (by me) scrabble ring!