Nails: Stamping advent!

This year instead of a traditional advent calender, me and the boyfriend decided to get one that you can fill with your own presents. He has been filling my with stamping plates, and I thought I would show you a design off of each of the first 3 days.

Beauty items..









Lightening bolts..

Some little penguin I stamped then I added the snow and trees.








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<3

 

Nails: Christmas

Hello! Today I thought I would share with you some nails I did to enter an E.L.F competition.
I did these little designs on each finger, they seem to go down well, and I even won. <3

nails:gradient with glitter.

This is a super simple and cute aqua to pink gradient with a glitter top coat.
I love these two colours together. I think it works great on it's own or would make a pretty background for some nail art.

Nails: Acrylics

Hello! today is non art related, this is some of the Liquid and powder ( Acrylic ) nails that I have been working on. The top set is a before and after. 

This set is a natural looking extensions that I have done. The first picture is without polish, and the second is polished. These are fab if you need something a litter longer, but don't want your nails to look very "fake". 

Nails:orange and yellow

Here is a sort of before and after of my nails.
This is nina pro like butta (yellow) base, with essie's orange it's obvious sponged on top. I the decided to add some gold glitter, and a little konad lighting bolt.

Simple but cute - do you agree? What have you been wearing on your fingers recently?

<3

Nails: Water marbling weekend..

I wanted to try some more water marbling ideas I had been thinking about. I also wanted to try my new W7 glitter polishes that I picked up last weekend. Firstly I wanted to say how much I love the W7 glitter polishes, good coverage, and very sparkly.

Here are some photos:

<<< This is the purple glitter over, a colorclub grey- purple base, from the back to boho collection.
I just used one coat over the base colour, there are a few spots that are a little lacking in glitter, but as I knew I would be added my design over the top I decided against having yet another coat of nail polish on, as this is already three coats.

What is your favorite type of manicure?    <3

Nails: nude and pink

This is another quick and simple manicure today. Nude and pink. I showed you this nude here in September, but this time I added this shinny pink striping tape down the length of the nails slightly to one side.

I've been playing with tape a lot recently, so there will be plenty more nails using it to come.

Have you tried striping tape? What do you think?

<3

Nails: Natural french manicure.

This is a very natural french manicure, with the idea being to just make the nails look clean and natural and not to "in you face" white.
I used Essie- ballet slippers for the tips, just one coat lightly applied, followed by a pearly pink from color club. I topped it all off with a good coat of seche vite.

Do you like your french manicure to be natural or to be bright white and "fake" looking?

<3

Nails: Ideas from pinterest - tried and tested

I am a huge lover of pinterest, I spend a lot of time looking through all different sections on there, but my faveourite is the hair a beauty, and the food sections. I thought I would share with you some of the things I have tried and how they turned out..

First up are these funky nails, I had seen some bright nails that had beautiful colour gradients with animal print over, so I decided to recreate them with my own slight twist. I got a lot of complement the day I wore these..

This is something that looks so cute in real life I wouldn't stop looking at them. This is water marbling over top of holographic nail polish. I wasn't sure how this would turn out, and if the holo would show through, but it does, and gives a slight holo/metallic look to the nails, even though the colours a used to marble were just plain creme

Have you tried pinterest yet?
What ideas have you tried, and how did they turn out?

<3

Make up: My daily look

This is my first make-up post. As you can probably tell I am far more comfortable show nails than I am make-up, even though I do my make up every day, and don't often leave home with out it, I am less exciting with my face than with my hands.





<<< As you can see I normally keep my makeup quite simple in the day, especially for work. I find that keeping my make-up neutral in the day is good for two reason, I know what I am doing in the morning when I am in a hurry and super sleepy, and if I am going out after work, I don't have to take everything off to re do it, I can just touch it up, and add some colour to match my outfit if I need to.
It surprisingly takes me quite a few items to make me look natural, around 10.

Here is what I use:

Primer: bodyshop - Matte it
Foundation: Vichy dermablend corrective stick - opal.(12)
powder: bodyshop loose face powder - 3
Bronzer: E.L.F - contouring blush and bronzing powder ( I just use the bronzing side.)
Blush: bodyshop - petal (01)
Brows: Hd brows - foxy (I also use this as eye shadow.)
Eye shadow primer: E.L.F - sheer.
Eyeliner: bodyshop - eye definer in black.
Mascara: Technic sk-eye high lashes - black.

Nails: A few more Halloween ideas.

 Hello guys and gals. This is a quick post with some more Halloween nails - now I know Halloween was yesterday, but I thought I'd show you what I was rocking for the (lack of) festivities.

This are the nails I wore for the 31st. I just used some pink glitter nail polish from colorclub then just added some cute little Halloween nail stickers over it.

These nails are some more toned down nails that I did with little spiders webs on. I love the frosted pink in the left image, but I am less sure if I like it when covered with glitter. I just drew the web on free hand with a white nail polish and a small brush.

Show me your Halloween nails in the comments section below.

Don't forget you can keep up to date on what nails are happening on our facebook page.

<3

nails: princess pink.

When I did these nails, I wanted something simple, and cute whilst keeping my nails girly and interesting. I call them my princess nails.

This is a beautiful pink from color club, that I picked up in a box set - it has no name on it, and I can't work out what it is. It is very similar to O.P.I pink-ing of you // Pink Friday; and I love both of them too.All I did after that was add some little crystals around the cuticle line between 4 and 7 on each finger.

Hope you enjoy them. -Jebbie <3

Nails: blue/yellow fade.

Today's nails aren't on my hands, these fingers belong to my best friend. She asked for "something cool and interesting for the weekend"

We eventually decided to go for a fade from blue to yellow, then add some Zebra stripes on top. She really loved one of my new blue nail polish, and wanted something that included the colour in the design, although it does look a little more green the blended over the yellow. Nicky was very happy with the finished design - lets hope they last her all weekend!




Here are the swatches of the yellow and blue I used. Both are by Nina ultra pro I picked these up at salonservices  for 67p. The yellow needed three coats, but other than that nothing wrong with it.

Nails: Animal print (Neon)

Thursdays nails were neon pink and blue/green with both leopard and zebra print. I topped them off with some sliver glitter where the two colours meet.

I am in love with these nails! I was a little sad to take them off, but I wanted to get more designs done.

Nails: Halloween..

Hey guys, long time no blog eh? I have been really busy with nails recently - I have just finished my course, and have now qualified as a nail technician, which is awesome. Other than that, I have been doing lots of designs and setting my facebook page. 

Here are some Halloween nails that I have been working on. I have done eight different designs, cause I love a bit of mix and match on my nails!

What is your favorite design for Halloween nails?
If you have some nail art you have done, why not leave me a link in the box below, so I can check it out.



I also have a great collection on bright colours to show you that I picked up recently, so keep your eyes peeled for that one!

Take care - Jebbie <3

Nails: He came home.

Another short post again today, as I have been a wee bit unwell..

This is nomadic nude, from color club's back to boho collection, which I think was released last autumn. I picked this up in a set with 5 other colours (and a top coat) for £7.99 from my local TK Maxx.

I like to have nudes to wear during the week, when I am having "no polish" days, but I find a lot are too see through for my liking, but this one is nice and solid. This is two coats, and then two coats of seche vite.


What do you think of nudes? Are the a staple in your collection? Have you picked up any polish bargains in TK Maxx?

<3

nails: red and gold with leopard print.

I couldn't decided how to do my nails this weekend, and after doing them about four times, this is what I came up with... 

I am not really sure how I feel about these nails, there is something I don't like, but I can't decided what it is. 

I used my new dotting tool set to do the leopard print, instead of my nail art pens. I think doing it this way is a bit better because the design is less raised than when I have done it with pens. It also means that all of my polishes can be drawn with, giving a much wider range of colours.

Nails: Sunset in Africa.

I am a huge Pinterest fan (follow me) and I spend lots of time on there. I have seen lots of gradient nails, and lots of different ways to do them. So I decided to give them ago here is the results:

<<< I was looking for a way to wear yellow nail polish, and as the sun has come back out, I thought it might be one of the last weekends to wear a summer manicure before next year.

So this is my first attempt... I decided not to mix the colours first, and to just layer them over one another.  I was rather impressed at how quick this was to do, I took me less than 10mins to put the gradient on - which I thought was pretty good.  I wore this for a day, then decided that being me, I couldn't do with some art on them...

>>> So I added some of my favorite, quick to do, zebra stripes, to funk them up some more and TA-DA this is how they turned out. I like this look, it is bold and bright, but the black in the animal print tones down the loudness of whole look and for me makes it more wearable.

I really enjoyed doing this manicure, it looks far harder than it is, which means that your friends will think you have some bad-ass nail art skills, and all you'll need is a make up sponge! I will be doing some more of these in the future.

Have you ever tried a gradient manicure? What are your thoughts?

Nails: Water marble experimentation

Here is yet another manicure I have done using GOSH holographic hero. This time I used water marbling, I did this over an old manicure of plain holo, so I had already had my 24hour wear from it.

So on to the pictures:

<<< Gosh holographic hero (under bright lights.)
Everyone know what this looks like, but it's so pretty I wanted to post another picture. <<<

>>>I wanted to show you what the holo looked like when it was under "normal" lighting inside. Not super exciting or impressive, but I still like it! >>>

<<< This is what my hands looked like after I had dipped them in the water with the nail polish in. This is of course before I cleaned them up. I am would rather had a big clean up then fuss with tape, but that is my personal preference.<<<

>>>This is this finished nails after I cleaned them up!

I loved these nails, and was quite sad to take them off. >>>








I also thought I would show you some water marble nails that didn't go to plan:

<<< After the holo water marble looked so fab, I thought I'd try an autumn theme marble.

I don't like the way this one came out, it's just not how I imagined it. <<<

What you think? Have you tried water marbling, how did it go?

 

Skincare: keeping it Simple

 <<< I, unfortunately am very limited in what skincare products I can use due to an allergy to salicylic acid, so I have to check the labels before I buy anything skincare/make-up/shampoo etc. so I thought that it might be useful for me to share with you what I use, and what is good for me.
        Anyway, onto my point. I found that my skin gets on really well with the simple skincare range. I have used the wipes for a while, and every time I stop using them a swap to a different (read cheaper) facial wipe, my skin becomes very sore, red, and blotchy - not a good look for anyone!

So after my success using the facial wipes, I decided to give the toner, and moisturiser a go. - Until recently, I have never had a good skincare routine. I will be sadly admit until around 2years ago, I didn't even take my make-up off before bed *shock horror*, but I now do it religiously. No matter how sleepy I am.
 I don't use the toner every day, I did for about the first two weeks, and now I use it every other day or so, and it keeps my skin looking much better than it did before.
>>> The moisturiser is a very thick white cream. I don't use a lot of it, and found that the last pot lasted me 2-3 months. If you use too much it can feel a little like a film is sitting on top of my skin, and it doesn't sink in very well.

Picked both of these up in Sainsbury's on a two for £4 deal, which works out cheaper than buying the cream alone!

What is your favorite skincare range?

<3

Nails: it's baaaaaaacck...

As I have mentioned here I love holographic nail polish, and was very upset when they discontinued GOSH holographic, and the prices online skyrocketed.. I was have a mooch around the internet, on my eternal search for a holo as good as the GOSH one at a reasonable price  (I am waiting for the color club holo collection on come out) I found out something amazing. GOSH had re-launched their amazing holo at the start of the month. I am always on the look out, and hadn't seen in my local superdrug store, after having another look today knowing that it was available, I asked one of the staff if they would be stocking it. After much unhelpfulness, someone looked in the draw where they keep the excess store, and there is was in all it's glory. Member of staff look sufficiently confused as I grabbed a bottle, and nearly skipped to the till..

And... Here it is..

This is the NEW bottle...


>>> since the biggest complaint about the original polish was about the length of wear you could get out of this, GOSH have made it ever-so clear that it is a One-night-only 24hour polish. I think this is a great idea, no false promises.


The other complaint I had with this polish was that application was horrible. This seems much improved in the new holographic hero, and I had no problem when I applied this at all.  It went on much the same as any other nail polish, still needs two coats, but expected all my polishes to need two coats.

<<<  This is something I was anxious to know about, was how does the new holographic hero, compare to the original holographic?

Well judge for yourselves. My index finger is the original, and my middle finger is the new holographic. I think there is a minor difference, but it's exactly that MINOR, and since I would doubt you would ever wear them at the same time, it's not an issue, and to be honest, if you did wear them at the same time, I'm not sure anyone would notice the difference anyway.


So there you have it. If you missed out the last time around, or just needed to replace your original, it's back! I'm excited to say that it is apparently to be part of the GOSH permanent collection, meaning that once the rush to get it dyes down it should be pretty easy to get hold of. Also, if it's not on the shelf, don't forget to ask someone to check for you, you never know what is hiding in those draws!

What do you think of  holographic nail polish? Are you going to pick this one up? Or do you have another one that I should be trying? Let me know!

<3

Nails: Making them grow.

A question I get asked a lot is: How do I make my nails grow?

These are some of the things I do when I am growing my nails after  a major break or if they are very damaged.

In my experience you can't make nails grow faster. Although what you can do is look after them while they are growing, and keep your nails in good shape so they look good whatever length they are. These tips are also useful if you are trying to grow out damage.

>>>  When I am trying to get my nails back into shape, I file them all short, and into a nice shape. you can pick what ever shape you like. I like to do a short squoval, but a round also works well.
When you have weak or damaged nails, the file you use is very important. I would suggest that a crystal or glass file, but failing that a high grit emery board. It will take longer to make big changes with a high grit, but you should find that your nails are less likely to split into layers and peel apart.

Here is a guide to the different nail shapes you can aim for:

 source

Now that your nails are filed into shape, and they are all a similar length. I like to put on a protective coat of something to keep my nails strong.

<<< This is American Classics Gelous.

you can buy it here if you are in the U.K or here in you are in the U.S

I use this as my base coat, and even wear it if I don't have any other nail polish on, as I feel it gives my nails strength and protection, as well as making nail polish last longer. You can also use this as a top coat, I will normally use a coat of this over glitter before a use Seche Vite to help smooth it out. >>>

>>> The next important thing, and this might be more important than any other tip I know, is to use cuticle oil. I don't have a preference here, I choose ones that smell nice. I have a lovely china glaze cuticle oil, called holiday berry, and it smells like Christmas, I think it was a limited edition, but I hope they bring one out this year too. A popular among nail professionals is solar oil, I don't use it myself, but some people swear by it.. If you don't want to buy cuticle oil, you can try out almond oil, which is fab for nails and can be cheaper too.

I try to apply my oil twice a day, but you can apply it and rub it in, as often as you need. during the day, I find it easier to use a balm of some kind, like Vaseline or a similar lip balm or moisturiser. I spend the last few minutes of my lunch rubbing it in, I also find this relaxing. 

If you can't find time to do it at any other point in the day, do it at bed time, It is really important when growing you nails to keep them well hydrated, and supple, your nails should be able to bend without splitting, so if you knock them on anything they don't just snap off.>>>

Unfortunately the last thing I can suggest is just to wait, but while you are waiting keep looking after your nails, paint them nice colours or funky designs. Some colours look better on shorter nails, check out a few and see if you like them. Take pride in your nails, and know that everyone breaks a nail occasionally.

 If you are really desperate you can always go to a nail tech and have some overlays put onto your natural nail to reinforce them, or if you need length desperately have some extensions, but be warned that a good nail technician will not add a large amount of length to very short nails, as you would be more likely to break them. If you are trying to grow your nails and do end up having extensions PLEASE go to a good professional, and not a cheep one, and follow ALL the aftercare instructions, so that when they are removed the nail you are left with underneath is still in good condition, but remember that they won't be as strong as the extensions, so some people break a lot of their nails after having their acrylics or gels removed because they don't think about how weak the nails are in comparison. But that's a whole different blog post! 

 <3

Nails: Holographic Zebra

<<< This is something I threw together, because I didn't really have any idea of what I should do on my nails for the bank holiday weekend.

I had a really busy weekend (well, whole week for that matter) so I didn't want anything too fiddly because I really didn't have the energy. So what better way to have stand out nails with minimal effort? Holographic nail polish!

After I had done the Holo I thought it needed a little something just to add to it, so that's when I decided that zebra stripes would look cute over the top.

Holographic nail polish doesn't last too long, I made this last two days, which is good because I didn't have time to change it! >>>

What do you think of holographic nail polish? Do you get good wear out of your holographic varnish?

The hulk..

<<< I thought about doing some super hero nails for a while now, and this is the idea I came up with for the hulk.

I used green for his skin, and purple for the shorts the hulk wears. and outlined everything in black to make it a little more comic-book like.
I have been playing with a few more ideas, and hope that they will come together so I can show you them    in the future!



>>> I am sorry I have been quite recently, but my work has become super intense, and I have been spending most of my spare time sleeping! I should be back to being a bit more regular with my post next week! <<<

Nails: Color club - art club striper brushes

>>>Guess what! I ended up in TK Maxx again, and I picked up some

 more nail polish..This time it was the art club, by color club striper brushes. I picked this set of seven polishes for £7.99, and as you can see, there is black, white, green, red, and yellow. As well as a gold and sliver glitter, and a sealer top coat.  These are just the brushes, so if you use the pen nib on normal art pens a lot, these might not be for you. I didn't really expect too much from these, as I love my models own pens, and didn't think I would be able to get better then them. Now, these are amazing! I found that they were thick enough to work with, but without getting all sticky which a lot of nail pens I have used. In short I loved working with these, and would defiantly buy more in the future.>>>

Nails: Essie and color club collections.

About 2 weeks ago, when i was having a wee shopping spree in town, I happened to be in TK Maxx looking for something.. I can't remember what it was - it's irrelevant anyway.. I stopped to have a look at their beauty products - I never normally do this, i like to get my make-up etc from a department store, or the likes for the "experience" of high end shopping even when it's not. - and they had loads of nail polish in there at amazing prices. I picked up a few items...


3 Essie nail polishes ( these come as a set, it's not mix and match, which I know puts some people off.) These were £10.. Which if you like all of the colours is a bargain, as they are £7.99 each in boots.. I don't know what colours these are, as they have the wrong labels on them.. I guess the fact that they are seconds is why they are selling them cheep.. Also to note is the brush, I believe, is the older style brush, but the nail polish is still the same awesome Essie..

Style: How I cheer myself up..

When I am having a bad day, or don't feel like going into work, I know I need to think of something to cheer myself up.

After putting on my make-up and doing my hair - which i might not feel like doing, but it goes a long way to making me feel like myself..

When I still need a little boost I put my favorite perfume..

Lifestyle: Trip to Yorkshire

Hello! 

I am back from my holiday! This is an epic personal post, with lost of pictures, so if that's not your thing, stop reading here..

I thought I would should you some snapshots of my little trip away, and tell

you what I got up to, so this post will be littered with little photos that we took.

We ( me and my lovely David) when to Leeds for a few days. When we booked we didn't really have any plans of what we were going to do, we had decided before we went that we would go to York for the day, because I got some guest list tickets for the We are Scientists show in York, but that was the only plan we had other then to had a little explore of the area.  

Lifestyle: Park:live - We are Scientists, and what I wore to the festival.

In my last post I wrote about how I was excited to see We are Scientists in Gloucester..

So here is a photo heavy post on how the day went down..

Me looking crazy but it's okay because I am with Keith Murray..Yes I really am that short and he really is that tall
..

I was so happy to meet Keith, he is possibly the nicest man in music! 

Lifestyle: looking forward to my week off!

I am looking forward to my week off next week! I am going to see my favorite band at a local free festival, and I am very excited, as it has been over a year since I last saw them..

This is a snap of Keith Murray - We are scientists I took last year in Cardiff. I am crazy excited! We were meant to be seeing them again in Bristol next week, but Keith has hurt his voice, so they have cancelled a few shows. I am a little disappointed, but I understand why bands have to do it, and I am sure there will be a next time. SO, now I am left hunting for something to do on my week off and have no idea! If you have any suggestions of place they are must sees in the UK let me know!

Other reason I and looking forward to some time off are that I get to spend the whole week with my lovely other half, and three beautiful guinea pigs. Lets hope the weather holds up and I get to wear some of my new clothes that picked up it the summer sales.

Take care all Jebbie <3

Nails: Mix and match animal print.

Today I have some mix and match nails for you guys! I have used the same colours as last weekends nails which were for Audrey, and pink Friday, but this time I have used two of my nail art pens.. Black and sliver, so here is the results..

I have kept to the same theme on the nails, but each one is different. I don't know if this is a wearable design for everyone, and might need to be toned down for some people, but I thought it was a good little experiment to see what different looks you can create with the same colours. I am thinking of doing a few nail art wheels with colour themes on them, to see all the different ideas one can come up with.

What do you think of nail art? Too much for daily wear or the right accessory to your outfit?

Let me know your thoughts, or anything you would like to see, and I will give it a shot! Take care all! 

Jebbie <3

Nails: Weekend experiment.

Hello!

This is something I tried for a little experiment, not to mention the fact I was SOOO excited to try my new nail polish, that my lovely boyfriend found for me on the internets, after me going on about it for ages... For Audrey - china glaze. I am a big fan of both china glaze, and  greeny-blue colours...The little finger is OPI - pink Friday in the Nikki Minaj collection which is also on my thumb.

Nails: Pink and Yellow.

This is one of my favorite manicures, I love the colours next to each other.

It just makes me think of sunny, happy days.

This was a time when my nails were looking slightly better.

The pink is OPI pinking of you, and I love it.

I don't know what the yellow is, maybe Rimmel 60 second in sunny.

What do you think?
Do you have a favorite multi-coloured manicure? 

Jebbie <3

Nails: Nails inc couture.

Just a quick post today..

My lovely other half knows how much I love my nails, ( well, I do have nail polish everywhere in the house.) and he got me a nails inc couture nail polish. You can pick the cap, the nail polish colour, and even rename the colour..

So here is what he picked for me...

I think it was an amazingly thoughtful gift, and I feel so happy every time I look at it, sat there on my desk under my lovely bright light, sparkling away.

This is shoreditch, which is a lovely pink colour (I have this colour already, so I don't need to use this), with the clear crystal cap.

Take care - Jebbie <3

Nails: Zebra holographic nails.

Hello guys!

Today's offering, if something that just, kinda, fell together. I was going for some wavy strips on the nails, 

but the further along I got, they more like up close zebra stripes it looked, so I decided that as to just help it along and finish the design up as zebra stripes.. So here is the finished manicure..

 

Nails: Sculpting and tips (acrylics)

Hello guys and girls, 

 

I am studying to become a nail tech, so I thought I would update some pictures of the first nails I have done with acrylic, and knowing what I am meant to be doing. Now I am not saying that these are right, or the best.. they are just the first 3 sets of nails I have ever done,I thought it would be nice to document the progress of my nails, so here goes the photos. 

 The two sets of nails above, are the first two sets of acrylic nails I have done on myself. They have been applied with tips, and a clear acrylic. (This is because that is what I have to practice with, I hope to be moving on to the classic pink and white)

This set is my first ever attempt at sculpting nails, so there is no tip used here.I think I like this method, but I will need to continue to practice both ways, so that I can be competent in both ways, as to offer any future clients the best service I can, to suit their needs. 

ALL of these nails are too thick. I need to practice getting the shape, and making the tips nice and thin. They should be about the thickness of a credit card, and I think that these could be about 50% thinner, but I need to make sure I am not compromising the structural integrity of the nail, by making it too thin so that the nail snaps. This could also be helped by creating a better C curve, as a good C curve will create a stronger nail. My nails are rather flat, and lack much of a C curve, so I will need to concentrate on learning to create that beautifully.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at how I have been learning, If you have any questions, tips, or comments, let me know below. 

Take care - Jebbie <3