Sunday Nails - Midnight Snowflakes

With 18 days until Christmas we are well and truly in the depths of winter, and I have definitely been getting into the festive spirit. For example today alone I have been ice skating, looking round the Bath Christmas market, wrapping Christmas presents and watched Home Alone 2, if that isn't festive I don't know what is! So in the spirit of all things festive I of course had to do a festive nail art today!

How have you been getting in the Christmas spirit?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Silver Foil

I am a magpie when it comes to anything sparkly, shiny or glittery, there is just something about the way that they catch the light that draws me to them. It comes to no supprise that I'm always decorating my nails with little gems or glitter or like today, foil.

While it sounds quite unusual to put tin foil on my nails rather than on a Christmas turkey, the result is very pretty. I just cut up your average kitchen foil into tiny little pieces and scattered them onto my wet nails and sealed it all with a clear topcoat, pretty simple huh?

What do you think about using everyday household items to create nail art?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Blue Marble

99% of the time nail art can be a bit hit or miss. Unless I've done a particular nail art before I have no idea how it is going to turn out, especially when I'm trying out a new technique as I did today. 

Normally when I'm doing a marble effect nail art I'll use the water technique but I thought I'd try something a bit easier: cling film. To create the effect I painted my nails with two coats of white nail polish and then a layer of blue nail polish. While the blue nail varnish is still wet I lightly dabbed my nail with a scrunched up piece of cling film and then finished off with a clear top coat.

I seriously love the effect created by this technique and it's a lot easier than using water to create a marble effect, so I will definitely be trying it again in the future!

Have you every tried used cling film to create nail art?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Champagne Glitter

To say I've been busy this week would be a complete understatement! From job interviews to driving lessons to drama exams to parties and theatre trips I've barely had one moment to myself let alone the time to blog. That being said no matter how busy I am, I always make time to do my nails. This week I've been sporting this pretty pink and champagne glitter fade as it is quick, simple and the glitter reminds me of fireworks (a little tribute to bonfire night which was also this week!)

What have you been up to this week?

Ellie xx

Sunday Nails - Stitched Up

After a couple of weeks break from the nail art while I had gel nails, Sunday Nails nail art is back! Yes I took off my gels this week and I thought what better way to get back into nail art than with a simple Halloween nail art that not only looks good but allows me to show you the condition of my nails after the gel nail polish. 

As you can see from the picture below my nails are in pretty good condition as they haven't split or broke, though I haven a feeling that if it was more of a regular thing my nails would be a bit worse for wear! As for the nail art it is pretty self explanatory; I painted my nails with a clear base coat, then drew stitches using a nail art pen across the tips of my nails before finishing off with a topcoat!

While I didn't go trick or treating this Halloween, you'll know if you follow my instagram that me and my friends had our own little Halloween party. Fancy dress + sweets + drinks + fireworks +  great company = best Halloween ever!

How did you spend your Halloween?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Is a Manicure Worth Paying For?

I have never had my nails done professionally before, well that was until yesterday when I went and got a gel manicure done with my sister. But is it really worth the money paying someone else to do your nails for you? I thought I'd write a post on the pros and cons of getting your nails done professionally based on my first experience yesterday to answer that question.

Pros

Not very good at painting your nails? The easiest way to get great looking nails sometimes is to just give in and get someone else to do them for you, it is their job and highly unlikely that they will make a mess.

Gel nail polish is dried in the salon using a UV or LED light and the process is very quick. This means that you leave the salon with completely dry nails and don't have to wait around for hours for your nails to dry constantly in fear that you may smudge them.

A gel manicure lasts on average 2-3 weeks without chipping, peeling or cracking, so if you find painting your nails a chore it can save you a lot of time because you are getting them done less frequently.

In my opinion they always look a lot better because of the glossy finish they lasts until you have the polish removed.

Cons 

Getting a gel manicure can be expensive with prices starting from around £20 if your getting it done every 3 weeks it equates to nearly £350 a year compared to a bottle of Barry M nail polish which cost £3.99 each or a home gel kit that can cost around £100 and can be used over and over again.

If you love to change your nail colour frequently getting a gel manicure may not be for you because if you're getting them done every 2-3 weeks that's how often you will be changing the colour.

Taking off the nail polish can be a nightmare as you have to soak them in pure acetone which you can either do at home or pay for the salon to do that for you.

They can damage your nails if you have them frequently over a long period of time because the acetone used to remove them is a strong chemical. There is also the argument that the UV light can cause UV damage which may lead to cancer so you need to find a salon that uses an LED light to set the polish.

Overall I think that whether you get a manicure done at a salon is down to personal preference, there isn't a right or wrong answer as there are both pros and cons to paying for a professional to do your nails. Personally I do like getting my nails done but I also like doing my own nails so I'd only ever go to the salon for a special occasion.

Do you pay to get your nails done at a salon?

Eleanor xx 

Sunday Nails - Jack O Lantern

I love Halloween, while lots of people hate Halloween and think that Trick or Treating is rude or don't believe in it for various reasons I think that it is a fun holiday to participate in. I love dressing up, decorating my house and most of all carving pumpkins. I don't care if people think that Halloween is for children because every year me and my mum will be a pumpkin, carve it together and then make pumpkin soup with the leftover pumpkin. To me nothing screams Halloween like a spooky Jack O Lantern but if you don't fancy carving a pumpkin you can still get in the holiday spirit with my Jack O Lantern nail art!

To create the glowing effect of the Jack O Lantern simply use three different colours layered on top of each other. First use a red nail varnish or acrylic paint to draw your faces, then use the orange on top leaving a bit of red showing around the edge and then use a little bit of yellow in the middle.

Do you still carve pumpkins at Halloween?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - I've Been Drinkin' Watermelon

If there was a list of cool fruits watermelon would be there right at the top, I mean Beyonce's been drinking it, the Shaytards love eating eat and the best thing of all is that it's good for you! Yep I love watermelon and it's so pretty that I thought that I'd do a watermelon themed nail art this week!

What is your favourite fruit?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Black Lace

I love lace, in fact it is probably one of my favourite materials. I'm gradually building up a nice collection of black lace pieces in my wardrobe and last night I wore a black lace bralet and matching skirt to a party, so I decided to paint my nails to match! 

Lace is quite a difficult pattern to replicate without a stamp as it is often very complex but I managed to create this nail art using just a black nail art pen. While it looks complicated it is basically just a bunch of circles, lines and dots layered together to create the look of lace.

What is your favourite fabric?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Mix and Match

Normally my nail art has some sort of theme or inspiration behind it but this week was honestly a bit random. I was sat with my box of nail varnish and accessories in front of me and decided to experiment with my favourite techniques and colours and this was the result! I was obviously feeling quite girly when I was doing my nails as it's quite Tiffany's with the light blue, pearls and lace.

For an experiment I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out! Do you ever experiment when it comes to nail art?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Simple Stripes

One of the presents that I got for my birthday was a set of striping tape from my friend Mae. She knows how much I love nail art so it was the perfect gift especially since I have never ever used it before. I love striping tape and I've seen so much beautiful nail art that's been created using it but I've never got round to having a go at using it myself so I was very excited to give it a go!

Something I quickly found out using striping tape is that it is very fiddly and almost impossible to use if you don't have a pair of tweezers on hand to help you out. Another pain is cutting the stripes to the right size or trimming them while they're on your nail, but with a pair of nail scissors it isn't too difficult. Overall compared to using sellotape striping tape is a lot easier, prettier and a lot more versatile.

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Tribal Whites

Tumblr is a great place for nail art inspiration and it's where I found my inspiration for this weeks nail art. When I saw this design as I was scrolling through my feed it immediately caught my eye and I knew I had to try it out, it reminds of a tribal print but more modern rather than ethnic if you know what I mean!

To create this nail art I simply used a white nail art pen, nothing too complicated but you will nail a steady hand. Where do you get your inspiration from?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Chevron

One of the best things about turning 17 is that I can now learn how to drive. While I'm sure it'll be a scary experience, being able to drive will make my life so much easier and give me a lot more independence so I'm very excited to start my lessons! 

I'm so excited that everything I see has started to remind me of driving, for example to most people today's nail art is just a simple monochromatic pattern but to me it looks like road markings or signs.

To create this nail art I painted my nails white and then used cellotape and a black nail varnish to create the chevrons, I then finished it off with a matte topcoat. Does anyone have any tips on how to stop nail art smudging when you use a topcoat? Because as you can see in the pictures when I added the topcoat it slightly smudged the nail art and made it not as sharp.

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Pastel Perfection

Despite having a very monochromatic and sometimes boyish wardrobe I'm still a girly girl at heart. I love the colour pink, unicorns and glitter which is why I love this nail art so much because my nails look like unicorn poop. I was going to do some sort of birthday nail art on top of this base to celebrate my 17th birthday on Wednesday but this was just to pretty to cover up with balloons and cake.

To create this pretty tie dye effect I painted my nails white and then using various pastel colours, dot them randomly in a cluster on a sponge and then sponge the colours onto the white base coat using rolling motion. I then finished it off with a cheap £1 glitter topcoat, that catches the light and sparkles beautifully!

Are you a girly girl or a tom boy when it comes to your personal style?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Granite

GUILTY BLOGGER ALERT! So I'm sorry for being a bad blogger this week and not posting at all until today, but sometimes life just gets in the way. Just to give you a little update on my life at the moment; I can't remember if I mentioned it or not but a couple of months I got a temporary job at Clarks Shoes for the 'back to school' period, while I enjoy it I have been working five days a week and then on my days off I've been either meeting up with friends or doing college work. This week I also got my AS Level results which were a pleasant surprise but with all the excitement I forgot about blogging.    

Now I've explained my absence I can now explain this Sunday's nail art. After seeing a blog post featuring monochromatic marble nail art (if I remember whose it was I will link it here) my love for marbled nail art was rekindled and I was desperate to give it a go myself. But you see the thing it with marble nail art it's very hit and miss, on one nail it will look amazing but the next it'll look like a big blob of paint, that is why some of my nails look better than others. But overall I love the effect and using black and white has created the look of a piece of granite which I think is pretty cool!

I hope everyone who got results this week got what they wanted and if you're waiting for GCSE results good luck! 

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Do You Want To Go To The Seaside?

There is nothing more summery to me than the beach. When I say the beach I mean a beach like that in the film The Beach, not beach as in what you will find at Western Supermare e.g mud, and with my Instagram being filled with hundreds of pictures of beaches how could I not do a beach themed nail art?



To create this nail art I first created a colour gradient using a sponge, then used 2 different shades of acrylic paint and a paint brush to create the palm trees and then stuck on some gems using a clear topcoat. 

Have you been to the beach yet this summer?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Clean, Sharp and Simple

My favourite type of nail art are always the modern, fresh and clean cut designs rather than the complex arty designs that I sometimes do. It's because clean cut geometric shapes never look garish and I think they fit in more with my clothes and style. So when I saw that a/w's nail art trends were minimalism and neutrals, while flicking through the latest edition of company magazine my heart leaped with joy.

This nail art was inspired by that of Prabal Gurung and DKNY and the nail art seen on the catwalk at their a/w shows. What nail trends will you be supporting next season?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Amsterdam

I haven't posted a lot this week and the reason is that I've been on holiday in Amsterdam. It was all very last minute and for a while I didn't think that I would be going on holiday this summer but on Monday morning my parents booked the holiday and we were on the plane first thing Tuesday morning! The weather was perfect, I had an amazing time looking around the museums and boating along the canals but because it was all so last minute I didn't have time to schedule a blog post. But now that I'm back on home soil I've managed to squeeze in this Sunday Nails post dedicated to my trip to Amsterdam; the flag of Amsterdam.

To make up for my lack of posts this week I was thinking about doing 2 posts a week (Sunday nails and a fashion or beauty post) and maybe a guest post every week until September. Would any of you be interested in doing a guest post? Let me know down below...

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Diamantes Are A Girls Best Friend

When Marilyn Monroe sang Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend she was certainly onto something but sadly not many of us can afford diamonds to stick on our nails; this is where diamantes or gem stones come in. Gem stones or diamantes are a simple and cheap way to make your nails more interesting, and while in the past I've always thought they were a bit 'chavy' but like a lot of trends when done tastefully they can look great.

I bought these gems as part of a pack from Primark and I just attach them with a coat of clear nail varnish and some tweezers. But what do you think, are diamantes chavy or tasteful?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - He Loves Me He Loves Me Not

Summer time in Primary School was always the best time of year. Morning, lunch time and afternoon breaks were spent making daisy chains, playing handstands and giggling while watching the boys playing football. My most favourite past time was definitely picking the petals off daisy's wondering if my crush 'loved me or loved me not', the amount of innocent daisies I must have beheaded in my childhood is ridiculous, so in tribute to those daisies this Sunday nails is dedicated to them.

Please tell me I was not the only who did this as a kid?

Eleanor xx