Swatched! Sinful Colours: Be Happy

Hey guys! Exams are finally over and although they went pretty poopy, I'm just glad they're done! 

Today I've got a sinful colours swatch for you. I've went a bit crazy over these as for £2 you get really decent polishes! 

Be Happy is a really nice almost dusty turquoise/mint green colour, a bit darker than Mint Candy Apple. It's a nice interesting colour and is a bit different to the average mint nail polish. 

I got this opaque in three coats but two coats could easily be done. 

I really like this colour as it's different to your average mint, almost a Cath Kidston kind of colour, vintage and retro :) 

HELLO

Oh hey, remember me? Yeah I nearly forgotten I did nails too, it's been around 2 weeks according to how long it's been since I've uploaded to my (personal) facebook. Yikes D:

I guess I've just been trying to readjust to being back at uni, and dealing witht he workload again. I have a library project this term, which is kind of like a practice dissertation for next year, so I've been trying to get some research done for that. The essay and the poster presentation for the project is only worth 10% of ym grade, but I want to do well in it since I'm not too good at presentations, plus my average got pulled down by me barely passing a report that was worth 10% too.

 I haven't been feeling really inspired lately, hence why this design isn't as good as it could've been...I felt like doing something pastel and black but didn't really have any ideas, I wanted to try a super simple aztec design and made it vertical instead of horizontal since I suck at drawing horizontal stripes lol. I  kind of like it vertical, and might try a more detailed aztec design at some point.

Mint: Essie - Mint Candy Apple
Lilac: Collection 2000 - Sugared Almond

I used Mint Candy Apple and Sugared Almond as my bases. Both are lovely pastel colours (Mint candy apple definitely lives up to the hype, I think!), and are opaque in 2 to 3 coats. It may seem a lot of layers, but I've got a few polishes that take up to 4 coats, and 2 to 3 is a good average I'd say. I applied sally hensen's mega shine topcoat to provide a barrier between the base and the acrylic paint. It dries really quick and it is pretty shiney, but it streaks designs, so I tend to use it for plain colours rather than designs. I then used acrylic paint to  do (or in this case, slop on...) the design. I then used models own clear polish to topcoat it as  I've never had it streak on me, and I wasn't sure how acrylics react to topcoat since it's the first time using I used them.

Anyways, thast my kind of pretty bad attempt at a nail design..I really need to get more inspiration from somewhere. I may just start doing the 31 day/week challenge...hmm...

Blue And Gold Ying Yang

So...still raining here...Some summer, eh?

Moving away from the dull weather chat, I decided to go back to the good old Ying Yang design, but this time in mint blue and gold for a nice and different touch.

MINT BLUE: 17 - Mint Choc Chip
GOLD: Barry M - Gold Foil

I've recently noticed there tends to be more interpretations of "mint" than any other colour...they're either blue or green and then there's the various tones as well...I've yet to find one that matched MY idea of mint...maybe I should just franken one :p

Onto my news, I found out I got into Honours Pharmacology for uni :D My grades weren'tt he best to get into Honours, so I was convinced I'd get offered a Designated/3 year degree in Human Bio. So I'm happy, yet confused, that I got offered Honours :D Hopefully I'll be okay with the work load, after doing part time study for the past 2 years :o

Bright Pastel Watercolour Attempt

Hello one and all, how are we today?

This design is a bit of a meh design that I may re-do, either with the same colours or maybe black and white...

Ive gotten a bit sick of pastels lately (I may have over pastelled myself haha) and the use of just black and white in my last post has made me love the simplicity of monochrome on my nails!

This was my attempt at watercolour nails, using a sandwich bag to smoosh together blobs of wet polish to make a kind of watercolour-ish design. I personally don't think my attempt went too well, the colours are kind of still separated and it just doesn't seem too pretty together, maybe i used too many or something...although I do like the middle nail :)

Think black and white might make a good combo, given they might mix to make grey too...

Anyhows, I shall do another post soon if I redo this (i'll give it a day or so...) no doubt :)

The shop is going well in terms of views, but no one's bought anything yet :( Ah well, time will tell :)

Mono ABCs and Minty Spots

Hello again, I've been posting fairly frequently for some reason... I'm going through some family troubles atm and I'm guessing I'm doing my nails to take my mind off stuff :)

The first mani is a monochrome letter design...but it looks like a pile of poop cos I didn't have any of my nail brushes with me (I use nail art brushes to clean up round the edges) and I had a black polish pen/striper, but I felt like I could've done better if I used my brushes :/ I dont think the letters are spaced out well and the letters are rather messy, so it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but it might be one I'll try again :)

White: Ultra Pro, French White
Black: Models Own, nail art pen

The next mani is SO much neater because I managed to go home and pick up my nail art brushes and dotting tools :D (and some gems hehe) Sorry about my cuticles, I know it's a nail blogger taboo to have manky cuticles, but I sometimes forget to put cream on before I take a photo. I'm not bff with my cuticles...they're all weirdly shaped compared to other bloggers' that I've seen. Some of mine are square shaped, some oval and some or just wonky, so i need to sit and clean up my polish so it kind of gives the illusion that all my cuticles are the same shape or even. Plus, I seem to have all this extra cuticles skin compared to other's...I'm debating whether to just clip them off (even though you're not supposed to). I usually use Sally Hansen's Cuticle Remover, but it doesn't seem to remove enough of my skin :( If anybody has some cuticle fixing methods they'd like to share then feel free to comment! :)

Light Green: Models Own, Jade Stone
Dark Green: Models Own, Top Turqoise
White: Ultra Pro, French White
Matte Topcoat: GOSH, Matt Effect Top Coat

I hadn't used the turqoise Models Own for yonks, and I'e now rediscovered my love for it! it's such a lovely blueish green! Models Own has such a good range of colours for a drugstore brand :) I like this mani cos I like the contrast of the light and dark greens, and the plain and dotty patterns. I also adore the matte look, wish it caught on a bit more :( The bow on my ring finger (and my thumb which isn't pictured) is just a dot gem with two heart gems on either side, nifty isn't it? I'm not a fan of hearts so I wasn't sure if i'd ever get round to using heart gems...A design for Valentines Day might be a bit tricky though hehe...

Until next time! :)