Ooooooooh for Ombre!

With all this dreary, cold and well, just generally horrid weather we've been having of late we can hardly be blamed for wishing the spring season to hurry a little quicker. I mean all this slush and ice is just snow good- is it? Sorry... couldn't help myself! But snowy puns aside, the weather hasn't been all that inspiring recently and well quite frankly, I don't think I'm the only one to admit that like the climate, I've been feeling a little dull and dismal and I'm beginning to feel like I need to inject a little colour back into my life.

Usually in this sort of situation I would dig out a pretty coloured, summery top, pop on my shades and off I would go. However, all I really want to do is hibernate beneath my thickest woollen jumper and curl myself up under a blanket. So, what better way is there to put two fingers up to the weather and inject some brightness into our wardrobes than through our nails. Boys, you might want to sit this one out.

I am a huuuuuges lover of nail art as most of you will probably already know and I love nothing better than having a little experiement now and again. In order to brighten things up a bit I decided to finally have a go at the ombre nail trend. It's one of the only nail art trends that I haven't tried so it was only natural to at least have a go and I think it went fairly well.

Recently I've been wearing lots of red, dark purple and raspberry pinks so this week I opted for a bright and bold pink to blend into my baby pink base.

I applied a coat of Nails inc 'Air Street' as a base, it's brilliant if you have really dry brittle nails that are prone to breaking or peeling (like mine) and I fully reccommend it-it's definitely the best I've ever used. I quite often wear it by itself without a colour on top to try and help my nails and I have definitely noticed a difference. Apply one coat a day over three consecutive days then remove and reapply like this for as long as you can and I guarantee you will start to see your nails strengthening. The baby Pink shade is 'Tendresse' by Chanel and as you can probably see, I certainly got my moneys worth as it's not far from finished! I used this as my primary colour- giving my nails two coats before applying the fading colour pon my tips. In this case I used 'striking' by Jessica.

Once these coats have dried, I then used a makeup sponge to fade the colours into each other. I found that the best way to do it is to paint some of the lighter colour on the sponge and above or below it paint on some the darker colour. A little goes a long way so you don't need to go crazy. Line the colours on the sponge up with your nail so the lighter colour on the sponge is above the light colour on your nail and the same with the dark colour. The next bit is a bit messy and wee bit tricky- you need quite a light hand, but then start to lighty dab the sponge onto your nail with the darker colour at the tip and gradually move the sponge up and down your nail. It doesn't take much to blend- as the colours tend to blend together quite naturally themselves.

This is the end result- finished of course with a couple of clear topcoats from none other than Barry M. There is definitely a knack to it, not quite sure I have it sussed- so there will be many more attempts to come!

November In Pictures

November has been and gone and mine has been filled with some of the greatest memories that I will remember forever. I officially graduated from Winchester at the Cathedral. Spending the week with my closest family and friends which I've made over the past three years, some of whom I hope will be friends for life sure made up for the chilly weather. Re-exploring Winchester and the picturesque buildings behind the cathedral. Gucci the rabbit kept me company in my friend's room and was too cute not to feature! Two new sparkly Pandora beads, my present for graduating. A batch of brownies made especially for us graduates. Freshy painted raspberry nails. My first Christmas cup of the season filled with a delicious praline mocha.

 Cosying up in my favourite snood. More baking, a chocolate cake this time for one of my classmate's birthdays. A trip back home to Northamptonshire with Caitlin. winter walks in our wellies. Chanel treats from mum and the view from my bedroom, it may be foggy but it's always home. Trips to Bournemouth's German Market, the lights twinkling. The christmas tree in all its glory in the twon centre. Wimborne Minster looking glorious in the sunshine.

October in Pictures

Wearing my new sparkly collard top to dance the night away with my favourite girls and taking one of my closest friends to my favourite local haunts for the morning after's recovery brunch, for hot chocolates and copious amounts of food. Coating my nails in my favourite colour for the season- a dark plum shade, I chose Recessionista from Essie's new Autumn selection and topping them with the sparkliest bottle of glitter I could find (in this case Barry M's Pink Sapphire). It's at this time of year that I am able to dig out my favourite winter boots, and wear them in warmth, especially when visiting pretty Christchurch. Even prettier when the last of the evening light is shining down on the church. With cold weather, comes more rain and Bournemouth has had more than its fair share this month, calling for my trusty dotty unbrella and barbour. But it's not been all dull and rainy, a helping of some local fish and chips and a visit to the O2 Academy in Boscome with some of my Radio girls to see Maverick Sabre (who just for the record, was amazing) really brightened things up despite the gloomy weather.



Visiting Christchurch with its pretty bunting on the bridge over the river and a visit from mummy B included a night away and a scrumptious full english breakfast before a day shopping in Bournemouth where I was treated to a beaut new duvet set- perfect for the winter months. Learning to DJ on my friend's decks has resulted in a new found favourite hobby. A delicious dinner on Boscombe's beach one evening led to the discovery of what I am sure is the best burger in the whole of Bournemouth and the fairy lights delicately wrapped around the restaurant only added to the experience. As October has come to an end, it has also brought the cold weather and I have (happily) been able to bring out what is, possibly the cosiest item in my wardrobe, my (faux) sheepskin aviator. Halloween has also been and I made my first attempt at baking a grave yard cake- a chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream icing. October has been amazing, so bring on November!

Tribal Nails

When it comes to nails, nail art is the in thing this summer and what better way to express yourself than through your nails?! Loads of salons are offering nail art as a service with Wah nails and Nails Inc being two of the best out there- but the prices aren't cheap and as most of you will understand being a student sometim es requires you to have to cut back so, I have resorted to the old DIY approach!
Yep, I've been doing my nail art myself- it was tricky at first but I think I am gradually improving- slowly. I started off with quite simple designs- crackle, spots and stripes and I have since moved on to slightly trickier designs, leopard rint, thin stripes and of course tribal! Even though you have to have a bit more of a steady hand, I still think that you can get away with the odd few messy bits and slip-ups, as since when are tribal prints all exactly the same?

Below is my own attempt at tribal nail art. I opted for a stripey base with zigzag lines and dots in contrasting colours to jazz it up. Take a look and please try to see past some of the wobbly lines!!!

Nail Art: the art of a steady hand

My blogging has been simply atrocious for the past month or so, uni work took over everything including me pooor little blog. Then of course Christmas arrived and rushing around getting last minute presents seemed to fill my time in the lead up to the big day completely. But now Christmas is pretty much over I am aiming to get myself back into my usual routine of riding, gymming, doing uni work and of course BLOGGING! Consider it back up and running as I hope to get my usual weekly posts back on track.

As you can probably imagine many things have been happening since the beginning of winter and as usual I have lots I want to say; I know, I know, nothings changed! So I shall begin with my new craze for nail art!

I started wearing Barry M's crackle polish when it first came out and I tried loads of different colour co-ordinations and styles. I liked them so much that I thought it would be great if I could create my own nail art without having to pay salon prices and it seems I may have found the perfect answer to my wish; Andrea Fullerton! She does a range of nail polishes as well as nail pens in a huge variety of colours which are really goot for creating your own nail art. The one I bought has a pen on one end and a really thin brush on the other so you can creat spots/stripes and of course anything else you can creatively think of.

Before I found the brand I did of course try the DIY approach using a normal nail polish brush. I wanted to do spots but needless to say it didnt work as the brush left massive splodges on my nail, so I was delighted to find a pen that has a nice, fine tip; all you need is a steady hand!

Here are some of my creations, the black patterns have been created with the black pen and the leopard print I did by dipping a pencil in the polish and doing it that way...professional, not! I need to get some other coloured nail pens so that's my aim for the end of the holidays! Enjoy!

Dots

Leopard Print

Ladybird and dots

More Leopard Print

The Ring Finger Manicure

Summer Nail Trends

With the lovely, sunny weather we are having at the moment we can be sure to think that Summer is fast approaching. It is at this time of year that we place our boots back in their boxes and bring out the summer sandals giving us girls an excuse to paint our fingers and toes in newest and freshest summer shades.

For the past few seasons, Chanel seems to have always been ahead of other beauty brands when bringing out new colours; we've had turqoise; we've had the muddy browny colour known as 'Particuliere' and this year is no different. Chanel has brought out its new summer shade, 'Mimosa' ; a light, but bright shade of yellow. Yes, that's right, Yellow. Unbelievable it may be but the colour to be seen waring this summer is infact yellow and as always Chanel have got it just right. The shade being not too florescent or dull, but bang on light, pretty and feminine with a slight sparkle. Perfect. However, this shade cannot just be slapped onto long nails, as beauty experts are advising to keep nails short and evenly shaped as long yellow nails are not a good look.

Along with 'Mimosa', Chanel is of course not just bringing out one new summer shade, but a small summer collection which includes a bright pink and a light beige. Which are in my eyes, a little more wearable and clolours I am more likely to choose. However, for those of you looking for something a little different or perhaps a little more daring it seems 'Mimosa' could be the colour for you.