How to: Super sparkle festive nails & FOTD

Merry Christmas Eve! (nearly!)

You'd think I have too much time on my hands considering the number of times I've painted my nails this week, but here's another Christmassy nail tutorial - my personal favourite now after wearing it today!

Super sparkly nails are always the best!

Start by getting your sparkle ready. Here I'm using a sample of MAC pigment in "Reflects Transparent Teal" (left) and MAC pigment in "White Gold" (right). The pot on the left I bought online years ago and I think is the real deal, where as the pot on the right is definitely not real MAC Pigment. However, works nicely for this design. You can use any pigment or glitter you want, I just used this as its super sparkly and very finely milled.

Paint your nails with one coat of a pearly white nailvarnish. I used No 7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Coconut Ice 05.

Leave to dry. 

Now work on one nail at a time. Paint another layer of your pearly nail varnish on to your chosen nail. Tap some glitter/pigment onto the wet nail and tap off the excess.

I choose to work on top of an old magazine page so I can catch the glitter that I don't use and put it back in the pot when I'm finished. (I'll show you an easy way later.)

Here's what it looks like when you tap off the excess glitter.

If you find it easier or less messy, use a cotton bud to scoop up some glitter and place it at the top of your nail like so.

Then tip your nail over the glitter container and tap your finger. The glitter will fall down the nail, sticking to the wet polish and the excess will fall straight into the pot.

Repeat the process with the rest of your nails.

Ta da!

Ultra messy!

To gather up the overspill of pigment fold the paper you were working on in half and create a crease. Tip up the paper and the pigment will neatly slide back into it's container.

Here's the finished result. It's hard to capture the sparkle in pictures but at a glance the nails look white, but from different angles the glitter reflects blue, pink, purple and silver.

I finished with a sparkly top coat.

To get rid of the excess glitter that sticks to your fingers you just have to wait and go about your daily business. I washed my hands with soapy water, went to bed, got up in the morning and had a shower and washed my hair. The shampoo and head scrubbing removes all the unwanted glitter the best. :)

The photo above shows the nails freshly done and the first photo of this tutorial shows the nails after one day.

I thought I'd do a face of the day today too as my makeup went quite well.

I'm wearing Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation with a bit of Vichy Dermablend foundation used as concealer.

Filled in my eyebrows with Urban Decay Brow Box and ran through them with a brow brush.

On my eyelids I have Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin with UD Sin eyeshadow on top, UD Darkhorse in the crease and UD Buck to blend them together (all from the Urban Decay Naked Palette)

On the cheeks I have Rose Gold by Sleek and Harmony blush by MAC as a contour.

I used Revlon Colourstay Ultimate Lip Colour in Ultimate Orchid.

Mascara I used Maybelline Great Lash Waterproof to hold the curl and Collection 2000 Big Fake Lash over the top for a bit more volume.

Hope you enjoyed! Are you all excited for Christmas? I know I am!

How to: Christmas Pudding nail tutorial!

Everyone loves a good set of festive nails so I decided to try out a cute little Christmas Pudding.

I only did one nail as it was just a test, plus it's late and I don't fancy sitting around waiting for ten fingers to dry before I can go to bed!

So here's how to do this one:

(Apologies for the crap quality photos, it's too dark in here!)

Coat your nail in a mid browny colour. I used two coats of No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Beanie 03.

Then use a white or a creamy colour to create the cream topping. I used No7 Anniversary Nail Colour (limited edition, I think!) in 60's Mini Skirt.

Then blob two bits of green at the top of the nail on the cream. Try to make it look as much like holly as possible. I failed miserably, but I just used the nail varnish brush as I don't own any nail art brushes! The green I used is Barry M Nail Paint in Racing Green 299/842.

Finally add a couple of blobs of red to create the holly berries. Here I used Barry M Nail Paint in Bright Red 262/839. Finish off with a top coat of clear nail varnish, and you're done!

Enjoy! Yum yum!

How to: Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Jacket Nail Tutorial

Ho ho ho! Meeeerrryyy Christmas! I thought I'd do a quick nail tutorial for the nail varnish that I'm wearing for the next few days. I saw this originally on a Kandee Johnston youtube video and decided to give it a go myself.

Here's how I did it.

Coat your nails in two layers of your chosen red varnish. I used Barry M 1A. This is so old and I don't think it's available any more - pretty sure it was one of the first ever colours by Barry M as it has a different lid to all the others that I own!

Leave to dry fully. Then add a splodgy layer of white to the tips of your nails. This is to look like the fur trim of Santa's suit. No need to be neat with this..(phew!) I used number 66 by Barry M.

This step is optional but I decided to add a few diamates to my ring finger santa suit. This ring of gems is from a local craft store but you can find them easily on ebay.

Add three dots of black polish to each nail to make Santa's buttons.

On my ring finger I placed the dots with my black and pressed a green gem onto each one.

(Tip, use a damp cotton bud to pick up and place the gems.)

Finish with a clear top coat once everything has dried.

Ta-da! Santa, eat your heart out!

O.O.T.D 18/12/11 & Paddington wellies

Today I spent Christmas shopping an wrapping up presents. Not in the slightest in a Christmassy mood, though.

It looked pretty sunny outside today, but I knew it was going to be crisp, so I wore layers.

This crochet dress is from Topshop and I added a black belt from Primark. Plain black tights (and lace trimmed cycling shorts which you can't really see) worn under the dress for warmth.

On top I added my crochet scarf from H&M (this is the one that inspired my mum to crochet her own - see here)

The leather jacket is from Oasis and I'm using my Cambridge Satchel.

The boots I'm wearing are called 'Spinners' by Carvela.

Limited jewellery today as I find it annoying when it's cold out and I'm wearing gloves and scarves etc. So I just popped in some apple studs from BHS.

Naked Palette (as always) for my eyeshadow and Benefit Benetint on my cheeks.

Look what I picked up in town today, I saw them in TK MAXX and couldn't resist. I thought they looked like Paddington wellies, but come home to google images and realised that he has red wellies! Anyway, I still love them!

Also on a completely random note, I'm obsessing slightly over getting my septum pierced - even though I have a massive honker and my parents would kill me.

:)

O.O.T.D 13/12/11 & nail tutorial!

Today was anticipated with good intentions of finishing my Christmas shopping, but that didn't happen. With a mixture of getting up late, having to go for an eye test (I have wonky eyes, apparantly) and it being bitterly cold, nothing much got done!

Here's what I wore. On reflection, I should have worn several more layers and probably not a dress, but ah well - live and learn, eh?

The shearling denim jacket is from Topshop and the 3/4 sleeve black jersey dress is from H&M.

The cute panda hat is from River Island.

The bag I chose today and pretty much every other day is my Alexander Wang Rocco.

This infinity scarf was an absolute bargain from Warehouse for 90p in the sale last year.

I also decided to wear my Kurt Geiger Isla Mittens. Do you like my nails? There's a few pictures further down showing you how you can do them yourself.

The gloves zip up to create cute leather mittens.

I wore two layers of tights in a vain attempt to keep warm, one plain black and the other black with tan spots. The black tights are from Primark and the spotty ones are from H&M.

Paired my outfit with my Classic Tall Uggs in Chestnut which are a bit old and battered and a bit too big for me, but they keep my feet warm! :)

Here's how I did my nails.

Two coats of No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in 'Beautifully Black 70'

This is a black with silver specks.

Then I added a rough blob of GOSH Nail Varnish in 'Holographic 549' onto the tip of the nail and spread it towards the cuticle with a dry brush. This doesn't have to be too neat, it was just to give a base colour of silver ready for the next stage.

Next I added a coat of Maybelline Express Finish Diamonds in 'Silver Speed 320/830D' to the tips of my nails and again brushed up towards the cuticle with a dry brush to create a gradient effect.

After waiting a good 15-20 minutes for these layers to dry I added a top coat of Barry M Nail Paint in 'Holograms 244/950' to add a few chunky bits of sparkle. And you're done! :)

Hope you like it!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas! & Product Rave: Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick.

Went for a little Christmas Shopping session today, mainly for myself (again!) but managed to get a couple of presents for family. Boyf and I popped to Tesco to pick up the Harry Potter box set; thinking it was £20, but turned out the offer ended yesterday - just my luck - so I got it for £25 instead, which I guess isn't too shabby for 8 films on DVD. While we were there I picked myself up a little 3ft Christmas tree for my room. I ummed and ahhd about whether to get the black version or the pink version and decided to have a think about it while we had a wander around. Came back and all of the black ones had sold, boo (I'd decided I wanted the black by this time) so the decision was made for me and I bought the pink. I also grabbed some sparkly baubles as well.

I've just got in and decorated it whilst listening to a bit of Michael Buble's new Christmas album in the background.

I added a bit of silver tinsel, fairy lights and a gold star at the top and voila!

The tree cost £3.50 and you get what you pay for. It's by no means fab quality, but fill it out with loads of decorations and it looks a bit better.

The baubles cost me under £3 for a box of 30.

I decided to slide my polaroid of me, santa and boyf onto the branches, just to fill it out a bit, and so I can look at it while I'm in bed :) N'awwww!

Also, HOW DID THIS GET HERE?! I seem to have found something under the tree, Santa must have been here early!

That's right, Harry POTTERRRR.

You're a Wizard, Harry!

Defs not going to open it til Christmas though. In fact, I may wrap it up with a label saying To Neen, Love from Neen x 

Also, forgot to mention the colour on my lips in my last blogpost. I was wearing Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in Ultimate Orchid number 006, seen here on the left.

I also have number 085 Supreme Sienna which is a lovely Christmassy colour.

Just wanted to share with you because these are some of the best 'lipsticks' I have ever bought. They stay on your lips for hours and hours and hours. You can eat, drink and be merry with these on your lips and will rarely have to re apply. The colour is very opaque and pigmented and the formula is very nice. The only things I don't like about this product is firstly the applicator. I find it extremely hard to apply straight from the applicator to give a nice finish. I suggest applying a small amount to the centre of the lips and use your finger to spread the colour, otherwise I found that the product gathers at the edges of your lips and you end up with too much of the lipstick on. A small amount goes a long way. They are also very buildable, you can layer the lipstick to create a more intense look, or just wear one coat for a toned down  colour. The second thing I don't particularly like about the lipstick is that it feels quite drying, however, add a lip balm, gloss or slick of vaseline over the top and Bob's your Uncle. Definitely recommend this product and will be buying more, no doubt!

I bought mine from Boots and they cost £8.99 each (but will last you forever!)

Supreme Sienna is a lovely colour for Christmas, a darkred with flecks of gold and red shimmers. Dries with a bit of a sheen on the lips. Ultimate Orchid is a more milky, creamier formulation. The blue toned pinky/mauve colour dries matte on the lips.

What's your favourite lipstick?