Ok, so it may have been two months since i last posted my nail art, but better late then never right?
This week I have gone all out christmassy! I think this time of year is just an excuse to have glittery nails. Even though it is an absolute pain to take off. Unfortunately I still haven't found an easy way and spend a good half an hour rubbing at my nails with nail polish remover.
So I have gone for shiny blue with little polar bears picking out all topped with a splash of glitter! Its really simple to do and, as much as i recommend getting nail art pens, it can be done with something as simple as a cocktail stick or a pin with a round end stuck into something.

Topshop 'Cosmic Karma'

Models Own nail art pens in white and black

Barry M 'Rose Quartz Glitter'

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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

University got the better of me again. Since I last posted I have watched Catching Fire, been to Manchester's christmas markets, seen the Fratellis live, spent a weekend at home, had a number of christmas meals and socials, been to a christmas ball and a panto and finally come home for christmas! I wish I could say coming home for christmas means a lovely holiday off university and away from work unfortunately it's not. I have 4 exams in January and the revision has already begun!
Over the next month though I am really hoping to write some posts about the things I have been doing each week. I love reading back about those things myself in the future, but it also makes me happy that I can share my experiences with others.
But to start with here are a couple of quick festive snaps. I cannot wait for christmas!!

Models Own - Pukka Purple with a top coat of Ibiza Mix 

Santas grotto in the Arndale! 

Elfie selfie! (credit to my mum for that one) 

Our house christmas dinner - very proud we managed to cook this!

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Manicure Monday #1

Since I last stopped blogging back in February my nail polish collection has only grown and grown. I still love doing nail art, although often don't have enough time. But I though I would share on here when I did create a pattern or use a colour I like. My latest attempt is inspired by Caroline's nails from last month.

R-L: topshop 'green room', models own white nail art pen, seche vite dry fast top coat

It definitely takes a steady hand, and doing my right nails needs a bit more practice, but I love the finished look. I have had quite a few people compliment me on it the past few days. I went for one larger print on each nail and then filling in around it with dots or little patterns. It made it easier to fit everything onto each nail.
I am also loving the seche vite topcoat! I got it for my birthday over summer and use it all the time now and it has definitely helped to make my polish last longer.

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#5 Christmas Nail Art

Its getting so close to the big day now! I absolutely love christmas and am really excited to see all my family again and just be able to relax and share our presents. The thought of exams in the new year keeps creeping up on me though, and its not a nice feeling!
But for today i thought i would share with you some of my christmas nail art ideas. These reindeer are what i have had on my nails for the past few days. You have to admit its pretty cute. Its also really simple to do.

I used these two polishes from eyeko, and although they dont sell them anymore, Barry Ms mushroom is really similar to posh polish and there are loads of good reds out there. I painted the base in posh polish, and then added the antlers and nose in the black nail art pen. And the eyes were spots of white followed by a smaller spot of black. The main thing is to wait for each layer to dry before adding more!

Then this wheel is just a collection of nails ive tried out over the past month. I definitely have my favourites: the red and white fairisle print, the snowman and the christmas tree on the white background :)

I still dont know which one to choose to do for christmas day though!

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Denim shirt and a green knit

Jumper - Topshop, Shirt - UO Renewal, Jeans - Jack Wills, Converse - Office

Quick outfit for you, not done one in ages! I am back home now for the christmas holidays so some of you may notice iim in front of my usual wall and my lovely brother is taking my photos again. Hopefully i will be able to get some more frequent outfit shots for you over christmas!

This is quite a typical me outfit. As much as i love wearing skirts, dresses and tights you cant beat a pair of jeans, a big shirt and a jumper. I am actually looking out for a new pair of black skinny jeans. I love the really dark colour of these, but didnt realise at the time how low rise they were so they just annoy me! Got to love high waisted jeans :)

Its not something i mention often on here (because i know most people wont care haha) but i am a big football fan and support one of my local teams Bradford City. Tonight me and my dad are going to watch them and it is going to be one of the biggest games i have ever been too! We are playing at home against Arsenal in the cup with a sell out crowd! *excited squeal*

Bringing it back to something more relatable.. nails. This is my latest christmas nail art, a wintery snowflake design.

Its really simple to do but i love how pretty it is and it goes with loads of outfits because its not too bright. Will be doing a big post on christmas nail art soon!

And i cant forget to mention the new illustration i have in my sidebar! It was done buy the wonderful Hannah who also writes a lovely blog so make sure you go and check that out :)

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Red with gold glitter

Quick snap of my nails from this week :) These colours are just christmas all wrapped up in one! I used Eyekos 'Saucy Polish' as the base and then an Accessorize glitter over the top. I sponged the painted a thick line at the bottom of each nail, and then spread it up using a small piece of make up sponge to get a slight gradient effect. Got a whole wheel of christmas nails coming up soon! What are your holiday nails like?

Also this week i finished my first semester at uni! I cant believe it has gone so quickly really but i am looking forward to getting home and being able to spend the whole of christmas with my family. I do still have a lot of hard work to do as well though to prepare for the exams i have in mid january.

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Not so neon, neon blue

Neon Blue - American Apparel, Models Own white nail art pen, unknown - Accessorize

These photos arent great, but i blame the poor light. Its definitely not my bad camera skills.. Ok so maybe it is. But you can at least see the pattern i have gone for! Its similar to ones i have done before with little flowers but i love the colours used in this. The flowers also have more of an arrangement on my nail rather than dotted all over. I was inspired by this post i found on pinterest.
I only have to weeks of learning left in this semester at uni (cant believe it has gone so fast!) So i want to knuckle down this week and work extra hard. We have a case on breast cancer so its definitely one of the harder ones. Forewarning that i might be a bit MIA on the blog and twitter!
Hope everyone has a good week :)

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AA: Lopez Canyon

Okay so after a failed attempt at recording a video for you all i thought i would do a quick post on (yet another!) nail varnish. The video didnt work out because silly me turned the camera portrait so i had to rotate it on the computer and then is had big black lines down either side when uploaded to youtube. So i will attempt to film it again asap.
In the meantime this is the free polish that i got from American Apparel last week.

This one is called Lopez Canyon and is more of a burnt orange irl, it shows up quite red on camera. Its not very similar to any shades i have and is something i have been after for a while so glad a was able to pick this up.

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Nail art

Thought i would share with you some of my latest nail art attempts. I tend to go through patches of inspiration and do several designs at once. I did post a while ago about these so some of them you may have seen before. I do them all on nail art wheels that i got from ebay for about £2, and use my collection of polishes and some nail art tools.

L-R: candy stripes, 'tribal' pattern, butterfly nail (inspired by Erin who always shows amazing nail designs), two halloween designs, mini cats (inspired by Camilla) 

 L-R: my attempt at the infamous leopard print, stripes in black (not keen on the colours in this but like the idea), polka dots, union jack for the olympics, dangling spider (this wasnt a great attempt either)

The final picture has my other nail wheel in which i have photographed before. I find painting my nails pretty therapeutic and love trying out new designs. Might do a couple of tutorials if anyone wants to know how some of these are done.
Cant wait to do some full sets of nails for halloween, been taking so much inspiration from blogs, tumblr and twitter so have lots of ideas ready!

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Parma Violet

Quick update. These were my nails from a few weeks ago. I used topshop 'Parma Violet' for the base and models own nail art pen in white for the dots. I did random patterns of dots and left some without. I quite like having a simple nail art sometimes.

I have ordered my camera so it should arrive next week. I have gone for the panasonic lumix fz48 bridge camera and bought some accessories to go with it. Will be able to get some photos of some new nail art and some recent purchases when it arrives.

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Max Factor: Fantasy Fire

I ordered this and this last week as some new storage bits for my uni room. I am going to use them to store my nail polishes and jewellery, and i love the acrylic because you can still see what is inside them. I ordered the deep one for my nail polishes but the only problem is that i cant fit them all in. In fact i can only just fit half of them in, i have too many colours! So you know what this called for.. i needed to obviously go buy another polish! I saw this one when i was in town earlier this week and fell in love with the shade. I havent tried max factor polishes before so will let you know how it is.

Fantasy Fire (45) - £3.99

It comes out lighter and more purple than you would think from looking at the bottle. But i still love the colour. The only downside is that because it is a mini polish the brush is small so application is harder.

I move out tomorrow morning, so next time i get round to blogging will be from a new room at university! I am still looking at buying a camera so that i can take outfit photos. Had some good advice from people on twitter so i know what i am looking for now. Hope everyone is well.

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Sheer turquoise

Late night post. Really nervous for results day tomorrow. So thought i would show you a nail polish i had on a few days ago.

The quality of the photos isnt great, but the finish on the polish is really lovely. It is from the sheer range at american apparel. Its different to other polishes out there and i havent seen another brand produce one like it yet. They are pretty pricey, but i bought 3 for £17 which doesnt work out too badly.

Right now i am pooing my pants about tomorrow. I know there is nothing i can so but i still worry! I get my results online at 6am, feel like just staying up till that time. Have plans for the rest of the day which involve seeing friends and lots of drinking. If all goes to plan i will be starting at manchester university in september.
To try and distract ourselves from the thought of tomorrow we went shopping in liverpool today. got a few pieces that i will photograph when i next have time. I have started to buy more into autumn clothing now, which i prefer to summer clothing most of the time.

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Colourful collection

Im on a blogging roll! Third post in 3 days. Off to watch a 20:20 cricket match after this and have a meal with the family so it will be a good evening.

One thing i really love doing are my nails. And i can't seem to help but buy more and more polishes! My latest couple are 'Mint Candy Apple' from essie and 'Sparkle Touch' from miss sporty. Ive been looking to buy an essie polish for a while, but they are quite highly priced, but after seeing this one everywhere i couldnt leave it on the shelf. I have managed to fit all my polishes onto two colour wheels (except my cracking and magnetic polishes). I have numbered them so if you want to know what a particular colour is just ask below. Some of them havent come out great in the light though, especially the darker ones.
The last photo has some of the nail designs i have done on it. Some of them are quite simple, using a hair pin as a dotting tool. And it is the first time i have tried out my matte finish polish and it was pretty amazing! Makes it seem like i now have a whole new set of polishes. The spiderman nail is another from Erins blog. She always has some of the most amazing nail art so definitely check her out.
I bought the colour wheels for just £1.50 off ebay here and think they are a great way to mess about with designs. It also means i can see all my colours at once when choosing what to paint my nails next. Hope you like this post :)

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Aztec and pink

Just a quick post that i have scheduled because i am (supposedly) revising hard at the moment. My next exam is chemistry on tomorrow, which should be the easiest of the lot i have. These nails are done using a Filthy Gorgeous polish that i got in the goody bag from bloggers boutique. Its called 'Rosey Posey' and since they are now selling through Debenhams i think i might have to buy a few more colours.

I have been wanting to try out an aztec print for ages now! But to be honest i thought that i wouldnt be able to do it. But i have, and i am actually quite impressed with how its turned out. I used the models own nail art pen to do it.
Hope everyone is doing okay if they have exams. And hello to any new readers! Its lovely to know that people read my rambles, i never thought so many people would, so thank you :)

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Elf Cosmetics

Its a little late coming but here is what i bought from Elf last week.

Left to right: Fair Pink, Twinkle, Matte Finisher, Black 

The only polish i have tried is the Twinkle one, and it looked great on my nails after two coats. The only problem i had was getting it off! It took at least 45 minutes to get off! I really want to try out the matte finisher but just havent had a chance yet. The false lashes are really just for a night out, i like to wear them so that i look more made up than during the day :) And i would really recommend the lip tint. It is very moisturising and gives a lovely colour on my lips.

I am just coming into the thick of my exams now with 5 in the next two weeks so i really need to get down to some solid revision. But then after the 25th i will have completely finished and i cant wait. Some really great things that i am looking forward too. Oh and dont forget to enter my giveaway that finishes next week.

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Little red flowers

Just a quick post today on my latest nail art. This is completely inspired (copied) by how Camilla had hers at the bloggers boutique. But i loved it too much to not have a go myself.

Models Own - snow white, Rimmel - rapid ruby, Eyeko - saucy polish

Mine definitely aren't as neat, but i do like the way they look. Had quite a few comments on then because the white background stands out quite a bit. I painted two coats of white first and completely let that dry. Then used the end of a bobby pin and the eyeko polish for the centre, followed by the other end of the pin and the rimmel red for the outer dots. Not that you can really tell much of a difference between the two shades of red unless you really inspect them.

Tomorrow there is a jubilee celebration in our town all morning with stalls up, cakes and buns, music and other entertainment. So i think i will attend that for a bit because a celebration like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity really. I am also going out for a meal with my boyfriend and his family which i am looking forward too.

Tomorrow i have a bit of a treat for you guys, so keep checking back!

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Abstract nails

Polishes: Models Own - snow white, fuzzy peach, lilac dream. Eyeko - punk polish. No.7 - betty blues.

This idea comes from Erins blog where she linked to a video on how to do them, and i decided i needed to give them a go. Ive not done nail art in a while so was looking forward to doing this. And i actually think it turned out pretty well. I had to improvise a bit, didnt completely follow the video because the nail varnish didnt spread as well as i thought it would when i used the acetone. But i like the colourful mess i seem to have created. Might do these again before i go down to london for the bloggers boutique.

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Pacman

Just a quick post today, got a lot of work to get done for college and all my upcoming exams. My nails, before i did the daisy ones featured in my last post, were pacman inspired. This was actually my boyfriends idea and i absolutely love it.

The photo isnt very good. It was taken in poor lighting before i had to take all the nail varnish off for work, but you get the idea of the design. It is basically a little scene from pacman. The black backgroud is models own (although i think i need to buy a non shiny black because this one doesnt really go) and then the yellow is the nail art pen. The peachy ghost is done by painting my nail in peach first and going round it with a black nail art pen. Thanks to my sister for helping me with this one.

A big hello to any new people reading my posts, hope your all enjoy what i write, i really do love writing on here. Thank you for any comments you leave as well. They always make my day!

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