In a galaxy far far away....

Welcome to my third improvement post! 

This is one I've been looking forward to for a little while! A lot of other bloggers are doing Galaxy nails at the moment but since I knew this was coming up I held off doing any. This is only the second time I have ever done this design on my nails. I've seen so many amazing ones that it's actually put me off doing any because of how bad I'm worried I'll look in comparison.

I can vividly remember doing these last year. I was so proud of myself and looked at them constantly because of how amazing I thought they looked. Compared to the previous couple of nail designs I'd done these were, in my mind anyway, quite advanced and more like nail art.

Looking back at them now they look awful. The picture is blurry, there are flecks of nail polish around my nails, the colours aren't blended properly, you can see how bumpy they are because there obviously wasn't any top coat on them and of course the claw continues! On the positive side they did give me the confidence to start trying slightly more difficult things, as you should see in future posts.

My inspiration for the colours in this new version came from the film Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a brilliant film and because it's set in space it is a great source of inspiration for kooky nail art.

I am so pleased with how they have turned out. A friend said they had a Big Bang look to them which seems very apt. The colours go beautifully together and the glitter on top does make it look very much like space.

There is no comparison really to my first attempt; a little bit of glitter and a top coat can do wonders for most designs! Rather than the colours just being put in different areas they've been layered up and blended together to give the design a more realistic effect.

In planning for this manicure I did a whole host of Galaxy nails in different colours so I could pick which looked best and this easily outshone the others. The others, however, were very pretty and will be kept as potential backgrounds for other designs.

For this design I used my trusty base coat "Help me Grow" by Essie, "Black Satin" by Rimmel, "Encore" by Ciaté, "Mediterranean" by Barry M, "Teal" by Barry M and "Fairy Dust" by China Glaze (this was meant for Galaxy nails!). My top coat was of course the brilliant "H K Girl" by Glisten and Glow.

Brilliant in blue!

These nails are mostly inspired by the lovely powder blue on the index and pinky fingers as well as the glitter topper. The rest was just built around this. I've seen a lot of flowers on dotty backgrounds so I was probably influenced by that too. 

When I started out with nails I wasn't remotely fussed with floral nails. They looked so complicated and they just weren't my style, but now I love these vintage style designs with roses and dots. I want to do them all the time but have to keep in mind they should be varied.

Now I admit there are some problems with these nails. When cleaning up the acetone, I managed to drag the blue flower and mix it with the nude base a little, creating that odd look near the cuticles. Also my cuticles and the skin around my nails looks very dry which is not the case in person. But other than that I'm quite pleased with them.

Writing this blog is really encouraging me to try designs I haven't done before. Whilst I have done floral manicures, of course, I'm yet to actually do any on anything other than a plain background. I love how rather than clashing or fighting with the dots, the flowers fit perfectly and make a lovely addition to what otherwise would be quite plain.

The colours I used for this were 'My Vampire is Buff' by O.P.I, 'Mind the gap, Victoria' by Rimmel London, 'Midnight Cami' by Essie and 'Confetti' by Urban Outfitters. They work so well and I'm excited about doing more nude and blue manis!

A simple French

So my second improvement post!

I remember doing this design last march and thinking they were of a really good quality. Looking at this photo it's crazy to think that was my opinion back then, and that I happily went round with them on my nails!

As you can see I was still wearing the skin-drying false nails, which had a lovely ring of polish from the old manicure around the edge where the nail varnish had managed to get underneath. Oh, of course the claw pose continued, looking over my photos I kept on with this horrendous hand poisition for at least another 3/4 months!

My latest attempt I would consider to be greatly improved, but this time I've had much more practice since I've done a few different coloured French manicures in the last year and a half.

Everything in this photo is of a higher standard. The lighting is better and the hand pose is a far cry from the original. And stepping away from false nails has done my hands a world of good! I no longer have residual polish around the edge of my nails (unless it's particularly difficult to get off)! Removing the false nails has allowed my natural nails to grow well in terms of length and strength.

As I said in my previous improvement post, it's really encouraging to be able to see how far you've come by doing this; I would recommend anyone who feels like they have hit a bit of a wall with their nails, or in any other aspect for that matter, to look back at old work and try to recreate it. It definitely spurs you on to try even harder.

For this manicure I used Essie "Help me Grow" as a base coat, it's a little more expensive than I usually spend (Essie always is in England!) but I really like it. The white tips were created with Rimmel "White Hot Love" and nail vinyls from Linda over at www.nailvinyls.com (teismom on Instagram). For the gold strip underneath I used my brush from Stylishnailartshop, www.etsy.com/shop/Stylishnailartshop and "Fool's Gold" by Collection Work the Colour. The top coat I used was Glisten and Glow by HK Girl, as if you couldn't guess by the photos!

Pearl-fect in pink!

My lovely subtle, girly pink nails!

These nails were all based around me wanting negative space glitter chevrons and just going from there. It was my boyfriends suggestion to keep everything quite pale and subtle.

The flowers were inspired by a recent mani swap I did on Instagram with Mac_schoen_nails. They're so easy to create and as simple as they are they do look lovely and are a great addition to any quick, simple manicure.

I like them a lot because it's something I've not really gone for before. They've come out great compared to what I was expecting. My original plan was to have black and grey nails with the glitter chevrons but they didn't seem to go properly.

The pale pink on the index and pinky fingers is an unnamed polish by Avon, the white is "White Hot Love" by Rimmel and the pink detailing for the flower is "Ring a Ring o' Roses". The chevron nail was created with "Fairy Dust" by China Glaze and nail vinyls by Linda at www.nailvinyls.com and my top coat for the whole manicure is "H.K Girl" by Glisten and Glow.

As much as I put moisturiser on before these photos my cuticles still look so dry; if you have any suggestions for helping with this, they will be greatly appreciated!

From messy beginnings.....

So my very first improvement post!

These nails were painted Valentines Day 2013 for a "The Incredibles" themed girls night out. It was a brilliant night and I thought these nails were the bees knees. How embarrassing!

As you can see there was no such thing as clean up, watermarking, good lighting or any kind of decent hand posture, aside from "the claw"! These were done on false stick-on nails, the glue from which completely dried out my skin and nails. 

Since then I feel like I've come a long way and this is my new attempt.

The latest manicure is far improved from where it was. There was no flash used, thank god; I used to think that was the only way to light a photo! Also the clean up just makes it all look crisper and cleaner on the edges. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's perfect but in terms of progression it's come on leaps and bounds.

I'm never usually one for practice makes perfect, anyone would tell you I say "if at first you don't succeed give up", but this definitely makes me see it's worth it. If nothing else the health and condition of my hands and nails is a million miles better than where it was, Which to me is the most important part. It's lovely having pretty nails but there's really no point if your cuticles are dry and your skin is cracked!

The polishes used for this manicure were my base coat of Essie 'Grow on Me'! the red is 'Raspberry' by Barry M, the black is 'Black Satin' by Rimmel London, and the top coat is of course Glisten & Glow's 'HK Girl'. I also used striping tape from Amazon (didn't even own striping tape with the first attempt!) and the studs were a gift from a friend.

Even though this is a very simple design it's lovely to see how far I've come in 17 months.

Please let me know what you think of these posts or what needs improving :)

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Get to know me!

I thought my very first post should be about me so you could get to know me before I start up properly.

The idea behind these blogs will be nail care and nail art. I'm by no means a professional or expert but I really enjoy painting my nails and I try to put in a lot of effort in terms of caring for them. It wasn't always the case, I used to have stained and brittle nails from a total lack of care but I've worked hard to make them look good even with nothing on them.

I've only been doing this for 18 months so I'm still improving a lot. It all started when a friend did my nails for a night out and painted owls on for me giving them little stuck on pearl details. I didn't even know it was possible for ordinary people to do these things, I thought it was only in nail salons that you could get this kind of art work. After that I began buying more nail polish and started watching YouTube videos all the time. My friends now look to me to do their nails for a night out which is a brilliant feeling. 

I currently live with my boyfriend of 8 and a half years who is unbelievebly supportive of the time and money I spend on this and actually asks me to paint his little finger nails whenever I do my nails.

In any other spare time I have I'm a bit of a history fanatic. I subscribe to a history magazine and love historical books/TV programmes. Also I love Greys Anatomy, probably my favourite TV show. Obsessed! 

My plan is it post twice a week to begin with. One will be a improvement post. I will recreate old designs I've done starting with the oldest and working up. The other will be either a review of a product or I will write about the design I am wearing that week. If you have any suggestions for designs you want me to try or products you want me to test out just let me know :-)

My Instagram and Facebook names are exactly the same as the blog, fingertipped and I would love it if you guys went over and had a look there as well.

This post should be the first of many and I can't wait!