**CLOSED** Don't forget to enter

to win the entire Models Own Beetlejuice Collection. Competition ends 23.59 GMT 31st Dec. Good Luck!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

The Versatile Blogger Award

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful break and feel refreshed and ready for the new year! I'm still trying to tackle the mountains of work I have to do but I thought I take a moment to thank PtiteMeve over at All Things Meve Love for nominating me for this award. It's very sweet of you and it's nice to know people actually enjoy reading the drivel I produce!

If anyone wants to take part this is what you have to do:
With this award, you thank the person who nominated you, state 7 things about yourself and pass it on to 15 other blogs.

7 things about me

1. I have a few friends on my degree course who know I'm a bit obsessed with nail polish and they too like to make their nails look pretty BUT they don't know I have this blog! I'm too embarrassed to tell them.

2. Since I was a child I've always been into art. I used to draw and still do sometimes and I take pictures. My first degree was in fashion photography. We're not talking Vogue or Mario Testino type shots as I specialised in more fine art. Think Joel Meyerowitz but not as good!

3. At college I was a bit of a metal head. I played the drums in a heavy metal band (we only ever played in my parents' garage). I still listen to 'metal' when I need a bit of motivation but I listen to all sorts. But in case you were wondering Tool is my favourite band.

4. So I mentioned my first degree, well I'm currently in my final year of my second degree which is in diagnostic radiography, that's x-rays, CT, MRI etc etc in case you didn't know. I always argue that radiography is like photography but only taking pictures of the inside!

5. I used to be obsessed with David Duchovny when The X-Files was on. I would walk home from school hoping he would be on my doorstep LOL!!! I'm sure somewhere I still have a folder full of posters and clippings which I couldn't bear to throw when I was over him. HAHA

6. My dream job would be to present a children's art show, like Art Attack or SMART!

7. I'm going to the Maldives next year (fingers crossed) to celebrate finishing my degree and reaching old age LOL ok slight exaggeration.

Bloggers I want to tag:

This is a bit of a cop out but I want to tag all those who have a blog. You all deserve to have an award especially those new to blogging because it's not easy starting out when there are so many blogs out there!
Those who have a blog please post a comment on this post with a link so that I can follow you if I haven't done so already and to my regular reader please show some love by visiting these blogs!
And don't forget to check out PtiteMeve's blog too :-)

Robin Moses inspired Ribbon Nail Design

Robin Moses is the higher being of nail art. She's flippin amazing at what she does and a real inspiration for those who want to become nail artists or those like me who do it for a bit of fun. Her recent Ribbon video caught my eye because it was something that I felt I could do - on both hands!! Instead of using Red on black I've used gold and black and have missed out the glittered tips. This is the mani which will be on my hands now until 27th Dec! Hope you like it and I hope it lasts!!

**sigh** @ my knobbly fingers !!

And if you fancy having a go, here is her video:

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Anna XxX

Topshop - Gypsy Night

So since I picked this polish up last week it's been sat on my desk. I couldn't bear to put it in my drawer as it's so beautiful and needs to be looked at!
Wouldn't you agree?!

Holographic glitter + Flakies = love

Here I have layered one coat over a black polish. If you were to use it straight from the bottle you'd require about 3-4 coats to get good even coverage, the norm for black jelly bases.

The flakies are a bit camera shy. In real life they are a lot more obvious shifting from Orange to green.

Depending on the type of lighting either the holo glitter or flakie will be more prominent.

Where to buy:
UK ladies you can get it from selected stores for £6. It was available on their website but it's gone now!!
International ladies you may need to ask someone to CP this for you as I'm not sure if it's available on international TS sites. If I'm wrong let me know.

***

So from some of the feedback I have received about my blog I know some of you guys would like me to actually review the polishes I swatch. I totally hear what you are saying and I'm happy to give myself a slap on the wrist for being so slack with my writing but until I get my million of pieces of coursework and dissertation out of the way swatches will have to do. I'm a crap writer (as you can probably tell) and I actually have to think REALLY hard when I write so that's why I can't just churn out a review. Anyway I promise this will change after April. I PROMISE!!!!

London ladies

Did you pick up a copy of Metro today? They had a coupon for 20% off
at Colourcopia (aka OPI shop) in Westfields.

What shall I buy?

Slightly better pic

Of my half moon mani

half moon mani

my friend is moving to Oz in the new year and i'm just about to head
to his leaving party. to match my black dress i've decided to create a
black and gold half moon mani!

Christmas Nail Designs

Hello everyone! Today I've been busy creating some festive nail designs for you. This is my first real attempt at painting designs on a nail wheel and I have to say it's a lot harder and less forgiving than doing it on your nails!

(All the designs were created using nail polish rather than acrylics)

My main source of inspiration came from Christmas cards such these ones from Paperchase. They're simple and work very well on nails. I even tried to create a penguin in the same style but you can see it's not as good!

Anyway I hope you like them and will be inspired to have a go yourself. If you would like a tutorial on a particular design then please let me know and I will try my best to do it.
Bye for now!

NY Times - What Nail-Polish Sales Tell Us About the Economy

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/magazine/adam-davidson-economic-indicators.html?_r=2

ASOS - a good deal

***Damn! Sorry folks this is out of stock now!***

At the moment on ASOS you can get a bottle of Models Own Disco Mix and a Black Wah nail art pen for £4. Considering their polishes are normally £5 each and £6 for the pen this is a steal!

I needed a new black striper anyway so needless to say I got this bargainess (I know this isn't a word) duo. Oh UK students don't forget to use your NUS to get 10% off.

The best £3.60 spent today!

Gypsy night

I hate going into central London and usually avoid it like the plague
but this evening I accompanied a friend to Topshop as she wanted some
black skinny jeans. Whilst she was trying them on I snuck off to the
make up section to check out the Topshop nail polishes and found this
little beauty. It's a gorgeous black polish with holographic glitter and flakies!
I will try to swatch this asap to find out whether it looks as good on the nails as it does in the bottle!

Blogging on the go!

Hey guys I know I've been a bit slack with posts but I haven't really had time to do my nails at all due to the amount of coursework I have.

Though I may have neglected my blog a bit I haven't forgotten about you guys and I still read your comments and blogs when I get a free moment which is usually when I'm on a bus or train! anyway I wanted to try posting via email as I can do this on my phone though my camera is a bit rubbish! So if you're reading this it works!!

Color Club - Back to Boho Swatches

**Picture Heavy**
So keeping words to a minimum!

Those in the UK will know that Color Club Sets have been popping up in TK Maxx recently for a very reasonable £7.99. Since my last post I managed to find the other set so now that my collection is complete here are the swatches!

Enjoy.

Set A

Nomadic Nude

Earthy Angel

New Bohemian

Shabby DrabRad Nomad

Red-ical Gypsy

Set B

Boho Mojo

Nouveau Vintage
Voodoo You DoArtsy CraftyBlue TopiaRebel Spirit

**CLOSED** Festive Giveaway - Win the Models Own Beetle Juice Collection

**NOW CLOSED**

First off I was to say thank you to all my regular readers and those who may just drop by once in a while for taking time out of their day, even if it's a minute or two to read my blog! I know I'm not a consistent blogger but I really do enjoy blogging for you guys and it's my way of removing myself from the realities of day-to-day life. I enjoy reading the comments and despite being pretty rubbish at responding I take note of everything that has been said.

When I bought my Beetle Juice set I ordered an extra set with the intention of giving it away and with Christmas around the corner and me wanting to say thank you I think now is the perfect time to give these beauties away!

Sorry to keep you guys waiting.
Good Luck!
Giveaway closes 31st December 2011 23.59 BST.

Storage again

My friend showed me this storage unit and I just had to share it with you guy because it's so OTT but amazing!

http://www.shelfsave.com/clear-tower-unit-33-multicoloured-drawers.html

You'd have no problems organising your polishes by colour with this baby!!

Fair Isle Nails aka festive tribal !

Hey ladies I took some time out from writing my 'reflective' essay and created some super cute (well I think they are) Fair Isle nail designs for you! I love Fair Isle knits and I recently bought a wool skirt which inspired this whole shabang.

Hope you like them and give it a go yourself.

If you don't have any Fair Isle knits for reference just do a quite Google and you'll find loads!

Rimmel Zeitgeist re-visited and re-swatched

Back in April you may recall me waffling on about Rimmel Zeitgeist a gorgeous HTF and long discontinued duochrome. I was recently reminded of it whilst browsing eBay after spotting it as part of a job lot and thought I'd re-swatch it because the original images I took were not done so using my dSLR and so the colour is not particularly accurate! I know showing HTF polishes is a bit cruel creating quite often unfulfillable lemmings! Sorry! It does occasionally appear on eBay if it's any consolation!

Perfect coverage in two coats. Not sure if it's due to the age of the polish but I did have a couple of bubbles appearing :-(

2 coats plus Seche Vite

Have a good weekend guys! I have a 2500 word 'reflection' to write. 'Sigh'

Who wants to win the entire Models Own Beetle Juice Collection?

If so stay tuned!

Sinful Colors

Hello ladies (and gents) hope you're all well. I've been rather knackered this week as I've had to get up at ridiculous times to get the train to my cardiac placement. So far this week I've seen quite a few coronary angio's, TAVI's and today I got to see a triple by-pass being performed. Anyway...back to polish. Today I have for you swatches of the Sinful Color polishes I received from my Canadian friend last month. Apologises if you have been waiting for me to swatch these but I'm pretty behind with swatching at the moment!

First up is Mint Apple a lovely mint-green leaning towards Tiffany box blue with silver shimmer. It definitely reminds me of CG For Audrey so I may do a comparison as an when I get the chance. The formula of this polish was a little thick but workable. It only require 2 coats.

Mint Apple

Next is Love Nails a super bright neon-esque aqua blue. This colour is pretty in your face and would look amazing on toes. It was a little sheer and as you can see even after 3 coats my nail line is still visible on camera but in real-life it's not that noticeable because the colour kind of blinds you!

Love Nails

Finally here is Hottie, a polish that has been compared to OPI's Last Friday Night and unfortunately I don't have LFN so cannot give you my opinions. The blue jelly base is pretty sheer and is not particularly flattering on its own and can make your hands look a bit ill lol, so this is definitely one for layering over another polish. The mix of iridescent and holo glitter is uber pretty and perfect for the festive season.

Hottie
over Love Nails

Index: Hottie by itself, Middle: over Rimmel Midnight Blue, Ring: CG Blue Year's Eve, Little: CG Sugar Plums

Out of focus shot!

Sorry for the lack of bottle shots, I'll add them at a later date!!

Thanks for reading!

Storage - Helmer alternatives!

For a nail polish 'collector' I would say my collection is pretty modest and up until recently all my polishes fitted neatly into this Muji container (34 x 44.5 x 18cm). I still remember when I bought this and my entire collection filled only half of the container. Those days have well and truly gone as I've been using a small cardboard box to house overflow!!!! Although it's a nice cheap solution to keep everything together polishes get buried and are forgotten about which is bad because I end up buying dupes. So now I'm in the market for some new storage.

From reading other blogs it seems the Ikea Helmer is the preferred solution as it's relatively cheap and strong. It's ok but I personally want something that will add to the decor of my house (when I buy one) and isn't tucked away in a closet. Basically I want a nice bit of solid furniture, looks good and is a good investment.

After browsing I've decided I want something like this...

...old style library index filing drawers.
I know it may not be to everyone's taste but I can imagine something like this in my house (when I get one). It would house my polishes discreetly but keep them organised.

More random units I found on eBay and Google!

At present there is no way one of these would fit into my flat (and one of these solid oak units cost about £1000) so for the mean I might have to get a helmer!

Anyway enough random rambling from me, what do you guys use to store your polishes in?

Pyjama stripes

Hey what's up?!
I've been a little sporadic with my posts but at the moment my coursework is taking up most of my life! It's my final year and all the grades count towards my final classification and there is no way I'm settling for a 2:1 lol.

Today I took a small break to do a quick stripy mani which reminds me of pyjamas even though my inspiration came from a shirt I got from H&M. Hope you like it!

I used Beauty UK Street Rose as the base, China Glaze First Mate (Anchors Away collection) and a white L.A. Colors striper for the stripes.