Nail Varnish I Got for Christmas 2015

Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a lovely day. This year for Christmas as part of my presents, I got these four beautiful Nails Inc nail varnishes. I love Nails Inc, it's such a lovely brand.

Regents Mews

I love dark purple nail varnish for this time of year. This is such a lovely smoky colour. It's really easy to apply and very pigmented. It is gorgeous.

Chelsea Embankment

This is such a pretty gold glitter. It's so pigmented that you wouldn't even need a plain gold nail varnish underneath it. It is the perfect glitter for New Years Eve or parties. However I will still be wearing this even when I'm not going to a party because I love glitter!

Regents Park

Everyone needs a good pink nail varnish and I love this one. It is just bright enough without being too bright or neon. It almost looks like shellac when you put it on. This will be the perfect colour for spring/summer.

Porchester Square

 I love this colour. It is a slightly muted mushroom shade. I have nothing like this colour. It creates such a chic look that is perfect for daytime but also nighttime. 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I will be back in the new year.

Happy New Year!!

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Swatch- Inglot, Sally Hansen, Nails Inc.

Red: Inlgot 704

Ring finger: Sally Hansen 'Coat of Arms'

               & Nails Inc 'Oxford Gardens

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Buddy the Elf Nails

Last week I was at my friend Tara's house for her birthday. She is obsessed with Buddy the Elf which gave me the idea to do these nails! I know lots of people love the movie Elf, so I hope you enjoy this design.

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint all your nails green

Step 3

Using a black striper, paint a thin black line down the centre of your nail

Step 4

Using the same striper, create a thick black horizontal line across your nail

Step 5

Dip a toothpick into gold nail varnish and create a square where the two black lines intersect for the buckle on his belt

Step 6

Dip a toothpick into white to create his round collar

Step 7

Outline his collar with a black striper

Step 8

Seal in your design with a topcoat

I hope you liked this tutorial and I hope you all have a lovely Christmas!!

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Christmas Glitter Gradient

For my second Christmas design, I did these gold glitter gradient nails. I think they are really Christmassy and classy.

Step 1

Start off with a base coat to protect your nails

Sep 2

Paint your nails two coats of red nail varnish

Step 3

On a makeup sponge, paint a stripe of gold glitter

Step 4

Dab the sponge onto your nail, focusing on the tip first as this is where we want the most glitter, then slightly work your way down the nail 

Step 5

Seal in your design with a top coat

I hope you enjoyed this short tutorial!

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Christmas Snowman

For the first design in my Christmas series this year, I decided to do this really cute snowman. He is so easy to do but really festive!

Step 1

Start off with a base coat to protect your nails

Step 2

Paint your ring finger two coats of white

Step 3

Dip a large dotting tool into black nail varnish to create two dots for the eyes

Step 4

Dip a small dotter into white. Create two dots over the black to create the pupils

Step 5

Dip a toothpick into white and create two tiny dots at the bottom of each eye to add a shine to his eyes.

Step 6

Create a small triangle for his carrot nose using a toothpick and orange nail varnish

Step 7

Using a red striper, create a thick horizontal line across the middle of your nail for his scarf. Use the same striper to create a thick vertical coming down from the neck of his scarf

Step 8

Use a thin white striper to create small lines in the scarf

Step 9

Paint the rest of your nails red

Step 10

Seal in your design with a top coat to make your design last longer

I hope you enjoyed my first Christmas tutorial of 2015!

See you next time

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Marble Nails

 

I did these nails ages ago but never got around to posting them! I don't think we have Kiko in Ireland, but when I was in Madrid last August, I found a whole Kiko shop so I had to buy this nail varnish, especially since they were so cheap!The colour is so nice and dark. I love it! This marble design is so pretty, but so easy! Let's begin!

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint your nails two coats of a wine colour

Step 3

While the nail varnish on your ring finger is still wet, add three dots of white nail varnish down the side of your nail

Step 4

Using a clean striper, drag it down the side of your nail, starting from the first white and going down through the other two dots until you reach the tip of your nail. This will create the marble effect

Step 5

Once dry, add a top coat to seal in the design and make it last longer

I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tutorial.

See you next time!

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My Autumn Favourites | 2015

I love using deep, rich nail colours for autumn, and as you can probably tell from the following pictures, I am obsessed with deep red and berry tones for this time of year. I hope you enjoy this post and maybe you might find some new products you might like to try! 

1. Sally Hansen-Cherry Cherry Bang Bang

Up first is probably my number one favourite nail varnish this autumn. I love Sally Hansen nail varnishes both for their consistency and colour pay-off and I absolutely adore this deep purple colour.

This picture was taken without a top coat, which just shows how much shine these polishes give off. I don't think I have anything like this colour, as usually I find that berry shades are more red based, whereas this one is a purple based colour which I love! I think this is the perfect autumn shade.

2. SOSU-Who's the Boss 

You might have seen my review on these polishes a few months ago and this colour has made it into my autumn favourites. These nail varnishes are a gel consistency without the UV lamp. 

I love how dark this colour is. It is a really really deep, wine colour, which I think everyone needs for autumn/winter. These polishes last a quite long time which I love! 

I think deep colours like this are a must have shade for autumn!

3. Essie-In Stitches

I probably have more Essie colours than any other brands, because I think the quality of these polishes are excellent, they're so easy to apply and they have a wide range of different colours. 

I love this brown-nude colour, it just screams 'autumn'. With Essie, you sometimes only need just one coat which is amazing. Everyone needs a nude nail varnish in their collection.

4. OPI-Panda-Monium Pink

This colour is much lighter than the previous three colours. You don't always have to stick to dark nail varnishes during autumn/winter. I love this lilac-pink colour for this time of year, however I feel you would be able to wear this colour all year round!

I don't have many OPI products but I do like the quality of these polishes. They're really easy to apple and are very pigmented.

5. Inglot-No.689

This shade is perfect for autumn, but it is also very "Christmassy" at the same time. This nail varnish gives off a really lovely pearl finish that looks very professional. 

I love Inglot nail varnishes as they are really good quality for a really good price. The Inglot O2M collection are breathable nail varnishes that allow oxygen to pass through to the nail, keeping the nails in the best condition possible whilst wearing nail varnish.

So those are my autumn favourites for this year. I hope you enjoyed this post. See you next time!

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Crime Scene Nails

Happy Halloween everyone! These blood-splatter crime scene nails are perfect to freak anyone out tomorrow night on Halloween. And the best part is, they are actually quite easy to do!! I hope you enjoy this design.

Step 1

Use a base coat to protect your natural nails

Step 2

Paint your nails two coats of white

Step 3

On your little and middle finger, paint the tip of a straw with red nail varnish and blow out through the straw to create blood splatters

Step 4

Paint one of your finger pads with red nail varnish. Dab your finger once on a sheet of paper to remove the excess. Then dab your finger onto your index finger nail to create a finger print

Step 5

For your thumb, Dip a dotting tool into red polish. Create a dot half way down your nail. Raise the dotter a small bit and drag it up your nail towards your cuticle. Do this another one or two times to create dripping blood. Join each drop by your cuticle with a striper.

Step 6

For your thumb, dip a dotter into red and create a 'c' shape for the palm of a hand. Dip a toothpick into red and create 2-3 dots for each finger

Step 7

Seal in your design with a topcoat

I hope you enjoyed this very bloody design. Have a great Halloween everyone!!

Ciara x

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Halloween Night Nails

As Halloween is coming soon, I wanted to do spooky Halloween night nails...but they didn't turn out very 'spooky',but I'm just going to just go ahead with the tutorial anyway because I actually like how they turned out.

Step 1

Start off with a top coat

Step 2

Paint all your nails white for a base for the ombre

Step 3

Paint a stripe of black and a stripe of blue onto a makeup sponge and dab onto your nails...repeat until it is opaque.

Sep 4

Paint a black line on the tips of your nails 

Step 5

Use a black striper to create a small vertical line down the side of your nail. Then paint small branches coming off the vertical line to create the tree

Step 6

Add a small bit of glitter to the top of your nail by your cuticle for the stars

Step 7

Seal in with a top coat

I hope you liked this design even though it's not very 'Halloween-y'...but I have a very bloody design coming Friday...so watch out...

Ciara x

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Breast Cancer Awareness Nails

I posted these nails on my Instagram account a few weeks ago but completely forgot to post them here. I did these nails as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This design is so quick and easy to do, but it looks really cute.

Step 1

Apply a base coat

Step 2

Paint your ring finger two coats of white

Step 3

Dip a striper into pink to create the ribbon. You could also do this with a toothpick if you feel you have more control with it.

Step 4

Paint French tips on the rest of your nails 

Step 5

Use your pink striper to create a thin line under your French tips

Step 6

Seal in with a topcoat

I hope you enjoyed this quick little tutorial.

See you soon with some Halloween tutorials!

Ciara x 

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One Direction Nails

So some of you may know how obsessed I am with One Direction, and I was lucky enough to see them in concert on Friday in Dublin! The most amazing thing happened...Liam read out my poster, blew me a kiss and we were shown on the big screen!!!!! It was the best night of my entire life! I could talk for ages about the concert, but let's just get into the design.

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint all your nails white

Step 3

Use a thin black striper to create two small vertical lines in the centre of your ring finger nail.

Step 4

Create another small line, diagonal to the top of the left line to create the '1'

Step 5

Using the striper again, create a tiny horizontal line on each end of the other vertical line. Then create a sideways 'v' shape to finish off the 'D'

Step 6

Dip a straw into a bottle of black nail varnish. Place the straw over a blank white nail and blow through the straw. The paint will 'splatter' onto your nail. Repeat on all your remaining nails

Step 7

Seal in your design with a top coat.

This design is perfect for anyone obsessed with 1D like I am. I hope you enjoy this tutorial and give it a go!

Ciara x

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Swatch - Essie 'Saltwater Happy'

Essie - Saltwater Happy

€9.99

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Inside Out Nails

I did these nails a while back but am only having the chance to post them now as I have been quite busy lately. They were inspired by the Disney Pixar movie 'Inside Out'. I hope you enjoy!

Fear

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint your nail dark purple

Step 3

Using a lighter purple, start a small bit up from the cuticle and paint the rest of your nail

Step 4

Use a large dotter dipped into white and create two dots for the eyes

Step 5

Use a toothpick dipped into black to create the pupils in the eyes

Step 6

Using a black striper to create the eyebrows, draw a small diagonal line on top of each eye

Step 7

Use the black striper again to create a small curved line at the top of his head in a '?' shape for his hair

Step 8

Use a black striper or toothpick to create the nose in a horizontal curved line (the shape is hard to explain, but just try to copy the shape in the picture)

Step 9

Use a black striper or toothpick to create the mouth. This shape is also hard to explain, but it's kind of like a triangle with curved edges? Again, it will seem easier to just copy the shape in the picture

Step 10

Fill in the mouth with white nail varnish

Sadness

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint you nail dark blue

Step 3

Using a lighter blue, start a small bit up from the cuticle and paint the rest of your nail

Step 4

Use a large white dotter to create two dots for the eyes

Step 5

Dip a toothpick into black and create to small dots in the eyes for the pupils

Step 6

Use a toothpick to create black circles around the eyes for the glasses

Step 7

Use the toothpick again to create diagonal lines above each circle for the eyebrows

Step 8

Using a black striper or toothpick, create a small line curving down for her frown

Disgust

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint your nail dark green

Step 3

Using a lighter green, start a small bit up from the cuticle and paint the rest of your nail

Step 4

Add some glitter to the darker green area for her shiny hair

Step 5

Use a large white dotter to create two dots for the eyes

Step 6

Dip a toothpick into black and create to small dots in the eyes for the pupils

Step 7

Use a black striper to create a small curved line on top of each eye for her lash line

Step 8

Use the striper to create small curved flicks for her eyelashes

Step 9

Create the nose by using a toothpick with black polish and drawing a tiny upside-down 'u' shape

Step 10

Use a toothpick with black polish and create a kind of 'm' shape for the mouth. Join each end to eachother

Step 11

Fill in the mouth with white

Joy

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint your nail blue

Step 3

Using a nude, start a small bit up from the cuticle and paint the rest of your nail

Step 4

Use a large white dotter to create two dots for the eyes

Step 5

Dip a toothpick into black and create to small dots in the eyes for the pupils

Step 6

Create the nose by using a toothpick with black polish and drawing a tiny upside-down 'u' shape

Step 7

Create the mouth by using a black striper and creating a curved line for the top lip. Create a 'u' shape below the curved line for the bottom lip. Fill it in with white. You can also add a small curved line on either side of the top lip for the cheeks

Step 8

Use a black striper to create small, wispy strokes for her hair

Anger

Step 1

Start off with a base coat

Step 2

Paint your nail red

Step 3

Lightly sponge bright orange onto the top of your nail by the cuticle for the flames

Step 4

Use a large white dotter to create two dots for the eyes

Step 5

Dip a toothpick into black and create to small dots in the eyes for the pupils

Step 6

Use a black striper to create two diagonal lines for the eyebrows

Step 7

Use a toothpick and black nail varnish to create an oval shape for the mouth. Fill it in with white. Use the striper again to create lines for the teeth.

Seal everything in with a top coat and you're finished! This design took quite a while to do but I am happy with how it turned out. I hope you give this design a try. 

See you next time!

Ciara x

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Back to School Nails

As I am going back to school tomorrow, I wanted to do 'Back to School' themed nails. I found this design on YouTube and wanted to try recreate it, but I'm not going to lie, it is very difficult. It's not perfect but I tried my best, which is all you can do! 

Step 1

I started off with a base coat to protect my natural nails

Step 2

I painted my ring finger 2 thin coats of white

Step 3

To create the scissors, I used a black striper and made a small 'x' shape. I then used the same striper and made 2 semi circles for the handle of the scissors. Once that was dry, I went over the scissors with grey and I went over the handle in pink.

Step 4

For the paper clip, I used a black striper and created a kind of 'swirl' shape. I then went over this with a grey nail varnish

Step 5

For the ruler, I used a black striper and drew half a rectangle coming from my cuticle. I then filled this in with a toothpick dipped into pink. Using the black striper again, I drew small lines at the side of the ruler for where the measurements would be

Step 6

For the pencil, I used a black striper and drew half a rectangle. I then drew a small triangle at the top of the rectangle. Using a toothpick dipped into pink, I filled in the rectangle. I then dipped a toothpick into grey and filled in the triangle. I then added a tiny dot of black at the top for the lead.

Step 7

I used a small black striper to create tiny dashes in the blank spaces.

Step 8

I painted the rest of my nails pink

Step 9

When the design was dry, I sealed it in with a top coat

Thanks for reading! Sorry if this was kind of confusing to follow but it was quite a difficult design, but I hope you still enjoyed this tutorial.

Ciara x

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