Where have I gone?

I know I haven't updated this blog in months!! Naughty Harriet!!!! But I have been super crazy! I spent 6 weeks in plaster so couldn't drive myself anywhere and just generally felt sorry for myself :(
I also moved house and we had no internet for over a month. I also don't have a camera at the moment to take any photos, so its pretty much impossible to blog pictures of nails when I don't have photos to show you.
I am going to be starting a new job in just over a week so I will save up my money and buy a new camera when I can and then I can do some more blogging. That is all for now but I will be back soon xxx

Day Thirty & Thrity-One *Inspired by a Tutorial & Favourite*

Day 30- One of my favourite channels on Youtube is Cute Polish http://www.youtube.com/user/cutepolish?feature=g-u-u, I love her designs because they are so simple but so pretty at the same time. I decided to do her nautical nail design for today as my 3 favourite colours are Red, Blue & White. These were really simple but looked really cool and I got lots of compliments on them at work.

Day 31- I had a tough time which mani I liked best but I think the inspired by fashion nails were my favourite so I repeated those. I haven't uploaded a picture as you all know what they look like.

I have had so much fun this month and need to think of something else to do now. If anyone has any ideas feel free to give me some tips. I am going to have a couple of days off now and then I might get a parafin manicure after I have moved this weekend. My mum and sister are coming to help me move as I have a cast on my leg at the moment :( and to celebrate my birthday with me too.

Day Twenty-Eight & Twenty-Nine *Inspired by a Flag & Inspired by the Supernatural*





Day 28- I have done flag nails before so that's why I knew I could do this mani easily, I had was inspired by the countries of the Rugby World Cup that was held in New Zealand in late 2011. I used a selection of nail art polishes to do this mani (sorry about the photo's, my camera was dead and forgot to charge it before I changed the mani). The countries I did on my left hand were Scotland, South Africa, USA, Ireland & England and on my right they were Japan, Argentina, France, Wales & New Zealand. This manicure was pretty easy to do and I loved the way they turned out.



Day 29- My plan for the supernatural was to do some ghosts on my nails but I changed my mind when I founf this glow in the dark nail polish from CR. The idea I had was to do glow in the dark nails with black shatter (Barry M's black crackle polish) over the top which was fine and looked really cool when it glowed but it was impossible to get a photo of them. I also had to do about 10 coats of polish to make it glow!!! Not a fun game at all!!! I felt like I had fake nails on all day. This was still a fun mani to do and think they look cute for halloween.



Day Twenty-Six & Twenty-Seven *Inspired by a Pattern & Inspired by Artwork*

Day 26- I hadn't planned on doing this pattern for today's mani but I was browsing some art deco pictures online when I found this picture of Halsbury Chamblers in Napier (my hometown). As soon as a saw this picture I knew I wanted to use it for my nails, I love the colours and the depth of the pattern. I painted my nails white (Sally Hansen- Xtreme wear in White on) and used an old eyeliner brush to paint on the patten in BYS- Peach. The mani didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but it's still pretty.

Day 27- There were so many pictures I was inspired by for today, but I finally settled on Jackson Pollock's Lavender Mist. I didn't completely copy the style but as it says, its an inspiration. I painted all my nails white and then thinned down some black (Leiyu Turbo Colour in Black), taupe (OPI's You Don't Know Jacques) and gold (Sally Hansen-Crackle overcoat in Antique Gold) with a small amount of nail polish remover and then randomly dripped each colour over each nail, it's not too splattered like Lavender Mist but I still love it!

Day Twenty-Four & Twenty-Five *Inspired by a Book & Inspired by Fashion*

Day 24- A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark woods... One of my favourite stories of all time is the Gruffalo, it's so simple but one of the sweetest children's books ever!! I really love the way my Gruffalo nails look and I think these (with or without the Gruffalo) would make a really fun mani for a dress up party. I used a lot of different polishes for this manicure and mixed a couple of colours (OPI- You don't know Jacques and Essie- Lady Godvia) together to get the right 'Gruffalo' Brown, I also used Chi Chi- Gimme Gimme a Man for the sky and Avon-Nailwear Pro in Electric Green and LA Colors Mini in Green for the trees. The rest of the details on the Gruffalo were done with various nail art polishes. I finished this manicure off with Sally Hansen's Insta Dry which added a really pretty shine. I tried to paint a mini mouse onto my thumb's but it looked like a small splodge of nothing so I took that off.

Day 25- My all time favourite fashion designer is John Galliano, I know he has caused a lot of controversy over the last year but there is no denying how talented he is. When I was studying I did a presentation on his work and completely fell in love with his sense of style. I love the way he can make a completely crazy couture gown look so normal but stand out from everything around it. I chose to use a dress from his 2008 collection, I am not too sure which season it is but I love this dress!!! I painted 2 coats of OPI's- Lourve me, Lourve me not and then added multi coloured mini jewels to the end and applied a fast drying top coat to seal them together. I love this manicure I would love to wear this everyday but I feel it might be a bit much for that.

Day Twenty-Three *Inspired by a Movie*

 

Day 23- My favourite movie of all time is The Devil Wears Prada, I don't think I could count the amount of times I have watched it so I knew this would be the movie I would use for today. I had so many big ideas for this manicure but I failed on all of them so I stuck to the shoe on a white background, Sally Hansen's-Xtreme wear in White on, with some red glitter. Simple yet effective I think. I painted the shoe free hand with a BYS Nail art polish in red and but Princessa red glitter over it. I really like these nails but they look a bit messy.

Day Twenty-One & Twenty-Two *Inspired by a Colour & Inspired by a Song*

Day 21- I had a few colours I wanted to use for this post but decided that Essie's- Masquerade Belle was the best name and it's such a pretty colour too!!! I had a masquerade party a few years ago and I have always liked cute masks so I thought I would do masks on my nails, I painted 2 coats of Masquerade Belle and then painted the tips with Rimmel's- I love lasting colour in Your Majesty and went around the edges of the mask with BYS black nail art polish. I think these are really cute and I'm very happy with them. I was also inspired by the mask I included.

Day 22- Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles is one of my favourite songs of all time, and I love the cover of it in Across the Universe so I decided to do something kind of trippy to go with the vibe of the song. I started off with 4 big blogs of different blue nail polishes (Chi Chi- Gimme Gimme a Man, Barry M- Navy, BYS- Matte Blue and Orly- It's Up to Blue) and swirled them together with a toothpick, while they were still wet I stuck little jewels randomly on surface and then let them dry. I used my $2 shop printing plate and printed pictures of cut diamonds with a silver polish on them. I then used silver glitter sprinkled over them and applied a fast drying top coat. I am very happy with these nails and wish I could have kept them on!

Day Nineteen & Twenty *Galaxies & Water Marbled*

Day 19- I have always liked Galaxy nails, I think they look more difficult than they actually are too. I think they are really simple to do but look so pretty. I started off by painting my nails black all over with Leiyu Turbo Colour in Black then sponged on Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear- White On, Butter London- Cheeky Chops, Essie's- Coat Azure, Chi Chi (soft coral shade, can't remember the name) and Sally Hansen's Sparkle around the edges to blend it out. I then added a few dots of white with a tooth pick and a few spots of Jay Jay's silver glitter and then topped it off with Sally Hansen's Mega Shine. Not really much else to say about these,  I think the picture speaks for itself.

Day 20- I was not looking forward to this at all!!! I have tried water marbling before and it is always the biggest fail!!!! But I decided I was going to tackle this one head on today and just do it and I think the results speak for themselves. My nails look like everyone elses!! I heard that Essie nail polishes worked really well so I decided to use my 3 brightest shades and give it a go. Firstly I painted my nails white all over with Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in White On (which is now starting to run out and go gloopy *sad face*) and then dripped Haute as Hello, Coat Azure and Chastity into a cup of water and you know how the rest of it goes. I used a new top coat (Sally Hansen's- Insta Dry) on these and it all funny over this manicure, there were a couple of water/air bubbles in the polish so I think that was the problem but it still looks ok to me. I have to thank my flatmate Polly for helping me with these otherwise it would have been a complete failure. I will upload a couple more days now so you can see my weekend nails.

Day Eighteen *Half Moons*

Day 18- I have done half moon nails a few times so I knew this one would be easy to do but boy was I wrong, this manicure did not work out the way I wanted and I think it ended up looking messy. I love the colours I used but something isn't right. I used OPI's- Russian Navy- Matte on my whole nail and Orly's- Rage as the half moons, I don't know whether it was the combonation of matte and metallic that didn't work but oh well. I think Rage is one of the prettiest nail polishes I own and it usually look so good. I also didn't use a top coat so I could have the matte and metallic finish. Pretty excited for Galaxies tomorrow as I am pretty sure I can't mess those up (here's hoping).

Day Seventeen *Glitter*

Day 17- I think this is the day I have been most excited about! I LOVE GLITTER!!!! Any of my friends or family will tell you that I seem to leave a trail of glitter behind me where ever I go. I knew right from the start of this challenge that I would be using OPI's- Rainbow Connection for today but I didn't know how I wanted to layer it. I decided to use Barry M's Navy nail paint as the base of this manicure and I really like the way they turned out. The navy looks kind of purple in the photo but it still looks really pretty. I was in a bit of a rush when I did these though so they aren't the best but that's ok. I finished my nails with BYS Matte top coat so the effect isn't as sparkley today.

I have been thinking about different ideas for my inspiraton section and I hope you like what I have come up with.

Day Sixteen *Tribal Print*

Day 16- I have seen some really cool tribal prints online so I took inspiration from them and things I had seen in real life and kind of made up my own 'tribal print' and I am really happy with the way they turned out.

Firstly I painted my nails different sized stripes in 3 different colours, I used Essie's Merino Cool and Sand Tropez and Orly's Luxe, I think they look a little washed out on their own but when I added the black (BYS nail art polish) they really stood out, especially the gold. I don't know if the photo's I took really did them any justice but the gold was really pretty. I painted random black lines and dots over the stripes of colour and that's how I got this 'tribal' pattern.

I hope you like them, I think tomorrow's nails are going to be very simple but I love glitter so I can't wait!

Day Fifteen *Delicate Print*

Day 15- I had so many ideas for delicate nails but I wanted something kind of simple, I tried a few different prints but this one looked the nicest on my nails. I painted my nails with one coat of LA Colors- Serenity and let them dry, then I used Leiyu Turbo Colour in Black on a stamping plate (B83) I got at the $2 shop and printed the pattern in different directions on each nail. I think they turned out nicely, maybe slightly messy but that's ok. I think this pattern would look cool with the same base colour with white stamping on them, kind of a subtle lace print.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend, I have work tonight so thought I would get this post up for you.

Days Thirteen & Fourteen *Animal Print & Flowers*

Day 13- I have done leopard print nails on my flat mate before so I decided that they would be an easy options to do again. I know that is kind of cheating but I hadn't done them on myself so it doesn't count.

I don't think they look as good as I had hoped they would but I still like them. I used OPI in Bling Dynasty as an all over colour then used the end of a make up brush to do some splodgy/circles in OPI's You Don't Know Jacques and then used a fine paint brush with Essie's Lady Godvia to do the outside of the spots. I think they worked well and looked kind of cute.

 

Day 14- Today's nails look a little average as I only painted on coat of Essie's Chastity instead of two, I was hoping it would give a more sheer effect but I think they just look unfinished. I painted the flowers using the end of a make up brush (instead of a dotting tool) and made little petals, I used BYS Mauve-in on Up on 4 fingers and Claire's Cosmetics Neon Pink (nail art) on my ring finger for the petals and Butter London's Cheeky Chops for the center of the flower. I think these nails are a fun spring manicure and would look good in any colour.

It would appear that I am up to date with my nails now so I will try to stay on top of the blog as much as I can now.

Days Eleven & Twelve *Polka Dots & Stripes*

 Day 11- I really wanted to use OPI- Russian Navy- Matte in one of these posts so I decided today would be a perfect day to use it, I painted 2 coats of Russian Navy and then painted the little dots with nail art polishes (the ones with the needle point tip), I used Claire's Cosmetics in Neon Pink and Nail Star in White. I think the effect was really pretty and I finished the manicure off with Sally Hansens Mega Shine (as per usual). I think this could be my favourite and it was really easy to do.

Day 12- I know I said in my Green day that I don't like green nail polish but I think this one is different, it is so bright and happy and I had completely forgotten about until I found it at the back of one of nail polish drawers, the colours I used are all by BYS, Matte Green and Black and White nail art polishes! I think these nails are really cute and I got lots of comments on these at work. I was going to paint them with a matte top coat but I am glad I didn't, I think the Mega Shine makes them pop.

Days Eight, Nine & Ten *Metallic, Rainbow & Gradient*

 Day 8- I just picked up this metallic polish, it is Kleancolor- Midnight Queen, it is a really pretty green/blue colour that I fell in love with when I saw it. I don't think this needs much explantion.

Day 9- Rainbow nails seemed like it would be really fun and it was. I painted my nails white (Sally Hansen-Xtreme wear- White Out) and then painted rainbow lines using BYS nail art polishes in Pink, Yellow, Red, Blue, Orange, Neon Green and Purple. These were fun to do and didn't take too long. After I did mine my Nana wanted hers done the same so I spent some time doing hers like it too which was fun.

Day 10- I didn't have much time to do gradient nails as I was on holiday at my parents place so by the time I got back to Wellington it was late and I was tired and had to be up for work at 5am!!! The colours I used for the gradient nails are Rimmel- I love Lasting Finish in Hot Shot and BYS Matte Deep Berry and Black Cherry, I tried to get a good gradient effect but the Deep Berry colour was too similar to Hot Shots so there isn't much diffence, it still worked just not as well as I had hoped.

Sorry the uploads have been slow, I have been changing my nails everyday but have had computer issues so haven't been able to upload as much.

Hopefully everyone is having a good night, I think I might try upload some more posts so you can see my progress.

Days Six & Seven *Violet & Black and White*

Day 6- I had so many purple nail polishes to choose from, so I chose to use OPI- Purple with a Purpose all over with little stars in BYS- Purple (nail art). Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of them as I was driving to see my parents and forgot to take a proper photo before I took it off.

Day 7- I had so many ideas rushing through my head for black and white that I decided to do a bit of everything on them. I used Sally Hansen- White Out all over and the details were done with BYS- Black (nail art). I liked these nails but as you will notice I have not shown the middle finger on my right hand as it smudged and looked a mess!!!

Days Four & Five *Green & Blue*

Day 4- I am not a huge fan of green nail polish, I feel that it doesn't suit my skin tone. I wanted to try out the green nail polish I had so kind of did a tartan pattern. The colours I used are Avon- Nailwear Pro in Electric Green, LA Colors- Art Deco in Green Glitter and BYS- Neon Green (Nail art). I know the pictures are out of focus as I had an issue taking a good picture of them but you get the general idea.

Day 5- I think these are my favourite so far, I know I have done the ombre effect already but I like the blue so much better, I have so many bottles of blue nail polish that I didn't know what 5 to use, I could have done 10 differnent shades but thought that might be a bit much. The colours I used are (L-R) Barry M- Navy nail paint, BYS- Matte Blue, H&M- Blue Sky, Essie- Coat Azure and Chi Chi- Gimme Gimme a Man. I think Essie Coat Azure is my favourite of all my blue shades, it has a subtle shimmer and is a perfect blue shade.

I used Salley Hansen's Mega Shine on all my nails and it is my favourite top coat of all time!! It is really shiny and kind of gives my nails a wet look. I want to try Seche Vite but it can be hard to get hold of in New Zealand.

Days Two & Three *Orange & Yellow*

Day 2- Today's nails were hard to do for me as I didn't think I would be able to find any orange nail polish, but as it turns out I have a few orange shades. The colours I used are (L-R) Essie - Haute as Hello, A randon LA Colors yellow/orange, Chi Chi - Choose Chi Chi, CR-101 and Sports Girl-Orange with Sally Hansen Mega Shine on top of all of them. I loved the sports girl one and it is pretty much a one coater but I did 2 coats on each for good measure.

Day 3- I really love this colour, its Butter London in Cheeky Chops, it is the nicest yellow nail polish I have ever worn, it's really creamy and smooth the only issue I have with it is that I had to do 3 coats. The black crackle/shatter is Barry M Instant Effects in Black which is my favourite of the crackle polishes, my OPI Shatter dried up and evaporated and was really thick from day one, but the Barry M has been amazing! I want to get a gold shatter next though, I think it would look really pretty over taupe nail polish. As usual I have Sally Hansen Mega Shine as a top coat.

I am having a lot of fun doing my nails and I can't wait for the inspired by section.

Day One *Red*

I painted my nails with BYS Matte Red and Princess Mistic Red (Red Glitter) with half of them painted with BYS Matte Top Coat and the tips done with Sally Hansen's Mega Shine (Best top coat in my view), I liked the way they turned out but the photo's don't show the matte texture too well.

I know I haven't uploaded daily but I can promise that I am painting them everyday.