NOTD: Roses

I've seen many roses nail art tutorials so I thought it was about time I finally got around to trying it myself. I love being creative with my nails and love the look of rose nails but have never got around to doing them yet.

There are so many step by step tutorials online I've read lots so just did it from memory. I'm a nail biter. Last year was the first time I stopped so for nearly a year I actually had nice nails. You can see these in my posts from the start of this blog. Stress, uni and work has got me biting them again and I hate the way they look. Until I can kick the habit again I'm wearing false nails a lot.

False nails can get an expensive habit. I love acrylics but not the price and the damage they do, plus I like to do my own nail art. I get my nails from Boots. The kiss brand sell 100 nails for £6.49 (here) I can get between 5 and 10 uses out of these depending on if I file down the nails that are too big. It makes them great value. I don't like the glue in them so I get the Elegant Touch Brush on Glue £3.10 (here) This last ages. The combination of these two products means I can have nice nails reasonably cheap. The brush on glue is much easier to apply and less messy. I find it lasts about 5 days too.

For my nails for this look I painted all my nails except my ring finger in Ciate Dangerous Affair (Ciate polishes can be picked up here for £9) I found two coats gave a gorgeous pinky red shade. It's lasted well without chipping.

For my ring finger I painted them using the Ciate Cutie Pie. It's a creamy nude pink. I left this to dry well before starting the nail art. Once dry I applied 3 oblong shapes to my ring finger in Dangerous Affair. Then left those to dry.

Once they were dry I used my handing dotting tool and Ciate Cupcake queen to make the oblongs round with two lines of cupcake queen. I then applied a dot in the middle of the smaller one's and swirls to the bigger ones.

To add the leaves I used the dotting tool again, this time using Avon Midnight Green (reviewed here). I adding two leaf shapes using my dotting tool.

I left it my nails to dry then painted with a coat of my trusty Seche Vite (reviewed here) I can't be without this top coat now.

Sorry they look a bit scratched. They are four days old now!

One last thing I'm loving at the moment is this Nail file and buffer from Avon (found here for £3). It has a great cuticle trimmer on the end which makes neatening cuticles so easy. I don't like the file much but the £3 is worth it just for the cuticle trimmer in my opinion. I get much better results then any liquid cuticle remover.

Have you done rose nail art? Would love to see your colour combinations!

Love M

xxx

Ciaté NOTD from Marie Claire

Hey all. I've recently  got the new Samsung Galaxy S3 (by recently I mean yesterday) bad I can now blog from my phone. Fingers crossed this  works as it'll be easier for me and the camera seems  a lot better.

You'll have to excuse me if the photos aren't in the right place. Not fully sure how to user it. So onto today's post. I don't know about you but I love a good magazine freebie. Marie claire certainly didn't disappoint this month, so far I picked up 2 copies and I'm considering the third.

I have the paint pots in jelly bean (a gorgeous bright pink) and  purple sherbet (a perfect pastel lilac ) if you have the pale pink I'd love to know if you think I need it. The magazine is only 3.70 and yer paint pots are full  size. I enjoyed reading the magazine too.

The bottles are so cute, a good handle that's esay to hold, I sometimes  struggle with bottles like nails inc. And not to mention the cute bows on them.

The polish applies so smooth  and both shades looked gorgeous in two coats. Impressive for a pastel colour.

Purple sherbet is definitely a perfect some pastel shade and looks gorgeous on. Not too cool toned.

I was hugely  disappointed as it chipped in under 48 hours though. And one nail completely peeled off.

Jelly bean wowed me. A stunning barbie pink with a subtle blue shimmer that looks so pretty on. Not only that it lasted an impressive 4 days before it chipped and I needed to take it off. I'm not sure why this lasted and the purple sherbet didn't.

You can see the hint of blue in the last photo. This is the first time I've tried Cianté paint pots. I'm half very impressed half disappointed. I'm hoping the lilac shade will last better next time.

Have you tried paint pots, what results did you get? Fingers crossed this post works. If you have any tips from blogging on my phone I'd appreciate them.

Love M

Xxx