Simple dot NOTD.

It's unusual, but I actually really like this. Even though it's something a bit different, it still manages to look quite classic? I don't know, I'm very tired and I don't think I'm making a lot of sense.

I'll probably try it in brighter, contrasting colours next time - maybe bright purple and metallic turquoise? Love me some eyecatching nails. The nude is one I got free with Cosmo about two years ago, it's quite nice but in real life it looks a little darker. I have my eye on a Maybelline one for next time, I don't have enough nudes! The black is Maybelline too and it's fab, better than my Barry M (high praise).

Christmas nails.

It's Christmas eve eve. And my first day off work in what feels like about a fortnight (it's not, I just like to exaggerate). So what better day to spend a day off than shopping, and getting your nails done? When getting extensions, I get the lovely nail ladies to leave my tips plain, so I can paint them myself. I have a big enough nail polish collection, I might as well make the most of it. I'm also a control freak - they'd only do it wrong! I'll show you what I bought today, at some point. Most of it was boring stuff - tights, white vest tops (they stop your tights falling down, it's magic), face wipes and dry shampoo. I did get some rather nice bits from New Look - hey, I get staff discount, what can I say - so expect a post on them soooon. But back to the nails - here's the result of a day off and therefore an awful lot of free time.

1) To do the dots you just need a dotting tool (I use a hair grip cause I'm cheap), and a reeeally fine brush. White, dots, 5 minutes to dry a bit, silver, black outlines.
2) This really should have been neater. It's a tape mani, so you just paint on your base colour, wait til it's completely 100% dry, tape off the sections you don't want to paint and then paint over the tape. For a better guide than that poor attempt, try here.
3) Gradient glitter! I love it ridiculous amounts. Paint your base on, then three lots of glitter polish. Make sure the glitter brush is almost clean, then paint from the top downwards, to about halfway down the nail. When dry, repeat to about two thirds down, and then finish off the top quarter.
4) This is quite clearly Santa's belt, okay guys? I should have done it with tape but I'm lazy,so it's a bit messy. It was all freehanded.
5) Another tape one here - just cut a little triangle out, and use the bit you cut it out of to block off the majority of the nail.

I'm in love with them, seriously.

Gradient sparkles.

Cracking bit of artifical lighting for you there.

I gave in and got nail extensions. I have stupidly weak nails (my parents say I inherited it from them. Cheers) and any attempts to grow them ended in splitting, breaking and temper tantrums. So I parted with my hard earned cash - hahahahaha - and spent a whopping £21 on these, which a very sweet but slightly rough Chinese lady did for me. She told me I have 'lovely little nails' and then she had to file down the width of the smallest extensions, oops. I told her to leave them clear for me so I can paint them myself. She seemed genuinely gobsmacked by the prospect of me painting my OWN nails.

Anyway, like I said, I painted them myself as soon as I got home. I have no idea what the pink is - some sort of Nails Inc thing I got free with Glamour a while ago (I can't go and look what the name is cause my lazy boyfriend's asleep and it'll only wake him up). It looks very similar to Elizabeth Street, which is available with the current issue that's out. The glittery tips are a Forever21 shade I picked up when I was in Florida in the summer. I did take a look on the website but it seems it's not available in the UK; if you're an American it's called Silver Sparkle. To get the gradient effect, all you need to do is wipe off most of the glitter from the brush, and paint the nail from about halfway up (down? Either way). Repeat, but start a little higher up and with a little more glitter on the brush each time you do it. By doing this you end up with more layers of glitter on the tip, and fewer further down, easy. You'll need a good top coat with so many layers of polish, I will never recommend anything but Seche Vite and you need to buy it now. Like, right now.

Happy Birthday to me! (Plus a sneaky NOTD).

I'm 20.
I'm not a teenager any more.
Does this mean I have to start tidying up after myself, and stop eating sugar cookies for breakfast, lunch and tea? 'Cause I really don't think that's going to happen, so I'll just have to continue to tell people I'm 19. My presents included an utterly indecent amount of chocolate, meaning all my recent diet attempts will go down the pan. But will I care when I'm sat on my arse watching Great British Bake Off re-runs, stuffing my face with mini Hotel Chocolat slabs? Er, no.
Anyway, I've given up attempting to battle with Origin in order to install my new Sims 3 Expansion pack (seriously, I'm not growing up) so I've done a nice little NOTD for you.

Inspiration: EVERYTHING currently in River Island.

Sorry it's small, it was a bit spur of the moment so the picture quality's not great. No natural daylight or something like that (I don't know what I'm talking about). It's also messy round the edges, but it's cool, doing the washing up fixes that.
Laters, I'm going to go and eat some more chocolate.

Purple blue and black.

This little beauty of a nail polish is part of the Model's Own Beetlejuice collection, which for the record, you need. This one is the imaginatively named 'Purple Blue'. It's an incredibly pretty duochrome, and shifts from purple to blue (bet you couldn't have predicted that) depending on the light and angle. It was pretty hard to photograph - ignore the mess in the background by the way - but on the thumb you can see a little bit of the colour shift. 

In order to spice it up a bit, I added an angled black tip to each nail. Easy peasy - I did it with cheapo Primark invisible tape, taped off most of the nail and painted a thick coat of black over the uncovered part. Seche Vite on top'll give you this nice shiny look and dry it all in 5 minutes flat.