Different hand poses for showing off Nail Art

Hey guys,

So to try and get a proper variety of different hand poses, I thought that instead of just looking at the blogs I follow, that I would just search for a specific nail varnish colour into Google and see what came up. In the end I decided on a Nail Varnish colour I really want at the moment - Zoya Chyna.
I had a bit of a problem trying to get the camera to focus, I decided to try and use the DSLR instead of my usual phone camera/point and shoot, and couldn't get it do do quite what I wanted it too, or even take the photo most of the time - slightly annoying!
All of the inspiration photos are not my own, so i've linked back to their original post if you click on their photo.

First of all the thumb on the bottle shot. I think this one looks pretty nice, but I think I would also have to take another one showing the thumb as often I also want to show this. 

One that wasn't meant to be round the bottle but I found it easier to line up my fingers like this, the original photo was actually landscape rather than portrait but I flipped it so that it would fit with mine better. I don't think I cropped mine very well, and also this position was actually quite awkward for me as on my left hand my little finger doesn't seem to like placing itself with the other fingers, therefore although I think it looks nice, I don't think I will use it. 

I know my version is out of focus, I mentioned I had camera problems earlier. I'm not sure about this shot, it was a little awkward once again and unless if I can sort out my camera being able to sort out this kind of shot. Its quite a nice shot though, other than my misbehaving little finger which I can never get to do what I want it too and always moves out of place.


So once again the inspiration shot is much cuter and better framed and lit and actually in focus. However I didn't actually mind this shot, other than my little finger looking odd and not fitting in with the others again. and once again you can't really see the thumb very well.

And finally, my classic 'claw' hand shape, but with the fingers closer together than I would usually have them. I have no idea why the colour looks so different in this one, I think the light must have just been odd or something. This is the only pose I found which shows the thumb, but I don't actually think it looks that professional but it is by far the quickest and easiest to do for me therefore you will probably still see it, but I hope to include some others when I do have time and am proud enough of a design to want to showcase it that bit more.

Two final notes, the first is this shot of a hand that I would literally describe as 'perfect' to me the black background shows the nails up perfectly, the light is completely perfect and I just love this. This is how I would love my photos to look.

I love how little silver glitters show up, and how only the front of the hand is in focus with the rest not. It might just be my personal opinion but I really do love this photo. I believe the photo actually comes from Zoya's own press release which explains why its so good, but I link back to the page I found it.

The final note is to myself mainly, but I really need to start naming my photos after what they are showing, as nearly all the ones I found had titles which related to what they were showing as shown in the photo below. This will help as it will probably help my photos to appear higher up in search engine listings which will hopefully get more hits on my blog. The only two that didn't have names relating were on Flickr and therefore had a title that related to what they were anyway, and I would assume Flickr has higher search engine listings anyway possibly.

Thanks for reading, maybe this helped you too, I will definitely try to put more of these poses into regular use hopefully!

Busy Girls Nails Challenge: Week 5 Valentine's Day

Hey Guys,

So its finally the end of the Nail Challenge, and I have to admit, even with these simple themes it was really quite hard to come up with anything and to stick to the themes given.
But anyway, todays theme was a tough one for me, not because I didn't have any ideas or inspiration but simply because I don't have a boyfriend and wasn't expecting any Valentines, therefore I didn't want people questionning me on why I had Valentine's Day theme nails. But anyhow, in the end I went with a mix of two different designs I found with the thumb being from this and the other nails being from here.

So there is mine. I also had the same on my other hand but didn't get a photo. You may notice something different this week in that my nails are on a black background instead of white, this was just me experimenting to see which looked better. I might look out for some inspirational poses / photograph set ups this week and make a post about it, mainly for my own benefit but also incase it also interests someone else.

Hope you like my Valentine's Day Nails and I will see you next week!

Busy Girls Nails Challenge: Week 4 Blue

Hey guys,

So this week was a blue theme, and I found what I thought was the perfect inspiration for this - mermaid scale nails! I originally got the idea from here  but I decided to do all my nails but the thumb like this as I thought it might look a little odd on me with only 2 nail designs as I have no studs to decorate the other nails nor a dotting tool big enough to do the big dots like on hers.

Here's my impression; I used quite a few different colours for this, and technically a silver glitter, purple, and a bit of teal to go with the main blue theme, but I really don't have enough blue's to be able to pull this off sadly. Plus I think it looks nicer with the other colours mixed in.









So I can't wait for the Valentines Day theme next week! Sadly no boyfriend to speak of, so it will just be me and the nails celebrating. Hopefully I won't leave it to the last minute again like this week though!

Busy Girls Nails Challenge: Week 2 White

Hey Guys,

I may not have stuck to the complete theme here but I really wanted to do something Sherlock related and in my defense it does include quite a lot of white, just a few other colours as well!
I used a number of inspiration photos for this, the smiley face nail I cannot sadly give an inspiration image for as it has simply been done so many times, some I also cannot find the original link for however I will give you the link of where I found them; sherlock face and building jump, stag night, and footprints

 

Sorry for them not being completely cleaned up in this photo, I managed to catch the 'Stag Night' nail later that night so that it then read 'stag nigh' so I decided not to take anymore.
Due to my trouble locating original sherlock nail designs I decided to make sure my images were clearly labelled with my blog name!

So, do you think these fit the theme enough? Seriously though, if you haven't seen Sherlock you should really start watching it - its an amazing show.

Busy Girls Nails Challenge: Week 1 Teal

Hey guys,

So, my first post of my first ever challenge! This weeks theme was 'Teal', so I painted my nails with the only teal polish I own - Sally Hansen Fairy Teal - but then could not decide what to paint on them.
Finally I decided on something I liked, a cute little blossom tree, yes I know its still technically winter but I thought they looked really nice against the teal.

So what do you think? I can't wait to show you next week, with the 'white' theme, I have something planned already, I just hope it goes well as the current ideas are rather complicated.

Wish me luck and let me know if you think my nails fit the theme!

Christmas Nail Related Gifts

Hey guys,

I have been far too good lately, I didn't buy myself any new nail related things for Christmas. I really don't know how.. well, other than I banned myself from going into Boots/Superdrug when going shopping...

But, thankfully my friends and family bought me a few things to make it up to me!

The first item I am going into just made me laugh so much when I got it. Incase you can't tell, its a nail dryer - it blows out air from between its hands when you press down the button with your wet nail.
We had a few troubles getting it to work, but realised that all it needed was a bit of tin foil next to the battery and hey presto the fan worked again! I haven't actually used it to dry my nails yet though, but its cute if nothing else.

From the same person I got a couple of polish sets, which I believe are both from primark, this one here and another which I will show you later.

This set contains one gold polish and a little bottle of gold glitter. Incase you cannot read what the back of the box says, it seems the general idea is to paint your nail with the gold polish, and then tip the glitter into the 'dish' - basically a dip in the plastic packaging that the two bottles are held in in the bottle - and then dip your nail into the glitter where it will stick and coat the nail.
Its a cool idea I guess, I will have to see if it actually works out, and if I manage to do it without getting the glitter everywhere, which is the reason I have always avoided actual loose glitter before on my nails.

The other set from the same friend I received was an 'Ombre' set, inside the box was also 2 make-up sponges cut into triangles and a couple of wooden sticks. If you look at the polishes inside the box, I thought they were in the wrong order as I pulled them out so for the next photo I put them in the order I thought they should go in. As I was editing the photos I realised that the illustration on the box actually shows them in this order too, so it appears I was right. No idea why they were in the wrong order in the box though, I hope no-one has opened them before or something. 

I don't think i've ever tried an Ombre manicure before either so I am really excited to try this out. The purple on the end is also really really pretty, it has little bits of glitter inside and looks a really nice colour. Shame its in such a small bottle so will probably have a not very good or easy to use brush with it.

Next I have a nail related item that I will call 'Designer' as it is by Ted Baker. When I unwrapped this present to reveal this metal tin I had no idea what could be inside. The present gifter said afterwards that there had been a piece of cardboard round the tin saying what was inside, but she took it off so that it would be a surprise.

And a surprise it was when I took off the lid to reveal these cute polishes. I haven't had a chance to try them out yet but the glitter ones look very cute, and a black is always useful. 

I love the tin though, its so cute and I'm sure i'll find a use for it elsewhere to put something in. I really hope the polishes are a good quality too and don't chip really easily. 

So that's it, I said there wasn't very much. Sorry for no Nail Art this week but there will definitely be some next week due to starting the Nail Art Challenge! I have no ideas for the first week 'Teal' yet, but i'm sure i'll have something by tommorrow! 

New Year Nails and Busy Girl Nails Challenge!

Hey guys,

So I have two things to mention today. The first is to obviously show you the nails I had on for New Year.

Here they are! Very sorry for the absolutely hideous phone photo, but you may notice that they are on top of lined paper.. this is because I have mock exams starting tomorrow. Sadly this means i've been revising hard so didn't have time to take a proper photo before I took these off. Sorrry!

You can't really see it very well, but I was going for a glitter gradient against the gold on 4 nails with the accent a black polish with red hexagonal glitter placed over. I haven't tried doing an accent glitter nail with these large glitters before so thought I would give it a go. Sadly the only colour we had in the house was red and i'm not sure it goes particularly well with the rest, but I thought it was a cool effect.

So, now on to more exciting news. I follow A LOT of blogs, and when I get round to sorting through the posts I haven't read I often find some interesting nails that I might like to attempt, or other interesting pieces. Well today when I was sorting through I came across a post here containing a challenge that seems perfect for me the 'Busy Girls Nails Winter Nail Art Challenge' - long title eh!

Showing you the challenge photo may make more sense so here it is:

It is starting on the 13th January and I can't wait to get started! This is the first challenge i've done and so it poses two problems; actually remembering that I am doing a challenge and don't just post something else unrelated, and two actually getting Instagram to work and remembering your password.. doh. 

I'm hoping you will see some pretty nails and hopefully some Nail Art too, wish me good luck!

Christmas Day Nails!

Hey guys,

I mentioned I was under the weather last post, and I thought I would let you know that thankfully i'm feeling much much better now! :D

I decided to do a 3 colour gradient with festive colours; gold, green and red. However the green looks a little more blue in these photos, not sure why. The red and green blended together really well but the gold and green didn't really blend so much as lay over one another, it overall looked nice though :)

Just in case you were interested, this is what the gradient looked like without the glitter coat over the top, and before I cleaned it up.












Let me know what you think! :)

Messy Minions

Hey guys,

This week I felt like doing a design more cartoony and kiddish, and after looking around I stumbled upon a minion elf design - I couldn't resist. However sadly I was ill most of the week and so only actually got round to doing these last night, and even then I didn't really want to face the smell of nail polish - yes I must be very ill, can't believe I just said that - and so the nails are a little messy as I tried to get them over and done with quickly.

I suppose at least you can hopefully tell they're minions. I might just take them off tonight anyway though and hope that I feel better for something in time for Christmas.

I wish all my readers a good holiday!

Mixed Christmas Nails

Hey guys,

My nails are arguably a little more complicated than usual this week. The only downside to this is that it took much longer to do. I based them on this design I found on Tumblr, sadly I could not find the original link as the photo is not watermarked, so to whoever made this first - I love it.

However - look how pretty they are! (Even if it is bad late night photography - sorry!)

Sadly, I never seem to use my red polish, so did not realise just how bad it is. Not only had it chipped a lot off within just a day, but it also smudged into the reindeer when I tried to apply a topcoat. I don't think i'll use my red again for a while. At least not until I get a better one as this was just annoying and is the reason the photos are so terrible, by the time I actually had time to take some proper photos of them, the red had 3/4 chipped off and I didn't want to waste time painting them again just for it to happen again.

Let me know what you think!