....fighting tooth and NAIL

So here's my first beauty post. I had intended to set up my tripod and work out a really cool setting for some daily outfit photos but I never really got around to it... busy busy! 

But while I had some down time I decided to give a bit of nail art a go. Forgive me if this post is a bit all over the place but it was my first attempt in years at anything nail arty, usually i just paint them a block colour and wait until they're hideously chipped to re-do them.

A few days a go I was with my mum in a hairdressing/beauty wholesalers and I decided to pick these babies up:

• The nail art brushes were 1.95 each but came with no instructions on cleaning or anything so I presumed nail polish remover and a cotton pad would do the trick.. but now the brushes are all hard and crap and for 4 euro.. one use is not value for money :( If anyone has any advice on how to clean them, I'd really appreciate it.

• On the upside the nail stickers are AMAZING, they're really soft and pliable so they stick to the contour of your nails. I just have one on my thumb to test it... 5 hours and it's still there :)

First I painted my nails with a base coat of grey. I chose Rimmel's 60 second nail polish - grey matter (see image below):

Next I tried out the nail stickers, just on my thumb. They're so easy to use. Just paint on a basecoat, peel off a sticker, place it on your nail and finish it off with a clear top coat. I like Rimmel's 5 in 1 Nail Care, Nail treat polish.

Then for the rest of my nails I messed around a bit first with some random patterns as you'll see below. I then settled on a very sleek simple design of half and half... (It's kind of like a french manicure at an angle... kind of). 


Due to me throwing out a lot of old crappy gloopy polishes recently my colour palette was confined to either red or blue/green. I gave the bluey/green a whirl but it looked so flat and kinda like I was just bad at painting my nails. So red it was! (or 'frisky clover' to be precise)


I finished off the nails with a top coat of the rimmel 5 in 1 for strength.

Aaaaah, *blurry picture alert*

Ignore the second nail from the left... I got a notion to put a shiny stripe across my nail... don't ask me why

Overall i think it's a very simple idea but it looks like you've put in a bit of effort (when it really only took a few mins and a steady hand). These are the nail polishes I used:

I'm mad for Rimmel recently. Great range of colours and their new 1 sec brush makes painting your nails so easy. My only criticism is that they go gloopy REALLY quickly. I must give Models Own a go soon, I've been hearing loads about them. 

Ok so, that's all!

Goodnight!

El :)xx