My new (false) nails

Hi everyone.

Before I carry on with the post, I want you to know that I bought a new camera...but I'm still trying to figure out all of the settings. You may find the next few posts a little fuzzy but please be patient with me!

I haven't been looking after my nails very well recently and as a result, my nails became extra hard and brittle. I've bought various new products and rather than try them out on other people first, I am always use them on myself. Anyway, after battling with a ridiculously curled middle finger nail, I decided to chop them all off and give myself a set of acrylic nails.

First, I started out with short, sad, battered nails:

Then I blended some natural coloured tips after applying them:

I took my eye off the file to tell one of the kids to stop doing whatever it was they were doing and I nicked my thumb!

After? Not too thick. I ended up using white acrylic on the tip and pink for the rest of the enhancement.

I'm happy with them at the moment, but I can't bear to see the underside of the nail when the enhancement starts to grow out. As a result, I'll probably only wear these for a month or so.

I'm off to paint these bad boys because I'm working at V Fest this weekend (YAY!) and need to look half decent.

Have a great weekend folks.

xx

L does Nails...yes I do!

In case you weren't already aware (admittedly, I didn't make a public announcement or anything), I recently began freelancing as a sessional nail technician...under the name of L does Nails .

When I first started out in the world of nails, it was via this blog which was born three years ago. Back then I was on maternity leave with my second child and it felt like I had all the time in the world, believe it or not. After returning to part-time work, I decided to get a nail qualification so that I could possibly run a mobile nail business as a side line. Unfortunately, the whole idea of being mobile didn't fit into my daily schedule, especially after I returned to working more hours per week and after doing a full day in the office, I'd be too tired to want to get back on the road to do nails.

By chance, I got an email from another freelance manicurist who needed my assistance. It was then that I was introduced to 'event nail art'. I've steadily been booked for work doing complimentary manicures on nail bars for press events, product launches and more recently, festivals. Even though my plans to be mobile didn't quite work out how I'd initially wanted them to, other doors have been opened for me and I'm really quite grateful that I've had such fortune. At this point, I'm insured, qualified, registered, trade and already up and running. If I could do this sort of thing full-time I would, but right now it's not feasible. Oh well, who knows what the future holds, eh?

Here's my logo, designed by Rhonda Brown, whom I 'met' on Instagram a year ago:

I love this so much - Rhonda created it after seeing my ideas in a make-shift drawing I did on a sticky label at my office desk!

At some point I will be trying to link my blog to my website, but that will happen in time.

Please stop by and have a look at my site - let me know what you think?

xx

To gloss or not to gloss? That is the question.

Hello there!

Tonight, I want to share one of my Poundland bargains. I have at least 15 Revlon polishes - only one of which was bought for the full price (£6-7). This one was bought for £1...

Revlon's 'Red Ribbon'. Yes, it's a matte polish and yes, it did look like suede...but when adhering the rhinestones, the polish became glossy in some areas. To fix it, I covered it with a glossy top coat.

Admittedly, I do love glossy polishes. I'd rather turn a glossy finish into a matte by using a matte top coat, because that eliminates streaks (for me, anyway).

This is what happens when you use cheap rhinestones! As soon as I embedded these rhinestones in the top coat, their backs started to wrinkle. Any integral shine they had diminished immediately. I ended up smothering them in top coat in the end. Now they don't even look like rhinestones!

So, how do YOU feel about matte polishes? Are you a sucker for gloss, like me or is matte the way forward for you? Let me know in the comments box.

Take care!
xx

Racer back nails!

Happy Friday, friends!

Tonight, I'm featuring a manicure created by Madeline Poole. I love her work so much because she has come up with some amazing concepts and works in the world of celebrity and session manicuring (something I am also working towards...slowly, ha!)

First, let me show you the polish I used as a base:

Maybelline's 'Audacious Asphalt'.
Two coats, one layer of Toma 45 second top coat (I didn't use a base coat because I'm wearing acrylics which have a uv gel top coat on them).

Generally, I'm not a fan of nudes, greys or beiges. This, however, I do like.

 This is quite a 'bright' grey. It catches the eye because it has a blue undertone.

Another shot of the 'racer back' nails look created by Madeline Poole. You can find a tutorial for this look right HERE.

Have a great weekend!

xx

2True 'Shade 3'

Recently I've managed to build up quite a few un-tried. What with frivolous polish buying and taking part in a Secret Polish Santa on Instagram, my second Helmer (yes, I now have another) is now brimming.

Here's one I picked up and have been staring at for a few weeks:

This is 2True's 'Shade 3'.

This is two layers of a blue jelly polish jam packed with glitter hexagons. So jam packed in fact...it was quite thick. I some of the hexagons were standing on their sides - that's how thick the consistency was. I had to pat them into place! Stroking this onto the nail was not easy.

I think I may have to add a few drops of polish thinner before wearing this one again. It's really not bad though because this only cost £1.99 (from Superdrug).

Have a good weekend and thanks for reading.

xx

Mani's I've missed

You know what it's like. You do a mani, you remove it and then you forget to post it?

As I've already said, my New Year's resolution is to be more organised in terms of blogging (and schedule posts if I know I have a busy week). I also need to make more use of my blogging app on my phone too.

Here are a few things I've done recently.

Some press-on's I did for Annie for a photo shoot.

This pattern was created with acrylic paint and Nails Inc's Baker Street.

Black Gellux and glitter.

The acrylic extensions I gave myself for Christmas. I had some staining which I covered with a rose blush acrylic.

That's it for now.

xx

2013, welcome...(NYE mani enclosed!)

As I sit here typing at my archaic PC, after a major laptop crisis...which ended up being no crisis at all, I'm pondering over this old year. During 2012 I managed to accomplish several goals I have set myself and also gain from experiences I never thought I'd have.  In terms of the 'nailism', I got my qualifications, insurance, set up a website (which I did not promote, due to my health being fragile) and had the new-found confidence to take my skills and passion to a different level.

Throughout all of this my blog fell to the wayside, because being a mother to small children, an employee, a blogger, a nail art lover, a nail painter to myself, a manicurist to others and a session nail technician became a little overwhelming. The session work came as a pleasant and welcomed surprise, but my love of late nights, early mornings, busy days and a stressful office job meant that something had to give.

This year, I aim to be more organised and actually read the 'to-do' lists that I make at home. Perhaps diarising things may ease the anxiety I've felt on occasion, when I've sat here staring at the 'compose' page.
Don't get me wrong, I still love my blog (hence the little overhaul), I hate that I've neglected it.

I will now post everything I do, my nails and other peoples too. My love for polish and nail art has not changed; I've just been a little pre-occupied.

 What I'm wearing right now...Jacava's 'Blueberry Muffin'*

 Can I just say that I love this shade?? It's a British brand (whoop, whoop!) and it's 4-free, meaning there's no formaldehyde, toluene, camphor or DBP in it to be of detriment to your health.

 I couldn't stop staring at my nails.

 I'm also loving my acrylics...I've missed having nails *sobs*

And to make this manicure more New Year worthy, I threw glitter at it.

 Why the drips? I don't know, I just like drips!

I'll end, saying only that I wish you all the very best this year. Make those dreams work in 2013...

xx
*Sent to me for my coconsideration.

Breakage...and mend-age!

Hey friends.

More and more I find it increasingly difficult to blog very regularly, so I thought about using Blogger's ingenius method of blogging on the go. I was looking forward to being able to blog from my car (parked, of course), from my office desk (on my lunchbreak, of course) and whilst out shopping (for nail polish, of course!)
Imagine my sheer frustration when I remembered why I hadn't set this up sooner. It doesn't work.

Now, I don't know if it's me not being able to take simple instruction, but my iPhone will not co-operate. Blogger keeps telling me that my device is not registered and that I need to email them...which I do over and over again, but nothing works.

Can someone tell me what I need to do to make this on-the-go marlarky work? Please?

OKAY, NAILS!

 So, I broke my nail off when the baby decided to take a lie down in the middle of the street. Yes, she fell down from standing up, stationary. I think she's probably having a growth spurt and she's a little off kilter.  I scooped her up with the one hand before she actually touched the pavement and gave her some kisses, but she looked pretty confused when she was verticle again. My nail was left on the ground and I was left with a decision to make; chop them all or fix the one. Guess what I chose?

This is gel overlay with a plastic tip. Honestly, I'd rather not have any tips on, but hey, the nail needs a little help right now!

Take care all ;)

xx

The nail extension

Hi everyone, how are you doing?

I've now finished my Nail Technology course and I'm waiting for my portfolio to be verified. Now that I don't have exams and revision to deal with, I can actually pay a little more attention to my own hands. My index finger nail is a fair bit shorter than my other nails...mainly because I seem to end up filing it down by accident whilst shaping clients nails. Perhaps my own nails need to be cut or perhaps I need to find a better way to hold on to my clients without nubbinating my own finger. Please observe:

 You will also notice that I have two splits on my middle finger and a tear on my thumbnail. I've put gel overlays on each of those nails to grow them out without taking them all the way down.  As I'm always happy to play with acrylic, I decided to give my index nail an acrylic sculpted extension!

 I put on my form and began creating the acrylic extension. There are several steps that need to be taken before we get to this point, but I don't intend to bore you with details.

So far, so good.

 After the sculpt is complete. The product I am using here is not the best. It's one that we all had to train with, but our lecturer suggested that we invest a little more money in better products that offer longevity. I'm already awaiting a few deliveries.

 After filing.

 After using a three-way buffer. You know, I'd never seen anyone buff acrylic nails before and I have to say, it makes a lot of difference! I realise that using a white acrylic would have given me a nice 'forever french' manicure look, but I was not about to sit there overlaying every single nail. My nails are rarely bare so no-one will see it.

Here's the shape of the nail.

I know that a lot of you readers take very good care of your nails and there are some who think nail enhancements are a big no-no. I'll admit to feeling like a bit of a fraud when wearing an overlay or patching up a break, but on this occasion I do not. As far as I am concerned providing it is applied correctly, a nail extension can look beautiful and natural. There is nothing wrong with wearing enhancements if they make you feel good. Yes, so they may cause some weakness to your nails when removed, but if you find a good, reliable nail technician who cares about your needs and listens to you, damage can be limited.

Here's one of my clients with before and after an infill.

Before.

Here she is afterwards. She told me that they could pass for her own nails and I have to agree with her.

How do you feel about nail enhancements? If you wear them, which kind do you wear? Acrylic, gel, overlays, sculpted tips? If you don't like them, why not? I'm interested to know folks!

xx

College work - Acrylic nails

I did say that I'd come back to you with some pictures of the work that I did on Saturday.

I'm sorry to disappoint, but in my haste trying to finish up with enough time to grab a drink between clients, I forgot to take ANY photo's of my first set of nails! My second client actually reminded me to take some pictures before the nail enhancement process began (because she knows that I'm always taking pictures of nails).

Client's right hand, before any preparation began.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any after photographs so when I remembered, I asked the client to send me a picture of them. 

You may not be able to see this so well, but this is a full set of acrylic nails, polish and a very simple striping design that covered four out of the seven nail art competencies that I had to demonstrate: dotting, striping, free-hand and adding flat-stones (gems, fimo slices, sequins...). I still have foiling, glittering with loose glitter and marbling with a tool to demonstrate. Honestly, I did not have any time left to do something fancy and really, we weren't being assessed on extravagence - we just had to show that we knew what to do.

My client was pleased with her enhancements and design, and I was happy that she was happy. This did take about 2.5 hours to complete; half an hour longer that I was actually allowed. Initially I was disappointed that it took so long, but then I did have to wait for four layers of polish to dry properly because I'd left my Seche Vite at home. I also had to get the client to complete a medical questionnaire and ask my tutor to explain some paperwork to me. 

Okay, that's it! I have overlays and maintenance next week. I'll do my best to remember some photos then.

xx