Black and Gold French Tips

Evening! It was my birthday on Friday - yup, I was born only three days after Christmas. A lot of people seem to think this sucks, but I actually really like it. I don't usually have to work on my birthday, and my friends are usually all around too so it works out pretty well. I turned a quarter of a century old so to mark this feat I went on a night out with my friends. I was pretty restrained in my alcohol intake and only got a little tipsy, yay me. I was wearing five inch wedge boots so my feet were not happy by the end of the night, but apart from that I had a great time. :)

Because I am a weirdo I always like to have a colour theme when I go on a night out, and for my birthday it was black and gold. For my manicure I started with OPI Goldeneye and added a coat of holographic glitter, China Glaze Golden Enchantment, on top. Once it was completely dry I used tape to paint the tips black. Simple but effective.

Do you have a colour theme in mind when you dress up for a night out, or are you less anal than I am? How do you do your own nails for your birthday?

Halloween Spider Webs

When I was in Spain a couple of weeks ago (I can't believe it was that long ago already!) I went on a mission to find some Essence polishes. I thought they'd just be sold in chemists like nail polish is here, but apparently not. After some Googling I found a shop on Calle de Fuencarral called Beautik. It turned out to be a great place - not only did they sell Essence, they also stocked Catrice, Konad, two Layla ranges, and a few other brands. I was quite restrained and limited myself to one Catrice, a Konad plate, and four Essence colours, one of which I'm showing you today.

I really like grey polish at the moment, so Essence I'm the Boss is right up my alley. It's a medium to dark grey polish with sparse-ish silver glitter. It's really pretty and was opaque in two easy coats. To make it Halloween-y I stamped spider webs using a Bundle Monster plate and Barry M Silver Foil. I'm still working on my stamping skills so the image didn't transfer perfectly, but I think it adds to the effect rather than detracting from it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Finally, I used Nails Inc Black Taxi and some striping tape to make black French tips.

I went to Waitrose today and they had a section dedicated to Halloween food and decorations. I bought a bunch of it. Apparently if something is coloured orange and black at this time of year, I will buy it. All of it. People don't really trick or treat where I live but I bought some spooky chocolate just in case - and if we don't get anyone, oh well, more for me!

Chain Nails

Here's another manicure that I've worn to my internship recently. I don't have many neutral-tone polishes, but Revlon Smoky Canvas is one of the few. It's a light grey creme with a bit of yellow in it that comes out particularly under artificial light. So it's kind of...greige? It's very work-appropriate, but it's actually a really nice colour. I did three coats and the formula was brilliant - it went on like a dream. Why can't every polish be so easy to apply?!

I was going to wear Smoky Canvas on its own, but inevitably decided that was boring so I used some Andrea Fulerton nail stickers to jazz it up a bit. These ones are a chain design, and I used them almost as a French manicure at the tip of each nail.

In case you're wondering what my internship is, it's as a conservation assistant at an historic house in Surrey (think Downton Abbey and you're along the right lines). I actually have a paid job as a conservation assistant at another property, but I'm trying to pad out my CV so I'm combining the two. It means I get to handle priceless artefacts such as Turner paintings, Sèvres china and Fabergé trinkets, which is pretty special. :)