Meadham Kirchhoff SS12 inspired Valentine's nails

I loved the cute, kitschy prints and bright colours of Meadham Kirchhoff's Spring/Summer 2012 collection. You also might remember that I loved the nails, crowning them the best nails of London Fashion Week (although I have to say I was a little letdown to find out that they were wraps as I don't have the best relationship with them to be completely honest). I've long been meaning to do my own Meadham mani but never got round to it. Luckily for me, I think that Valentine's is just the perfect time to be sporting happy, smiley, frilly hearts on my nails.

The thumb and the ring finger hearts were done using different methods. I did the thumb first (since it's the largest surface area/canvas) and used Andrea Fulerton's "Gloria" nail art brush to first draw a heart shape and then do the frills around it. It took quite some times, especially those small frills (drawing anything that small that's curved is HARD) and I think I went over it just a couple of times. After doing this I figured out maybe now was the time to buy one of those Topshop nail art pens (which are actual pens and not brushes or metallically nibbed), which is what I did. My ring finger heart is the result of that. Let's have a closer look, shall we?

This is my thumb, done with a brush.

Here is my ring finger (and slightly blurred thumb). The ring was done with the Topshop nail art pen.

Although fricking hard to do, I much prefer the look of the heart created with the brush. The pen was great for my right hand (I'm right handed) as I don't think I could've coped with the stress of using a brush in my left hand to make tiny frilly hearts on my right hand. But if I was incredibly talented and ambidextrous it would be brush everytime. I'm not sure if it comes across it in the photos but the pen heart was a little fuzzy. I had to go over the lines MANY times compared to a couple times I did it with the brush - I think that contributed to said fuzziness.

So yeah, in conclusion - Topshop Nail Art Pen: great for curved lines and free-hand work but requires some going over and I hope you won't mind fuzziness. Andrea Fulerton Nail Art Brush: bloody hard work but a much better finish.

Red: Ciaté "Cocktail Dress"

White Nail Art Brush: Andrea Fulerton "Gloria"

White Nail Art Pen: Topshop

Black: WAH Nails/Models Own

Getting Topshop's SS12 Hieroglyphic Nails

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been snowed under and then now it's Fashion Week and... yeah. Anyway, here's a piece I wrote for Grazia Daily on Sophy Robson's hieroglyphic nails that she did for Topshop's Spring/Summer 2011 show. More updates soon, I promise!

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Those who know me know that I'm a fan of many things and one of those things in particular is nails. I love pretty colours, wacky designs and amazing artwork - all of which Sophy Robson does so well. I've been eagerly awaiting all of her London Fashion Week updates and yesterday's Topshop hieroglyphic nails caught my eye. The bright colours! The simple but super impressive designs! I had to have them on my nails - now!

Apologies to Toppers for not using their polishes but I didn't have any of the right colours to hand (no pun intended). Instead I used Revlon's "Gold Coin" for the gold (middle finger and thumb), OPI's "Monsooner or Later" for the red (index and pinky) and OPI's "Teal The Cows Come Home" for the blue (ring finger). I also used WAH nails/Model's Own nail art pen in black, Andrea Fulerton's Stripe and Sparkle in Kathleen (aka white) and Andrea Fulerton's Stripe and Sparkle in Gloria (blue) to do the detailing.

After painting two coats of colour I then did the designs by freehand using nail art pens to draw eyes onto my nails. Two curves, a couple of lines, a dot of blue and a dot of black somehow made a passable eye. A horizontal stripe of "Gold Coin" and two thin-ish black lines completed the index whilst a thick white line, two black vertical lines and some zigzags finished off my pinky. The triangle on the ring finger was easy enough to do freehand and I'm rather impressed with my clean lines, if I do say so myself! A good coating of Seche Vite and I'm done, I've got the Egyptian look! What do you think? On the left is a pic from Sophy Robson's Twitter and on the right is my attempts at getting Egyptian nails...

The Married to Chanel Manicure Take Two!

Major apologies for being MIA lately. It's been a while since I last updated, and I'm pretty irregular anyway but my internet has been down for the past week or so which hasn't helped things.

A few months ago I did my first married to Chanel manicure, which also got featured on Grazia Daily! These nails are a sort of follow up to them. Last night I was bored of the nails I had on (they were so boring I've forgotten what exactly I was wearing) and opted for my old favourite combo of nude and black.

I really hope that Revlon never stop making "Gray Suede" as I will be crushed! It is my all-time favourite nude and just a fantastic neutral colour. I did try this manicure with a more peachier shade (one that came in a gift box/nail art kit of sorts from Urban Outfitters from around Christmas time) but the polish was horrifically streaky and far too bright for my skintone. So after that first attempt, I decided to stick with something I knew!

After applying two coats of "Gray Suede" I then drew on the half moons freehand using my trusty WAH nails/Models Own nail art pen. Whilst my white version somehow broke sitting on my shelf (Models Own were very nice and gave me some replacement polish) my black one is perfect and dreamy. It was easier than I thought to do the half moons using the brush and my right hand isn't too bad either.

To stick the decals on I first stuck them onto the ball of my finger, pressed on it either side with a pair of tweezers to curve the decal and then stuck it onto my nail with some Seche Vite, which finishes off and seals the look.

Nude: Revlon "Gray Suede"
Black: WAH nails/Models Own nail art pen
Decals: eBay

Also I just wanted another chance to show off my new ring that I got from Topshop on Friday! It's so pretty and sparkly that I just had to buy it even though I'm poor and hate stars...