Mani Mondays: The nail care basics

Apologies for being absent over the weekend but my best friend came to stay at my new house so we were busy catching up. It was a proper girly weekend: shopping in Southampton, tapas and cocktails at La Tasca and a spa day at Bournemouth Marriott Leisure club. Okay we didn't actually have any treatments but we had a lovely, relaxing few hours swimming in the heated pool, sitting in the jacuzzi looking at the seaside and first time tries of the sauna (which I wasn't keen on) and the steam room (which I loved).
This week's Mani Monday's post isn't technically a nail art design for you, but rather taking things back to basics and properly taking care of yours nails - after all we all need a good base for any nail tutorial whether it's a simple French manicure or going made with dots and stripes.
I've been researching some top tips for keeping your nails in good condition as part of an assignment for Black Box Beauty - where I work as a beauty writer - so I thought I would share some of the best ones as well as my current favourite products.

Models Own 4-way nail buffer (very well used)

Filing and Buffing
Most people are split when it comes to buffing but I love it! One of my favourite products has to be my Models Own 4-way nail buffer. It comes with a nail file and then 3-stage buffer so it's really handy to carry in your handbag. Buffing removes the top layer of the nail bed to get rid of any ridges or bumps, so if you have weak or brittle nails you might want to avoid it altogether.

Nail Shape
This varies for everyone, my housemate keeps hers short and square where as I grow them long and file them into an oval shape. Even when I cut them off I still keep them rounded, I just think it looks nicer and also makes your fingers look longer and slimmer.

Some of my favourite shades for Autumn: Polishes from Barry M, Rimmel Lycra Pro, NYC Nail Glossies, M&S, Max Factor Nail Effects, Bobby Pin and Acessorize.

Colour
This winter is all about deep, berry shades which look amazing but do lead to stained nail beds - as I've found out the hard way. My favourite base coat is Save the Nail by Nails Inc, but recently I've been using Rimmel Nail Nurse which you can use as base coat and top coat - great for lazy girls like me.

Soap and Glory Hand Food: Hydrating hand cream

Extras
Winter is on it's way and it's definitely getting colder, which means dry, sore red skin. To keep this at bay I've been using Soap and Glory Hand Food. I also suffer from quite weak nails at times. I always seem to be bending them back, and then ripping the top part of my nail off, though only on my thumbs or ring fingers! It's really  painful but not exactly something you can make a fuss about so, when I remember, I like to apply a strengthening coat. It's also helpful to cut off any nicks as soon as you notice them to prevent them catching on anything.

What are your favourite hand and nail care products?

Beth xx

Mani Mondays: Shades of purple

So I'm not very creative when it comes to nails, I have loads of colour but not enough tools to create the amazing nail art you see on other blogs. So while I wait for student loan to come in and my part time job to start I'm trying to create budget looks with whatever I have to hand. This week is a different shades of purple look which is really easy to create and can be mixed up to use different hues of the same base colour.
I used Barry M Prickly Pear to create a pale purple base and then used a darker purple from Accessorize to draw a different design for each nail. It's not super neat because I did this freehand rather than using a nail pen but purple polish is what was in my box so that is what I used.

You will need:

• Barry M in Prickly Pear £3.99
• Accessorize dark purple polish (I got this as part of a gift set but you can buy a similar shade here)
• Rimmel Nail Nurse 5-in-1 base & top coat £4.49

Next steps

• Prep your nails: make sure they clean of any old polish and apply Rimmel Nail Nurse
• Apply two coats of Barry M in Prickly Pear
• Grab your darker nail polish and go crazy on the designs, as you can see below I went for a different design for each nail but you can do whatever you want. Lines are the hardest with because nail polish brushes are quite wide and it can be difficult to get them straight.

Just realised how strange my fingers look when photographed individually

Beth xx

Mani Mondays: French Manicure

Hello beauties, I hope you are all well. I'm settling into my new house and I've got job interview tomorrow morning so I decided to give myself a French manicure in preparation. I always think french tips look so elegant and classy so they are the perfect nail art to wear to a interview.
I know some people like to draw a straight white line across the top of their nails but because I keep mine long and oval shaped that doesn't look write and is better suited to square of squoval shapes. I'm not very good at French tips however, my hand isn't steady enough, so I do cheat by using stencils. I picked up Nailene Perfect Tips from Superdrug this morning for just over £3 - and the pack contains 96 guides - and they seemed to have worked well. I will mention though be careful when peeling them back otherwise you will remove the polish underneath.

I used

• Rimmel Nail Nurse nail base & top coat £4.49
• Barry M in "Nude" £2.99
• Barry M in "Matte White" £2.99
• Nailene Perfect Tips

Instructions

• Prep your nails by making sure any polish is thoroughly removed, you don't want any traces showing through your manicure
• Apply 2 coats of Barry M "Nude" and leave to dry
• Apply the nail strip - if using - to the tip of nail, leaving the gap you want to paint white.
• Apply Barry M "Matte White" to the nail, above the strip, or paint on in a curved or straight line depending on which look you want to go for.
• When the white is dry remove the nail strips carefully, if they have been used, and apply another coat of Rimmel Nail Nurse.

Do you like French tips? Have you come across any interesting ways to jazz the look up?

Beth xx

Mani Mondays: MUA Nail Constellations

MUA Nail Constellation in Pisces* and Rimmel Salon Pro Britpop*

Unfortunately I missed last week's Mani Mondays because I was away in North Devon for the bank holiday weekend. But never mind, I'm back this week with a really simple nail design thanks to MUA.
My friend gave me the Pisces Nail Constellation bottle as part of my birthday present back in May but this is the first time I've actually gotten round to using it. It's similar to Ciate's nail caviar but a lot more affordable at £3.00 a bottle. The tiny beads create stunning three dimensional nail art, I used them for an accent nail on each hand but with a steady hand you could draw a line of beads down the centre of each nail or place beads at random for a unique look.

Pisces is made of shiny silver, green and pink balls so I decided to pair them Britpop, from Kate Moss's Rimmel range, it's a dark teal colour - a cross between blue and green - so perfectly matches the green and silver balls. What I love about Nail Constellations is that you will never get the same look, even with nails done at the same times, because of the mixture of colours.

I will warn you they can be a little bit fiddly and messy so be sure to do this over a tray, I used an upturned box lid so I could easily tip the beads back into the bottle. Also this look won't last forever, the nail beads will drop off as time goes by so you might want to save the look for a special occassion. Luckily unlike glitter and sequin nail polishes, the beads are pretty easy to remove!

How to achieve this look

1) Prep your nails with a clear basecoat before painting on Britpop from Kate Moss's Rimmel range
2) Remove the cap from the Nail Constellation bottle and fill with the beads, while the polish is still wet take off the white cap and gently squeeze the beads onto your nails
3) Press the beads gently into your nail polish and then tap off the excess (it's best to do this over a tray so you tip the beads back into the bottle)
4) Finish off your other plain nails with another coat of Britpop and then a clear topcoat

If you like the Nail Constellations you can buy them online here or in your local Superdrug store

Beth xx

Mani Mondays: The Colour of the Season

Mani Mondays is the latest addition to my blog, while I'm not going to claim to be some sort of genius nail artist - I'll leave that to the professionals - I am a lover of all things nail polish related hence the reason for this new post.
I adore collecting nail polishes and I have around 60 bottles in my collection, a few of them were gift sets I was given for Christmas or birthdays but a lot of them are just bottles I've picked up whilst I'm out shopping with friends - I never can resist a 3 for 2 offer on Barry M. I don't usually go for any specific brands I just pick up ones which I like the colour of and, more often than not, have a nice bottle design!
Today's post is all about one of this season's must have colours, PINK! Whether it's baby pink, magenta, neon pink, barely there pink, fuchsia, cerise, rose or salmon this Autumn you will need some pink in your make up bag and a good place to start is with your nails.

(l-r) Barry M Sequin Effects Pink, Rimmel Lycra Pro Oyster Pink, Accessorize nail polish from a gift set, Models Own Bubblegum, Mavala Funny Coral, Max Factor Nailfinity Disco Pink, Revlon Colourstay Cafe Pink

Growing up I was never much of a pink person, purples were always more my thing and I tended to go for shades of blue and green when I was picking an outfit because they flatter my skin tone. Until recently I though I still wasn't much of a pink person but a quick look at my make up box proved me to be, I found a glut of pink lipsticks, pink blushers and pink lipglosses all which have been well used.

Everything from Bourjois blush and baby stick, to lipglosess from Rimmel, Clinique, Neal's Yard Remedies and Missguided

I've just started wearing this gorgeous pink nail polish from Mavala which I got in my goody bag from Fabulous magazine and I think it's the perfect colour to see the season in with. Funny Coral is from the 2013 Pacific Dream collection and is a combination, I think, of coral, French rose and deep pink not too bright that you can't wear it everyday, but still noticeable enough. I also found the polish had a lovely glossy finish and was quick to dry - which is always, always a bonus!

Mavala Funny Coral*

From the Summer 2013 Pacific Dream Collection

I think I'll be wearing this colour considerably throughout Autumn, before turning to darker, richer pinks almost on the verge of deep reds as the weather gets colder. Mavala polishes are available from a number of stockists online as well as large department stores like Boots. For more information visit the Mavala website.

Will you be wearing pink this season?

Beth xxx