the nail art update: overload

Well well well.. it's been a few weeks since I wrote the weekly nail art update I enjoy doing so much. I do apologise for my recent absence but I have valid excuses. I am leaving London this weekend and so have been saying my goodbyes to my favourite parts of this lovely city and ticking things off my London Bucket List ready to leave. As well as this I have been tackling mice and partying hard - as you do.

While I have been away I have had a few different nail designs. One good, one average, one I don't like anymore! In my attempt at the July Californails Nail Art Challenge 39037th month in a row I failed and managed 2! But I guess God loves a trier right?

So given that I haven't much of a tutorial like I planned, I am going to keep this post nice and visual...

I'm a lover not a hater (well..) .. but I think I might hate this design. I thought it was super cute and simple at first but my opinion on it slowly declined. It was part of the nail art challenge and I did it whilst watching American Dad in the dark! - so good effort but I think it could have been much much better!

Going for gold is one thing intend to do in life, and I LOVE my gold nail polishes (I have a few glitter and just plain shiny like this one). This design I really like and can see myself doing again and again in variations and different colours, all I used was two sizes of a dotting tool and two shades of gold/cream polish. And tah dah! Easy peasy!

Slurple the Purple... Hehe couldn't think of anything purple related!... This is a new design for me and a good first attempt - I did rush with my top coat as it was so late and I was tired! But my advice  with doing dark colours on top of light is WAIT UNTIL ITS TOTALLY DRY. Honestly, you will regret it if you rush it and ruin your design! Generally though I enjoyed doing these nails, the inverted moon is new for me and I am getting a good feel for negative space now :)

I am dying to get thinner nail art brushes as well and have them on my wishlist for after my trip to Thailand! Where I will be backpacking for a month finding fun beauty ideas and Thai tricks to put on here in dingy internet cafes! So keep your eyes peeled for those posts in August! x

my sweet nonexistent valentine

This Valentines Day like all the ones that have past in my life, 21 of them to be exact will be spent all by my lonesome - Minus those I have spent with a card from my crush in Primary School or a mystery card from my Granda. But don't worry I don't at all feel lonely because I spend it with the Scream films - something I love verrrrryyy much and other single ladies :)

See technically its about being with those you love ... Ipso Facto I do it right. 

I also do Valentines nail art :) well I do this year.. I've done this simple Valentines mani with a transparent heart and dotting to jazz my Valentines up. I used my dotting pen from Rio Professionals in Red, my Color Show by Maybelline in Winter Baby polishes, a cotton bud dipped in nail polish remover to remove the white and create a clear heart and a shiny top coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry.

Hope you like, Have a lovely Valentines :) xxxx

@pawsandclaws101 INSTAGRAM

@pawsnclaws101 TWITTER

Inspired design of the week.

In that past few years I have experimented with all kinds of designs and i love to use my imagination. Inspiration is key to imagination.. I have to be inspired by something to create a design. So each week I am going to post a design that I have done and the thing that inspired me to see how you can get amazing designs from anywhere.

This week I have chosen my distressed denim design...

I love blue nail varnish, in fact blue is my favourite colour. So I am always looking for new blue designs I can do.. This one is a variation of a nail design I saw (that unfortunately I cannot find now) and some distressed jeans I was wearing on the day. The design is torn, distressed and simple yet different. It is very different to my normal designs and I hadn't done exposed nail before this design either. 

For tutorials - just ask!

Hope you like!

Abigail x

The art of dotting.

When I first discovered my love of nail art, I was obsessed with the amazing Ebay buys you can get to improve your tool set. I discovered brushes, foils, 3D Fimo sticks and my favourite, dotting tools.

A great example here.

At 99p I couldn't say no, and I am so glad I didn't. I use them all the time as dotting is an easy way to jazz up a design and give it a more intricate look. Here are some designs I have done in the past few years with my favourite nail art tool.

The floral look - done completely by using tools to create a simple design.

The rainbow - using the colours of the rainbow to create a dotting illusion effect

The retro wallpaper - simple striping and dotting to give you an instant sixties look

The gradient - going from one colour to another with a spotty effect.

The tutti - frutti effect - simple marbling technique (a quick how to in yesterdays post) with added dotting.

I hope you like my designs and are inspired to try them yourself. And if you aren't sure how I did them.. just ask and I will post a quick and easy how to.

Check out more designs on my instagram:
http://instagram.com/abigaiilll1