Friday 31 October 2014

Beetlejuice Nail Art CYNA Halloween themed TV or movie inspired

Hey y'all!

Happy Halloween, and happy Friday!  October went by so incredibly fast, I almost cannot believe it!  October 31 is, traditionally, one of my favorite days of the year because I love dressing up and going out and seeing everyone else dressed up and having a good time.  The Halloween season also brings around some of my favorite movies, including the one that inspired me for today's prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art series, Beetlejuice!  As he says, "It's Showtime!"

Nail art based on the movie Beetlejuice.

Thursday 30 October 2014

Spooky French Tips CYNA Halloween Villains

Hey y'all!

Today marks the penultimate prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art Halloween challenge, and the prompt is actually one that I suggested, so I knew I had to "bring it" with my contribution.  I opted to put a bit of a spin on these classic Halloween monsters by creating them as french tips.  Can you identify all the spooky species?

Halloween nail art with various classic monsters portrayed as french tip designs.

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Jack-O'-Lanterns! CYNA Pumpkin Faces

Hey y'all!

I'm back with another Halloweeny nail art courtesy of the Challenge Your Nail Art Halloween linkup.  Today's prompt is the classic Pumpkin Face, so I've created a bevy of handful of wacky jack-o-lanterns for you!

Pumpkin Face Jack-O'-Lantern nail art.

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Halloween Jumper Nail Art CYNA Classic Orange & Black

Hey y'all!

Happy Tuesday to you!  You may have picked up a few hints that I've been on vacation the past couple weeks.  Hubby and I returned from a trip back "home" to Austin on Sunday, and we're both still recovering from the trip.  On the plus side, I have a lot of new goodies to show you coming up, and I can't wait to get started playing with them!  Thankfully I've had a few really awesome ladies step forward to give me some guest posts so that I can focus on getting everything sorted while still providing you with some great nail art!  This week, though, I have a whole handful of Halloween-themed looks for you as part of the Challenge Your Nail Art group's October offering, so come back every day this week to see 4 great seasonal looks, and the linkup to all the other participating artists.  Today's prompt is Classic Orange & Black, which I used to create this fun Halloween sweater/jumper look.

Halloween black and orange sweater jumper nail art with gold stud accents.

Monday 27 October 2014

Guest Post: Kirsten of Geeky Owl

Hey y'all!

Today I'm handing over the reigns to the super sweet, super talented, and all-around super woman, Kirsten.  I fell in love with her blog because she's so innovative and relatable, and I fell in love with her personality because we have so many things in common, from our mutual obsession with Joss Whedon and Doctor Who to our shared anxiety disorder.  In addition to being one of my favorite nail bloggers, she gets to preview some of the hottest new beauty products at her posh day job - I'm totes jelly!  I am so happy and honored to be able to call this woman my friend, and to be able to share her work with you all today.  Please welcome the brains behind the Geeky Owl!

Saturday 25 October 2014

Hey, Swatch It! Nelly Polish Polperro

Hey y'all!

Did you realize Halloween is just around the corner?  Yeah, me either.  It's been crazy to me seeing everything in stores "pumpkin spice" this, and "pumpkin filled" that.  I like pumpkin, but it's almost overkill.  However, today I have a pumpkin-y polish to show you that I don't think I could possibly get sick of!  This little beauty came to me as a gift from another blogger, and I have been saving it for the end of October because it's so seasonally appropriate.  This is Nelly Polish Polperro.

Swatch of Nelly Polish Polperro.

Friday 24 October 2014

Guest Post: Kimberley of Little Red Loves

Hey y'all!

In order to free up some time for me to a) job hunt, b) gear up for an upcoming 31-Day-Challenge, and c) take a vacation, over the next few weeks, I'm going to be letting some guest bloggers take over the reigns here at Fixin To Faff.  Today I would like to introduce you to Kimberley, a lovely young lady here in the UK whose blog focuses not only on her really pretty nail art designs, but also other beauty/cosmetics reviews and some DELICIOUS-looking baking recipes!  Please welcome the genius behind Little Red Loves!

Hello to all of Ali's readers here at Fixin To Faff. This is my first ever guest post so do forgive me if its not the most amazing thing you have read, but its pretty tough to live up to the standard of the rest of the manis here. I'm Kim from Little Red Loves and I have been secretly following Ali's blog for a long time now, so when I saw she was looking for guest posters I snapped up the opportunity straight away!



For this is created a special Water Marble mani as I have always wanted to be as good at it as Ali is. Sadly I think I need a bit more practice but as it wasn't a total fail I decided to share the images anyway.

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Romantic Roses and Diamonds nail art

Hey y'all!

I'm probably way late for most Homecoming nights, but that's okay, too.  Today I wanted to share with you some romantic roses over a sparkly diamond base that would be perfect for a formal event of just about any occasion!

Romantic and sparkly nail art featuring roses and diamond glitter.

Monday 20 October 2014

70s Rectangular Pattern nail art

Hey y'all!

Well, what can I say?  Happy Monday?  To my American readers... I hope you're not freaking out about the ebola, but if you are, please take some time to educate yourself on how it's transmitted and what the actual risks are, rather than turning on the tv and getting your information solely from the idiot box.  *rant off*  Okay, with all that out of the way, let's talk about some nail art!  This week, the Pick-n-Mix Challenge prompts are 70s and grey+color - so I combined those into this funky rectangular look.

Rectangular stamped nail art in a 1970s-inspired color scheme and pattern.

Saturday 18 October 2014

Hey, Swatch It! Orly Galaxy Girl

Hey y'all!

I've had today's swatchy beauty sitting in the back of my stash box for several months, waiting for autumn to come around because I think it's a color that screams falls.  This little baby came to me via a Geeky Owl blog sale, and let me tell you that rarely have I been so happy to take someone else's cast offs!  Today is all about Orly's Galaxy Girl!

Swatch of Orly Galaxy Girl.

Friday 17 October 2014

Green Paver Stone nail art

Hey y'all!

It's FRIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAY!  Hope you all made it through the week okay, and you're ready to do some hardcore R&R this weekend.  Today I have these really fun green paver stone nails to share with you!

Green paver stone stamped nail art.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Metallic Wood Grain nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy humpday to all!  Today's nail art look takes a decidedly different turn.  I really wanted to play with creating a stamping gradient.  This is where you blend different polishes on the stamping plate as you swipe, so that your resulting image blends smoothly from one color to the next.  My results on this attempt were subtle, but I think the metallic wood grain makes a really cool effect.

Metallic wood grain nail art using the stamping gradient technique.

Monday 13 October 2014

60s Mod Negative Space nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy Monday everyone!  We're almost halfway through October and this is normally where I would start getting really excited about Halloween, but unfortunately I have no fabulous fun plans this year (or last year, for that matter).  The British don't celebrate All Hallows Eve the same way we do it up in the US - but it's always been my favorite holiday, so at least I can celebrate on my nails.  This week's themes for the Pick-n-Mix challenge are the 60s and matte or texture.  I worked really hard on a design that would encompass all of those themes, and came up with this kind of funky look, which I can tell you unequivocally, Mr. Faff *hated*.  I'll let you be the final judge.

Nail art based on a 1960s mod theme, featuring negative space patterns and purple studs.

Saturday 11 October 2014

Hey Swatch It: Laquerlicious In Like Flynn

Hey y'all!

As part of my recent clearance haul on Rainbow Connection UK I picked up a couple of gorgeous polishes from another new-to-me brand, Laquerlicious.  Today I want to show you this ultra-cool creation, In Like Flynn.

Swatch of Laquerlicious In Like Flynn.

Friday 10 October 2014

Matted oxblood flakies nail art

Hey y'all!

Wow... looking at the date today, and I'm instantly transported back in time four years, when I made my first trans-Atlantic trip with two girlfriends on our first big-girl vacation to Ireland.  We spent 10 days touring and eating and drinking and it was hands-down my favorite vacation of all time.  To commemorate the trip, we all got matching shamrock tattoos dated 10-10-10.  There's no point to that story, really - I just felt like sharing it.  LOL.  Today I have a nail art look created for the Inspire Me Nails group challenge prompt: Unusual, Untried, Unloved.  I've created a matted oxblood nail with flakies.

Matted nail art look of flakies over oxblood polish.

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Black and White and Pink All Over

Hey y'all!

Happy Humpday! October is turning up to be a sort of surreal month for me.  It's a little too personal to share with the whole wide world, but suffice it to say that I'm going through some growing pains as an epat and as a wife.  I haven't been participating much lately with the Axis of Ineptitude, mostly because I just haven't felt like "writing," and the writing I have been doing is all nail stuff.  The "nail stuff" has pretty much consumed the last couple months for me.  I've thrown myself in to creating as much content as possible and for a few weeks there, I was posting new content 6 times a week!  That's an incredible pace, which I cannot maintain, so I'm slowing it down and will be trying to regulate my posting to Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday.  That should be 3 days of nail art during the week, and swatching on Saturday.  I think that's a liveable pace and shouldn't rattle me too badly.  Today, I'm tying in to two different prompts - one for the Pick-n-Mix challenge, and one for the Axis, so I'll start by showing you the nail art, and then I'll do some faffing at the end for those who want to read it.

Gradiated mani in shades of black, grey, and white, and three different pinks, with a dotted gradient accent and black and white confetti glitter.

Monday 6 October 2014

Teal and Champagne Textured Stamping feat. Beauty UK Grit FX

Hey y'all!
Happy days for me, as I recently won a prize in PiggieLuv's Birthday Bash giveaway, consisting of four bottles of Beauty UK Grit FX polishes, courtesy of Sassy Little Nails.  Having tested a couple of other Beauty UK polishes and being a fan of the texture, I was super excited to try these out!  I wore the polishes plain for probably 2 days before I finally decided to do some stamping and take pics, so please forgive the grow-out around my cuticles.

Teal and champagne colored manicure with light blue stamping over textured polish.

Saturday 4 October 2014

Hey Swatch It! Barry M Fall 2014 Gelly Collection

Hey y'all!

Oooh, excitement!  Today I get to share with you all 6 shades from the Barry M Fall 2014 Gelly collection, which has been on shelves for about a month.  A couple weeks ago I showed you a water marble using one of the shades, so I hastily tried to get the whole collection swatched for you here. 

Swatch and review of the Barry M Fall 2014 Gelly release: Cocoa, Chili, Paprika, Mustard, Cardamom, and Chai.

Friday 3 October 2014

Aquatic Gradient nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  Today's nail art comes to you courtesy of me fiddling around in my untrieds again, where I noticed I had a sizable number of blues and teals accumulating, so I decided to pull a few out and make some nail art with them.  The result is this aquatic-feel gradient with an accent nail that I think ended up looking like octopus suckers, though it wasn't the intention.

aquatic nail art look using sponge gradient and glitter top coat, with an octopus tentacle accent nail created with a dotting tool

Thursday 2 October 2014

Autumn Nail Art: Burgundy plaid

Hey y'all!

I've been really excited seeing so many fall/autumn nail art designs created lately, and it has definitely put me in the mood to do some of my own.  Today's look features a classic fall color scheme along with a classic fall print.  Check out this burgundy plaid look!

fall autumn appropriate nail art design in burgundy and gold plaid

Wednesday 1 October 2014

Disney's Little Mermaid Nail Art - LNMBC

Hey y'all!

It's been a while since I did any nail art for the Llama Nails Movies/Books Challenge, but this week's prompt of Disney finally motivated me to do something I've been debating for a very long time - glitter placement.  After having a long think about my favorite Disney movies, I settled on one that is both a personal favorite for the music and which I felt I had a good supply of appropriate glitters to get the look I wanted, so, today's look is inspired by Disney's Little Mermaid.

Nail art look inspired by Disney's Little Mermaid using decorative french tips and full nail glitter placement techniques.