AW14 Nail Polish Picks

I don't know about you but when it gets to this time of year I like to change up my nail varnishes to more autumnal colours. Bye bye brights, hello vampy darks and glitter!

Barry M- Diamond Glitter

Champneys- Mocha

Champneys- Twilight

No7- Thunderstorm

Natural Collection- Black Cherry

I really love the Barry M Diamond glitter. I like shiny things so I am immediately drawn to it and think it's perfect over any of these shades for the upcoming party season and at £2.99 it's a bargain.  Both the Champneys colours are absolutely beautiful and at a moderate price of £5. The only thing that lets them down is I find they chip after a day or two of wear which is  such a shame but because the colours are so stunning I think I can let them off. As for the No7 polish in the shade thunderstorm- I love this. Priced at £6 it is long lasting with a brush that makes application so easy. It lasts a good amount of time and you can get away with just one coat! Now for the Natural Collection colour in black cherry... A lot of people give natural collection a bad rap but I think they're value for money. They're priced at £1.99 so cheap and cheerful and I've always found them to last well and dry super quick too. For me this shade is autumn in a bottle and I love it!

What are your nail polish picks for AW14? Check out the video below for more info and how I like to wear them.

Nail art lovin'

So recently I've really been getting into nail art. It's definitely grown in popularity over recent times and I love to see people's creative designs on Instagram!

The only problem for me however is a) I have a job which requires me to have short clean and polish free nails b) trying to do nail art left handed for me is a nightmare- it looks like children have attacked my nails and fingers!! So I've come up with an ingenious method which makes my life a whole lot easier and yet stylish when I'm away from work! In the wonderful world of eBay I purchased 500 plain false nails for something daft like £3? Not only does wearing false nails help with doing the designs with a steady hand, I can pop them on whenever I like as I paint them in advance :-). The only slight set back is the glue marks my natural nails slightly but I use a nail file to remove any excess and cuticle oil to recondition my nails and keep them healthy. 

The nails I purchased are super long which is handy as I can cut them to whatever length I want but can be annoying as clipping and filing them is a bit time consuming and boring. I use a marker to mark roughly the length I want them before filing them down.

From painting these a few times I've found that sticking the nails onto cocktail sticks with blue tack is the best way to paint them so you can get to the whole nail without fingers smudging! It also makes it easier to pick them up :-). 

I then paint on whatever design I fancy/ feel I can muster! I don't have an extensive set of tools. A couple of models own nail art pens and nail art tool from Avon with a brush on one end and a dotting tool on the other. I highly recommend giving it a go, I've had lots of compliments on my nails and my girlfriends want me to do a nail art evening! I love having unique nails from everyone else and matching them to my outfit like I did on Friday! :-)

And I do my tootsies too ^_^. Anyway I hope you've all had a great weekend! Link me to your nail art if you do yours and check my Instagram (Laydey_Katabella) for my next designs :-) 

Kat

Xxx