Hi lovelies,

So, while I don't have another instalment of my Avengers Assemble series, I do have a superhero themed nail art design for you today. To be specific, it's inspired by one of the original female superheros - Wonder Woman.

And unfortunately, I can't claim this brilliant design as my own idea. I actually recreated this design by Wendy from this shop on Etsy.

Glitter Gradient Mermaid Nails

Hi lovelies,

I'm sorry I haven't been around recently, but as I mentioned briefly in my last post, I've just started uni and these past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur of organisation, finding my way around, buying books and getting lost on campus. Also, my workload is way more than I was expecting so I don't know how well I'm going to be able to manage uni, my job and running this blog. But never fear, there is no way I'm going to be leaving this blog. Although, I think I may have to revisit my New Years resolution about publishing at least 8 posts a month because obviously, I didn't manage that last month!

But, enough blathering on my part! On to today's nails!

I have obviously been on a massive mermaid appreciation phase lately, as both my my last mani's here have been mermaid themed ones! But what can I say? My mermaid style has exponentially increased since I dyed my hair blue and my new blue and iridescent purple lipsticks have arrived and I'm loving it all.

Although, the only problem is that while I got lots of great pictures of my gorgeous gradient base, I only got one usable picture of my finished look, which kind of sucks. But, never mind, I loved this look way too much to let that deter me from posting this design!

Teal Mermaid Nails

Hi everyone,

So, you'll be glad to know that I'm back to slightly erratic posts again after a brief stint at actual consistent posting. However, I'm quite proud that at least while things have been a little erratic, at least there have been no extended, unexplained absences.

I've just been feeling a bit stressed out and anxious recently due to the fact that I'm starting uni next week and I've been really tired all this week so all has compounded to me not really having much motivation. Although, it hasn't yet got to the the 'hiding out in my room doing nothing but reading Avengers fanfiction' stage so I'm by my standards, I'm managing all right.

Basically it was only because I really loved this design that I ever managed to photograph it and get it up.

If you're following me on instagram, you'll know I recently suffered a really bad nail break and had to chop off my baby claws, which was a sad time all around and explains the suddenly shorter and rounder nails.

As much as I loved my longer nails, I do feel (after an acceptable grieving period, of course), that it probably was time for me to have a change and cut them shorter again. They are feeling a lot healthier and I was able to cut off all the stained and peeling bits so they look super duper healthy. Yay!

How to Take Better Nail (and other stuff) Photos

Hi lovelies!

As part of my foray into the world of blogging tips and tutorials, I thought I'd put together a little post on how to get the best photographs that you can!

I can't stress how important good photography is to a blog. I also know that probably sounds a little hypocritical coming from me, whose photography is rather erratic at the best of times! But, it is really important if I had the chance to magically make some aspect of my blogging perfect, it would definitely be to be able to produce consistently great photographs. That's why I've been focusing a lot on my photography and it's set-up recently. And, I thought I would talk you through some solid tips to help you get your photography better than it's ever been! While I designed this post with nails sort of in mind, they really apply to most blogging photography.

Originally I was going to arrange these in order of importance, but then realised non are more important than any other and you need the combination of all of these (and more!) in order to produce good photos. However, in saying that, there is a couple of super important points that I want to mention before I delve into the nitty grittys.

First off is that you need to take your camera off the auto setting. You will not get any decent photos with your camera on auto (it's depicted by a little A, or Auto). Put the camera on program auto at the very least. Program means that the camera automatically sets the aperture and shutter speed but allows you to change things like the white balance, macro and ISO settings, all of which are important and I will talk about later.

The second thing that I want to touch on is that you don't need a big fancy DSLR camera to take good pictures. I have used a Canon 60D in the past, and while I liked it and it's useful in some instances, my heart lies still with my favourite baby, my Olympus XZ-1. This is a little more than a standard point and shoot but less intense as a proper DSLR. It also takes excellent glow in the dark pictures and it's less bulky when I'm trying to manoeuvre it around my rather small photography set-up.

Still my favourite baby...

Valentine's Day Heart Tips

Hi lovelies,

Here is my other Valentine's Day look for this year, and I'm disappointed it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped it would. I love the idea of using your nail shape as part of your design and so I was thrilled that my new pointy shape was going to lend itself so well to hearts.

However, it turns out that painting little hearts is a lot harder than it looks... I had to redo so many nails and I was so close to throwing in the towel completely many times. But, I persevered and by the time I got to the last couple of nails, I was beginning to like them again, warts and all.