Hi everyone,

My nails today are definitely one of my favourites that I've done this year. In fact, I think they are my favourites. Which is kind of surprising considering they are a very simple design and involve a fairly pale pink, which I don't generally like very much at all. But, I do love them anyway. And something about them reminds me of summery deck chairs, hence the name. 

I have been all into the matte designs recently, especially mattifying neons and whites. I don't what it is about a matte white, but I really love it. It always looks so crisp and clean and sophisticated. I am also loving my nail shape at the moment. I've always nails that hover between squoval and oval and if you had asked me 3 months ago, I would have told you that I never would change from that shape. But.... I had been admiring the gorgeous nails of @paintedcandynails, @secretjewelgarden and @decorateddigits on instagram and decided to take the plunge and drastically alter the shape of my nails. And I love it! 

Pop Art Half Moon Nail Art

Hi everyone,

I've been on a massive matte design craze recently and this is the first of probably many matte designs that you'll see around here in the near future. I think this was my first attempt at doing a half moon mani, despite it being one of the most popular nail art designs in existence.

I think they turned out all right, although I definitely think I need to either work on my free-handed curves or invest in those little sticky hole things that most nail artists use (although using the sticky things seems far easier and less time-consuming, to be honest). I did love my choice of colours - I always think of pop art when I look at them, with the rich blue and the contrasting orange/pink.

I Will Eat My Veggies How I Want To Eat Them, So There

Hi everyone,

*Just a trigger warning before we begin, in this post I talk about when I was suffering badly from my eating disorder and the relationship I had with food during this time. So if that sound a little icky to you, you might be best to sit this one out.*

So, I know I am way behind the ball with this, but hear me out.

I had never tasted a Sumo Salad until a few weeks ago.

I know, I know - it's not exactly new but I don't eat out and on the run much and if I do, it's almost never a salad. Why would I get a salad when I could get a delicious burger and/or chips! Anybody that knows me will know of my love for hot chips and because of such, why would I pass up the opportunity to have chips for something like a salad! I can have salads at home.

Anyway, the point is that I have had one (and many others since) and I loved it.

Source

After having this lovely salad, I did think that honestly, I probably could make something like this at home - thereby saving me money and giving me the option to customise my salads as I wished (and have them more often). Which also sounded like great idea because while I like salads, I never know how to make them more substantial than the basics (lettuce, tomato, cucumber and stuff). So I jumped onto the internet to see what I could find.

To be honest - I was quite surprised at what I found. First off, there were no recipes for 'My Take On X Salad by Sumo Salad' (which definitely was surprisingly), but more to the point, I was surprised about what else I found. I came across so many blog posts on how bad Sumo Salad was and how everyone thinks they are eating healthy by choosing that option but really it's a terrible choice and everyone should be much more conscientious and discerning when it comes to food choices and never eat fast food of any kind.

Posts like that really annoy me. There was a time in which I would have been their biggest advocate but thankfully, those times are behind me and now they just make me really angry. First and foremost, I feel they come across very judgy and patronising to those who choose to eat these foods. I get the feeling that the authors of these articles believe that people only eat food like this because they don't know all the facts and how bad they really are. I don't like that. I don't they give the general public enough credit in food knowledge. No, the average person probably does not know the optimum grams of fat, carbohydrates, sugars and protein they should be eating everyday and no, they probably don't know how much of those are in an average Sumo Salad, or burger, or medium fries from MacDonalds. But also, who cares? It's just a salad. Or a burger. Or icecream.

Don't get me wrong, I do agree that we probably should be thinking a little about where our food is coming from and how long it's been sitting there, and making sure we are getting the proper nutrients, but again, it's just a salad. It's probably not something we have everyday and it's delicious.

I feel like that word right there is pretty important. Delicious. Tasty. Yummy. We eat this food because we want to. This is food that calls to us as we walk by it. This is food that we might buy on a whim, just because we're a bit peckish. This is food we might plan to buy for lunch, either by ourselves or with a friend. It's nice food. And it nourishes us. It gives us energy, happiness and joy.

Lightning Nail Art Tutorial

Hi lovelies,

As a sort of follow on to my Thor inspired nail art, I thought I would make another tutorial for the lightning nails I did in that design, especially since I've had such a great response to my dream-catcher tutorial.

Also, lightning nails look heaps cool and like galaxy nails, are deceptively easy. So here's my little pictorial for them, and I have to say, I think this is better than my last one. At least I managed to stay on track with this one and I didn't forget that I was meant to be taking photos once! I'm so very proud. I also got my lightbox re-set-up and got myself a good lamp and my photography is (dare I say it) looking to be on the way up!

For this tutorial, you are going to need:

Black polish (I used Black Out by Sally Hansen)

Greenish/blueish polish (I used Sweet Pea by Australis)

Fuchsia polish (I used an unnamed fuchsia by Urban Colours)

Light blue polish (I used Shade 12 by BC Company)

White polish (I used Snow Me White by Sinful Colors)

A top coat (I used Super Fast Drying Top Coat by Poshe)

Fine nail art brush

Sponge (I used a regular make-up sponge that I found in my local $2 shop)

My Holy Grail Nail Products

Hi everyone!

I was talking to one of my friends recently and they were asking me for advice and tips on nail care and nail art and stuff and I realised I hadn't ever put together a nail care post or written properly on my favourite products for my nails. So here's a list of my nail products that have my it to holy grail status for me, and why they have achieved this highly acclaimed status.

Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter
This is a pretty legendary and well-known cuticle cream throughout the nail blogger world and it's pretty easy to see why. It's thick, nourishing and easy absorbed and moisturises better than any other I've tried. While I know many people, including all of my family, love it's sharp, lemony smell, I have to admit it took a while to grow on me. I hated it when I first bought it (I only bought it because I'd hearing non-stop about it's greatness for ages and thought I had better give it a go) but I've been using it for about a year and I do quite like the smell now. It does have a tendency to melt in the heat (so don't accidentally put it in your beach bag) and when it does melt, it acquires these grainy granules in it. Some people really dislike these, but I like them and the little bit of exfoliation they provide. Anyway, I live in Australia, so it's not like I can keep it under 30 degrees all the time!

It is a little pricey (in my cheap-sake opinion) at AUD$16.50 for a 50g pot, but it really lasts! I've been using mine daily for about a year now and it's not even half empty yet. Purchase it instore at Lush or online.