1986 Ghetto Disco

These would be awesome if I was off to a disco in 1986. Instead I was sitting on my couch nursing a hot chocolate watching re-runs of QI. They are possibly a bit over the top in hindsight..

I used Models Own nail colours (everyone seems to want me to name each colour but they are in my nail box and that is on the other side of the room) and a dark pink I bought years ago in Urban Outfitters and some Pink glitter I bought in Top Shop and some nail stripes I bought on the intranet.

Ladies Night

I had a night on my own so I went to my friend Lizzie's house, drank a lot of white wine and painted my nails for her amusement. I was pretty happy with them...

Flash Gordon on Holiday in St Tropez

FLASH, A-HA!!

Coral (?) & bronze (Chanel) nailpolish with some Sally Hanson Gold decals cut in various shapes.

Inspiration

I would like to try doing my nails with this inspiration:

1. My Marimekko Converse

2. The rubber matting at the London Olympic Stadium.

Yo Gabba Gabba, Yo!!

My 2 year old daughter LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba so as a treat for her (and because we have been really jet-lagged and I have had literally hours to kill in the middle of the night) I painted my nails as the characters. Here are the original characters if you don't now them:

And here are my nails:

Needless to say she loved them and every morning would call out their names as we ate breakfast.

I decided that I wanted to try out something else on my nails and she was so sad to see them go that I painted her nails with them. Careful, you might experience a slight cuteness overload...

oh and btw, this is not her first manicure. This is:

She got it done in a real live salon while I was getting my toes be-glittered. I have NEVER seen her more attentive. Love x

The BEST tumblr ever invented.

http://nailburgerlar.tumblr.com/

Burgers + Nail Art. There is nothing more to say. I was told about this from the spectacular Hula Hooper Jess Love and I do indeed LOVE this. It will, for evermore, be my 'happy place'.

I am planning a special manicure & holding out for a kick ass burger so I too can join in the fat & acetone laden goodness...

Inspiring Nail Artistes

Weirdly I found this book in LA but it is written by the founder of the cult nail salon 'Wah Nails' Sharmadean Reid in the East End of London. I am pretty sure I love her more than just a little bit...

There is another lady that is doing very sweet nail art in my home town of Melbourne. Her name is Chelsea Bagan and she goes by the name of Trophy Wife Nails. Her website is super cute and she is bringing out a book too called 'The Hand Book'. I shall be purchasing this when I get home next week (oh Melbourne, it's only been 2 weeks but I miss you so...)

xx

Decals a go-go

These are from Kit and are THE BEST decals I have found. So fash forward don't you know...

Neon Nails

A bit messy but nothing instagram can't gloss over...

I had my nails painted neon yellow then stuck little strips of sellotape over then painted grey on top. Noice.

Bali Nails!

I went to Bali recently so I went a little 'Housewives of Miami' on my nails...

I got my nails painted a nice Coral at the salon and then cut my Sally Hansen decals in half diagonally (this means you can get twice the love for your money too!). Hot.

Wendy from Edinburgh

I am a singer so my nail get seen quite a lot and I like them to look pimping. My favourite nail guru is in Edinburgh. Her name is Wendy and she has a salon in a hair salon there (Neil Barton Hair). She does my nails every year when I am in Edinburgh doing the Fringe Festival and she always comes to my show and at some point heckles me about my nails so that I have to mention her and make the audience give her love.

Here she is:

(she has purple hair and is divine)

Here are the first gel nails she did for me:

This photo was on the front page of the Scotsman and her dad was so proud he had it laminated. Go Dads!

And here are the Golden nails she did for my most recent show ALCHEMY:

I added a little 'Louboutin' red on the underside. No one could see it but I knew it was there so I felt totes classy.

And if you are wondering If I look like that all the time. I don't. It takes hours and bags full of MAC to make me look anything like the drag queen you see before you...

Laters xx

Hello. & Why this started.

HELLO!!

About 6 months ago I started setting jiggy with my manicures... I have been getting gel on my nails for about 5 years because I have ridiculously weak nails and after discovering Sally Hansen decals:

I started mixing things up. Or having a mid-life crisis. Either/or...

I have been boring my friends on Facebook and Twitter for  while now and I thought I should start a blog so that I have 2 blogs that I rarely update and another thing to distract me from doing important work like tax and emailing and looking after my child.

So this post shall be followed by a gallery of a few of my favourites from the last few months as well as pictures of nail art that I have subjected my friends and my 2 year old to (she is totes mad for it).

Please fee free to comment and send me links to good (and really ugly) manicures you find and if you do anything spectacular - send me photos!

xx Ali