MY BLOODY VALENTINE'S DAY GRADIENT NAIL TUTORIAL

To all of you that are loved up, Happy Valentine's Day! To all of you that are single, Happy Bitterness Day! Haha. Valentine's Day is going to be just another day for me this year, but one thing I am not looking forward to is all the status/posts/tweets on Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter, claiming that they're all 'forever alone'.. and that's just all the 15 year olds haha. Rant aside, I thought I would do a sort of 'anti Valentine's Day' nail tutorial as all the nail tutorials I have seen lately are pink and full of hearts. This is for all of you that are looking for something different! Wow, I do sound quite bitter in the post, I promise I'm not.. sort of haha.

What you will need:

• Your favourite red polish
• Your favourite black polish
• Your favourite topcoat
• Your favorite basecoat
• A sponge
• A dotting tool or cocktail stick
• A plastic sheet or a poly pocket

Step 1: Apply a base coat and 2 coats of your favourite red polish. I'm using Ciate Paint Pot in Mistress. 

Step 2: On your plastic sheet or poly pocket, apply a generous amount of red polish and your favourite black polish. I'm using Rimmel London I Heart Lasting Finish in Black Cab. Make sure both polishes meet together in the middle.

Step 3: Using your dotting tool/cocktail stick, mix together both colours in the middle. A little tip I shall give you is to make sure you do step 2 and 3 quite quickly so that there isn't a sort of dry layer on the top.

Step 4: Put the sponge into the polish. Sorry I don't have a photo for this guys, I totally forgot!

Step 5: Dab the sponge onto your nail. Go up and down your nail, still dabbing, to get the gradient effect that you want. 

Step 6: Apply your favourite topcoat and if you're feeling adventurous, chuck some glitter on those nails!

RED, GOLD AND SILVER GLITTER NAIL TUTORIAL

For as long as I can remember I have bitten my nails. I am stupidly shy so I've always put it down nerves. As I'm getting older now, I need to get out of the habit. For Christmas, my Mam paid for me to have acrylics done on Christmas Eve and I haven't bitten them since, yay me! I finally took them off yesterday and to stop me from biting them, I decided to make them pretty. I didn't really have anything in mind and just went with it, so I thought I would do a little tutorial for you guys. 

I first applied a base coat which I would never normally do, but I want to start taking care of my nails properly as they so stupidly weak. I then applied two coats of Ciate's Dangerous Affair (little review here). The colour of the polish in the bottle is what it looks like on your nails but I had my flash on.

Next, I applied Barry M Nail Paint in Yellow Topaz Glitter on just under half of the nail. The glitter has chunks of hexagon shaped glitter and fine glitter mixed together, which I sometimes have trouble applying evenly. 

Finally, I applied Barry M Nail Paint in Silver Glitter (review here) over the top of the gold for more texture and variety. I probably should of done it the other way round, but I think it looks okay. 

I love looking at my nails in the light. I love looking at all the different colours and I find myself doing it a lot. Simple things, simple minds haha. I hope I have inspired you to chuck a load of glitter on your nails! What is your favourite glitter polish? Let me know below!

CIATE MINI MANI MONTH #9

£9 from Ciate.

This advent calendar really does give a little excitement everyday. Today's polish is called Mistress and is a bright red with a hint of orange. I guess you can call this your typical bright red which you can pretty much wear no matter what season it is. I can tell why it is a best seller! Have you used this polish? Let me know below!