Today's post is sponsered by the letter L and the number 9

I maybe 28 but I have little intention of being a grown up any time soon.  When I heard Elmo was going to be on British tv and radio this week I was beyond excited. So this weekend I bring you Sesame Street!

It wasn't easy. There are a lot of colours and some I mixed. I really need to get some nail art brushes since most of this was done with a dotting tool.

I started with 2true base coat, my pinkie Oscar the Grouch is made with a blend of Yashali Green and ELF white. ELF white and black make the eyes and ELF chocolate for his eyebrows. I used a black striper for all mouths.

Bert is on my ring finger. Made of an old NYC yellow (i114a) for his face, for his nose I mixed the yellow and an NYC orange (i112a). Eyes and mouth same as Oscar, the striper was also used for his brows and hair

Middle finger is Earnie's place. NYC orange, a black striper for his hair, eyes and mouth as before. For his nose I used the orange and added a touch of red.

Cookie Monster is on my pointer, NYC Water Street Blue. Eyes and mouth as before.

Elmo is my thumb. Collection 2000 Hot looks Red (the name has rubbed off the bottle).His nose is the same as Bert's and eyes and mouth are the same as all.

My right hand is a mix of all dots since my freehanding isnt as good with my left.

So there we have it. I love the idea of putting characters on my nails, and the half circles make it easier than a full nail I think. My task this week will be to make lists of who I want on my nails. Got a suggestion? Drop me a comment.

As always if you like what you see, please subscribe for more updates. Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Summer Neons

Regular readers will have learnt two things about me, the first is that I'm Welsh snd the second is that I go to the pub on Thursday. Tonight is no exception AND we've had a bit of sun today so I just had to go neon!

After a base coat I painted all my nails white with my trusty bottle of ELF White. If you have never shopped with ELF before I really recommend them. £2.50 for a bottle of polish is a steal because of how lush they are. Visit them here (This isn't a sponsored ad or anything I just love them, my make bag is 85% ELF products).

Ok so when you're white is dry it's neon time. The white really helps the colours pop. I love the gradient technique ever since I saw it over at The Nailasaurus. I do mine slightly differently though. Instead of mixing on foil/plastic I paint straight on to the make up sponge. Once there's enough on the sponge I just dab onto the nail, building up colour. Be prepared to get messy. Polish will get everywhere but it's nothing a cotton bud can't solve. I sometimes use a remover soaked cotton woll ball held in a clothes peg (I know, it sounds mad but it works! I read it on a stamping blog.) My neons are from Primark, I'm using Orange and Pink and also in the set was green and yellow.

Once you've achieved the desired intensity you'll notice the polish is s bit bumpy. That's solved with a top coat.

So there you have it. As always thanks for reading, if you want to keep updated hit that follow button. If you have sny hints or tips I'd love to read them!

Striping tape manicure

Well this is another look that I love... but that I just CAN'T master. This is the third attempt I've made since getting my tape and is the best so far.

After a base coat I used Fearne for Boots pale pink for the tips. 2 full nail coats and a third coat from about half way to the tip. The middle stripe is ELF Bubblegum. I used the side of the brush to go across the width of my nail. The 'cuticle' layer is Collection 2000 'Hot Looks' in Siren.

So with a tricolour nail I took my striping tape, magenta between Siren and Bubblegum and silver between Bubblegum and Pink. I use a small nail scissors to cut the tape, I always cut more than I need and place along the edge of the blended colours. Sometimes I use a tweezers to help control the tape too.

Top coat keeps it all in place.

So here it is, the lesser of the 3 striping evils. Like most things it is just going take practice and patience.

If you've any tips I'd love to hear them.

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Smashbox Cosmetics Cardiff Launch - Press Release

Ladies, something a little different from me today, but something I hope you'll be interested in. 

I LOVE make up, almost as much as I love nail polish. and was excited to hear that Smashbox Cosmetics would be joining the stands at Boots, and even better they're going to have a stand in Cardiff. To celebrate their new stand the company are having a launch event that you can read more about after the jump. 

Sparkly flowers

Tonight I'm going out (there's a surprise) so I wanted to wear something fresh looking.

After a base coat I did two coats of 2true shade 11, it's a nude but it's a darker nude than my ELF nude which would have been better.

Once dry I used a makeup sponge to sponge on NYC's Water Street Blue to my tips. I love this colour.

Once dry I added a coat of ELF Twinkle which is a clear polish with tiny glitter. To make the flowers I used a dotting tool. Creating 5 spots with a medium dotter and then a tiny dottter to pull the dots to the center. I then used the medium dotter to add in some dots up the side of the flower. A top coat finishes off the design.

So there we have it, much better than last nights fail.

Monarch f(n)ail art

This is another style that I've been putting to one side because it terrified me.

So after a base coat I used 3 coats of Wet n Wild Xplode E74409, an orange polish with a subtle gold shimmer. Once dry I added a coat of  Stargazer polish, it's an orange  polish with gold glitter. The orange is very light so doesn't alter the other polish but adds in the glitter. 

Once dried I diagonally painted a black tip using ELF black. Then I used my black striper to add a curve at the cuticle and the lines to join to the tip. Then I added a curved edge.

Once the black was completely dry I used a dotting tool to add the white spots using ELF white. Then once they were dry I added a topcoat.

Well. It's ok. I think the black is too far up my nail and my lines really need better definition.  BUT I tried and with practice I'll get it.

Blossom Nails

I am often in awe of what the wonderful ladies of the nail polish blog universe can turn their hands too. I sometimes struggle with translating the final images into steps in my head. 

That's when I head to youtube.

This morning in a quest for inspiration I headed over to youtube and pulled up a nail art search. I stumbled across CutePolish's tut for cherry blossom nails and fell in love with the design. So I gave it a go!

While mine are no where near as proffesional looking, for a first attempt I'm happy..well aside for the smudges from my black striper after adding top coat.

For this look I used Yashali Mint, ELF Fluro Pink and Bubblegum pink, a black striper pen and base and top coat. To make the blossoms I used a medium sized dotting tool.

I am determined to work on my freehanding. I think I'm still a little heavy handed at the moment but I'm sure I'll get it right soon.