Dallas Green - Sleeping Sickness

my sister (aka bestest best friend in the entitre world, claire at little love) is completely and utterly obessesed with Hello Kitty! - folders emblazoned with with that little red bow, iPod and blackberry adorned with stickers and numerous pens/mugs/compact mirror shaped like that infamous feline face. so in an ode to her cutesey preoccupation, i thought i'd try out some Hello Kitty! nails and do a little Hello Kitty nail tutorial. (i know they're a little shakey and not perfect, but i sorta like how the face are slightly different - Hello Kitty sisters perhaps?)

you will need;
- a background colour of your choice (Topshop's Milkshake)
- a white (Barry M's no.66)
- a yellow/gold (17's Sphnix)
- a red (Misguided's Mischievous)
- a black liquid eyeliner (Barry M)
- a bent out bobby pin



after applying your base coat, load on your background colour all over the nail.

using your white, draw on thick white tips, curving them slightly so they're shaped like Hello Kitty!'s head. here is also where you make her ears, (but I forgot to do that till after I did the nose, sorry!) by using the edge of your brush to form tiny triangles for her ears. you WILL get varnish on the edges of your fingers, but that's easily remedied by dipping an earbud in nail varnish remover and tidying up!




take your bobby pin and dip it in the gold/yellow, and place a dot in the centre of the white bit of your nail, nearer to the tip of the nail than smack bang in the middle.




with the black eyeliner, form tiny dots for her eyes both side of her gold nose. then, pain three lines on either side of the nail for whiskers (and try and get the middle whiskers level with the eyes)




finally, take your bobby pin again and dip it in the red, and first, make a single red blob by the right ear (this is the middle bit of the bow). then, after dipping it in the red varnish, make slightly bigger red blobs either side of the first one to create the iconic red bow. finish with a top coat and revel in the praise you'll get from EVERYONE!

kitsch nails like this often spark either LOVE IT or hate it - what do you think? cutes and kitsch or tacky?

Coeur de Pirate - Comme des enfants

When a lack of a summer job for the first time in four years and thus, an overspill of empty hours threatens to haunt me, I do what any self-respecting girl would do; go shopping. Recently, jewellery seems to be my Achilles heel and I’ve obtained numerous necklaces and a few rings, all from Topshop. The necklaces are delicate, on short chains and can be layered to encircle my neck in pretty golden rings.

Two were bought in the sale for a mere £2 each (the “B” and the tiny glass ball, but ignore the ugly neon chain, I’m going to slip the B onto a simple gold one asap).

My skull necklace was £5 – reasonable for Topshop, though I’ve had to transfer it onto another chain because my 1st one broke AND so did the replacement!

I also ADORE my ring, as it was also only £2 (though it does make my finger a wee bit green).

Does anyone have any recommendations of cutesy jewellery shops? I’m on a glitzy roll! I want rings, necklaces, earrings, cuffs, anklets – THE LOT!

Beyonce - If I Were a Boy

decidedly bored whilst lounging in the south of France (where else would i be spending my summer daaahling?), claire and i thought we would pass our time festooning our nails with the print of the cutest of big cats; leopard! this look is easily achieved with a base coat, two of your favourite nail varnishes, liquid eyeliner, a top coat, steady hands AND a boxset of series three of Gilmore Girls.

method
1. paint your nails with the base colour coat (nudey lilac)
2. using an opened out bobby pin, put slightly linear blobs on your nails (gold)
3. then, take your liquid eyeliner (any one will do) and carefully encircle your linear blobs, leaving a tiny gap so it’s not quite an enclosed circle. you’re aiming for an ‘o’ which never quite manages to kiss. an overeager ‘c’ if you will.
4. and just simply pop on a top coat and wait to fully dry – this is where Gilmore girls comes in handy!

(Sally Hansen Base&Top coat, Model’s Own Utopia, 17’s Sphinx, Barry M liquid eyeliner in black, Nails Inc Top coat)

i’m having a glorious time with my best friend, we’re filling our days with sand, sunbathing, workouts and our nights with Lorelai and Rory, apertifs (Francais for pre-dinner drinks don’tcha know) and plenty of French cheese. and we’re only sneaking to the café to use the internet every few days, so the internet’s imaginary claws are only loosely grasped round our wrists.