Product Review: Nail Rock Nail Art Stickers

Another product review, and this time I'll have to say it was a bit of an impulse buy... I'd seen an advert for Nail Rock nail art stickers in a magazine and thought they looked really cool, so when I saw some in Topshop for £7, I decided to give it a go.

The ones I got were the Spring/Summer 2012 selection, which come with illustrations of cute animals, dolls and various other cute things. If you're familiar with the general Topshop style, it's safe to say that they go with most things you get from there. There are loads of other sorts available which can be found on the website here.

Nail Rock come in a packet like this, with this sheet of cute designs:


















The instructions are relatively simple - buff the nail with a file to remove shine, wipe to remove any old polish and stick on a sticker, tucking behind the nail and removing excess with a file.
The kit comes with a wipe, file and cuticle stick.

I got my Mum to help with mine as I'm awful at using my left hand to do my right nails. Unfortunately, my nails on both hands were really short at the time and we realised we couldn't tuck them under properly. I ended up with nails that looked neat from the front but messy from the back. The instructions seemed easy to follow but just make sure your nails are long enough before you apply the stickers. Mine lasted for a grand total of 2 days, although the packet says 'lasts up to 10 days'.

Anyway, here's a picture of the outcome:

Overall, I'd say I wouldn't buy these again, but if you have long nails then maybe try it once, as it may come out nicer than mine.

Please comment on what you think!

Nail marbling - fabulous is it works, a complete disaster if it doesn't...

With it being the holidays and me stuck for jubilee fashion, I decided to paint my nails for the occasion. The original plan was simple red, white and blue. What could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately, I'm prone to having big ideas, and decided to take it one step further. Nail marbling!

If you're unfamiliar with the concept, here's a quick video and picture to show you the desired intended effect:

Warning: Do not leap out of your seat with excitement and do it straight away, you'll just make a complete mess. Read the whole post to find out what happened to me...

And the desired effect...

Unfortunately mine ended up looking more like this...

Basically, I was unaware that the polish would form a film (which I now know to be the whole point) and on my first try picked all the film up on one finger and scrunched it into a mess. Wasn't going well.

Then, I realised that because I used glitter and normal nail polish from different brands, they weren't going to make a nice swirl. Instead, they each took their own side of the bowl and when I tried to mix them the same thing happened - the film clumped onto my brush and I had no choice but to (unsuccessfully) dump it onto one nail. At this point I'd exhausted all hope of doing my nails and was now cleaning the bathroom with my last remaining drop of nail polish remover (after knocking the bottle over) and trying to prise flakes of polish off my nails and the sink. What an epic fail, all for some nice nails...

So, before you try this. Think realistically. It probably won't work and you'll end up in a mess. On a more positive note, if anyone has had any nail art successes feel free to comment, I might summon you for a guest article on how to be a nail marbling hero...

Abandoned the blog :( BUT I'M BACK

Oh dear. The 'keeping up the blog' thing didn't quite work, but I'm back. I've had a quiet few months apart from various violin related ramblings. My exam is looming (3 weeks although I don't have an exact date) so I'm in crazy practice mode for that. I guess I'll have to start again with blog promotion and all that but that will be after I've done my practice. I have an exciting idea for a post, one which is very, very out of date but I've wanting to post for a while. I hope some of you read it.
Again, sosososo sorry for abandoning this, it was going quite well too :'(

Easter Cupcakes

Ok, so it may be a little late, but what's Easter without a good recipe. If you're bored of chocolate, this could be your lucky day.


I found this recipe on the Good Food Channel website, and thought they look so nice I'll post it to my blog. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the cakes:

• 250 g unsalted butter, softened
• 250 g caster sugar
• 4 eggs                                                          
• 1 tsp natural vanilla extract
• 185 g self-raising flour
• 60 g plain flour
• 185 ml milk

For the icing:

• 250 g white chocolate chips
• 300 ml soured cream
• raspberries or sweets, to decorate

Method

1. For the cakes: preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Grease a 12-hole 125ml non-stick muffin tray.

2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and beat until well combined. Sift the flours together and fold in while adding the milk. Stir until almost smooth.

3. Divide the mixture between the muffin holes then bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to sit for 10 minutes in the tin. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool.

4. For the icing: while the cakes are cooling put the white chocolate in a bowl over gently simmering water.

5. Once the chocolate has melted stir until smooth and remove from the heat to cool slightly. Gently beat in the sour cream until you have a thick creamy icing.

6. Spread the cooled cakes with the icing and top with raspberries or sweets.

Never judge a sparkly dress before you've tried it on...

Well, I guess this blog needs some content! 


Yesterday I was with my friend in town, browsing clothes. We decided to play 'try on something we'd never EVER wear'. So we see this CRAZY SPARKLY dress in Topshop. I mean CRAZY... So, after an awkward moment wondering whether we would a) annoy and b) seem weird to the shop assistant we decided to hide in a bundle of normal clothes we were 'thinking of buying'. It was a good plan and we tried them on. WOW I actually thought the dress was pretty AMAZING (if not slightly itchy). Now I reaaalllly want it, so, see what you think:




You can find the dress here

The moral of this anecdote: Some dresses look much better on that off :)

Hellooo :)

Hi, I'm Freya :) 14 years old


I'm writing a blog, something I've tried before but have never had the patience to persevere with. I love writing, and I'd like to think I'm quite good at it, so what better use of the skill to address a whole community online. I hope people will notice this, and read my posts because infront of an online world this huge, I am but a speck. 


So, what this first post is trying to say is HI NON EXISTENT READERS I hope you exist soon :)