The Libertines

Photo credit: Twitter @NME

I'm writing this battered and bruised, with a slight scent of beer in my hair, after a night of being thrown around during The Libertines gig at Alexandra Palace. It was wonderful.

Another gig meant another opportunity for themed nails, because you know, I'm sure Pete Doherty is a big nail art fan and would have spotted them from the stage... 

My initial idea was to do little red military jackets that the boys are famous for wearing, as seen on Carl Barat on the night. However, I'm stuck in a nail rut and keep doing spots. I just can't put the dotting tool down. Fortunately, for those of you familiar with the tune 'What Katie Did' you'll know that polka dots are perfectly apt for Libertines.

It just so happens that 'Libertines' is ten letters and I have ten fingers, so I used some nail stickers from a House of Holland set (£8.99, Elegant Touch) and layered them over the dots.

Excuse the chipped nail. It broke before I had a chance to photograph them. If you're looking for a white that doesn't resemble tip ex I'd recommend Sporty - Gossip by Michael Kors, £15.50, House of Fraser.

Don't forget to give this a listen…

London Fashion Week S/S 15

Every season there will always be someone who claims that nail art is dead – please go back to bed. London Fashion Week Spring / Summer 15 will hush the naysayers.  

London Fashion Week always excites me on the beauty front. I got hooked on nail art a few years ago after working on the House of Holland show. The bright nail creations on models immediately caught my eye and my nails were never plain again. HoH has been consistently brilliant with nail art, thanks to Sophy Robson. I still haven't managed the pink houndstooth design, but this year's look is something pretty and easy to achieve. Say hello to red and pink glittery nails… 

Photo credits: Instagram @SophyNails

You'll be heading into the garden to create J. JS Lee's floral nails. Ami Streets adorned cream nail polish with real pressed violets for this delicate design. 

Photo credits: Twitter @ELLEUK 

You can always rely on Ashish to bring some humour and sparkle to London Fashion Week. Michelle Humphrey for Maybelline has made Ashish a big talking point for beauty, drenching nails in glitter. Want to recreate the look? Michelle used a combination of Maybelline Colour Show in 'Watery Waste' and 'Glitter It', before adding plenty of gems.

Photo credits: Instagram @GlamourUK

Lulu & Co held a static presentation for London Fashion Week. The nail art by WAH nails corresponds perfectly with the fun prints created by Louise Gray, whose philosophy has often been 'everything matches if you like it'. The WAH nails 'Y2K Mirror Shine' nail polish is top of my wish list at the moment. 

Photo credits: Instagram @wahnails

Invites for the Giles show arrived in the form of foam monster claws, and the nails on the day matched! Marian Newman used a combination of MAC nail lacquer in 'Deep Sea' and 'Nocturnelle' to create these two-tone talons. 

Photo credits: Twitter @GetTheGloss

For those of you looking for something more simple, plenty of designers opted for nude nails, including David Koma, Tom Ford, and Natasha Zinko:

Photo credits: Twitter @MagazineDARE. Instagram @marieclaireuk @wahnails

London, I love you.

Topshop bargains

Headed to Topshop at the weekend, where the final dreggs of the sale still remain. Here are the nail highs…

I've been needing some nail brushes for ages. Everything I've done so far has been painted with a thin metal dotting tool, meaning accuracy has been a bit on the wobbly side. Until I order some really thin ones, these should do nicely. £3 reduced from £10. Thanks Topshop.

Despite the large pile of nail gems I've already accumulated, I thought I'd add these to the collection for just 50p.

Here's what I did with some of the darker sequins…

Pink nail polish: Chanel Le Vernis in Fracas 571

These sale items are no longer on Topshop.com, so I'd take a trip to your local store pronto.

New York Fashion Week S/S 15

Looks like my New York Fashion Week tickets got lost in the post. Oh, yours too? Guess we need a new postman. 

Fortunately, Instagram and Twitter have been around to keep us updated with the collections and beauty looks. Well folks, New York gives good nail art. 

Here's a round up of my top five nail art looks from NYFW Spring / Summer 15 (in no particular order)…

1. CND had a massive presence at New York Fashion Week this year, ticking off quite a few shows. My top pick has to be Jan Arnold's contribution to Libertine. The nails made me nostalgic, creating letters out of Hama beads! The letters were then attached to nails to spell 'Libertine!' I'm now fighting off the urge to head to my local toy shop for some beads to iron. They also used 3D skulls complete with moveable jaws. Impractical but a lot of fun.

Photo credits, all taken from the following Twitter accounts: Left: @kelseyMManning, centre: @chelipj, right: @SamanthaSweet.

2. Founding Creative Director of Colour Prevails and Former Founding Creative Director of Butter London, Nonie Creme created these blue talons embellished with pearls for Honor.  

Photo credits: Instagram @beautydotcom. 

3. Models at Opening Ceremony headed down the catwalk with moody marble nails, courtesy of Naomi Yasuda. I'll do a how-to on these soon. 

Photo credits: Naomi Nails.

4. I'm awarding points to CND once again for the incredible false nails they created for The Blonds. Every model wore a unique set, which are so detailed. 

Photo credits: CNDWorld.

5. Last but not least are the ombre nails spotted at Monique Lhuillier, created by manicurist Gina Edwards. Sponge at the ready, I'm looking forward to recreating this design. 

Photo credits: Instagram @Nailscluboficial. 

My 'minimum effort award' goes to Prabal Gurung, for nails by Sally Hansen. I don't dislike them, but I'd probably use a darker background on my own nails. 

Photo credits: @TRESemme.

Will London Fashion Week beat these? Find out next week.  

Birthday girl

Ah birthdays, so bittersweet – celebrations, presents, and chocolate for breakfast, mingled with the reality that you’re another year older.

My initial idea for ‘birthday nails’ was to go all out with cake and balloon designs, but I realised I wouldn’t have a chance to change them for a few days so opted for something slightly more subtle. The birthstone for September is sapphire, so I chose dark blue and plenty of sparkle – no birthday should be without glitter.

I wrote my age in polka dots. Can you read the digits?

Last year I attended a nail art masterclass with Sophy Robson (you can read about it at Cosmopolitan UK). One of the tips I took away with me is that glitter nail polish looks even better when layered with other glitter nail polishes – just keep adding different shapes and colours. With this in mind I layered OPI ‘Absolutely Alice’ and Topshop ‘3D’, with my no.1 glitter: YSL  ‘Feuille D’Or’. I’m really not looking forward to trying to get it off!

It’s been a me-me-me kind of week, because as well as my birthday I also said goodbye to the job I’ve had for over a year.  The beautiful and thoughtful girls I worked with couldn’t have found me a more apt leaving card…

Heavenly hot dogs: Ketchup or mustard?

“Has anyone got a meat-coloured nail polish please?”

This beauty blog has quickly morphed into a food blog – apologies to anyone I’m making hungry. Just take comfort in the fact you are not alone, our waistbands our expanding together.

Hot dogs are my favourite food. There, I confessed. I know they’re gross, and I know all the nasties in them are likely to contribute to my demise, but seeing a sign for a footlong hot dog never fails to put a smile on my face.

I’ve been talking about Bubbledogs for at least a year – it’s a Champagne Bar that only serves hot dogs. I’m not overly fussed with Champagne – give me a G&T any day, but I’m willing to make allowances when the hot dog menu is so good. For no reason in particular, it’s taken me a while to visit. With it being my birthday weekend, I put Bubbledogs top of the places I wanted to visit. I feel sorry for the girls at work, because it must be all they've heard me talk about this week.

Friday night arrived and off we trotted to 70 Charlotte Street, to be told at Bubbledogs that the wait was an hour and a half. Quelle horreur! With a charming Draft House round the corner to keep us entertained, our names went on the list – an iPad to be precise. Despite being told there was a long wait, they had us inside within 30 minutes *high five*.

Choosing which hot dog to go for was tricky, ohhh the choice! In the end, three hot dogs arrived between two of us – hey, it was a birthday celebration okay?!

Here are the chosen ones:

Sloppy Joe - Bubbledogs beef chilli, cheddar cheese & chopped onions.

Mac Daddy - Macaroni & cheese, crispy onions, and bacon bits.

Reuben - Grilled sauerkraut, russian dressing, melted Swiss cheese.

They were all delicious. Ditto the sweet potato fries.

Of course, no meal at Bubbledogs is complete without a hot dog manicure…