Confetti Hearts & One Direction

I feel so terrible for neglecting by blog for a week!  My computer cord stopped working, so I had no use of my laptop for a few days before I could get a new cord.  I have also had dance competitions every day since last Wednesday, and that's been keeping me quite busy. 

Because of the dance competitions, I haven't been able to paint my nails for almost a week now! However, our last performances will be tonight, so needless to say I will be painting my nails as soon as I get home! 

Once again I have a few looks from the vault to show you.  The first was inspired by @missgoob's Confetti Hearts nail art on Instagram.  Base is two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'White On'. I freehanded the hearts with three colours from the Essie Spring 2011 French Affair Collection.  Essie 'Nice is Nice', 'French Affair', and 'Coat Azure'.  2 coats of Seche Vite, as usual. 

I took and edited these pictures before I started my blog, and apparently I didn't feel the need to keep the original-coloured photo.  Therefore, I only have one photo with the effect I added before posting to Instagram. Colours aren't very accurate. 

Next I've got a swatch of the only polish I own from the OPI Holland Collection, 'Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?'.  This is a soft grape purple with gold/copper shimmer.  This is apparently a dupe of Zoya Tru, though I don't own Tru so I can't do a comparison.  

This is two coats with one coat of Seche Vite.  The second picture is more colour-accurate, but you can see the shimmer better in the first one.  I love this colour, but it's so much prettier in real life!  

Lastly for today, I have what was the result of a request from my friend to do One Direction nails.  If you haven't heard of One Direction, they're a (mostly) British boy band with a few good songs, more good looks, and an extremely dedicated fan-base, the self-titled 'Directioners'.  

I had been wanting to try the British flag nails for a while since I first saw them on Pinterest (can't remember exactly where - sorry!) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to slip it in.  

The blue is Essie 'Mesmerised' (my new favourite blue), the red is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Cherry Red', and  the white is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'White On'.  2 coats of Seche Vite. 

For the flag, I painted my nail with two coats of 'White On' and one coat of Seche Vite to speed up the drying. Next, I cut strips of tape and stuck them on in the asterisk shape * (descriptions aren't my strong point). I painted over the tape with 'Mesmerised', and immediately removed the tape. I then used a striping brush to draw the red lines in the middle of the white, with 'Cherry Red'. 

The thumb is the band's logo, which was freehanded on top of 'Cherry Red' using a striping brush and 'White On'. 

With my favourite Instagram effect

The dance competitions have been going really well, my sister and I both got hard-earned spots at this year's Provincial Performing Arts Festival, her for Intermediate Modern and myself for Senior Ballet.  That's at the end of this month, and we're both very excited to be going.  We also have our dance school's annual Gala in less than 2 weeks, and rehearsals for that are keeping us very busy too. 

Fortunately, after wearing nothing but Barielle's Instant Liquid Nail Hardener on my nails for a week and re-applying every couple days, my nails have finally grown back to a good length, so they will once again look pretty in my pictures. :) 

This will have to tide you over until I get something new on my nails tonight, and hopefully I'll have another post tomorrow.