Tag: O.P.I

Valentine’s Day Inspiration

I’m not usually an openly romantic person and the thought of being all soppy and seeing a mass amount of PDA kind of makes me feel sick. So as you can imagine, Valentines day isn’t the perfect occasion for me, however I can’t deny I do enjoy being treated and it can often be a good reminder to show your other half how much you appreciate and love them. So I’ve compiled a very small list of Valentine’s Day inspiration, either for the occasion or to buy as a gift.

LOVE Ice Cream Pink Pleated Cold Shoulder Dress

This dress is so cute. It would be perfect to wear for a Valentine’s date (if the weather permits) and it will be perfect to keep for summer too. It also comes in a darker pink as well as black which also look very chic.
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February 10, 2014
December Favourites

I’ve had this nail varnish forever and I never seem to wear it, maybe it’s because when I’m not painting my nails nude I opt for something more bold like bright red. When I came to paint my nails this time however, I was feeling rather festive and so this O.P.I shade, Bastille My Heart, seemed the perfect Christmassy shade. I’ve not stopped using it since so it’s definitely a December favourite.

I’m often asked how I treat my hair differently during winter. If I’m honest, I’ve never really thought about it before and often my hair care routine doesn’t change too dramatically from season to season. This month though, I decided to invest a little more treatment time into my hair routine, doing more braiding treatments before bed and I also bought this great product. I am a avid user of Aussie product, so I decided to give their, 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioning, a go. Applied just after washing when the hair is wet, this product gives your hair a deep conditioning in 3 minutes (exactly like it says on the bottle). For me this product works wonders and straight away my hair felt softer and more manageable. I think the results were obvious after drying too, my curls now feel and look healthier.

My third and final December favourite is this turtle neck jumper I bought from H&M. I’ve wanted a jumper like this for a while, so when I finally got my hands on this one I was delighted with my purchase. I bought a size too big because I wanted it to feel oversized and cosy. It looks great thrown on with a pair of jeans and I’ve even found myself even wearing it round the house because it’s just so comfy.

Samio x

December 15, 2013
O.P.I Rust Gradient Effect
On Saturday I was out for a friend’s birthday. Before hand I had my outfit all planned and I’d picked out a cute stripe and floral print dress I hadn’t worn before. I decided to paint my nails to match my dress and go for what I like to call a rust gradient effect.

How I achieved this nail art effect…

Step one:

What you will need.
- As I wanted my colours to match my dress I chose three nail varnished in similar shades to my dress: OPI shades – Lady in Black, Your Villa Or Mine and Alpine Snow. (Base coat and top coat are optional)
- Foam is needed to apply the gradient effect. For this you can use a clean sponge, some packaging or as I have done, use the foam that you often find inside jewellery boxes.
- Scissors will be required to cut your foam.
- Tweezers will help you hold the foam when applying the polish.
- A cotton bud and some liquid nail polish remover to neaten up the edges at the end.
Step Two:

Paint all your nails with a base coat (optional), then apply your first chosen colour and wait for it to dry.

Step Three:

Cut a small square from your foam (roughly half an inch squared). Pick up the cut piece of foam with your tweezers and with your second chosen colour, lightly apply the nail varnish to your foam.

Step Four:

Gently dab the coated foam to your nails, building up more and the ends and padding lighter towards the top to achieve the fading speckle effect…

… Continue this on all your nails. Reapply the nail varnish to the foam when needed.

Step Five:

Cut a new clean piece of foam and choose your third colour. Again repeat the the previous process, this time focusing on the tips of the nails and fading into the previous colour….

… You should be left with something similar to the image below, but if you’re anything like me, you will have made a mess in the process. So now it’s time to neaten up!

Step Six:

Neatening up is probably the easiest part. Simply get your cotton bud and dip it into your nail varnish remover liquid. With the cotton bud tip, rub around the edges of your nails to remove any excess nail varnish. Continue this until all the edges have been cleaned up. For an extra polished look, add a top coat to finish.

The Final Result

And that’s my tutorial on how I achieved my rust gradient effect nails… You can also try this look with so many different colour combinations, even adding more colours into the blend. Or how about adding glitter polish to the tips to add some sparkle!

I always love the results I get from this effect and it’s a simple technique you can use time and time again with so many different colours.

Samio x
October 1, 2013
First Purchases Of September

On Tuesday I headed to Nottingham to shoot for Speedo. My call time wasn’t until 12:30 and as I’d arrived in the city early, I couldn’t resist popping in Zara whilst I had time to kill and check out the new items they had in for A/W 13.

As I make clutch bags, it is a rarity that I actually do buy bags but when I do they are often from Zara. When this cobalt blue handbag caught my eye, I knew I had to have it. The bag is great value and good quality and I LOVE the colour.

Zara had some gorgeous shoes and boots in store for A/W (I shall be paying another visit soon). I love these monochrome flats I picked up. It’s not often I buy flats but these are certainly very me.

My third Zara purchase was this pyjama style blazer/jacket. It was on sale so I managed to grab a bargain with this one. I think it will look great worn both dressy and casual and will definitely come in handy on some chillier nights out.

The O.P.I nail lacquer obviously isn’t from Zara but it was a start of September purchase nevertheless. For me, I always find it important to own a nude nail polish. It’s good for when I’m modelling and I want my nails to look nice but not painted in a colour that stands out. My previous nude O.P.I shade DULCE DE LECHE, had just ran out so I decided to replace it with a new shade. I purchased O.P.I shade, DON’T PRETZEL MY BUTTONS as a replacement and I like this one even better.

Samio x

September 4, 2013
O.P.I – Monochrome

I’m a big lover of O.P.I Nail Lacquers. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to receive an O.P.I case full of an array of gorgeous O.P.I shades, as part of a Christmas gift off my grandparents. I’ve been hooked on the brand ever since and I’m always adding to my collection. I’ve been meaning to start doing some posts like this for a while, showing off some of my favourite shades and colour combinations. Now I’ve finally gotten round to it and for my first nail polish post I’ve gone Monochrome.

The black shade of O.P.I I’ve used, is often one of my go to shades. Especially for when I don’t know what I’ll be wearing, as this colour mostly goes with anything and the super glossy finish gives it a really slick and polished look. This weekend I fancied something different and thought I’d try out one of my crackle varnishes. I’ve actually had this particular white crackle for a while but this is the first time I got round to using it. I’ve used crackle varnishes in the past but never before in this black and white colour combo. I love it and think it almost has quite a gothic look to it.

To achieve this look I used:
O.P.I base coat
One coat of O.P.I shade, Lady In Black
Followed with one coat of O.P.I White Shatter
O.P.I top coat to finish

Longevity:
I applied this nail look on Friday evening and it lasted (chip free!) until Monday when I removed it.

Samio x

August 6, 2013