I'm New Here!

Welcome to my first EVER blog post! Are you glad to see me?? I hope so and I'm very happy to be here!

You may find yourself asking why this blog came into being, and I shall indulge your curiosities right now. If it's not clear from the very subtle title and blog header, it's a blog about...... *drum roll please.....* NAIL-ART!!  *pause for applause*

For those of you who know me, you'll have noticed that my latest hobby has been to paint random things on my fingernails. I thought it would be a phase and would tire of it quickly, especially given my super-human ability to get bored really easily and generally not see things through to their full conclusion. However, this is a very rare occasion where this didn't happen, and I have fallen for this activity hook, line and sinker. 

 If you've been following my nail-posts on Facebook, you‘ll know that ‘nail-art Friday’ has become a bit of a personal institution of mine! Why Fridays? Basically, I don’t have time to do anything too crazy on my nails during my working week, and truthfully, I’m too sleepy to motivate myself to do so. Alas! Nail art Friday was born!  It’s a nice little creative outlet to round of my 9-5 and kick-start the weekend!  What can I say?  Some people choose the pub on a Friday night. I choose polish! 

 Basically, the purpose of my blog is to go into a little bit more detail about how I created my chosen design of the week, and why I chose to do that design in general. If you've ever found yourself wondering 'How does she do it?' I hope to shed some light on this for you!

But first, prospective readers, before we set our blog engines to ‘go!’ I shall first park up, apply the handbrake and begin with this cautionary tale....

If we’re going to take this blog-trip together, you should know this. My nail designs definitely DO NOT reside comfortably inside the parameters of classiness and sophistication. Nor do they suggest I’m an early-twenty-something fresh out of education and have the world as my oyster. Indeed, any concepts generally associated with ‘being a grown-up’ (for the purposes of this blog anyway) are strictly off limits- they are my personal ‘Voldermorts’, if you will (hey, any excuse for a Harry Potter reference, right??)

So, being the big kid that I am, you can expect to see lots of ‘themed’ manis. We’re talking cartoon characters, very cute animals, food, books and anything which is generally considered a bit ‘kitsch’.

There. I said it. Feels good! *breathes sigh of relief*.  I’m sorry if you find this revelation disappointing. You know where the red cross in the corner of your internet browser is if you choose to abandon ship here. If not, I just told you. It’s in the corner….. *rolls eyes in exasperation*

However! If you decided to stay on this page and are still intrigued by my first humble blog post, a big thanks to you, and welcome aboard! I think we’re finally ready to check our blind spots, release the handbrake and tentatively proceed down the road of my blog. Buckle up, kids!

Seeming as you’ve made it this far, perhaps it’s time to get a little personal!  Here’s some stuff you might like to know. I guess this section is aimed at readers who don’t already know me! Sorry to any of my existing acquaintances who are reading this, nothing new or juicy here! 

Hannah facts:

• I’m a lefty (or ‘devil child’ - a label which my little sister has lovingly bestowed upon me, despite numerous protests….). Katie, if you’re reading this, for the last time....I am NOT the spawn of Satan!!)    
• I’m a triplet. The middle one if you want me to go into specifics… Do I suffer from middle child syndrome, you may ask? I guess technically I did until my little sister was born and threw the whole ‘middle child ‘thing off balance. She’s a blessing, though, I swear!! Not painting a very good picture of her, am I? :/
• Just call me shutter bug! I’m a little obsessive about taking photos of anything and everything whenever I go somewhere new. 
• Weird jewellery, like nail art is my other 'thing'.  I'm not talking about wearing severed Barbie heads around my neck or anything like that (believe me, these things DO exist....), but my taste in accessories is definitely on the quirky side! A string of pearls with a Jammy Dodger in the centre and a monkey with a xylophone for a body are just some of the weird and wonderful things you can find in my jewellery box. Also, expect to see some of it in the nail photos I will be posting. They make fun props!

But perhaps the biggest question of all, and the whole reason why this little blog came into being....

Why nail art?
 

Like many nail-artists out there, I adopted this super-fun past-time to stop me from biting my nails down to my knuckles. So far, it's worked! But....... breaking my habit has come at a price, and I confess ,dear readers, to this: I have become one of THOSE girls who exclaims "I broke a nail!!" (feelings of impending doom and all) when this unfortunate misadventure occurs. This tragedy is particularly chronic for us nail artists because we have to wait weeks for the fallen comrade to grow out again. Painting anything elaborate on a short nail is pretty much impossible, and is something I try my utmost hardest to prevent.

So, that's basically all you need to know for now! I may open up more if you stick with me for longer......don't want to reveal too much!

Despite being a blog about manicure-related musings, I  may occasionally throw a
spHannah in the works (see what I did there??) and talk about anything else that takes my fancy.  Can't risk this blog from becoming 'too vanilla' now, can I??  Don't get me wrong, vanilla is fine. Vanilla is good. It's just that sometimes you might find yourself craving some hot fudge sauce or sprinkles to adorn that ice cream cone or bowl (I'm a cone fan myself, just throwing that out there...). Even better is that AMAZING raspberry ripple sauce that is hard to come by unless you're lucky enough to have a Mr Whippy van permanently parked on your driveway. What I'm saying is that I may add some 'extra toppings' to my creamy blend of blog (that's the last ice-cream metaphor, I promise), so keep a weather eye out!

On that note, I think it's about time I brought blog-post numero uno to a close! So, how'd I do?? If you stuck it out till the end, then congrats and I admire your stamina! I also hope you'll stop by again!

Until next time, folks! 
Hannah x