School's Out! The end of the 'Pixar Polish Challenge'

Hello lovely readers!

I write this blog post with a heavy heart... the Pixar Polish Challenge has come to an end! :(  I can't believe 4 weeks has passed, but the time has come for the reveal of my final manicure!

Buuuuuut... before we do that, let's take some time to reflect on our journey so far...

 WEEK 1: Toy Story

 

 WEEK 2: UP 

WEEK 3: WALL.E.

So, the stroll down 'Pixar Polish Challenge' memory lane is done! However, I'd like to keep stalling for a little while longer and show you an extra Pixar manicure which I've thrown in for good measure! I did these nails months ago, when this challenge wasn't even a twinkle in my eye! However, seeming as they are Pixar themed, I thought it would be worth including them in the post. So, from way, way back, I give you...

NEMO NAILS!

I think I could do a better job now as experience grows with time, but overall I don't think they're too shabby! Perhaps I'll give them another shot when Finding Dory is released in 2015...

Right, I have stalled for long enough! Time to reveal what you all came here to see, and the sole reason for the creation of this humble challenge.

WEEK 4: MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

 

 Ta-dah!! So, there it is! To go into detail (thumb to pinkie), we have: Scaring 101 class chalkboard, Monsters University school logo, Scully (complete with MU letterman jacket!), Mike Wazowski, and the Oozma Kappa fraternity logo.

Needless to say, I have now seen the film and I was not disappointed! I hope all of you go and see it too, if you haven't already- it's fantastic! 


I hope you've enjoyed reading about this challenge as much as I've enjoyed participating in it! I'll definitely have to set myself another one soon, it's been so much fun! Do you have a favourite week? Let me know!

Love,
Hannah x

The Pixar Polish Challenge Week 3: It's a (robot) love story, baby just say yes.

Greetings readers!

So, the UK is basking in a heatwave right now, and in typical British fashion, people are complaining. There is seriously no appeasing us when it comes to weather, it's either too cold or too hot, and God forbid when we have a very rare heatwave, you can rely on the media descending into panic: "500 people will die in the heatwave this weekend..." Really MET office, really??? I say we enjoy it whilst it lasts, though I'll admit the heat isn't very productive when you're at work!

Anywho, week 3 of the Pixar Polish Challenge has at least given me some respite from the sun, and I'm very pleased to show you the penultimate manicure of this humble challenge. So, readers, I present.....

WALL.E nails

What do you think? I'm pretty proud of these and I know it's going to be so hard to get rid of them :( Still, I have to remember that it's just a manicure and try not to get too emotionally involved. I'll definitely enjoy wearing them for the next few days, and have taken lots of pictures to prepare myself for when R-Day (removal day) inevitably rolls around.

Again, these took forever, but I'm very pleased with the outcome. I'd even be so bold to say that I think they're my favourite manicure to date! Woah.

So, before my nails were adorned with cute robots and suchlike, the base looked like this:

I actually really liked my nails looking like this on their own, and I reckon I'll have to sport this look minus robots in the future! To create this galaxy-esque background for WALL.E and co, I started by painting my nails black before sponging on a varitey of different purple, blue and silver hues. I also dotted on random sized white spots to create stars at the end of the manicure (they're missing in the above picture, though).

 I also took a few photos with my camera flash on, as I think the manicure looks cool and more space-like. I'm not usually a fan of using flash mode when photographing my nails, as you tend to get an unsightly glare that causes the picture to blur and obscure the finer details. For once, I don't think these shots turned out too badly!

 

So, that's week 3 done! As sad as I'll be when I say goodbye to these nails, we have almost reached the climax of this challenge! It seriously feels like I have waited a lifetime to do my Monsters University manicure, and I seriously can't wait to get started. I hope you all come back to see the grand finale!
 
Love,
Hannah x

P.S. Before you go, I have some news- my nail art is now on Instagram! I'm trying to figure out how to put a badge on my blog, but for now, you can find me here 

Feel free to follow if you want to see my nail art, but don't feel like reading long blog posts about them!

 
 

Up, Up and Away! Week 2 of the Pixar Polish Challenge.

Hey everyone!

So, it's time for the big reveal! It seems silly saying 'reveal' as I've pretty much given away the theme in the post title. However, for those of you who didn't catch on, week 2's 'Pixar Polish Challenge' is....

 

UP

 

 

 I'll admit that 'Up' isn't one of my top Pixar movies (though it is pretty good, love "Dug" the dog especially!), but I really liked the flying house and balloons and thought it would be fun to paint them on my nails. The individual balloons took ages to do, but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome overall! Carl in particular was very challenging, and I don't think nail-Carl bears a great deal of resemblance to movie-Carl. The glasses improve the situation a bit, but the facial features are a bit of a letdown! 

Anywho,that's week 2 done! Stay tuned for week 3...

Hannah x

To Infinity and Beyond! Introducing the Pixar Polish Challenge.

Hello everyone!

Once again, it has been a stupidly long time since I've blogged. However, you'll be pleased to hear my nail art has not followed the same irregular pattern, and I still do my designs every week without fail! 

So, before I explain the formalities of my self-created "Pixar Polish Challenge", it's time to once again play catch-up! Here's what's gone down these past 3 weeks or so...

Mr Men

I'm particularly proud of these ones as along with my 90's cartoon heroes nails featured in my last blog post, the lovely ladies at "Look" Magazine were once again kind enough to feature these on their Facebook page! 

 Paddington Bear

An adorable British Icon who loves duffle coats and marmalade sandwiches! I even went the extra mile and got a jar of marmalade out of the fridge to use as a prop. Yep. I am that dedicated! Or just incredibly strange.... I'll leave it up to you guys to decide!

 A tribute to Bowie

 A couple of weeks ago, I spent some quality time with my dad in London, and we visited the David Bowie exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. We queued for AGES to get in (FYI, it's totally worth it) and had I known we'd have to queue for that long, I could have done this manicure whilst I was waiting! Silly me for being prepared and doing it before I left the house.... ha! 

 Right, I think we're all caught up! Time to move on to the main event of this blog post. Without further adieu, readers, I am pleased to announce my participation in my very first nail-art challenge! 

Okay, so I'll admit that it's a self-created challenge, and not an 'official' one undertaken by more seasoned nail-bloggers. However, by setting myself this challenge, I''m hoping I'll feel a bit more initiated into the nail-blogging community. I'm still a newbie after all!

So, what is my self-created challenge all about? Firstly, I must tell you that it is one so formidable that I created a (very crude) 'logo' for it....

Yep. Very crude, isn't it? Sorry to have subjected you to the above, but my challenge needs a little self-promotion! What better way to cement it with than with a logo?

Crudeness aside, how did this challenge come into being? My reasoning is this. I am a HUGE Pixar fan and have pretty much been counting down the days until Monsters University is released here in the UK. To any of my American readers, I'm very jealous at the fact the movie would have been out for almost an entire month in the US before it hits theatre's on our side of the pond! Still, I just know the wait will be worth it, and to bide my time, I have set myself this nail art challenge! Basically for the next 4 weeks or so, I'll be doing 'Pixar' themed manicures, culminating in a Monsters University theme, which my fingernails will be sporting with pride when I go and see the film. 

So, are you ready to see week 1's efforts? 

Toy Story

These took FOREVER to do- think it was around 3 and-a-half hours! Still, the way I see it is that it's 3 and-a-half hours less waiting time until I get to see MU. Time-consuming matters aside, I loved doing these and was very sad to see them go.

I didn't have much time to mourn the demise of this design, though, as I had to press on with week 2! I've just finished it, but because I'm mean (or just tired, it's late here!) I'm going to leave this blog post there and keep you in suspense!


Until next time, readers, and remember: You've got a friend in me!

Hannah x