Nail Catch Up Part 2: Jan-June 2014

Following on from my previous post, here's some more of my nail art and discoveries from my year-long hiatus!

6. All the colours!

It's been a long long time...

...but Charbop is back!

About a year ago I wrote my last blog post fully intending to continue but unfortunately life got a little in the way and I had to take a hiatus until I finished the year at Uni. BUT I'm back with more nail art, more reviews, and more ramblings for your reading pleasure! 

Just because I've not been blogging doesn't mean the nail art has stopped and I will be catching you up on some of the best of what I've done over the past year! And of course 12 months is a long time so my nail and beauty collection may or may not have expanded ridiculously... >.> so enjoy a whole heap of reviews coming up in the next few weeks.

So that's about it really! As always I'd love to hear from you guys so leave comments and questions in the comments section below. I'd love to hear any tips, tricks, or nail art ideas you have so be my inspiration and come say hi :D

 

The Girliest Nails in the World... Vintage Rose Nail Art Part 3

Not that I'm obsessed with rose nails or anything... but here's another rose nail art post!

Previously I've shown you my blue and white look, and my shabby chic look, and now I present to you, the girliest nails in the world...

 Pink, purple, hearts, and flowers... 

I don't mean to gender stereotype but DAYUM that's girly!

This look was made in a similar fashion to my previous two, with the rose colours the same as in my shabby chic look, just over a lilac shade instead of blue. So you may be thinking why am I bothering to show you this? Well 3 things really...

Shabby Chic... Vintage Rose Nail Art Part 2

As promised in my last post on rose nail art, here is another vintage rose look with some different colours. This look was actually inspired by my favourite mug...

My kind of camouflage

I bought this mug from Asda around 2-3 years ago. As soon as I saw it I immediately fell in love. I love the shabby chic look and something about this combination of pastel blues and pinks really spoke to me. I thought it was about time, using my newfound knowledge of rose art, to translate this look to my nails!

Read on for more...

Roses Are Blue... Vintage Rose Nail Art Part 1

The other day I posted a little preview of my latest nailart love, roses. Inspired by the dress I wore for my boyfriend's graduation, a white dress with blue roses, I decided to finally try out rose pattern nails!

With summer in full swing, Britain engulfed in a glorious heat-wave, and the roses in full bloom, floral nail art seems perfectly fitting and is a beautifully adaptable way to bring some summer to your nails! Here's what I did with mine...

Try all the nails!

As I mentioned in my update earlier today, while I've been absent from this blog I've still been playing around with my nails quite a lot (especially when exam revision was getting too much...). Unfortunately I didn't get around to taking high quality photos of them, however as I'm a bit of an instagram addict I have plenty of photos on my phone of which to show you! So here's a little run down of what I've been up to :)

1. Pastel Gradient

 Featured: Limecrime 'Parfait Day', Rimmel Lycra Pro 

'Peppermint', and Models Own 'Mermaid Tears'

Unofficial Studio Ghibli Day... Totoro Nail Art Tutorial!

Guess who's back... 

Back again...

CharBop's back...

Tell a friend...

After some HELLISH exams I am back with a vengeance for a summer of nails, beauty reviews, and general musings! I'm going to start of this new spate of posts with something I'm loving at the moment - nail art. And this time, its a tutorial!

My best friends and I spent yesterday having a girly day of Studio Ghibli movies, nail art, facials, and oriental food. Inspired by this I decided to do nail art based on Studio Ghibli's signature movie - My Neighbour Totoro. (If you haven't heard of or seen it I suggest you google it ASAP.)

 

Charbop signing off... but one request before I go!

Hey guys!

As you may have gathered from recent blog posts, I begin my 4th year exams in less than a week and as such I'm going to have to go on blog hiatus until after they finish on June 13th :( Hopefully I've left you plenty to check out so have a look at some of my nail art tips, beauty reviews, and other general musings while I'm gone! 

In the meantime I need your help...

It's so hot I'm melting! Dripping nail art...

Inspired by the sweltering recent (and probably brief) appearance of British summer, the end of my hospital placements for the year, and the arrival of my new dotting tools, I decided to make my last nail art (and thus my last blog post) before exams melt before your very eyes!

Intrigued? Find out more... :)

To Boldly Go.... Galaxy Nail Art Part 2

So yesterday I decided to try out galaxy inspired nail art and gave you guys some tips on how to create the look as best you can...

As the day went on and the sunlight began to fade I noticed the shading becoming less and less noticeable, and by the end of the day when I was just in artificial light you couldn't even see the detail any more :(

I thought I could just deal with it but when I woke up this morning I just wasn't happy with the results and decided to follow my own advice from yesterday to redo my nails properly! Quite aptly watching Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country, I went ahead and did my nails again, this time using lighter and more shimmer shades, as well as adding large glitter "stars".

Here are the results...

To infinity and beyond! Galaxy nail art...

Yeah so I said I wasn't going to be doing any more nail art until after my exams... but it's just too tempting! It's Spring Bank holiday so I have until Thursday before I'm on a hospital ward again, and I thought what better way to spend a revision break than painting my nails? Et voila - galaxy nails!

Now with added sparkle...

Intrigued? Find out more... :)

Water marbling... My first triumph!

I AM CHARBOP, MASTER OF NAILS, CONQUEROR OF WATER MARBLING!

Ahem... But seriously after numerous failed (and very messy) attempts, when I finally got it right I felt like master of the universe! 

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who's looked at all the beautifully crafted marble-art nails on Blogger and Youtube and thought "that doesn't look so hard", only to be horribly surprised by how badly it can go wrong. I'm sure I'm also not the only one who has been massively disheartened when it  did go wrong and written water marbling off as one of those things only doable by artistic gods.

However...

With a little bit of patience and a few tips I picked up along the way I finally cracked it! Now there's already a load of tutorials out there so I'm not going to add to them, but what I will do is show you the results of my attempt followed by the tips that helped me succeed :)

Nail Polish Review - Models Own 'Grape Juice'

I realise it's not been very long since I last reviewed a nail polish, but as I'm back in clinical practice from Tuesday I won't be able to wear nail polish except on weekends, also I'm going out tomorrow evening, so I'm making the most of it while I can!

I present to you...

Models Own - 'Grape Juice'

Essie 'Muchi Muchi'... Update!

3 days in and still going strong ;)

Damn I love this nail polish!

Nail Polish Review - Essie 'Muchi Muchi'

Today I'm going to be looking at...

'Muchi Muchi' by Essie

Essie have been going since 1981 and have established a solid reputation for quality - being favoured by Queen Elizabeth herself! Their maHOOsive range of colours just can't be found anywhere else and that alone is enough to make me drool over their shelves...

Last week I lost my Essie virginity after making the most of Boots' current 3 for 2 make-up offer. I've been looking for the perfect pastel pink for ages and after trying shades from Topshop, Limecrime, and Model's Own that just did not compliment my skin tone I finally found a friend in 'Muchi Muchi'!

Nail Polish Review - Models Own 'Indian Ocean'

So what better way to start a blog than with a nail polish review!

I'm going to start by reviewing my most recent purchase, and a shade I've been trying to get hold of for ages... 'Indian Ocean' from Models Own's Beetlejuice collection.

Greetings Earthlings!

And welcome to my blog :)

My name is Charmian but you can call me CharBop. After years of mindlessly reblogging picture upon picture on my Tumblr blog, and after some encouragement from friends, I thought it was about time I started a proper blog! 

Here you will find a whole heap of things, from photography to nailpolish, music to the super nerdy, fashion and make-up to the weird and wonderful, as well as general musings and topics for discussion. 

I hope you enjoy the ride :)