Hello there lovelies,

French manicures have been taking my fancy a bit this week, however I didn't want to stick to a plain and simple french. Delving around in my nail drawers I fished out my nail fimo canes (bought from ebay) that I haven't used for aaaaaages, thought they might make a cute addition to a regular french. Then I got carried away adding pearls and glitter. I set out unsure what I was going to do with my nails but on this occasion it seems improvisation turned out well for me.

Here's a little step by step of how I created these nails :)

-Firstly I added O.P.I Nail Envy base coat which is my go to base coat

- I then added two coats of natural nail colour which was one out of a ted baker set I received as a gift last christmas

-Next I painted on the white tips using a Sally Hansen french tips polish

- I then sliced some fimo canes as thin as I could manage so that they weren't too bulky, and applied these to my thumb and ring finger using a clear nail polish

- Then I decided to add some pearls to the mix, just dotting a few around the area of the fimo using the pointy end of a wooden orange stick

- Finally I added some silver glitter of the tips of my nails that didn't have any nail art on to jazz them up a little.

And voila, seal everything with a top coat once it's all dried and you're done. I'm not too confident these nails will last a week like they usually do due to all the nobbly bobbly bits but I think they look really pretty and I might experiment with french tips more often.

Here is an unedited picture so you can see how pearly the nails are.

I hope you like them :)

Dream Catcher Nails | KatieLewLa

Isn't Pinterest a wonderful thing? I find so much inspiration on there when I'm lacking in the creativity department which is most days recently. Dream Catcher nails have been 'Catching' my eye for quite a while now but I've never found the confidence to give them a whirl. Well, yesterday I was feeling like perking myself up a bit with some nice nails, and decided to have a crack at them.  I was opting for a pretty boring, sensible colour until my Dad entered the room and insisted on Lime Green, so we went with it. I used two coats of 'Did it on em' polish from the O.P.I Nicki Minaj Collection which is a lovely fresh Lime Green colour and then I drew the Dream Catchers on with a fine brown Sharpie pen. I love using Sharpies to draw nail art, I find it so much easier than trying to use runny nail polish, I end up just making a mess. Voila, my dream catcher nail, easy peasy and didn't take too much faffing about. I really like them. I'd love to see some of your designs using a Sharpie, I'm forever looking for new ideas. Please add any links you have to sharpie nails in the comments and I'll be sure to have a nose :) Hope you enjoy

A little explanation | I'm back | KatieLewLa

  Hello all, I have some explaining to do, but I'm back..... with a vengeance! As I'm sure some of you have been aware, for the last 2 years I've been studying a Masters at uni. In my first year things weren't too difficult to manage and I could still find time for blogging. During my second year I tried really hard but found myself struggling to find the time to write posts for my lovely readers. It got to a point where all of my spare time was consumed writing essays and planning work experience and my little blog was put on the back burner. This made me very sad actually, I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with all of you, through my blog and also through #bbloggers on twitter but I knew that it wouldn't be forever and there would be light at the end of the tunnel. I'm pleased to tell you I've found the light. My masters is complete, I am awaiting final results which fingers crossed will come back positive and make me a very happy girl indeed. I am overwhelmingly pleased that my followers have hung on and haven't removed me from their feeds due to lack of posting, I promise I'm going to make it up to you all and remove the unwelcome cobwebs hanging around on Katie Lew La! Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to fill you in on some products I have been enjoying using during our time apart, as well as a few lifestyle posts on how I've coped throughout my studies, balancing those things that are important. Please do let me know if there is anything in particular you would like me to cover, I'd be happy to help. Until then, enjoy my series of reviews on scrummy products that I can't get enough of.

TRESemme Keratin Smooth Heat Protection Spray Review | KatieLewLa

Howdyyyyy :)

Today's little review will be on a product I've been using for quite a while now and that is the TRESemme Keratin Smooth Heat Protection shine spray.

You know those products that you use pretty much religiously every time you wash your hair and you sort of look past them? Well this is one of those. I've used this after washing my hair for the last few months and really didn't consider how useful it is. We all know how essential it is to use a good heat protector. In the past I've had a love/hate relationship with them because I often find they make my hair feel greasy or sticky, however still I continue to use them because I know how important it is to protect hair from heat. 
I saw a blogger recommend this budget buy a few months ago and have been using it ever since with no stickiness whatsoever! As far as heat protectants go I'd say it's pretty darn pleasing. It has a nice fresh scent similar to all the TRESemme products and one thing I love is that when spraying onto wet hair I find it helps to detangle my fine tresses. I have a real problem with tangly wet hair so having something with two uses is brilliant! I would also agree with the statement that it adds shine. Those of you with coloured blonde hair I'm sure will agree that shine is something that rarely happens, but using this does seem to add more of a shine than usual for me. It's really difficult to test whether or not it lives up to it's heat protecting properties although people do tell me that my hair is looking in great condition recently so I guess that's a bonus. Heat doesn't appear to be doing any visible damage to my hair :) All in all I would definitely recommend this as a budget essential. I will most certainly be repurchasing it when it runs out as for me it does the job!

NOTW- Black Glitter and Stars | KatieLewLa

Well good afternooooon!

My nails have had a serious lack of attention recently. I got into such a good routine of painting them weekly but I literally just have not had time to squeeze them in. Grrrrrrr! Between work, uni, placement and life in general my blogging regime has really taken a back seat which makes me really sad, although I'm trying my best to fit it in between where ever I can. 

Anyway, yippee I managed to squeeze in painting my nails this week. Granted they were super quick and done in about 15/20 minutes, but still I feel they turned out quite alright do you?

 I picked this nifty little pack of gems up from primark a few weeks ago for just £1. Who even knew that primark sold nail art items? I certainly didn't. I was chuffed to pieces and shall be looking in there again to see if I can grab some more nail art bargains. I mainly fancied using the stars but I'm sure I'll find use for the others.

These nails were inspired by bonfire night. The glittery colour and stars remind me of all the lovely fireworks I've been seeing. The nail polish I used was just two coats of OPI 'On her majesty's secret service' which I do believe is from the 'Skyfall' Collection. Its a lovely glittery black colour that isn't really done justice in the photos. It really is full of beautiful colours in the specks of glitter.

Let me know what you think to these simple and super quick nails. The next few nail art posts might also be super quick nails for those who haven't got much time on their hands (mwahahahaha pun intended).