Halloween Nails

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Last year, I went all out with Halloween, outfit, nails, the lot. This year I have neglected Halloween a bit due to my busy schedule, but I couldn't resist looking at a few nails online. Last year I did pumpkin halloween nails however last year I was still at uni so this was acceptable. This year I spent my Halloween in client meetings so had to stick with a plan nude, no pumpkin nails this year for me.

I am going to share with you some of my favourite halloween nail art I have found online when researching. I LOVE nail art and have previously done penguin nails which I will show you at the end of the blog. I always have my nails painted, regardless. I normally go for purply and pinky shades, but at the moment I am loving nude shades. I am currently wearing a muddy nude/brown colour and it goes with everything. I also love bold colours such a minty green as they can really stand out from an outfit.

In the Halloween season, these are some of my favourite nail designs:

Let me know which one these nail art's are your favourite and which you would try. Also if you have tried any before let me know, I tried pumpkins last year, but I love the skeleton and fake blood effect. These type of nails would only be suitable on Halloween however, and I do not recommend these for everyday nail. Unless you like fake blood and skeletons of course.

Penguin Nails

As I said earlier in the post, I have painted my nails like penguins before. I also did this last year and have now done this twice as it was such a massive hit with people. I love penguins and when I found out how to paint my nails like them I was super excited. They did look really good, but the only thing was the time it took. Obviously as you all know nails can take a while to do well, and my worst pet hate is when nails smudge. 

The penguin nails were done in about 5 stages and each stage the varnish had to be completely dry because I was painting white on black. In total the nails took about 4 hours to do, but the result is really good.

These nail's weren't stick on and a lot of people thought they were fake but I promise you I did them myself. The black varnish went on first and then I painted half my nail with white nail varnish and filled in the rest with a hair grip of orange, white and black to make the features of the penguin. See the final outcome below:

If you would like I can do a blog post on how to get these penguin nails looks and the stages of me doing it, let me know if this is something you would like to see and I would be happy to do it. Plus it gives me a chance to do my nails again.

So, I hope you enjoyed this post and have a great halloween whatever your plans!

Cya x

Banksy- New York

I am a huge fan of Banksy, I love his work, and I love the fact his identity is kept a mystery. I think it's fascinating that no body knows who he is, and wonder how much longer he will remain unmasked. There are many theories out there to who is he is and one has come out very recently actually if you are keeping up to date with his latest antics in New York.

If you aren't aware, Banksy has taken over New York during October, hosting an open air exhibition entitled 'Better Out Than In.' He is attempting a piece a day and many pieces around the city have already been spotted and captured. However what I find shocking is that most of the pieces have already been vandalised. I find this very disrespectful and have watched the video of graffiti artist named 'Omar' ruining the recent ballon piece Banksy has created. The footage was captured, and rightfully there is a huge backlash against this jealous artist. As well as this, many of his pieces in New York have also been vandalised and the majority of them have been ruined.

Of course this is expected and Banksy openly admits he knows he is hated by other artists, but I find it so disrespectful. It is ruining it for other people who would like to see his work and does not do anything for the person who is defacing it, you are coming across as jealous. So just stop.

On the other hand people are saying that Banksy would love the interaction, many artists are now getting involved and the walls are so full surrounding his pieces, the original graffiti is barely recognisable. As not much is revealed about Banksy, is it unable to know his thoughts on this. Personally I think it is inevitable this will happen because he puts his work so openly to the public, and there are no rules to stop this, I just think artists should show respect for each other. Which are the moment, they really aren't.

ANYWAY, enough of my rant. Below I will be sharing with you some of the Banksy pieces which have been seen and captured in New York City.


Sirens of the Lambs
This first video I am going to share with you is Banksy stunt entitled 'Sirens of the Lambs.' It is a stunt in which stuffed animals are driven round in a slaughtering van around the city and parked outside a butchers. It is a very shocking statement, and you can see children are horrified in the video. The stuffed animals are actually seen to be moving so may be motorised, which is quite scary in itself and could give children the impression this is real.

This is very controversial by Banksy, but that is his style and it certainly gets the message across. It has got a huge amount of media coverage and this video has been viewed over 3 million views on YouTube.

Selling his Art

Another Banksy stunt which has got huge coverage is him selling his orginal pieces for only $60 in Central Park. His pieces are usually worth hundreds of thousands of dollars so for the people that actually bought them from the vender, they must have got a very big shock.

The seller is not Banksy (well we don't know that) and the stall seems to the public to be knock off Banksy work, with only a selection of people looking or purchasing the pieces. After it was revealed they were actually Banksy pieces, many people were kicking themselves they did not buy the pieces and had walked past without a second look. A very clever stunt by Banksy. This video has over 4 million views on YouTube now. How weird would it be to see yourself walking past ignoring it. Well done to the people who bought the pieces, you are now very lucky indeed. 

Below are some of his other pieces he has done in New York this month. I will be updating you with any more of his work I find interesting later on in the month. Hope you enjoy! x

Cya x

Decorative Accessories For The Home

Hello lovelies,

I am a massive lover of decorative accessories, especially for the home. Little ornaments such as wall art, birdcages, pretty photo frames, candles and especially artificial flowers. I could spend hours in the home section of stores such as Next or Dunelm Mill just browsing, but most probably will end up buying something I don't need.

I went on a little shopping spree this weekend and decided to get lots of lovely things for my flat. I hadn't put anything on the walls yet and really wanted to so did a lot of research prior online to try and pick out the best wall art. I think you have to be very careful with wall art, firstly that it will go with everything else in the room and match the decor, and that the piece isn't too busy and distracting, to me wall art is meant to compliment the room, not take away from it.

In this post will be showing you pieces I bought this weekend, as well as other cute decor in my flat.

I am firstly going to show you the new wall art I bought. Now I am getting a larger, purple canvas for my bedroom but that hasn't been ordered yet as I'd like to see it in the shop before I purchase it, but can't seem to find it anywhere apart from online. This piece is from Debenhams and is a beautiful purple piece with 5 flowers which will scale across my bedroom wall. I will hopefully be ordering this piece this week. If you want to check it out click HERE. The first wall canvas' I am going to show you are in my living room and are from Next. The room colour scheme is purples/pinks/creams, so these fit perfectly.

I had originally seen these canvas' online for £70 and loved the design, but the price put me off. However, going into the store they were marked as £30, so I immediately grabbed them and got them. They are still marked up as £70 online, but in store I got both for £30, bargin! I have pink/purple curtains and am hoping to get the dusty pink rug from Next, so these images will suit my colour scheme perfectly. You can find these canvas' HERE and the rug I would like can be found HERE.

The second piece of wall art I got was for my bedroom. As I have already said I am looking to get the larger canvas for my other bedroom wall. This canvas is grey which matches my bedroom colour scheme. My duvet covers are a very dark purple and busy design, therefore I wanted the wall art to be very simplistic and plain, but still pretty. I settled on a set of 3 canvas' from The Range. The canvas' are 3 lilies on a grey background, they are very simple but still decorative. These were the hardest to hang because they all had to be the right size and height. Unfortunately I can't link you to this on the website as it is no longer there as of yesterday, but there is a photo below for you.

The last piece of wall art I purchased was initially intended for the bedroom, however it looks better in the hall and I am so pleased I put it here as it fits perfectly and every time I walk past it I love it more and more. I had not actually seen this online, so it was not on my list when I was shopping, but it caught my eye in Wilkinson and the colour scheme matched my flat well, so I just had to get it.

As well as wall art, I also got some photo frames and a candle I had seen online, the cream photo frames and the candle are from Next Home and the silver photo frame is from Wilkinson. I like the silver photo frame as it is quite quirky and stands out as opposed to a blank frame. The Next frames are a bit plainer, but they are so pretty and I couldn't say not to them. I have not filled these frames yet, but will very soon! To find the Next frames click HERE and to see the Wilkinson frame click HERE. The candle featured in the photo was also from Next and is HERE. See all items in the images directly below.

My purple bowl originally had various items in it, including stationary and hair stuff, however I wanted to make it prettier and more decorative so also bought a box of potpourri in Wilkinson, which smells amazing and was purple, pink and cream so have filled the bowl with this. It looks so much better and my room now smells of roses every time I walk into it. The Potpourri can be found HERE.

I also got some new cushion covers to match my curtains & new rug I will hopefully be getting. The cushion covers were from Dunelm Mill and were £6.99 each. If you would like to see or purchase these cushions click HERE.

As well as these new purchases, I already have some decorate items around my flat which I will show you below. I am a big fan of artificial flowers, as you will see and I love slogan plaques! I am still mid decorating my Flat and still want to buy a lot more to decorate but I'm so happy with how it's coming along at the moment. Below are some photos of my flat currently and the accessories I have in it.

If you would like to know where you can purchase or see any of the items above, please feel free to contact me and ask me where I got them from. I love scoping out decorative items for the home and hope you enjoyed this blog post! x

Cya x

Office Interior Design

I recently tweeted about this subject as I find interior design fascinating and believe a well designed office can boost inspiration and imagination. My office is currently going through some renovations so I was researching into some interesting office designs and stumbled on some amazing ones! Some of the creative agencies around the world have the best interior design I have ever seen, so I thought I would share some of my favourites with you.

The way they are designed and the thought process that must have gone behind them is amazing, I would love the be inside the designers mind. Most of my examples are advertising agencies. I would personally love to work somewhere that was designed somewhere like this, I think it would boost my creativity, I could just look up at the ceiling and an idea could pop into my head. I also think a nice office makes a better working place, and therefore you will enjoy coming to work even more. If you don't already enjoy going to work, maybe you are in the wrong career! I know it is not everyone's cup of tea but I would always be in amazement and never want to leave the office! Below are some of my favourite examples I have found of office designs around the world. Hope you enjoy them!

Google Headquarters London

Google Headquarters London

JWT Amsterdam

NPIRE Germany

BS2H

Jakarta Advertising

Mother London

Leo Burnett 

TBWA New York

These are some of my favourites but I'm sure there are plenty more out there so if you see any make sure to Tweet me or leave me a comment with your favourites.

Cya x