31 Post Challenge 6-Last Random Act of Kindness

I love the whole idea of random acts of kindness-making someone's day a little brighter with something you did is wonderful, and I try and do them whenever I can. I can't really afford much right now so I'm sticking with the simpler things.

For my last random act of kindness I left a code for two free Graze boxes on a train. For those of you who don't know what Graze is, it's a service which delivers amazing healthy snacks to your door-the idea being that you can 'graze' on them to your heart's content and it's better for you than eating more traditional snacks like chocolate or crisps. They have a lot of choice of foods and they're all really tasty! In my Spring box I got a voucher for 2 free boxes and didn't know who to give it to-so I left it on a train as a random act of kindness to whoever found it.

Please excuse the quality of my phone photos!

I also have a stash of what I like to call "positive post-its"-post it notes with positive sayings on them-which I randomly put around places. I found one of these myself once, and I still carry it around in my purse with me because at the time I really needed something nice to cling on to as I was having a pretty awful time of everything. I like to hope that it might make someone feel a little better and brighten their day a bit when they find one of mine.

As one last ROAK, here's my graze code, so that any of you UK ladies who want to try out this fantastic service can get their first box absolutely free: 5K4VLXW
Just go to https://www.graze.com/uk and click on 'promotion or gift code' then enter it in to the box. You can cancel it at any time, so you won't have to buy any boxes if you don't want to, and they also deliver to work places too!

~Nail Art Novice~


Please note this post has not been sponsored or endorsed in any way by Graze or anyone associated with it, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Find the other 31BPC posts here:
One, Two, Three, Four, Five

More Easter Nail Art!

Rara's back today with another awesome Easter/Spring inspired nail art. Yes I know it's been and gone, but is that any reason to stop wearing awesome things on your nails?

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Hi again! I'm back with my second Easter nail art and for this one I decided I'd use several different ideas-Easter eggs, a chick, a rabbit and a butterfly.
I used this rather impressive array of polishes:
Avon-Inspire, Avon-Orchid Splash, Avon-Red Reveal, Barry M-Matt White, Barry M Gelly-Watermelon, Barry M-Pink Flamingo, Barry M Textured-Atlantic Road, Andrea Fulerton Dot and Flick-Black and a green nail art pen I got from Ebay a while ago.
These were my results:

I'm not as enamoured with the chick and the rabbit as I was last time but I still think they turned out OK! The butterfly was hard to do but turned out pretty well in the end. I have, however, realised I need a baby/sky blue that isn't textured...oh no, that means I need to go nail polish shopping, how awful for me! [Novice- I said she was a bad influence on me, didn't I!]

Also my (not-so) little sister wanted her nails doing too so I whipped up another spring-themed mani for her on her tiny nubbins!

I used Avon-Orchid Splash, Barry M-Matt White, Andrea Fulerton Dot and Flick-Black and the same green nail art pen to do some rabbits:

I will admit that it was really hard to do such tiny faces so some of them do look a bit cross or worried, and I never realised how difficult it was to paint someone else's nails! I think they turned out pretty well though.

This concludes my Easter eggstravaganza (Sorry...), I hope you all had a good one and that the Easter bunny visited your house and left you lots of scrummy treats!

Until next time, 

~Rara~

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Oh dear, that was a terrible pun! That aside, I really like these nails, especially that they're so detailed because they're tiny! I'm impressed at least. And I love the worried rabbits!

Big thanks to Rara for these posts, and I'll be back at the weekend with some blog post challenges, and hopefully a new mani if I get time. Otherwise I'll see you on Tuesday!

~Nail Art Novice~

Bonus Post!

Just a quick one for you-I managed to squeeze in this quick fishtail mani (I still love them) in the small amount of time I had at home yesterday. This was attempt two, the first one wouldn't work because two of the colours were too sheer, so they will have to come out another day. Also, Sheffield has been hard on my nails, I've lost both thumbs plus my left index and middle fingers so I have teeny nubbins again at the moment!

Polishes: Rimmel Lycra Pro-Aqua Cool (Not a clue why this lovely shade of periwinkle is called 'Aqua' but there you go), Revlon Top Speed-Hazy and Barry M-Greenberry

Oh and I cleaned up. I cleaned up FOR HOURS. I spent longer cleaning up than I did doing the actual mani, and in the end I got cross and left it like this. I hate cleaning up, it's the worst. Just so that's out there.

OK, that's all for now, I've got another mani from Rara coming up soon and I'll (hopefully) be back at the weekend.

~Nail Art Novice~

TAG, You're It!

Heh, I'm such a child sometimes...
Anyway, what the title of this post refers to is the fact that I've been tagged by Megan of Megan Box Nails to answer the Beauty Blogger questions (read her answers here) that are going around at the moment and I  thought this would be kinda fun-if nothing else because I love finding out new things from my favourite bloggers and love to share too.

1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?
Straight as a poker-which I'm fairly glad about really! Much as it's sometimes annoying because it won't hold a curl because it's so heavy, I'm glad I don't have to anything to it except brush it and it looks OK-if I had to straighten it every day I'd basically have rubbish looking hair all the time because I wouldn't bother!

2. What is your natural hair colour?
What it is now. All my life I've been determined that it was blonde, but now I think I'm definitely more towards the brunette end of the scale, sadly. It used to be this beautiful golden colour, especially in summer, but now it's definitely 'dark blonde' at best.

3. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?
I used to dye it myself, I had a coloured streak in either side for about 5 years-and they've been every colour of the rainbow at one point or another. Now I've let it lapse because I decided that it probably wouldn't help me looking for work after I graduated.

4. Do you wear the same style every day or do you change it?
I have 3-4 styles that I go between-down, half up, pony tail, high ponytail (which is usually for days when I haven't been bothered to wash it and want it up and out of the way). Not very interesting but it does change slightly every day unless I'm being lazy, then it's just a ponytail.

5. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?
I've been to a salon for a mani once and that was for my year 11 prom (when I was 16). I don't see the point in paying out when I can do lots of fun designs myself, plus I've got alllll this lovely polish lol.

6. How often do you change your nail polish?
Depending on how much I love it and how well it lasts about 2-4 times a week.

7. Do you polish your toes in winter or just in the summer?
Winter too! I have a thing about toenails-I think if you're going to have them on show they need to be nicely polished, this includes just wandering around the house in bare feet. Plus mine are so manky after years of being coloured that it's much nicer to look down and see pretty colours! (I only change them about once every couple of months though)

8. How long does it take for you to put on your make-up?
Too long! I've never had much practice and I don't wear it every day so if I'm doing a full face for a special occasion probably 30-45 minutes! If I'm just doing my "every day" make-up it's just mascara so about a minute!

9. What do you do first, face or eyes?
Face. Although I should probably do eyes first because I haven't mastered the art of not spilling eyeshadow onto my cheeks and ruining the foundation!

10. Do you collect make-up or just buy what you need when you need it?
A bit of both? I don't buy it regularly at all, but I'm also terrible for throwing it away when it gets old so I just keep it forever. I don't think I've ever used something up (apart from mascara!)

11. How often do you wear false eyelashes?
I've only ever worn them once, for a show. They looked amazing but I have NO idea how to apply them myself.

12. Do you do a full face of make-up every day?
HA. No!! I mean half the time I don't even get dressed (being unemployed sucks) let alone get around to make-up. Then if I do go out I forget or can't be bothered or just don't want to. And if I do wear anything at all it's only some mascara because I've got really long eyelashes but they're quite pale so I like to show them up. (And even then I usually end up rubbing my eyes and smudging it down my face)

13. Do you wear make-up when you are home alone or with family?
Nooooooope!

14. Will you leave the house without make-up?
Yeah, it's not even a conscious choice.

15. How many high-end products do you have?
I have a Clinique foundation (purely because it's the one my mother uses and she bought it for me) and some Clarins perfume (duty free) and that's it! I resent paying more than a fiver for mascara, let alone forking out for expensive stuff I'm never going to wear!

16. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you're getting dressed?
FYI whenever I see the letters 'OOTD' together I imagine one of these (coz they're OODS):

[Source]

I don't really have much to plan though, it's usually jeans and a T-shirt or occasionally a miniskirt and a T-shirt. I still pick it out the night before, just because I am actually a zombie first thing in the morning and can't function as a normal human being, but I wouldn't say much effort goes into it!

17. How often do you change your handbag?

I only have one actual handbag and that's for going out. Otherwise I use canvas totes and I change them around when I get bored-every couple of months or so!

18. What time do you get up and go to sleep?

TOO LATE for both. I'm a terrible sleeper and also terrible at hearing my alarms.

19. How often or when do you work out?

Ha. Sometimes I run up the two flights of stairs to my bedroom?

20. Left-handed or right-handed?

Right. Although I do use my left for a lot of random things which apparently is weird.

21. How tall are you?

5 ft 6 and a half. I've been measured a lot at various hospital appointments. One time I went up to 5 ft 7, but I think that was an over calculation.

22. Do you speak a foreign language?

Nope, not a jot! I can do basic sign language and say 'My name is Jenni' in French and German, that's about it.

23. How many pets do you have?
One grumpy cat, and his fleas.

24. How often are you on Blogger?
Every day! I love checking my feed to see what fab nail art has been posted in my absence. Plus I have two blogs so between them I have something to do most days.

25. Do you read comments on blogs?
On mine? Yeah, all of them, I love getting them. I also usually sign up to get emails from blogs I've commented on too.

26. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?
Sort of, in my head at least-there's not all that many. If I'm going to buy something new I'll always look for recommendations (or swatches in the case of polishes) from bloggers first!

27. How did you come up with your blog name?
Quite simply because that's what I am! Honestly I thought that when I tried to get 'Nail Art Novice' as a name on Blogger that it would already be taken! I'm constantly amazed to find it's available on nearly every platform that I've tried, I really thought it wasn't that original!

28. What kind of camera do you use for photographs?
Nikon Coolpix S3300-just a simple digital camera. I bought it with my Xmas money, hence why I started my blog this January, my old camera would have produced appalling photos!

29. How often do you clean your house?
I live with my parents so I don't have to do it all! I'm constantly in the process of tidying/sorting/cleaning my room though, it's full of stuff that dates back about 10 years that I'm slooooowly getting rid of.

30. What is your favourite colour?
I love green! Especially vivid bright Emerald green and dusky tealy turquoisey blue ones.

31. Do you swear?
Not deliberately, but occasionally I find one slipping out. Also if I do something ridiculous then yes, you can't beat a good 'BOLLOCKS' sometimes. Apart from that, I almost certainly won't be swearing on this blog!

32. What are you doing with the rest of your day?
Well I'm scheduling this ahead of time so I'm not 100% sure! I'm aiming to get this up on Wednesday so I  will be working at my friend's Dad's factory, visiting the Job centre (hurrah...not) and then going to a Walk Off The Earth gig with my friend, which I'm really excited about!

Ooh and I have to tag people too don't I? (Aka randomly pick from my followers...)
1. Becca from Horcrux Nails
2. Jessie from Nailed it NZ
3. Sarah from Mint Nails
4. Jennifer from Jennibertt's Nails (who has an excellent name, don't you think? =p)
5. Rebecca from Polish Etc

I won't be offended if you don't have time/don't want to to do it though ladies!

~Nail Art Novice~

Bluffy Funnies

As I mentioned the other day, this week I'm separated from my polishes so will be unable to post, so Rara is filling in for me with her excellent Easter inspired manis! As it's Tuesday and I would normally 'Try Something', here's a post featuring something new to this blog:

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Hello again!
Hope that you all had a good Easter and enjoyed the extended weekend (if you're in the UK, at least!)
This was my first easter mani.
I used the following polishes: Avon-Inspire, Avon-Sea Breeze, Avon-Orchid Splash, Barry M-Matt White and Andrea Fulerton Dot and Flick in Black.
I also used some yellow and white flocking powder from Ebay-I got a really good deal-16 colours for under £4! (Think it was this listing)
I wanted a cutesy design for this mani so I thought I would go with fluffy chicks and rabbits-literally!

I love the rabbit on my thumb!
I painted the rabbit head and ears/chick head and added the fluff on top using tweezers and then flattened it all down using a nail art brush. I then used the Dot and Flick to paint on the details. The fluff felt a bit strange at first but I soon got used to it-in fact I couldn't stop stroking it!! The only downside was that where I work I have to handle a lot of money and the fluff soon got dirty and started to look a bit grey =(
But all in all I would definitely recommend flocking powder to anyone who doesn't mind strange textures (unlike Novice, the big weirdo)

I'll see you next time, 

~Rara~

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Yeah, I can take being called a weirdo, I guess, in return for this adorable fluffy nail art!