one lovely blog award

Thank you very much to Cute Berry who has nominated me for the Liebster Award! I absolutely love her blog so it was a great compliment to receive the award from her. Plus she sent the nomination on the day when I re-sprained my ankle so it really cheered me up when I saw it!

I have also recently been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award and the One Lovely Blog Award (both for the second time) by the Nailinator and Brijit’s Digits, so thank you very much for those nominations too! Again, both bloggers I really admire for their gorgeous designs! I’m so excited that people actually read this blog let alone like it enough to nominate me for awards!

I’m going to focus on the Liebster Award for this post as I’ve already received the other two awards and posted about them.

Here are the rules:
The recipient must post 11 fun facts about themselves
The recipient must also answer 11 questions created by the award giver
The recipient must give the award to 11 new bloggers with less than 200 followers and post 11 questions for them to answer
These 11 bloggers must be told they have been given the award
They will in turn pass the award on to 11 new bloggers of their choice (no tagging back the award giver)

Here are my fun facts:

1. I love running but have recently had several injuries and haven’t been able to run. 😣
2. The place I most want to travel to is Morocco.
3. I like drinking tea – all kinds of tea (except chamomile)
4. Using the telephone makes me nervous.
5. My favourite piece of jewellery is a white gold necklace my mum gave me when I graduated from my first degree.
6. I can’t sing but rather enjoyed going to karaoke when I lived in Japan.
7. My favourite place I’ve ever visited is the state of Oaxaca in Mexico.
8. I love Italian food.
9. My best ever Halloween costume was Poison Ivy.
10. I have tons of stuff and I’m a bit of a hoarder, but I can’t think of a single thing i own that I couldn’t live without…
11. I enjoy watching TV series but I’m not a big movie person. Short attention span.

Here are the questions that Cute Berry gave me:

What is your favourite nail polish brand?
I don’t really have a favourite. I love OPI’s range of colours but it’s just so expensive here in Spain. I also love Nails Inc and have a lot of their polishes.

What is the worst nail polish mishap you’ve ever had?
Nothing very dramatic. Mainly mishaps of the spending hours and hours on a design only to fall asleep before its fully dried and wake up the next day with a sludgy mess on one or two nails variety.

When you break a nail, do you cut them all short or do you keep them long?
It depends how bad the break is. I like my nails to look even, so usually I’d cut them all down.

What nail trends do you like?
I like all these textured nails – caviar, leather, velvet etc although I haven’t really tried any of them yet – they’re all on my to do list, but I’m waiting for the right occasion.

What is your favourite nail art design to do on your own nails?
I love sponging and gradients – they always make me feel happy! I’ve recently discovered water marbling and will be doing a lot more of it in future!

Do you wear unusual nail colours to work?
Yes, I do! I’m an ESL teacher and the kids, teens and adults i teach all love my nails – they make a great conversation topic in my teenage girls’ classes!

Which celebrity manicure do you like the most?
I’m not that interested in celebrity fashion and beauty, but even I can’t ignore Lady Gaga and how she pushes fashion and beauty to extremes, including her nail art.

Who is your favourite nail polish blogger, or your biggest nail polish inspiration?
This has to be the most difficult question! there are so many bloggers I love out there, but I’d have to list Polish Alcoholic as one of my all time favourites – there’s very little that she does to her nails that doesn’t make me go “wow!”

What nail trend do you refuse to try?
I don’t think I’d ever try the crazy 3D Japanese nail art (despite living in Japan for 3 years). I’m a practical kinda girl and all those jewels and bits of fimo and plastic toys dangling from your nails can’t make day to day tasks like writing or doing the washing up easy..

Show a picture of your best manicure ever!
Difficult to know what to pick here! This one got a lot of likes and I was really pleased with the result:

Would you like to do nails professionally or own a salon?
No. This is just a hobby for me – it’s relaxing and if I had to do it as a job it would lose that destressing factor which I enjoy so much.

My questions for my nominees:
1. What nail polish makes you feel happiest?
2. What products do you use to take care of you nails and hands?
3. What would you prefer to spend your money on: one high quality brand nail polish or several cheap polishes?
4. Do you ever do nail art or manicures on your friends’ nails, or only ever on your own?
5. Are there any techniques you really want to try but haven’t done yet?
6. How do you photograph your manicures?
7. What has been your greatest nail achievement so far?
8. How often do you change your manicure?
9. Do you paint your toenails too?
10. What nail art tool is your favourite to use?
11. What would you wear on your nails if you were having a winter wedding in the snow? (serious question – I need inspiration!)

My nominations:

Confessions of a Swatchaholic

Thank you so much to xsarahspeaksx for nominating me for this award. It was such a surprise to be nominated for another award after getting my first just a couple of weeks ago! Sarah covers all kinds of things on her blog including fashion (love her cute outfits!) and nail art.

The rules for the award are as follows:

Thank the person who nominated you
Add the “One Lovely Blog Award” image to your post
Share 7 things about you
Pass the award on to seven nominees
Include this set of rules
Inform your nominees by posting a comment on their blogs

Here are my nominations. (I wanted to choose different people from the last award I was nominated for as it was a recent one)

Short and Sweet in Texas

Wonderful Wolf

Now for the facts. I posted 7 facts about me when I received the Versatile Blogger Award the other week, so I wanted to come at it from a different angle this time. I was teaching my students the second conditional this week and we did an activity where we had to complete sentences like “if I were a … I’d be a …” My students came up with lots of fun and creative ideas so I thought i’d do the same here!

(None of these should be taken too seriously. This is not a place for profound musings on my character!)

1. If I were a colour, I’d be purple. Not pink, not blue, a mix of the two but also a colour in its own right.

2. If I were an animal, I’d be a cat. I can be loving, kind and a great friend, but it takes time and I can seem a bit cold to begin with.

3. If I were a food, I’d be pasta. Healthy and can be as fancy or basic as you want it to be.

4. If I were a season, I’d be autumn. Vibrant colours but a slower feeling that the rush of summer.

5. If I were a holiday destination, I’d be the south of France. Not too exotic, but not boring either. New things to discover every time you go and surprising even when you think you know it well.

6. If I were a cocktail I’d be a Sea Breeze. A crisp mix of flavours with a hint of sweetness but not too much and an alcoholic kick, but again, not too much.

7. If I were a style of shoes, I’d be kitten heels. Practical but with some style!

Thanks again for the nomination!

My Adventures in Nail Art

Travels in the world of nails

Liebster Award (and a couple of others too!)

One Lovely Blog Award