How Nail Art is Taking Over the World, One Talon at a Time

NOT many people consider nail art as a fashion statement, and even fewer consider it an “art.” Painting nails is seen as something you do if you’ve got time to kill, rather than a component of your daily beauty routine, because nobody’s got time to literally watch paint dry.

Now, with our increasing obsession with Instagram and all things social media, nail artists have been given a platform to showcase their work, and nails are proving to be a game changer in the beauty and fashion industry.

Nail blogs are becoming increasingly popular, with bloggers like Fleury Rose’s designs featuring on the runways of London Fashion Week. 

Fleury Rose's designs featured in Seventeen magazine 

Instagram

Search the Instagram hashtag ‘nail art’ and the possibilities are endless. You no longer have to be a professional to gain a following. My close friend Ayla O’Keeffe, who has just started out in the nail art bizz, uses Instagram to showcase her creations and market herself [below.] 

Instagram

Instagram

Like with many aspects of the beauty industry, you can only forge a career out of it if you’re insanely good. Traditionally, the super talented work at the top end of the industry with the A-Listers and the mediocre wind up hanging up their nail files for good or working in a nail salon, which, if you’ve ever been, aren’t always the best place s on earth.

Sure, you might come out with a nice set of talons, but it’s what goes on behind the scenes that are causing a stir in the beauty sphere. In May, The New York Times, wrote an exposé on the realities of the nail industry, highlighting the dire conditions, long working hours and diabolical pay that New York manicurists receive. Some of the manicurists interviewed were found to be illegal immigrants, often untrained and without a proper license.

The conditions, however horrific, are not surprising when many people, including me, would refuse to pay over £15 for a manicure. Partly because I’m a cheapskate, but also because I convince myself that I’m paying over the odds for something I could attempt (and epically fail at) for a fraction of the price at home.

“Getting a pedicure is so personal; someone is up close with your feet!” argues New York based manicurist Raquel Nevarez, “I don’t think I’ve ever paid less than $30. They [manicurists] should be paid well.” 

New York based manicurist Raquel Nevarez
Photographed by Meredith Hattam

It begs the question why nails sit at the bottom of the beauty totem pole- I’ve paid hundreds over the years to get my hair done, but would never dream of doing the same for my nails. 

But some feel that it isn’t just about getting your nails done, “It’s like therapy,” says Navarez, “I have a client who recently broke up with her husband, and she just broke down while I was doing her nails. But she said it actually made her feel better. That’s what I love about doing nails- it has the capacity to make you feel better.” 

Although you wouldn’t think it, that’s what’s amazing about the nail experience. It’s this bizarre ceremony of female bonding, with the nail polish being the glue that holds it all together.

I sat there, surrounded by my girl friends whilst I had my nails done and we actually talked. Talked in depth about things that I don’t think I would have ever disclosed otherwise, and it was therapeutic, and something worth paying for.

In summary, I guess that nail art can actually do a lot of things that we weren’t necessarily expecting it to do. It can be an outlet for creativity, and the innovative endeavours of manicurists are now being put on the same pedestal as that of fashion designers. It puts amateur nail designers on the map, making them Instagram it-girls overnight.

However flimsy it may sound, the social side effects of nail art can’t be denied either. Even people like me whose artistic skills are extremely limited can try their hand at nail art with friends. And for a society which constantly pits girls against each other, opening a bottle of nail polish (and maybe a bottle of wine or two) among friends can establish that female bond.

And that is why, above anything, nail art is girl power at its best.

Coming Soon: How To: Nail Art Guide! 

My top Instagram accounts for nail art inspo!

Fleury Rose Nails  

Raquel Navarez 

Ayla O'Keeffe

CHICCHINAILS_

Also published on hot new lifestyle website #SpiceUK, click here to check out their site!

As always, thanks for reading x 

How To #20: How To Get Beach Body Ready

Take your body to the beach.

Nice work. Treat yourself to an ice cream cone while you're at it.
Atta girl.

You're welcome.
Now get yourself down to the beach and don't give a damn what anyone else thinks.



#eachbodysready

Protein World ad protesters in London 

Zero Fs given 

#eachbodysready

The 39 Stages of Revising All Students Go Through

Ah revision, or rather attempting to revise but ultimately failing. 

Without further ado, here are the 39 stages all students go through whilst revising, 
featuring the comedic gold that are Ed Miliband's facial expressions. (And yes, I spent more time on this than my actual revision. I regret nothing.) 






1. Okay, today's going to be productive, time to revise.

2. Wait, five more minutes.

3. Shit, I slept in.

4. Before I do anything brash, coffee. Always coffee.

5. Books are out, so I guess I should study this module first? Or maybe the other one because my exam for that one is sooner.


6. MAKE A DECISION GODDAMN IT.

7. This is proving difficult, maybe not


8. Is there a subject that involves colouring in and lots of mind maps? Because I like colouring in.

9. Wait, I didn't take geography

10. And you can't colour code the quadratic equation.

11. I'm doing a mind map and it's going to be epic.

12. Is it lunch time yet?

13. No? Are you sure?

14. I've just spent three hours creating a mind map.

15. Yet I know nothing.

16. YASSS lunch time.

17. I might watch a bit of Vampire Diaries during my lunch break, just to take the edge off.

18. I accidentally watched six episodes of TVD, damn you Netflix and your countdown to the next episode.

19. I really need to get back to revision

20. But I'm kinda hungry again, got any snacks?

21. Raisins are not a snack, cake is a snack. Cake is brain food, haven't you heard?

22. WOO I made some notes!

23. Notes that I already wrote out once last week and totally forgot about

24. I am a legitimate idiot.

25. I did a practice paper, scored 89%, #winning

26. Oh wait, I calculated that wrong. I scored 48%.

27. Christ, I need more coffee.

28. God, I hate revising.

29. *Sends tweet about how much I hate revising*

30. It's 7:00pm, how the hell did that happen?

31. Dinner Time, I don't know about you but I think I deserve a takeaway.

32. Maybe just a bit of revision before bed...

33. NO STOP EVERYTHING GAME OF THRONES IS ON

34. I could stay up and revise...

35. Or I could sleep now and get up early to revise

36. Alternatively, I could do neither.

37. I am the world's worst student.

38. I quit

39. Seriously, what is life.

If Ed doesn't help you feel better about the trauma that is revision, then you are a lost cause, my friend. 

Good Luck and as always, thank you for reading! 

Georgia x 

Check back for more 'How To' Guides, Reviews and general snippets of my pure brilliance. 

21 Totally Awesome Things About Having Guy Best Friends

AS ILLUSTRATED WITH NEW GIRL MEMES

1. You can ditch the bitchy conversations 

This leaves room for more pressing subject matters, such as the likelihood of dolphins obtaining superior intelligence and taking over the world. (It's called the Dolpocalypse people- it's real and it's coming for us all.) 

2. They're better than girls at being your personal carer when you've had too many jagerbombs and are starting to embarrass yourself

Will stay with you for hours if necessary to prevent chunks of vomit getting stuck in your hair.

3. They are even willing to make you a bacon and egg sandwich the morning after. 

 There for you when you physically can't move off of the sofa and need greasy food, stat.

4. You can pretend they're your boyfriend when the creepy guy is trying to hit on you in the club 

Sexual predators of the club scene beware.

5. They're super easy to be around 

 Maximum laughter with minimal effort.

6. You Can Go Full on Primal Around Food

Being ladylike is no longer a thing with tomato ketchup all over your face.

7. Shopping is Easy 

If they like it and it's cheap, they'll get it. Boom. Let's eat.

9. Honesty Really is the Best Policy 

If they say you look nice, they mean it. If they say you're being a bitch, they mean it. And you probably are.

10. Together, you could be potential criminal masterminds

Like Bonnie and Clyde but way cooler.

11. They Make Good Wingmen 

Surprisingly have good taste in other men.

12. You finally have someone to share your love of Marvel, Star Wars and Adventure Time with 

 Woo Nerd-Fest!

13. You Learn the Art of Being Lazy 

They convince you that watching Netflix and eating Doritos can be a productive way to spend your day.

14. They are literally the only person you could live with without wanting to kill them in their sleep. 

They don't leave their shit everywhere and make your tea how you like it. A flatmate match made in heaven.

15. Arguments are rare and hilarious 

Ends with you just pulling faces, yelling "shut upppp," to one another and realising how stupid you both sound. Hysterical.

16. Equal Rights 

It's a "I'll down that shot of questionable alcohol if you will" kind of situation. If you do it together, then it doesn't seem like such a bad idea at the time.

17. Guys say the Funniest Things 

Like messaging you with the urgent matter that they've accidentally shaved their sideburns off. But that's another story for another day,

18.  You Do Things in sync and it's weird and possibly supernatural 

It's crazy how we finish each other's sandwiches.

19. The Need for a new Boyfriend becomes unnecessary 

You may be single and alone but at least your guy friend can't break up with you. Win.

20. They Can be Super Supportive

Sometimes they give such good advice that you have to go away for a while and process that nugget of genius. 

21. You're kind of stuck with them 

Whether you've been friends for two months or two years, you can expect to be stuck with each other for a while. In the best way.

Be sure to check back soon for more 'How To' guides, reviews and my genius ramblings.

As always, thanks for reading!

Georgia

x

Confessions of a Social Media Addict

I downloaded Pinterest the other day. It was possibly the worst and best mistake of my life. I stayed up for two hours one night ‘pinning’ pictures of cats doing funny things, floral skirts and moody boys from angsty teenage bands. Why? It’s not because I don’t have a million and one other things to do, it’s because I literally can’t tear myself away from social media.

Snapchat took away it’s ‘Best Friend’ feature this week, a visible list of people you and other fellow snappers Snapchat most frequently. I was distraught, obviously, like many other Snapchat users, how else where you going to keep tabs other people’s relationships now?

It truly is a sad day when you come to the realisation that you count Twitter bird logos in your sleep and keep your phone next to your bed, just in case one of your friends sends you a snapchat of the Netflix programme they’re watching- you know, ground-breaking stuff.

To tell you the truth, no, I don’t care that you died your hair pink, and no, I don’t care that that it’s snowing where you are at the moment- that white stuff that falls from the sky, yeah, I’ve seen it before. I just like to be in the know- as in, I don’t care if you have that “cheeky Nando’s,” but if you do, I’d like to know about it please.

The same with Facebook- so called ‘friends’ that I probably wouldn’t know if I fell over them, I still can’t bring myself to delete from my virtual life. No, I couldn’t give two hoots about that mean girl I used to go to school with having her hundredth child, or has since gained a lot of weight- it just makes me feel better about myself.

I narrate my whole life over Twitter, which is totally unnecessary thinking about it. No one cares that my food shop is arriving tomorrow and no one cares that my lunch consisted of a donut and coffee that one time (although it did get ‘favorited’ by four people, just saying.)

I find myself trying to concentrate on a lecture that in an ideal, social media free world, I would find very interesting. But where there is a pen in one hand, there is also a phone in the other- with WhatsApp open, sending useless dolphin emojis and hysterical made up words to my flatmates.

Pinterest is just the final nail in the coffin really. Although my ‘boards’ are quite creatively named if I do say so myself (‘Cats: Masters of the Universe’ being my personal favourite) – there are only so many cat pictures one can take, if you can believe that to be possible.  

Now I’ve got that off my chest, I can also say it’s not only me. I’m not the only crazy internet lady around here. The people with their laptops open in lectures are either on Facebook, internet shopping or playing a really intense game of Tetris. And when there is that awkward pregnant pause in a conversation, people turn to their trusty smartphones for comfort- pretending to do something urgently important but are really scrolling through Kendall Jenner’s Instagram feed.

The, what I like to call ‘Professionals of Society’ seem to think we are in fact, obsessed with social media. But, hey, I could’ve told you that- so what is the psychology behind it all? Social psychologist Larry Rosen, writing for Psychology Today, states “We have not sunk to the level of psychiatric disorder like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder but we are not far away. Just watch people in the world around you. If you are watching a young person who is not looking at his or her phone keep watching. Soon that phone will come out of the pocket or purse, most likely without having gotten an alert or notification but being driven by a combination of pleasure and anxiety.”

If this is true, we have turned into the generation of insistence- we need constant stimulation from our digital friends and crave instant gratification in order to make us feel better about ourselves. And we love it. Don’t pretend that when you get over 11 likes on a ‘selfie’ you posted on Instagram, your next thought isn’t “someone hand me that damn modelling contract!”

Nothing we do matters any more unless someone else knows about it. Who cares that you had an amazing, once in a life time experience at Glastonbury if you don’t chronicle it in your Snapchat story? Who cares that you’re expecting unless you post weekly updates about the progress of your pregnancy?

So, yes my name’s Georgia and I’m a social media addict. It’s not something I’m proud of, there’s a chance it could be driven by crippling anxiety, but that’s not going to stop me telling you what I ate for dinner tonight via Twitter (…it was spaghetti Bolognese- come on, how could you not be interested?)   

Talking of which, fancy following me on Twitter and Instagram? Click on the links to right. 

More 'How To' guides, reviews and other miscellaneous material coming soon! 

As always, thank you so much for reading!  

How To #19: How Not to Diet

January should be a time of recovery and restoration from the madness (or lack thereof) of the festive period. Instead, some moron decided January was a time where we embark on some insane health and fitness craze, where we end up hating ourselves for the entirety of the month because we ate that one mini cheesecake left over from the Christmas party (just me? Awkward.)

Like many others, I jumped (or rather, clambered lazily) onto the diet bandwagon. Because, well you kind of have to because society sucks. Now, I’m no scientist, but I’ve learnt a thing or two about how not to diet since going along with this "healthy eating" madness at the start of January, which I’m going to share with you lucky people. Note that my tips are based on no scientific or factual research whatsoever, I’m just bored.

DON’T: Adopt a “waste not, want not” mantra when it comes to food. I hate wasting food- to me it’s the equivalent of a gym membership or leaving a £10 note in the back of a cab- A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY. I’ve been brought up on the notion that wasting food meant you were contributing to world hunger, because DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY STARVING AFRICAN CHILDREN WOULD KILL TO EAT THE FOOD YOU’VE JUST CHUCKED IN THE BIN? Thus, as heart breaking as it is, you need to let go of those Christmas tree shaped shortbreads.

 *p.s. I don’t know why I’m capitalising everything- food just makes me emotional.

DON’T: Go on a crash diet. I’ve tried. Life may be going swimmingly for a few days living off of coffee and cornflakes, but as soon as someone offers you a chocolate digestive, you cave in because it would be just plain rude to refuse food. The aftermath of this involves crying and eating another biscuit to ease the pain.

DON’T: Spend hours looking at pictures of Jourdan Dunn on Instagram. Although she is only one example of a near perfect human being, looking at anyone’s unachievable figure for too long is dangerous. You just end up hating Jourdan Dunn for being so goddamn perfect and yourself for being… well, not.

DON’T: Join the gym. Because everyone joins the gym in January and ends up dropping out by February. Therefore, this trend can only imply that joining the gym in February means that you’re much more likely to stick at it and pass for Nicole Scherzinger’s twin by March. Common sense really.

DON’T: Have a breakdown one Wednesday evening and randomly turn up to a Weight Watchers meeting. You’ll only end up embarrassing yourself by saying “my name is Georgia and I have a problem with biscuits and £1.50 jägerbombs…wait, this isn’t AA? Oops.” *hangs head in shame*

DON'T: Watch "Weighing Up the Enemy," a dieting programme where contestants part with their hard earned cash with the promise of winning it back providing that they lose more weight than their competitor. Apparently based on totally legit research by Yale University adapted by Dr Christian Jessen to exploit people's January body blues and make us all feel disgusted with ourselves. Well played Channel 4, well played. 

DON’T: Organise an ordering of Indian and Nando’s with your flatmates via Twitter, even though you’re fat. And poor. Plus, what you agree to on Twitter is basically law binding so there is no escaping the Sunday night Indian. Ever.

DON’T: Work your way through an entire box of nearly stale Christmas biscuits whilst writing a blog post on dieting. Oops. 

Happy frickin' January. 

Love Georgia x 

Check back soon for more 'How To' guides, reviews, and meaningless rambles of the world according to Georgia. 

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram by clicking on the tabs to the right. 

Email me your how to questions at georgiasunshine429@gmail.com 

As always, thank you so much for reading! 

Why New Year's Resolutions Were Made to be Broken

If you’re sitting there hungover and bloated from your New Year’s celebrations, swearing to yourself that you’ll cut down on the booze this year, you may want to ask yourself a few questions first.

How likely are you to stick to your resolutions? How realistic are they? (You may want to scribble out that round the world trip now.) And perhaps most crucially, why do we even make these resolutions that were, let’s face it, made to be broken?

The origins of the New Year’s resolution actually goes back donkey’s years- the ancient Romans began each year by making promises to lead a better life to Janus, the god after whom January is named. Fast forward a few thousand years and the New Year resolution was turned into a Western tradition by, who else- our good old friends across the pond. America’s obsession with self-improvement meant that many resolutions centred on the individual and ways of “bettering” yourself. The US government even has a website offering tips on ways to keep the most popular New Year’s resolutions including losing weight; volunteering more; stopping smoking; eating better and saving money.

Despite this tradition, statistics show that making New Year’s resolutions have actually fallen out of favour. A CBS News poll in 2013 reported that 68%of Americans don’t make New Year’s resolutions, and that those under 30 are also more likely to make them. As for keeping them? We’re not too great at that either, with just one in 10 of us achieving our goal and most of us throwing in the towel as early as January 23^rd, according to Professor Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire.

I used to make New Year’s resolutions religiously; the ones cropping up the most being writing a book (never made it past the first chapter) and getting fit (forever a work in progress.) Now, I know I’m never going to be as talented as J K Rowling or as fighting fit as Gwyneth Paltrow, so why do we bother? Laurie L. Dove, a writer for howstuffworks.com, claims “they are a method of erasing the errors of the past year,” and that they are a “means of cataloguing our personal dissatisfactions.”

I suppose from a psychological perspective, as humans we are always looking to better ourselves. In this competitive age where everyone is in the pursuit of happiness, we are just looking to be the best person that we can be, even though we all know that that is easier said than done. In my experience, you often can’t make certain things in your life happen, often they just, well, happen.

Yes, New Year’s resolutions are a ridiculous tradition. Yes, you’re probably going to be too skint to go on that once in a lifetime holiday. And by now you’ve probably formed too close a relationship with Netflix and Cadbury to start a love affair with the gym and lettuce. But it’s the human sense of hope that makes New Year’s resolutions worth doing. New Year’s resolutions were made to be broken, but hey, this might be your lucky year…


Writing your New Year’s Resolutions? Before you do, here are the 25 of the most commonly broken New Year’s Resolutions of 2014 according to List 25:

25. Lose Weight
24. Exercise
23. Quit Smoking
22. Quit Drinking
21. Get a new job
20. Get out of debt
19. Save money
18. Eat Healthier
17. Get organized
16. Spend more time with family
15. Manage stress better
14. Enjoy life to the fullest
13. Stop procrastinating
12. Travel
11. Improve a relationship
10. Learn a new language
09. Get more sleep
08. Spend less time on Facebook
07. Spend less time watching TV
06. Clean out old belongings
05. Cycle more (instead of driving)
04. Run a half or full marathon
03. Try an extreme sport (most commonly bungee jumping)
02. Do something for charity
01. Having a baby

Coming soon: More 'How To' guides and Netflix reviews!

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As always, thank you so much for reading!

Love Georgia x