World Cup Nail Art - Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire)

Hi everyone! So not too long ago I got an email from Emily over at Nailsxo asking if I wanted to join a World Cup Nail Art competition she was running. Now, I don't really know anything about football and I haven't really done much nail art before but that's never stopped me before! The idea was once you'd been allocated your country you had to create a manicure design that reflected that nation and I was given the Ivory Coast!

Again, I have to admit I knew very little about Ivory Coast so of course I used all my powers, by which I mean Google, to research the country itself as well as the culture so I wanted to share a couple of facts I found out!

Location

The official language spoken on the Ivory Coast is French.

As of 2012, the population stood at 22 million making it the 54th largest population in the world.

Average life expectancy is 57 years old. (It's 80 in the UK!)

And it has many names! 

• Conventional long form: Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
• Conventional short form: Cote d'Ivoire
• Local long form: Republique de Cote d'Ivoire
• Local short form: Cote d'Ivoire
• Formerly known as: Ivory Coast

So bearing that all in mind I set on thinking up a couple of designs that I could create and here is the finished design!

I based the design on my thumb to mimic the coat of arms coloured with the colours of the flag!

On my pinky I tried to mimic the referee kit!

And then on my remaining three nails I went with the slightly easy option of the flag but I think it looks very effective in contrast to the other nails!

So I hope you enjoyed reading this slightly different blog post and I'll keep practicing my nail art and maybe write another post when I improve because my hand wouldn't stop shaking drawing those lines! Thanks for reading!

New Year Resolutions!

Hi everyone! It's that time again where we pick out all the bad things with out lives and make a statement to try and change them. I've not had a great track record with my resolutions, I usually break them after a month or so. But this year will be different! I thought if I wrote a post about it it would motivate me more to keep to them so we'll see!

1. Be healthier - I joined a gym last year and was going like 3 times a week but once I got a job I found I didn't really have the time to go anymore so this year I want to make time to go to the gym and actually work out there because before I would go on the cross trainer but slow down at the first drop of sweat or when I could feel a burn! Also I want to eat healthier too like not just eat because I'm bored!

2. Pay more attention to this blog - I said in a post that I've put this down as my skill for DofE but I don't want to feel like this is a chore or like something I 'have' to do, I actually want to put more into this blog and enjoy it at the same time!

3. Read more - I used to read so many books but when I started my GCSEs I just didn't enjoy it because I felt like there was other stuff I should be doing. I just need to spend less time on Tumblr and more time reading again!

4. Don't get too stressed out about school - I know A Levels are a big thing and by this time next year I will have applied to university and may have heard back from a few which is really scary but I don't want to get too bogged down in it if I'm struggling or don't know what to do with my life!

5. Look after my skin - I really need to start to moisturise properly because my skin gets so fragile at times and I got plenty of body butters for Christmas so I really have no excuse!

What are your resolutions for the new year? Let me know! I hope you have a great 2014 and thanks for reading!