About

Hi, I'm Ceri. I'm in my early thirties, I have a love of art, mathematics and computer science and I have recently become a very unlikely nail art enthusiast.

I've always been a bit of a tomboy and throughout my teens and twenties I hardly ever wore nail polish. I was always working on art, craft and metalwork projects so my nails (and clothes, and hair) were usually a mess of paint, grime and glue.

In summer 2013 I was planning my small, quirky wedding. I had found a perfect green and purple party dress to wear and I wanted nails to match. The night before the wedding, Tina, my impeccably manicured next-door-neighbour when I was growing up, offered to paint the nails of the ladies in my family. My sister and mum both chose sophisticated nude shades, but Tina didn't bat an eyelid when I presented her with plum and apple green polishes and asked for alternating colours on my nails. 

My nails looked fabulous. For a week after I was married, every time I looked down at my hands I smiled, and not just because of the shiny new wedding ring. After my polish chipped, I painted my nails purple and green again (admittedly not as neatly as Tina had), and again. After a few weeks I was bored of green and purple nails, so bought myself a bottle of bright blue nail polish. Then followed a bright violet, a baby blue, an acid green... and then I discovered glitter polishes and nail stamping, and the nail art obsession truly had me in its grip!

Now my my nail polish collection has outgrown its shoebox and needs an entire shelf. 

So, what's this blog about? 

This blog is about nail art on a budget, and is a place for me to post pictures of my (usually twice weekly) manicures.

I don't have much cash, and by nature I am very thrifty. Almost all of my polishes cost under £2 a bottle and I am always surprised by the treasures that a good rummage in a pound store can reveal. Limited edition OPI shades, Revlon, Sally Hansen, Rimmel, Maybelline - I've found them all lurking alongside the no-name polishes.

Most of the polishes I use on this blog will be pound store finds (hence the name of the blog) or £1 polishes from other shops (Technic from Bodycare is a favourite for glittery goodness). A few will be slightly more expensive polishes bought on special offer at Boots or Superdrug for less than £2 a bottle. I do sometimes splash out a little extra when it comes to nail treatments and I am always on the hunt for a miracle product that will make my dry flaky nails stronger.

Why does the cuticle on your index finger look weird?

Many years ago I had a nasty accident with a craft knife. I was lucky that my nail matrix knitted together properly afterwards so my nail still grows in one piece. I'm just left with a funny shaped cuticle, a scar and a ridge in my nail. The nail tends to split when it gets too long which is why I like to keep my natural nails quite short.