There are two things I really love and, if you gave me either as a present, you really couldn’t go wrong: statement jewellery and nail polish.

And on Sunday I was able to combine the two at the Tatty Devine and Illamasqua sugar skull workshop, getting creative with UV nail polish! Oh hell yes.

Bonus points because the statement jewellery came in the shape of a perspex skull*. Su-weet!

So, here’s what the day looked like:

Illamasqua’s flagship store on Beak St. in London’s Soho.

The workshop was set at Illamasqua’s flagship store on Beak St. in London’s Soho with this gorgeous neon sign in the window.

Getting started with a blank canvas.

Once we had all arrived we learned a bit more about Tatty Devine and Illamasqua, and then started getting messy.

First we picked out our skull colour (glow in the dark, black or white) and chain colour (gold or silver) and attach the skull to the chain. This was actually pretty easy using jewllery pliers.

Messing up and starting over, the beauty of using nail polish and nail polish remover.

Once the chain was attached we got started decorating using wooden nail art design dotting pens and nail polishes; all we had to do was dip the pens in the nail polish, dot the perspex skull, wipe the excess colour on a tissue and repeat. If you messed up (like I did!) or changed your mind (I did that too…) you just used cotton buds and nail polish remover to clean it up. Easy peasy!

Getting some inspiration, many thanks to 3G.

After I’d messed up the mouth I decided I needed some help figuring out what to do with the rest of the design. So I had a quick chat with one of the Tatty Devine gals who recommended we look at pictures of traditional sugar skulls on the internet for inspiration.

I settled on this picture, and referred back to it throughout the rest of the workshop.

Onwards!

The finished product, safely nestled in its box.

And then, an hour and a bit later, I was finished with this beauty!

Under the black light.

Looking fab under the black light, I’m ready for a party!

Illamasqua’s speckle polish in lilac.

As a thanks for attending the workshop, we each got 20% off Illamasqua’s products, so I obviously went right over to the nail polishes. I considered getting some UV polish, but then settled on this lovely speckle polish in lilac. (I also got some new mascara, but that’s not nearly as interesting to look at.)

My goodies!

And of course, a vanity shot of all my goodies from the day. Can’t wait to try out the new polish and wear my new necklace!

P.S. A picture of me making my sugar skull made it to the Tatty Devine Instagram feed. Yay!

*I also really like dinosaur jewellery.