Silver Leaf Nail Art

So I finally got around to doing a nail design based on my awesome ring from Nova Silver

I don't think I entirely did the gorgeousness justice, but I do quite like it.

This is the design...

...with the ring...

...and a close up.

This is the ring. I have more info and pictures on my other blog, which you can see here.

Hope you like.

These are the products I used

nailgirls Base and Top Coat
Nails Inc.polish in Wigmore Street
Barry M Nail Art Pen in Black
Barry M Nail Art Pen in Silver

Halloween Spiderweb Nails + Tutorial

More Halloween nails! Woohoo!

I have a slight purple obsession, so there are multiple shades of it here. I used silver instead of just white for the webs because I think it makes it look a little more 3 dimensional.

 I'm weirdly proud of my wobbly spider. I call him Boris.

I also made a video tutorial for these. I made it a long time ago. Don't judge me.

If you want to check out any of my other videos, you can do so here. 

Hope you like them!

Nightmare Before Christmas

So it's possible you think it's too early for a Halloween design. You'd be wrong. I don't think there's ever a wrong time to be sporting Jack Skellington.

It's a pre-clean up picture. I got a bit overexcited.

Let me know what you think. :)

Products used: Purple - Avon
                       Glitter - No. 7 (In the Stars)
                       White - Rio Nail Art
                       Black - Barry M Nail Art Pen

New York Fashion Week Inspired

There were all kinds of fancy nails going on at NYFW. One of my favourite designs was the half-moon reverse manicure, seen at Azede Jean-Pierre (by OPI) and at Libertine (by Butter London). So I decided to give it a go.

One of the best things about this design is you can make it as easy or as complicated as you want. If you're not confident freehand, then you can use either a nail tip guide or a punched hole reinforcements. Beyond that, you can use any colour and embellishments you choose!

I went for a spring green colour on most nails (another popular trend), and tried out one of the new Revlon scented polishes. It genuinely smelled like Lime Basil for a day, but it didn't last beyond that. I also went for a glitter on the bling finger, obvs.

Another advantage of the style is that when it starts to grow out, no-one needs to know!
Hope you like.

Products used: Green - Revlon Parfumerie (Lime Basil)

                       Green Glitter - No. 7 (Paradise Love)

Valentine's Mix & Match

So I did a Valentine's Day look. I quite like it.

I did a full post on my friend Siobhan's lovely blog, which you can see here if you so choose.

You should check out her blog anyway, she's a very interesting lady.

Cupcake Nails

 Cupcakes, sweet cakes for all! Who doesn't love a cupcake?

 The smudgy bit near the gem is a lesson for us all: always use clear to stick on gems, don't try and match the colour.

Products used: Pale yellow - 17 (Sherbet Lemon)
                       Yellow - Barry M
                       Pale pink - Avon (Pastel Pink)
                       Pink - Barry M
                       Pale purple - Avon (Luxe Lavender)
                       Purple - Barry M (Bright Purple)
                       Pale blue - Collection 2000
                       Blue - Barry M (Cobalt Blue)
                       Pale Green - Collection 2000
                       Green - Barry M (Spring Green)
                       Brown - Me Me Me (Amethyst)
                       Black - Rio Nail Art

Post-Christmas Sparkle

They're not clever, they're not smart, what they are is sparkly and fun. I got nail stuff for Christmas (it's almost as if people think I'm into nails) so I played with it.

This was also my first go with caviar nails. It looked better without topcoat but mixing topcoatless caviar with work was just not going to happen. I liked the set, it comes with a plastic tray to catch beads that don't stick and a funnel to get them back in the bottle so you don't waste any.

Products used: Purple Glitter - Barry M (Magenta)

                       Pink Caviar - Primark (Breast Cancer Support Kit)

Island Paradise

Last year, my friend Siobhan (unexpectedgeek), who is the make up guru of our little shop, asked me to a summery design to promote bright nail vanishes. This is what I settled on.

I used a sponge to create the gradient effect, and applied a thin, cheap base coat before it set to help it all blend. It also gave me an excuse to try out the Barry M nail art pens and grab a few new colours.

I was quite impressed with the pen. It very east to use, almost like drawing with a felt tip. I did notice that I had to go over a few bits more than once to get a solid dark line. Also, do not leave off top coat! It wears off very easily if not sealed.

Products used: Pinky red - Barry M (Passion Fruit)

                       Orange - 17 (Orange Soda)

                       Yellow - Barry M (Limited Edition B)

                       Black - Barry M

Fierce Valentine

Last year I saw this design on cutepolish's youtube channel (see the original tutorial here) and I loved it, so this my attempt. I hope I did her look justice.

I think it's really cute, fun and quite simple to do. The wonder of leopard is that it's supposed to be organic and free form.

Products used: Beige - 17 (Forever)
                       Brown - Me Me Me
                       Red - Nails Inc. (Victoria & Albert)
                       Black - Rio Nail Art

Holiday Mix & Match

I went on holiday earlier this year and wanted something fun and bright on my nails. I well and truly jumped on the Mint Candy Apple bandwagon and did a mix & match look.

Hope you like.

Products used: Mint - Essie (Mint Candy Apple)
                       Dark Green - Barry M (Racing Green)
                       Silver Glitter - Barry M (Diamond)
                       Silver - Barry M Nail Art Pen

Swirly Thing Alert

Yeah, good name, right? (There is a prize for anyone who gets the reference*)

Anywho, I decided to do something simple, but that looked intrcate.

 Also a test of the Bourjois So Lacque nail varnishes.

I liked the Bourjois polish. I find pale colours usually streak without many thousands of coats, but this only took 2. It was also very shiny pre-topcoat.

Products used: Pale pink - Bourjois (Rose Lounge)

                       Black - Barry M

*The prize is an imaginary cupcake.

It's basically heaven

 So last year (yes, blogging fail) I entered and won a competition. And I thought I'd share what I won.

The competition was a collaboration of Avon & Marie Claire, and was a nail art contest (shock all round).

Needless to say I was pretty happy with this. The products I got were:
Gel strength base coat
French manicure set
Swift Sherbet Speed Dry polish
Sahara Sunrise nailwear pro+ polish*
Suddenly Sunny Speed Dry polish
ASAP Pink Speed Dry polish
Cherry Jubilee nailwear pro+ polish*
(Dark Purple) nailwear pro+ polish*
Fast Time Teal Speed Dry polish
All Khakied Out nailwear pro+ polish
Nail wraps in Inner Animal, Hot Pink Bling, Mosaic Flowers and True Zebra
Nail Art Tool

This calls for a new nail look!

This was my first go with nail wraps, so I'm not sure it's the smoothest application ever.

Products used: Teal - Avon (Fast Time Teal)

                       Nail wrap - Avon (Mosaic Flowers)
* I can't be sure about the colours here as there are no names on the bottles.

Semi Magnetic Nails

So here is another design using my Christmas presents. It's a little strange, I grant you, but I kinda like it.

It's super simple, I used Frogtape to mask the lines because we happen to have some, but anything like masking tape will do the trick.

 Products used: Purple - M.A.C. (Pureblood)
                        Gunmetal magnetic - Primark

Super Glitter Nails!

I got some new goodies for Christmas and this is the first of my experiments with presents.

It's basically what my cousin calls "close together sparkles" with some striping tape, so really easy to create.

 Products used: Barry M (Red Glitter)

Sparkly, Purple, Gradient Nails

This is very much the Ronseal of nail designs. It was also an excuse to bust out a few of my hoard of purples. The flash has made it look stripier than it did in real life, but you get the gist.

I used the sponge method to get the gradient effect for the purple colours and the just added glitter to the top half of my nails.

Products used: Shimmery, pinky purple - Avon (Decadence)

                       Dark purple - Avon

                       Purple with gold glitter - Avon

                       Gold glitter - Nails Inc.

Art Deco Nails

So I did a dance show just before Christmas and the colour theme for our tap routine was black and gold. What better excuse for a nail design?

I tried to keep it quite simple so that I could fix it if I chipped them at work. The result is a bit art deco-y and I quite like it. All fingers other than the ring finger are matte finish.

Products used: Gold - Avon (Golden Vision)

                       Black - 17

                       Gold Glitter - Nails Inc.

                       Matte Top Coat - 17

Simple, Girly Nails

So I started a new job and decided I should do a fairly toned-down nail look. This is my idea of subtle nails.

They're very simple to do, though if you have trouble creating the french tip you can use a guide.

Hope you like them.

Products used: Pink - Avon (Pastel Pink)

                       Gold - Avon (Golden Vision)

Summer Flower Nail Design

Just a quick and fairly simple design today. When summer decided it was over rather quicker than I'd hoped, I decided a bright coral was called for.

As you can see, flowers are not my speciality, but I like the colour combo.

Products used: Coral - 17

                       Gold - Andrea Fullerton Stripe & Sparkle (India)

                       White - Barry M (Matt White)

                       Black - Rio Professional Nail Art

Olympic Themed Nail Art

Yay, Olympics! I am completely addicted. So much so that I'm almost not bored of hearing Chariots of Fire.

 I was particularly proud of Pride (the lion), so here's a close up.

 And this is my other hand. There is a yellow ring there, the flash managed to wash it out entirely.

So those are my Olympic nails. Are you watching and supporting your team?

Products used: Blue - Barry M

                       White - Barry M (Matt White)

                       Red - Rio Professional Nail Art Pen

                       Purple - Rio Professional Nail Art Pen

                       Green - Rio Professional Nail Art Pen

                       Black - Rio Professional Nail Art Pen

                       Gold - Andrea Fullerton Stripe & Sparkle (India)

Space themed nails

So I wanted to do a 2 texture nail design, and I decided on a matte black with a shiny, glittery french tip. But being useless at being grown up, I added a googly eyed monster.

 One monster has better depth perception that then other...

 So that's the result, hope you like.

Products used: Black - Collection 2000 (Liquorice)
                       Silver Glitter  - Barry M
                       Lime Green - Collection 2000 (Spangles)
                       White - Barry M (Matt White)
                       Red - Rio Professional Nail Art Polish
                       Matte Top Coat - 17