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)

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)

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

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.

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

Easter Bunnies!

I know, a bit late for an Easter look, right? But I thought it was kinda cute and super sparkly and I should share it. Think of it as being majorly organised for next year.

The photos really don't do it justice, the sparkle was amazing. I made a tutorial for the design (don't get too excited, it's in slideshow format). Enjoy!

 

Odd phenomenon - under a blacklight, the outline of the bunnies glow but not the middle. Weird.

Products used: Light purple - Avon

                       White - Barry M (Matt White)

                       Light pink - Avon

                       Black - Rio Nail Art Polish

                       Small glitter - Barry M (Silver Glitter)

                       Large glitter - Barry M (Hologram)

St Patrick's Day Nails

It's St. Patrick's Day! Green and gold and sparkly and fun. The leprechaun is hiding, by the way, it's not that I couldn't be bothered to paint one.

 I saw an article on Beautylish about reverse painting nails in a Louboutin heel style. I liked the idea, but I changed up the colour scheme a bit.

 Yay, sparkle!

Hope you like them, and I hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day (to be sure)!

Products used: Green - Barry M

                       Gold - Avon (Gold Foil)

                       Red - Rio Professional Nail Art Polish

                       Yellow - Rio Professional Nail Art Polish

                       Dark Green - Rio Professional Nail Art Polish

                       Blue - Rio Professional Nail Art Polish

                       Purple - Rio Professional Nail Art Polish

                       White (under rainbow) - Barry M (Matt White)

                       Glitter - Rio Professional

                       Rhinestones - eBay

Festive colours

I know these are uber late, but these were my Christmas nails. basically I got three new nail varnishes for free and wanted to use them. So I went for an abstract-y design in festive-y colours.

I hope you like them, and I hope I get some designs up with a bit more regularity in the future...
Products used: *will be updated soon*

Strictly OTT Nails!

 Strictly Come Dancing is back! I absolutely love it. I've been doing latin and ballroom dancing for 3 years now so SDC is pretty much my spiritual home. I decided to do some SDC themed nails, so I went for pink and purple, which are the program colours, ridiculous amounts of glitter and a rhinestone glitterball thing.

 

 Here's a close up of the "glitterball". I added the pink rhinestones to represent the writing on the trophy. They are actually 2 tone pink, but it doesn't really show up in the picture.

I'm pretty happy with them and I'm hoping they last until Sunday so they can be my birthday nails as well. And remember, keeeeeep dancing!

Products used: Pink - Barry M

                       Purple - 2True

                       Iridescent white - Avon Nailwear Pro (Star)

                       Glitter - Barry M

                       Rhinestones - eBay

Galaxies and Nebulae Nail Design

Galaxy nails are big news at the moment. Loads of photos and tutorials have popped up all over cyberspace. I couldn't not give them a go, partially because I'm doing a degree in Maths and Astronomy, and partly because my friend sent me a picture and did her puppy dog eyes at me. Who could resist?

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, and they're pretty simple once you've got the sponging technique sorted. And they're glittery - yay!

Products used: Black - Collection 2000 (Liquorice)

                       Blue - Barry M

                       Yellow - Barry M

                       Pink - 17 (Pink Grapefruit)

                       White - Barry M

                       Glitter - Barry M

Experiments with Rhinestones and the like

I found all manners of glittery things and decided to shove them on my nails. Here are a few of the results.The Orange Flower look is inspired by a design on my.coolnailsart but I can't remember who.

 Very simple blue with sparkles.

 Sorry for the bad lighting of this photo. This is my most recent nail design (I still have it). In real life, it's covered in a glittery top coat.

Products used: Orange flower: Orange - 2True (No. 15)
                                               Black - Rio Nail Art Polish
                                               Green - Rio Nail Art Polish
                                               Silver - Rio Nail Art Polish
                        Blue sparkle: Blue - Collection 2000 (Electric Punk)
                        Purple glittery: Dark purple - 2True (No. 13)
                                               Lighter purple - Rio Nail Art Polish
                                               Silver - Bichun (No. 6888)
                                               Glitter - Barry M