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)