Concrete and Flowers.

Hello everyone, I hope we are all okay. It was my first day back at work today after my 2 weeks off, so its back to reality for me now :( lol.

Today I have some nails to show you which was inspired by this picture. As soon as I saw this I knew I needed it on my nails, I really liked the contrast between the hard, grey concrete and the soft, pink flower. I didn't replicate it exactly (since when do I ever do that? Its way too hard lol) I more used the colours and idea as inspiration.

I used a base of Rimmel - Little Bo Peep.

I sponged on Sally Hansen - Ion and a bit of Barry M - Grey, but I mixed the Barry M with white as it is quite a dark grey.

I then added a few blobs of Barry M - Grey (this time not mixed with white) and an unnamed white Color Club using a nail art brush.

For the flowers I used Essie - Splash of Grenadine, Mac - Heroine, Barry M - Dragonfruit and more white. I freehanded these with a detail brush.

I also added a matte topcoat after a little while, I think I prefer it matte.

I really enjoyed wearing this design, I was pleased with how the flowers came out in particular.

What do you think? Do you prefer matte or shiny?

Halloween Cobwebs.

Hello lovelies, I hope everyone is well. I am trying to make the most of my weekend before I go back to work on Monday :(.

Today I have some Halloween themed nails to show you. As much as I love Halloween  I haven't felt very inspired to do lots of Halloween nail designs. This is the only one I have done so far, and its nothing too adventurous. 

I started with a base OPI - Peace & Love & OPI. 

I then freehanded the cobwebs using a striping brush and a white creme.

That is all there was to it. These were much easier to do than I had first anticipated.

I was pretty happy with these, I think using a duo-chrome as a base makes it look a bit more interesting.

Have you been getting in the Halloween spirit this year?

Thanks for looking.

Waterspotted Sea Shells

Hello everyone. I'm back from my holiday now, I got back the early hours of Wednesday morning. It was lovely to have a week away but it went way too fast!

Today I have a rather unseasonal design to show you, I did this a few days before I went on holiday so I was feeling a bit summery. I had also recently bought some seashell studs from She Sells Seashells and was dying to use them. 

I started with a white base and then added a coat of piCture pOlish - Majesty over this. This gave it a nice subtle little shimmer, but it doesn't really come across in my photos too well.

I then did the waterspotting technique using Sally Hansen - Fairy Teal. This took me quite a few goes to get right, but I got there in the end! I think most people do it using a spray but I used this technique here. 

I then added the studs on with my topcoat, however as my nails are very curved they didn't sit flat so didn't last very long. In future if I wanted to keep them on for more than a day I would use nail glue. But these still might be my favourite studs ever, soo pretty!

This design came out completely different to how I imagined it in my head, I think my waterspotting skills may just need a bit of refining. But still it's not too bad for a first attempt. It definitely reminds me of the sea though which is what I was going for.

What do you guys think?

Thanks for stopping by.

Waterfall Half Moons

Hello everyone. This is my final scheduled post, by this time I will be nearing the end of my holiday and I will be coming home tomorrow.

Today I have a twist on the Nailasaurus' waterfall nail art. I really love her original design but I thought I would try it out with a half moon thrown in the mix too.

The base I used was Models Own - Apple Pie, the formula isn't great on that polish, it doesn't self level at all and is really hard to get even. But it is a pretty colour.

To make the half moon shape I used some of them hole reinforcer things.

Then using a striping brush I added the lines. I did this nail by nail so the polish wouldn't dry too much over the hole reinforcers and make them hard to remove. The colours I used were Rimmel - Green With Envy, Revlon - Blue Slate, Barry M - Greenberry, Cirque - Erda and an unnamed turquoise colour from Colour Club.

That was all there was to it, easy right? I really liked these nails, a lot of people complimented me whilst I was wearing them.

Have you tried waterfall nails yet?

Thanks for looking.

Autumn Trees

Hello loves. I hope everyone is well. This is another scheduled post as I will still be in Cyprus when this goes live, hopefully I will be a few shades browner by now!

Today I have a very autumnal design to show you, I love the colour of the leaves at this time of year so I decided I wanted them on my nails.

The base I used was Sally Hansen - Ion.

I free-handed the tree trunk and branches using China Glaze - Ingrid.

For the leaves I used China Glaze - Riveting, Essie - Fear or Desire, Models Own - Peach Sherbet, Nicole by OPI - Hit The Lights and Avon - Lemon Sugar. I did all the details on this design using a detail brush.

I was really pleased with these, I enjoyed having tiny little trees on my nails. Perfect for the current season!

Have you done any autumn designs this year?

Thanks for looking.

Abstract Circles.

Hello everyone! This is a scheduled post so providing this works I should currently be sunning myself in Cyprus :).

Today I have some nail art to show you that I did based on this image. I am not 100% sure what it is meant to be, but I really liked all the circles. This was really hard to capture on my nails, so I haven't replicated it exactly. But I am still pleased with my interpretation.

I started with a white base and sponged OPI - I Saw.. You Saw.. We Saw.. Warsaw (that name is way too long) and Rimmel - Blue Eyed Girl over the white. I feel this may have been a bit of a pointless step because you couldn't really see it once I did everything over the top.

I sponged OPI - Live and Let Die and OPI - Uh Oh Roll Down The Window onto the tips.

I then made some circles with a white creme using my largest dotting tool. I diluted a bit of Barry M - Blueberry using nail polish remover and added this in blobs over the circles.

I added more circles using the same technique and did the diluted blobs using Rimmel - Blue Eyed Girl. I also diluted a bit of OPI - Uh Oh Roll Down The Window and added a tiny bit of this.

I really enjoyed doing these, it was something a bit different. They definitely aren't a perfect replica of the inspiration but you can kinda see the connection right?

Thanks for looking!

Nail Lacquer UK Swatches

Hello lovelies. I hope we all had a good weekend. I am off to Cyprus tomorrow for a week of sun and a much needed break from work. But I have been painting my nails like crazy for the past few weeks so I still have some posts scheduled to show you. I have never scheduled a post before though so I hope it works lol, I guess we shall find out :).

Anyway, today I have some swatches to show you. I am not much of a swatchy person, I much prefer to post nail art as I think it more interesting. However I loved these polishes so much I just had to share them! I had been eyeing up Nail Lacquer UK's etsy store for a little while and I finally caved and bought a few to try out. 

This post is quite picture heavy so click the jump for all the swatches.

OPI Pink Of Hearts Nail Art

Hello everyone. It's the weekend and I am going on holiday in a few days, this makes me very happy :).

I bought the OPI - Pink Of Hearts 2013 set a little while ago, and since October is breast cancer awareness month, I figured what better time to try it out. I set out with the intention of this being a fully fledged breast cancer awareness themed manicure, with the little ribbons and stuff. But that kinda went out the window whilst I was doing it and I ended up with something else lol. Does that ever happen to anyone else?

The Pink Of Hearts set consists of a pink creme (Pinking Of You) and a matte glitter (More Than A Glimmer), I wasn't blown away by this set. Pinking Of You was nice, but nothing special. More Than A Glimmer just wasn't my kind of thing unfortunately, but I know a lot of people love it. I don't regret purchasing it though as it is for a good cause.

For my nail art I started with a base of Pinking Of You on my thumb, index and middle fingers. On my ring finger I used 3 coats of More Than A Glimmer.

On my thumb I added some pink and purple studs, secured using topcoat. 

On my index and middle fingers I added the lines with China Glaze - Fancy Pants and Barry M - Raspberry. For the dots I used Essie - Splash Of Grenadine.

On my little finger I did a gradient using the same 3 polishes.

I can't say I loved how these came out, I started them quite late in the evening and I feel I ended up rushing them in the end cos I needed to go to sleep. Nail art and rushing are not the best of combinations!

Has anyone else purchased this set? What did you think?

Thanks for looking.

Wavy Lines

Hello lovelies. How are we all? I have two more days at work to go then I have two weeks off, to say I am excited would be an understatement! I am on holiday for a week of that but I will try and schedule some posts for while I am away.

Today I have some nails to show you that I based on this dress. I really liked the pattern, so I decided I needed it on my nails. These are by no means perfect, but I was still quite proud of them. Free-handing squiggly lines isn't the easiest of tasks.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen - Without A Stitch.

I then free-handed all the lines on with a detail brush. I used Barry M - Dragonfruit, Sally Hansen - Fairy Teal and OPI - A Taupe The Space Needle.

I added a top coat and I was finished.

It sounds simple but it was actually very fiddly and took a long time. A lot of the lines don't match up, but I sort of like it like that :P.

What do you guys think?

Thanks for looking!

Red Zebra Nails

Hello everyone :). How was everyone's Monday? I have one more week at work then I go on holiday, very excited!

I felt like doing some animal print the other day, which is something I don't often do. I didn't want to do just plain animal print though so I tried to mix it up a bit. I was quite pleased with these and I got quite a lot of compliments whilst I was wearing them also. 

The base I used was OPI - My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours. I love how bright this shade is.

I freehanded the white using my Colour Club white and a detail brush. I was going to tape it, but I was feeling too lazy to cover myself in striping tape, I don't think they came out too uneven.

For the black zebra stripes I used my Barry M nail art pen. This was really fiddly and looks a bit messy close up, but didn't look so bad from further away.

Then as always, I added my topcoat and I was done.

What's your favourite type of animal print?

Thanks for stopping by.

Pink Textured Nail Art

Hi everyone. Its the weekend! I have finished my six day week and I am looking forward to having a day off tomorrow :).

Today I have a very girly design to show you. I picked up a textured polish by Seventeen whilst in Boots a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to see how it compared to other brands like OPI as this one is so much cheaper. But I couldn't simply just swatch it, I wanted to do some nail art. So this is what I came up with...

I used a base of OPI - I Theodora You on all my nails apart from my pinky which is Seventeen Rock Hard Couture Nail Effects in Bijoux Baby. Despite that all being a bit of a mouthful, I did really like this polish. The formula was easy to work with and I only needed two coats. I loved the colour, baby pink with gold shimmer running through it.

I top-coated the nails with I Theodora you on and then added Bijoux Baby over the top of that. 

For my thumb and ring finger I did an abstract rose design which was inspired by this post by Work Play Polish. Mine are no where near as good as hers but I still liked them.

On my index finger I added a couple of dots with a dotting tool.

I stuck on the studs on my middle finger using my topcoat. 

I really enjoyed wearing these and I would totally recommend the Seventeen textured polish. I am interested to see if the rest of their polishes are as good.

Have any of you tried anything else from this range? Would you recommend them?

Thanks for looking.

Floral Splatter Nail Art.

Hello everyone. How are we all? I am feeling pretty ill and I am working a six day week this week :( boo! I was hoping to have this posted last night but I needed my bed.

Today I have some nails to show you that I based on a make up palette that I have... but I completely forgot to take photos of it, oops. I have a brain like a sieve. 

For these nails I started with a black base (I used W7 - Black).

I splattered on the 4 pink colours. To do this I dipped one end of a straw in the polish and blew through the other end, super hygienic and very messy! Lol. The colours I used were Revlon - Violet, Leighton Denny - Plush Pink, Essie - Angora Cardi and Essie - Like To Be Bad.

I added a coat of Seche Vite to smooth the surface out and then used my Barry M nail art pen in white for the flowers. I really like my black one of these, but I found the white to be a bit runny and watery. Has anyone else had this problem?

At first I added another coat of Seche Vite and I was going to leave it shiny, but it looked a bit much so I matted it with my Rimmel Matte Top Coat.

I did quite enjoy wearing these nails, although they took quite a while to do and I made a huge mess! 

What do you guys think?

Thanks for looking.