Easter Nail Art Tutorial - Cadbury's Mini Eggs!

This design was suggested to me by my best friend Sara - as soon as she said it, I knew it had to be done, if only as an expansion on the Cadbury's Chocolate Manicure! I worked tirelessly on a tutorial for it so you can all do it yourselves at home :D I know it's a bit early for Easter Manicures, but it's that time of year where Mini Eggs hit the shops an I love them! I don't know if you can get them in the US, but FIND THEM. THEY ARE LIKE EASTER-TIME CRACK.

This will also be part review for Boots 17 new nail polishes which I picked up last week. I chose 3 of them - Mellow Yellow, Glisten and Juicy. They're really fresh, bright spring/summer colours so I really couldn't resist. First up is Mellow Yellow, a gorgeous mid-tone yellow with gold micro-shimmer. It's beaaautiful.

The application of Mellow Yellow was lovely, this is two coats and there is no visible nail line (VNL). It's glossy and dries relatively quickly. From experience, 17 polishes go thick and unusable rather quickly so invest in a polish thinner like Seche Restore if you want to keep this bad boy for more than a few months.

The perfect yellow for a mini eggs packet, I hear you say? Yes, it is. Tutorial time!

1. Start with your yellow base and take a chocolate-brown polish like Barry M Mushroom. Draw large ovals in a sporadic pattern across the nail. This is the outline of the eggs!

                        
2. Take a selection of pastel coloured polishes. I chose American Apparel Office (green), Collection 2000 Candyfloss (pink), Natural Collection White and Collection 2000 Angel Wings (purple/grey). Paint over your brown ovals with the pastel shades, but leave a small brown outline.

3. Time to add some brown speckles to the eggs! Take a dotting tool (or a toothpick if you don't have one!) and take a small bead of your brown polish on the end. dab this gently onto your pastel eggs.

4. Take a purple polish or purple Nail Art Pen. This step is much easier to do when you have the control of a Nail Art Pen, but if you have a steady hand then go for it with a small brush. Write the words "Mini Eggs" in the Cadbury's font on your thumb. This is optional, you could always just draw more Mini Eggs!

5. Add a topcoat to protect your design from wear and tear and to make it super glossy. I used Seche Vite.

6. Stand back and admire your Cadbury's Mini Egg Easter Nail Art!

I added Claire's Matte Topcoat over the top to achieve that powdery look and feel that mini eggs have.

There you are! Cadbury's Mini Egg nails, perfect for Easter! If you've given up chocolate for lent then a) I don't know how you live b) You can enjoy chocolate in an alternative way!

As always, if you follow my tutorial I would love to see it so pleeease let me know!

I hope you have fabulous weekends!

Claire's Holographic Glitter and Bundle Monster Stamping Art!

Hello lovelies, my blog has a new outift - how do you like the new layout and banner?! It's a work in progress so forgive any glitches you might come across!

I nipped in to Claire's Accessories the other day (as any self-respecting, 21 year old does on her lunch break...) and noticed a couple of polishes I hadn't seen before - the shop girl informed me that they were, in fact, new out and I had the last one of their (usually impossible to get hold of) lilac holographic glitter. Since I want anything 100x as much if I know I can't have it, I thought I better buy it to save myself later heartache. It did not disappoint, it is a gorgeous holographic lilac glitter and opaque in 3 coats:

please ignore the stub...

Ahhhhh rainbow!

As if that weren't interesting enough, I thought I'd stamp the cute heartey-liney image from Bundle Monster BM11 (imaginative adjectives don't come easy, late at night) using Konad Black Special Polish.

This looks great when it catches the sunlight and the stamping makes a glittery manicure a bit more fun and interesting! I added a coat of Seche Vite to finish and the glitter is totally smooth - not gritty at all. I'm not looking forward to the removal though, it will be the foil method, for sure. (I will do a tutorial for this!)

Thanks everyone! I have recently joined Pinterest so I can share all my favourite nail designs and inspiration on a virtual pinboard - if you're on Pinterest, it is really easy to pin anything you see on Emily's Nail Files - just sign up and get a "pin it" button on your toolbar! Alternatively, look for the Pinterest button on my pages :D

love!

Winter Wonderland Nail Art!

I suppose I should've waited for it to snow before posting this manicure (the synchronicity would be satisfying!), but I still feel bad for leaving you all alone for a month so I'm cracking out all my best stuff.

Now, I really like the design of this manicure, but it was executed badly - this, I fully admit, is my own fault. I acquired the base colour (Barry M Aqua Blue) from The Clothes Show Live, and I didn't realise it was so sheer before I began applying it. Had I known, I would've used a pastel blue base because it took about 6 coats to achieve opacity. Too many! This, paired with the 4 coats of Claire's Holographic Silver Glitter Topcoat that I added to the tips, created that horrible "too many coats of polish" look. It's kind of bubbly and icky and raised off the nail - not a fan! As if it wasn't bad enough, my Seche Vite has gone thick, and caused shrinkage, exposing the very tip of my natural nail. Here are the photos anyway, just try and ignore the poor execution and focus on the pretty glitter and snowflakes! Eeee!

cuticles are GRIM, sorry sorry sorry!

How I created the glittery snowflake tips:

Once my Barry M Aqua Blue base was dry, I added a thin layer of Claire's Holographic Silver Glitter Topcoat, starting about halfway down the nail. On the second coat of glitter, I started my brush strokes slightly close to the nail tip, and repeated for another two coats to create the glitter gradient effect. Once dry I stamped the Snowflake image from Bundle Monster Image Plate BM14 at different places on each nail tip using Konad Special Polish in White. With Claire's White Nail Art Pen, I filled in some of the gaps with dots, to make tiny snowdrops. I topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite, to make it super smooth.

Thanks everyone! Let me know what you think on the comments, I'd love to see it if any of you give it a go! I kept this on for a few days, I really liked it, especially when it caught the light!


xxx

Cath Kidston Nails

I wouldn't describe myself as a girly-girl, but I really like Cath Kidston Prints! I would never paper the walls with it, but I love it on accessories. It will always remind me of my friend Alice as well, because she is obsessed! I'm not sure how internationally well-known Cath Kidston is, but she's a pretty well established High End brand over here in the UK. A British Fashion Designer, Cath Kidston is famous for her signature, nostalgic floral patterns and home furnishings. I decided to incorporate my favourite print of hers into a manicure:

Here is the original print I based the design on, and I think it's as intricate as I can get it, seen as nails are SO SMALL.

For the accent nail I switched up the base colour from blue to Leighton Denny Babydoll - my new favourite Pink from the October Glossy Box.

I created the design by painting a base of either Bootie Babe Blue Baboo (see below) or Leighton Denny  Babydoll, and painted the large white flower shapes and polka dots with Claire's White Nail Art Pen. I then added a blob of MUA pink in the centre of each one. Now, I reckon I'm quite well known for my freehand work, and although I seem to be able to do an alright job on Dinosaurs or Super Mario (like in my previous posts), I have never been able to get the hang of drawing roses - I just have no idea why! Because of this I enlisted a bit of help with this design from Bundlemonster Image plate BM04, stamping the rose image on top of the MUA Pink circle using American Apparel Coney Island. After transferring the image to the stamp, I dipped a cotton swab in varnish remover and cleaned off the edge of the image, leaving only the heart of the rose, because I needed the design to be so small. After I had stamped all of these, I added some green foliage with a dotting tool and American Apparel Office and Barry M Spring Green. After a coat of Seche Vite, I was good to go!

I'm popping in a review here too, as I've been waiting on these polishes for AGES from brand new polish company Bootie Babe. Their polishes are packaged in novelty "booty" bottles that look like little bums! It's a bit gimicky, but it's fun and I think that is important with cosmetics! I was sent Blue Baboo and noticed that it was the perfect shade of sky blue for my Cath Kidston idea. The polish formula is O.K...it drags a bit and is a little paint-like, but definitely workable. Now, as much as the bottle makes me laugh, and I think it's a fun idea, the handle is almost impossible to use. It is absolutely tiny, and tapered so it slips out of your fingers. I gave up after a couple of nails and used a different brush to apply it. All in all, I like the idea and the novelty, but the quality of the polish and the handle design could be improved. Here is Blue Baboo on its own, as well as some shots of the bottles!

See how small the bottle handle is compared to my fingers? Very fiddly. You get just over 9ml of polish in these bottles.

A lovely shade of blue and not quite like any other shade in my arsenal. I would definitely head over to their website and check them out, there's loads of other great shades to get hold of.

I hope you like this one guys! I realise I don't post as much as I used to, but I think the posts I put up these days have much more crammed in to them, and have A LOT more time spent on them! I have some great designs coming up for you all :D

In other news, the Winner of my Glossy Box contest from 2 weeks ago was Vicky at Manicured Maniac - Congratulations to her! She has been notified and her very own Glossy Box is on it's way to her! WOOP VICKKKYY!!!

Glossy Box are also hosting a Nail Art competition, and I urge you all to get involved to win the OPI Muppets Collection! Emily's Nail Files also has a mention as a place to go for inspiration! Well, you're already here so you're one step ahead of the game! I'd love to see some of you enter, I know you're all SO creative xxxx

Happy Halloween! Spooooky Nails

...I realise Halloween was two days ago now, but I hope you all had a good time! These were my spooky, themed nails for the occasion!

For the haunted house accent nail I started with a base of American Apparel African Violet, used a sponge to dab on Barry M Cobalt Blue over 3/4 of the nail, then sponged on Topshop Celestial onto the top 1/4 to create a gradient effect to act as a 'night sky'. I then freehanded in the pale, yellow moon with Rimmel Lemon Drop with Collection 2000 Angel Wings for detail. I freehanded in the 'hill' with Claire's Jade Green and a small brush before stamping the house image from BundleMonster image plate BM224 with Konad Black Special Polish. I added Barry M Mushroom brown paths and outlined the house with Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen. I stamped the bat image from BM213 and freehanded in the little ghosts with Claire's White Nail Art Pen. I smoothed it over with Seche Vite!
For the rest of the nails I started with a base of Natural Collection White, sponged on Rimmel Lemon Drop and Collection 2000 Angel Wings, sporadically, to make them look a bit old and crusty (yuummmm). I then stamped on the spiderweb and spider images from BM13 with Konad Black Special Polish before adding a coat of Seche Vite.

There is a lot of steps involved in this Manicure, but it didnt take too long!

I hope you all had a great halloween!

Batman Nails!

NaNaNaNaNaNaNa.....Nail Aaaaart
Yonks ago, Zoe over at one of my favie blogs London Lipgloss asked if I would do a Batman manicure, and being the people pleasing, lovely (if late) blogger that I am, I decided to indulge! As I consider myself to  lean slightly more towards comic book geek than most normal people, I was very excited. I just love Superheroes.

Thumb: Batman symbol

Index: Bat Symbol above Gotham City

Middle: The Joker

Ring: Batman

Pinkie: Comic Book "pow"

If you have any questions about what Colours or Polishes I have used, just pop it into the comments and I'll let you know! I hope you like it, let me know what you think!

Don't forget you can still vote for me in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards if you like! I'm under the Best New Beauty Blog category! :D

Thanks Everyone! Have a great weekend!

xxx

It Doesn't Get Much Sparklier Than This! Scotch Tape Nail Art!

When I was in the USA recently, I popped into a local Claire's Accessories, expecting it to be much like the UK shops, Nail Polish wise. I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG. I picked up some really interesting stuff like the Claire's Mood Polishes, a Glow in the Dark topcoat, a Deborah Lippman dupey-looking Rainbow Glitter and THIS amazingly sparkly holographic Gold Glitter Topcoat. Topcoat? psssssht, Ill just whack it on on its own thanks!

I did start out with a base of Bloom Goldie, just to minimise the appearance of any bald patches that might occur. Formula is fine, I only needed 3 coats for full glitter coverage, then it was like a Unicorn expoded all over my hands:

natural sunlight

A blurry picture shows the holographic rainbow effect better!

It really is a sight to behold in the sunlight! I added some Scotch Tape Nail Art, cutting tiny strips of tape, and sticking them in a "starburst" pattern on the nail. I then painted over the entire nail in MUA Shade 2, a very opaque Black. I removed the tape strips while the black was still wet, then added a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all over.

The Gold looks great, all the holographic yumminess just peeking through. Here's a video so you can see how it catches the light:

Look at it go in the bottle haha!!

I like the trashy, blinginess of Claire's Gold Glitter Topcoat by itself, but I think it looks much more sophisticated and subtle as a highlight on a black nail. What do you think everyone?


Don't Forget you can vote for me to win Cosmopolitan's Best New Beauty Blog of 2011! Click the pic to be taken to the really easy voting system!

Thank you so much :D

PacMan French Manicure!

After painting on black french tips, I was suddenly reminded of the classic computer game, PacMan - after wondering how to incorporate this idea into a manicure for a while, I took the plunge and turned it into a PacMan "funky french"!

I started with three coats of Miss Sporty Et Voila French Manicure Pink, and waited for it to dry completely before applying scotch tape, leaving the tips exposed. I then painted the tips with Claire's Black Polish, and removed the tape immediately to ensure that the lines were crisp. I added a blue line to the very tip using a blue Nail Art Pen from Ebay. Using a white pen, I then added small white dots, and painted the ghost shape in white. I painted over the white ghost shapes once they were dry, using a dotting tool and China Glaze Papaya Punch (Orange), Barry M Turquoise (blue), Barry M Red (red) and Models Own Pastel Pink (pink). After adding the eyes with Claire's Black and White Nail Art Pen, I added a coat of Seche Vite. Done!

I had this on for a couple of days, it was a good laugh! Basically the first "funky french" I've ever attempted, as I wasn't sure I really liked the whole 'look' of them  - but this was cool :D I did have a PacMan on the thumb, but smudged it before I could take the pictures unfortunately...what a diiiick!

Let me know what you think guys! Don't forget about my Apothica $25 Giveaway! You've still got 1 week to enter!

xxx