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

Star Print French Manicure

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend :)

Here are the nails I was sporting at the Motel and Glossy Box Event (see last post!). It's a "Funky French" Mani, aside from the accent nail, and is inspired by the black and white star-print which is creeping into fashion lately. I started with a base of 3 coats of Miss Sporty French Pink and then taped my nails with Scotch Tape (once the were completely dry) so that just the tips were showing. I then painted over the nail with MUA Shade 2, an opaque black, and lifted the tape off while it was still wet so as to attain neat, crisp lines. Once this, too, was completely dry I re-taped the tips and stamped the Star image from BM14, horizontally across the nail, with Konad White Special Polish. I then went back with single, stamped stars to fill in any big gaps and make the print more complete. Once dry, I added a coat of Seche Vite. For the accent nail, I simply stamped the star image numerous times to create an all over nail design :)

Photography is getting really, really difficult now the days are so much shorter, it has been dark practically all the time, and sunlight is extremely rare! Forgive the darkness of my photos!

Voila! A relatively short post (I'd forgotten how quickly you can write a post when it isn't 11293943 words long!), but it's a pretty simple design that's easy to re-create at home! Even if you don't have the Bundle Monster Image Plates, you could still freehand in the white starts with a Nail Art Pen or even a toothpick :D

Let me know what you think, everyone! xxx

NailsInc Hans Road

First things first, you can now find my Cadbury Chocolate Manicure from THIS post on the Cadbury Website and Blog, as well as their Facebook page where it has 1500 likes and 350 comments! Mental!! Some kind person tweeted my picture at them and they decided to feature me! Unfortunately, Cadbury's got my name wrong (they got 'Keely Gallagher' from somewhere?!) so I'm not getting any credit :( :( They can't change it on the fb post so I don't really know what to do about that :(

The next new Nails Inc that I swatched for you is Hans Road - The reddypinkyorangeshimmery jelly one. It reeeaaalllyy isn't 'me' and not one I would normally buy! I prefer bright creams and felt this was a bit old fashioned - maybe good for Christmas?

with flash - click to zoom and see the pinky shimmer

This is 3 coats, and you can still see the nail line - I refuse to do four, I feel so wasteful! It has a good shine on it, and it IS an interesting polish - but just not for me. I added some White Stars from Bundlemonster plate BM05 (really just to test out my Konad White Special Polish!) and it came out looking a wee bit Captain America...I didn't keep this on for long haha!

I topped it off with the Nails Inc UV basecoat and Topcoat, and it turned the white stars a purpley colour ha! It definitely brightened the whole manicure, and if you want a cooler purple tone to a polish, add a slick of this! It did what it set out to do - lighten and brighten - so this polish gets my stamp of approval :D The purple tone will also counter any yellowness in the nails, so if you're having a break from colour, and looking a bit stained, this is for you.

watch out for the next Nails Inc tomorrow!


xxx