Nail Art.

I thought I would blog about something besides jewellery/crafty stuff. Although I suppose this is a little crafty!

Over the past few months I have become a tiny bit obsessed with nail art.
It all started when I discovered how to do leopard print nails, via Gem's blog. She uses liquid eyeliner when doing hers, which I started using at first, but now I use my models own nail art pen, which I find easier to use, and works better for me.






Another thing I discovered recently [after I had ordered some dotting tools on ebay, grr!] was that for dots you can simply use the end of a kirby grip. Just bend the grip carefully, splodge some nail polish onto a piece of paper, dip the grip in and apply it to the nail.



I also love konad, which is nail stamping and another way to get great designs on your nails.

My brother's girlfriend has caught the nail art bug too, I think - I did her nails leopard print for her at Christmas:



My friend also gave me over 20 nail art pens [more to come too, she bought a load of them and doesn't use them so decided she would give them to me!] so I've given Jenni a couple so she can get her nail art on!

There are a couple of other designs I've tried out, but I'm not going to cram in loads of photos.
I am currently waiting on some rhinestones, so I can bling my nails up! I've been waiting for nearly two weeks, but the seller has emailed me and says she will send me a replacement lot today, so hopefully they will turn up soon!

I may write more about nail art in future posts - who would like to see this?!

I'll leave you with some gorgeous images - all taken from
weheartit.

Cath Kidston inspired nail art tutorial

I thought I would share how I did my Cath Kidston inspired nail art. I think this is a super easy but very effective bit of nail art. It doesn't take that long either!

Here's what I used - obviously you can use different colours but this is what I chose:

Base coat, pink nail polishes, green nail polish, white nail polish, white nail art pen, dotting tool and a fine paintbrush.



First, paint your nail with your chosen base coat and let it dry.



Use the nail art pen to make little cloud-like splodges.



Put a blob of pink nail polish onto a piece of paper, and use your paintbrush to dab a bit onto the splodges.





Then use the paintbrush to apply little flecks, using the other brighter pinks.



Use your paintbrush again, to create little leaves with the green polish. Add dots around the cloud shapes using your dotting tool. Apply a top coat and you're done!



Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! x

Ombré nails tutorial

I had some lovely comments on my ombré nails [thank you!] and, as I mentioned in the post, thought I would do a tutorial. I know there are various ways to do ombré nails, but this is the technique which I've found has worked best for me. I was going to do a video, like I did with my galaxy nail art tutorial but figured photos and a little write-up would make things clearer!

You will need...


A plastic sheet [I use a plastic folder wallet]
Two nail polishes - I used Models Own Beth's Blue and L.A. Colors French White.
A top coat.
A cocktail stick.
A cosmetic sponge.

First of all, you need to paint your nail with the lightest of the two polishes.


Then take your plastic sheet and both nail polishes. Paint a strip of each colour close together onto the sheet.


Use the cocktail stick to merge the colours together.



Dab the sponge onto the nail polish.


And then onto your nail!


Apply a topcoat to seal and even it all out.



Clean the edges up using a cotton bud and nail polish remover, and you're done! I added the dots using a dotting tool, but the end of a kirby grip works well too.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial :)

Nails - 17 Magnetized

I got a new nail polish this week. 17 Magnetized in Teal. A few other brands do this type of nail polish, and I'm sure it's been done in the past too, but I've only recently heard about them!



Whilst the nail polish is wet, you simply hold the magnet [which is on the cap and detatchable - very handy!] over the nail and wait for the effect to develop. You end up with a lovely wavey effect on your nails. I've seen you can get other magnets to produce different patterns as well.



Now I'm after more of these nail polishes, and I may just have to nip into boots when in town later :)

Nails - Hello Harriet cat nail transfers

It's no secret that I am a total cat lady. If it's got a cat on it, I want it. If I go to my boyfriend's I go to stroke his cats first before giving Ben a kiss hello. If there's cat in the street and it runs away, Ben says it's because they're thinking 'quick, run, it's that crazy cat girl'...I'm the crazy cat lady without the cat.

So, obviously, I love all the gorgeous things Harriet makes. Her shop is full of all her amazing illustrated goodies, from notebooks to purses to phonecases. Mostly cute animal themed!



My friend bought me these kitty nail transfers for my birthday last month. They are so sweet and very easy to apply. I've used cat nail stickers before, but Harriet's apply just like those temporary tattoos - just dab with a wet cloth for 20 seconds and slide the paper away to reveal your cute kitty.



It's advised you use a light nail polish, so I went for Essie Absolutely Shore (one of my favourites, but a pain to apply I must admit)..I also used my new green models own nail art pen (also bought by my friend!) to doodle on my nails.

What do you think? Make sure you check out Harriet's website - so much love!

Nails - WAH Inspired 'Earthquake'

I really love these 'Earthquake' nails. I follow wah nails on instagram, and have seen this design come up on my feed quite a few times. So I thought I'd try my hand at it! The colours I went for are Models Own Jade Stone and Sinful Colors Nail Junkie. Nail Junkie is one of my favourites;it's the perfect mermaid glitter!
I started with a coat of Jade Stone and then applied Nail Junkie to half of the nail. Then I used my black wah nail art pen to do the messy little squiggly bit (great description there) in the middle.

What do you think of this design? Are you a fan of WAH?

Nails - Ciate Very Colourfoil Manicure

It's not often I go for 'Limited Edition' nail sets, and this is actually the first ever Ciate purchase I have made. When I saw a photo of the Very Colourfoil sets, I fell in love. I had a discount code for the website so it wasn't long before it fell into my basket!



There are three sets - Carnival Couture, Kaleidoscopic Klash and Wonderland. I went for Kaleidoscopic Klash, as the colours in this set appealed to me the most. I really like the other two sets as well, but I must try to resist. Plus, I've since found lots of pretty foils on ebay which are bound to end up in my hands at some point.

The kit contains a paint pot in 'Pepperminty', foil fix glue and metallic foil sheets in six shades. There's a few of each shade, so there's plenty to keep you going. A nail wheel was also supplied in the kit - a great bonus as I'm always after them for practising my nail art.



It's super easy to use. After painting your base coat, dot some of the foil fix where you want the foil to be. Select a foil and place it over the nail, pressing down. Remove the foil away from the nail swiftly and you're left with a splash of colour!

I decided to do a smash up of colours on all my nails. I used MUA Frozen Yoghurt as my base coat. A slick of top coat and they were done.




Have you tried any of Ciate's 'WOW' kits?

Nails - Aztec

I got the inspiration for these nails from the skirt in this post. Never done Aztec nails before and I don't think they look too bad for a first try!



I used my favourite nail polish, Models Own Utopia, for the base then created the Aztec pattern using my Topshop nail art pens.



I hope you're enjoying your weekend! Mine has been pretty relaxed so far. Made some mini egg rocky road this morning - have been ordered to make more - and popped into town to get my bridesmaid shoes, which I love. My friend is popping over later for me to do her nails, so I've got to get my big collection of nail polishes out for her to choose what she wants done! Speaking of nail polish/nail art - has anyone seen this? It looks great, have pre-ordered my copy!

Nails - AA Violet Panache

This is my first American Apparel nail polish. I rarely venture into the store/browse the online store as I find it so overpriced. But my friend dragged me in there whilst in Covent Garden on Saturday. I naturally found myself at the nail polishes and decided I needed this lovely, vibrant colour in my ever-growing nail polish stash!




I only needed to apply two coats, although it did take a while to dry. But the colour makes up for it! I very rarely have nails without some sort of nail art/pattern, so drew on a 'woven' design using my silver barry m nail art pen - such an easy design, found in the new WAH book! My copy arrived last week and I love it as much as the first one.

I hope everyone has had a nice bank holiday weekend. My hightlight was going to see Les Misérables on Saturday evening. AMAZING. What's been your highlight of the weekend?

Nails - The Little Mermaid.

You're never too old for a bit of Disney. I have a few favourites, but if I had to pick my ultimate it would probably be The Little Mermaid. I wanted to BE Ariel when I was 5. Hell, nearly 23 years later, I still do.

So when I was browsing ebay for nail art supplies and came across some Disney-themed nail decals I had to get some Ariel ones. I actually got these sometime last year, and can't seem to find the seller. But there are other similar ones available.



I'm still in awe of my Jessica Hologram Chic nail polish. It's difficult to capture how pretty it is. I added some block colours and dots using Models Own Apple Pie, Blooboo and Utopia, with Ariel on my ring finger. The decals are applied by soaking in water for a few seconds, slipping the transfer off the backing and then placing on the nail. Wait for it to dry (it can take a while, but it leaves you ages to place it exactly where you want it) then apply a top coat. It's so easy. I find water decals a lot easier to apply than nail wraps.

Nails - Holographic & leopard accent

I CANNOT STOP LOOKING AT MY NAILS.

When Lucy blogged about this nail polish, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I had been after a good holographic nail polish for a while, and can definitely recommend this. Just look at it! Such a beaut. And the photos don't even do it enough justice, it's just so lovely!



The nail polish in question is the Jessica Holograam Chic Duo - expensive, but worth it for this prettiness. Plus it's free delivery which is always a massive bonus in my eyes! You apply one coat of the Retro Revival base coat, then one or two coats [I used two] of the Disco Diva hologram polish. As I love accent nails I also leopard printed my ring finger up using Barry M Berry and my Models Own Wah nail art pen.