Spring has sprung!

Well, now its officially spring in the UK, I decided to update my nails in to more of a spring look. I really like how simple this mani is, it took me about 10 minutes to do and it looks so pretty!

I used Revlon - Lime Basil (which the Boots website says has been discontinuted, but I know for sure is still in stores?!) as a base, and then created flowers using the Barry M Nail Art Pen in White, which you can purchase here. I then used my Orly Dotter Duo and Barry M Silver to do a small dot in the middle of the flowers. I, of course, used Sally Hansens Double Duty bottom coat as this is by far the best one I have found. And I finished the look off with Seche Vite.

Do you have any favourite bottom or top coats that I should try? 

Snowflake Nails!

Hi guys, 

Just thought I'd share these with you as I've received quite a few compliments on them today! 

I used GOSH - Tilted Blue for the base, Essie - Blanc and Barry M - Foil Effects 

I really like this, I hope it encourages snow for real! 

Let me see your Christmas/Winter nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Shades of Christmas!

Aah!! YES!! It's December, and we all know what that means! CHRISTMAS. And what does Christmas mean? GLITTER!

I absolutely love this time of year, its a good excuse to wear a lot of glitter nail polishes (and regret it as soon as I have to take it off!). I have a serious case of festive fingers (is this a thing? it should be a thing!) right now and went a bit crazy with my winter/Christmas nails so I thought I'd share them with you.

I used Essie - Russian Roulette (red), Essie - Blanc (white), Barry M (Nail Effects 319) and Models Own -Jucie Jules

As you can see I have changed my pinky nail from white to red. I had Blanc with Pure Pearlfection from the Essie Winter 2013 range, originally. Although in real life this combination looks amazing, it did not pick up on camera and as I love the effect Pure Pearlfection has on a nail I really wanted to be able to show you it!

Isn't Santa's hat so cute? Have you tried any Christmas nails? If you have then please share them with me!!

Look forward to lots of glittery nails over the next few weeks! 

Children in Need

Hi guys,

It's been a little while since I posted again! Sorry!! I've just been so busy with work. We had a pyjama day at work today, in aid of Children in Need, which the children absolutely loved (and going to work in my onesie wasn't half bad!). I decided to do CiN themed nails and wanted to share them with you.

These are very basic as I didn't have enough time to draw Pudsey, but I really like the effect :) I just used the Orly Duo Dotting tool.

If you are interested in donating to Children in Need then you can do so here.

French Manicure - With a twist!

Hi guys,

Two posts in two days! Wow.. 

I got a bit fed up with my Halloween mani, and seeing as I'm not at work until Wednesday I figured I'd redo them for Halloween. I decided to do a French Manicure with a twist.

I started with two coats of Essie - Vanity Fairest, I then used Essie - Blanc to paint the tips. I used Essie - The Lace is On with help from a Nail Art Brush to draw the lines and then added the butterfly detail (they were supposed to be bows but turned out like butterflies, hey ho!) and finally Essie - Black for the edge detail.

I really like this look, it makes my hands feel elegant! What are your favourite nail looks?

An InLinkz Link-up

Halloween!

Hi guys,

I know it's been a while since I last posted, I've had a very busy two weeks, couple that with the fact my internet connection is intermittent at best I've not had a lot of time to blog!

Seeing as it's Halloween this week, I thought I'd show you my very basic Halloween nails. I work in a Nursery and I'm going to be working Halloween, I'm excited to carve my first pumpkin and make chocolate covered apples!

Barry M - Black, Essie - Blanc, Revlon - Mango

I'm going to change the pumpkin nail into a spider as Thursday approaches! 

Should I add any other details? I'd love to see your Halloween nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tutorial: Gradient Nails

Whenever I wear this style of nail, I always have people saying "how do you do that?!", so I figured I would show you all! I originally saw this technique in Amarixe's video. It's actually pretty easy and can be done with 2 or more colours. I find that 2 colours works fine for me. You may want to put some tape around the edges of your nails to make clean up easier as this can get quite messy!

I start with getting all my equipment ready, you will need a triangular make-up sponge, which can be found in any drugstore, a pair of scissors and your nail polish colours. I'm using Essie - Rock the Boat and Full Steam Ahead.

Cut the sponge to a size that will fit your biggest nail.

Barry M - Matt White

Start by painting your nails white, or the lightest colour if you have more than 2 colours. (optional)

Paint stripes of the polish on to the sponge, be sure not to use too much polish or it will just pull the bottom layer up.

Line the sponge up with the side of your nail and roll across. Dab around the nail and slightly up and down to create the blended gradient. Repeat until you are happy with the opacity. It took me about 4 coats.

After clean up:

Hope you like this nail look! I'd love to see your attempts! 

What else would you like to see?

Tutorial: Hawaiian style flower

I recently purchased a Dotter Duo tool from Orly and was so excited to use it to create nail art, something I've always wanted to try. I attempted to create flowers using dots for the petals with a yellow dot in the middle, but it turned out looking like a fried egg!

So I tried to figure out a way to use this tool to create flowers (because, lets face it, who doesn't love a flower!).

Start by painting your nails any colour you want. I've chosen Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Guava. This nail art works on any colour. My only advice would be; if you're using a dark base then use a lighter colour to create the flower and, similarly, if you use a light base use a dark colour to create the flower.

You then get your dotter duo (which can be found for £1 or so on eBay!) and draw 5 dots, with the larger end of the duo, close together but not too close that they run into each other.

Lastly, get the small end of the duo, and starting from the centre of one dot drag into the middle of the 5 dots. This creates a petal. Repeat this for all 5 dots and your flower should look something like this:

Additionaly, I sometimes put a tiny dot of silver polish over the centre of the flower.

You can use this flower for an accent on a nail, or cover the nail completely. 

If you don't have a dotter tool there are many household items you could use such as the head of a pin (carefully!) and a toothpick which would create the same effect!

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. I'd love to see your attempts at this look!!

What would you like to see next?