Choose Happiness Coca Cola Inspired Nail Art

If you're anything like me you will spot nails from a mile off, whether that's because they are nicely painted, sporting a bit of nail art, or the more upsetting flipside of this, all chipped and sad looking.

Well, I was watching TV the other day and the adverts came on, so it was a perfect opportunity to scroll through my social media feeds, but I happened to spot nail art in one of the new Coca Cola adverts.  It's only on screen for a fleeting second or so, but never the less there it is, so I decided to recreate it.

To make this nail art even more fitting I used OPI Coca Cola Red - how could I not?  My thumb, middle, and little fingers are Coca Coal Red with black spots and my index and ring fingers are the opposite.  I used Graffiti Nails Jet which is one of the best black polishes I've used.  I tend to find that some blacks are a bit patchy, especially on the first coat, but Jet is so opaque, and glides on really smoothly.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Thanks for stopping by
Aimee x

PS I've embedded the video below so you can see the original.  It's part of Coca Cola's #choosehappiness campaign.

Models Own: Asscher Blue with Snowflakes

Hi all,

It has become something of a tradition for me to do a snowflake design each year, so with the weather turning very frosty and cold today I thought it was very fitting to add some festive flakes to my nails.

I picked Models Own Asscher Blue as my base.  This is perfect for a wintry look because of the diamond dust in it.  I then used a thin striping brush with Snow White to paint asterisk star shapes on all of my nails.  I wanted quite big snowflakes so I only had room for one per nail.  I wanted to add in details on each snowflake, so I used a dotting tool to add a dot at the end of each line, and then used a tiny paint brush to create little lines under each dot.

To finish off I added in a few extra dots where there were some spaces on my nails and a pale blue nail gem in the middle of each flake.  I think when it comes to wintry nails you can't go wrong with extra added sparkle.

These are the best snowflake nails that I have done and I am really pleased with how they turned out. You can see the progression of the different ones I've done here.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

P.S. It's also Polish Party time and my nails happen to fit in nicely with this months theme.  We had a tie this month between autumn and weather.

Don't forget to check out which theme the other girls chose and click through to their blogs to see their designs 

An InLinkz Link-up

Polish Party: Halloween - Zombie Nails

Hi all,

Last month you may remember that Polish Party turned one!  I can't quite believe that it's been that long and that more and more people want to join in all the time.  With the group being around for a year, that does mean that themes may once or twice get repeated... but with a theme like Halloween this month, I'm not at all surprised.  There are so many different designs you can do for it.  You can see my design from last year here.  I've tended to edge more on the cute side for my Halloween nail art before and you can see that with my Monstrously Mini nails as well.  This time round I decided to go for something a bit more gruesome with some zombie nails.

Polish Party: Birthday Celebrations - Candles and Glitter

Hi all,

If you read my blog regularly you'll know that Lauren, Madison, and I, along with some other wonderful nail girls decided to join together each month, come up with a theme and paint our nails. Well that was a whole year ago! It's weird to think that it started with a very small group and now there are 55 people involved with Polish Party.  What better way to celebrate than with birthday candle nails?

I posted a plain swatch of Models Own Diamond Luxe Oval Plum last week and it was so pretty I didn't want to take it off.  So I decided to use it as a base for my birthday nails.

I started by stamping the candles from my MoYou Greek Mythology 09 plate in white.  After they had dried I filled in the pattern with pink and silver nail art pens from Barry M.  I finished them off my adding gold glitter to the flames.  I wasn't sure about them at first, but they have grown on me.  I didn't want to stamp on all nails so I used Hot Stuff from the Models Own Mirrorball collection.  It's just the perfect kind of glitter for this design as it looks like confetti.

Don't miss what the other girls come up with.  I'm super excited to see them all.  Follow their links below.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

An InLinkz Link-up

Polish Party: Recreate Your First Nail Design - Red and Black Hearts

Hello all,

The end of the month brings around a Polish Party design.  July's theme is a good one - Recreate your first nail design.  I have been painting my nails since I was quite young and I remember painting my nails alternatively with lilac and a dark purple and I'm sure I must have painted the odd stripe or dot here or there, but I reckon we'll just go for the first one blogged about!  This works out as an especially good theme for me as my blog turned two at the beginning of the month, so it was nice to look back and see how I launched Pinkglow's Pretty Polish.

Red and black Valentine's hearts

I almost don't want to show you the original as it would be something I wouldn't dream of including on my blog now, but it does show progression...

Polish Party: Inspired by Another Member - Leopard Half and Half

Hello all,

I am very excited about the theme for this month's Polish Party - Inspired by Another Member!  We vote each month and since setting up our facebook group I have suggested this theme each time for the poll and it has narrowly been out voted by something else.  This month it finally came up on top though - Yay!

The only issue left after getting it through was picking who would be my inspiration.  There are so many fabulous ladies in the group who create such amazing nail art. so it was always going to be a tough choice.  In the end I decided on a half and half leopard print from Lauren at The Naily Mail.

Here's my version...

And here's Lauren's original design...



I had a shortlist of three designs including a galaxy manicure, a fish tail/plaited design with glitter, and this one. Lauren does gorgeous half and half manicures and I think it looks really effective which is what made me really want to try it out.  I love the gold she has used here, but I have done subtle coloured or realistic animal print nails before so I wanted to go really out there with a bright bold colour (If you followed the link above you will have seen Lauren's bright pink zebra nails, which were a source of more inspiration to do the animal print in a different colour).

Polish Party: Spring - Pastel Flowers

Hello all,

It's Polish Party time again! Yay! This month we have voted for spring as our theme.  This is a really great theme and I think there will be lots of different designs as there's so much that you can do for spring.

I decided to go with pastel flowers.

If you read my blog regularly you will know know that this March I am doing a Barry M month, using lots of the colours that I haven't had chance to use yet.

I started with a base of Blueberry Ice Cream on my thumb, index and ring finger.  Then on my middle finger and little finger I used a base of Strawberry Ice Cream.  I did two coats of my base colours and waited for the to dry.  To create the pink flowers I used a dotting tool dipped into Pink Flamingo.  I dotted the polish on my nail and then dragged the polish inwards and repeated this five times to create the full flowers.  To add more interest I added in some flowers at the edges of some nails.  I did the same for the blue flowers using Blueberry Ice Cream.

At this stage the flowers looked more like starfish, particularly the pink ones, so to finish them off I used my Barry M nail art pen in white.  I added a dot in the middle of each flower and white details on the petals.  For the final touch I added in tiny white dots over my background colours.

I'm so excited to see what the other girls do for their spring designs.  Don't forget to visit their blogs as well to see all their designs by clicking the links below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Polish Party: Chevrons

Hello all,

It's Polish Party time again and this month's theme is chevrons.  I have to say that this was not my favourite theme, as chevrons were not something that I had thought about doing before but I gave them a go.  I guess I wont like every theme that we vote on, but it's all about the challenge and trying new things!

I chose to use three different shade of purple from Models Own to create my gradient of chevrons.  I started with a base of Grape Juice from the Fruit Pastel collection, so my nails smell yummy.  Once that was dry I then painted my first chevron using Lilac Dream from the Ice Cream Sundae collection.  I created two lines in a point towards the tip of my nail.  Once this was dry I finished of my design with Pukka Purple from the Ice Neon collection.  It's really tricky to get a good picture of Pukka Purple, but this is pretty accurate!

Even though I am not a chevron fan I think these turned out ok.  Have you done chevron nails before, drop me a link so I can take a look! I always look forward to seeing what the other Polish Party girls come up with, make sure you check them out below 

An InLinkz Link-up

Polish Party: January Blues - Cinderella Nails

Hi all,

It's nearing the end of the month again and for me that means it's Polish Party time.  This month we decided out theme would be January Blues, doing designs using blue to help cheer up what is supposed to be the most depressing month.  It actually comes in handy that I have to post this month's early as today is Blue Monday, which is supposed to be the most depressing day of the month!

Anyway, enough of that, on to something happy!  What a brilliant way to use one of my Secret Santa presents Sinful Colors in Cinderella.  If you are interested to find out more about the Secret Santa I took part in you can read about it here.

When you move it in the light it has a colour shift effect, with loads of tiny pink glitter particles in it.  You can't really see that in the picture unfortunately.  This is a really sheer colour so would be perfect over the top of another colour for some added shimmer, or if you want to wear it on it's own you will need at least three coats, like I have here.

I was inspired by the name of the polish to create a Disney Cinderella look.  This is one of those colours that really is as described, as it matches Cinderella's dress.  To add a Disney princess touch to my manicure I added silver swirly nail stickers and some simple dots to finish off the pattern.  I thought this looked a bit like the magical swirls when Cinderella's fairy godmother gets her ready for the ball.

I am really pleased with these nails and think they are simple but effective.  Also, what could be better to cheer you up in January that pretty nails combined with Disney!  I'd love to see what different things other people have done with Sinful Colors Cinderella, leave me a link in the comments so I can take a look.

You'll be able to see the other ladies taking part in this months Polish Party by clicking the links below.  Enjoy and share the love x

Polish Party: Black and White - Mix and Match Nail Art

Hello all,

The end of the month is here again and that means it's Polish Party time!  This month's theme is Black and White.  I knew that I was going to do a mix and match design for this, but it was just a case of deciding what patterns and designs.

The black is Sally Hansen Midnight in New York, which has a really subtle shimmer, and the white is Models Own Snow White.  Here's a quick run through of what I went for when I took on the challenge this month.

• Thumb - Checker board
• Index Finger - Black with Barry M Confetti in Liquorice
• Middle Finger - Double dot dotticure
• Ring Finger - Half and half
• Little Finger - Black with a white heart

None of these were difficult designs and I love all the patterns, unfortunately this was a disaster manicure though! My top coat was far too gloopy and did not dry.  I now have bubbles all over the white and hair imprinted into the polish.  You know when you go to bed and think it was dry enough... alas no... It just didn't dry :-( Sad times!  I had a feeling it was going to happen, so luckily I took my picture straight after finishing my design.  This means that my clean up was not quite as good as I would have liked, but still means I could share my design and join in with this month's Polish Party.

Lets hope the other girls didn't have a disaster like me... Take a look at their designs below 

Polish Party: Disney - Mickey and Minnie Nail Art

Hello all,

It's the end of the month, and you know what that means? Polish Party time.  Out theme this month is Disney.  I have loved Disney since forever and Mickey and Minnie have to be my favourite so when our theme was picked I knew they were going to feature.  I couldn't decide how to do them first of all, but then settled on hints of both characters.

Then all I had to do was decide how to include them both on one hand... Or did I?

I went for Mickey on my left hand and Minnie of my right hand.  Both have nails that are the same, because these features match on both Mickey and Minnie, so on both little fingers I chose to use yellow to represent their shoes.  Then on both index fingers I have a white base with three simple black lines to represent their gloves.  For Mickey I have on my ring finger and thumb, his iconic red shorts with yellow buttons, and for Minnie I have her red dress with white polka dots.  For my Mickey hand I used a little dotting tool to create mini Mickey's (hee hee!!) over a white base, and then for my Minnie hand how could I not include her bow?

I had so much fun doing these and I love that I have a different character on each.  As I type it looks like Mickey and Minnie dancing across my key board.  They certainly brighten up my day when I look at them.

Don't forget to keep up with what of the rest of the Polish Party girls have done for their Disney themed nails.  Follow the links below to take a look

Polish Party: Halloween - Frankenstein Nails

Hi all,

It's Polish Party time again - Yay!  This month's theme is Halloween... Well how could it not be?

I was a bit stuck for what to do, because you can often see a lot of the same things when looking at Halloween nail art, and whilst I haven't steered too far away from 'the norm', I hope I have come up with something a bit different.

I wanted to keep to the same colour pallet on all my nails as I didn't want too many colours all trying to compete with the others, so once I had decided on Frankenstein nails I chose the others based around that.  So obviously I had green and black.  I then paired those with silver and a bit of glitter.

I painted my thumb and ring finger in the limited edition green from Barry M that was out in the summer from Superdrug.  Then my middle finger and little finger are painted in Sterling Silver from Models Own. To finish off my base colours I used Knockout from Revlon on my index finger.

For the details on my silver nails I have done some simple stripes and dots.  I used the Models Own nail art pen for the stripes and a dotting tool dipped in my Revlon black polish.  On my index finger I kept it simple with a coat of Startlet by Jessica.  It's such a pretty multi toned glitter that would go with anything.

My thumb nail is a little bit more fancy.  I have done the ends of a plaited nail just on the tip.  I added a diagonal stripe in silver first and then another in the opposite direction in black.  As you can see from the photograph the silver over the green has actually gone a greenish gold colour.  It's a happy accident as I really like it, but obviously wasn't meant to be like that.

On my ring finger we have a not so scary, but rather cute Frankenstein.  I simply added some dots of black for his hair near my cuticle and then wiggled the polish around to create the cover required.  I then added two white dots for his eyes with a smaller black dot in the middle.  Using my nail art pen with striper I added his little stitched up mouth.

I really enjoyed doing this design even though it wasn't what I had originally planned.  Don't for get to check out the other girls taking part in Polish Party this month x

Polish Party: Autumn - Hedgehog Nails

Hi all,

Today I have my first post for the Polish Party group challenge.  I am so excited to be taking part in this monthly challenge along with some other girls from Twitter.  To find out more about who's taking part click here.

We decided that our first month's theme was going to be Autumn, so I started to think about different ideas.  I had a quick search to see what other autumn nails were out there, and I really could find that many different ones.  Most seemed to come grouped together with Halloween.  There were lots of browns, yellows and golds in the ones that I saw.  Still not really having a plan I typed into Google, autumn animals for some inspiration.  In amongst the foxes and owls there was a cute little hedgehog nestled in some autumn leaves; I had my idea... hedgehog nails.

I used Barry M nail paints to create my loved up hedgehogs.  For their spikes I used a small nail art brush dipped into Mushroom.  Staring in the middle of my nail I painted stripes towards the tip of my nail.  To make their faces I simply mixed together a few drops of Mushroom with some white polish.  Using a dotting tool I created a small semi circle for the face and two little dots for ears.  In the middle of the ears I used the smaller end of my dotting tool and Strawberry Ice Cream to make them pink inside.  Then adding the nose and eyes I used a nail art pen in black.  Tah dah, autumn hedgehogs! I decided that I didn't want to do hedgehogs on every nail so I used Dolly Mixture Confetti as I thought this looked a bit like falling autumn leaves.  I then used a pink nail art pen to draw on a little love heart in the middle of my two hedgehogs.  I am a little disappointed that the heart doesn't photograph very well; it doesn't look that bad in person, but I love how my hedgehogs turned out.

Make sure you check out the other Polish Party girls taking part using their links below.  Leave me a comment to let me know what you think of my design.  What should the next Polish Party theme be?