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 

Christmas Tree Dotticure Nail Art

Hello all,

I have my last Christmas nail art of the season and more importantly it will be what I have on my nails on the big day!

This was a 'pinspired' design this week.  This year I have seen lots of Christmas trees done with striping tape, so I was looking for something different and came across this pin.  I loved it so much that I just had to have a go.  Clicking through and reading the blog post about this I found out that it was inspired by another blogger as well, so it's really going around now!

I started off with two coats of Snow White from Models Own.  This is a fab white polish.  A bit streaky of first coat, but perfect in two.  I then used Barry M Red Glitter, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Models Own Bora Bora to create my dots.  Using different the two different end of my dotting tool for the large and medium dots and then end of a cuticle stick for the tiny dots.  I repeated this pattern on all my nails, but left my ring finger free for my Christmas tree.  For the tree I started by dotting Emerald Sparkle in a single dot in the centre of my nail just below the cuticle.  Then two dots at the tip of my nail to create a triangle pattern.  I then filled in the rest of the tree with some extra green dots.  I then added three Red Glitter dots for baubles and three Bora Bora dots for tinsel.  The star had to be something a bit special so I added a yellow gem to sparkle away at the top of the tree.  Then came the tricky part... Top coating without causing drag on the dots over the white! And look... It worked!!!!!!! Yay!!

I love how festive this manicure is and what was even better was that it was so simple!  I also did some nail art for my mum and sister as well...

A fancy swirly tree for my mum and snowflake for my sister.

I hope you all like my Christmas tree dotticure and have a very Merry Christmas x

Christmas Present Nail Art

Hello all,

Continuing the Christmas theme I have cute present nails this week.  And what could possibly make a present better? That's right, glitter!

I used Models Own Sardonyx from the Velvet Goth collection for my base colour.  You need two coats of this as it's a little streaky first of all.  It dries with a matte finish which means that it dries really quickly which worked out well for me as it meant that when I came to doing the bows my base was nice a dry.  I always make a mess when I used red polishes for some reason and this was no exception, clean up was a little tricky as it's glitter, but it worked out ok in the end.

To create the bows and ribbons for my presents I used the Models Own WAH Nail nail art pen in gold.  This was perfect for it as you have the striper brush when you twist the lid, but then you have the pen if you pull the lid off.  I started with two lines creating an offset cross on each finger and then used the pen end to draw two loops and tassels of the bow.

I topped this off with Sally Hansen Ista-Dri top coat to add a nice shine.  I really love how this turned out and it reminds me of Cartier in New York at Christmas...

Here's a picture I took whilst I was there in December 2006

Snowflake Nail Art

Hello all,

I have done my first festive nails! Yay!  I love doing these snowflakes and this has become a sort of tradition now as I have done a variation of this design for the last few years.

I think these are the best ones I have done so far as I love the extra layer of sparkle I added.  I think this gives this design something a bit extra!  I started with two coats of Models Own Top Turquoise, then used a coat of NYC New York Colour in Lights-Camera-Glitter.  Then it was on to the snowflakes.  I used Models Own Snow White for these.  I used a striper brush from another polish for the star like bits of the snowflakes and then my dotting tool for the ends.

It's a really simple design which is why I like doing it.  The picture unfortunately does not do this glitter justice as you can't really see all the particles.  There are small bits of silver glitter and large glitter particles in blue and pink.  I think it really adds to the design making it look really frosty and wintry.  Hmmmm... now I've just got to decide what to do next!

Blue and Purple Laser Nails

Hello all,

Just a really quick one today!  I have been having glitter withdrawals these past few weeks so I decided to try out Bourjois Laser in Blue Neon.

I started with a base of Models Own Blue Med with an accent nail in Models Own Purple Imperial.  The Bourjois glitter is so pretty and the picture doesn't really do it justice!  I use two coats of everything here just to make everything bold and bright!

Doing this manicure I have rediscovered Purple Imperial... I have forgotten how pretty this colour was and I will have to use it again soon x