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

Models Own: Hyper Gel Pitch Purple with Reverse Glitter Gradient

Hello all,

I loved the Ebony Green HyperGel that I used last week so I just had to try one of the other new shades that I got.  I love darker shades in autumn and winter, and also it's the perfect excuse to add glitter to a manicure.  Ok, lets face it, I don't really need an excuse for that - If you read my blog regularly you'll know I'm partial to sparkly nails!

This is such a gorgeous colour purple and the gel effect is brilliant.  It's so glossy even without a top coat.  I decided add a reverse glitter gradient using Jack Frost from the Wonderland collection and Banger from the Fireworks collection.  Both these glitters go really well together and with the purple.

I started by adding Jack Frost very sparingly on all nails so I was left with only a few particles of glitter.  I then went over this again, but only at the base of my nails by the cuticles.  Because Jack Frost is an iridescent glitter it works really well for a gradient as it takes on the main colour from the base polish.  I then topped this further with Banger.  The blues and pinks in this really compliment the purple.

What are your favourite combinations for glitter gradients?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Remembrance Day Poppy Nail Art

Hello all,

This year, as you know, marks the centenary of the First World War, so it seemed only right that I should show my support for the armed forces by having poppies on my nails.

At the weekend I got three of the new Models Own HyperGel colours and I couldn't wait to try one of them out.  I chose to use Ebony Green along with Red Lustre, one of the original HyperGel colours, and Snow White, to create my Remembrance Day nails.

I started off with a base of the green on just my middle nails, the red on my index finger and little finger, and white on my thumb and ring finger.  All nails have two coats and a top coat.  Once this had all dried a used a thin striper brush to create the poppy stalks on my white base.  I dropped some polish onto a scrap of paper, and so that I didn't overload the brush with polish I pulled it gently across the polish picking up a small amount of colour at a time.  I then carefully dragged the brush down my nail, from cuticle to tip to create the stalks.  I added a few thicker lines, and used a dotting tool to create buds.  I then used my dotting tool again to create tiny red flowers amongst the stalks.

I wanted to create the look of poppies in a field, rather than the traditional poppy you might buy and pin to your coat.  Overall I am not sure how I feel about the finished look.  It's not quite how I imagined it when I was planning, but I don't think it's because of the poppies, I think it might be because the colours look very Christmassy.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Barry M: Indigo with Flowers

Hi all,

I hope you all had a good Halloween and enjoyed some spooky nail art.  With the festivities over it was nice to do something different this week.

I paired Barry M Indigo with Lady from the Royal Textured Glitter collection.  I stamped these pretty flowers over the glitter using Pro Plate 09 from MoYou London.

I'm really looking forward to wearing some darker colours now that it's starting to get colder and the nights are drawing in.  What are your favourite colours to wear in the winter months?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x