OPI Spotty Nails

When I went away in December I thought it would be silly not to stop by the duty free to see what nail goodies I could find and I came across the travel exclusive OPI  Coca Cola set.  It comes with 6 mini bottles of beautiful colours.  I have used a few of the colours so far and really like them, but this is the first time any of them have appeared in a blog post.

Pastel Strawberry Nails

I'm just popping by quickly to show you my fun spring nails.  The sun was shining so what better way to celebrate than cracking out the pastels again?  I decided on Models Own this week.

Fruit nail designs are generally quite straight forward but always look cute.  I chose Strawberry Tart scented polish so thought it would be very fitting to paint my nails to match.  I used Jade Stone and Lemon Meringue, both from the Ice Cream Sundae collection, to finish off my strawberries.  I added little leaves at the top of each nail by my cuticles using a small dotting tool, and then used a tooth pick for the strawberry seeds.

What fruity designs do you like to do?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Watercolour Tie-Dye Nails

I decided to try out a new technique this week but it didn't work to plan, so I had to change my idea part way through painting.  Luckily I didn't have to start all over again and I am really pleased with the outcome.  I have ended up with a watercolour tie-dye effect.

I started off with a neutral base so I had something to work on, and I was originally going to add watercolour bubbles, but I'm not sure that I worked quick enough to soak up the excess polish to give the right effect, so thinking quickly I started adding my watered down polish in splodgy sections over the whole nail.  The colours started blending together really nicely.  I added a few layers to build up the colours and cover any bare patches.  To even out the sections I added a fine glitter top coat from Collection.  A adore this top coat as it transforms any polish into something extra special.

I used Tuscany from Graffiti Nails which has to be my favourite orange polish I have come across. The pink is Gumball from Models Own, so not only are my nails pretty, they smell yummy as this is a polish from the Sweet Shop Collection.  Lastly I have used Yellow from Barry M.  I think all these colours work together beautifully.  What do you think?

Even though this wasn't what I originally had in mind, I think the effect I am left with is fun and eye catching.  And it's a different way of creating this look, rather than water marbling or dragging the polish when on the nail.  What do you do when a design doesn't quite to plan when you have already started painting?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Pastel Chequered Ombré Nail Art

We were treated to some lovely spring weather over the weekend, and spring always has me reaching for pastel colours.  Who else is excited for pastels?

There have been some gorgeous new releases recently, fuelling our polish addictions, but not being quite so good for our bank balances!  Having said that I have managed to resist most of the new ones recently as there is a particular collection I have my eye on, so this week I looked through my already rather large stash to revisit some old favourites from Models Own.

I opted for a white base with a combination of Beth's Blue, Lilac Dream, and Pastel Pink.

Beth's Blue has been a long time favourite pastel shade for me and unfortunately you can't get it any more, but there are some other similar beauties in the Hypergel range and also Blueberry Muffin. You can also see my comparison of this against Duck from the Speckled Eggs collection.

Using my MoYou Princess 10 plate meant that this was a really quick ombré without loosing any of the effect.  I have already had lots of compliments and questions as to how I got the look.

Confession time, I haven't got the checks on thumb nails.  I used Lilac Dream for those as I just can't seem to stamp very well on my thumbs with an all over design like this.  I thought it might look a bit odd, but it actually ended up being quite a cute, if not traditional, accent nail.  When I try all over stamps like this pattern I end up with bare ends where it hasn't been quite long enough and you can never get it to line up properly to try to add an extra bit on the end.  Does anyone else have this problem?

What pastel colours are your favourites for spring?

Thanks for stopping by 

Aimée x

Elegant French Manicure with Born Pretty Store Water Decal Review*

Evenings are finally staying a bit brighter, and there are daffodils and crocuses coming out, this can only mean one thing... spring is upon us.  Since the beginning of the year I have mainly stuck with darker colours so I thought it was about time to do a lighter manicure.

I was trying out some different Essie nude shades at the weekend and thought that these colours lent themselves to showing off these pretty Black Flower Water Decals from Born Pretty Store.

*Press sample - Sent to me for review