Summer Flowers

Isn't it just so lovely when the sun shines?

Base (orange) - Rimmel - Oragasm

Base (white) - Barry M - Cotton

Glitter Topper - Collection - Sparkle Top Coat

Dots - Barry M - Yellow 134

Pink Ombré Nail Art

I think sometimes simple can be more effective, and that's what I've gone for this week with a pink ombré.

I've done a similar look before with purple tones, but it was a long time ago now.  I think the colours that I picked this time around compliment each other much better and I prefer the light to dark ombré starting with the lightest shade on my thumb.  I think it looks more balanced.

From thumb to little finger I have used the following colours - Essie Ballet Slippers, Models Own Strawberry Tart, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Revlon Fuchsia Fever, and China Glaze Traffic Jam.  To match the finish up on all the shades I've finished with a coat of Collection Sparkle Top Coat.

I've got some exciting reviews and a nail swap coming up on my blog so keep an eye out for those soon.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Graffiti Nails: Pistachio with Reverse Glitter Gradient

Hi all,

After using my first Graffiti Nail polish last week, I couldn't wait to use another one.  They are such pretty colours.  This week my manicure features Pistachio.

I did a bit of mix and match manicure using two coats of Graffiti Nails Pistachio on my thumb, index, and little finger.  On my middle finger and ring finger I have used two coats of Models Own Snow White.  To add a bit of sparkle all over on the white nails I added a coat of  Collection Top Coat Sparkle and a pale blue nail gem.

To create the reverse glitter gradient on my Pistachio nails I started by using Collection Top Coat Sparkle again, but rather than painting on a normal coat I wiped off as much polish as I could and dragged what remained about half way down my nail.  Then I have used Blizzard from Models Own for the chunky glitter. It's such a pretty glitter which is jam packed with large round hex particles, holographic squares and round glitter specks.  Again I wiped off as much polish as I could and painted that all the way down my nail.  This added a few particles of glitter all over the nail.  Then to add more to create the gradient effect I dabbed on a thick layer near the top of my nails placing the glitter where I wanted it.

I am really pleased with these nails and I just wish the photograph did the glitter justice.  The sparkle is amazing and really catches the light.  The Graffiti Nails polishes are beautiful and I have been very impressed with them.  Isn't this colour so pretty?  Have you tried any, I'd love to see what you have tried.  Leave me a link in the comments so I can take a peek.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x     

Purple Ombré Nail Art

Hello all,

Just a quick one for today.  I had a very busy weekend so didn't have chance to spend too much time on a design this week.  As you may have guessed from other posts I am rather keen on purple, so I decided to go with purple ombré nails.

 

 

Instead of creating ombré effect on every nail like I've tried before (you can see some here and here), I chose five different shades of purple and started with the darkest on my thumb nail and worked outwards getting lighter as I went.



 

From my thumb to my little finger I have Rimmel Black Cherries, Rimmel Trend Spotting, Rimmel Purple Pulse, Models Own Lilac Dream and Models Own Grape Juice.  As they were different brands of polish they all had slightly different finishes so I finished off with a coat of Collection 2000 (although now just called Collection - that's how old my bottle must be!) glitter top coat and a coat of Sally Hansen top coat for a super glossy finish.

 

I love how the colours all work individually and together to create the effect I was going for.  I have seen this ombré design in a few different places and it was the perfect opportunity to give it a go this week.  This ombré style is a bit of a throw back from when I was younger and I would paint my toe nails in alternating shades of the same colour!

 

In other very exciting news Look Magazine contacted me and said that they would like to feature my nails in the magazine, so I am very excited and am looking forward to the issue out in the middle of May.  I'll be going down to the shops to get a copy or two!

 

Have you had a go at anything recently that has reminded you of when you were younger?  Or have you tried something that you have seen around and thought you should have a go at, but not got round too yet?  Leave a comment and let me know x



Essie: Jamaica Me Crazy

Hello all,

I was very excited to spot Essie polishes in my local Boots yesterday so thought I'd give it a try.  I started with just one colour to see how I got on with it because at £7.99 I needed to be sure that I liked it.

My nails are very strong, but can be quite brittle and flaky and I have tried a few moisturising base coats before, so I thought that I'd try Essie's 'Norish Me' as well.  This says that it's an 'intense hydration base coat' and says that it can improve hydration of nails by about 50% in 5 days.  I have used this as a base, along with my normal base coat and I will let you know if I see an improvement in the moisture of my nails over the next few weeks from using this.  This was £8.99 in Boots.

Back to my pretty colour though...

 

 

I chose Jamaica Me Crazy which is a gorgeous deep pink colour.  In some lights it almost has a purple look to it as the colour is that deep.  The coverage after one coat is quite good, although I would suggest two for the best look.  I found that the polish dries fairly quickly, means wait time between coats is not too long.  There is a bit of sparkle in the colour itself which is lovely on its own, but I can't resist that extra bit of sparkle and I finished my nails off with a coat of my trusty Collection 2000 Glitter Top Coat.  I always use a clear top coat over that as well to add lots of extra shine.  I think it's safe to say that I might be taking a look at some more Essie colours from time to time when I am feeling like having a bit of a splurge.

 

 

I would recommend taking a look at Essie colours as there are lots of choices and it seems to be a great quality polish.  Hope this helps you if you have been thinking about this brand but you weren't sure before.  Let me know in the comments if you have use Essie colours, which ones and how you found them x



'Bee Mine' Valentine's Day Nail Art

Hello all,

I have another alternative Valentine's Day nail art design for you this week.

I have been inspired again by a different mini Me to You bear.

 

 

I have some seen some other nail art where people have used fan brushes to create a fun random stripe effect rather than the more uniform stripes you get with a striper.

 

As always I started off with a base coat to protect my nails and then painted all my nails, other than my ring finger in yellow from Barry M.  I painted my ring fingers using Knockout from Revlon.  Then taking my fan brush I dipped it in some of my black polish.  Then to create the stripes all you have to to do is simply drag the brush over your nails.  You can repeat the process, creating more strips over the first ones made to give the random pattern that I have.

 

On my ring finger I created my little bumble bee using a dotting tool to make an oval shape.  First of all I used a white polish so that the yellow would really pop afterwards.  Once this was dry I did the same again, but used the yellow polish.  For the stripes of my bee I used a black striper and just dragged some small lines over the yellow oval.  Using a smaller dotting tool I added two white dots for the wings.

 

To finish off my design I added a coat of Collection 2000 top coat over my stripy nails for that extra bit of shine.

 

I hope you like my 'Bee Mine' nail design.  Have a great Valentine's Day.



Candy Cane Inspired Nail Art

I have been working my way through some Christmas designs and have been really pleased with the results so far!

I think this week's are my favourite that I have done though.  I was thinking of Christmas things that could inspire my nail art and I decided that candy canes would look fab.  Rather than go for red and white stripes I wanted to take a different approach.

 

 

This design was very easy to create, but very messy with watermarbling!  I painted three of my nails in Bright Red by Barry M and added my Collection 2000 sparkle top coat.  I love the top coat because the glitter is so fine but so pretty.

 

I painted my ring finger and thumb with a base of  white polish, I used Sally Hansen.  Leave this to dry and then comes the messy part.  To do water marbling you need a cup of room temperature water and your polishes.  New polishes work best.  You can use as many colours as you like, but you need to work quite quickly.  Drip your first polish on the surface of the water, I let a few drips fall to make sure I had enough.  The polish will start to spread out on the surface of the water.  Then add some drips of your other colour.  Then taking a tooth pick draw some swirls or stripes into the polish on the surface of the water.  When you are ready bend your finger placing the nail directly down onto your swirled polish, then straighten your finger straight down into the water.  You will see that there is polish still on the surface of the water.  Before removing your finger you need to get rid of the polish from the surface otherwise you will ruin your design.  Blow gently on the polish on the polish on the water, then using your tooth pick swirl it around on the surface and the polish will start to stick to the tooth pick.  Once the polish has gone from the surface of the water you can carefully remove your finger from the water.  You will have a lot of polish all around your nail and on your finger, which can look a bit scary, but all it takes is a cotton bud dipped into nail polish remover to take it off.  To help with this you can also use Vaseline around your nail and on your finger to stop the polish sticking so much.

 

Repeat those same steps for each watermarbled nail and voila - you have candy cane inspired nails!  I finished these nails off, once they were dry and cleaned up, with a coat of the sparkle top coat.  What's great about watermarbling is that no two nails look the same so you never really know what you might get.

 

I hope you like them and maybe try out watermarbling yourself.  If you get stuck there are loads of videos on YouTube that will help you out.

Icy Blue Snowflake Nail Art

It's that time of year again.  I am feeling Christmasy as the decorations have gone up today - YAY! My nails over the next few weeks will also be festive for the season.  I hope you enjoy.

This week as it has been rather frosty and cold I thought I would go with a design that matched the weather.  I went with snowflakes on an icy blue background.

The base colour for this design is a gorgeous duck egg colour from Marks and Spencer with Collection 2000 sparkly top coat over the top.  This gives a beautiful base for the design as it looks like a snowy scene.  To create the snowflakes I used a dotting tool to make three small lines on each nail in the shape of a star.  I then added a dot of polish to the end of each of the lines to make it look like a snowflake.  Adding in extra dots makes it look like there is falling snow around each of the snowflakes.

This is a really cute and easy design to try.  If you don't have a dotting tool you can use a toothpick to get the same effect.

Check back soon for more Christmas designs - I am already planning some others!