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

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy: Winning Streak with Dry Marbled Hearts

I was a very lucky girl and I got a happy Friday present last week from my fiancé - he brought me home a pretty bottle of purple goodness!  Otherwise named, Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy in Winning Streak.

This is such a pretty colour and the coverage is amazing.  I could have left it at one coat if I wanted, but I had in mind to try out this dry marbling to create some pretty hearts.  I first tried this technique out on my Valentine's Day nail art wheel which you might have seen over on Instagram back in February.  This is so easy to do, but I love the finished effct.  All you have to do it paint on another coat of your base colour, add a row of dots in a contrasting colour whilst the base it still wet and then drag a thin nail art brush down the middle.

You can use this technique for more complicated marbled designs as well.  Madison over at Fundamentally Flawless has some great designs and I loved the swirl design she did at Christmas as part of her Advent Calendar.

The two purples I chose mix together beautifully to create the hearts.  If you don't have a thin nail art brush you can use a toothpick or a pin.  Just be careful that you don't drag the polish too hard otherwise you could end up creating bald spots on your nails.  Also you do have to work quite quickly, but if you have a bit of a practice first you'll get the hang of it quite quickly.  If you leave the dots of polish too long and they dry when you drag them together you'll end up wrinkling your polish.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Valentine's Day Heart Nail Art

With February upon us I thought that I'd make an early start with some simple Valentine's Day nails, plus I was determined to try out one of my new MoYou stamping plates.

As we still have a couple of weeks before the day itself I wanted to stick with a darker wintery colour, but still have a base that has a Valentine's feel to it.  I chose Revlon's Vixen - How fitting is the name apart from anything else?  It's tricky to describe the colour as it depends what light you look at it in.  Sometimes it can look very deep red with brown undertones, but with two coats it leans more to a purple red.  Either way I love it; but it does tend to stain a bit.

So, back to the stamping.  The other week I had to double stamp as my chosen colours weren't as contrasting as I had hoped, and then last week I had a design in mind, but it was just fail after fail so I gave up in the end.  So, not to be defeated I picked a different plate and tried again this week.  Does anyone else go through phases like this with stamping?

I chose my new MoYou Princess Plate 10 which has loads of cute designs on it, but being a Valentine's design I chose the linked hearts and I stamped these with MoYou White Knight stamping polish as an accent nail on my ring finger.  I thought it might be a bit much on every nail in this colour combination, so to finish the design I used the same white polish with a dotting tool to create mini hearts just off centre on the rest of my nails.

Overall I am pleased even though my white got a bit smudgy in places... Seems it's not just black that drags with top coat!

I am thinking of doing my very first full nail wheel of Valentine's designs; anyone fancy joining me for the challenge?  Keep an eye out for it on Instagram and whilst you're there it would be great if you gave me a follow!

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x 

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).

Fake Tattoos Nail Tattoos* - Valentine's Day Nails

Hello all,

I was recently contacted by Fake Tattoos asking if I would like to review some of their nail tattoos and I of course said yes please!  They are a Swedish company working with guest designers to create unique body and nail tattoos.  I was sent their Ocean and Red designs.

* Press sample - sent to me for review

These are such cute little tattoos and really handy for adding a quick dash of nail art to your manicure.  I decided as it's almost Valentine's Day that I would create a Valentine's design using some of the tattoos from both sets I was sent.

I have used the little paper plane from the Ocean design and then kiss from the Red design to create my sealed with a kiss manicure.  First of all I started with a pink base of Revlon in Fuchsia Fever.  A bright pink which has to be a must for Valentine's Day!  After leaving that to dry it was time for my tattoos.  The instructions for applying are very straightforward and the application is fairly fuss free.

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

Black and Gold Glitter Nail Art

Hello all,

As you may have seen yesterday I posted swatches of Models Own Fiesta Collection in Fashionista.  Even though it's a nice colour, it's not a very me colour so I decided to top it off with some nail art.

I started by using Revlon Knockout to create my diagonal black nail tips.  These diagonal lines tilt the opposite way on both hands, so when you look at my nails they all match up nicely.  Once this was dry I topped off my nails with Wet n' Wild Tonight's Going To Be A Good Night.  This is a gorgeous multi glitter with both black and gold glitter particles in it.  The black glitter is slightly smaller and gives quite good coverage.  The gold glitter is a bit trickier to place on the nail, but it's worth moving it around with the bush to get it in the right place.  I love how the opposite glitters contrast against the polishes I've used.

This would be a great manicure for a party or an occasion.  I like doing nail tips like this for a quick touch of nail art.  Have you done any nails like this?  I'd love to see... leave me a comment below x

Rimmel: Purple Pulse with Accent Nail

Hi all,

Just a quick post this week.  I haven't done nail art this week as I had a busy Bank Holiday weekend and just fancied doing something quick.

Having done some purple ombré nails the other week I came across colours that I knew were lurking in my nail polish bag, but hadn't been used in a while.  I used Purple Pulse on my middle finger in the ombré and decided to come back to it this week as I missed it.  It's a pinky purple, but it gets darker the more coats you apply.

 

This picture shows it more pinky than looking at it on my nails now.  It's more of a light plum in reality, but I love it.  I decided to spruce it up with an accent nail (because who doesn't love an accent nail when you don't have time for more!?).  I have used Revlon 095 Facets of Fuchsia which is a gorgeous transparent smokey polish with large and small purple glitter flecks.  I think it goes well with Purple Pulse and have used it on my ring finger and thumb.  You can see them both below.

 

 

 

 

I'm not going to say that I am going to stop buying new colours because lets face it, it's just not going to happen, but I really need to make sure that I make the most of the pretty colours that I already have as well!  What are your favourite Rimmel and Revlon polishes?  Leave a comment to let me know, I'd love to see what other people have x

 

Turquoise Stone Nail Art

Hello all,

I went for a 'Pinspired' manicure this week from Pinterest.  I have been seeing lots of pretty designs and thought that I would give one a go.

I have the gorgeous For Audrey from China glaze and having done a couple of different Tiffany & Co. designs with it, I was searching for something else to use it for.  I spotted Turquoise Stone nails and they were just perfect! I saw them done a few different ways but here is the pin that I got my main idea from.

 

 

Now I don't know about you, but I hate cling film! It clings to everything that it's not meant to and nothing that it is; mainly itself which is very frustrating!  This is the perfect revenge for cling film though as you just lightly screw some up and use it to dab on the colour.  I just dabbed the cling film into black polish from Revlon and removed the excess on a scrap of paper and then dabbed it all over my nails.  You can see the steps on the pin that I followed, but I didn't copy it like for like as I wanted to add my own touch.  I also thought that painting on the thin lines might look too overdone. 

 

I had seen some other pins that did the dabbing of colour with gold polish instead, so I thought that I would add a little bit of gold as well.  After the black had dried I dabbed Models Own Bora Bora over all of my nails using the cling film as before.  This added a slight sparkle like you can see in turquoise stones.

 

Before I was lucky enough to get China Glaze For Audrey I had tried some other polishes as dupes for the colour.

 

 

Here you can see China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Gumdrop and Marks and Spencer Duck Egg.  Duck Egg was the first one that I had and whilst I love the polish as you can see from how much has been used, it's not the best dupe for For Audrey.  It's much lighter and very shimmery.  I was bought this when looking for dupes and it seemed right at the time until looking at pictures afterwards.  I must say that if you are looking for a light pretty blue/green I would recommend Duck Egg as it's just lovely.  Having then searched online for dupes I found Orly Gumdrop.  It's a really good dupe if you can't get your hands on China Glaze.  As you can see it is slightly lighter, but it's not at all bad.  Have you found any good dupes for this or other colours?

 

 

I'm really pleased with the finished effect of my turquoise stone nails.  What do you think? Are you on Pinterest? Have you tried any designs from there?



Glittery Black with Pink Stripes

Hi all,

So I was a lucky girl and got some lovely presents from my mum from her holiday to America, including a nail polish!! It's a Wet n Wild Fergie Collection: Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night.  It's a clear base polish with small black glitter particles with bigger gold glitter particles.  I will do a proper review of the polish at a later date when I use it over a lighter colour... but I wanted to use it for my design this week.

If you read my blog regularly you might remember that I got some nail tapes for Christmas.  Well I hadn't actually used them, just admired them and their pretty colours, so I thought it was about time that I actually did give them a go!

I chose a black base for my nails, I used Revlon, and applied two coats.  I then painted half of my nails with a coat of the Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night.  I have seen that other people who have reviewed this polish before have said that the brush is quite big.  It is a bit bigger than other brands that I have, but I didn't really find it a problem as I got quite a lot of glitter with just one coat, but I will see what I think when I use it again over a different colour when I review it on it's own.

After this had dried I then used my pink nail tape to create a stripe down the middle of each nail.  It was quite fiddly to get the tape in the middle of the nail, but I found that it was easiest to start at the nail bed, overlapping onto my finger slightly to get the positioning right before committing to sticking my stripe down.  At the end of each nail I left a little bit of tape over the edge which I then trimmed with nail scissors and trimmers.

All that was left after this was to seal everything in with top coat.  I normally only use one layer of top coat, but this week I used two to make sure that my tape didn't peel up at the edges.

On another note, last week you will have seen that I wrote a little about Essie Nourish Me base coat.  I am pleased to say that my nails seem a little more hydrated than before.  I will keep using it and see if I think it makes a bigger impact.

Hope you like this design 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.