Halloween Ghost Nail Art

Hello all,

I've made so many lovely nail friends over on Twitter so it's always extra exciting when I get an invitation to join in with a nail art challenge with some of them.  Sara and Rachel came up with the Monstrously Mini Challenge for Halloween.  There are seven different challenges, and I'm not sure that I will be able to do all of them, but I still wanted to join in if I could.  I didn't stick to any particular order and jumped right in with number six 'Your favourite creature'.  You can't think Halloween and not think ghosts.

Manicure Swap with The Imperfect 10: Pink Butterfly Wings Nail Artwith Tutorial

Hello all,

I had such fun recreating my own design last week for the monthly Polish Party theme, that when Rachel from The Imperfect 10 asked if I'd like to do either twin nails with her, or a manicure swap I went for it.

After a bit of discussion we decided to go for a swap, so I picked a design from her blog and she picked one from mine.  Then all that was left was to paint.

So here is my take on Rachel's pink butterfly wings

I hadn't ever done butterfly wing nails before, so this was the perfect opportunity.  I have seen them about quite a bit on Pinterest and in the blogging world, so they seem to be a bit of a nail art staple, so really, it was about time!

I really liked that Rachel hadn't done the wings on all nails as I think the black details could quite easily overpower the nails otherwise.  Here are the designs side by side

My recreation on the left, Rachel's original on the right

As you can see Rachel went for a bright pink from Models Own, but I didn't have the same colour, so I chose to go for a pink gradient with two Barry M colours - Strawberry Ice Cream and Pink Flamingo.  I built up the colours in quite a few layers as I wasn't getting the coverage I wanted at first.  This meant that clean up was a nightmare though as the polish had dried on to my fingers in between.  Five cotton buds and a little nail brush later I was ready to add the details.

I used my black and white Barry M Nail Art Pens for the details as they are just so easy to work with.  For the non wing nails I added single dots of black and white down the edges as my double dots with black and white looked too messy.  Then it was on to the wings themselves.  I have put together this mini tutorial on how to create butterfly wings in 5 easy steps.  I hope you find it easy to work from - sorry it's shown on a nail wheel rather than my own nails.

1. Start with a curved line near the cuticles
2. Then add thee long lines down the nail towards the tip
3. Add tiny curved lines in between the long lines you just created
4. Fill in the tip of the nail with black
5. Once dry add tiny white dots to finish off the look

Don't forget to take a look at Rachel's recreation of my design as well, she went for my pastel rainbow ombré manicure.

Rachel's recreation on the left and my original on the right

How do you think we both did?

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Models Own: Hyper Gel Sundress with Nail Tape Tutorial

Hello all,

I have wanted to try a more nail tape designs for a while now so I thought I'd give it a go along with a half moon manicure.  And what better way to test out my new Hyper Gel from Models Own.  Sundress is one of the new pinks from the summer Hyper Gel collection.

To create the half moons I used hole re-enforcers that you can get from stationery shops. Then to add to this and make it a bit more fancy I added some stripes using the nail art tape from my Models Own Nail Art kit. I haven't done a step by step in a while so I thought I'd give a new style picture tutorial a go.  I picked Models Own Bora Bora as my base colour for this design.

1. Paint your base colour and wait for it to dry completely
2. Add hole re-enforcers and nail tape to create your pattern
3. Paint your top colour over the tape
4. Before this coat of polish dries remove the tape
5. Clean up around the edges of your nails, add a top coat and you're done

Sundress is such a pretty deep raspberry pinky red polish.  It was opaque with just one coat making it perfect for my nail tape design.  Lots of people have had concerns about the summer Hyper Gels being similar to the other ones that came out originally, but I think it's difficult to tell from pictures what they are really like.  Here is a comparison between Sundress (on the left) and Cerise Shine (on the right).

I'd love to see more swatches of the other summer Hyper Gels, leave me a link if you have some of them and let me know what you think of my mini tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Camouflage Nail Art with Tutorial

Hello all,

I was bought camouflage colours ages ago but haven't ever got round to using them so I thought it was about time.  I also haven't done a step by step for ages, so I have done one for these nails.

The colours that I have used are Mushroom by Barry M, and Becca's Brown, Grace Green and Mushroom (I will now add MO after this when referring it to it in the rest of this post) all by Models Own.

I decided that I wanted to do the camo print on my ring finger and thumb and then use the three colours that I used for the camo print on the other three fingers.

How to Remove Glitter Nail Polish

Hiya,

Has this ever happened to you when you try and remove your glittery nail polish?

I'm guessing the answer is yes!  It's a pain right?  Takes forever to remove?  Uses so many cotton wool pads you lose count?  Well, I have seen a lot of people say that they struggle with removing glittery nail polish and I felt their pain... until I saw a tip on Pinterest.  I've just had a look on my boards and I don't seem to have the pin where I saw this tip.  I think I must have been so keen to try it that I just didn't pin... sorry!

Anyway, I have put together my own step by step of the method to help all you other glitter polish lovers out there!

Easter Chick Nail Art with Tutorial

Hello all,

You might have seen last week that I did the first of two Easter designs with my Strawberry Tart Bunnies.  This week I have Easter Chicks with a sparkly speckled egg effect.

 

I have used mainly Models Own nail polishes to create my design.  The base colour is Lemon Meringue and the orange for the chick's beak is Fuzzy Peach.  Both of these are from the Ice Cream Sundae collection.  For the sparkly speckled egg effect on my other nails I have used Disco Inferno from the Mirrorball Collection.

 

I have created a step by step picture guide to show you how I created this look, and hopefully it's easy for you to follow if you want to have a go yourself.

 

 



 

 Step one - After using a base coat to protect your nails, paint them with two coats of your base colour, in my case Lemon Meringue.

 

Step two - This is where you will start to create the shell for you little chick to sit in.  Using a dotting tool create a zig-zag line across your ring finger nail in white.  You do not need to wait for this to dry before moving on to step three.

 

Step three - Fill in the rest of the shell for your chick using your white polish (I have used Sally Hansen White On)

 

Step four - Add a small orange triangle above your shell and two black dots for your chick's eyes.

 

You could finish your design here if you wanted to, add more chicks on your other nails or like me, add on some glitter to the other nails.  I used Disco Inferno because of the colours in the glitter adding to the chick theme with gold, orange and green flecks.

 

I will be putting together a step by step of my Easter Bunny nails as well, so keep an eye out for that if you are interested x

Strawberry Tart Easter Bunny with Tutorial

Hi all,

I have done the first of my Easter designs this week.  Cute pink Easter bunnies!

 

 

I used Models Own Strawberry Tart from the Fruit Pastel collection to create my pink Easter bunny.  This way, not only is it cute, it also smells yummy.  The Fruit Pastel collection all have lovely smells to match their pastel colours.  I started off with a coat of Essie Nourish me and then a base coat.  The base colour for my design is Eggshell from M&S.

 

My Easter bunny was very easy to create, I simply painted a small circle on the tip of my nail and two thin lines up from the circle with rounded edges.  After this had dried I used a bright pink nail art pen from Sally Hansen to create the nose and the insides of the ears.  Then for the eyes I used a black Models Own striper, which has a very handy pen dotting feature.  I added two dots for the eyes and used the striper end to create the whiskers.  Tah dah! You have a cute pink Easter bunny who smells like strawberries.

 

You could repeat the bunny on each nail if you wanted, but I chose to do a simple dotticure.  Carrying on the theme from my bunny I used Strawberry Tart to create the largest dots, a white polish for the medium sized dots and my bright pink nail art pen for the small dots.  I added the dots randomly down one side of my nail and onto the tip.

 

 

 

I have another Easter design next week.  Perhaps you might mix and match the two x

Pink, Purple and Blue Ombré Nail Art with Tutorial

Hello all,

With the weather becoming colder over the last few days and with snow hitting the UK today, my nails for the week have been inspired by the winter.  One of the things that I look forward to watching on the television in the winter is 'Dancing on Ice' and the colours that I chose for my design are based on the logo for the show.

I have included a step-by-step for the design, in case you'd like to have a go yourself - enjoy!

This is what I have used for my design, but you can create the look with any complimentary colours that you'd like. I use Models Own polishes for my design.

 

Back to School Nail Art with Tutorial

It's that time of year again, it's time to go back to school.  When we think of this time of year there is an iconic symbol that always springs to mind... the apple.

The apple has inspired my new design.  I hope you like it and give it a go yourself by following my step by step guide.

 

 

 

What you will need:

• Base coat
• White polish
• Nude polish
• Red polish
• Red glitter polish
• Brown polish
• Green polish
• Top coat
• Cotton buds
• Nail dotting tool/thin paint brush

These are the polishes I used to create the look.

 

 

First, use a base coat to protect your natural nails and start the design by painting your nails with a simple French manicure.  Paint the tips white and leave them to dry and add a coat of a nude colour.

 

 

 

 

Leave this to dry before moving on to the next step.  To create the body of the apple I used red, but you could always choose green if you wanted.  I also decided to make one of my apples sparkle for that extra special look, but you don't have to do this if you don't want to.

 

 





Take your red polish and drip some onto a scrap of paper.  Using your cotton bud dip this into the polish and then add a red dot to your nail, slightly overlapping your French tip.  Continue this on all your nails.  I added the red glitter polish to my ring finger in the same way.

 

 

 

 

Again leave this to dry before moving on to the next step.  To create the stalk of the apple you will need to use the nail dotting tool or thin paint brush.  I have a double ended nail tool with both of these, so to create the stalk I used the brush.  As with the body of the apple drip some of your brown polish onto a scrap of paper.  Using your brush paint a small brown line moving away from the apple.

 

 

For the leaf I used the nail dotting tool, but you can use the brush if you want, just clean it using a small amount of polish remover on some cotton wool.

Drip a small about of your green polish onto your scrap of paper and using the dotting tool create a small dot by the brown line you just painted for the stalk.  Drag the dot in the opposite direction to create the leaves.  Do this on all your nails.

To finish, eave this to dry then add a thick layer of a top coat to protect your new design.  You now have a back to school manicure.

Enjoy.



 

 



Industrial Silver Sparkle Nails with Tutorial

I thought I would do my nails to match the British summer sky - Steel grey and rainy! I think they have an industrial feel to them as well.  I really like the effect though and thought that you might like to learn step by step how to create this look.

What I used to create this design:
- Make up sponge wedge
- Base coat and top coat
- Barry M nail varnish in Grey
- E.L.F nail varnish in Pearl
- Models Own nail vanish in Sterling Silver
- Cotton buds
- Nail vanish remover

Step one:

Apply a base coat to protect your nails from staining.  Then apply a coat of grey nail varnish and wait for it to dry.  Some of the Bary M nail varnishes are quite opaque so you might only need one coat.  It's up to you of course.  I applied one coat.

Step two:

Take a pearl or white varnish and drip some onto some scrap paper or similar.  Then using the corner of the make up sponge wedge dab it in the varnish and then over the tip of your nail about half way up.  The E.L.F nail vanishes come in lots of different colours and the pearl works really well here as it lets the base colour show through. Repeat this over all your nails and again leave it to dry.

Step three:

Repeat step two but this time using a silver glitter polish, only sponging onto the tip of the nail.  Models Own glitters are lovely and are fairly opaque so work well for this design.  Then dab off the sponge onto the paper, so barely any varnish remains.  Dab lightly over the remaining grey to create a very subtle small sparkle.

Once this is dry apply a top coat to protect your design and clean up any varnish from around your nails using a cotton bud and some nail varnish remover.

I hope you enjoyed this step by step guide and have a go at creating this look yourself!