W7 Nail Polish and Cosmic Nail Dust Review*

Hello all,

I hope you've had a great Christmas and got some lovely nail goodies under the tree.  We now of course have the countdown to the New Year, and it's another perfect excuse for super glittery nails.  I was asked to review some colours and glitters from W7 Cosmetics and thought that this would be the perfect reason to show them off.

*Press sample - sent to me for review

Models Own: Nail Art Kit Review*

Hello all,

I always wondered why Models Own didn't have a nail art kit because they seem to love nail art as much as we all do, and then the other week I came home from work to find this beauty waiting for me

A brand new Nail Art Kit from Models Own! Fancy that!  Of course I had to take a picture straight away, so this is from my phone, but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out anyway.  Then it was just a case of finding a bit of time to play with it all.

* Press sample - sent to me for review

Gone Wild - Animal Print Nail Art

Hello all,

Well, it seems it's only too easy to change my mind.  Having done a first last week, leaving a manicure matte, there is no stopping me now.  I have only gone and done it again!  After a comment on Twitter on my nails last week I was inspired to create my design this week and I am so so SO pleased with how they turned out.

These are my gone wild animal print nails.  Aren't they fun?  These took me quite a long time to do, but only because I wanted them to be just right so I took plenty of time.

From my thumb round to my little finger I have done, zebra, leopard, tiger, giraffe and cheetah prints.  I had the first four in mind all week long before doing these but had to think a bit more to come up with cheetah.  Want to know how I did these?  Well here goes.

Zebra - I started off with two coats of Snow White from Models Own.  After this had dried I used my Barry M nail art pen in black to freehand the stripes.  I bought the nail art pen especially for this as I was quite worried about this print and trying to do it with a striper or brush.  I can tell you now that I am most definitely not a fan of zebra print.  On my other hand I ended up removing it three times before it was only ok.  I do not think I will be doing this print again.  Well not freehand anyway!

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

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Nail Art

Hello all,

Did you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month?  Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and Breast Cancer Care would like to raise as much awareness, help and support for those affected by it.

Over on Twitter @JosephineJakobs asked if anyone would like to get involved to help spread awareness by creating fabulous pink manicures to show our support and share them all to help promote the cause.

So here are my pink nails.  As you can see I have gone all out pink on pink to show my support.

I used Models Own polishes to create my nails, using Pink Fever as a base for all my nails other than my ring finger where I have used Pastel Pink. 

On my thumb I used a fan brush dipped into Patel Pink and gently brushed it over the nail to create stripes.  I then did the same again, but using Pink Fever to create the marbled stripe effect. 

Moving on to my index finger I have done a reverse glitter gradient using Magenta Devine and Hot Stuff.  I have done this look before and really loved it, although here I let Hot Stuff take over a bit more in comparison to my previous manicure as it's such a sparkly glitter and I really wanted to make an impact with the pink. 

On my middle finger I have again recreated a dotty design that I've done before in monochrome colours, this in fact remains my most popular post.  Here I have used Pastel Pink and Strawberry Tart. 

On my ringer finger I used Pastel Pink for my base, as I said above.  I then hand painted a Breast Cancer Ribbon on using Pink Fever.  These were a bit tricky to paint, especially on my right hand (or Cinderella hand - have other people seen this used before, as in, the one that does all the work, but never really gets noticed?), but I got them to look ok in the end.  I added a little pink gem in the middle of the ribbon.

Then on my little finger I have just painted a block coat of Magenta Devine.

I really hope my nails get spotted by people and that they make people think about Breast Cancer and perhaps even donate to such a fabulous cause.  I found something perfect for you nail junkies out there to get if you wanted to make a donation.  How about these cute mini nail files for just £2? I hope you like my awareness design and I look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with x

Fancy French Manicure

Hello all,

I just wanted to share with you a really simple way to make a French manicure more fancy.

I had a bit of bother with my nails on Sunday night/Monday morning.  I painted them a really pretty lemon yellow and added some nail decal stickers on /Sunday night, then when I woke up in the morning they were covered in imprints from my hair! The nail polish hadn't set properly in the hot weather so off it all came.  I had to go to work with naked nails!!!  Anyway, yesterday evening I redid my nails in a simple French manicure but I wanted to add something a bit different.  I used pink, turquoise and black stripers to add three small lines on my ring finger.  I then used a small dotting tool to add a row of dots in the same colours next to the stripes.  I then added a single dot on the rest of my nails, other than my thumb where I have a row of dots of the three colours again.

I hope this gives you an idea on how to tart up an ordinary manicure in a really simple way x

Models Own: Pukka Purple

Hi all,

This week I decided to go neon with my nails! I have had lots of pastels on recently for Easter and spring, but I felt the need for something bright this week for a change.

I did a post a few weeks ago about Models Own Ice Neon Collection (you can see it here) and I don't really have anything extra to add about Pukka Purple that I didn't already say about Pink Punch.

 

 With the Pink Punch, I recommended two coats, but with this gorgeous Pukka Purple I have only done one coat.  The formula is so good that there aren't any streaks and I didn't feel the need for a second coat.  The colour is very difficult to photograph as it tends to come out blue in pictures, but I managed to get it in the end!

 

As you can see I have finished this off with a simple gold stripe down the middle of each nail and a top coat.  The Ice Neons dry with a matte effect finish, but as I said before, I like a bit of shine!

 

 

The gold striper is from Primark and I am actually very impressed with it.  Primark are selling two nail art pens for £2 and 3D nail art kits for £2.50.  The nail art pens are stripers and pens in one, so you can either use the thin brush for lines like mine, or if you pull the top of the cap off there is a pen nib that you can use for dots or smaller details.  At the bottom of the striper/pen, there is a clear compartment that screws on with nail gems in a co-ordinating colour to use along with the striper if you want to.  I wasn't expecting something as good for the money, and for a simple stripe down my nails what's not to like! It's gold, it's shiny, it's a stripe! What more can you ask for?

 

 

Let me know your thoughts on the Ice Neon collection; if you've tried it, if you keep yours in the fridge like Models Own suggest (I don't), if you can't get enough of the bright colours x

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.



Love Bug Ladybird Nail Art for Valentine's Day

Hi all,

I have been inspired by one of my mini Me to You bears for this week's design.  I kept Valentine's Day in mind, but I didn't want to do a design with the traditional hearts.

These cute ladybird nails are really simple to do.  Simply paint your nails in a bright red and then when that is dry, use a black striper to create a line down the middle of your nails.  Do this on all nails other than your ring finger.  Here you will need to create a red circle on the tip of your nail and then add the black line to that as with the other fingers.

To add the rest of the details of the ladybird use a small brush or a tooth pick to add a crescent shape over the top of your red circle in black.  This will be the ladybird's head.  Using a black striper add two small lines for antenna, and at the end of these I have drawn very small hearts with a nail art pen.  Models Own nail art pens have both a striper and pen in one tool so are great for a design like this.  The striper gives a very fine line and the tip of the pen is very fine for small details.

To finish off the rest of the design, use a dotting tool dipped in black polish to finish the ladybird effect.  If you wanted, you could make these dots little hearts as well, but I decided just to add simple dots for my design.

I hope you like my love bug ladybird design and maybe try it out this Valentine's Day.

Cut the Rope Nail Art

Hello all,

As many of us do I have games on my iPhone and one of my favourites is Cut The Rope.  My design this week has been inspired by Cut The Rope, and the Om Nom toy that I got for my birthday.  I hope you like it.

 

 

 

To create Om Nom and the Cut the Rope world was fairly simple.  I started with a base coat to protect my nails, and then painted them with an orange French tip manicure, other than my middle finger.  Once this had dried I created the stars that you have to try and collect before feeding Om Nom the candy in the game.  I used a yellow polish and a dotting tool to create five small dots close to once another and then dragged the nail polish into the centre to create the star.  I added one star on my little finger and two on my thumb. 

 

I then added a brown line on my index finger for the rope using a thin brush.

 

To create the candy I added a drop of orange polish and a drop of yellow polish to a scrap of paper and swirled them together slightly.  Using a cotton bud I dipped the end into the swirled polish and then dotted this on my ring finger nail.

 

I didn't have quite the right colour green to create Om Nom, so I mixed my green with some yellow to make it a lighter shade.  I then used a normal nail polish brush to create a green circle on my middle finger.  To create Om Nom's anteni, using my dotting tool, I added a small dot of the green above the circle and dragged the polish down to meet it.

 

Before adding Om Nom's eyes, smile and teeth, I waited for the green to dry.  For his eyes I used a cotton bud dipped into white polish and simply added two white dots close together.  Then I used a black striper for his smile and added smaller black dots in the middle of his eyes and smaller white dots for his teeth.

 

I hope you like my design and maybe have a go yourself.

 

I used the following polishes:

• Maybelline - Orange Couture
• Barry M - Yellow
• Barry M - Spring Green
• Barry M - Mushroom
• E.L.F - White
• Rimmel - French Rose
• Andrea Fulerton - Black Striper
   
 

White Tiger and Glitter Nail Art

This week I was inspired by cutepolish.  She had posted a Glitzy Rainbow Tiger nail design and I really liked it.  I wanted to give the tiger stripes a go and I liked the glitter and stripe combo.  I didn't want rainbow tiger nails though, so I decided to adapt the design slightly and make it a white tiger design.

To create this look I painted all my nails with Models Own Sterling Silver polish.  After this had dried, to create an accent nail on my ring finger, I topped the silver with Models Own Freak Out from the Glitterball collection.  To create the tiger stripes on the rest of the nails I used a black striper from Andrea Fulerton.  All you need to do is have a very small amount of polish on the brush, start at the edge of the nail and flick the brush towards the centre of the nail.  You then repeat the same steps again next to your first set of lines to make tiger stripes rather than just single flicks.  As always I finish off with a top coat to protect the design.

I hope you like my version of this cutepolish design.

Pink and Black Nails

These are very simple pink and black nails.  Just paint the whole nail a pink, I used Revlon 'Fuchsia Fever'.  Leave this to dry and then take a black polish, I used Revlon 'Blackest Black', and paint this over the tip of the nail in a diagonal line.

After this I took a dotting tool and added small dots in pink over the black stripe and then added a nail art sticker to my thumb nail to finish off the look.