Friday 29 September 2017

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Your Signature Style

Well, this is the 26th Great Nail Art Idea - so it is the final one. A bit sad maybe but actually I am quite relieved. It has not been the best year and struggling to fit in a weekly or biweekly blog that has to go out on a fixed day has been a bit of a challenge.
The other challenge that alternates with this one finishes in October and I think my blog may well grind to a halt for a while once that happens.
I will obviously still paint my nails and do challenges but many of the Instagram ones are a lot more flexible with posting dates so they are easier to fit in around life.
Anyway, back to this one - Signature Style - well, I always stamp, and I try to pair my manis with knitting (except in the summer when it's too hot or pics look silly with gloves) so of course I have done a stamped knitting mani.
I used a fanbrush base of Barry M Black Pistachio, Barry M Surfboard and OPI I'm Feeling Sashy.
Then I used Messy Mansion MM84XL with A England Saint George to stamp the knitting pattern. I went for the purl side pattern (knitting term)  rather than the stocking stitch pattern as I felt it would look better over the fanbrush and I really like the subtle way the dark green stamping fades into the fanbrush.
Messy Mansion MM84XL
Messy Mansion MM84XL
 Messy Mansion MM84XL
 Messy Mansion MM84XL



Tuesday 19 September 2017

Nail Crazies Unite - Chevrons

This week's prompt was Chevrons and I have combined it with a #clairestelle8 prompt - Metallic.
I do feel a bit of a cheat as this ended up being a very quick simple mani, but life is so busy, it's nice to get a quick mani every now and then!
I did a 3 step gel mani last week and decided that where possible I would allow the gel base to be part of my mani, rather than just an extravagant base coat.
I am having a bit of a love hate relationship with gels. I love how they make my nails feel stronger and all the staining is gone, but  hate how long it takes to get them off, and they can be annoying if I have a dark gel on and then need to do a white base mani.
Anyway, there was no colour restriction for this mani so I used Moyou London Fashionista 04 with 2 True Pro Metallic Aglaia over Gellifique Cats Eye 005 (a dark purpley brown)
Moyou London Fashionista 04
Moyou London Fashionista 04
Moyou London Fashionista 04
Moyou London Fashionista 04
Moyou London Fashionista 04



Friday 15 September 2017

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Autumn

This weeks prompt was Autumn. I do love Autumn - despite not liking yellow or orange I love a good autumn leaves mani!
I was already wearing a dark red base, with some subtle red stamping so I went straight on top of that. I wasn't entirely sure how many layers I was going to do but I just kept going until I was happy with what I had done.
I used UberChic Lovely Leaves and started with Esmaltes da Kelly Bee. It's not a yellow I particularly like but it always seems to work well in an autumn mani.
Then I used Colour Alike Scary Pumpkin with the same plate. I do love this polish despite its annoying shimmeriness which makes clean up impossible!
Finally I added Esmaltes da Kelly Frogger, with two different images from the same plate again.
Uber Chic Lovely Leaves
Uber Chic Lovely Leaves
Uber Chic Lovely Leaves

Saturday 9 September 2017

Nail Crazies Unite - Stripes

This week's prompt was Stripes. Normally I leap at the chance to do nice neat clean stripes but having just done a fanbrush mani I felt that a more natural stripe would look good.
So, I have recreated a green zebra on my  nails!
I started with my fanbrush base of Itsy Nails Green with Envy, Bohemian Gypsy and A England Holy Grail and then added stripes with Lina Get Wild 01 and Nails Inc Madison Avenue.
I was really pleased with how these looked - it is always a great feeling when a plan comes together!
Lina Get Wild 01
Lina Get Wild 01
 Lina Get Wild 01
 Lina Get Wild 01
Lina Get Wild 01
Lina Get Wild 01


Friday 1 September 2017

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Dotting tools but not just dots

"Oh dear" I thought! I don't like dotting tools at the best of times, and having to do something more creative than dots...The only think I use my dotting tools for is touching up manis where a bit of colour is missing, or for leadlighting or reverse stamping when a brush doesn't seem to do the trick.
Anyway, stop moaning and just do the mani!
I did a fanbrush mani with black, white and yellow (no, I won't moan anymore - you know I hate yellow!)
I used Oriflame Sundance as the base and then fanbrushed Nails Inc New York Noir and Avon Iceberg White on either side.
Then I used the dotting tools to add white dashes to the black side and black dashes to the white, and then finally added a few small dots too.
It wasn't a huge success, the polishes were nearly empty so a bit sticky but to be honest I quite liked the end result in a grungy, graffiti kind of way!