NOTD - Valentine's Holo Pink Roses Tutorial

Hello there lovely readers!

Out of all the ENDLESS nail art possibilities in the universe, there is one look in particular that will forever remain a firm favourite of mine & that is FLORALS!

NOTD - Holo Diamond Sequin Flowers

Hey there lovely readers!

I recently stumbled across this wee pot of pretty blue holo diamond sequins in my stash, I believe I must have picked them up on one of my Born Pretty Store hauls, my go to place when it comes to nail art supplies.

Slapping myself on the wrist right there at neglecting them so on account of them being just so darn pretty, I then went to thinking on ways in which I could incorporate these in a mani & the thought that immediately came to mind was using them as petals! The shape of the sequins are perfect to create some pretty blooms so I went on ahead & did just that.

Disney Nail Art Series - Maleficent

Hey there lovely readers!

So I felt it was about time to add another manicure into my Disney NailArt Series that I've started here on my blog. 

So far I've thrown together some Beauty and The Beast nails & a suitably fairy-tale perriwinkle blue Cinderella themed design as well. I thought the time had come to switch things up a tad & give one of the glorious villain diva's a turn in the nail art stakes. 

Alongside the Disney princesses there are also some utterly fabulous goddesses in Disney playing the role of villain whom you can't help but love & I look forward to experimenting & creating something fun for them too!

The first Disney villain I wanted to rustle up something for is one of my favourites Maleficent. Of course Sleeping Beauty is a vintage classic when it comes to Disney & a firm favourite of mine, but I also loved the live action adaptation retelling this intriguing villains story in a really wonderful way with Angelina Jolie in the lead role. 

NOTD - Dream Catcher Nails Tutorial

Hi there my lovely readers!

Long time no speak! If you follow me on social media you'll know I've been off having adventures on the other side of the world, Koh Samui to be exact. 10 days in glorious weather on a beautiful island was just what this girl needed, though the journey sure is a killer, 20 hours travelling through 3 different time zones really does a number on you! Only just starting to resemble some form of sanity, I can also get back to blogging with some new nail art!

Today's design is Dream Catcher or Chandelier nails if you like! These pretty ornaments looks as lovely decorated on the nails as they do hung up on your walls & you can totally play around with different colours & glitters ;) I've gone for a black & nude look with silvery blue sparkles!

First you need to apply your polish whilst leaving a semi-circle gap for your Dream Catcher. I went for a lovely cream nude courtesy of Models Own HyperGel in Naked Glow.

To help create the curved space I simply used some hole punch reinforcer stickers which are perfect for this. Just stick these onto the bottom half of the nail as shown.

As the formula of the HyperGel polishes is quite thick I got away with applying just a coat for a nice opaque finish. Once applied remove the hole punch sticker whilst the polish is still wet (using a tweezer makes this task easier) & clean up any smudges with a fine brush & acetone.

Now to get to drawing your design. Grab your black polish, or whichever colour you like, & a fine nail art brush. In to the bare nail space apply a criss cross net pattern by drawing 3 diagonal lines & 3 more on top of those in the opposite direction. Apply a thin line of the black polish around the curved edge of the nude polish.

Then using a dotting tool, apply 3 dotted lines coming down from the net, gradually reducing the size of the dot & making the centre line slightly longer than the others. And hey presto you have your Dream Catcher!

And now time for the glitter! Here I've used a holo glitter from ColorClub. Using whichever shade you like, grab your dotting tool again & apply a blob of the glitter at the bottom of the two outer streams. 

At the bottom of the centre stream I applied a pretty rhinestone, but you can stick with the glitter if you prefer!

Wait for your polish to dry for a wee bit before sealing your design with topcoat. And thats it!

Hope you liked this design my lovelies, do let me know if you give it a try! Thanks for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

Fourth of July Drip Nails Tutorial!

Hello there lovely readers!

Hope you're all having a top weekend, especially my American beauts on the other side of the pond! Oooh what I wouldn't give to be back in the states right now as this weekend sees the US celebrating its Fourth of July Independence Day meaning days of fab parties & fun times.

Naturally I couldn't resist marking the occasion in the way I know best & getting my nail art on. Using the American patriotic colours of red, white & blue I went for some dripping glitter Fourth of July Nails plus I've done a step by step tutorial so you can create these too!

I saw a picture of a similar design in a Daily Mail article of all places & thought ooooh what a fun & innovative way to do patriotic nails! Plus I love drip nail art (see my chocolate drip nails on the left of the page) & haven't done the design in yonks, perfect time to remedy that with this :)

If you want to re-create this design as well then keep on reading dolls...

First start with your red base, here I've applied just one coat of Nails Inc St James as I knew there would be a few layers of polish on top & didn't want to overdo it.

Then using the thin striper brush from my Models own white nail art pen I applied three vertical stripes down the length of the nail.

Now for the drips! Start by applying three dots on to the nail using a dotting tool as shown with your chosen blue polish, here I've used Nails Inc Baker Street.

Next, using a thin nail art brush, draw three vertical lines going down from your dots to the tips.

Using the same thin brush, curve the edges of the straight lines into your dots as well as applying polish along the tips of your nails to create your drip effect!

You can skip this next step but my inner magpie was calling for an extra bit of sparkle so I applied a bit of blue blingy glitter polish from Color Club on top.

For a final touch I just applied a wee red star rhinestone underneath my drips to finish.

Apply your topcoat & you're done! Sparkly Fourth of July nails ready for Independence Day party celebrations!

Thanks as always for reading! Have a fab weekend whatever you may be doing my dears!

Lotsa love to ya!

NOTD - Stained Glass Swirl Nails & Tutorial!

Hey there lovely readers!

If you caught my last post, I recently added a few of the new Barry M releases to my collection including the Limited Edition Lolly Gloss Paints in Pink Candy and Purple Pop. You can see swatches of these sweet juicy jelly shades HERE.

These polishes are sheer formulas therefore perfect for a bit of nail art experimentation! You can smoosh all the jellies together to create a marbled effect, apply on top of another shade to create a whole new one, dab on to silver or white for a watercolour rainbow look, similar to what I've done HERE. I decided to do a stained glass type effect using the Lolly Gloss on top of silver & glitter & this is what I came up with...

Instead of going over the whole nail I decided to just add the pop of colour in the centre in a swirl down the nail. 

For my base to really make the Lolly Paints pop I used not just silver but also a holographic glitter for extra sparkle!

To create the design I've done a simple step by step tutorial for you so you can recreate these too...

Start with your silver base, here I've applied one coat of Sonia Kashuk Smoke and Mirrors.

Next apply your holo glitter, the one I've used here is by Color Club & contains a rainbow of macroglitter that really makes the silver go disco!

This was an additional step that you can skip but being the glitter fiend that I am I couldn't resist adding on a few large hexagonal holo glitter pieces using Barry M's Hologram

Next apply the white outline of where you want your stained glass pop of colour to be, using a nail art pen or some white polish & a thin brush

Then using 2 more smaller nail art brushes as the brushes that come with the polish will be too big/thick,start applying each of the Lolly Gloss Paints, here I have Pink Candy & Purple Pop, alternating between the two until you fill in the whole shape.

Don't worry if the colours merge into each other, you kind of want that to happen to help create the effect!

Once done, go over the white outline again, before finishing with a coat of topcoat & thats it!

Super sparkly stained glass effect nails! If there had been more shades available I would have definitely picked up more to create a multicolored rainbow finish! Hint hint Barry M... ;)

Hope you liked the design dolls, do let me know if you give these a try or have created your own designs using these or similar tinted polishes, I would love to see!

Lotsa love to ya!  

Festive Nails - Candy Cane Dotticure!

Hello there my lovely readers!

Christmas week has finally creeped up on us most speedily as it inevitably always does! Gosh this year really has flown by but I'm looking forward to 2016, I have many plans I hope to see carried out so here's to exciting new adventures!

Squeezing in one last festive mani of the year for you today & I think this is my favourite one out of the bunch! This year I've managed to roll out a few which I hope you've enjoyed & helped get in to the Xmas spirit with some Christmas Presents, Festive Baubles, Sparkly Holly & Christmas Trees! For my final festive mani I went down the dotticure road & created some Candy Cane nails!

I'd forgotten how much I LOVE dotticures, so fun yet easy to do & with such pretty results as you can totally have fun with it! This brought back to mind the Aboriginal style dotticure HERE I did a while back...I will definitely be having more fun experimentation with dotticures next year! ;)

Going with the festive colours of green, red & white I started things off with a nice bright green base that wouldn't drown out the design. Here I've gone for one coat of Essie's Mojito Madness.

To jazz up the green I then added one coat of Colour Club green glitter because...well..you know...SPARKLES

Then for the dotticure design I started by applying the dots along the edge of the nails first to create a border, 

Rather than switching tools repeatedly apply one colour at a time, so I first added on my red dots using Nails Inc St James & a fine dotting tool, making sure to leave a wee gap in between each dot for where the white will be added.

For the white I used my Models Own nail art pen, the nib is really handy (when its not blocked that is!) as it distributes the perfect amount of polish for a neat dot without polish flooding out, causing a huge mess & a mini seizure, as is the case with a lot of nail art pens! Apply the white dots in between your red.

Then for the final bit, dot on your candy cane in the centre of the nail using the same concept that is done with the border.

Leave the polish to dry for a good five minutes before finishing with topcoat as, depending on how thick your dots are, the polish may drag which you really don't want after all that effort.

And that's it! Easy peasy :) I hope you liked the Christmas nail art this year dolls! Did you go festive on your nails? Thanks for reading & have a wonderful Xmas!

Lotsa love to ya!