Christmas 2019 Nails!

Hey there lovely readers!

I completely forgot to post the nail art looks I rustled up this (or last now I guess) Christmas! I guess I've gotten so used to just posting on Instagram these days (@aysh_xox) that the blog takes more of back seat which saddens me! However I would like to have an online portfolio of my designs to look back on hence why I persevere with posting on here :)

I did 4 different looks for the festive season starting with some Snowflakes! I love doing this design because all snowflakes are different so you can do so many variations! I have actually done a step by step Snowflake tutorial HERE. After applying a pretty baby blue base, I used white polish to draw a cross with a vertical line through it. This is our snowflake! And for the details I just added some small dots & angled lines to make it resemble a snowflake. Finishing off with a pretty clear crystal in the centre.

Festive NOTD - Sweet Sparkly Layered Snowflakes

Hello there lovely readers!

As Christmas is now on our doorstep I thought I'd squeeze in one last festive nail art look for the year! I've actually done better than I anticipated, rolling out 4 different designs: Vintage Gold Festive Roses, Minty Snowflakes, Winter Wonderland Christmas Trees & also a Disney special with some Frozen nails. A little life update also, I handed in my notice this month so I will be starting a new job in the new year which I am very excited about! How that will leave me for time to blog...I don't know yet, but lets see! Blogging has always been so therapeutic for me hence why I've continued at it after so long & its something I definitely strive to continue with!

For my last look I've done another Snowflakes design. However I've gone a different route this time & thus doing so I think I may have discovered my new favourite thing...LAYERED jelly stamping! What on earth is this you ask? Do you happen to have any of those sheer tinted polishes in your stash but no clue how to use or what to do with them? OPI Color Paints were the first of these kind (according to my knowledge anyhoo) & a few brands jumped on the bandwagon shortly after including Barry M with their Lolly Gloss Range which I blogged about HERE.

I decided to use these & my trusty stamper to create this sweet snowflake look & I think this may be my favourite festive design of the lot this year! I got the idea of layering from the fab Kate aka @Alterego_nails on IG. It was she who also inspired me for the Sharpie Nails I did HERE...what can I say, the girls got mad skills & ideas!

To start I needed an opaque base to work on first...as the two Lolly Gloss polishes I have were pink & purple, then those were the base shades I went for as well. For my purple nails I applied one coat of Models Own Roxy & for the pink nails I applied one coat of a fuchsia pink European brand polish I picked up on my travels.

Now for the first round of stamping. I have a few festive stamping plates from Born Pretty Store which also have single snowflake patterns, perfect for this. Using white polish I stamped about 3 snowflakes to each nail.

I then reached for the tinted Lolly Gloss polishes & applied one coat over the snowflakes which gives that awesome "submerged in jelly" like look! Obviously using the purple tint on the purple nails & pink tint on the pink nails. Once this was dry I then went in again & stamped on 2 more snowflakes on top.

You can keep on going with the layering if you wish but I stopped here. For a final touch I added a pretty pink rhinestone to the center of my 2 top snowflakes & though you can't really see I also added a coat of glitter topcoat for some extra powow SPARKLESSSSS. 

A final coat of topcoat to seal those stones & add shine & you're done! Thanks again to the fab Kate for this awesome idea. I now need to get hold of more tinted sheer polishes so I can do ALL the layered stamping! Thanks as always for reading darling ones & I wish you the merriest of Christmases whatever you may be doing! See you in 2019!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disney Nail Art Series - Festive Edition - Frozen Nails!

Hi there lovely readers!

I've been wanting to revisit my Disney Nail Art Series for some time as yet again its been a while! You can see all my Disney recreations on the nails HERE, including classics such Beauty & The Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King & more!

Frozen became a bit of a sensation with Disney for this generation of youngsters & the source of many parents loss of sanity at the thought of hearing Let It Go for the 3496th time....I myself waited a long time before watching as I am a hardcore CLASSIC Disney fan & was somewhat cynical at these newbies. However I confess, whilst I didn't understand the obsession, I STILL enjoyed the film immensely & seeing as its that time of year that ice likes to make its frosty appearance...what better for my next Festive look than some Disney Frozen Nails!

Festive NOTD - Winter Wonderland

Hey there lovely readers!

I'll be honest with you, this year I have been struggling with Christmas nail art inspiration...not sure what the cause is but every design I attempt never goes according to plan resulting in a fail of epic proportions thus causing mini psychotic episodes to ensue...most frustrating & not good for ones mental health 

But I am not one to give up, especially because getting creative & challenging myself when it comes to nail art is what I love the most...masochistic tendencies much? :) Every year I like to do some type of Christmas Trees design so this year is no exception. This time I've gone for a more natural vibe with a Winter Wonderland forest setting...

Festive NOTD - Mint Sparkle Snowflakes

Hi there lovely readers!

I was in two minds about whether to share this nail art...Even though I loved the frosty mint colour, I think the pale base made my snowflakes & holo glitter stickers get a tad lost amongst the background so I kinda class this as a mani fail haha! But hey you win some you lose some right?

Festive NOTD - Xmas Vintage Roses & Gold Glitter

Hey there lovely readers!

So Fall has passed us by far too quickly in my opinion & it seems that the natural way of things to go moving forwards is Christmas! Yup tis the season to be jolly which means nail art will be getting suitably sparkly around these parts, or I hope anyway! As usual it all depends on time but I do hope to roll out some fun festive goodness for the nails this year!

NOTD - Pastel Winter Wonderland Nails

Hello there my lovely readers!

Happy new year to you all my beauts! I hope you all had a wonderful Xmas break & new years however you spent it. I'm certain my spirit animal is a bear as I've pretty much spent the holidays in hibernation which has been utter bliss! Like many I'm sure I'm now currently going through the “oh god no” motions at the thought of going back to work!

Not feeling QUITE so ready to part from the festive feels just yet here's a frosty Pastel Winter Wonderland mani using sugary soft tones, snowflakes & a bit of glitter thrown in! Normally I'm a glossy girl all the way, however for this mani I decided to mattify the finish & I must confess I dig it!

I wanted some pretty pastels for my base, not able to decide I went for a two tone using pale pink & mint.

For the pink I've used two coats of Zoya Bailey, a gorgeous soft pink with a pretty pale silver shimmer running through it.

For my mint green nails I went for one of my vintage Revlon polishes, this is the aptly named Minted of which two coats were also applied.

Creating the snowflakes is easy peasy, using a fine nail art brush & some white polish simply draw an X on to your nail wherever you'd like your snowflakes placed, then draw a vertical or horizontal line on top.

Now add on your snowflake details by placing smaller angled lines along the cross, playing around with different styles, sizes & designs!

To add a bit of dimension to the pastel nails I dotted on a bit of Barry M textured polish in Lady which is a really unusual & pretty frost white shimmer.

Then for the accent nail I applied two coats of this pretty silvery All That Jazz polish. I couldn't for the life of me find the name of the shade on my bottle, unless I was having a dunce moment which, lets be honest, is most likely, but it could be the shade Glam Squad

For the final touch I coated the silver pinkie with this beautiful silver & frosty blue bar & hexagon glitter mix courtesy of Essie Luxe Effects in Frilling Me Softly.

As mentioned before I decided to go for a matte look so to finish I applied a Rimmel matte topcoat to the pastel nails. Matte pastel manicures may just be my new favourite thing! I don't know if its the sweet tooth but this finish reminds me of cake frosting!

First post of 2017 done! Now I'm off to hunt down that Fondant Fancy that I know is in the cupboard begging to be eaten to satisfy the sugary sweet craving this mani has enabled. Thanks as always for sticking by to read my rambles, here's to a fab year!

Lotsa love to ya!

Festive NOTD - Candy Cane French Tips!

Hello there my lovely readers!

All ready for the Xmas weekend? I'm literally counting down the hours, for the first time since I left school (all those aeons ago in ye old ancient times) I'll be embracing a full festive break from next week up until the new year as my work shuts downs during this period. To be honest I've never been too fussed with working right up until & straight after Xmas but I'm actually looking forward to the treat of complete hibernation time haha!

I've managed to roll out a few festive mani's this year starting with an obligatory Red Sparkle, the annual favourite that is Christmas Trees & my most popular one to date after the most lovely response on social media for The Christmas Puddings from a few days ago. Today I've decided to show you how you can Christmas up a standard French manicure with some Candy Cane tips!

If you want to feel festive on your nails but don't want to go all out seizure inducing sparkle then this is the perfect alternative! All you need is some red, white & sparkle to transform your french mani into something suitable for the season :)

To help create a neat smile line on my tips I use french manicure guides which you can pick up super cheaply off of Ebay or Born Pretty Store. If you don't have these then hole punch reinforcers work just as good!

Using these & my red polish of choice, on this occasion a lovely deep red by Nails Inc called Tate, which was one of those fab magazine freebies they do on occasion, I painted on my red tips to all my nails bar my pinkie.

Next to create your candy cane stripes just grab a nail art pen in white, the Barry M ones are really good, or of course a fine nail art brush & white polish & apply a row of curved lines along your red tip. Of course you can also do this vice versa! Starting with white tips instead & adding red stripes...whatever you fancy :)

You can then neaten up your smile line if there is some smudging with a brush & acetone or you can do what i did & add an additional detail of red dots along the smile line to sneakily cover up any white that gone over...hehe ;) 

My pinkie was feeling a tad neglected so I rectified this by applying two coats of the gorgeous Essie Leading Lady, you can't beat a satisfying red sparkle can you & this is the most beautiful shade of wine red. Screams Christmas vibes!

Then for the candy canes, I just grabbed my dotting tool & using some more white & the red Essie glitter, applied some dots in the shape of a candy cane alternating the red & white.

Finish it all with topcoat of course. In a most odd turn of events my dears you are actually getting a rare shot of my right hand here! By some strange sorcery I actually ended up preferring how the right one came out using my non dominant hand...weird O_o

Hope you liked this festive take on a French manicure beauts! If I don't get a chance to blog before the big day, wishing you all the most merriest of Christmas's however you spend it. Thanks as always for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

Festive NOTD - Christmas Puddings with Dripping Brandy Butter!

Hello there my lovely readers!

If there is one thing I'm as passionate about just as much if not more as I am for nail art...its food. Combine the two & yours truly is bonny wee bunny. Which brings us on to today's festive manicure my dears...Christmas Puddings!

Now I must confess... I'm not the biggest fan of the old Christmas pud, (SSSHHH!) but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them on my nails eh? And for this design I actually used a scented polish so my mani smelt super sweet scrumdiddlyumptous too!

To create your Christmas pudding nails you need to start with a dark brown base. As mentioned, for this I used one of my Revlon Parfumerie scented polishes in Chocolate Truffle which smells like...yup chocolate! Apply two coats for a nice opaque finish.

Now for the brandy butter! As you can see for this part you just need to create some drip nail art. I've done this a few times on here with various different looks, you may recall on Halloween? I've done a step by step tutorial on how to create drips on your nails HERE.

I spent a while debating on which end to create my drips, I'm usually a fan of applying them on my tips, if you cast your eyes to the left of this page you can see I've done so on my Mint Choc Chip manicure. However this time I was feeling the mood for the cuticle end...I know, I'm such a rebel.

For my brandy butter drips I've used gorgeous Nina Ultra Pro polish in Rum & Reggae, which is a lovely beige cream shade. I found this delightful  brand in Sally's.

Next our puddings need some decoration in the form of a sprig of holly. To create these I just used a fine nail art brush & applied three fine dots using the nearest red polish I had to hand, then using the same brush & this time some green polish, free-handed a couple of spiky leaves either side.

As you can see I decided to rock some glitter on my little finger as an accent & for this I used a polish I picked up in Poundland called Rainbow Sparkle! Filled with gold, green & red glitters of various shapes & sizes, you really can't get more festive! A couple of coats of this on top of the brown created some satisfying sparkles. Not bad at all for a pound.

Finish it all with a nice thick coat of topcoat & you have your Christmas Pudding Nails good enough to eat! You can see all of my previous Christmas Nail Art ideas HERE. Thanks for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

Festive NOTD - The Obligatory Glitter Red Mani!

Hello there my lovely readers!

I think its safe to say we are officially in the festive season now which means ALL the Xmas nails! Unusually I've actually been hitting a bit of a blank when it comes to thinking up ideas this year, not sure whats going on there. Perhaps inspiration just a missed the bus & is a wee bit delayed...I'm sure it'll arrive in due time filled with apologies for such tardiness!

In the meantime however, to me nothing screams Xmas nails more than a really good red glitter manicure. 

Sparkles...check. Rich red shade perfect for this time of year...check. Glossy finish...check! Ungh, SO satisfying! So to start things off simply, here are my glitter red nails for this Xmas using a lovely polish I picked up in a random chemist whilst in NYC earlier this year.

The brand is Ruby Kisses & actually goes by the name Ruby Slippers...which another rather well known brand has a similar version of also. But dare I say it...having the OPI in my possession also...I actually prefer this one!

Not only is it super sparkly, but the formula is gorgeous, giving full coverage in two coats & leaves an almost gel like finish. Its thick but NOT gloopy...WIN. I love the actual shade of the red also, the OPI version is a tad darker in tone than this one.

To add a bit of extra Gothic oomph if you will, though that red sparkly goodness is pleasing enough by its onesie, I added a little black rose to each nail. Though you can festive this up even more & use gold or green polish to give the look of wreaths!

There are so many different ways & techniques you can use to create roses. These ones are super easy to do, all you need is your nail art brush & some black polish. Starting with a dot in the middle, just add little curved swirls around it to create the petals, going outwards until you are happy. A really easy way to create some rustic roses.

Even though the finish was glossy I still out of habit finish with a topcoat to help the mani dry quicker, smooth out any grittiness from the glitter  & to add even more shine. 

ALSO FYI dolls I'm currently in mourning the loss of my talons...moment of silence please... Because I'm such a clumsy klutz I knocked a few nails resulting in me having to file them all down to nubbins! Time to reach for the MicroCell Nail Repair again...so the next few festive manis will be seen in noticeably shorter nails...but that never stops me! So stay tuned my merry little elves!

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!