Amy's Flamingo Nails

Hi all

So my laptop is still not fixed, kinda hoping my friend will be able to help me out, but for the meantime I have all the photos from my phone (give or take) to edit on the family computer and post from time to time. So all hope is not lost!

Today we have some nails that I was meant to post many moons ago.  These were totally inspired by Souchka Nails, and this manicure in particular. I found these so freaking adorable that when Amy wanted her nails done, I knew I had to do something with flamingos! Needless to say my flamingo skills need improving upon, but still; flamingo nails = Yes!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colours: Color Club - Blue-ming & Zoya - Solange

Other Colours: Zoya - Solange Acrylci Paints, Models Own - Pastel Pink, Beauty UK - Jelly Bean

Glitter

Top Coat: Advanced Hard As Nails

What do you think of these? I can't recall if I glitter-bombed the thumb nail, or did another flamingo. Either way I love them, and love the colour combination.

Hope you've had a good Tuesday, I will be spending mine at an away day for the service I work for, which means lectures, some training, and a buffet lunch. Nom.

Galaxies Gradients & Crosses

Hi all, happy Saturday :D

Today I have a mani I did a few weeks back now for my besties birthday night out. I absolutely loved them, and although all I can see is the flaws, They're still one of my favourite manis I've ever done. These consist of some gradient nails that have crosses on them, and some galaxy nails.

I'm a total fiend for galaxy/nebula style stuff recently, and even painted a pair of canvas shoes with acrylic paints. I've yet to wear them, but they look bloody awesome, even if I do say so myself.

Base Coat:  CND - Stickey

Other Colours: Rimmel - White, Collection 2000 - Angel Wings, W7 - Black & Night Suede

Beauty UK - Jelly Bean Clubworks - Fuchsia, Miss Sporty - Rain Drops, Gosh Holographic Hero

Acrylic Paints - Ultra Marine, White, Black, Yellow Ochre

Glitter: Rimmel - Disco Ball

Top Coat: Sally Hansen  Advanced Hard As Nails

Hope you've all had a good day so far :]

Maria's Micro Paintings

Hi all, happy Thursday!

Hope you're all well. Today I have for you some looooovely Micro Paintings that came from the even lovelier Maria from Marias Nail Art and Polish Blog. Maria comes up with a load of beautiful designs, especially her lovely freehand floral nails, if for some reason you haven't seen her blog, check her out now :]

Maria got in contact with me back in November for a little bit of feedback, and she offered to send me my own set of Micro Painted nails as a little thank you I suppose. I received the set shortly after, all pretty and glued onto an acrylic backing with some holes so they're all ready to screw into the wall. I haven't found a place to put them yet, so they're currently resting against the wall on top of a set of drawers.

Check out how pretty these are, this is how they came:

If the sun ever shows it's face again I shall snap some sunlight photos of these beauties and edit them in :]

And here's a close up of my temporary favourite (as I can't settle on one for too long!)

I really love the mix of gliters on this one! To see more of these works of art, clicky click this link. Maria's now also selling these HERE and has a Facebook page for these too.

Thank you again to the lovely Maria for these pretties!

Have a nice Thursday ^-^

Icicle Nails

Hi all! Happy Sunday!

No stamping challenge from Adventures In Stamping this week, I have family up so I'm sitting this one out :]

Today I have Icicle nails for you! I started these with a white base, added some striping tape and sponged over a mixture of acrylic paints to form the bricks, then I used acrylic paints for the icicles themselves. Basically you can see no polish!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Rimmel - French White

Sponged Colours: Acrylic Paints - White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna

Icicles: Acrylic Paints - White & Phthalocyanine Blue

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Sadly I forgot to wrap my tips when I did these, and they started peeling off in the shower later that night :(

I'm not sure If i'll be very active over the Christmas period, so if not; Merry Christmas to those that celebrate :]

Queens Diamond Jubilee Nails

Just a quickie post today to show you what I've been wearing since Saturday. Originally I wasn't gonna do anything special on my nails, but after being a zombie all day in front of the racing I felt like doing my nails.

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You/
Base Colours: Barry M - Gold Foil
Rimmel - Tip Whitener
Barry M - Bright Red
George - Boom
I also used a red nail art pen, and blue and white acrylic paints
The glitter's just loose fine glitter
Top coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

I did try and take some pics of my right hand, but they all came out blurry, and I didn't wait long enough for the first top coat to dry before bed, and the flag on my right ring finger kind of melted and partly slipped under the free edge in my sleep lol. I kinda wish I'd done red and blue with gold glitter fade. For the glitter I thickly sponged on top coat and sprinkled glitter on.

I'm currently trying to nurse some sort of illness (Sunday as I write this) I think It's gonna turn out to be a horrible head cold, I'm feeling better than earlier though thanks to a two hour nap haha. I hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Spring Challenge - Day 7 - Butterflies

Today's Spring challenge is butterfly nails! I was really excited about doing these, and knew what I was going to do. Last year some time (May or June I think) I started seeing these style nails all over Tumblr, and I was dying to try them. I have no idea why It's taken me til now to try these out.

Don't forget to check out Esme's Blog to see her buttflies :]

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: Manhattan - Lemonade (my favourite yellow evvaaah)
Sponged colour: Deborah - Sunset cocktail
Black & White: Acrylic Paints
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

I always have isues with spacing dots and such. I just feel like I ruined the whole mani with these dots =/

Pre-dots :]

This is the picture I took last year that I was going to use as inspiration.

Next up on Friday is Easter Nails!

Spring Challenge - Day 4 - Worms

Happy Friday! Yayy!

Today the spring challenge myself and Esme of Nail Addict are doing calls for worms! This was my first idea, and I just rolled with it, so I hope everyone likes these :P

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: W7 - Suede
Sponged Base: Barry M - Grey, Beauty UK - Soft Grey

Worm, Grass & Mud: Acrylic Paints
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

I love Mr Worm... These were so fun to wear; especially with the matte top coat so there was no bothersome glare.

 

I thought of Mr Worm as happy; with a little black crooked smile; but when I shown these to Scott what he originally seen was a grumpy worm! 

I love that he has a smile and a gurning face :P What do you see? 

Check out what's to come:

 

Don't forget to check out what Esme came up with :]

Spring Challenge - Day 3 - Picnic Tablecloth

Third day of the spring challenge myself and Esme of Nail Addict are going to do; and I was excited to do these before I started :P

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: NYC - Nail Glossies - 215
Stripes: Barry M - Bright Red
Acrylic Paints
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

First I taped off vertical lines and painted with a sheer red polish, and then taped off horizontal lines, and painted again. I honestly thought this would do the trick making the overlapping squares dark enough to stand out; but I had to go in with a dark red acrylic paint to darken up the squares a bit.

And then I couldn't help but do some sandwiches. I was going to do sandwiches originally but then talked myself out of it; until Scott talked me back into it :P The 'ants' aren't how I thought they would turn out. but I like them all the same :]

I hope everyone is having a good Tuesday :] Don't forget to check out Nail Addict to see what Esme came up with :]


Edit: Forgot to include this :]

 

Spring Challenge - Day 2 - St. Patrick's Day

Today is the second day of the spring challenge myself and Esme of Nail Addict are going to do.

I'm a little bit bummed about how these came out, because in real life I swear this colour looks more green! So just use your imagination :P

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: P2 - Artful
Tip Colour: George - Mischief
Stamp Colour: Konad White
Image Plates: BM03 & Born Pretty Plate M71
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: P2 - Atrful
Tip Colour: Barry M - Emerald Green
                  Sally Hansen - White On
                 George - Mischief
Black Acrylic Paint
Citadel - Shining Gold

Don't forget to go check out Nail Addict to see what Esme came up with today.

Spring Challenge - Day 1 - Flowers

Hey everyone! Today is the first day of the spring challenge myself and Esme of Nail Addict are going to do.

Today's challenge is flowers, and however tempting daffodils were I know from what I seen from people doing Debbie & Emma's Spring challenge daffodils look haaaaaaard! So it was a toss up between cherry blossom, and another flower; which I now can't remember the name of. I was trying to do something a little different, but in the end I made a few mistakes; and these haven't quite turned out how I was hoping for. But I like :]

Base Coat: Nail Rx- Stuck on you
Base colour: Essence - Speed Of Light Blue
Flowers: Acrylic Paints
Top Coat: Modles Own - 3 In 1

 The ring finger's fo' sho' my favourite from these lot. Kind of what I was going for in the first place :P

Don't forget to go check out Nail Addict to see what Esme came up with today.

And for what's to come check this out:

Looking forward to doing these :] The next instalment will be on friday :]

Stripes & Flowers

Totally inspired by this mani, I just loved the colour combinations, and that bird cage is so cute! Though i didn't have time to do more than just stripes and flowers before bed.

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: Beauty UK - Smokey Lilac
Striping Pens: White & Pale Pink
Dark Pink: MUA - Shade 20
Acrylic Paints: Emerald Green, Viridian
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Gold was created with Miss Sporty - Gold Backstage. And two glitter liner pens.

I loved wearing these, but I'm so used to stamping I always end up picking at the slight bumps in the design after a few days.

My Cousin Frans Nails!

Frances and my aunt Rosie came to stay with my family over Christmas for about 5 days, in that time I did Fran's nails three times, my aunts once, and my mams once; for the first time ever. Because these were all done at night and we had stuff to do/ were sleeping during the best hours of light I only have pics of Fran's designs. Also partly because her iPhone flash doesn't bleach out your fingers like my camera flash does!

The penguin design came from a You Tube tutorial, after I spied it on Copy That, Copy Cat and fell in love with it :] Sorry for the messy clean up, I haven't found my perfect cleanup method for acrylic paint & polish just yet, not while the nails are wet yet anyways.

Base Coat: CND - Stcikey
Base Colour: Sally Hansen - White On
Acrylic Paints: Black
Other Polishes: China Glaze - Frostbite
Nail art pen: Yellow
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Models Own - Aqua Violet
Stamp Colour: N.Y.C. - Niagra Foils
Image Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Models Own - Golden Green
Glitter: Rimmel - Disco Ball
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M85
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Now Frances is gone I feel a little bit stuck doing just my own nails :P

Snowman, Stripes & Polka Dots!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Essence - Speed Of light Blue
Glitter: Rimmel - Disco Ball
Acrylic Paints: Crimson Red, White, Black, Brown, Orange

 

I wish I'd just done polka dots!

Cracked open a walnut yesterday, and found a heart!

Hope everyone's having a good Christmas Eve, or whatever you celebrate! So excited for tomorrow ^_^ Not sure when I'll post next, maybe I'll pop on Boxing day and I'll do a mini haul with my nail goodies from Santa!


Happy Holidays =]

Christmas Pudding!

These are from last week, and this is the only good photo I got, before I got other nail varnish splashed on, when I was painting a set of false nails in the same design for Martine. I'm looking forward to wearing a crazy Pick 'n' Mix for my Christmas nails, as I'm definitely going to have a Christmas Pud on one of my nails! And hopefully do a much better job of the holly seeing as I've had practice now :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: W7 - Suede
Polka Dots: Black Acrylic Paint
Icing: White Arylic Paint
Berries: Rimmel - Celebrity Bash
Holly: Nail Art Pen In Green
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

This design was found at D.I.Y Nails, who I loooove.

Gold Glitter Sponged Tips & Stars

I say stars in the title... But they're not very star like. Originally these were meant to be snowflakes, but I just couldn't achieve this. The idea came when my friend Amy posted an image on my Facebook of gold glitter fade with snowflake decals on. I thought it looked lovely, and I remembered that I had some snowflake stickers somewhere, but when I couldn't find them I settled for trying to do them free hand. Unfortunately doing them freehand meant that they weren't as delicate and perfect as I'd wanted them to be. So I settled for some "stars" made of lines... And the next day I found my Snowflake decals :P

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel - French Rose
Golds: Miss Sporty - Gold Backstage & H&M - Wa Wa Woom
Acrylic White Paint
& Glitter From An Old Nail Art Set

A thank you goes to my sister-in-law Martine for lending me this french manicure colour, as I don't own one :]

Nude Gold & Red Half Moons, With New Dotting Tools

My dotting tools from eBay arrived the other day; and as I only had a little time to do my nails so I figured a half moon Mani with some dots along the line would be a good idea. Especially as I'd already got a dry base colour from the night before.

When I picked up this colour from No7 it was when the £5 off voucher was going around, and it was a toss up between a similar colour, but So Simple seemed more opaque.

Honestly, I'm not a massive fan of this shade of nude on me, and I wonder when I'll find my "mannequin hands" shade. It looks okay as the half moon, but to cover the full nail it's pretty pants.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colours: No7 - So Simple
                     Barry M - Raspberry
Gold: Citadel - Shining Gold (Warhammer Paint)
Top Coat: China Glaze Top Coat

Dotting Tools, Large, Medium Small & Tiiiny (I used the blue, and yellow one from my pack)

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour - No7 - So Simple (3 coats)

Without all the gold.

 When I got these I thought the largest end would be much larger (not that it needs to be) and that I'd have more of a range in sizes. But looking closely at the pic of all the sizes below, I do have quite a range. These were such a bargain too, costing me £1.06 and free postage, if anyone would like a linky link. let me know :]

 And another pic of the end result :]