Since U Been Gone.. Nail Art.

Hello world - it's me! I haven't posted in far too long but a burst of positivity and creativity has rendered me feeling in the mood for some blogging.

Since I've posted work has really picked up - I'd unfortunately lost my writing "pizazz" but it's back - I hear people cheering already (perhaps in my own mind..?) 

Here are a few of the the nail looks that have been done since my last post:

Blue and white accented nails

Haven't posted in a long time - I'm still here I swear! Today's nail look is a nice subtle summery look which is just a bit more than your plain colour mani. All it takes is painting on your base coat, leaving a triangle of unpainted nail and then using either a small brush or nail art pen (I used the Barry M nail art pen!) painting along the edges of the triangle and doing a little loop for a flattering and easy look!

With flash

In sunlight

Christmas nails #1 - Christmas Trees!

For the first of my Christmas themed nails I decided to keep it simple and go with a classic - a Christmas tree! I like how they turned out but do feel they are missing something.. Can't figure out what though!

OPI - Liquid Sand nail art

Ever since I saw the promo pictures for the film The Great Gatsby, I loved the art in the background. I then proceeded to fall in love with the idea when Sammy from The Nailasaurus did her take on it too. Combining the idea of that and the fact that I've also wanted to try out some proper textured nail art, I put them together and came up with this!

I have to say, this is probably one of my favourite nail art looks that I've done! It turns out that liquid sand is a very forgiving texture to work with as many of the usually wiggly lines that I usually create are just hidden by the texture!

For this look, I combined my new love Alcatraz... Rocks! (of which you can check out my review of here!) with another of OPI's liquid sand shades in Honey Ryder. After adding some random lines and triangles, this is the final look!

Pinstripe flower nail art!

I know it's been a horribly long wait for another post and I apologise! I've been working a lot of hours and have had very little time to really do anything with my nails - nightmare, I know! I've got a few posts lined up including another nail art look and my skincare routine which all should be up within the next week or so :)

On to todays look!

Now this was completely inspired by Sammy from The Nailasaurus from a few weeks ago! I fell in love with the look straight away and knew I had to try it. It didn't turn out anywhere near as good as hers but I was still pleased with the results anyway!

For my base coat I started off with the ever trusted OPI Natural Nail Base Coat and followed it up with two coats of Sinful Color's Snow Me White. After letting that dry a little, I took Essie's Licorice and a striping brush and carefully striped each nail with black. After that dried, I dabbed on random dots of Sinful Color's Why Not? and swirled around Snow Me White to create the "flower". After they turned out okay I drew on the leaves with MaxFactor's Cactus Green and topped it all off with a coat of Essie's Matte About You!

I do like the way this came out and it lasted literally around a week and a half - and with the work I've been doing that's impressive going!

 

Summery fishtail braid - yellow, pink and white!

I really fancied doing something super summery today so picked out some colours that were bold and warm to do a fishtail braid style. This look it quite simple to do but time consuming and can be a pain when doing it on your non-dominant hand! It turned out quite well though so I'm pleased!

Here is what I used to create this look: (from l-r) OPI - Natural Nail base coat, Sinful Colours - Unicorn, NYC - Pinstripe White, OPI - Chic From Ears To Tail, Seche Vite 

31 day challenge - Day 14 - Flowers

Not a huge amount to say about this post apart from that it's challenge is flowers! 

Nail art tools

Recently I was asked what I use and how I do nail art. After my nail care tips post I thought I'd follow it up with my nail art tools post!

Now contrary to popular belief you don't really need anything fancy to create some nice designs. A lot of my designs I'll use dotting tools or brushes that I bought from eBay in packs for a very cheap price. 

Dotting tools:

I picked up this set of 5 for just £1.45 here and they've served me perfectly since! They're ideal for not only doing dots (who would've guessed?), but also other designs like hearts etc. 

Brushes:

I also managed to find a great bargain on these at just £2.72 from eBay here and I've had absolutely no problems with any quality issues. This 15 pack comes with all you will need - striping brushes, smaller brushes and large fan brushes. 

Other than those I really don't use a lot else for the designs. Some looks I have used things like studs or stickers in but again you can pick them up at less than £2 from various eBay sellers! 

31 day challenge - Day 2 - Orange

Day 2 of the 31 day challenge oversees the prompt of orange! I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this one and I really like the result. This is also an attempt to improve one of the first looks I posted - flames!

I did the usual of starting with a base coat before sponging on a gradient of China Glaze's Riveting and Peachy Keen before creating the actual flames freehand with a small brush using Nicole by OPI's Razzle Dazzle. I then topped it off using Essie's Matte About You and voila!

This turned out exactly the way I wanted and already I can tell that I'm going to hate removing each look every day!

31 day nail challenge - Day 1 - Red

After seeing many bloggers try the 31 day nail challenge I decided that I wanted to give it a go myself! The list of prompts is as follows:

The first day is red and this is what I came up with:

I'm not in love with this design (probably not a good way to start!) but it seemed like a nice variation of plain red! Tomorrow's challenge of orange is going to be much better (promise!).

Return of the Aztec

After getting the Barry M nail art pens a while back, I've wanted to retry the "aztec" look that I attempted before. I thought that it would be much easier to handle than a brush, plus it would allow me to do a lot more detail and boy was I right! I love how these turned out! It took me a while but ho-hum, it was worth it. This time I did a base coat of white (CG - White on White) with black detailing for all but the accent nail of which I did black (OPI - Razzle Dazzle) with white detailing.

Colours used:

Basecoat: Essie - Rock Solid
Base colours: China Glaze - White on White and Nicole by OPI - Razzle Dazzle
Designs: Barry M Nail Art Pens - White and Black
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Left hand - shade

Left hand - shade

Left hand - shade

Close up, left hand - flash

Right hand - shade (and to be right handed and have such success shows how good the art pens are!)

Both hands - flash

What do you think? :)

Vintage style rose nails

I haven't posted for a while because none of the looks I've done as of late I've thought were any good! However, I finally tried out the vintage rose look and absolute love how it turned out! It looks very simple but classy and is so easy to do.

Colours used:

Basecoat: Essie - Rock Solid
Solid base colour: Ciaté - Sugared Almonds
Flowers: OPI - Vant to Bite My Neck? and You're Such a BupaPest
Leaves: MaxFactor - Cactus Green
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Here's how they look!

 

Barry M Nail Art Pens review!

I got the brand new Barry M Nail Art Pens in the post yesterday and had to try them out as soon as possible so I thought I'd try something a little hectic. I wanted to try all four colours out at once so just started... doodling!

The style of "pen" is different to most - the "nib" is a hard point and requires pumping up and down to get the colour flowing. It then flows perfectly onto the nail and is very accurate - I had no problems with formula at all! It seems more "runny" than normal nail polish and that's what allows it to flow so well. The colours are brilliant - three out of the four were brilliant, but the silver just seemed so pale for a real silver polish. Even with two "coats" of each stripe it was very sheer and I felt slightly disappointed. However, the other colours (pink, black and white) were fantastic - bold and easy to use!

Here is the finished look:

I really hope they bring out more colours, these are so good! I liked the outcome, but best not to mention my right hand.. Oh how I wish I was ambidextrous!