Tuesday 24 April 2012

Flower Power

I came across this design done by Dollface22772 on YouTube and thought it was the perfect design to hopefully get me in the Spring spirit!!!

It is a time consuming one but I really love it because I get to use colours that I don't normally use.

It actually reminds me of some of my sisters stuff from when I was growing up, everything they owned had some sort of "flower power" seventies design on it and since I was the baby of the family I of course inherited all their hippie stuff .. LOL


Anyways here is the design. Use a good bright base colour and then pick some bright colours for the flowers. I followed Dollfaces advice and used white first for the flower petals as it truly helps make the colours pop.




Hope you like this one....let me know and post any requests or your own pics of designs you have tried from here.

Talk to you soon!

Saturday 21 April 2012

Flowers

Sorry it has been a few days since my last post, life just has a way of throwing us some curve balls every now and then and this week has been no exception! But I am back and working on some designs that I plan on sharing with you in the next few days. In the meantime here is one that I did a while ago that I hope you like




I recently was in the states for a little day trip and picked up a few polishes, when I say a few I really mean 12!(LOL)

Part of my haul was a wet n wild "I need a refresh-mint" and I have to say I AM IN LOVE!! 

So I decided my debut of this colour would be with some simple flowers and it was such an easy and fun design to do.

I also have built myself a lightbox in order to take better pictures for you and I want to thank my hubby for all his help in building it....what would I do without him!!! I love you babe!

Anyways back to the design....for the flowers I used Kleancolor in Black and Sally Hansen Insta dry in White, on my ring finger I added just a touch of bling for fun!.


...Enjoy and let me know what you think

Sunday 15 April 2012

Butterfly effect

I have been battling a cold for the last few days(thanks to my son who brought the germs home), so I thought I would try a design to lift my spirits.
All over YouTube and Pinterest are posts and pics of the Monarch Butterfly design so I finally decided to tackle it myself.
As you can see from the picture below here are all the colors that contributed to this design.

Recently I was to an Arbonne party at my best friends house and I purchased a sea salt scrub that I absolutely LOVE!! So after I cleaned the polish, filed and trimmed my nails I used this scrub and my hands are now soft and smell lovely.

For my solid color I chose the Joe Fresh polish in "Pineapple", and then topped it with Sinful Colors "Lets Meet".  Once dry I used a torn make up sponge and used Joe Fresh "Pumpkin" and then OPI "Burning Love"... On top of that I sponged OPI "Vodka & Caviar" then eyeing it up I adjusted the color to my liking adding a little more orange or red. Then sponged Sally Hansen "Moonshine" all over to blend it and soften the colors.

My son and husband are watching the Game of Thrones and therefore I am subjected to this medieval "soap opera" I am not a fan of this show but they put up with the fumes of nail polish remover so I allow them this ... LOL

The drawing of "veins" is a little tricky but once the first nail is done I got the hang of it. The overall effect is quite pretty. I am happy with the outcome.


Well it is Sunday night and tomorrow is my last day of work before my "weekend" which is Tuesday & Wednesday. I am hoping that this cold leaves soon.

I will be back in the next couple of days with a new design to try, until then be safe.

Update....I decided to redo my nails and made some changes to the design and am much happier with this outcome.... what do you think?

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Wet n Wild!!

Ok so I decided tonight that I would do a water marble......What was I thinking?!?!? LOL
Just kidding, I have viewed enough tutorials on YouTube that left me thinking "hey I can do this no problem"(HAHAHA)
I prepped my nails and applied the obligatory base coat then I used my Rimmel "Play the Blues" for the main coat. Of course I am watching Modern Family and trying not to smudge my nails whilst(oh yeah I used that word) laughing constantly!!
Taping the nails I have found is CRITICAL unless you want to spend the rest of the evening wiping polish off your fingers, trust me it is NOT pretty.

Next I have found is getting the exact right temperature for the water. I use filtered as per the tutorials that have made me feel like not only can I do a water marble but maybe take on World Peace next...That leaves me with a window of about 3.27 minutes to complete this marble and then ... well we don't want to know what happens...


I am using essence "luxury secret", Apple Bottoms "Club Queen", Sally Hansen "Whirlwind white" for my marble. Holding my breath I begin with the first drop of white then the grey, and dark grey. Continuing the drops until I feel it looks good. Next is the tricky part, I take a orange stick or in my case I use skewers because they come in larger packages and wayyy cheaper. With my "orange stick" I start in the centre of the drops and flick it outwards one way and then back to the centre and flick it out the opposite way, then I move the stick back and forth making a criss cross pattern(still holding my breath by the way)

My fingers are now all taped up and ready to be dipped into this marble magic. Like I am diving into a pool under my breath I say "1,2,3" then dip......next my trusty orange stick/skewer works around my nails and catches all the left over paint so when I take my fingers out of the water there is little to no mess. And Voila!!

This was an interesting design and I enjoyed trying it out. That being said, you will probably not see me do it again as it is very finicky. I encourage everyone to try it at least once and watch the tutorials on YouTube as they truly are very helpful. If you do try them please post and tell me how you found the process.

Tuesday 10 April 2012

It's easy being green


So here it is my first post!!....I have been doing my nails for years now and living in a house full of boys and they don't quite have the reaction that I would hope they would have when I turn out a cool design. So.....here I am, sharing with all you fellow nail artistes my nails. Some of them will be my own and some will be inspired by many talented people out there both off and online.