Purple Explorer Nails (what to call these?!)

Hey everyone! I'm excited as today I'm off to Cambridge for a long weekend with my boyfriend to celebrate 5 years together. I've been up in good time to finish off my nails (they're looking tropical!) so thought it was a good opportunity to do a bit more catching up on my blog. This design features two purples from Avon which were given to me for Christmas by my friend Emma. They're pretty colours, I particularly like the paler muted one, and I liked the consistency too.

I started with a base of puprle alternating the base colour as I went along. On the darker purple I stamped images from the Mo You London Explorer 14 plate in gold directly onto my nails. I like the size of the images as a lot of my stamping plates have images that are a bit on the small size as I've been keeping my nails long. On the paler purple nails I used the advanced stamping technique using my Uber Mat, to get a bit of the darker purple into the patterns as well. To see how I have a little picture tutorial here.

I'm pleased with how these turned out and was glad to use the Explorer plate again as I've had  it for ages. Let me know what you think :)
Colours used: So Jelly  - Mark (Avon), P819 - Mark (Avon), Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M

Sharpie Flutterby Nails!

Hello everyone - hope you're enjoying some sunshine! I still so behind with nail things, this one feels like it was ages ago! Still working through my untried polishes and this is my first use of Kitty, a sparkly blue polish from Picture Polish. I saw a design on Instagram with some butterflies alongside blue nails and thought I'd give it a go myself.

On my middle fingers I used butterfly wing images from Mo You London's Kitty 12 plate which I covered over with a clear top coat and then coloured in with sharpies. Initially I tried the usual approach of mixing with some nail polish remover on foil, and then painting it on with a brush, but I found that some of the colours I chose were a bit pale for that. Turns out colouring directly onto the nails with sharpie works well too! There were some lines visible but taking a tiny bit of polish remover on a brush I could gently smooth those out.

Once all dry I covered the butterfly designs again with a clear top coat to seal the image in and stop the sharpie parts rubbing away. Overall I like this design, especially the colours, though I possible wish the images were a little bigger/longer.
Colours used: Kitty - Picture Polish, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Assorted Sharpies

Buzz Buzz

Buzzzzzzz.... Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing my holiday nail art from our holiday in Scotland in May. Still soo behind! I'm very sleepy at the moment so nail art is happening a little less, and blogging even less! Need to get some good naps in I think! That or I need another holiday...

This charming yellowy gold glitter is Princess Lolly from Cupcake Polish and has been on my untried list for some time. I kept it simple with a bee image from  Mo You London's Animal 04 plate, using the advanced stamping technique and my Uber Mat. You can see how here. On my thumb and little fingers nails I used a honeycomb image from Pro 01 plate. I'm glad I kept my middle finger nails as just glitter as it really is gorgeously sparkly polish so it needed to be the centre piece!

It look me a little while to get used to these as they are very yellow and I'm quite pale, but they soon grew on me and I loved the glitter and the little bees. It was a perfect theme for a sunny week in Scotland. I've included a couple of pictures at the bottom from a stunning bluebell walk in the woods towards the end of the holiday. I thought it was the perfect backdrop!
Colours used: Princess Lolly, Cupcake Polish, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish by Lexi

Hygge - Gentle Nail Art

Hello everyone! Just a short one tonight as it's been a long day and work and I'm pretty tired! The pale blue I've used here is Cirque Colors Hygge, one from my untried list. It has a delicate shimmer too it, and I think it works well as a forsty winter colour, or a pastel shade for spring. I also love the word Hygge, mostly for how it's pronounced - or how I think it's pronounced!

For the accent nail on this manicure I painted it white, and then used black stamping polish to place the leaf image over the top. The image is from the Uber Chic Lovely Leaves 01 plate. Though these are simple I think they were cute, I got a few compliments on them and think they would make a good subtle nail design for work.
Colours used: Hygge - Cirque Colors, Floral Street - Nails Inc,  Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish