Return of the Space Turtles!

Hey space turtles! Perhaps that's how I should address people now? Sometimes I call you nail people but perhaps you are space turtles? A few years ago I was inspired by Kim Joy on the Great British Bake Off to try some space turtle themed nails (after one of her many adorable bakes). While I loved the theme they didn't come out that well, so when Turtle came up as a Glam Nails Challenge prompt I decided to give it a go again but with different techniques.

I started off with two coats of Emily de Molly's magnetic polish Seventh Seal, which I ADORE! It's so beautiful, it looks even better in real life. Once dry I layered up turtle images from Mo You London's Atlantis 02 stamping plate and Uber Chic's Just Beachy stamping plate. I started with white so the turtles would stand out against the darker background. I finished up with some little stars and moons from Mo You London's Atlantis 04 stamping plate in silver. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

So I love these! I keep looking at them, especially in bright lighting where the base colour really shifts. I like them so much better than my previous attempt and it has many of the components I love in a nail look (blue, ocean themed, cute, space themed etc). Maybe there will be a third set of space turtles :)
Colours used: Seventh Seal - Emily de Molly, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Key Lime - Barry M, Watermelon - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Whaley Big Mountains

Hey everyone! More Glam Nails Challenge nail art to share with you today. The theme for this one was whales. I wanted to do something a bit different to the last whale nails I did (which I loved!) for some variety and went for a night sky vibe. Stamping plates used were Mo You London's Sailor 18 and Atlantis 02.

I started with two coats of dark blue jelly polish and while it was drying made some decals on my Uber Mat of whales and mountains, you can see how here. I then added some stars and moons in silver and a rippling water image in light blue. Once dry I added the decals over the top, and added a whale nail in the water on my ring fingernail. I finished the look with a glossy top coat, and then tried matte. I love matte looks but I think I like this best glossy.

I am pleased with the look in some ways however it came out a lot darker than planned. The base polish runs a but which doesn't help. It made the stars look purple and the images blend into the background even more. The pictures are under good lighting but in some lighting it's hard to see the design.

Colours used: Indigo Ink - Nail Paint Palette, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Grey - Barry M, Can't Find My Czechbook - OPI, Cream Soda - Barry M, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M 

Ladies on my Nails

Hey everyone! Sharing some nail art from a few weeks ago I hadn't posted yet because of all the Glam Nails Challenge stuff. I'm feeling a bit meh as I was meant to be at a comedy gig tonight with my sister but we couldn't go because of the train strikes. We could get there but not back and we didn't fancy being stranded in London! I did enjoy some relaxing in the garden with a book though and got some gardening done.

For this look I started with a base of pale blue (colours listed below pictures) and then added a stroke of slightly darker blue on each nail. Once dry I used a brighter blue to add images from Mo You London's Le Musee 04 stamping plate. It's got some gorgeous abstract images. Next I added some gold flakes from an old topper I have and finished with a glossy topcoat.

Really pleased with how these came out. I love the blue images and they are so crisp! It was so simple to do but worked well.

Colours used: Borrowed & Blue - Essie, Blueberry - Barry M, Cobalt - Barry M, Treasure Chest - Barry M

Deep Sea Fishies

Hey everyone! More Glam Nails Challenge sea themed nails today, this time the theme is Fish. I decided to do something similar to a design I did last year but tweak it a bit by using a slightly different base and some of the images (same plate) are different. I used Aquatic from Picture Polish which is a deep green. All images are from Mo You London's Atlantis 02 stamping plate.

I started with two coats of Atlantis which is gorgeously rich. Following that I chose my fish images and added the base layer of stamping for all of them in white so they'd stand out against the dark background. I then added the other colours one by one. I wasn't sure what colour to do the blue and white fish which I think was supposed to be blue and yellow, but settled on blue and white since I'd already done blue and yellow for the one next to it. I added wording to one side above the crab which I think works well.

Pleased with how these came out. I love the Atlantis stamping plates so much!!

Colours used: Aquatic - Picture Polish, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, Beach Hut - Models Own, Papaya - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Yellow - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M, Cobalt - Barry M, Acai Smoothie - Barry M, Shoreditch - Nails Inc

What's Kraken!

Yo ho! This nail art is for Sunday's Glam Nails Challenge prompt which was Octopus. I was inspired by some black socks I have with an orangey red octopus design. Initially I was planning to replicate the socks a bit more and do a matte look but as I got started I was tempted by glitter - surprise surprise! I used Uber Chic's Mermaid Life 02 stamping plate for all images in this look.

I started by applying three coats of sparkly black (very slow drying this one!) and while these were drying created some decals for the octopus/kraken tentacles on my Uber Mat. These took longer than usual as after the red and yellow I added a layer of white to go underneath and make them stand out against the black background. I made three decals and on the other nails stamped a couple of images directly onto my nails. I'm particularly pleased with the wording as it came out so clearly and with a slightly wavy effect which was happy accident!

Pleased with these overall. They are quite thick with all the layers of polish but that's fine :)

Colours used: Thunder and Lightning - Models Own, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Yellow - Barry M, Pear Drops - Models Own

Seahorses in Seahouses

Hi again! Back with another Glam Nails Challenge theme of Seahorses. I wore these on a trip to the coast in a place called Seahouses hence the name of this blog post. I had a couple of stamping plate options for seahorses but decided to go with Mo You London's Atlantis 02 plate with it's lovely layered images. Usually I'd put the central feature on the middle two nails but decided to switch it up a bit this time and have the seahorses to one side.

I started with two coats of blue glitter (which was fortunately quite opaque as I didn't have any sponges with me for the sponging technique) over a peel off base coat. I then added the first layer of all the images I planned to use in white, adding the coloured layers second and black at the end where necessary. The seaweed images aren't layering ones but I used white underneath them anyway to help them stand out. I really like how that worked on my thumbnail.

I'm pleased with these. They are definitely my kind of colour and my kind of theme! I could have got the layering better for the seahorses but it's not that obvious. Enjoying wearing them :)

Colours used: Twinkled - Enchanted Polish, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Acai Smoothie - Barry M, Grey - Barry M, Cyan - Barry M, Bright Purple - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

MerFail Nails

Hey everyone! Got a bit of a nail fail to share today but I'm sharing it anyway! This is some nail art from a few weeks ago now. I was inspired by some butterfly nail art I saw on Instagram where someone had layered up some white images over some metallic purple ones. I decided to try and replicate the look using mermaid themes from the Bundle Monster Twi Star stamping plate.

I started with a few layers of sheer purple (colours listed below pictures) and then added mermaid scale and water ripple images in metallic purple. Once dry I added more individual images over the top in white stamping polish. I think a combination of the polishes I used and the images meant that there wasn't really enough contrast between the colours and it made the images look a bit more blurry and harder to focus on. I wasn't all that happy with these and took them off after only a few days.

Colours used: Haze Jelly - Cirque Colors, Foil Effects in Lilac - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Sharks After Dark

Hello again! Back so soon as I'm trying to catch up! Today's nail art is for another Glam Nails Challenge prompt - sharks. I decided to try out one of my untried polishes (Enchanted Trinket) for this even though it's a bit more of a wintery colour. Kept this look fairly simple and used layered stamping with Uber Chic's Just Beachy stamping plate. I added the shark images in white to start with for contrast and then added the grey and pink over the top (otherwise they wouldn't have shown up well over the glitter). On the nails without grey sharks I added the shark silhouette images.

I like how these came out though the placement of the grey sharks could have definitely been better. I did them a bit too far to the left on both nails which is a bit annoying - especially on my thumbnail which is a funny shape already. Still, they're sparkly and sea themed so can't go too far wrong!

Colours used: Trinket - Enchanted Polish, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Acai Smoothie - Barry M, Grey - Barry M

Jellyfishing Jellyfishing Jellyfishing

Jellyfishing, jellyfishing, jellyfishing! Because if you can add a Spongebob quote you always should! This is some nail art I did for the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram, and of course the theme was jellyfish. I decided to use one of my Mo You London Atlantis plates and sheer polish to add some depth, and then add the jellyfish on top with some glitter.

I started with two coats of sheer blue (colours listed below pictures) before adding a seaweed image to each nail with white stamping polish (Images from the Atlantis 04 stamping plate). I then added another layer of blue followed by another seaweed image. On the two nails which wouldn't have jellyfish on I repeated this one more time, and then added a little silver glitter above the seaweed. In the meantime I was using the jellyfish images from the same plate to create some decals (see how here) using reflective polish to make them really stand out. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

I'm pleased with how these came out and they've definitely grown on me over time. I think a base layer of something to distract from the yellow of my nails would have been an improvement. However these are very me and I love the way the reflective glitter makes the jellyfish look! Pictures below in regular lighting and with flash.

Colours used: Flipper - Urban Outfitters, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Balck Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Flavour of the Week - Emily de Molly, Diamond Glitter - Barry M

Crabtastic Nails

Snap-Snap-click-click (or whatever noise crabs make!). Another Glam Nails Challenge prompt to share which will be short and sweet as I still have a few posts to catch up on! As you may have guessed the theme for this nail art was crab. I have a few stamping plates with crab images on and settled for this origami image from Mo You London's Origami 05 stamping plate. I made decals on my Uber Mat for the two crabs and also added the image to my nails directly to show me where I'd need to draw between the two base colours (two lovely reflective polishes - colours listed below the pictures). I then added the white water image from the Bundle Monster Twi Star stamping plate over any areas of blue. I'm pleased with the overall look but it's a shame I may have left too much of a cuticle gap. I think perhaps these thick glitter polishes shrink a bit more after being applied. Overall pleased with the final sparkly look!

Colours used: Flash Platinum Gold - Fun Lacquer, Heartkids - Emily de Molly, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Dolphin Summer

Hey everyone! This will be a short blog post as I am sleepy and have a lot of catching up to do! I have been away for a hen weekend and these are from Wednesday's Glam Nails Challenge prompt. I have decided to give this month a try as it's all sea creature themes and I couldn't resist! Also lacking a bit of nail inspo at the moment so good to have some prompts!

I kind of made these up as I went along and went for a brightly coloured theme. The dolphin images are from the Bundle Monster Twi Star and Mo You London Doodles 01 stamping plates. I created decals for all images and decided to use something shimmery on the nail art nails to give it something extra. Not one of my favourite looks but is' nice enough!

Colours used: Hello Sailor - Wikkid Polish, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Joyful L'il Jellybean - Wikkid Polish, Bikini Bombshell - Wikkid Polish, Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Peachy Beachy - Wikkid Polish