Tile Inspired Aztec Nails

Hey space turtles! Some colourful nail art to share as the weather gets colder. These were inspired by lovely tiled houses we saw on holiday in Porto. I wanted to do some nail art based on some of the more colourful tiles but didn't really have any stamping plates with such patterns and didn't fancy trying to freehand them so I chose these Aztec style patterns instead!

I started with a beige background and created decals on my Uber Mat with the patterns. I used Mo You London's Explorer 33 and Explorer 04 stamping plates and black stamping polish, filling them in with some bright block colours and white. You can see how here. Once dried and applied I added a shiny top coat, and then tried a matter one a day or two later. The matte brings out the colours well but I do like this look shiny too. I think they're got late summer nails but can't believe it's nearly October and I've done no snuggly autumn nails yet! Will have to do some after Halloween.

Colours used: Soft Focus - Polished For Days, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Spring Green - Barry M, Baker Street - Nails Inc, Yellow - Barry M, Neon Activator - Nails Inc

Azteggs! Alternative Easter Nails

Happy nearly Easter everyone! I've gone for some slightly alternative Easter egg nail art this year, alternative in that it doesn't involve pastels, otherwise not that alternative! I fancied trying one of my new purple shades and thought this speckled one is kind of Easter appropriate. I love the colour combination of this type of purple shade against black and white.

For the black and white nails I didn't have any egg shaped images on stamping plates, but didn't think I could freehand a pattern very well so tried something a bit different when creating nail decals. I've included the process I followed below:

• I started by using a nail art pen to draw egg shapes directly onto my Uber Mat, and gave them some time to dry (tricky to get that timing right as it starts to crack as you can see!)
• Next I carefully painted a clear layer over the egg shapes, making sure to only just go over the black line, if anything went round the edges I cleared it up with a clean up brush and nail polish remover.
• Once the clear layer was dry I used images from the Mo You London Explorer 33 to stamp an Aztec pattern onto the eggs - the images stick to the clear polish but not very well to the mat so it was easy to clean up around the edges with the tape.
• I followed up with a layer of clear top coat over and around the eggs.
• Once dry I peeled the decals off the mat, trimmed them and applied them to my nails before top coat time.

Although the eggs could be neater I think they've come out reasonably well and am enjoying wearing this nail art. This is also my entry for the clairestelle8 challenge prompt for the 20th (Easter eggs), but blogging it slightly early as I'm busy tomorrow!

Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Lightning Maroon - Femme Fatale, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M

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

Stamping Sunday: I don't know what to call this!

Having writers block with what to call this nail art, so I've gone for a very honest blog title! I ended up thinking of this design because I had a lovely blue glitter, and grey/black metallic I wanted to use and hadn't tried yet, and the combination worked better than I has expected, took me a long time to change these!

So on my thumb and little finger nails I used Black Diamond from Nails Inc , and on my middle fingers I used Saltwater Summer from Painted Polish. I was pleasantly surprised by both of these. The glitter was fuller coverage than expected so didn't need to be sponged on.

For the accent nails I used a white base, and then made decals on my Uber Mat (you can see how here) using my Holy Shapes 03 stamping plate from Mo You London. I filled them in with the same polishes I used on my other nails, stuck them down and used a glossy top coat (Nails Inc's Kensington Caviar) to finish off.

Colours used: Black Diamond - Nails Inc, Alpine Snow - OPI, Black Knight - Mo You London, Saltwater Summer - Painted Polish

Purple Aztec Party Nails!

I've been very naughty and haven't blogged since last Saturday! The longest time since I re-started in July. In all fairness it has been my birthday week though so I've not had much time. Due to this I'll be showing two designs today, based on one of my favourite colour combinations. I associate the colour purple with November so will be showing two bright purple designs below.

Both these designs are from a little while back, and the above I tried first. It was experimental as I wasn't sure how well the colours would work together but was very pleased with the result. The black and white designs where outlined with a Barry M nail art pen, and then filled in with black acrylic paint. The silver is from the Nails Inc Galaxy collection and is one of my favourite glitters, this was the first time I tried it, It's so multi-dimensional and shimmery.

The below design was done as a revisit to the colour combination. This one was just done with a Barry M nail art pen. I think I like the first one best. What do you think?

Colours used: Holland Park - Nails Inc, Trafalgar Crescent Galaxy Polish - Nails Inc, Matt White - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M, Black Acrylic Paint

Mint & Bronze Gleam

Just a little one today, more of an advanced throwback Thursday as this one is from a while back.  Not the greatest picture background wise but I do like that you can see the shinyness!

I went through a really big mint green phase about a year ago and I believe this is from around that period. The little aztec pattern was done with a Barry M nail art pen and the shinyness is acheived by using my gel plumping top coat from Nails Inc. I think the colours go well together and the bronze glitter is quite unique. It's Bit Faker by Butter London and after searching far and wide for a bronze glitter I fell totally in love with this one. It's still a firm favourite. It dries quite matte but as you can see a few layers of top coat give it some shine.

Colours Used: Mint Green - Barry M, Bit Faker - Butter London, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M, Gel Plumping Topcoat - Nails Inc

Aztec Blue

This design contains two of my favouroite things in nail varnish, Aztec patterns and cobalt blue! In the background is my work bag which is making me feel pretty sad after a lovely week off. Who knows what horrors I will return to tomorrow! Not quite sure how my hands came out quite so pale in this picture but I think it goes quite well with the nail varnish so never mind!

For the Aztec pattern I took inspiration from Pinterest and amended a little. I outlined the pattern in black nail art pen on a plain white base, and then filled in the spaces with black polish and a small nail art brush for a stronger colour. The blue used is Nails Inc's Baker Street which is one of my favourite nail varnishes, they have captured my favourite shade of blue well. I have almost finished my first bottle and have another lined up!

Colours used: Baker Street - Nails Inc, White - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M, New York Noir - Nails Inc

Throwback Thursday: Long Long Aztec!

So todays throwback nail picture really demonstrates how crazy long they used to be! (with the exception of the thumb which seems to have had a mishap!). One of my earlier experiments with fading. The bright colours don't blend together very well but they do create a good contrast against each other. Used the white Barry M nail art pen (somewhat wonkily) which takes a while as it's quite watery. Works well but does tend to need a few coats.

Colours used: Cyan Blue - Barry M, Antique Coral - Natural Collection, Bright Purple - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in White - Barry M