Coronation Swans

Hey space turtles! I'm a bit behind with this post as it's from the weekend but better late than never! I wasn't really planning to do anything for the Kings Coronation at the weekend but the lake where I swim did fancy dress for it and I just couldn't resist! I wore a swan hat and decided to create some nail art to match. 

I started with pale blue on my middle two nails and thumbnails and dark blue on the others. I created decals for the swan nails using Mo You London's Animal 01 stamping plate. While the decals dried I added some gold detailing from their Games 02 stamping plate on the dark blue nails. I added the decals to my nails and trimmed them before adding a layer of blue across the bottom. I was pleased with how well that came out since I was using the brush straight from the bottle and my left hand! I added a top coat carefully to avoid smudging the nail art. I think this would look good matte too but stuck with shiny as it felt right.

I really love how these came out. The colours are very me and I like how bold they look against the contrast of the swans. It does feel a little weird to have royal themed nails when I'm not particularly into the royal family but I think they're relatively subtle. I'd definitely enjoy doing some similar swan nails in the future.

Colours used: Pale Blue - Brand I no longer support, Indigo - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Beach Hut - Models Own, Essential White - Uber Chic, Bright Lights - Barry M

Birds and Berries

Hey space turtles! I was inspired by iamdeliasnails on Instagram to create this look. She created a snowy matte mint green look with plants which I wanted to try with my Noel 07 stamping plate from Mo You London. I thought I'd do it for the Glam Nails Challenge winter berries prompt and when looking at the stamping plate spotted some birds too which I thought would compliment the look well.

I started with a peel off base coat and three layers of mint green polish, which has discoloured a bit and looks suspiciously blue in some lighting! I then added a snowy top coat. Meanwhile I had some pinecone and bird decals drying on my Uber Mat. I added the plants in various shades of green and once the decals were dry I trimmed them and added them carefully to the design. Finally I used a dotting tool to add some little red berries. I particularly like the one with the bird holding a berry in it's beak although unfortunately the decal had smudged a tiny bit. To finish I added a clear top coat and then a matte one over the top. You can see pictures of both below - which do you prefer?

So in conclusion I am so pleased with these and really love them! They came out even better than I expected and I wish I could have worn them for longer. Kudos to Delia for her original design!

Colours used: Mint Green - Barry M, Snow Wash - No7, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Cocoa - Barry M, Green Stamping Polish - Mo You London, Green Park - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry  M, Little Bo Beep - Rimmel, Yellow - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI

Twit-Twoo!

Tweet tweet! This nail art is for Sunday's glam nails challenge prompts, but I'm running quite behind as we spent a lot of time working in the garden at the weekend and I was finally able to go for a pub lunch with friends! The theme prompt was birds and I stumbled across the Uber Chic owl stamping plate in my collection and thought it would be perfect!

As a base I used a couple of speckled nail polishes as they fit the bird theme well. For the owls I used the advanced stamping technique, you can see how here. I used a mixture of creme and sparkly shades and I'm quite happy with the effect I ended up with. It was very much a make it up as I go along look!

Colours used: Hatch - Cirque Colors, Robin - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Cream Soda - Barry M, Tickled Taupe - Painted Polish, Taupe Temptation - Painted Polish

Owls & Feathers - Come On Spring!

Hey everyone - hope you are about to have a great weekend! Today my nail art has been created for the clairestelle8 nail art challenge on Instagram. There are a number of prompts for April, and for this months challenge there is the chance to win a stamping plate which I'm really keen to get my hands on! I'm not doing every prompt as I don't have enough time sadly, but will try and do a few. For this one the prompt is feathers, so I decided to use my Nails Inc feather polishes, some feather stamping and a great big owl!

On all my nails I used a pale pink base (colours listed below the pictures), and on my ringer finger and thumb nails I created decals using my Uber Mat. The owl is from an Uber Chic stamping plate, it's an image I haven't used before. I enjoyed using my Painted Polish by Lexi taupe polishes for this but you know you have a lot of polish when you happen to have the right sparkly shades for an owl!! I used feathers from a Mo You London Explorer plate for my other decals. I coloured them in with the feather effect polishes I used on my other nails. This didn't work all that well as it made the decals quite chunky, but I quite like the subtle effect.

The remaining three nails on each hand were topped with the Nails Inc feather effect polishes. With hindsight I think I should have layered the feathers up a bit more for a better effect. All in all I quite like these, but they're not my best. Not sure I was ready for pastels quite yet!
Colours used: Pink Lemonade - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Emily de Molly, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Cream Soda - Barry M, Yellow - Barry M, Tickled Taupe - Painted Polish, Taupe Temptation - Painted Polish, Brighton (Feathers) - Nails Inc, Cornwall (Feathers) - Nails Inc, Henley (Feathers) - Nails Inc

Stamping Sunday: Swanning Around

My first nail art of 2018 is up! I have a list of nail ideas I keep on my phone, and this one was added around this time last year! I got some of the Mo You London animal plates that Christmas and thought a swan design with muted colours would look good, but I'd save it till spring. Somehow that never happened and here we are! I actually think these muted colours work well for winter too. I used a newer plate for the chevrons so it was a good opportunity to use an untried product too.

I started with a greige base colour on my thumb, index finger and little finger nails; pink on my middle finger and white on my ring finger. For the chevrons I used a clear stamper and the Tropical 34 plate, which I can't wait to use in the summer with all it's pretty fruit images. For the swans I created decals using my Uber Mat and the Animal 01 plate. You can see how here.

Once I'd stuck the decals down I added a little pink to the bottom of the white nails, and then a then line of gold (colours listed below the pictures) using a nail art brush. I finished off with a matte top coat. I like how this turned out though the decals were a tad thick in places, as my white polish is coming to an end (thinner is on the way)!
Colours used: Oyster - Barry M, Pink Lemonade - Barry M, White Knight - Mo You London, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Bright Lights - Barry M

Tropical Tuesday: Toucan Play that Game!

Happy Tuesday! Tonight I am bringing you a terrible/wonderful pun! I've pretty much had Two Can Play That Game in my head every time I've looked at these nails! This was just a quick bit of advanced stamping on accent nails but I really loved the way it turned out. I used Dead Heat from Barry M's speedy collection for a really vibrant summery red. I'm not accepting summer as over till the end of September! (unless it gets really cold I guess)

I used my Uber Mat and Mo You London Tropical Plate 06 for this adorable Toucan pattern and stamped the image in black. I used white stamping polish for the Toucans tummies as I wanted something that would show up well against the red. It's not obvious but before the orange of the beaks I used a little yellow as well to give them a bit more dimension, Only obvious close up though!
Colours used: Dead Heat - Barry M, Black Knight - Mo You London, White Knight - Mo You London, W18 - Color Cosmetic, Yellow - Barry M