Ladies in the Lake

Hey everyone! Behind as usual... The nail art I'm sharing today was created for a charity event at the local lake where I love to swim. I didn't take part but I did donate and do my nails in tribute! I used the Breast Cancer Now colours in the background. I wouldn't have thought to go for something so bright with abstract nails otherwise but I really like the way it came out.

I started with a base of pale pink and then added swipes of orange, yellow and pink. I didn't follow a particular pattern and just did what I felt like. Once this was dry I used black stamping polish to add images from Mo You London's Le Musee 04 stamping plate and finished the look with a glossy top coat. This was really easy to do and I love how it came out!

Colours used: Vintage Tee - Nails Inc, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Beach Hut - Models Own, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

A Lemon Experiment

Hey space turtles! Truly into the summer nails now which I suppose makes sense since it's June already! I recently saw alekto.art on Instagram do some freehand lemons over lilac and it looked really cute so I thought I'd give it a go using the lemons image on my WhatsUp Nails Summer Seeds stamping plate. The idea of the yellow accent nail was inspired by some nail art by naileenj which I recreated a while ago (originally in pink) and it obviously stayed in my mind!

I created decals on my Uber Mat for the lemon images and once applied I finished the look with a matte top coat. I really like the look but do wonder if the shades I used where a little too bright as they didn't work as well as the art by alekto.art. I'd say they're still pretty good though :)

Colours used: Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Key Lime - Barry M

Easter Yellow

Happy Easter everyone! I started the day with an Easter lake swim wearing bunny ears (impractical but fun)! I've got different Easter designs on each hand and I'm loving them both. I particularly like the novelty of this look since I don't usually wear so much yellow. It feels very seasonal and fun and I'm enjoying wearing them matte too. 

I started with a base of yellow on some nails and cream on others (colours listed below the pictures). I made decals for the little chick's using Mo You London's Festive 58 stamping plate and while these dried I added patterns from the same plate to the yellow nails in white. I enjoyed how simple the chick's were to do with just a couple of colours on each decal. Once dry I trimmed and applied the decals to my nails and added a top coat and a matte top coat. Spring ready :)

Colours used: Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Cream Soda - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Atlantic Road - Barry M, Ridley Road - Barry M, Essential White - Uber Chic Beauty, Matte Taco - Holo Taco

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

Disco Animal Print

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is for the Glam Nails Challenge theme Animal. I had so many possible options for this but decided to do an animal print as I thought it would go well with a watercolour look and wanted to try that with my new Holo Taco topper. 

I started with a white base and then top coat, and added sharpie inc over the top, drawing directly onto my nails. I then used a wide brush and nail polish remover to blend the colours together and get the watercolour effect. I added a coat of Holo Taco's Reflective Taco and then stamped the animal print over the top from Uber Chic's Warm Blooded stamping plate.

I am pleased with how these came out however I'm not sure this is the best way to use the Reflective Taco. That or I have a dud. I really struggled to get the sparkle to show even in bright lights and not just on camera. I really like that it's a topper rather then dense glitter but perhaps for this reason it gets drowned out by the watercolour pattern underneath. I will try it over a darker colour and hopefully get better results.

Colours used: White Out - Nails Inc, Various Sharpies, Reflective Holo Taco - Holo Taco, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

I do like to be beside the seaside

Hello again space turts! More nautical nails today for the next Glam Nails Challenge prompt on Instagram. Todays theme is Nautical. I went for some classic primary colours as my base and of course stripes as I couldn't do a nautical look without stripes!

I started with two layers of each base colour and once dry added white stripes from the Mo You London Tropical 34 stamping plate to all nails. I then used their Sailor 01 stamping plate for the other sea themed images I added over the top in black.I place the shell a bit off centre on my thumbnail so decided to add a bit of starfish so there was less empty space. I finished the look with a matte top coat.

This look was very much a make it up as you go along kind of look but pleased with how it came out. I think it's fun and I love an ocean/nautical theme as you may have noticed!

Colours used: Dead Heat - Barry M, Baker Street - Nails Inc, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Alpaca Walking Nails

Hey everyone! Got some rather fun nail art to share today :) A few weeks ago my sister got married. It was a beautiful day! A week before hand she had her hen do which involved alpaca walking. It was so much fun and they were so cute! I decided to do some themed nail art for the occasion. I've included a picture of the nail art with the alpaca I was walking, Truffle. He was such a cutie and liked plodding along at the back of the group.

I decided to go for something really vibrant for this look so used some pastel neons from the Bring On Spring collection from Wikkid Polish. I created decals for three of the nails, you can see how here. On the other two I added some spots and funny wording - all images are from Mo You London's Animal Collection 19 stamping plate. I really love the image with the colourful necklace on - such party vibes!

Really pleased with how these came out, they're so fun and were just right for the occasion! 

Colours used: Peachy Beachy - Wikkid Polish, Joyful L'il Jellybean - Wikkid Polish, Hello Sailor - Wikkid Polish, My Mate Illuminate - Wikkid Polish, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Cream Soda - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M, Bikini Bombshell - Wikkid Polish

Springy Easter Bunnies

Heyy everybody! Some classic Easter nail art to share today and a new nail polish from Emily de Molly. I have a few of their shades but I ought to have more, almost every single one I've tried has blown my mind! This one is such a fun vibrant shade and the reflective sparkle is lovely. It's called Le 310 and I bought it from Rainbow Connection recently with a few other reflective glitters which I think will be perfect for Easter nail art.

I started with a peel off base coat followed by two layers of Le 310 and a 'glitter grabber' coat. I then used my Festive 58 Easter themed stamping plate from Mo You London to add the daisies and white part of the bunny images, followed by the black outlines. I then added some yellow pollen in the daisies with a dotting tool and decided on a whim to add some yellow spots too. While I did all of this I had a decal drying on my Uber Mat for my thumbnail. I adore the image with all the tiny round bunnies - they're so cute!

So as I said before, I LOVE this polish! It's a real treat and I love the way it makes my nails look. I think it suits me and I'm pleased with how neatly I painted it so it must have a good formula too! I'm not sure if I should have added the yellow dots, I think it would have been fine without, but overall really pleased with this look!

Colours used: LE 310 - Emily de Molly, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Acai Smoothie - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M, Surfboard - Barry M

When Life Gives You Lemons Make Nail Art... Again!

I couldn't resist re-using the title for this - what else does one call a lemon themed nail art blog post?! Today's nail art is a fine example of just how much my freehand needs some work - it's always harder than I expect! I was inspired by Naileenj on Instagram and had to give this look a try! I started it on holiday in the North York Moors, sat outside on on a goat farm! I ran out of time to finish it here though so had to do the rest at home, which was probably more practical in the end.

I started with a base of neon pink on all nails except my little fingernail which I painted yellow (all colours listed below the pictures). I planned to use pens to draw onto my nail as I did when following the One Nail To Rule Them All tutorials a while ago, but I couldn't get it to work at all so used a small brush to paint on the lemons, leaves and the outline. They were definitely not as neat as I had envisaged! Still, it was an abstract look I was going for so I suppose it's not too far wrong...

Colours used: Bikini Bombshell - Wikkid Polish, Sunny Days - Rimmel, Key Lime - Barry M, Lady In Black - OPI

Safari Skittle Nails!

 Some wild nails for you today! Recently (well not that recently actually - I can't remember exactly when!) I decided to give Uber Chic's Warm Blooded stamping plate a try, as I liked the Cold Blooded one so much. The Warm Blooded plate has a great variety of animal prints, not all of which I can determine at this point in time - if anyone can help with that do let me know!

So for this look I decided to try out a few different prints and do an animal themed skittle mani. In case you didn't know a skittle mani is where the nails are painted in all different colours or shades, so I've taken it a step further with these and got something rather colourful! They were pretty easy to do and I like the variety I got from using all different colours as well as prints. My favourites are the tiger and giraffe nails. Can you guess the rest?

Colours used: Basil Street - Nails Inc, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Little Bo Beep - Rimmel London, Not From Concentrate - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Cocoa - Barry M, Grey - Barry M

Crabby Nails Ahoy!

Hey everyone - or should I say ahoy... Some cute crab nail art to share with you today which kind of matched my mood when I painted them (crabby rather than cute unfortunately). These are for the next Dimension Nails challenge prompt for August which is, you guessed it, crab. I have a couple of stamping plates with crab images on but chose the newest, Uber Chic's Just Beachy plate. They have these helpful layered images so I didn't have to create decals, and could stamp directly onto the white nails. I was pleased with how vibrantly the colours came out, as sometimes I find stamping colours over white kind of washes them out a little. I did smudge the orange crab a little when stamping the black outline over the colour but I think it's still cute!

Not much else to say on these really but I am pleased with them, and am enjoying the summery shades! It's not something I'd really thought to do before so I'm glad this Dimension Nails challenge prompt made me do them!
Colours used: Flip Flop Fantasy - China Glaze, Greenberry - Barry M, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Nails Inc Freshly Juiced Duo

Hello all! I am writing from the uncharacteristically warm south of England today, so this summery nail art seems quite fitting! I bought the Freshly Squeezed nail polish duo from Nails Inc when I was ordering some more face masks from them and I'm so glad I did, they're gorgeous! I absolutely love getting new Nails Inc polishes, the formulas are so good and the brush size is perfect so they're super satisfying to apply. The duo's are a good price too (£15 for the pair). This particular set is also scented, and after how much I loved their peach scented nail polishes that was another selling point for me.

For this look I alternated the orange and pink polishes across may nails, and used the advanced stamping technique to create decals for the flowers on my middle two finger nails and thumb nails. The image is from Mo You London's Flower Power 03 stamping plate. The look was finished off with a glossy top coat (also Nails Inc) which I must admit dampened the smell a little bit but it finished the look nicely. It's the first time I've worn matching nail art on both hands for a while, and I have enjoyed the simplicity of the design and the brightness. I love the packaging for this set to, it's a winner all round!
Colours used: Not From Concentrate - Nails Inc,  Looking Super Juicy - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Cream Soda - Barry M