Ho Ho How About Some Nail Art

Hi Space turtles! My first proper Christmas nail art of the year is here! I decided I'd try and combine the first two Glam Nails Challenge (Instagram nail art challenge) prompts for this look. The prompts were Santa and Christmas Plaid. 

For the Santa nails I made decals on my Uber mat using images from Mo You London's Noel 01 stamping plate. For the other nails I used Mo You London's Holy Shapes 19 stamping plate which has a range of different lines and patterned lines you can put together to create tartan looks. I went for a classic green and red colour scheme to feel Christmassy! I'm pleased with the look and think it's a good start to my Christmas looks for the year.

Colours used: British Racing Green - Butter London, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Dazzle - Orly, Cream Soda - Barry M, Cocoa - Barry M, Emerald - Barry M

From Sunglasses to Nails

Hellooo space turtles! Today's nail art is one I've fancied doing for a little while - based on my sunglasses case! They are a pair of Kate Spade sunglasses and one half of the case is pink and the other racing green with some gold lettering on the pink. It's not a colour combination I would have imagined working but it does so I thought I'd use it for some nail art.

I started with a couple of coats of polish on the plan pink and green nails, then used a nail art brush to add a line in green down the middle of the half and half nails. I was then able to use the brushes from the bottles to carefully fill in the rest of the nail with two coats of polish. Once dry I added some images from Mo You London's Le Musee 04 stamping plate in gold. They definitely show up better over the green but still like nice over the pink I think.

Pretty pleased with how these came out. The only way I think i could have improved them would be to have used a slightly brighter pink the match the sunglasses case better. This is close but a little more pale and muted. I think it makes an interesting and sophisticated look :)

Colours used: British Racing Green - Butter London, Pink Lemonade - Barry M, Bright Lights (Liquid Chrome) - Barry M

Back British Farming (the nail art edition)

Today is Back British Farming Day! Introduced by the National Farmers Union as a day to celebrate British farming and it's importance to the UK economy. You can find out more here. I decided to honour this day with some nail art! I saw it all going on last year and thought a simple look with some wheat (the symbol for it last year) would look good. I've gone for something a bit different on the thumb which doesn't entirely go but I'll go into the details below.

I started with a base of green on three of my fingernails, cream on the other and yellow on my thumb. On my ring fingernail I created a decal on my Uber Mat using the Fall In Love 05 stamping Plate from Mo You London. I didn't really have a wheat colour so decided to go for gold instead and give it a bit more of a party vibe! I was quite keen to try out my Uber Chic Farm Fresh stamping plate as well for this so gave it a go on my thumb nail. I saw this design on their website (not sure who by) and thought it would be perfect, I started with green polish, then orange and finally the black tractor. It was surprisingly easy to layer up and place the tracker too.

In conclusion I'm enjoying these and I think they're a good nod towards autumn too! I do think the green (although I was pleased to use this shade again) was perhaps a little dark for the look, and I'm not sure how well the thumb goes with the golden wheat. However I really like the different elements of the look so I have no regrets!

Colours used: Racing Green - Butter London, Cream Soda - Barry M, Yellow - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Gold Digger - Barry M, Watermelon - Barry M, Not From Concentrate - Nails Inc

So this is Christmas...

So this is Christmas...Eve! I have finally managed to fit in some freehand Christmas nail art! I was hoping to get some more in before Christmas but time is just flying by. I had a couple of friends over for a Christmas nails afternoon with Christmas movies, mince pies and mulled wine. so in a way I'm impressed I managed to do some neat-ish lines!

I used a small nail art brush to paint the outline of each festive item and then colour them in. For the parcels and the outline of the berries I used a nail art pen to get fine lines. Overall I like the design, with the exception of the presents, as they came out a little wobbly. I also think the red is not quite as Christmassy as I had hoped. I should have used one with flecks of gold in instead of flecks of pink!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas!
Colours used: Party In Rio - Colors by Llarowe, Cocoa - Barry M, British Racing Green - Butter London. Alpine Snow - OPI, Dead Heat - Barry M, Nail Art Pen In Black - Barry M, Lady In Black - OPI, Uptown Glamour - Nails Inc, Soho Silver - Nails Inc

Stamping Sunday: Great Gatsby Nails

Good evening! Just in time to get one more blog post in before August! Today's design is from a couple of weeks ago when I needed smart nails, but didn't fancy just a plan colour. These colours are a little wintery, I think they'd be great for autumn/winter. I just really fancied using Butter London's Bramble again, it's such a lovely rich creamy polish. The colour I stamped with is technically a rose gold, though it looked more gold over the purple. It still just had that little hint of something different to a normal gold though which I liked.

For the design I tried out a range of the patterns from my Back To The 20's 04 plate from Mo You London's time traveller collection. It was lovely to see them in action! The designs really remind me of the Great Gatsby film that came out a few years ago. I particularly like the more detailed patterns like the one on my middle and ring fingers on each hand. I think I will try this colour combination again later in the year, for now I'm sticking to summer colours!
Colours used: Bramble - Butter London, Kings Road - Nails Inc

HBP Presents: Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I didn't think I'd be blogging on Christmas day but I couldn't stay away! I hope you have all had/ are having a magical day. Today I'm showing you my Christmas Day 2015 nails. Finished these off quite late last night, just in time before Santa arrived :D This post is doubly special as it's not only Christmas day but it's also part of the Hobby Polish Bloggers Facebook groups monthly link up (this is my fourth). I've learnt a lot from this group and love being a part of it.

As you can see from the pictures below this years design is based on a Christmas card. This is one of the ones I got from Paperchase this year. I usually have all kinds of animals on my cards but I liked the semi-traditional feel of this one. I kept it simple and didn't attempt do do the Santa. My freehand skills only go so far!

I started with a blue base and then used sponges to create a slight gradient for the night sky. I then very lightly sponged over the top with cream polish on cling film/saran wrap to give light snow effect. Next step were the gold stars, done with a small nail art brush. For the trees I used a thin detail brush, and the same for the outlines of the houses (then filling them in with another). I did try putting snow on one of the trees but it didn't really work so I changed it back. Finished off with my favourite top coat, Nails Inc's Kensington Caviar (quick dry).

Overall really pleased with how this turned out. It wasn't as complicated as I thought, and the thin brushes were really nice to use. Today I was given a pot to put my brushes in, so hopefully now that they will be more easily accessible (previously kept under my bed!) there should be more freehand to come!


Colours Used: Blueberry - Barry M, Cobalt Blue - Barry M, Coconut - Barry M, Gold - Limited Collection at M&S, British Racing Green - Butter London, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Seven Dials - Nails Inc

Check out the other lovely holiday/winter designs below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Throwback Thursday: Christmas Pud's

I've technically just missed the opportunity to do this throwback Thursday... but I don't think it counts as being the next day till I've been to sleep and woken up! I hope everyone's had a fab Christmas eve. This was my first one off in a while and I've filled the day with nice things. Feeling very happy and snug, and very ready for Christmas!

So below is a picture of last years Christmas day design. I was and still am pleased with this one. The red is a lovely Butter London which my boyfriend managed to get me at his old job. It is a Christmassy read with fine gold glitter, but sadly this doesn't really show up in the picture. For the puddings I used two different polishes as at the time I didn't have the right colour. I outlines the cream on top with a nail art pen and then filled in with a small brush. The gems were from Ebay and stuck on with clear polish, and the leaves freehand.

I've got my Christmas day nails done for this year now, will post them tomorrow or boxing day. I hope you all have a magical Christmas! xx

Colours Used: Bric-A-Brack - Butter London, Cappucino - Barry M, Shimmery brown polish - Unknown, Coconut - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in White - Barry M Emerald Green - Barry M

Stamping Sundays: Stained glass - take one

Todays stamping blog post is another work in progress. I really love the colours but the advanced stamping didn't quite go to plan so only ended up lasting me a day or two. However I think I learnt a fair bit in the process, so hopefully the next time I attempt larger decals it will work a little better. I've generally had better luck with smaller designs, such as the tiny turtle nails I did for my sister a couple of months ago.This was my first attempt at decals using my new Uber Mat so had lots of fun trying that out! The stamping plate used is from Mo You's Gothic collection and is Gothic Plate number 10.

For today's post I'm going to list a few things I learnt from this design and hope will be useful pointers, but before that I would like to rave about Butter London's British Racing Green! I got this as a birthday present and this was the first time I used it. It's got a lovely smooth consistency, as I've found with all the Butter London polishes I've tried, and the colour is so strong and shiny! The pictures below are using two coats, but it's almost opaque in one.


Colours Used: British Racing Green - Nails Inc, Black Knight - Mo You, Sprint Finish - Barry M, Indigo, Barry M, Wigmore Street - Nails Inc

Advanced stamping on Uber Mat - what I learnt:

• If using a mat to make decals, make sure it is over a light surface. The corner of the mat which contained my decals was over the edge of my laptop, meaning I couldn't see very well if I was leaving little gaps, which as you can see above it turned out I was!
• Make sure the colours on your decals contrast enough. The dark blue and dark purple I used look quite different in the bottle, but once they are shrunk down onto tiny nail designs they are pretty hard to distinguish from one another, making the design a tad less colourful.
• When placing the decals on your nail, make sure the bottom of the design is at the bottom of the nail, rather than just placing it on and cleaning the excess after. Cleaning around the sides and top of the nail is easy but trying to clean gloopy decal from the cuticle area is harder!

Stamping Sundays: Seafood Special

New stamping plates to show today, yaayy! I got three delightful new Mo You plates from my sister for my birthday and this was my first use. I have just received a bunch more I've ordered online so there will be much more of this to come. I used a matte grey from Topshop as a base and then used my three new birthday polishes for the design (Barry M's two holiday specials and British racing green from Butter London). You can't quite see the glitteryness of the Barry M's here but they do stamp well with a bit of shimmer. I'm hoping to have my swatches/reviews up of those during the week.

The plate I'm using here is number 12 from the cookbook collection.which has a seafood theme. I'm not a fan of actual seafood but I love sea creatures so this plate is perfect as it's entirely sea themed, I will probably just skip the shrimp on a fork pattern! I've tested different patterns on each hand and I love how they look. The shell patterns are my favourite, especially the one on my little finger. I think it looks like wrapping paper!

There has been a theme over my birthday and Christmas last year of lobster themed presents (bottle opener, slippers etc) so I believe this plate was the perfect way to continue this tradition!


Colours used: Easy Peasy - Topshop, British Racing Green - Butter London, Sparkling Ruby - Barry M, Sparkling Amethyst - Barry M

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

Pigeon Feet

This design was actually meant to be something a lot fancier, but when I started it and it turned out a bit shabbier I rather liked it so decided to keep going! The pigeon feet were done carefully with a nail art brush, and then the gold was applied somewhat less carefully around the edges. It's a good job i like the artfully messy look!

I enjoyed wearing this as i like having a bit of a pattern going on on my nails to catch my eye, and if nothing else they were good practise!

Colours used: Bramble - Butter London, Cyan Blue - Barry M, Limited Collection Polish in gold - M&S

I'm back!

Long time no see! After a year and a half (!) and a stressfull full time job (still going!) I have finally been able to sit down and start up again. I have a very long backlog of nail pictures to put up so should be able to post regularly. Will start with nail art from my recent holiday to Dubrovnik - Croatia (absolutely beautiful place, would highly recomend!).

This one isn't one of mine, I copied it from a design I saw on Pinterest and beleive it is orgininally by elle & ish (http://www.elleandish.com/), but changed the colours a little. It's always a tough choice, which nail design to do on holiday, but this one seemed suitably bright and sparkly!

Colours used: Guava - Barry M, Coconut - Barry M, Bit Faker - Butter London