A Birthday Cactus

Hello there! Going to keep this one short and sweet much like the chubby little cactus on my middle fingernail. I was invited to join a collaboration on Instagram for StephyClaws Birthday so chose this design to recreate. It meant getting some classic polishes out to use and I like the fun summery colours and theme. I used two coats of each colour and three of the metallic polish and create a decal for the blue nail. The image is from Mo You London's Hipster 16 stamping plate and I'm really pleased with the colours I used for it. They give it quite a cartoony vibe I think.

Colours used: Bronze Bae - Barry M, Sloane Gardens - Nails Inc, Baker Street - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Greenberry - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M

Abstract origami dinosaurs

Rawwr! Origami dinosaur nails to share with you today, which is something I've not done in quite some time! I got the awesome Origami 05 stamping plate from Mo You London years ago and it has the perfect combination of origami creatures: sea creatures, dinosaurs, a unicorn and a dragon! Recently I saw r4ch3lcakes on Instagram created an awesome design using the sea creature images, and I commented on how much I loved the design and the stamping plate. She suggested we do a twin mani with the dinosaur images so here we are :D. We agreed we'd use a white base, Hygge from Cirque Colors and another shade of purple of our choice for the colours splashes.

So I started with a base of white, then added splashes of light blue then purple with the brushes from the polish bottles. Once dry I used black stamping polish to add the dinosaurs. The one on my little finger is a bit wonky but I suppose that is true to how origami can look - certainly when I do it anyway! I then used a bit of clear nail polish to add some gold leaf from a craft shop, which I think really adds a little something extra. I made sure to add it where the flames would be for the dragon!

In conclusion I'm really pleased with it, I think it's a fun twist on the abstract look and can't wait to see what Rachel created too!! (We will be sharing them on Instagram shortly)

Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Hygge - Cirque Colors, Concord - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Gold Leaf - Craft Store

Party Kitty Nails!

Hello and Happy Birthday to anyone who has their birthday today! Happy un-birthday to those that don't! This nail art was created for the birthday of Katie's Dazzling Digits on Instagram. She is one of the organisers of the Nail Addicts Collab which I take part in each month. This is the first birthday collab I've been involved in and I love that it's got a cat theme! I have a few cat themed stamping plates and I haven't used these awesome balloon and ice cream images yet which are perfect for a party theme!

I started with a super shiny metallic base (colours listed below images) and then stamped the 'I love cats' image onto my middle finger from the Mo You London Animal Collection 15 stamping plate. I used images from the same plate for all other thumb and fingernails except my little finger. The image on my little finger is from the MYL Crazy Cat Lady 02 plate. All coloured in images were done using the advanced stamping technique on my Uber Mat, you can see how here.

In conclusion I really like these! The base colour starts it off really nicely and I like the combination and quirkiness of the cat themed images. Definite birthday party vibes!

Colours used: Fake Date - Holo Taco, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Horse Street - Nails Inc, Basil Street - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry M, Wardour Street - Nails Inc

Throwback Thursday: Pineapple Addict

Hi everyone! The pineapples are back! I've done a few pineapple themed nail art designs before, so when Julys Nail Addicts collaboration theme was announced as time machine (throwback), I thought I'd recreate the first pineapple nails I ever did. I reckon they're from about 3 or 4 years ago. The older design is shown in the poor quality Instagram shot bottom right.

Rather ridiculously I did manage to do the pineapples the wrong way round! I usually paint so the designs are the right way up for me, but the original design was the other way round. I forgot this however when it came to re-doing it. I used a small nail art brush for the pineapples, and though I went for the same colours I refreshed it with newer nail polishes. I finished with my favourite top coat (Nails Inc Kensington Caviar), and it lasted just over a week, as I haven't had as much time to do my nails lately!

I think it's a slight improvement, neater round the edges anyway! You can see everyone else's throwback nail art on Instagram @nailaddictscollab
Colours used (new design): Alpine Snow - OPI, Gold Digger - Barry M, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Spring Green - Barry M, Chelsea Embankment - Nails Inc

Instagram Nail Art Collaboration

Hi everyone, tonight I have nail art themed nail art for you! Nail art within nail art, like a dolls house within a dolls house...

So this was for a nail addicts collaboration I took part in on Instagram (the full collage can be seen on Instagram @nailaddictscollab). I went through a few different ideas of what I'd do for this one, but then stumbled across the Artist 20 plate from Mo You London, I was really taken with the images of nail art tools such as brushes, dotting tools and silicone brush tools. So I grabbed it when getting some of the new cactus plates from their hipster collection.

I went for a watery pastely theme so the tools stood out, and wanted to show the mess created when creating nail art! The dripping polish image is actually from a Mo You London Halloween plate. but I think it suits nail polish better than blood! I used a pale pink to stamp the image and then went over it with glitter.

Please do check out the other designs on Instagram!
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Mint Green - Barry M, Berry - Barry M, Blue Moon - Barry M, Surfboard - Barry M, Charming  - Illyrian, Black Knight - Mo You London