Rainbow Sparkle Ladybird's

Hey space turtles! This is my final catch up blog post for now, and it's for last Wednesday's Glam Nails Challenge theme of Ladybug. I've done ladybird nails before and thought of a few ways I might do them a little differently, settling on some sparkly purple ladybirds which don't cover my whole nail. I wasn't sure whether to add eyes as they looked quite good without but glad I did as I definitely like them best that way. Pictures of both in reflective and non-reflective forms are below.

I started with a muted pink base coat which ended up looking a bit more purple after I added a tinted top coat at the end! I then painted a line on each nail where the purple point would end and then added a thick layer of sparkle underneath it. I used a small nail art brush to outline their little heads and fill them in before painting some antennae. Once dry I added lined down the middle and then used a dotting tool to add the spots and eyes, finishing with a super glossy top coat. Love how these turned out :)

Colours used: Briar Rose - Polished for Days, Rainbow Stardust - Fancy Gloss, Essential White - Uber Chic Beauty, Lady In Black - OPI

Winter Animal Village

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is using another new nail polish I got for Christmas (Fancy Gloss - Ice Queen) and a stamping plate I've used a fair few times but just love so much! These little winter cabins on Mo You London's Noel 01 stamping plate are so cute and when I used them a week or two ago I thought it would be good to try them again with a paler background and some sparkly snow. 

For this look I made decals on my Uber Mat. For the animals on the sparkly nails I used Mo You London's Noel 09 stamping plate. I added some stars and moons to the lilac nails before I trimming down the decals and adding them to my nails. They are a tad smudged but not too bad. I think I should have removed the smoke from my middle fingernail too as it doesn't look quite right. The snow is shimmer polish with white underneath. Finished the look with a glossy top coat and enjoyed :) Pictures below with and without flash,

Colours used: Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Ice Queen - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Essential White - Uber Chic, Cappuccino - Barry M, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Indigo - Barry M, Bright Purple - Barry M, Aura - Nails Inc

Happy New Year 2023

Happy new year! I have some nail art to share and when I went to do it I realised that I hadn't shared either of my new years eve looks so have decided to share them together in one blog post since I've already got a couple more to catch up on!

Look one - New Years Day. I started with a peel off  base coat followed by a layer of nude polish. I then added two layers of tinsel themed sparkly nail polish and a 'glitter grabber' to smooth it out a bit. I made decals on my Uber Mat for the thumb nail and middle fingernail using Mo You London's Noel 10 stamping plate. I hadn't remembered that it would be a reverse image so it's not really clear that the bottles are meant to say gin! The other images were stamped directly onto my nails and 2023 was freehand. I was pretty pleased with my freehand numbers though I wish the 3 wasn't disappearing into the corner!

Look two - New Years Eve. This look was to capture the still very festive feelings around new year and parties/celebrations. I also had a new red polish I wanted to try so gave that a go. Images are from Mo You London's Noel 15 and Festive 05 stamping plates and stamped in gold (pictured). This was simple and easy to do but I'm pleased with it. Captures the right vibes I think!

Colours used: Tinsel Garland - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Watermelon - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Gold Digger - Barry M

Red - Undisclosed, Bright Lights - Barry M

Spider Web Chic

Hello spooky space turtles! Some quite belated Glam Nails Challenge nail art to share today as I've been away with very patchy internet. The theme for this look was spiders and I decided to use a few different web images and try sheer black polish with glitter underneath for a glamorous spooky look.

I started with a peel off base coat and then added two layers of silver glitter topper. Once dry I added a layer of sheer black to each nail. For the images I used spider webs from Mo You London's Halloween 16 and 17 stamping plates. I didn't add any spiders but did include a glamorous spider lady on my thumbnail! As this dried I used a nail art brush and some black polish to carefully add an outline to each nail, trying to keep the thickness consistent. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

I'm so pleased how how these came out. I must admit I'd meant to add a spider but forgot to bring the right stamping plate with me on holiday. However as it turned out I think adding the spider would potentially make them a bit too busy, I really like them the way they are. The outlines are possibly the neatest I've done and I'm pleased with how consistent they are. I love how the glitter shines through. Only thing I'd maybe (and only maybe) change is to add some colour to the spider lady. Really pleased with the way it all came together and how they look on long nails. I think sheer black with an outline is perfect for Halloween. So overall as you can tell, I love them!

Colours used: Diamond Glitter - Barry M, Coal - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Lady In Black - OPI

Toasty Ghosties

HelloOo space turtles! More spooky Glam Nails Challenge nail art to share today. This time the theme is ghosts. There were many possible options for this but I decided to go with sheer black and create something similar to a Halloween look I did in October 2020 which I loved.

I started with a shimmery base coat and then a layer of sheer black. I then used black stamping polish to add images from Mo You London's Halloween 13 stamping plate. Next I added a light layer of flakies at the edge of three of my nails where the ghosts where going to appear from. Finally, used more of the sheer polish to create a border by roughly splodging it around the outside with a nail art brush. This was with the intention of creating more of a foggy border rather than a solid border.

I like these. They're a perfect theme for Halloween I think and autumnal too. I'm not sure if the flakies look more like leaves or flames (hence toasty ghosties!). I do think the smokey outline works but doesn't look as smokey as it could. I prefer the look I did in 2020 but that was one of my favourite nail art looks ever so this had a lot to live up to!

Colours used: Coal - Fancy Gloss, Magma - Fancy Gloss, Back Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Ghosties!

HelloOOooOo! Spooky ghosts today for the latest Glam Nails Challenge prompt. I was keen to try out Black Rainbow by Fancy Gloss again and decided this would work pretty well for some pretty ghost nails. I've seen a few lovely ghost themed nail looks on Instagram with other things around the ghosts and a clear base, so I decided to try something similar but where the base will change from pale to dark.

I started with a peel off base coat and a couple of layers of Black Rainbow, before using various images from Mo You London's Halloween 09 stamping plate and some metallic polish to dot them around my nails. I also added some bats from their Halloween 13 plate. I then made some ghost, candle and potion bottle decals using the same two stamping plates, you can see how here. I stuck these over the top and then added a top coat. I had liked the way it looked pre top coat so added a matte top coat over the top to complete the look which I think was the right decision.

I really like these, they came out well and it's just the sort of look I was going for. Only bit that didn't work so well was the ghost on my thumbnail. Unfortunately I must have smudged the image when adding the white polish as when I peeled up the decal I saw it was smudged, sadly I did not have the time or patience to make another one!

Colours used: Black Rainbow - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Foil Effects in Gold, Silver & Lilac - Barry M, If You've Got It Haunt It - UberChic

A Haunting in the Nailyard

Hey everyone! It's that time of year again,.. Halloween nail art is back! Some people have started way earlier than me so I've had plenty of inspiration! My next few nail art looks (including this one) will correspond with Glam Nails challenge prompts and then I'm hoping to squeeze in a couple of other Halloween looks right at the end of the month. I thought of this look while on holiday and was super excited to try it out!

I started with a base of white nail polish (colours listed below the pictures) on most nails, and three coats of dark orange glitter on my little fingernail. I then added one thick coat of black thermal top coat to the white nails and waited a while for it to dry. Once dry I used black stamping polish and the Halloween 13 stamping plate from Mo You London to add the grave, cat and mushroom images. It was a little hard to see where I was placing them! I then used white stamping polish to add some ghost images from the stamping plate, again a little tricky to place but it went well! 

I've included pictures of the nails in different temperature states. I think it looks best in black but the colour changing aspect with the graveyard scene is a great fun addition! I kind of hoped the ghosts would disappear against the white background but the thermal top coat does have a tint to it so you can see them, but I can't complain - I am rather pleased with this look! Also really love the orange glitter :)

Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Black Thermal Polish - Fancy Gloss, Winifred - Enchanted Polish, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Halloween Nails - Autumn at the Haunted House

Happy nearly Halloween! This nail art is what I've been planning as my 'official' nail art for Halloween this year, although I have actually already had to take it off because it chipped as I used a peel off base coat, at least I have time to squeeze in some more nail art as I have loads of ideas at the moment! I was inspired earlier in the year by some nail art I saw on the Rainbow Connection Facebook page, which encouraged me to buy the flakie polish I've used here (colours listed below the pictures) and I already had my eyes on the sheer black. I then kept this idea in my head for the next few months, tweaking it a little by using slightly different types of images and adding the outline.

To create the look I started with one layer of sheer black, and then used images from the Halloween 13 and Festive 16 stamping plates from Mo You London over the top in black. I was pleased to use the two Victorian figures image as I think it's so perfectly spooky! Next I used flakie polish to make the autumn leaves/ flames effect at the bottom. I used Magma from Fancy Gloss which has a gloriously dense consistency of flakes, so I had to make sure I didn't have too much on the brush at one time. Finally, for the part I thought I'd probably mess up entirely, I used a thin nail art brush and black nail polish to create an outline around my nails - this went a lot better than I anticipated! I think using a brush with longer bristles was useful for the outline, as previously I've struggled more using my usual shorter brushes, but maybe I was just having a good day!

In conclusion I am super happy with these! I really wasn't sure how the outline would come out but I think it finished the look off perfectly (if I do so so myself!), so they look kind of like spooky scenes through windows. I'm definitely going to try outlines for more nail looks. I would definitely have struggled to ever take them off if they hadn't chipped, and for future it would be worth the flakie polish removal challenges to use a regular base coat so they last longer. I find thin layers of polish with a peel off base do chip quite fast.

Colours used: Coal - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Magma - Fancy Gloss, Lady In Black - OPI