Botanical Sophistication

Hey space turtles! I have something a bit gown up to share today, and also the aftermath of my nail disaster from last week! Having half of the nail art on my index finger as well as half of the nail made me too sad so once I'd finished filing my nails I decided to add a new design that may fit a bit better to their shorter length.

I started with a shimmery base coat then two layers of quick dry polish (colours listed below pictures). I then added images from Mo You London's Botanical 13 stamping plate in gold. I carefully added a top coat to avoid smudging the images before I added the matte top coat. You can see a couple of pictures of the look shiny as well as matte below. I really like these. It's a beautiful stamping plate which I haven't used much and was perfect for this. I do think this length (apart from the broken nail) looks quite stylish too.

Colours used: Sprint Finish - Barry M, Bright Lights - Barry M

Tickedy Ted

Hey nail people/ space turtles! The inspiration for today's nail art is a little different... I was watching Mock the Week and the comedian James Acaster made a joke where he called Big Big 'Tickedy Ted the time telling b***h'. It rather ticked me, especially as I was reminded of it when I could see Big Ben out of the window when I was at work the next day! So I decided some more London nail art was due. It's also very fitting as I'll be in London for work tomorrow for the first time in a few weeks.

I started with a base coat and a couple of layers of deep green/black nail polish (which looks quite slate grey when matte). I then added London themed images from Mo You London's Scandi 01, 03 and 10 stamping plates with Tickedy Ted in the middle of course! Once dry I carefully added a top coat to avoid smudging the design and then added a matte top coat over the top. I have found in the past matte top coats have been quite bad for smudging nail art which is why I add another one underneath.

I'm loving the final result! Sometimes these quite simple designs can come out so well - probably because there is less that could go wrong!

Gifts and Gold

Merry Christmas space turtles! Today I'm sharing some nail art I had on for Christmas Day which fits one of the December Glam Nails Challenge prompts which was Gifts. I wanted to do something quite snazzy and sparkly for Christmas so went for a reflective glitter and a stamping plate I was excited to use more of.

I started with a peel off base coat and then a few layers of reflective gold glitter followed by a layer of gold holographic glitter. While all of this was drying I was creating decals on my Uber Mat using Mo You London's Noel 15 stamping plate. I chose all gift themed images and was pleased to try these vintage looking images, particularly the dog and the lady with the big skirt. After I'd applied the decals I added a glossy topcoat and job done! Definitely wasn't as quick as I've just made it sound though :D

I really like these though the only downside is that the images are quite dark so if lighting isn't great the colours and intricate details of the design don't always show up. Pictures below with and without flash so you can see them in natural light and with reflective glitter activated.

Colours used: Flash Platinum Gold - Fun Lacquer, Million Dollar Dream - Fyn Lacquer, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Cream Soda - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI, My Car Has Navy-gation - OPI, Watermelon - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M, Charlotte Street - Nails Inc

Fancy Plants

Well look at you Miss Fancy Plants! Might have to start doing more plant themed nails so I can say that more often :D

For this look I started with a base of cream on my two middle nails and two coats of gold on my other nails. First time using this gold and I love how sparkly and bright it is! While these were drying I made decals on my Uber Mat using Mo You London's Le Musee 04 stamping plate to add to the cream nails. I finished the look with a glossy top coat. The effect is simple but I really like the images and the way the gold contrasts with the green.

Colours used: Frozen Benanas - Holo Taco, Cream Soda - Barry M, Spring Green - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Crabtastic Nails

Snap-Snap-click-click (or whatever noise crabs make!). Another Glam Nails Challenge prompt to share which will be short and sweet as I still have a few posts to catch up on! As you may have guessed the theme for this nail art was crab. I have a few stamping plates with crab images on and settled for this origami image from Mo You London's Origami 05 stamping plate. I made decals on my Uber Mat for the two crabs and also added the image to my nails directly to show me where I'd need to draw between the two base colours (two lovely reflective polishes - colours listed below the pictures). I then added the white water image from the Bundle Monster Twi Star stamping plate over any areas of blue. I'm pleased with the overall look but it's a shame I may have left too much of a cuticle gap. I think perhaps these thick glitter polishes shrink a bit more after being applied. Overall pleased with the final sparkly look!

Colours used: Flash Platinum Gold - Fun Lacquer, Heartkids - Emily de Molly, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's Nails For Me!

Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirates life for me... argh! I was a big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean growing up so was pleased to see some pirate themed images on Uber Chic's Mermaid Life 02 stamping plate which I've finally got round to using! I was inspired by nbnailart and themermaidpolish on Instagram who did some pirate nail art over gold which I thought was a perfect combination. I've struggled to get good pictures of these, possibly due to the glitter but I do rather like them, especially the thumb.

I started with a layer of gold nail polish followed by three layers of gold glitter polish. It's such an old one it stinks of chemicals but it still sparkles! For the images I used my Uber Mat to create decals, you can see how here. I had a tough time choosing which images to use! In order to use a few more I combined some wording with images on my ringer finger and thumb nails. I'm really pleased with the way the thumb one came out. the sizing is just right for my nail and I think the positioning went well too.

Colours used: Gold Digger - Barry M, Gold Glitter - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Grey - Barry M, Charlotte - Nails Inc, Cocoa - Barry M, Dead Heat - Barry M, Bronze Bae - Barry M, Copper Mine - Barry M, Colville Mews - Nails Inc

Abstract Florals with a Surprise Twist!

Hello everyone! I've been seeing abstract nail art designs everywhere for some time now, and decided to give it a go myself with some pretty purple and blues. I tried something similar when doing some One Nail To Rule Them All tutorials in the autumn but this time I stamped the images rather than drawing them myself which definitely makes them neater!

I started with a white base and then added a swipe of blue followed by purple (colours listed below images). I then used a dotting tool to add some black dots on each nail. To be honest I think this step maybe makes it a bit too busy - when I did it I'd forgotten I was also adding the stamping! Once I remembered what I was doing I used Mo You London's Fall In Love 10 plate to add the leaf prints in black. Finally, I used tweezers and gold leaf to apply little shiny bits of gold in empty white spaces on my nail before finishing with a glossy top coat.

The surprise - So the purple I used was a new one which was a gift from my lovely boyfriend. Once the nail art was all dry and I was in the shower I noticed that the purple I'd chosen had turned green! I momentarily forgot thermal polishes are a thing and was quite shocked! I had wondered why he chose a colour I already had but now I know! I think it really works well for this look, and shows up well in the pictures below. A great present!

Overall I'm pretty pleased with these - especially the colour changing element!

Colours used: Cream Soda - Barry  M, Mermaid Tail - Starrily, Laguna - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Halloween Nails: I Bleed Nail Polish!

Hello everyone, short but sweet blog post today as we edge closer to Halloween! Todays Glam Nails Challenge prompt was blood. This was my least favourite of all the prompts as I'm not really into gory Halloween stuff. I decided to keep it simple and use this deep blood red Barry M polish I haven't used for aaages, with a drip effect stamp on what was previously my only Halloween stamping plate, Festive 16 from Mo You London.

I started with a deep red base and then stamped the drip effect over the top in gold. Once I'd added this to all fingernails I used a small nail art brush to dab gold glitter nail polish over the gold drips. Once dry I added a shiny top coat and that was it! My boyfriend said they remind him of Christmas puddings... I like them as Halloween nails though, I'm loving wearing something really vampy again and the gold glitter completes it! I guess I did enjoy todays prompt after all!

Colours used: Red Black - Barry M, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Gold Glitter - Barry M

Oh Christmas Tree!

Oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree, how sparkly are your branches! These were my work Christmas party nails and to be honest I wasn't a fan, good job I loved my outfit! :D

I started with a peel of base coat (UNT ready for take off) followed by gel polish. I felt like the base wasn't thick and it would be tricky to get off but it was actually quite easy and satisfying to remove the next day! I used two layers of black gel polish, and then a gold chrome powder over the top. It was a cheap one I got on eBay so I suppose it's always a risk, but I just didn't think it looked that special. I thought it was going to be a mirror chrome! I have other cheap eBay ones where I can see my face in them, but I guess you can't always win!

To add something to the rather bland gold I made a decal using my Uber Chic Christmas-01 plate and some glittery green (Fun Lacquer Secret), and stuck a star on top using some top coat. I used regular top coat over the trees as I wasn't sure how well more gel would work over the regular polish I used for the trees. Anyone got any tips for getting a chrome powder to be shinier?

Femme Fatale Cosmetics - Clever Girl

Hey everyone! Not got a lot to talk about tonight but I just had to share my thoughts on Femme Fatale Cosmetic's Clever Girl. This polish was sat in my untried list for ages and I was clearly missing out! Unfortunately my pictures don't quite do it justice, it's honestly so lovely in person and so unusual.

Clever Girl is a thermal colour changing polish full of gold glitter. When cold the base is a pinky red, and when warm the base is clear so you can just see the gold glitter. I've yet to see another thermal polish that turns clear and I think it's an interesting effect. I expected it might look too bare but once the red is gone you can see that there are lots of smaller flecks of glitter that pad it out a bit.

I really struggled to get good pictures but it's honestly so beautiful and sparkly! I think the name Poison Apple would have suited it better but it looks like Femme Fatale already had a polish with that name. Thanks for reading :)