Snowdrops

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is for another Glam Nails Challenge theme, this time it's 'snowdrops'. I wasn't quite sure how to do them so thought I'd try a basic snowdrop look on one nail, and add seals to another two as those big fluffy seal pups are snowdrops of a sort! I also wanted to try out a fairy lights in the woods look and thought that would fit here too.

I started with a base of lilac and pale pink glitter (colours listed below the pictures). I made decals on my Uber Mat using a fairy lights image from Uber Chic's Holiday Spirit stamping plate and trees image from Mo You London's Noel 08 plate. While these were drying I painted on the little white seals and some snowflakes from the Uber Chic plate. I don't think I got the placement of the features quite right but they still look like cute little seals! I also painted on some basic snowdrops on my ring fingernail. I then added the trees decal followed by the lights before a glossy top coat.

Although these have their imperfections I do rather like them. Can't go wrong with baby seals! I am wearing seal pyjama's as I write this :D

Colours used: Nimbus - Illyrian, Charming - Illyrian, Essential White - Uber Chic, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Gold Digger - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M

Unicorn of the Sea, Narwhal of the Land!

Hi everyone! Got something a bit quirky on my blog, featuring the ever popular unicorn, and the increasingly popular narwhal! I have some adorable socks with narwhals on and the words 'unicorn of the sea', so I used them as inspiration and added unicorns. I've never heard them described as narwhals of the land before but there's a first time for everything!

For the base glitter I used Illyrians Charming on one hand and Nimbus on the other, you can see my review of them here. For all four fingers on my unicorn hand and the index finger on my narwhal hand (definitely going to refer to my hands that way from now on!) I used the advanced stamping technique with my Uber Mat to create decals. You can see a picture tutorial for that process here.

For the remaining three fingers on my narwhal hand and the words on my thumb I created my own decals on my Uber Mat. This was the first time I'd done so and it was surprisingly easy! I used a nail art pen from Barry M to draw the narwhals and write the words on my Uber Mat and went over them a second time to strengthen the opacity of the 'ink'. I then used a dotting tool to colour in the images with nail polish, and once dry. painted a layer of clear polish over the top. Once that was dry I peeled them off my mat and applied them to my nails, covering with a topcoat to blend the image in.

Colours used: Charming - Illyrian, Nimbus - Illyrian, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M, White Horse Street - Nails Inc, Alpine Snow - OPI, Soho Silver - Nails Inc, Aria - ILNP, Black Knight - Mo You London I really liked how these turned out, the glitter was lovely, I liked the words and the quirkiness was a good talking point! Let me know what you think :)

Illyrian Polish - First Try

Hello nail people! Today I'm getting back into the spirit of my monthly indie review (I don't really have the space to keep that up anymore - much as I enjoyed buying the polish!) and reviewing a new indie polish brand I've recently tried. The brand is Illyrian and I purchased two pale glitters from Rainbow Connection to try.

First up is Nimbus, a lilac-ish pale purple with flecks of blue and some holographic sparkle. It applies well and the below pictures are just two coats. Some might prefer three but I was surprised how well it covered in two. I like the iridescent sparkle of this one!
The second polish I tried was Charming, a shimmering pale pink with holographic sparkle. Again, this was two coats, though I'd say it was marginally more sheer than Nimbus. I was impressed that I could just paint these on and not sponge them.
I think that's all to say really! They're both lovely and lasted really well. Would definitely buy from this brand again.