Ice Swimming Mermaids

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is close to my heart as it's inspired by my cold water swimming which I've managed to keep up throughout this winter. I'm loving the swims and post fire chats so much that I almost feel like I don't want it to warm up! I usually swim in a lake near me and had the fortunate experience of trying an ice swim earlier in January (it's all organised with life guards etc). Last weekend I also swam in the sea with my sister who is into wild swimming too - great fun! So I wanted to do a tribute to that with some wintery mermaid nails.

I started with a peel of base coat and one coat of gorgeous reflective nail polish (colours listed below pictures). I created decals on my Uber Mat using white nail polish to stand out against the background.  While these were drying I added snowflake images to my outer nails using Mo You London's Noel 08 stamping plate. The mermaids are from their Atlantis 05 stamping plate. After placing the decals on my nails I added some smaller snowflakes around the mermaids and some little drops of snow using a dotting tool. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

I'm undecided as to whether I should have done the outlines of the mermaids in black or white but I think white was probably the right decision. It's hard to know how well black would have shown up. Overall I'm pleased with these - the base colour is gorgeous and I love the theme! I particularly like how the mermaids are looking up at the snowflakes. I look forward to wearing these for my lake swim tomorrow!

Colours used: Tapped Out - KB Shimmer, Essential White - Uber Chic, Charlotte Street - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry M, Purplicious - Mark

How Polarizing

Hello space turtles! It's getting cold again here in the UK and I have some more frosty wintery nail art to share. This one is for the Arctic Animals Glam Nails Challenge prompt and I'm also trying out a new magnetic nail polish I got for Christmas - How Polarizing from KB Shimmer. I couldn't get as a strong a magnetic effect as I'd hoped for but its still a gorgeous polish and I can try again another time.

I started with two layers of the base polish (magnetising the top layer) before adding the images. I used Mo You London's Enchanted 05 stamping plate and silver magnetic polish to add images directly onto three of my nails. On the other two I used a dotting tool to remove the excess image from the stamper and just added the walrus and narwhal images directly onto my nails. I then added some stars from the same plate over the magnetic effect. Much as I'd have liked a stronger magnetic effect I do love these - they're very me!

Colours used: How Polarizing - KB Shimmer, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M

Peeping Easter Chicks

-This was meant to be shared on Saturday! - Happy Easter everyone! Sharing Easter nails today as I won't have time tomorrow. These were for another Glam Nails Challenge prompt of Easter Chicks. I thought this would be a good opportunity to try some more of my new reflective polishes too since they are in bright/pastel colours.

I started with a base of yellow on my middle two nails, and reflective glitter on my index and little finger nails. While these were drying I got a decal going on my Uber Mat using Mo You London's Festive 58 plate. I think the zig-zag image has good Easter egg vibes! I did this nail art on the sofa as I didn't want to miss what I was watching so it was a little trickier than usual! I used a nail art brush to add the outlines of the egg shells in white then filled them in with the brush from the bottle. I then added a little beak with the same brush and eyes with a dotting tool. I didn't leave enough space on one nail so the little chick had to peek out the side of the egg instead!

All in all I like how Eastery these are but they could have been better. I think they are a little scruffy in places. Cute chicks though and I'm enjoying the reflective glitter so not all bad!

Colours used: Seven Dials - Nails Inc, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Widow - OPI, Beach Hut - Models Own, Flavour of the Week - Emily de Molly, I Knead You Now - KB Shimmer, Charity Polish: Heartkids - Emily de Molly

One More Easter Egg, One More Nail Polish!

Hi nail people! As Easter is on the horizon I'm sharing my first Easter related nail art for the year which is also my second Glam Nails Challenge prompt for this month, Easter eggs. I used a new reflective polish from KB Shimmer called Love You Brunches and it's gorgeous! I've included pictures with and without flash below, I love it in all lighting!

I started with a base of Love You Brunches on two of my nails and A Mantis Shrimps Favourite Color on the others. While they were drying I used my Uber Mat to create decals for my thumb and ring fingernails. For the Easter egg I used Mo You London's Festive 58 stamping plate, and for the hand Uber Chic's Nail Polish Is Life plate. I added some wording from the nail themed plate on my middle fingernail too. I thought it was very fitting for both nail polish and Easter eggs! I was really keen to use a reflective nail polish on the nail image as I knew the fiddly details would really stand out and match my own sparkly nails.

Love how these came out! It's a random combination with the nails and the Easter eggs but I think they tie in well with the 'just one more' wording. I really adore that image and am pleased with the colours I chose throughout the look (bit of  Cadburys vibe with the purple polish!). Only issue is the slight smudging of the wording but I'll probably try and keep these for a little while.

Colours used: Love You Brunches - KB Shimmer, A Mantis Shrimps Favourite Colour - Bees Knees Lacquer, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Charlotte Street - Nails Inc

Floral Reflections

Hey everyone! I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself today. More plans being scuppered with Covid and still not feeling back to normal yet though I'm testing negative. I have decided to try and take part in the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram this month as I haven't done for a little while and I miss it! Today's prompt is flowers. In my recent nail polish order I finally got hold of the gorgeous Tapped Out from KB Shimmer (along with another of their reflective polishes) which I've wanted for a while. It does not disappoint! 

I started with a base of two coats of white polish on my middle fingernails and two coats of Tapped Out on the others. I could have just about got away with one but decided to pad it out a bit as I love that formula! In the meantime I created decals on my Uber Mat from the Flower Power 27 stamping plate from Mo You London. You can see how here.

As you'll see below I've included pictures with and without flash and also with two different nail polish bottles. I adore Tapped Out, it's such a gorgeous shade and so sparkly and reflective. I padded it out with a glitter grabber layer and top coat but it's gorgeous with it's textured finish too. I like how the simplicity of this look allows Tapped Out to shine!

Colours used: Tapped Out - KB Shimmer, A Mantis Shrimps Favourite Colour - Bees Knees Lacquer, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend