Constellations

Hey everyone! Going to keep this one short and sweet as I have a dreadful back ache and would like to get to bed! I fancied trying one more of the Glam Nails Challenge prompts for this month and settled on today's which is constellations. It was a bit of an experimental look for me!

I started with a base of metallic multi-chrome blue/purple, and then a layer of Fun Lacquer's magnetic polish Platinum Diamond (the regular version). I had a play around with different magnet shaped and got some pretty cool effects. Following this I used silver polish to add mountains (Mo You London Sailor 18 stamping plate) and stars (Kelli Marissa Bundle Monster plate). Finally I used white stamping polish to add the constellations over the top (also from the Kelli Marissa plate)

I have mixed feelings about this look. I think the thumbnail is pretty cool, but I wish I hadn't added stars on my little finger and index finger nails as they hide the magnetic effect and the constellations too. The colours are lovely though!

Colours used: Pixie Parade - Tonic Polish, Platinum Diamond - Fun Lacquer, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

A puffin in the snow

Hey everyone! Multi-chrome winter vibes today with a lovely nail polish I got in my Christmas stocking, Pixie Parade from Tonic Polish. I actually did these before my Valentines nail art but wanted to share those first so they were appropriately timed. This base polish is gorgeous and so opaque, I'm super impressed with it! I was keen to try out my Noel 08 stamping plate from Mo You London too as it has gorgeous wintery images so decided to pair them together.

After starting with a base of two coats of Pixie Parade, I created decals on my Uber mat for the puffin and branch images (why does puffin and branch sound like a pub name to me?!) - you can see how here. While they were drying I added some other cute images from the plate to my thumb, index and little fingernails in silver. I also used Uber Chic's Basic Shapes 01 plate to add a couple of circles to my middle two nails. I did this as I thought the other images might not stand out well enough against the background, which in hindsight they did, but I'm still glad I added the silver circles as I think they give the look some more depth.

I really like these. The base colour is lovely and I love the Noel 08 stamping plate, it has so many cute wintery images, I particularly like the animal ones. Looking forward to seeing what else I can create with it!

Colours used: Pixie Parade - Tonic Polish, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Evergreen - Picture Polish, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Not From Concentrate - Nails Inc

Chroma Rose and Lace

Hi there! Getting closer to Valentines day so although hearts and such aren't really my thing I will be doing some vaguely Valentines themed nail art. The first and perhaps the vaguest are these lacey nails. Lace often has romantic connotations and I was planning on trying this look out already so I may as well try and pass it off as Valentines! I am entering it into the Holo Taco Valentines competition even though I'm not using their polishes (which is daft as I do have some - but was just really feeling this shade for this look!). Their shade Cat's Evasion is pretty similar though so could be used instead.

I started the look with one coat of sheer black on all nails except my ring fingernail where I added Chroma Rose from Cirque Colors. I then used my Fashionista 18 stamping plate from Mo You London to add a lace pattern over the sheer black. I chose the images at random and most worked well. Once stamped I painted a section of most other nails with Chroma rose as well, leaving only my index finger. Once Chroma Rose was dry I used a small nail art brush and black nail polish to paint an outline around each of the lace parts of my nails.

Overall I have mixed feelings about these. Sometimes I look at them and love them, and other times they don't look particularly exciting as the detail doesn't show up that well in dull lighting, especially on my middle finger. Chroma Rose is such a gorgeous polish and I do like the style of these, they're quite grown up for me! I think the same look with glitter instead of multi-chrome would work well too. I do have one other look from a while back which would be so perfect for this competition but my pictures are so bad that I think I'll just stick with this one!

Colours used: Chroma Rose - Cirque Colors, Coal - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Lady In Black - OPI

Dance Legend Wazowski Leaves

Hello nail world - it's been too long!  These are my nails from the early May bank holiday (that's how behind I am!). I'm working through a list of untried polishes, and have banned myself from buying any more till I've tried them each at least once. I'm enjoying it more than I thought as I love trying new polishes and thinking of what to do with them nail art wise.

I did these nails in our little country cottage at Symonds Yat while away for the bank holiday, so they bring back fond memories! That's also the reason for the different picture background, which I think does happen to fit with the nail art quite well. I used Dance Legends Wazowski on all nails except my ring finger, and stamped a leaf image in black from Uber Chic's Lovely Leaves 01 plate. On my ring finger I used a pale shimmering taupe, and made advanced stamping decals (see how here) using Wazowski again.

Overall I like these as Wazowski is such a lovely polish, but I do think my nails were getting a bit too long  here.
Colours used: Wazowski - Dance Legend, Tickled Taupe - Painted Polish, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish

Stamping Sunday: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... baubles

It's finally here! My first Christmas nail art of the year. I've been delayed posting pictures by a week as work has been manic, so I already have more to share, will try and be a bit better next week! I'd been saving this Fun Lacquer multi-chrome for the big work Christmas party and fortunately the dress I bought went with it perfectly, so it made it's debut appearance at the beautiful Elvetham hotel, amidst many gorgeous gowns and Christmas lights. No multi-chrome polish can beat the shine of chrome powder, but this is definitely the best nail polish multi-chrome I have used, or even seen! It's super shiny and the colour shift is great. Shimmery purple to red is perfect for the party season. I wore the polish alone to the party as my dress was patterned (black and gold), but once it was over I decided to add some Christmas baubles using my new Uber Chic Christmas-01 stamping plate. I stamped the baubles individually in metallic gold onto my Uber Mat and coloured them in with some metallic and sparkly polishes (colours listed below the pictures). I covered them with clear polish and then once dry peeled them off and applied them to my nails, finishing with a top coat.

The ones on my thumb nails didn't turn out quite as I had hoped, as the silver overpowered the gold, meaning the detailing on some of the larger baubles wasn't very visible. Overall I think this was a nice subtle start to Christmas nails, and I absolutely adore this multi-chrome polish!
Colours used: Cheers To The Holidays - Fun Lacquer, Gold Foil Effect - Barry M, Emerald Green - Barry M, Gold Glitter - Barry M, Teal - Barry M, Silver Foil Effect - Barry M