Fish scale tail nails!

Bubble bubble (what noise does a fish make?) everyone! Tonights nail art is mermaid tail nails. I based this on a dragon scale design I saw on clairestelle80's Instagram. I don't think mine came out as well as hers but I still like it.

I started off with a white base (which was a nightmare as mine's gone rather gloopy!) and then 'smooshed' some colours over the top. I did this using a clear stamper, putting the a couple of blobs of each colour on the head, and pressing it down a few times on each nail. The colours I chose all have a bit of subtle shimmer.

Once this was dry I use the mermaid scales image from my Bundle Monster twi-star stamping plate and added the scales outline on each nail in purple. I then did the same in silver holo, lining up the scales so the holo was just underneath. Unfortunately the silver holo was not as obvious as I would have liked but it showed up quite well in bright light.

Overall was fairly happy with this design, hope you like it too!
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Succulent Garden - Cirque Colors, Ballet Slipper - ILNP, Dusk Dazzle - Femme Fatale, Wigmore Street - Nails Inc, Harp On It - Color Club

Stamping Sunday: Swanning Around

My first nail art of 2018 is up! I have a list of nail ideas I keep on my phone, and this one was added around this time last year! I got some of the Mo You London animal plates that Christmas and thought a swan design with muted colours would look good, but I'd save it till spring. Somehow that never happened and here we are! I actually think these muted colours work well for winter too. I used a newer plate for the chevrons so it was a good opportunity to use an untried product too.

I started with a greige base colour on my thumb, index finger and little finger nails; pink on my middle finger and white on my ring finger. For the chevrons I used a clear stamper and the Tropical 34 plate, which I can't wait to use in the summer with all it's pretty fruit images. For the swans I created decals using my Uber Mat and the Animal 01 plate. You can see how here.

Once I'd stuck the decals down I added a little pink to the bottom of the white nails, and then a then line of gold (colours listed below the pictures) using a nail art brush. I finished off with a matte top coat. I like how this turned out though the decals were a tad thick in places, as my white polish is coming to an end (thinner is on the way)!
Colours used: Oyster - Barry M, Pink Lemonade - Barry M, White Knight - Mo You London, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Bright Lights - Barry M

Work Friendly Nails

Today I have some nice simple 'work friendly' nails to show you. I wore this last week and have now gone super holo, so it feels a little odd to be writing about these! I picked up this muted purple Barry M shade when grabbing some of their newish cocunut infusion shades, it's from their basic collection and therefore only cost £2.99! Unfortunately it is quite similar on the nail to their coconut infusions shade 'Oasis' which I bought at the same time.

I'm lucky enough to be able to wear whatever crazy nail polish I like to the office, but I do have to tone it down a little if I'm off to a client meeting. This muted shade is perfect for an autumn/winter work meeting! I decided to add a little interest by using a small nail art brush to paint on some chevrons at the base of each nail. To be honest I'm not especially pleased with how these turned out, it was quite late when I did them and they are just too wonky! Next time I do this I'll use a strinping brush as I think it would help me achieve neater lines.
Colours used: Vintage Violet - Barry M, Uptown Glamour - Nails Inc, Soho Silver - Nails Inc

HBP Presents: Dusty Dino's!

Hello nail world! Today I'm super excited to be sharing the nail design I did as part of this months Hobby Polish Bloggers Link Up. I love having a monthly theme as it gives me inspiration to try things a little differently. This months theme was dusty/muted colours, so I came up with the idea of dusty dinosaur's! I used advanced stamping for this manicure using my new Bundle Monster plate 611. I was looking all around to find dinosaur stamping plates and stumbled across my dream dino plate on Bundle Monster, so ordered it all the way from the US. It was worth the wait!

I used a grey polish to stamp the images onto my UberMat, as I thought black or white might be slightly too harsh against the muted colours. This old Grey polish from Barry M was perfect. I used a dotting tool to do eyes on some of the dino's, and then to colour them in in pale/dusty colours. Once I has placed them on my nails I used a matter top coat to finish the look. Really pleased with how these turned out, and was so sad when I had to take them off for a client meeting! I did have a few issues with a little bit of bubbling, which I have learnt from, as I'm rocking another advanced stamping mani now and it's much smoother :)
Below are close ups of a couple of the dino's and a picture of the stamping plate (excuse the reflectiveness, I struggle to get good pictures of stamping plates!). To see the colours I used, and the designs the lovely ladies of the HPB group have done please scroll past the pictures. It's a lovely and talented nail community so I would recommend you check them out!
Colours used: Pink Lemonade - Barry M, Grey - Barry M, Acai Smoothie - Barry M, Wisteria Haze - CND Vinylux, White Horse Street - Nails Inc, Swan Street - Nails Inc, Pro Matte Finish - Rimmel

An InLinkz Link-up