Mountainous and Blue

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is one I'd wanted to try for ages - some landscape nails using Mo You London's Noel 18 stamping plate. I saw a look on their website and deiced to try and re-create that as best as I could with the polishes I have available. I started with two coats of blue nail polish and created decals on my Uber Mat for the mountains - it was refreshingly easy to do these as it was all one colour and easy to colour in! Once the decals where dry I placed them around the middle of my nails and then added some trees in front in blue. I also added some clouds on the thumb nail and a blue bird of prey on my ring fingernail. I finished the look with a matte top coat.

The trees would have probably been better if they came out a bit darker and more opaque but I do like them. On my thumb nail I tried lighter trees in front but they didn't really come out that well so that's why it looks a bit blurry. I did also end up with a few bubbles from the decals. Overall though I like these - they're not perfect but they're blue and landscapey so that's fun!

Colours used: Laguna - Barry M, Essential White - Uber Chic, Cappuccino - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M, Cyan - Barry M

Trees in the Mist

Hello space turtles! Today's nail art is inspired by my view when I was swimming in the lake near me on a cloudy day. I absolutely love wild swimming and while it's wonderful on sunny days I also enjoyed the view of all the trees in the mist. I've also added birds as we're sometimes joined by birds on the lake.

I started with a couple of layers of sheer white and then added the back row of trees from Mo You London's Noel 16 plate in green. I then added another layer of sheer white followed by some more trees at the front. Once dry I added clouds followed by birds and then a glossy top coat to finish.

I really like the inspiration for this one but it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. I think there isn't enough contrast between the trees and the base looks a bit dull (although maybe it should since it's mist!). I think I would have benefited from a tinted base coat and maybe more layers of sheer polish between the trees and over the clouds, with the birds added at the end. Great stamping plate though so I look forward to using it again.

Colours used: Allure - Essie, Forrest Green - Mo You London, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Butterfly's All Over

Hi there! I'm pretty late posting this, bit pretty tired lately and busy with work etc. I did this freehand butterfly nail art for the Glam Nails Challenge butterfly prompt and followed a tutorial on Instagram. I decided to go for a bit of a skittle effect with different Barry M Under The Sea toppers.

I started with a couple of coats of neon pink, and then a couple of coats of shimmery topper on each nail (colours listed below the pictures). Once dry I used a striping brush and black nail polish to add the lines. I then used the brush from the polish bottle to fill in the area at the top of each nail. I then used a dotting tool (two different sizes) to add the white spots over the black. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

I'm honestly so pleased with how these came out! If I'd known how nice they'd be I'd have done them for my sisters wedding at the weekend! I had a cobalt blue dress so they would have gone nicely. I have quite quickly ended up with some tip wear on the black but it can easily be patched up. Would definitely try this look again :)

Colours used: Bikini Bombshell - Wikkid Polish, Lady In Black - OPI, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Butterflyfish - Barry M, Angelfish - Barry M, Seashorse - Barry M, Moonfish - Barry M

Accidentally Christmassy Nails

Hello and Merry Saturday! Today I have more Spring themed (in theory) nail art to share featuring another sheer polish from Picture Polish. Pine Bath is a gorgeous forest green sheer polish which is perfect for nail art. I decided to try it on it's own but with an accent nail. The plan was to pick a plant and make it a bit more Spring like, but it seems I've inadvertently chosen mistletoe!! I blame my post Covid brain... I'm not sure what I thought it was but I added peach coloured berries so I guess it's not quite mistletoe!

I started with a base of sheer nude polish (colours listed below pictures) and then three coats of green on all nails except the accent nail. On the accent nail I added a layer of pale pink and created a decal using my Uber Mat for the image. I chose this mistletoe (oops) from Mo You London's Botanical 13 stamping plate and used the same green polish for the leaves for a consistent look.

I did actually really like this despite accidentally doing Christmas nails! I love the shine on the green jelly polish and enjoyed the accent nail too.

Colours used: Soft Focus - Polished For Days, Pine Bath - Picture Polish, Strawberry Ice Cream - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Papaya - Barry M

A Dark Sky in the Country Nails

Hey everyone! One more autumn nail look before I move onto the Halloween nail art - OooOOooh! This look was inspired by the Lake District in the UK and the countryside at night. I did make a bit of a blunder with this one, as I will explain, but they definitely grew on me!

I started with a base of vibrant blue (a pretty fun start in my humble opinion!) and then made decals using my Uber Mat (see how here). I used the Fall In Love 10 plate from Mo You London (same plate as my last design), which has so many wonderful autumn and generally nature themed images. On the website they have created this look with some blue polishes and I love it so thought I'd create something similar with slightly different shades of blue. I did slip up by leaving the black stars and moons in my decals. I meant to take them out and add them to my nails in yellow. I thought I'd correct it after but couldn't as the decals are placed on my nails with the images in reverse, so stamping over the top on my nails the positioning would be all wrong! I could have made more decals but didn't have time.

So to start off these felt like a bit of a flop but as time went on and the vibrant colours kept catching my eye I've grown to rather like them! I also do really love these images!

Colours used: King Tut's Gem - Jessica Polish, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Skyline - ILNP, Silver Lining - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Laguna - Barry M, Greenberry - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M

Back British Farming (the nail art edition)

Today is Back British Farming Day! Introduced by the National Farmers Union as a day to celebrate British farming and it's importance to the UK economy. You can find out more here. I decided to honour this day with some nail art! I saw it all going on last year and thought a simple look with some wheat (the symbol for it last year) would look good. I've gone for something a bit different on the thumb which doesn't entirely go but I'll go into the details below.

I started with a base of green on three of my fingernails, cream on the other and yellow on my thumb. On my ring fingernail I created a decal on my Uber Mat using the Fall In Love 05 stamping Plate from Mo You London. I didn't really have a wheat colour so decided to go for gold instead and give it a bit more of a party vibe! I was quite keen to try out my Uber Chic Farm Fresh stamping plate as well for this so gave it a go on my thumb nail. I saw this design on their website (not sure who by) and thought it would be perfect, I started with green polish, then orange and finally the black tractor. It was surprisingly easy to layer up and place the tracker too.

In conclusion I'm enjoying these and I think they're a good nod towards autumn too! I do think the green (although I was pleased to use this shade again) was perhaps a little dark for the look, and I'm not sure how well the thumb goes with the golden wheat. However I really like the different elements of the look so I have no regrets!

Colours used: Racing Green - Butter London, Cream Soda - Barry M, Yellow - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Gold Digger - Barry M, Watermelon - Barry M, Not From Concentrate - Nails Inc

Atmospheric Night Nails

Hey everyone, hope your week has started well! Today I'm sharing some nail art which I really rather liked! I actually had it on before the love bugs of my last post (which I'm still wearing), but wanted to share the bugs on the appropriate day! For this look I used the Noel 06 stamping plate from Mo You London. It was part of their Christmas collection this year but it's really wintery rather than Christmassy and it has so many lovely images for wintery outdoor scenes.

I started with a base of blue on some nails and pale purple on others, topping off my ring finger nails with some super sparkly silver bar glitter (colours listed below the pictures). I then used black, gold and silver stamping polish and images from the Noel 06 plate, and some shades of blue for the layered mountain images. I used the same shades for a gradient on my index fingernails too. I really like these but I wasn't too sure about the purple nail with the blue mountain, so added a wolf the next day. I also mattified them. I kind of regretted it at the time but I do quite like the pictures!
Below is the nail art with a matte top coat and additional wolf. Which ones do you like best - matte or shiny? I really like the way the layered mountains one came out!
Colours used: Laguna-  Barry M, Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Cobalt Blue - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Summer Sparkler - Painted Polish by Lexi

Space Turtles! Inspired by The Great British Bake Off

Hi everyone and happy Sunday! Today I'm sharing some nail art I based on my favourite creation so far on this years Great British Bake Off. This is the first year I have watched it (shock, horror!) and I'm really enjoying it. Kim Joy is my favourite to win as I love the beautiful things she creates and the themes. My favourite theme was the 'space turtle' cake she made earlier in the series.

These didn't really turn our how I had intended, unlike Kim Joy's wonderful cake, but they're still cute! I might try again with a different colour scheme another time. I started with an off white base on all nails, and then applied a couple of coats of Barry M's Electric Eel on three fingernails, and Butterflyfish on my ring finger and thumb nails. On the brighter blue nails I used the Kelli Marissa Bundlemonster and some gold nail polish to add some space images. I don't think I chose these colours very well as it doesn't really show up!

On my ringer fingernail I used a turtle decal and some dark green nail polish for the turtle shapes. I stuck the centre of the decals on my thumbs rather than using more stencils as it saves the others for another time. On the turtles I used a couple of different glitters (colours listed below the pictures) to continue the galaxy theme. I used tiny pieces of sponge for this as I hope to create a galaxy look but it was a bit too fiddly so I just ended up with very sparkly turtles!

So these didn't really come out as I'd hoped, and as I'm now onto Halloween nails I don't think I'll have time to try again before the Bake Off ends, but they were still cute and I liked wearing Electric Eel for the first time.
Colours used: Cream Soda - Barry M, Butterfly Fish - Barry M, Electric Eel - Barry M, Catwalk Queen - Barry M, Diamond Glitter - Barry M, Hang Up The Heels - Essie, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M

If Autumn Was Purple...

Hello everyone, happy Friday! I've finally got onto the autumn nail art band wagon today with some falling leaves stamping with the UberChic Lovely Leaves 01 plate. I've wanted to use this falling leaves design for ages but I tend to have a huge back log of nail ideas! I started with a very pale grey with tiny shimmery flakies, and then stamped the tree images onto my thumb and ring finger nails.

I don't have a lot of autumn leaf type colours, I don't tend to go in for rust and mustard type shades, feeling a little tempted though given how many lovely autumn nail art designs I've seen recently! So with those leafy limitations I decided to go for another colour scheme using a plummy purple and reddish pink. I really liked the way it looked and think the colours worked nicely against the background. I'd recommend as a quick and easy design to do.
I've put the base colour below as I thought it was worthy of it's own picture! It's Paper Route from ILNP (other colours listed at the bottom of this post). To the right is a close up of a thumb nail tree (something that sounds utterly horrifying if you can't see the below picture... but hey Halloween is approaching!).
Colours used: Paper Route - ILNP, Cocoa - Barry M, Plum - Barry M, Pomegranate - Barry M

HPB Presents: Owls In The Mist - Autumn/Fall Blog Link Up

Very excited to be taking part in my first ever blog link up with the Hobby Polish Bloggers Facebook group. This months theme is autumn/ fall, and I've decided to go for something not too challenging as it's my first time! I've really enjoyed looking through all the other posts so far, there are some fabulous designs, and a lot of different takes on the theme. My design was done using some owl stickers/decals bought for me by a friend. I think they're pretty adorable!

I started with my trusty Nail Kale basecoat fron Nails Inc, and then painted my nails with Topshop's Easy Peasy matte grey nail polish. Once dry I sponged on some of Barry M's Coconut with peices of srunched up cling film/saran wrap. Next up were the owls, I've included a picture of the stickers below, I believe they are available online. I had some trouble peeling these off at first. After about half an hour prizing three away from the backing to stick down, my boyfriend kindly provided a tooth pick which worked a treat!


Once I'd stuck down all the little owls I finished the look with my matte top coat from Rimmel. I tried a shiny top coat too but I think the matte suited the look better and really brought out the colours of the owls. Which one do you like best?!

I really enjoyed doing this link up and look forward to the next one. Please check out the other entries below, they are fab! :)

An InLinkz Link-up