A Sunbeam Snake Attempt

Sssssssss hi! Sssnake nail art to share today so look away if you're not a reptile fan! No snakes were harmed in the making of these very shiny and slightly scruffy nails...

I have had this nail art look on my to do list for years! I originally saw them on So Hot Right Nail's Instagram and then watched the YouTube tutorial a few times. I loved the way the shiny foil shimmered through the snake pattern but didn't have all the appropriate tools for a long time, so I'm glad to have finally given it ago!

I started with a layer of clear gel polish,and while wet added little shards of silver foil I'd cut up using nail scissors, I went for approximately three pieces per nail. I then cured the gel and added a another clear layer which I cured. Next I added one layer of sheer black nail polish, the tutorial says to use gel but I don't have sheer black gel and using normal polish worked fine, I just needed to make sure it had plenty of time to dry. Once dry I stamped snake skin images from Uber Chic's Cold Blooded stamping plate over the top. Once fully dry I added a no wipe gel top coat. I used a peel off base under the whole look as I always do with gels.

My verdict on the overall result is mixed, but to be honest i think they came out pretty well given I was using techniques I'm not used to. I think the pattern on my ring fingernail was a little too wide but the others looked pretty snazzy! You can see already though that some of the foil shards did start to peel up a bit at the edges. Odd as they had layers over them but perhaps I just didn't fully seal in the edges well enough. I definitely enjoyed moving my hands around under bright lighting for the effect and would totally be up for trying these again.

Colours: Bluesky Gel Base Coat, Silver Foil (eBay), Coal - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Gel Touch High Shine Gel Finish Top Coat

Wobbly Easter Eggs!

Happy Easter everyone! Will keep if short and sweet today as I have Easter-y things to be doing! These were my first attempt at Easter egg nails using ILNP's new ultra metallic brights colelction for Spring 2018. To be honest I don't think it turned out all that well as the eggs are quite wonky! Gives them a bit of character I guess...

I started off with a base coat and then one layer of ILNP's Mega. This was to give a sheer effect where you can still see my nails, but with a fair amount of sparkle! In the meantime I painted some clear patches on the Uber Mat, and once dry, painted on the egg outlines in black polish with a small nail art brush. It was a bit challenging to get neat and consistent eggs,  I need to dig out my acrylic paint!Once that was dry I used some of the metallic polishes to paint spots within some eggs, and stripes on others. Once dry I filled in with more metallic polish as a background colour.

After giving them some time to dry I added another layer of clear polish, and once dry, peeled off, trimmed, and applied to my nails. I finished off with a quick dry topcoat to stick the design down and get rid of any cloudy parts. Fortunately the chocolate eggs I've received have been less wonky than this :)
Colours used: Mega - ILNP, Lady In Black - OPI, Hi Fi - ILNP, Funhouse - ILNP, Blueprint - ILNP, Checkmate - ILNP, Short Circuit - ILNP, Sugar Coated - ILNP

Magical Mirror Nails - Mirror Chrome Powder First Attempt

Finally it's mirror chrome time!! So it's the 4th of December and I've not put up any Christmas nails yet... I have some Christmas nail art on now, so it's on it's way! I just couldn't wait till after the festive season to share how I got on with the mirror chrome powder that's been getting everyone excited this year. As ussual witbh a new nail trend that I want to experiment with, I decided to start cheap and get some mirror chrome powders on eBay. I went for a classic silver, a blue/purple (below) and a blue/green.

I had a lot of fun trying this our on my Uber Mat, I had to try a few different ways to get anywhere and had more luck with the silver than the multi-chrome shades. I tried a few techniques and once I found one I was happy with I gave it a go on my nails. I've included some top tips below the pictures. I was astounded how well it worked on my nails, definitely easier than using it on the Uber Mat! Needless to say it was so satisfying to see it come together on my nails.

I've heard a few things about how this doesn't work on normal nail polish, or works better on gel polish. Mine was done using standard nail polish and I have to say I am very pleased with the results! I think I could have got it slightly more mirror'd with practise (and there will be practise!) but already it is noticeably shinier than any chrome/metallic polish I've tried. It's hard to make out in the pictures but at some angles I could see a wobbly version of my reflection in them!

Tips for mirror chrome powder on regular nail polish:

• Make sure the polish you apply the powder over is smooth and free of imperfections. Any little lumps and bumps are visible through the mirror effect.
• Apply a top coat over your base colour, and apply the powder when it's still very slightly tacky. A good way to check if it's just right is to touch it lightly with a finger to see if it feels dry, when it does try lightly touching your nails together, if there is a slight tackiness then the powder should stick well to the polish.
• Don't apply too much pressure when applying the powder. It's surprising how little pressure is needed to achieve the mirror effect. The tip above helps ensure it sticks. As the polish is still very slightly sticky if you press to hard it can move some of it around and create lumps which will certainly upset the mirror effect!
• Use a water based top coat. This is to stop creases forming in the powder. I used Revolution from Picture Polish which worked well as a top coat. Pretty hard to remove when used as a base coat though!

Thank you for reading! It's been a bit excessive writing wise, I've just got more to say than usual as I'm  so excited about this stuff! A truly gorgeous finish, and much easier to do than I expected.