North Pole BAU

Hello space turtles! More Glam Nails Challenge nail art to share today. Todays theme is 'North Pole'. As it's quite a Christmassy theme I wanted to find a way to make it fit but not be too Christmassy since we're in January. I am really enjoying doing these wintery themes and continuing to use my Christmas stamping plates throughout the month! The idea behind this look is that it's the North Pole is having a bit of a peaceful lull after the chaos of Christmas - business as usual!

I started with a base of white and then added images from Mo You London's Noel 01 stamping plate on three fingernails and the north pole sign on my ring finger using their Festive 01 plate. The image on my thumbnail is from their Noel 19 stamping plate. Next I added a layer of quick dry top coat and once dry I used sharpies to carefully colour in the images which was quote satisfying to do! I finished the look with a matte top coat to make the colours pop.

I really like how these came out and their wintery feel. I'd like to try something similar with sparkly roofs on the houses and sparkly snow.

Colours used: A Mantis shrimps favourite colour - Bees Knees Lacquer, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Various Sharpies

A Nail Art Tribute to Scotland in the Autumn

Hi there space turtles! Today I'm sharing some nail art which actually isn't for an Instagram nail art challenge for once! This is just something I felt like doing after a recent family holiday in Scotland where we stayed in the country and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and autumn leaves. We saw many trees, leaves and fungi in different shades so I've tried to capture that here with a bit of sparkle,

I added three layers of sheer white and then added some white patterns to three of my nails followed my another layer of sheer white. On the other two I added another layer too and then stamped a grey pattern and a mountain scene over the top using Mo You London's Noel 16 (putting it sideways was a very last minute decision as I applied it!). In the meantime I had some decals drying on my Uber Mat which I created in advance using Uber Chic's Woodland Chic stamping plate. I applied the decals over the white patterns and then added a glossy top coat.

I'm pretty pleased with how these came out. They felt a bit ad-hoc while I did them but created a look that wasn't quite how I was expecting but was exactly as cosy and fun as I'd hoped! I really love the way the landscape on my thumbnail came out. It's to remind me of a lovely viewing spot near our holiday house of some hills with trees either side and birds of prey. It was hills rather than mountains but this image was close enough!

Colours used: Sheet Off-White - Undisclosed, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Grey - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Bronze Bae - Barry M, Copper Mine - Barry M, Gold Digger - Barry M

Stamping Sundays: A Pirate's Life For Me

Hey space turtles! I formulated todays nail art in my mind a good few days before I did it which is unusual for me at the moment, I've got out of the habit. It's for the final Glam Nails Challenge theme for July 2022 which is Pirates. I dug out an old pale grey polish I love for the base but didn't notice till I added the pictures how bubbly it's gone! I was particularly excited to try the ship and wave on my thumbnail.

I started with two coats of pale grey on all nails, and while they dried I created decals on my Uber Mat using Uber Chic's Mermaid Life 02 stamping plate. I then used my new Kads 011 stamping plate to layer up some wave designs on my thumb and ring finger nails. The base blue I used didn't stand out that well against the grey but I still like the look. I added the decals over the top and then used a nail art brush to carefully add a gold outline. Pirates do love gold so I hear!

I'm pleased with how these came out. The thumb nail doesn't look quite as spectacular as I'd envisioned but it still looks pretty good I reckon and I can always try again. They do look like they're in a spot of peril!

Colours used: Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Laguna - Barry M, Cyan - Barry M, White Stamping Polish 0 Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Oyster - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M, Ruby - Barry M, Emerald Green - Barry M, Gold Digger - Barry M, Cream Soda - Barry M, Dead Heat - Barry M 

Stamping Sunday: Cats in the Garden

Hello world! I feel like I'm losing the plot today, it's only 10am and I'm so sleepy, planning to go for a run shortly too! Today's nail art is for glam nails challenge, and I'm thinking about bringing back stamping Sundays so thought I'd include it as that too. The theme for this prompt is cats. I feel like I have done quite a few cat nails already this year but I have a few cat stamping plates so I have no complaints!

I started with a base of white polish and then used black stamping polish to apply the cat images from Mo You London's Crazy Cat Lady 04 stamping plate. Once dry I applied a layer of quick dry top coat to protect the images for the next stage. I included a picture of how it looks in black and white as I do really like it and was tempted to leave it this way. Once the top coat was dry I mixed up some sharpie ink with nail polish remover to apply some colour with a small brush. I soon realised I wanted the colours to be brighter so used the sharpies directly into my nails. I initially did the ginger cat orange but it was way to bright so I added some brown which gave it a bit of a mottled effect. I finished the look with a matte top coat.

Overall I quite like these but am not so sure about the ring and little fingernail images. They are OK but I'm not sure they flow that well. I like the index and middle fingernails and think the contrast of the colours works well. Also love the thumb, I do have a habit of doing the thumb nail best, I think it's because there's more nail to work with!

Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Assorted Sharpies

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I'm sharing this a little later in the day than planned but only because I spent so long making a nut roast for lunch and after that we went for a walk with some of my family. It was lovely to see them and a lovely sunny day too! I was excited to use this base colour (colours listed below images) as it's a gift from my boyfriend and it's such a perfect shade for Easter! It's also my first ever Starrily nail polish. I now have four and I've been enjoying trying them out.

I used a mixture of advanced stamping and layered stamping for this look. On my index and little fingernails I added the images from Mo You London's Festive 58 stamping plate in white, and then added brighter colours over the top. I did struggle to line the spots up but I think it looks OK. For my other three nails I used the advanced stamping technique (see how here) to create decals using my Uber Mat. I finished the look with my favourite glossy top coat, Nails Inc's Kensington Caviar.

I like the way these came out, they are very much Easter and Spring nails and I'm pleased with how crisp and bright the images are. The only not so good part is I did end up smudging the top of the thumb nail a little when lifting a heavy pan - so annoyed about that as it's my favourite nail! Still, it's only the top of it and you can still see all the little micro bunnies looking cute! Happy Easter!

Colours used: Mint To Be - Starrily, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Cyan - Barry M, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Indigo Child - Starrily, Cappuccino - Barry M, Papaya - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M, White Horse Street - Nails Inc

Stamping Sunday: Hygge Nails

Hello and happy Sunday! Todays nail art is the last from my birthday nail art poll on Instagram (came joint third with the liquid crystal look from my last post). The theme is hygge, which is what I'd wanted to theme my 30th birthday celebrations around if I could have had a party. According to Google Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of comfort and coziness with feelings of wellbeing and contentment. I'm sure you can see the appeal but it helps that I really love visiting Norway too (such a shame we won't be able to go this year!). Mo You London brought out a hygge themed plate as part of the autumn collection this year (Fall In Love 08) so there will definitely be more of this theme from me!

I started with a base of pale blue (colours listed below the pictures) and then created decals using my Uber Mat for the middle finger, index finger and thumbnails, you can see how here. On my middle and little fingers I used white stamping polish to apply the cosy jumper and speckled images (the speckles don't show up that well but they're on my middle finger - looking forward to trying some other colour variations for that one!). I then added some wording over the top, unfortunately I smudged the words on my middle finger a bit with my matte top coat, it's not a great one! 

Overall I quite like these, I like the cosy vibe (see the picture with my dressing gown!) and the theme, I do think I could do better hygge nails though, they need a bit of glitter to bring me true feelings of contentment! :D I also think the mushrooms on my thumb could have been better, the two colours I used look too similar to each other.

Colours used: Borrowed & Blue - Essie, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Indigo - Barry M, Soft Focus - ILNP, Oyster - Barry M, Seven Dials - Nails Inc

Stamping Sunday: Nature Book Nails

Hi all and happy Sunday! Got some fairly basic nail art stamping to show you today but some I have been planning to do for a while. I got this stamping plate from Mo You London (Botanical 06) with images that look like the black and white drawings you find (or used to find I suppose!) in scientific books about plants and animals. I particularly like that it has the names next to some of them in tiny italics. For this look I went for a base of lightly specked polish from Cirque Colors (colours listed below the pictures) as I thought this would work well as part of the nature theme.

For the stamping I chose images largely at random, I did manage to squeeze in a bit of the wording too! I particularly like the bird and butterfly nails, the butterfly image is so crisp and the bird really does remind me of a nature book. I finished the look with a matte top coat for that bookish look. I like how these came out but I wonder of the black against blue is a bit too harsh, perhaps I should have stamped in grey? I'm not really sure but I suppose I wouldn't have got that lovely clear butterfly image if I'd used grey. Hope you like them!
Colours used: Robin - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Pearlescent Seashells

Hello all and happy Sunday! Todays Glam Nails Challenge July prompt is seashells, which was very well timed as I have recently purchased the Seashells Aplenty stamping plate from UberChic Beauty. There are so many possibilities with shell nail art, and I went with something quite subtle and a bit pearlescent.

I started with three coats of Barry M's Mani Mask in 'Bashful' to give a natural look, but built it up again so it was nice and pink too. For the shells I used a different image from the Seashells Aplenty plate on each nail. I made decals on my Uber Mat using white stamping polish, and filled in each one with a different shimmery nail polish from Barry M's Under the Sea collection, colours listed below the pictures. I finished the look off with a shiny top coat, though they did look nice a bit matte too before I put the top coat on.

Overall I like these but wonder if I should have gone for more of a nude background rather than pink. I think the shimmery polishes work well for the shells though. There are a lot of shells on the new stamping plate so I will have to come up with some more shell nail art soon!
Colours used: Bashful - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Angelfish - Barry M, Butterflyfish - Barry M, Moonfish - Barry M, Jellyfish - Barry M, Pinktail - Barry M

Stamping Sunday: Juicy Watermelon Nails

Hi everyone! I'm back with more fruit nail art for the glam nails challenge. I also thought I'll bring back Stamping Sundays for a bit as I'm going to try and post some of the fruit designs for the challenge on Sundays. I expect a lot of the fruit nail art I do will be stamping related, and this one is certainly no exception.

I started with a base of white on three nails, and pale green and magenta on the other two. For the watermelon pattern on my thumb and little finger nails I used the Maniology Fruit Deco plate. This image is a layering image so nice and easy to do, although I had a bit of trouble with the black outline, as my black stamping polish is getting a bit thick, so the thumb nail is a bit messy. For the green nail I used the Tropical 07 plate from Mo You London. The image was only just tall enough for my nail. I do have a similar image on another plate but it's wider so I don't get so many stripes. For the remaining two nails I used the Tropical 34 plate (also MYL). The watermelon slice image is also a layered image so there was no advanced stamping in this look.

I really like these. They're fun and summery, and I do enjoy a good watermelon theme! I'd be tempted to do this look again and maybe even add some glitter in there somewhere. I was also impressed with how the dark green and magenta polishes stamped (colours listed below the pictures). See you soon!
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Key Lime - Barry M, Watermelon - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Stamping Sunday: Snowflake Time!

Hey everyone and happy 1st of December! Today I bring to you my first Christmassy nails of the year (or wintery if you're not ready yet!). I went for something that was more wintery than Christmassy as I did do them a few days ago, but Christmas stamping plates were used!

The two main colours I used were from Barry M's new(ish) Crystal rock collection, and I was super impressed with them! The white is so perfect for snowmen and snowflakes, and the blue is gorgeously sparkly! I used a shiny top coat for this look but the polishes look amazing with their textured finish too. For the snowflake nails I painted them white and then added a top coat to make them a bit smoother for stamping. I used a black stamping polish to add a reverse snowflake image over the top. For the snowmen I used the reverse stamping technique and my Uber Mat, and finished off with another layer of top coat once done! Both images are from the UberChic Christmas 01 stamping plate.

So are you all set up with your tree  and Christmas nails now or do you prefer to wait a bit longer? We're doing our tree next weekend but the nail art is in full swing and I think I shall get the Christmas socks out too! I'm really pleased with how these turned out and thing it's a good start to this years Christmas nail art!
Colours used: Flourite - Barry M, White Moonstone - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Stamping Sunday: It's Raining In London

Hi all, hope you've had a lovely weekend! I am feeling very autumnal and have some weather appropriate nail art to share with you today. I wore this a week or so ago, and was heading into London for work, with a forecast for rain, so I thought this would fit. It's an idea I've had for some time based on the Scandi 01 & 03 plates from Mo You London with the Big Ben in the rain image, but I had even more options with the UberChic Forecasting Glam plate I got this year.

I started off with pale grey nail polish on two nails on each hand, and pale blue on the rest. For the cloud in the rain I used the layered stamping images, and for the Big Ben, London bus and umbrella images I created decals on my Uber Mat, you can see how here. On my middle finger and thumb nails I stamped cloud and raindrop images in white. I had to go over the clouds again on my middle finger  as they didn't come out very well. On my thumb nails I added the cuddle weather wording, which really appeals to me. Love a bit of cuddle weather once I've accepted that summer is over!

I finished off the look with a matte top coat to make the colours pop a bit better. I did end up smudging some of the wording a little as my matte top coat isn't the best. I was pleased with these overall but think the busses could have been neater, it's quite a tricky image to colour well! There is also one wonky Big Ben, I like to think it's dancing!
Colours used: Laguna - Barry M, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Cappuccino - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Stamping Sunday: When Life Gives You Lemons Part 2!

Hey everyone! Today I'm back (already!) with some more fruit themed nail art using the Maniology Fruit Deco M028 stamping plate. Having used the watermelon layered stamping images I was keen to try out the lemon ones too, I love stuff with lemons on at the moment, and particularly enjoyed pairing these with a lemon printed top yesterday, who needs double denim when you can have double lemon?

I chose bright blue to go with the lemon print as I think the colour combination really works. I used the exact same shade for some other lemon themed nail art I tried a few years ago which you can see here. This time I wanted to add some zig-zags for some more contrast, for this I used the Tropical 34 plate from Mo You London. This stamping plate has got a cute lemon image on it too but when I've tried to layer it up over zig-zags before it hasn't worked too well, even when stamping over the zig-zags in white first. For the lemons I started with outline image in black, then went in with the yellow and green using a clear stamper. I find it really satisfying using the layered images, and it's definitely quicker than making decals!

So despite the title life is not giving me lemons right now :) I just can't resist a pun! In summary I'm really happy with this nail art, and think that it suits my newly filed down nails. I'm enjoying the novelty of having them a bit shorter, the length was starting to annoy me a little before.
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Bruton Place - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Yellow - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M

Stamping Sunday: Origami In The Sky

Hello world! I am playing catch up as usual but am pleased to be sharing this nail art today as I loved it! Kept this on for at least a week. It was on my nail art to do list for some time but came out well (if I do say so) and I liked it even more than I expected to. My favourite nail is the thumb nail in the top right picture with the squid and diplodocus. 

I started with a blue base on all nails accept my ring finger nail, where I used a holographic silver base. I followed the silver with a holographic glitter from Barry M, which is surprisingly good holo given it is a mainstream band and is a polish from a few years ago too. For the origami images I used the advanced stamping technique (you can see how here). I tried making entire nail decals together but did have to cut and pasts some of the images separately as I'd stamped them too far apart.

Simple design but I loved it and I think it works well for spring. What do you think?

Colours used: Can't Find My Czechbook - OPI, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, White Stamping Polish - Emily de Molly, Harp On It - Color Club, Diamond Glitter - Barry M