Tropical Animals in the Autumn

Well hello there! Slight nail fail to share today but it was a weekend of experimental nail art! I purchased three of ILNP's new autumn collection and thought Park Ave and Uptown would be good backgrounds for some tropical animal nail art, and that tropical animal nail art would be good for a baby shower I went to for my lovely friend Charlotte. I did intend to do gradients on each hand, also featuring the other shade I bought - Skyline. However this didn't work at all - not sure if the colours are too strong or it's the sponges I was using but it didn't work for me at all. You can see some extra silver on the thumbnails which I where I started my attempt. The sponges soaked up the colour pretty much just leaving silver glitter!

So, I proceeded with just a plain base of green and amber, they're good jungle colours as well as being good autumn colours I think. I then used gold and black stamping polish to add images from Mo You London's Enchanted 08 stamping plate. To add further difficulty my gold stamping polish ran out part way through so I was testing out alternative options! I think the black images came out a lot better. So I think these were a bit of a flop really, the gold didn't come out that well, the gradient didn't happen and I smudged one of the images too! They're OK though, I definitely prefer the amber hand, the images came out better and I'm enjoying the colour being a bit different to my usual shades.

Colours used: Park Ave - ILNP, Uptown - ILNP, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Palm Tree Sunset

Hiii everyone! Got something super summery to share today, and once again inspired by the Glam Nails Challenge July prompts, this one is palm trees. For this look I started with a base of yellow, and then sponged on some orange and red to make a gradient. The red really doesn't show up but it makes the orange a tad darker at the top at least. Once dry I used black stamping polish and images from Uber Chic Beauty's Just Beachy stamping plate for the palm trees and the wording. I particularly like the wording on my thumb, and how you can mix and match the palm tree images with this plate. I had a little trouble with some of the fine wording as I'm using an older stamping polish which is getting a bit thick! I complete the look with a matte top coat to make the colours pop.

I'm pretty pleased with these, they were simple to do and I like how bright the colours are. Very summery! I also enjoyed using my liquid latex to protect around my nails again too as it's been a while and it's quite satisfying to peel off! Hope you like them too!
Colours used: Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Beach Hut - Models Own, Rhubarb & Custard - Models Own, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Tropical Pink Nails

Hello all! Hope all is well and you're enjoying some sunshine, it's not been that sunny here but it's set to be warmer the next few days so I am bracing myself! :D If it does I do have some appropriate nail art! Today's Glam Nails Challenge July prompt is Tropical, one of many prompts which works well with the new Just Beachy stamping plate from Uber Chic. I have a neon pink polish I haven't used for a while and have been eyeing up as well for summer nail art, so this seemed like the perfect time to use that too. The colours I used are listed below the pictures as usual.

For this look I started with a bright white base on all of my nails so the neon would really stand out. I then used neon pink on my index, little finger and thumb nails. On my middle two finger nails I stamped this negative space floral image onto the white polish in black, I considered making decals for these but decided to try a slightly more freehand approach as the flowers are not too fiddly. I used a small nail art brush to fill in the flowers and leaves in pink, green and orange. I forgot how much I love that neon orange too, need to find a use for that this summer as well! I feel like it maybe didn't even need the white base.

Although I'm not usually much of a pink person I do think neon pink is a great summer shade and I'm enjoying rocking the tropical flowers. Pleased with this look and also pleased I filed my nails down a bit!
Colours used: Neon Activator - Nails Inc, Claridge Gardens - Nails Inc, Audacious Green - Accessorize, Beach Hut - Models Own, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Kiwi Skittle Nails

Hello everyone, hope you are safe and well in these crazy times! Today on my nail blog I'm trying for the first time a monthly challenge, where there are a number of prompts throughout the month, usually following a particular theme. One challenge in particular that I keep seeing on my Instagram feed is the glam nails challenge. This months theme is all fruit based prompts, and I thought that seemed fun, so I will give it a go and see if I can actually manage to complete the whole month. It feels unlikely but you never know!

The first prompt, which is due today, is Kiwi fruit. I have done kiwi fruit nails before as part of  a set of fruit themed nails, but this time I used a stamping plate rather than freehand. I used the Tropical 10 stamping plate from Mo You London for the black kiwi pattern. Looking at it now I think I should have done a gradient going out from the middle as well. I decided to do a sort of skittle nails effect, with different shades of green and yellow kiwi's. I stamped the kiwi pattern on top in black, and then used a nail art brush to fill the middle in with cream nail polish. I did this instead of advanced stamping, and I think it works for most nails but not the darkest one where it just kind of looks like a messy blob as you can't really see the black pattern.

So overall I wasn't massively keen on these, which is a shame as they are my first glam nails entry, but onwards and upwards I guess! I think I need to perfect the technique of making them look more kiwi like with a gradient, maybe even added some glitter. The first couple of pictures below have a matte topcoat, and the second two a shiny one, I think the matte pictures look better but in person I prefer them shiny. Hopefully more fruit nail art to come!
Colours used: Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Key Lime - Barry M, Spring Green - Barry M, Watermelon - Barry M, Marylebone - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Nails Inc, Cream Soda - Barry M

Tropical Tuesday: Leafy and Bright

Hi everyone! Please help me think of a better name for this post... Today's nail art is simple but I am quite pleased with it. The only bit that didn't quite work out was the flower image on one of my thumbs not quite coming out right.

On my middle fingers I used a layer of gold metallic polish (colours listed below pictures) followed my sponging on some gold glitter. My thumb and little finger nails have floral images from Mo You London's Tropical 07 stamping plate. On my index and ring fingernails I started with a white base and then some leaf images from their Tropical 10 plate. I used a gradient technique for this with two Barry M polishes. I find this surprisingly easy to do as you can blend the colours a bit by swiping the card across the stamping plate a few times.

Definitely tempted to try more leafy designs. I think they make good accent nails and leaf patterns seem to be around a lot at the moment on clothes and things.
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Flip Flop Fantasy - China Glaze, Key Lime - Barry M, Spring Green - Barry M, Bright Lights - Barry M, Million Dollar Dream - Fun Lacquer

Stamping Sunday: Ibiza Gradient Nails

Hi everyone! Still catching up but my nails are at least in a summery style so I don't feel too bad putting them on my blog so late! I wanted to do a tropical design featuring Concord from Cirque Color's and thought it would be a good idea to try my Tropical 30 plate from Mo You London for the first time as well.

On my middle fingers I created a gradient with some gradient sponges and pink polish, which has come out pretty red in the pictures. This should have been so easy to do but I'm still not great at gradients! My left hand definitely came out better as I think I overdid the purple on my right hand.
I had originally been planning some gradient stamping over white nails but as I'd opted for a gradient base I stamped the images in just one colour. Pale metallic gold stood and well and I find metallic polishes always stamp pretty well.

I'm pleased with this plate and polish and how crisp the images are. The images on this particular plate remind me of Ibiza, and the colours I chose here add to that effect even more. Though the gradients could be better I'm overall happy with how these turned out, and hope I get round to using this pkate again this summer!
Colours used: Concord - Cirque Colors, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Bright Lights - Barry M

Throwback Thursday: Pineapple Addict

Hi everyone! The pineapples are back! I've done a few pineapple themed nail art designs before, so when Julys Nail Addicts collaboration theme was announced as time machine (throwback), I thought I'd recreate the first pineapple nails I ever did. I reckon they're from about 3 or 4 years ago. The older design is shown in the poor quality Instagram shot bottom right.

Rather ridiculously I did manage to do the pineapples the wrong way round! I usually paint so the designs are the right way up for me, but the original design was the other way round. I forgot this however when it came to re-doing it. I used a small nail art brush for the pineapples, and though I went for the same colours I refreshed it with newer nail polishes. I finished with my favourite top coat (Nails Inc Kensington Caviar), and it lasted just over a week, as I haven't had as much time to do my nails lately!

I think it's a slight improvement, neater round the edges anyway! You can see everyone else's throwback nail art on Instagram @nailaddictscollab
Colours used (new design): Alpine Snow - OPI, Gold Digger - Barry M, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Spring Green - Barry M, Chelsea Embankment - Nails Inc

Baby Mermaid Monday - Tropical

Hi everyone! Got some very temperature appropriate nails for how hot it's been this week, I hope the weather will last for my days off next week!

This weekend I had a go at some nail art for #BabyMermaidMonday, which is an Instagram hashtag with a monthly theme (always mermaid related of course). Todays theme was pink, orange and yellow, so a very tropical feel. The main colours had to be pink, orange and yellow, but small amounts of other shades (e.g. gold and black like I've used are allowed for detail/outlines).

For the mermaid scales and the fiery mermaid on my thumb nails I used the Bundle Monster twi_star plate, and for the leaf gradient stamping I used Mo You Londons Tropical Plate 10. For the palm tree I created a decal myself on my Uber Mat, using a nail art pen for the outline and filling it with black polish using a dotting tool. I think I should have gone for a slimmer or gold palm tree as the black is a bit overpowering.

For the mermaid on my thumb nails I used the advanced stamping technique (you can see how here). I started with a little bit of ILNP's shimmery topcoat, The Magician. It's not all that clear in the pictures but it worked surprisingly well over these colours and gave the mermaid a warm subtle shimmer. Unfortunately the mermaids hair got a little smooshed as I was in a rush! I did like this nail art though as the gradient went better than usual and I'm enjoying having bright summery colours again!
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Black Knight - Mo You London, Nail Ar Pen in Black - Barry M Sunshine - Rimmel, W18 - Color Cosmetic, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Uptown Glamour - Nails Inc, The Magician - ILNP

Tropical Tuesday: Neon Palm Tree Smoosh!

Tropical Tuesday is back! Finally it is that time of year again :) I definitely don't think I can keep this up for every Tuesday like I did last summer. At the time I'd just started blogging, and had a nice hefty backlog of pictres to go through.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed having really vibrant summery colours on my nails again. It's been a while. I started with a white base to really make the colours pop. I then used a stamper to use the 'smoosh' technique. This involves putting blobs of nail polish on the stamper, and then dabbing it around on the nail, to get a random splotchy effect. I love the kind of nail art where you can be as messy as you like and it still turns out pretty!

When I first splotched the colours on I wasn't sure about the combination, but as I did some more and finished the design and grew on me quickly! For the palm trees I used a small nail art brush and black nail polish - colours listed below the pictures.
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Flip Flop Fantasy - China Glaze, Uptown Glamour - Nails Inc, Lady In Black - OPI

Tropical Tuesday: Five A Day!

Fantastic Mr Fruit for you today! This one is from a couple of months back, I'd been in quite a long phase of wearing plain colours, and decided I wanted to go all out on the nail art again, glad to say I've not stopped since! The design was done freehand with a little help from a nail art pen for the seeds on the melons, kiwi's and strawberry's. It was great fun to do and I liked the kiwi's expecially as for something so simple to do it looked quite striking. Inspiration was taken from a wide variety of different fruit nails on Pinterest.

When I do this design next I think I will switch the watermelons and strawberries around as it would suit the nail sizes better. That was the orginial plan but I got carried away and started the watermelons on my ring finger without thinking!

Colours used: Passion Fruit - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M, Coconut - Barry M, Yellow - Barry M, Cocoa - Barry M, Block Your Green - Rimmel, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M

Tropical Tuesday: Guest Hands!

Today I am showing a design I did on my friend Jessica's nails before she went on holiday last year. She was an excellent hand model! Here I am again showcasing the delights of a nail art pen! The gradients were done lightly with some sponges, a top coat added to smooth it out, and the design drawn over the top. As I've said previously, you definitely need a top coat over the nail art pens, or they rub away pretty quickly.

The design was based on something I saw on Pinterest. Unfortunately as it was a while back I can't remember who, but if anyone knows please let me know. So all in all this is a pretty simple one, if you have the patience to sit and do the little drawings!

Colours used: White - Barry M, Cyan Blue - Barry M, Berry  - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M

Tropical Tuesday!

Today's tropical Tuesday picture is a little more subdued! It was one I did for my trip to Ibiza which must have been two years ago now, hence the odd lengths of my nails! (they used to break a little more then because of my job). There is a light gradient going on here though it can't really be seen in the picture. I used white a base and lightly sponged some mint green over the top.

The birds were done with black nail varnish and a small brush, and the leaves were in metallic green with the same little brush. I painted the leaves on lightly with the brush, allowing them to get messy round the edges, and then went over them again through the middle of the leaves to give them more texture.

I've noticed some more views coming to my blog over the last couple of days so whoever you are, thank you for reading! :)

Colours Used: Matt White - Barry M, Mint Green - Barry M, Emerald Green - Barry M, New York Noir by Kate Spade -Nails Inc

Tropical Tuesday!

Today's tropical Tuesday design is a rather vibrant one from last year. Bit of bubbling going on if you look closely as I was getting towards the end of a top coat bottle! I'm not ussually one for hot pink, but for that reason I was quite keen to try the one that came in a Nails Inc pack I got last summer. It's a brilliant colour for toes and also worked well in this bright tropical design.

It was a fairly effortless one, the yellow sunset was just done with the normal brush from the nail polish bottle, and the gradient was done roughly with a nail art gradient sponge (mine's from ebay!). To finish I used a Barry M nail art pen for the birds and palm trees. The dark purply colour was not actually meant to be so dark (and I used blue!) , so there was a bit more contrast than I was aiming for, but I think it worked out :)

Colours used: Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Yellow - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M

Tropical Tuesday

I've got a small collection of tropical/sunset nail art pictures so am going to post one every Tuesday while the season is right :) This one is a pretty old one and looking a little weather beaten as it was taken towards the end of it's nail life! The palm trees demonstrate what I said in my last post about Barry M nail art pens wearing off. This one has a cheap top coat on and still the design has started to fade. To keep it sealed I'd recoment a good quality top coat (my favourite is Nails Inc's Kensignton Caviar).

Loved this design as an end of summer look, moving onto the darker colours but still keeping a summery vibe.

Colours used: Matt White - Barry M, Strawberry - Barry M, Berry - Barry M, 262 - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M

(Just shows how old some of these Barry M's are, was before they even had names!)

Who Lives In A Pineapple Under The Sea!

If only it was me!

SO glad it's finally Friday! Today I have a throwback on the left and some more recent nails on the right. An example of my nails a little too long, and a little too short! Apologies for the picture quality of these, they were taken without knowing they'd be going on a blog.

Fruit designs are perfect for summer and pineapples are one of the easiest to do, and seem to be very on trend this summer. For the yellow the ussual nail brush from the bottle is fine, just sweep a large yellow blob accross your nail! The leaves and detail can be done with a thin nail art brush. All in all a good fruit for beginners! I hope to do more pineapple designs in the near future and improve my technique

Colours on the left: Matt White - Barry M,  Yellow - Barry M, Emerald Green - Barry M, Foil Effects Gold - Barry M, Gold Glitter - Barry M

Colours on the right: Key Lime - Barry M, Coconut - Barry M, Papaya - Barry M, Yellow - Barry M