Jellyfishing Jellyfishing Jellyfishing

Jellyfishing, jellyfishing, jellyfishing! Because if you can add a Spongebob quote you always should! This is some nail art I did for the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram, and of course the theme was jellyfish. I decided to use one of my Mo You London Atlantis plates and sheer polish to add some depth, and then add the jellyfish on top with some glitter.

I started with two coats of sheer blue (colours listed below pictures) before adding a seaweed image to each nail with white stamping polish (Images from the Atlantis 04 stamping plate). I then added another layer of blue followed by another seaweed image. On the two nails which wouldn't have jellyfish on I repeated this one more time, and then added a little silver glitter above the seaweed. In the meantime I was using the jellyfish images from the same plate to create some decals (see how here) using reflective polish to make them really stand out. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

I'm pleased with how these came out and they've definitely grown on me over time. I think a base layer of something to distract from the yellow of my nails would have been an improvement. However these are very me and I love the way the reflective glitter makes the jellyfish look! Pictures below in regular lighting and with flash.

Colours used: Flipper - Urban Outfitters, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Balck Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Flavour of the Week - Emily de Molly, Diamond Glitter - Barry M

Blue Marble Pond Nails

Hello world! Yet more kind of summery nail art to share today, I'm still clinging onto it a little as there are a few more looks I want to try before I move onto the autumn and Halloween looks. Todays look is something I've seen on pictures of professionally done nails, and tried to replicate using regular nail polish. It didn't come out how I had envisioned it so I didn't keep it on for that long. Coming back to the pictures now it's better than I remembered, I think it's OK it's own, it's just not what I was aiming for!

I started with a couple of layers of sheer blue polish (colours listed below pictures) and then added a layer of flakie topcoat, followed by two more layers and some more flakies. Once dry I used an image from Mo You London's Explorer 34 stamping plate and white stamping polish for the marble effect, followed by another layer of sheer blue. I then added some more marble effect pattern over the top in silver. Finally, I used a nail art brush and gold nail polish to frame the look in gold. I don't think I did this very evenly though which is the thing I like least about this look!

Overall I like the colours, and the pattern looks OK but it's just not as fabulous as I hoped it would look! The gold definitely lets it down but the flakies also aren't as visible as I had hoped. Maybe I can find a tutorial somewhere and try it again!

Colours used: Flipper - Urban Outfitters, Aurora Unicorn Skin - Holo Taco, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Gold Digger - Barry M, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M

Underwater Nail Art - Pond Mani Variation

Hey nail people! Today I have some rather aquatic nail art to show you. Again from a while back, this one was something I was planning to try for quite some time. I was inspired by a picture I saw on Clear Jelly Stampers Instagram page to try more pond style nail art (where you layer up images under sheer polish) with a sea creature theme. It didn't quite turn out how I wanted but I still liked it. I'll explain how I did it and what I'd have changed below.

I started with a white base, followed by a couple of layers of sheer blue (colours listed below the pictures). To follow I used images from my Mo You London Doodles 07 plate, stamped in white on all nails. After another layer of sheer blue I applied some decals which I'd made using the same stamping plate and my Uber Mat. I finished off with a shimmery top coat which you can't see very well in these pictures, but I liked the subtle sparkly effect.

I think I should have layered these up a bit more, with some spots, followed by sheer polish, then the white patterns, then more sheer polish, before the final see creatures on top. It would have given it more depth and made the blue a bit brighter. Still enjoyed it though - I love things with sea creatures on!
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Flipper - Urban Outfitters, Key Lime - Barry M, Spring Green - Barry M, Grey - Barry M, Papaya - Barry M, Harp On It -  Color Club, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Wardour Street - Nails Inc

Rippling Waves

Amidst all the new autumnal shades and Halloween designs across the nail bloggersphere at the moment, I'm bringing one last glimpse of summer! I wore this for a long weekend with family friends in Center Parcs at the end of September, and fancied squeezing in just one more summer design. I've seen a lot of these rippling wave beach designs around over the last few years and thought that my sheer polish, 'Flipper', from Urban Outfitters would be perfect to create it.

I started with a base of white polish, and then a couple of layers of Flipper. Next I used the rippling waves pattern from my Bundle Monster XL25 stamping plate and white stamping polish. It's a perfect pattern for ocean designs and I think it could possibly create a good marble effect too. I used another layer of Flipper over the pattern to soften the harsh white lines a little and give it a bit more dimension.

For the sand I used three different polishes, starting with one of Nails Inc's concrete effect polishes. I created an uneven line of sand at the bottom of each nail, I tried a straight line on one thumb but it just didn't look beachy enough! I then covered it over with a little bit of an ancient Barry M fine gold glitter, and then a little bit of Barry M's chunky yellow topaz glitter. Finally I used a small nail art brush to paint on a starfish on each ring finger and covered over with a super shiny topcoat.
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Flipper - Urban Outfitters, White Knight - Mo You London, London Wall - Nails Inc, Gold Glitter - Barry M, Yellow Topaz - Barry M, St James - Nails Inc