Throwing Shapes

It's Friday night and I feel like throwing some shapes! (I will inevitably be curled up in bed shortly - Fridays are not the same when you work 45 hour weeks!) These are from when I went to see Avicii in London last year. I was inspired my Pinterest but unfortunately can't remeber whose picture it was I used so I'm afraid I can't credit them here. A classic example of nail tape! Mine is from ebay and was nice and cheap but still effective. I find it's the best way to get straight clear cut edges.

The neon orange is one I got ridiculously cheap for about 2 euro's in an Ibiza supermarket, and is actually quite impressively good! I imagine it's got a lot of those nasty chemicals in though so try not to use it too much.

Colours used: Matt White - Barry M, W18 - Colour Cosmetics, Indigo - Barry M

Throwback Thursday: New York Skyline

Todays Throwback Thursday is one of my favourite nail designs I've ever done, and I don't think the picture does it justice if I do say so myself! Original design was most likely found on Pinterest, I made some amendments and have done this one on friends too. I think the gradient could be improved, I was using sponges that came from shoe boxes at my old job! I still have some and think they work well if you want a rougher effect but make-up sponges would give a smoother gradient.

The black outline was done with a nail art pen and then filled in with a small nail brush, and the white was also done with a nail art pen, getting a few layers on there for a bolder effect. 

Colours used: Blue Moon - Barry M, Cyan Blue - Barry M, Baker Street - Nails Inc, Nail Art Pen in Balck - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in White - 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

Sparkly Jellies

So as it's Friday and very grey and rainy (how can I need to get the fluffy onesie out in July?!) I think we need something bright,sparkly and a little bit silly! This is another inspired by One Nail To Rule Them All (http://www.onenailtorulethemall.co.uk/). She did a lovely design with pale blue glitter covered in little white jellyfish. I took this less fiddly route and went for one big statement jellyfish!

I started with Barry M's Catwalk Queen, but didn't think it lived up to their ussual standard at all, so topped it up with another blue glitter from yonks ago to get the final effect. The jellyfish were done with white nail varnish and a thin nail art brush. Dotting tools for the eyes.

Pretty pleased with how it turned out. Shame I didn't get any proper pcitures till it was starting to grow out! (see below). Happy Friday!

Colours used: Catwalk Queen - Barry M, Blue Glitter - Barry M, Matt White - Barry M, New York Noir by Kate Spade - Nails Inc

(Below is Barry M's Catwalk Queen if you were curious!)

Throwback Thursday: Long Long Aztec!

So todays throwback nail picture really demonstrates how crazy long they used to be! (with the exception of the thumb which seems to have had a mishap!). One of my earlier experiments with fading. The bright colours don't blend together very well but they do create a good contrast against each other. Used the white Barry M nail art pen (somewhat wonkily) which takes a while as it's quite watery. Works well but does tend to need a few coats.

Colours used: Cyan Blue - Barry M, Antique Coral - Natural Collection, Bright Purple - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in White - 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!)

Something Snazzy!

Something about zig zag patterns just brings the word snazzy to mind, one of the best silly words! Another simple summer design, all you really need is a nail art pen. For this design I used all Barry M colours. I find their nail art pens are reasonably priced and easy to use, but you definitely need a top coat, as the desing will start to rub off otherwise. Also need to make sure the nail polish is super dry before you start the design or it can start to drag the colours. It's best to make sure there is quite a lot at the nib of the pen so that it glides easily accross your nail.

Colours used: Mint Green - Barry M, Berry - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M

Blue and Orange

I love an unusual colour combination, and blue and orange is definitely one of those! This design was super simple to do, two bright summery colours on the bottom, a nail art pen for the lines on top, and a thin coat of shimmer to finish. Perfect for a sunny Sunday!

Not much else to say on these ones, voila! Happy Sunday!

Colours used: Cyan Blue - Barry M, Antique Coral - Natural Collection, Nail Art Pen in White - Barry M, Crystal Shimmer - Accessorize

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

Throwback Thursday! Richter Scale Nails

As I am uploading from my backlog of nail pictures I thought I would take advantage of throwback Thursday! This is a very old one, from not long after I started getting into nail art about 3-4 years ago. Can always tell which ones are the old ones my how long they are! I still like a longish nail, but a bit less talon like!!

This design is one by Wah Nails which I saw on their instagram, there are many variations of this around (just google earthquake nails!) and it's a good one because aside from being fun it looks harder to do than it is. After painting my nails half and half I just used a small nail art brush and some black nail varnish to do the design in the middle. The beauty of it is it can be as messy as you like!

Colours used: Baker Street - Nails Inc, Mint Green - Barry M, Foil Effects Gold - Barry M, Gold Glitter - Barry M, New York Noir - Kate Spade New York by Nails Inc

Seaside nails for a rainy day!

Good evening! As it's miserable outside I thought I'd put up some seaside nails. Really feeling the holiday blues!

This one is another copy cat, this time from One Nail To Rule Them All (http://www.onenailtorulethemall.co.uk/). This is my favourite nail blog so far, this girl is a genius! I don't know how she gets everything so neat! I have tried many of her designs on my own nails and this is one of my faves, being a seaside sort! The design is easier than it looks and fun to do. The only tools required are a small nail art brush (and nail art pen if required), sponge and a little bit of cling film. Dabbing the white polish on lightly with cling film gives the nice foamy sea spray effect.

Colours used: Blue Moon - Barry M, Blueberry - Barry M, White - Barry M, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Red Hot Rio  - OPI, Nail Art Pen Black - Barry M

I'm back!

Long time no see! After a year and a half (!) and a stressfull full time job (still going!) I have finally been able to sit down and start up again. I have a very long backlog of nail pictures to put up so should be able to post regularly. Will start with nail art from my recent holiday to Dubrovnik - Croatia (absolutely beautiful place, would highly recomend!).

This one isn't one of mine, I copied it from a design I saw on Pinterest and beleive it is orgininally by elle & ish (http://www.elleandish.com/), but changed the colours a little. It's always a tough choice, which nail design to do on holiday, but this one seemed suitably bright and sparkly!

Colours used: Guava - Barry M, Coconut - Barry M, Bit Faker - Butter London