Ladies in the Lake

Hey everyone! Behind as usual... The nail art I'm sharing today was created for a charity event at the local lake where I love to swim. I didn't take part but I did donate and do my nails in tribute! I used the Breast Cancer Now colours in the background. I wouldn't have thought to go for something so bright with abstract nails otherwise but I really like the way it came out.

I started with a base of pale pink and then added swipes of orange, yellow and pink. I didn't follow a particular pattern and just did what I felt like. Once this was dry I used black stamping polish to add images from Mo You London's Le Musee 04 stamping plate and finished the look with a glossy top coat. This was really easy to do and I love how it came out!

Colours used: Vintage Tee - Nails Inc, Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Beach Hut - Models Own, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Sharks Love Ice Cream!

Oh no I'm so behind with blogging again! I'm thinking of stopping the blog to be honest and just sticking to sharing on Instagram and maybe Twitter, but will carry on for now. I love the Glam Nails Challenge themes on Instagram this month and would like to take part but am a bit short on time and have some other ideas too. Therefore I've decided to merge them together in pairs instead! The first two themes are Sharks and Ice Cream so I've tried to depict a hungry shark going for an ice cream and some more hungry sharks circling for ice cream!

I started with a base of turquoise on my middle two nails and sheer blue on the others. On the sheer blue nails I layered up the blue polish with images of sharks from Uber Chic Beauty's Just Beachy plate. I love this effect! I made ice cream decals using their Carnival & Fair Time plate and added one on my index finger and the other over the sharks on my thumb. I also used their layering shark image from the first plate on my middle fingernail, adding eyes with a dotting tool to make it look like it was ogling the ice cream! I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

Colours used: Greenberry - Barry M, Flipper - Urban Outfitters, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Essential White - Uber Chic Beauty, Grey - Barry M, Acai Smoothie - Barry M, Portobello Road - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry M

A Lemon Experiment

Hey space turtles! Truly into the summer nails now which I suppose makes sense since it's June already! I recently saw alekto.art on Instagram do some freehand lemons over lilac and it looked really cute so I thought I'd give it a go using the lemons image on my WhatsUp Nails Summer Seeds stamping plate. The idea of the yellow accent nail was inspired by some nail art by naileenj which I recreated a while ago (originally in pink) and it obviously stayed in my mind!

I created decals on my Uber Mat for the lemon images and once applied I finished the look with a matte top coat. I really like the look but do wonder if the shades I used where a little too bright as they didn't work as well as the art by alekto.art. I'd say they're still pretty good though :)

Colours used: Seven Dials - Nails Inc, Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Key Lime - Barry M

Nails to Soothe the Soul

Hello space turtles! Todays nail art has me feeling zen. I did some pastel yoga nails I really loved a while back and as I've got back into yoga I thought now would be a good time to try something similar. I started the look with two layers of lilac on my thumb and outer fingernails and two layers of off white on the middle two. I then created decals on my Uber Mat for the middle two nails and while these dried I added some figures in yoga poses in black and silver, along with a silver image and some wording on my thumb. All images are from Mo You London's Mandala 16 stamping plate. I added the decals to my middle nails and finished the look with a matte top coat. Pastels and yoga are a prefect combo I think :)

Colours used: Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Cream Soda - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Foil Effects in Silver - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M, Greenberry - Barry M, Cyan - Barry M, Bluebell - Barry M

Coronation Swans

Hey space turtles! I'm a bit behind with this post as it's from the weekend but better late than never! I wasn't really planning to do anything for the Kings Coronation at the weekend but the lake where I swim did fancy dress for it and I just couldn't resist! I wore a swan hat and decided to create some nail art to match. 

I started with pale blue on my middle two nails and thumbnails and dark blue on the others. I created decals for the swan nails using Mo You London's Animal 01 stamping plate. While the decals dried I added some gold detailing from their Games 02 stamping plate on the dark blue nails. I added the decals to my nails and trimmed them before adding a layer of blue across the bottom. I was pleased with how well that came out since I was using the brush straight from the bottle and my left hand! I added a top coat carefully to avoid smudging the nail art. I think this would look good matte too but stuck with shiny as it felt right.

I really love how these came out. The colours are very me and I like how bold they look against the contrast of the swans. It does feel a little weird to have royal themed nails when I'm not particularly into the royal family but I think they're relatively subtle. I'd definitely enjoy doing some similar swan nails in the future.

Colours used: Pale Blue - Brand I no longer support, Indigo - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Beach Hut - Models Own, Essential White - Uber Chic, Bright Lights - Barry M

Gems with Cirque Colors Facets Collection

Hey space turtles! Super excited to be using Cirque Colors' Facets Collection again as it remains my favourite collection of all time. I'd forgotten just how many polishes there are and chose a select few for this look. Initially I was planning just a sheer pink background but then remembered the collection has a sparkly pale pink so I added one layer of that before adding my decals.

I started with four layers of 'Mani Mask' sheer polish and then added one coat of pale sparkly pink. While this was drying I created decals on my Uber Mat (see how here) for the gems using Mo You London's Crystal 06 stamping plate. Using Cirque Colors' Facets collection for a gems look has been something I've meant to do for ages so was great to finally do it! I finished the look with a glossy top coat and then unfortunately wiped a bit of the design away at the bottom left of my thumb by mistake - a shame as that was my favourite one! I'm enjoying the way these sparkle in the sunlight - very authentic!

Colours used: Bashful - Barry M, Rose Quartz - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Emerald - Cirque Colors, Tourmaline - Cirque Colors, Zircon - Cirque Colors, Ruby - Cirque Colors, Citrine - Cirque Colors

Mountainous and Blue

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is one I'd wanted to try for ages - some landscape nails using Mo You London's Noel 18 stamping plate. I saw a look on their website and deiced to try and re-create that as best as I could with the polishes I have available. I started with two coats of blue nail polish and created decals on my Uber Mat for the mountains - it was refreshingly easy to do these as it was all one colour and easy to colour in! Once the decals where dry I placed them around the middle of my nails and then added some trees in front in blue. I also added some clouds on the thumb nail and a blue bird of prey on my ring fingernail. I finished the look with a matte top coat.

The trees would have probably been better if they came out a bit darker and more opaque but I do like them. On my thumb nail I tried lighter trees in front but they didn't really come out that well so that's why it looks a bit blurry. I did also end up with a few bubbles from the decals. Overall though I like these - they're not perfect but they're blue and landscapey so that's fun!

Colours used: Laguna - Barry M, Essential White - Uber Chic, Cappuccino - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M, Cyan - Barry M

Ice Swimming Mermaids

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is close to my heart as it's inspired by my cold water swimming which I've managed to keep up throughout this winter. I'm loving the swims and post fire chats so much that I almost feel like I don't want it to warm up! I usually swim in a lake near me and had the fortunate experience of trying an ice swim earlier in January (it's all organised with life guards etc). Last weekend I also swam in the sea with my sister who is into wild swimming too - great fun! So I wanted to do a tribute to that with some wintery mermaid nails.

I started with a peel of base coat and one coat of gorgeous reflective nail polish (colours listed below pictures). I created decals on my Uber Mat using white nail polish to stand out against the background.  While these were drying I added snowflake images to my outer nails using Mo You London's Noel 08 stamping plate. The mermaids are from their Atlantis 05 stamping plate. After placing the decals on my nails I added some smaller snowflakes around the mermaids and some little drops of snow using a dotting tool. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

I'm undecided as to whether I should have done the outlines of the mermaids in black or white but I think white was probably the right decision. It's hard to know how well black would have shown up. Overall I'm pleased with these - the base colour is gorgeous and I love the theme! I particularly like how the mermaids are looking up at the snowflakes. I look forward to wearing these for my lake swim tomorrow!

Colours used: Tapped Out - KB Shimmer, Essential White - Uber Chic, Charlotte Street - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry M, Purplicious - Mark

Winter Animal Village

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is using another new nail polish I got for Christmas (Fancy Gloss - Ice Queen) and a stamping plate I've used a fair few times but just love so much! These little winter cabins on Mo You London's Noel 01 stamping plate are so cute and when I used them a week or two ago I thought it would be good to try them again with a paler background and some sparkly snow. 

For this look I made decals on my Uber Mat. For the animals on the sparkly nails I used Mo You London's Noel 09 stamping plate. I added some stars and moons to the lilac nails before I trimming down the decals and adding them to my nails. They are a tad smudged but not too bad. I think I should have removed the smoke from my middle fingernail too as it doesn't look quite right. The snow is shimmer polish with white underneath. Finished the look with a glossy top coat and enjoyed :) Pictures below with and without flash,

Colours used: Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Ice Queen - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Essential White - Uber Chic, Cappuccino - Barry M, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Indigo - Barry M, Bright Purple - Barry M, Aura - Nails Inc

Snowdrops

Hey space turtles! Today's nail art is for another Glam Nails Challenge theme, this time it's 'snowdrops'. I wasn't quite sure how to do them so thought I'd try a basic snowdrop look on one nail, and add seals to another two as those big fluffy seal pups are snowdrops of a sort! I also wanted to try out a fairy lights in the woods look and thought that would fit here too.

I started with a base of lilac and pale pink glitter (colours listed below the pictures). I made decals on my Uber Mat using a fairy lights image from Uber Chic's Holiday Spirit stamping plate and trees image from Mo You London's Noel 08 plate. While these were drying I painted on the little white seals and some snowflakes from the Uber Chic plate. I don't think I got the placement of the features quite right but they still look like cute little seals! I also painted on some basic snowdrops on my ring fingernail. I then added the trees decal followed by the lights before a glossy top coat.

Although these have their imperfections I do rather like them. Can't go wrong with baby seals! I am wearing seal pyjama's as I write this :D

Colours used: Nimbus - Illyrian, Charming - Illyrian, Essential White - Uber Chic, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Gold Digger - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M

Cosy and Blue

Hey space turtles! Todays nail art is another Glam Nails Challenge one, this time the theme is 'cosy and knitted'. Very fitting for this time of year but if only they could keep my fingertips warm! I made some decals on the Uber Mat for the ring finger and thumb nails and the little star on my middle finger (actually stamped that onto my mat by mistake but decided to colour it in and keep it and I'm glad I did!). On my other three nails I painted them blue and stamped cosy jumper patterns on in white. All images are from Mo You London's Fall In Love 08 stamping plate. I added the decals and then finished the look with a matte top coat. Ta-da!

I'm happy with the way these came out :) Haven't worn this sort of colour scheme in a while and I like the way the matte top coat makes the colours pop.

Colours used: Blueberry - Barry M, Oyster - Barry M, Grey - Barry M, Essential White - UberChic 

When snow falls...

Hey space turtles! I am wrapped up very warm and snuggly as I write this which feels fitting for the snowy design. Will be a bit less snug during my morning lake swim tomorrow I expect so making the most of this now! This nail art is for Sundays Glam Nails Challenge prompt of Snowman. I think the sheer polishes from Emily de Molly with the white glitter pieces work so well for snowy looks so used three layers of one of them as a base (colours listed below images).

I started with a peel of base coat before the blue snowy polish. I made decals on my Uber Mat using Mo You London's Festive 01 and Noel 01 stamping plates for the snowman, puffin and trees. I also added snowflakes and wording from the Noel 01 plate to my thumb and index finger in silver. I love how still and quiet it can be in the snow so the wording feels very fitting. I like to think the positioning looks like the puffin is listening to the snowman through the trees. I really like these and their wintery vibe - pleased with how they came out.

Colours used: Already Done - Emily de Molly, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Uber Chic Beauty, Tiki Hut - Models Own, Red Hot Rio - OPI

Birds and Berries

Hey space turtles! I was inspired by iamdeliasnails on Instagram to create this look. She created a snowy matte mint green look with plants which I wanted to try with my Noel 07 stamping plate from Mo You London. I thought I'd do it for the Glam Nails Challenge winter berries prompt and when looking at the stamping plate spotted some birds too which I thought would compliment the look well.

I started with a peel off base coat and three layers of mint green polish, which has discoloured a bit and looks suspiciously blue in some lighting! I then added a snowy top coat. Meanwhile I had some pinecone and bird decals drying on my Uber Mat. I added the plants in various shades of green and once the decals were dry I trimmed them and added them carefully to the design. Finally I used a dotting tool to add some little red berries. I particularly like the one with the bird holding a berry in it's beak although unfortunately the decal had smudged a tiny bit. To finish I added a clear top coat and then a matte one over the top. You can see pictures of both below - which do you prefer?

So in conclusion I am so pleased with these and really love them! They came out even better than I expected and I wish I could have worn them for longer. Kudos to Delia for her original design!

Colours used: Mint Green - Barry M, Snow Wash - No7, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Cocoa - Barry M, Green Stamping Polish - Mo You London, Green Park - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry  M, Little Bo Beep - Rimmel, Yellow - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI