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

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

Daffodil Days

Hey space turtles! Back to blog catch up as we've been away again this weekend. This nail art was done for April's Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram - this time the theme is daffodils. I really love this daffodil image from Mo You London's Flower Power 26 stamping plate so it was the perfect candidate for this look. 

I started with a base of cream on my two middle nails and electric blue on the others (colours listed below the pictures). For the daffodil nails I created decals using my Uber Mat. I chose some reflective glitters for the daffodils and am really pleased with how they came out, even if you can't really see the sparkle that much in the pictures. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

Colours used: Blueprint - ILNP, Cream Soda - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Shell We Dance - Painted Polish, Catch Sun Rays - Painted Polish

Spotted Sea Creatures

Hey space turtles! More simple stamping to share today as I chipped my strawberry nail art the day before going to London and wanted to neaten it up. I wanted to try out a new stamping plate from Kads Nail Art and thought this would be a good opportunity as it was something I could do quite quickly with no advanced stamping involved. I started with a base of pale blue and then added the block colour images in navy. The spotty images where added over the top in white stamping polish. I tried layering up two sets of images on my thumbnail but it didn't really work, I think I messed up the placement of the mermaid image. Finished the look with a glossy top coat and enjoyed!

Colours used: Pale blue - Brand I no longer support, The Serpentine - Nails Inc, White Stamping Polish - Uber Chic Beauty

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

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

Let It Snowww

 ... but let it wait till I've stopped commuting to London! Today's snow nail art is for one of this months Glam Nails Challenge prompts. I decided to try out a new sparkly reflective polish I got for Christmas and thought it would be just right to go with snowflakes. I started with a peel of base and then two layers of glitter. I had many snowflake stamping plate images to choose from and settled on the Noel 20 plate from Mo You London for the multi snowflake image and for the individual ones I used their Festive 02 plate. I added the images using white stamping polish after a 'glitter grabber' layer of clear polish. I then used a dotting tool to add some more snow and finished the look with a quick dry top coat.

Below you can see the look with and without flash. I love the colour and the sparkly effect. These were simple to do and I really like them. In particular the index finger and little fingernail. Really loving doing some more wintery designs!

Colours used: See Through You - Emily de Molly, Essential White UberChic Beauty

Winter Animals Feeling Festive

Hey space turtles! More Christmas nail art to share today, as will be the case for the next few weeks. I have too many ideas and not enough time! As I will be moving onto more classic Christmassy colours I wanted to do a lighter look before that. I love the cute little animals on Mo You London's Noel 09 plate so they are the focal point of this look.

I started with two coats of blue with gold shimmer, and then added some star, snowflake and plant images from the same stamping plate in silver. For the animal images I created decals on my Uber Mat which I then applied to my nails. I like how these turned out. They don't look massively Christmassy I don't think but they do feel festive and of course cute!

Colours used: Fool's Gold - Picture Polish, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Cream Soda - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M, Ruby - Barry M, Amethyst - Barry M, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M

Cosy at Home

Hey space turtles! So my last post was cosy in chrome and this one is cosy at home... I wanted to do something that captured my enjoyment of home in the colder weather and use the lovely Cosy At Home plate from Uber Chic Beauty.

I started with two layers of frosty blue polish which is actually a thermal although the thermal colour change effect isn't very strong now. I made decals for four of my nails on my Uber Mat and while these tried I added the welcome winter wording and a couple of hearts. I then added the decals to my nails and finished with a glossy top coat. I'm pleased with how they came out and am looking forward to getting into my Christmas nail art looks :)

Colours used: Glacier Blue - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Red Hot Rio - OPI, White Moonstone - Barry M, Taupe Temptation - Painted Polish, Yellow - Barry M

Dino Mountain Nights

Hey space turtles! I've had Mo You London's Jurassic Park 04 stamping plate sitting around for a while now and somehow haven't used it yet. Now is finally the time and I'm pleased to finally be creating dinosaur landscape nail art!

I started with a base of blue and then added the silver stars from Mo You London's Sci Fi 10 stamping plate. I then chose the base layer mountain image for each nail and added them in white to create a background for the purple polishes and stop them blending into the blue. I then added a later of light purple over the top, and a final mountain image on each nail in dark purple. I finally added a dinosaur in black to each nail and finished with a glossy topcoat. I'm enjoying the colour scheme of these, the landscape effect and the fact that there's a dino on each nail - so a winner all round!

Colours used: Aruba Blue - Essie, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Purple - Mark, Dark Purple - Mark, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend