A 30th birthday gradient

Hello world! I hope you're doing well today. I have one of my various birthday nail looks to share with you today. I made a poll on Instagram before my birthday suggesting four different options for birthday nails. I then ended up deciding to do something different for the actual day (the firework nails from my previous post) which didn't really work all that way - maybe it was a sign I should have stuck to the poll! Anyway, the look that won the poll was this burgundy and rose gold gradient, so I wore it for a birthday meal I had with a few friends. This took place just before the next lock down was announced here in the UK so was quite well timed really!

I saw this exact colour combination years ago, I can't remember where but it's easy to find if you Google these two nail polishes (listed below pictures). Ever since I wanted to give it a go but kept thinking I shouldn't buy two polishes just for this look! Eventually I saw them both for sale again at the same time and decided to go for it. It's not a colour combination I would have thought to use for a gradient if I hadn't seen it before but I really like it, both polishes have a lot of shine to them and a good party vibe. It feels appropriately grown up but also party-ish for a 30th birthday! I simply sponged on two layers of the gradient, could have possibly done a third but this definitely gave full coverage.

So in conclusion this was a success! I couldn't capture the polishes sparklyness the same way as the original pictures I saw but the funny lighting in the pictures below is where I've tried! I'd totally where this look again, and will be working through the other birthday looks in my poll in the order they were picked.

Colours used: Ambrosia - Cirque Colors, Himalayan Pink - Cirque Colors

A birthday nail fail!

So I'm behind with blogging again! Not too far behind to be fair but I haven't been behind for a while and I'm doing a lot of nail art at the moment! Todays nail art is a bit of a nail fail but I wanted to share it anyway as it was still kind of fun, and I enjoyed trying out something I hadn't tried before. It was my 30th birthday on Tuesday and I had the day off and wanted to spend the entire morning doing some nail art, using techniques I hadn't used or had rarely used. On my left hand I wanted to create a firework look as they're something I associate with my birthday for obvious reasons!

I started with a base of Black Rainbow, which is a gorgeous flakie thermal polish which is black in cooler temperatures and cream when warmer. On all but my ring fingernail I stamped firework images from the Mo You London Festive 05 stamping plate, using my 'sticky stamping' nail polish, which is designed to stay sticky so you can apply things like chrome powder for longer before it dries. On my ring finger I added the number 30 with the Mo You London Typography 04 plate in black, so that it would be hidden when cold and appear when warm.

On the firework nails I used a few different chrome powders which I rubbed over the designs, and dusted away the excess as much as possible. Some of these worked better than others, but I found it kind of stuck to the whole nail in some cases. I did use a quick dry top coat underneath with plenty of time to dry, so hoped it wouldn't be too sticky but I guess it was! The thumb came out best I think.

As it didn't come out that well you'll see I haven't even cleaned up in one of my pictures below, but I don't mind too much as I enjoyed doing them, and some recent Halloween nail art Id been planning for ages went well - you can't win them all!

Colours used: Black Rainbow - Fancy Gloss, Sticky Stamping - Dance Legend, Chrome Powders, various - eBay

A leafy look!

Hi everyone and happy weekend! I've had a lovely day today relaxing and going for a leafy walk. We are in lockdown again here in the UK but still allowed to go out for a walk. We did some cleaning and things in the morning so felt good relaxing in the afternoon and feeling justified in doing so! I've also been enjoying some of my birthday chocolates :)

Anyway, onto the nail art! This look was created for the Nail Addicts collab which takes place once a month. The theme was autumnail and involved picking a favourite autumn colour and creating a look around it. I don't have one favourite autumn colour but I've been really drawn to oranges this year, so brought out this lovely bright orange jelly with gold glitter chunks - Sands of Time from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. The bottom two pictures were taken on a very leafy walk I did one morning before work. It was a pretty simple look to create, just used black stamping polish and some leafy images from my go to autumn stamping plate, Lovely Leaves 01 from Uber Chic. That's all for now!

Colours used: Sands of Time - Femme Fatale Cosmetics, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Halloween Nails - Werecat-person-thing!

Hey everyone! I'm going to say Happy Halloween to you now as this is my last Halloween nail art to share with you this year - October has flown by! I squeezed this last look in so I could enter it into the Holo Taco Holoween nail art competition, and wanted to do something using their products. I've also wanted to try the Solar Unicorn Skin topper over dark red for some time, and I have to say I am so pleased with how it came out, it's incredibly autumnal! I also added the Gold Flakie Taco which gave it an extra sparkle.

The theme I was going for was a sort of werewolf type thing, but with a cat instead of a wolf! I also did the cat becoming a person at full moon instead of the other way round, as I wanted to use the cat sitting on the moon image again, I love it! On my index finger I used advanced stamping to fill in the crescent moon and cat, and I did the same with the middle finger where the cat is walking off my nail. I had to cut that image down a bit and did add to the tail to make it bushier. For the full moon I used layering images from the Uber Chic Basic Shapes 01 stamping plate, and for the little figures I used an old Mo You London plate which is actually themed around The Beatles. The figures are a bit small but I didn't trust myself to paint people freehand! The images are from the famous image of them walking across the road. but they're a bit small to figure out who the cat is turning into! I left the thumb nail art free to appreciate the lovely sparkly top coats!

I'm fairly pleased with how these came out though the people could certainly have been done better! I just adore the sparkly base colour which is what really makes this look for me!

Colours used: Red Black - Barry M, Solar Unicorn Skin - Holo Taco, Gold Flakie Taco - Holo Taco, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Gold Digger - Barry M

Halloween Nails - Autumn at the Haunted House

Happy nearly Halloween! This nail art is what I've been planning as my 'official' nail art for Halloween this year, although I have actually already had to take it off because it chipped as I used a peel off base coat, at least I have time to squeeze in some more nail art as I have loads of ideas at the moment! I was inspired earlier in the year by some nail art I saw on the Rainbow Connection Facebook page, which encouraged me to buy the flakie polish I've used here (colours listed below the pictures) and I already had my eyes on the sheer black. I then kept this idea in my head for the next few months, tweaking it a little by using slightly different types of images and adding the outline.

To create the look I started with one layer of sheer black, and then used images from the Halloween 13 and Festive 16 stamping plates from Mo You London over the top in black. I was pleased to use the two Victorian figures image as I think it's so perfectly spooky! Next I used flakie polish to make the autumn leaves/ flames effect at the bottom. I used Magma from Fancy Gloss which has a gloriously dense consistency of flakes, so I had to make sure I didn't have too much on the brush at one time. Finally, for the part I thought I'd probably mess up entirely, I used a thin nail art brush and black nail polish to create an outline around my nails - this went a lot better than I anticipated! I think using a brush with longer bristles was useful for the outline, as previously I've struggled more using my usual shorter brushes, but maybe I was just having a good day!

In conclusion I am super happy with these! I really wasn't sure how the outline would come out but I think it finished the look off perfectly (if I do so so myself!), so they look kind of like spooky scenes through windows. I'm definitely going to try outlines for more nail looks. I would definitely have struggled to ever take them off if they hadn't chipped, and for future it would be worth the flakie polish removal challenges to use a regular base coat so they last longer. I find thin layers of polish with a peel off base do chip quite fast.

Colours used: Coal - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Magma - Fancy Gloss, Lady In Black - OPI

Halloween Nails - Bats in the Dark

Hi everyone, I'm feeling super autumnal today, it's very leafy and wet outside which is fitting for todays nail art! Todays Glam Nails Challenge October prompt is bats, I have a few bat nail art options but decided to use one of my newest Mo You London stamping plates, Halloween 13. I was inspired by some bat nails I saw on Instagram to do a sheer white base but I'm not sure that was particularly visible in the end. It did give them a bit off a jelly look.

I started of with a few coats of sheer white, and then added some shimmer using five of the Under the Sea shimmery polishes from Barry M (colours listed below the pictures). Once dry I used black stamping polish to add the bats. I used the same image on each nail but placed it differently for some variety. I then applied a quick dry top coat to seal in the design without smudging the bats. The next part felt a bit weird, especially as I haven't used this black thermal polish before, I painted one coat of it over the top of all my nails. It was really strange putting black over my nail art! The polish is quite thick so one coat was perfect. I finished the look with a glossy top coat.

Once my nails were dry I went downstairs to try out the colour change effect, my nails had remained black until that point as I was a bit cold, so it was SUPER satisfying to see the bats reappear under the hot tap! It honestly made me so happy :D My boyfriend was quite taken with it too! I'll be sharing a colour change video of it on Instagram, but you can see it in it's varieties in the pictures below too. The plain back one is bats in the dark nail art!

Colours used: Allure - Essie, Angelfish - Barry M, Jellyfish - Barry M, Moonfish - Barry M, Butterflyfish - Barry M, Pinktail - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Thermal Topcoat - Fancy Gloss

Halloween Nails - Mystic Witches

HellooOo again - more Halloween nail art is here! Today's Glam Nails Challenge October prompt is Witches, and I decided to use images from one of my new Mo You London Halloween plates, Halloween 09. I spent some time trying to decide the base colour for this as I didn't want anything two dark, but wanted a bit of sparkle and an autumnal feel. I discovered this ILNP shade from a year or two ago and just had to get it out again. Fired Up is silver holographic sparkle with a hint of red running through it, so it glows orange and red at certain angles, and a little bit of green too.

I made witchy decals to go on top of Fired Up, using my Uber Mat. you can see how here. I was really pleased with how the Christmassy red colour came out as the cape. The shimmery beige I used for the skin for the witch on the broom doesn't really show up over Fired Up but worth a go! I really like the star images on this particular stamping plate so enjoyed giving it that theme. I'm also enjoying keeping my nails long for Halloween, I haven't reached the point where they annoy me yet but can't be too far off!

Colours used: Fired Up - ILNP, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Gold Digger - Barry M, If You've Got It Haunt It - UberChic Beauty, Say Love - ILNP, Tickled Taupe - Painted Polish, Concord - Cirque Colors