Yesterday I did a pretty purple gradient using three Barry M polishes - Fondant, Sugar Plum and Blackberry.
I really liked this, and wore it alone for the day.
Today I wanted to do something else to it, and decided to do a freehand floral design over it. I used some thin brushes and Konad White to make some grassy leafy stems, which I thought looked quite pretty.
However, because I never know when to leave well enough alone, I started adding Barry M Lilac Foil - which wasn't too bad when it was just the stems, but then I added stupid flowery blobs on top of the stems too, which was a mistake. I don't like how this all looks, so I've taken these off now. Boo.
I hate this time of year! It's wet and cold and clammy and work is stressful and everything is just generally uurgh. Hence the lack of blogging I suppose. I have done my nails, but I've only taken photos of some of them.
Anyway, here are some nails I wore a couple of weeks ago. I started with a gradient using China Glaze Riveting and Barry M Sparkling Amethyst. I wore these like this for a couple of days at work.
I then stamped over the gradient using Konad Black and.... probably one of the MoYou London XL plates, although I can't remember which one.
I really liked how these looked. The stamp is supposed to be floral, but I think it's ended up looking more abstract here. I love Riveting (the shimmery orange one) but haven't worn it for a really long time - I clearly need to dig it out more often!
I wore these bright gradient nails for four whole days this week, because I liked them so much.
I used four of the Models Own Polish for Tans for these - Sarong Wrap, Beach Fire, Barrier Reef and Island Hop.
These blended so easily, they were so easy to make a gradient with. I added topcoat for shine and longevity.
I was planning on stamping some kind of tropical flower design over these, but in the end never did, because I liked them as they were.
As promised, here are some of the nails I've worn recently, but hadn't got round to posting.
I wore these a couple of weeks ago. The pink gradient is sponged on and used Barry M Cotton and Sugar Plum.
I then used the mesh vinyls from Whats Up Nails, and painted on a stamping polish by Colors by Llarowe, Golden Rule. Because this was a stamping polish, it was a bit on the thick side, and maybe wasn't ideal for nail vinyls, as you can see in some spots the pattern isn't completely sharp.
Still, I think these looked pretty good! I especially like how Golden Rule looks in the sunshine.
I recently had a splurge on exciting nail vinyls from a US store, Whats Up Nails, after seeing them in some gorgeous blogger photos on Instagram. I was SO excited when the package came!
I've been wearing these nails for three days, and have only taken them off now because I managed to chip one. The base is Barry M Cotton. I then used the droplet vinyl stencils, and splodged on three of the new Barry M Lolly Gloss polishes, the orange one (Orange Fizz), the pink one (Pink Candy) and the red one (Cherry Drop) in a gradient-ish design. You can't actually see the change from red to pink that clearly, but I still think this works.
The vinyls are fantastic - they stick down and lie flat, and then lift off easily without leaving any sticky residue, just beautiful crisp lines.
The Lolly Gloss polishes are lovely - translucent and super shiny, and they smell of boiled sweets!
You can see the range of stencils and vinyls at Whats Up Nails here. I bought these, and used a discount code from Vics Nails, who did the gorgeous nails where I first spotted these vinyls.
I know, I know! I've hardly posted this year, sorry. I've had very little urge to write any posts, although I have been painting my nails. But I thought I'd show you these nails!
This gradient uses Illamasqua Prosperity, Illamasqua Superstition, Barry M Satsuma and Barry M Yellow, which I sponged on.
I'm a touch disappointed in how little the pink shows on these - it seems to disappear into the orange and the purple somehow. Still, that's a fairly minor point, because I do love how these turned out.
I am considering stamping over these tomorrow, but not sure I can decide what colour or pattern. Do you have any ideas?
I don't do Hallowe'en, but I'd seen lots of nails like this recently and wanted to do some too!
I started with 4 purple polishes and made a gradient. I used Barry M Black Currant and Blackberry, Jacava Holbein Place and Barry M Fondant, to take it from an almost-black purple to a pale lilac. I started with a base of Jacava Holbein Place, and then sponged on the gradient.
I really like how this came out, and I wore this on its own for a day, with topcoat to make it glossy.
The cleanup round the cuticles was quite awkward - that Barry M Black Currant again! I still liked this though.
I then tried this matte, just to see what it was like. I like this too!
I then used a Barry M nail art pen to freehand a tree and some gravestones.
I like the contrast of the black against the sort of sunset sky, and the glossy against the matte.
I wish Black Currant wasn't so messy round the edges though!
Tonight's nails are quite simple, but I LOVE the colour combination! First I just painted my nails with Jacava Passion, a gorgeous bright berry pink. Then, because I had nothing else to do and didn't want to stop playing with my nails, I sponged on a gradient of Passion and Phene Street.
I had a little difficulty cleaning round my cuticles, as I managed to sponge Passion quite deep into the skin!
I think the colour combination is gorgeous though, so rich and glossy.
Both these colours look gorgeous on their own, but they really work well together.
I think I may stamp over these tomorrow evening, so I can wear these for an extra day. Maybe some gold leafy pattern? What do you think?
I'm excited about today's post! I have a third lovely Jacava polish to show you, plus some nail art I've done using the new polishes, plus details of an exciting Jacava giveaway which will allow one lucky person to win the entire Woodlanders polish collection!
Photo credit: Jacava.com
These were the three polishes I tried:
You can see my swatches of Holbein Place and Justice Walk by clicking on the links. Today I have Phene Street to show you.
This is the darkest of the three, and is a gorgeous muted, dusky purple. I really love the tone of all three of these polishes (and of lots more in the collection) which really does fit in with the misty autumnal woodland idea of the collection.
Phene Street is another polish with a fantastic formula and finish. This is two coats, although this was opaque with one. I only added a second out of habit!
I really like how these colours go together, so I also used them for a couple of nail art looks. First off, I used sellotape to make a simple blocked tape design.
I was really pleased with this, and wore this for a day at the weekend.
The colours go so well together, I think!
Then today, I've used the colours to make a gradient and a water marble.
These worked really well for water marbling, I was very impressed! And they're fabulous for gradients - I love how nicely they blended.
Last up, the exciting news! Jacava are running a competition which will allow someone to win the entire collection! (See the range here - that's SEVENTEEN bottles of polish!) All you have to do is check out their Twitter or Facebook, and follow the instructions to enter.
These polishes were provided for my honest review. I don't get anything if you enter or win the competition (I'm entering it too!) See my Disclaimer section for more information.
I'm sorry, I've been missing in action and haven't posted for a couple of weeks now. It's been our busiest time at work, and I've had zero spare time or energy for doing stuff to my nails! Things are starting to ease off now though, and I'm hoping to get back to more regular posting.
You don't need to buy lots of fancy nail art tools or expensive polishes or complicated things to make nail art! If you're a nail blogger, or a nail blog addict, you'll already know about these tricks, but my NORMAL friends and colleagues are always asking how I do some of the things I do on my nails, so here's a post for them! It's not magic, or something super complicated. It's usually something cheap and easy. Here are my top tips for nail art using stuff you probably already have at home.
These are my essential items - I always have these at home, and use most of them almost daily on my nails. Sellotape. Baking foil. Cocktail sticks. Makeup sponges. Cotton buds.
So, what do I use all these things for?
Let's start with makeup sponges. I buy these in the pound shop - this whole bag cost £1. Using these, plus some foil and tape, you can make a gradient nail art look, which looks far more difficult than it is. This is one of the things that my colleagues most often seem impressed by.
Start by dabbing the sponge on some tape on all sides - this removes any fluff or loose bits of sponge. This is especially important with cheap sponges, as they can be a bit rougher in quality than the more expensive ones.
Next step is to paint your nails with your base colour. Here, I've used Models Own Coconut Cream, which is a pretty off-white creme. Then, I lay down some foil on my work surface, and paint two stripes of my chosen colours next to each other on the foil. I'm using Models Own Coconut Cream and Bubblegum.
Then use your sponge to press down on the two colours (or three, if you're feeling fancy!) - I use the wedge shaped end of the sponge, but any surface works.
You then just dab this onto your nail. The amount of pressure used is something you need to get used to. Too light, and the colours won't transfer. Too firm, and you could make a mess and make the surface lumpy. To really blend the colours, move the sponge slightly in a wiggling motion up and down the nail. This is just a very slight movement though! Do this on all the nails, and repeat with an extra layer if necessary to make the colours more intense.
You'll end up with something like this! As you can see, there's a lot of mess round the sides of the nails, but we'll deal with that later. There's also some textured bobbly bits showing on my middle finger nail here, and that's my fault for not cleaning the sponge on the tape enough. They are tiny bobbles of sponge. When the polish was dry, most of it just brushed off.
This is where the cotton buds come in! Dipped in acetone or nail varnish remover, they're my essential for cleaning up the mess round my finger tips after a gradient.
Add topcoat, and ta da! One gradient mani. Depending on the colour combination you use, you could have something subtle and pretty, or dramatic and wild. You could do a three-colour gradient, or a different gradient on each nail, or a vertical gradient along the length of the nail... the options are as open as your imagination!
I've already shown you the sellotape used here for prepping the sponge for a gradient. That's just the start though, and my most common use for tape is for blocking off parts of the nail for a tape mani. I used China Glaze Shooting Stars over my gradient to make a pretty triangle design.
First off, I cut short strips of tape, and stick them to the back of my hand. This is to slightly soften the stickiness, so that it doesn't rip the polish off the nail! You also need to make sure your base polish is totally dry and firm. This is where a quickdry topcoat is helpful!
I then position the tape over the nail, and make sure it's lying flat on the nail, with no lifted edges or bubbles. Here, I've used two strips to tape off a triangle shape. I then paint the contrasting colour (in this case, my sparkly glitter) over the tape, and quickly remove the tape before the polish dries.
Again, you're only limited by imagination: you could do stripes, or block off the tip, or the base of the nail. Or you could tape off one side of the nail to make a 50:50 colour split. I did this triangle design, alternating with the opposite pattern of cutting a triangle of tape so that the middle section of the nail was blocked off.
Here's my final design!
And here's another tape mani. This one uses three new Jacava polishes - keep an eye out on the blog, full reviews are coming soon! To do this, I painted my base colour (the blue), taped off half the nail diagonally and painted the second colour (the pinky one), and then taped off the nail diagonally in the other direction before painting the third colour.
On to the cocktail sticks! I use these for all sorts of things - they're great for clearing cuticles of any flooded polish when it's still wet. They're really useful for helping to peel off tape from the nail, or to add rhinestones or studs (using the point of a cocktail stick dipped in topcoat). But three nail art techniques that can be done with a cocktail stick are dots, dragmarbles (also called drymarbles) and spun sugar manis.
Dotting is one of the easiest things you can do with a cocktail stick. Yes, you can buy fancy metal dotting tools of various sizes, but you don't need them to make dotty nail art. Just dip the cocktail stick tip in polish and dot it on your base. Depending how much you dip, you can make teeny tiny dots, or bigger ones, or even shaped ones.
Next, drag marbling.
Dry marbles, or drag marbles are something I've only recently started trying out. You need to check out Sveta Sanders, she's the expert at these! Basically, you paint a thick layer of one colour, then quickly dab on dots of another colour, and while they're still wet, use the cocktail stick to swirl and drag to make a marbled design. This can be messy or neat, complicated or simple. Or just messy, like mine!
This is what it's meant to look like!
Lastly, a spun sugar mani involves using the stick to draw out long strings of drying polish which you then trail over a base colour, just like spun sugar that is used to decorate desserts.
To do this, drop a few dots of polish on some foil, and leave it to start thickening up and drying a bit. Then use the cocktail stick to draw the polish back and forth over your nail. This works best when the strings are thin, like spun sugar. I'm still working on this, so some of my strings are a bit thick!
This process leaves a real mess on the sides of the fingers, but acetone and a cotton bud easily solves that!
Here are a couple of manis I did using a combination of the techniques. I'm less than happy with the finished look, but I like some individual nails more than others.
I'm fairly pleased with how the dots came out here, and I like the gold spun sugar nail. I'm not happy with the drag marble at all though, as it just looks like a thick mess. Oh well, it's a learning curve!
This second mani was done with my new Jacava polishes again. This time, the drag marble is a bit better, but I'm not sure if it's too subtle to see properly. The spun sugar looked better before I added topcoat, which has flattened it out a bit.
Lastly, foil glitter polish removal! Some polish, especially glitters, can be a real devil to remove. I'm sure we've all experienced having to scrub away at rough glitter on the nails, which shreds the cotton wool and is really hard work. But the foil removal method makes it super easy.
First, cut some strips of foil.
Then add a bit of cotton wool soaked in acetone or polish remover on the nail.
Then wrap the nail tightly in foil.
Do this on all nails.Wow, this photo makes my freaky bent thumb look really obvious!
After a few minutes, just slide off the foil and cotton wool, and the polish just wipes off! I love this method, and use it really often.
So there we go. That's my tips for some easy nail art using stuff that you almost certainly have at home already. Who says you need fancy tools and equipment to have fancy nails?
