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 haven't posted for a couple of weeks - sorry! I don't even have any reasons. I've been doing my nails, just not posting.
Anyway, here is what I have on right now, some mermaid fish-scale nails using more of my stencils from Whats Up Nails.
I started with a base of Barry M Pacific, which is a greeny blue metallic polish. This was two coats.
I then used the vinyls and splodged on a random pattern using 3 textured glitters: 2true Christy (silver) and Barry M VIP (blues) and Fashion Icon (purples). The final design was very very textured, so I added one coat of Seche for a little bit of smoothness and shine.
I really like how these came out, and they are really sparkly in the sunlight.
I think next time I would use a more contrasting base colour though, so the fish scale pattern shows a bit more clearly. Having said that, the vinyl stencils themselves are really good. I bought loads of designs, so I have lots more coming up!
I'm not very well at the moment, and haven't done my nails in a few days. In the meantime, here are some nails I wore last week.
The base is Mood Maker Pink, a cheap thermal polish that goes from dark pink when cold to a paler pink when warm.
I then used geometric stencils from What's Up Nails, and a holo stamping polish by Colors by Llarowe, This Heart Bleeds for the design on my thumb and ring finger.
I love how crisp and clean the lines are with this stencil and with the stamping holo. I'm sorry about the shadow on the sunshine photo, but it was the only one I got showing how sparkly the holo is in 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 recently won a giveaway hosted by the lovely Claire at Kerruticles, and won not one but FIVE different sets of stencils by Smart Nails. These are the first ones, the chevron design. I decided to make a nautical style colour combination of blue and white.
This is two coats of Barry M Pearl, from the Silks range. The stencils are really neat little squares of plastic with the design cut out - they're tinted, so that you can easily see where they are on your finger. They stick down nicely to the dried polish, but not so firmly that they lift the polish.
I used Barry M Blue Plum to paint over the stencils and make the chevron design, and then peeled off the stencil. I really liked how crisp these lines came out - when I've used stencils before, the polish flooded underneath in places and made a blotchy mess.
I really like how these came out! I know it's not festive (I'm not feeling Christmassy!) but I'm off to see Anything Goes! at the Crucible tonight, and I know there are sailors in it, so my nails are sort of appropriate.
After my stash post showing my nail art supplies (click here if you missed it), Squeakymom asked to see the heart nail stencils in action. I bought these in Superdrug over a year ago, but I'd never got round to using them.
The pack has ten small plastic pieces with a heart shaped hole and a sticky back. The plastic is grey, so makes it easier to place on the nail than clear tape, because you can see where you're putting them. I had been wearing Barry M's Christmas Gold foil polish today, so after work I added some stencils and added a couple of hearts using a pink creme. However, the pink wasn't opaque enough, so I put the stencils back and went over the pink hearts with OPI's Stay the Night liquid sand.
You can see on a couple of the nails where I just didn't quite get the second stencil lined up over the original heart. It's only visible in the real close up though. I wasn't a fan of the liquid sand on its own, but I love the contrast here between the shiny and the gritty polishes!
The stencils were really easy to use - there was no bleeding underneath, and if you were really careful you could possibly reuse them (although I expect the stickiness would wear off). The tape is stronger than sellotape and holds its shape well. I like how the heart shape is very sharp and clear - I couldn't get such neat shapes doing this freehand.
I think these were £1.99 in Superdrug, although as I also have another product in the same range, I think I bought them on a 2-for-1 offer. Even so though, you only get ten per packet, so I don't think it's something I'd use frequently. They were very easy to use though, and quite effective looking I think.
