YMCA - Volunteer Nail Painting - May

Our nail paiting sessions at the local YMCA are going well now, people know to turn up and actively look forward to it now it seems so it's great. Building up a nice client base of repeat customers so must be doing something right!

The art this time, as I have got my act together a bit more now, is chosen from my new 'Mani-Menu'!

The ladies chose....

Mix and match Black and Pink:

Summer neon patterns and gems:

Mix and match Black and Pink - with cupcakes!

'Reggae' nails:

And we had a man for a MANicure!

As always, let me know if you want to know specific polish colours. More in June!

I'm back! Bye Bye Vegas.....Hello Nails!

So I have returned, been very busy since coming home so it's felt like a whirlwind - but now back to business and back to nails!

It's a shame to leave this.....

But brilliant to come back to home, and family - especially as I was treated to having a manicure from my 6 year old niece.....

She's the only person I have ever seen use a nail painting technique that goes from the tip of the nail to the cuticle, rather than the 'normal' way of painting! Bless her!

The nails I have today are my 'anniversary nails' as today is my second wedding anniversary yay! <3

I used a new Rimmel 'Stronger' base coat as I have run out of Essie, 2 coats.
The base colour is a polish I picked up in Las Vegas from Forever 21, which I think we only have a couple of over here and certainly not near me - 2 coats. They don't give their polish names (why not?!?!) so this is just Grey/Hot Pink.
Then using Essie Madison Ave-Hue I painted little hearts and outlined it with Models Own Black Magic using my teeeny brush!
A coat of Seche Vite and Anniversary nails are done, hope you like!

Holiday! Viva Las.....

VEGAS!!!!

Oh yes, I am heading off to Sin City for two weeks with the hubs, soooo excited!

I had to do some Vegas nail art to celebrate, hope it brings me luck on the tables!

I used:
OPI Nail Envy for Base
Models Own Black Magic as base colour, then Barry M Nail art Pen in White for the designs, with more Black Magic, and Models Own Red Alrt for the coloured shapes.
For the thumb I used Essie Mint Candy Apple and a top coat of Barry M Gold Glitter, I used the Barry M Nail Art pen in Black for the writing - sooooo much easier than my miniscule paintbrush for words!

Topped with Seche Vite and sprinkling of giddy-ness!

See you in a couple of weeks! :)



YMCA - 3rd time lucky!

So I went and painted nails at the YMCA in Reading again, and thankfully this time word had spread and we did 14 manis/pedis this week! Over double what we had done before, so pleased that the ladies seem to be really enjoying it.

So, nail spam.....
If you would like to know specific colours please do ask:

Spring Mani - Floral and Paisley

I only tried paisley nail art for the first time the other day so wanted to do it on my own nails, I felt that it could be quite 'spring-like', so paired it with spring colours and cute daisies!

Base - I am currently doing one coat of OPI Nail Envy and one coat of Essie All in One Base to try and encourage growth whilst still looking pretty!
Thumb and Middle: Essie Mojito Madness as base then Essie Blanc and Models Own Fuzzy Peach for the daisies, little dots in Models Own Lemon Meringue.
Pointer and Pinkie: Models Own Fuzzy Peach and Models Own Lemon Meringue for the paisley
Ring - all of the above colour - trying to be a ruffian style?!

All topped with Seche Vite.

Here's a close up of the designs:

And as One Nail to Rule Them All showed what she's like with her left hand I thought I would also share my left hand (I am left handed!) to show my dubious skills....

I hope you like and that you feel spring-like!

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend I spent almost the entire time cleaning, however I did cram in a manicure for my friend Sarah ahead of our next YMCA nail session tonight, and my final nail wheel - need to order more!

Sarah:

For this I used
 Essie All in One basecoat
Thumb and Middle: Essie Blanc, and the three below colours for the roses - detail done with Models Own Black Magic
Pointer: Wet n Wild On a Trip and Models Own Black Magic for the paisley
Ring: Nails Inc Basil Street and Models Own Black Magic for the hearts
Pinkie: Orly Gumdrop, Models Own Black Magic and Essie Blanc for the bow design

All topped with Seche Vite of course!

Nail Wheel Randomness:

I had great fun doing this!

From the top clockwise, 1-up Mushroom, Bandanna, Daisies, Pastel paisley, Tie Dye, Burger, Ace of Spades, USA Flag, Vegas sign, I <3 NY, Tiffany bow, Graffiti spray, Eye, Leopard fade, Mum tattoo, Diamond and bling, Ruffian and Camo.

Happy Monday!

Painting at Pips

I do my sister in laws nails every week, she has acrylics but after a while they look a bit tired and start growing out so the bridge the gap between when she has her infills done I paint designs on them!

This week she invited two of her friends over too so I have more to share! Hopefully this will be a regular thing and that means even more practise for me...

One:

I used Essie All in One base

Nails Inc Basil Street

Added small pearl and matte back gems - bought from Amazon

Topped with Seche Vite

Two:

I used Essie All in One base
Nails Inc base colour Picadilly Circus
Flowers: Nails Inc Percy Street, Models Own Lemon meringue and a dotting tool
Topped with Seche Vite

Three:

I used:
Thumb: Models Own Blooboo
Pointer: Models Own Lilac Dream
Middle: Models Own Jade Stone
Ring: Base Models Own Lemon Meringue, Wet n Wild On A Trip and Models Own Lilac Dream for the cupcake case, Essie Blanc for the frosting and Models Own Red Alert for the cherry! Assorted colour for sprinkles!
Pinkie: Rimmel Portobello Road
Topped with Models Own Jack Frost for the shimmery glitter and then Seche Vite

I think it's clear I need some new go-to pastel shades!

Thanks!

Gel nails - Nail Art Attempt 1

My friend Sarah has a Gel Nail kit she does at home - not extensions, just the gel paint over natural nails. It is good, a brand called Red Carpet and certainly lasts longer than standard polish, but we wanted to figure out how good it might be for nail art as we both love a bit of that!

First, my nails:

I used a taupe base which is called 'It's not a Taupe' (confusing!) and then on the ring finger and pointer tried a leopard print design of sorts using a glittery black called 'An Evening to Remember' and a turquoise glitter called 'Shimmering Gown'.

I liked the look, it was bumpy as unlike with normal polish the coats are so thin that one coat of top coat doesn't flatten the polish like Seche Vite does. But still, if you like nail art but want something more hard wearing this is great as it doesn't chip for days.

Sarah's nails:

These certainly turned out better, some purple roses for her as they're her favourite flower!

I used 'One of a Kind' for the lilac base, then 'Leading Lady' and 'Thank You, Thank You' for the rose design along with 'Diva in Disguise' and 'Its not a Taupe' for the small leaves.

I think we will practise some more with this, but if anyone has any gel hints and

tips they'd be appreciated!

Thank you!

Backlog!

I feel like I have been super busy recently, time enough to paint nails but not share on my blog :( sorry for being so rubbish but here I am clearing some of the back log!

Firstly, today I am trying two of the new polishes I got for my birthday which was last week:
Essie Aruba Blue
Orly Angel Eyes

I decided as I was too excited to try them that I would layer them so I could wear both - and the result is a truly gorgeous colour:

As usual, OPI Nail Envy for base and Seche Vite as top coat.


Easter nails!

Waaaaaay late, but such cute designs I thought I would share. I did my friends nails, Sarah and JimJam and here are the results:

This was Sarah's set, I used:
Essie All in One Base
Thumb: Rimmel Portobello Pink, Essie Blanc, NYC Lexington Yellow
Pointer: Models Inc Lemon Meringue, Essie Blanc and Miss Sporty Orange for the beak - Models Own nail art pens in black and white for the eyes - same for all.
Middle: Models Own Jade Stone and Essie Blanc
Ring: Models Own Lilac Dream, Essie Blanc and a smidgen of 17 for the nose and ears!
Pinkie: Models Own Blooboo, Models Own Lemon Meringue and Rimmel Portobello Pink - dotting tool
All topped with Seche Vite

JimJam's set - she had an Easter party the next day and was going as a sheep......

Essie All in One Base
Base for all - Essie Mojito Madness
Essie Blanc and dotting tool for all white sheep
Models Own Black Magic for black sheep base
Rimmel Portobello Pink for the little pink noses!
Tiny bit of Models Own Grey Day for the ears, and Models Own nail art pens in black and white for the eyes.
I then used Seche Vite to top, but on the two pinkies and pointers I used black, white and green flocking powder for a fur and grass effect!

I hope you think they're cute!

Glitter is my favourite colour....

Need I say more????

In honor of this I did my sister in law's nails with a special glitter mani...

I used Barry M Gold Glitter (3 coats for full coverage), then for the pink gradient spots:
Essie Blanc
17 in Miami
Ciate in Knickerbockerglory

All topped off with Seche Vite.

Love this - defo going to use again, perhaps over silver glitter with black, grey and white dots for New year or night out nails?

What do you think?

Good old Red, White and Blue

Look at what I bought myself :) Not quite a Helmer but getting there...!

Only £30 from Staples and is perfect polish sized! Lots of room to grow with this now too, whcih is awesome!

Tried some nautical coloured type nails for the first time, wasnt pleased with them but thought I would share in case there are any suggestions on how to improve them....

I used;
OPI Nail Envy as base
Essie Blanc
Essie Leading Lady
Nails Inc Serpentine Road
Top coat of Seche Vite

Also used striping tape - which I cannot seem to get the hang of like other bloggers have, practise required! My dotting tool, and some red gems.

I didn't much like it so wasn't too gutted when during dish-washing it all smudged due to the heat!

What do you think?

I love Leopard Print

Gosh, I am so sorry I haven't posted for a while - work has gone manic and I just want some time to sit down and calmly paint my nails! Easter weekend is upon us so this weekend I intend to invest some time, especially as I still haven't tried out my HEX nail charms!!!

Aaaanyway, I LOVE leopard print nails, so simple yet look amazing every time!

I've tried a number of variations: plain tradtional colours, rainbow, monochrome, neon, metallic, themed and I like them all!

Which is your favourite from these two?!


Traditional colours:

I used Essie basecoat, Nails Inc and then Models Own black, white and gold nail art pens. Seche Vite topcoat.

Rainbow:

I used Esie basecoat, then for the thumb and ring fingers the base was the pink skull polish I first showed in the JimJam post here, and then Wet n Wild On a Trip sponged over the tips. For the pointer and pinky I used Barry M Yellow for the base and then sponged over Island Girl Aloha Magic for the tips. For the middle finger I used Nails Inc Holland Park (purple) and Warwick Way (green).
Used Models Own nail art pens in White and Black for the pattern.
All topped off with Seche Vite.