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?