Pisces Birthday Nails

Dear Nail Diary,

It was my birthday on Wednesday so I decided to create a nail look to commemorate the event.  I'm a proud Pisces, so I wanted something that incorporated that, as well as utilising my own style.  I had planned a cherry blossom look as I love Japan, however after receiving my birthday presents early, I couldn't refrain from using a couple of the colours I received.  I haven't done any stamping in a while and I have plates from Bundle Monster that I've been wanting to use for some time now.

So this is my brand new love, Birefringence by I Love Nail Polish.  It's a beautiful colour-shifting polish known as an Ultra Chrome due to its ability to shift to so many more colours than standard duochrome or multichrome polishes. I could take photos all day in all lights and never be able to show you all the colours that appear in this amazing polish.  I think the bottle photo probably shows the most colour shifts.  Golds, greens, pinks, magentas, purples, reds and blues.  Almost an entire rainbow in one polish.

It's opaque in two coats, something very few of my current multichrome polishes can manage without looking streaky or patchy.  If you click on the above photo you can see the shift from navy blue to electric violet to magenta to deep burgundy.

While in this one you can see the shimmering metallic particles more closely.  In the one below you can see more of the reds, pinks and oranges.  As with all multichrome polishes, brush strokes are more noticeable, however I find a good quality topcoat can lessen them, especially if you are going to be using that polish as a background.

So this is what I created to represent Pisces and celebrate my birthday...

 I started with two coats of the Birefringence on my thumb, index and baby fingers.  After adding a topcoat and letting it dry, I used the Bundle Monster + gotnail plate BM-XL212 which is part of the Blogger Collab Set 3 and another birthday polish (Cirque Colors - Memento Mori) and my new stamper, I stamped the pattern on my index and baby fingers to create a scaly effect and topped it off with another topcoat.  Fish or mermaid?  You decide.

For my thumb, I used yet another new polish and my first "official" stamping polish from Hit the Bottle called Holo There Beautiful!  I also received Lucky Spark.  Both of them are holographic stamping polishes as they are often the hardest to get to show up properly.  As you can see, that was not the issue here and the holo shows up beautifully.  I used a mermaid design from the same plate as before.

Finally for my middle and ring fingers I was inspired by a marble design that popped up on my Pinterest feed.  So I painted two coats of Nails Inc - Swan Street as a base and waited for it to dry.  Next I got my other polishes, my mixing palette, a very small dotting tool and a makeup sponge. 

I was going to use the cling film technique, however I really wasn't in the mood for all that dabbing, waiting to dry, topcoating and repeat for however many colours.  So instead I dripped drops of each polish in a random but close pattern on my mixing palette, then before they could dry, I took my dotting tool, you could also use a toothpick and did a lazy drag marble.  Then I just got my makeup sponge, dipped an end in the marble and sponged it over my nail a few times.  I did use a liquid latex barrier around my nail to help with clean up.

After the topcoat had dried, I used Bundle Monster plate BM-725 which is from the Spring Buffet Plate Collection and using Nails Inc - Lanesborough Place (my go to stamping gold if you hadn't noticed) stamping these beautiful fish in opposing directions like the Pisces pictorial.  Finally I topcoated that and voila!  I'm still getting used to my new stamper, so the stamps aren't as clean as I would like them, but I have to say I really love this design, which is lucky because I want to keep it on for as long as possible as I'm testing out a new base polish and I want to see how it holds up against the Orly Bonder that I usually use.

Stay tuned, because I'll be showing you the new Nails Inc Collection I got for my birthday and my thoughts.

=:x

Crayon Nails and Matte Topcoat Dilemma

Dear Nail Diary,

Hello 2017!  Sorry I didn't see you in January, but I literally slept through most of it.  I tend to hibernate in Winter.  First thing you'll notice is my nails are shorter and squarer.  After a couple of breakage incidents coupled with my sheer frustration with my nails at the length they grew to last year, I've decided to try and keep them at a sensible length.  My right thumbnail has only just come out of recovery and has shown me that I do prefer the tip to extend my fingertips slightly, but not so much that I end up typing with my nails.  I'll still play around with shapes - I'm curious if I could achieve a shorter coffin/ballet nail, as I love the shape but not the length they usually are.  I'm currently rocking a rounded square for my latest nail art.

I came across this post on Pinterest which said it was a "Back to School nail art for kids," which annoyed me because I hate being told when I can or can't do something. 😠
Also I doubt many schools would allow students to have their nails painted like this in school.
I decided to give it a try, even though I'm not good at freehanding.  I pretty pleased with the results for my first time trying something like this.  The hardest challenges were picking out the colours and drawing the little squiggles.

 As you can see from the second photo, even though it's a relatively simple design, I had to use a whole lot of polishes.  In the photo I was inspired by, it looked as though they just finished with a plain glossy topcoat, but I wanted to make them more realistic by making the "paper" part matte.  At a glance they look a little too realistic, as I've been freaking out every time I catch a glimpse of them.

 I've been having a bit of a dilemma over matte topcoats lately.  I've been trying make sure all my recent cosmetic purchases have not been made my companies that test on animals.  So as my OPI matte topcoat was waning thin, I went on the hunt for a new one.  I wanted one just as good, but that also adhered to my changing moral standards.After researching as thoroughly as I could, I decided upon Zoya's "Matte Velvet Topcoat".  After using it several times, I can honestly say for the price, I'm rather disappointed.
As you can see in the photos, although there is a clear distinction between what's matte and glossy, the matte still has some shine to it.  While the effect actually worked well for this nail art, I'm looking for the "chalky" matte that OPI's creates rather than the waxy matte this creates.  I've been repeatedly told that Essie's "Matte About You" is brilliant, however that would mean compromising my No Animal Testing stance.  Next on my list to try is Picture Polish - G'Day Matte, but as they're an indie brand, getting hold of it might be problematic.

Anyway, enough ranting for today, I look forward to showing you more nail art soon.

=:x

Snowy Nails

Dear Nail Diary,

This was supposed to be a Mani Monday but I'm a bit behind.  To make up I'll give you a double feature!

I'll start with my Mom's as I did hers first.  It's based on the design of the Glossybox I received last December.  To recreate it I started off with two coats of Collection 2000 - Buried Treasure over a base coat, as it was the closest shade I owned to the box which is a sort of warm/rose gold colour.

I then sponged China Glaze - White on White onto the tips of her index, middle and little fingers.  On those same fingers I haphazardly dabbed China Glaze - Chillin' With My Snowmies in a kind of snowfall gradient.  I still had to place some of them to keep the biggest glitters away from the bottom of the nail.

On her thumb and ring fingers I simply sponged Nails Inc - Champagne Graffiti to the desired amount, as I still wanted a tiny bit of the rose gold to come through.


My nail design has been influenced by several nail art designs I've been looking at on Pinterest - where you can also find me.
I started with two coats of Ciatè - Morning Dew and added a coat of Seche Vite.  Once it was fully dry I added snowflake vinyls, which are part of Twinkled T's Holiday Vinyl Bundle.  I however got them as part of their Limited Edition Holiday Bundle.  Anyway, I painted over the vinyls with China Glaze - I'd Melt For You and a little of Ciatè - Looking Glass.  I then added a matte topcoat to let the iridescence of the Morning Dew "shine" through in a different way.

For my ring finger, I painted two coats of China Glaze - White on White and then a coat of Butter London - Frilly Knickers and finally a matte top coat.  Once that was fully dry I sponged on Barry M - Silver around the tip and up the side of my nail and then poured on some fine silver glitter and brushed off the excess. On top of this I also dabbed light glitter coats of Essie - A Cut Above and London Girl - 42 and added a thick coat of Seche Vite, careful not to get any on the matte part of my nail.

Unbelievably I've chipped this already, so hopefully later this week I'll be posting a new mani.

>:x

Mani Monday: Candy Cane Lane

Dear Nail Diary,

As promised here is the first of my Holoday Nails, before I do my Mom's and potentially ruin them.  Also if you want to get technical there isn't actually any holo in this design, only iridescence and sparklies.  I was desperate to try my new candy cane stripe vinyls - now they are holo! I started off with a base of Barry M - Lady.  It's a textured polish, but a couple coats of SV sorted that out.  I then applied the vinyls and painted on Nails Inc - St James.  I was just going to leave it there but there seemed to be something missing...

More sparkle!  So I glued on some square rhinestones and added another coat of SV.  However it still wasn't enough...

So lastly I stamped a filigree style design on the tips of my nails using China Glaze - I'd Melt For You and added a final couple of coats of SV.  It's been a couple of days and I'm impressed I haven't lost any rhinestones yet as I've usually lost at least one an hour after I've done my nails.

I'll be back when I've done my Mom's nails as I forgot to take a photo of the design I last did for her.

=:x

George and the Dragon

Dear Nail Diary,

I apologise if the nail art is looking a little worse for wear in these photos, I've been meaning to take pictures for a few days, but I've been too ill to take them.  Yesterday however, one chipped completely off the nail on my other hand so I thought I'd better get a photo while I still can.

I love the two green holo polishes from A England - Saint George and Dragon and I wanted to build a design around them.  I started off with this Dragon Scale Triple Gradient tutorial from Simply Nailogical:-

It was the first time I've tried a scaled gradient and while it ccame out okay, it seemed pretty basic just on it's own, so I decided to add some elements.  Using a dragon vinyl from Twinkled T's Mythical Creatures collection, I painted it using Nails Inc's red/orange duochrome glitter polish - New Burlington Place.  On my next three fingers I stamped a fiery looking tribal stamp with an orangey/gold shimmer polish from Avon that I've had for ages.  I also painted a light coat of China Glaze's Golden Enchantment on top of the flames.  Duochrome dragons breathe golden holo fire, don't you know? ;)

Wouldn't you know my camera died just before I could take this last photo, so I had to take it with my tablet.  My thumb is what my duochrome dragon is protecting - its treasure room.  I did a quick glitter gradient using OPI/Gwen Stefani - Don't Speak and a thin layer of the golden holo on top.

Next time I'll have photos of the first of my Holoday nails!

=:x

Back From the Dead

Dear Nail Diary,

Hallelujah, I'm back into nail art again.  I've been in a bit of a slump lately, plus I've been immersed in a jewellery collection I'm currently making/designing and I just haven't been in the mood to have pretty nails.  After skulking around the internet I discovered Simply Nailogical on YouTube and fell in love with her style.  BTW, I am a confirmed Holosexual - check out her videos to find out what that means!  Anyway, I've been so blown away by how far nail art has come in the time I've been away, that I couldn't resist any longer.

So here's what I've been wearing the past week on my nails, while I wait for some new nail art goodies to come from 'Merca...

I'm loving how much more intricate and cool vinyls have become, so before I get the ones I've just ordered from Twinkled T, I made do with some cheap Christmas border stickers I had lying around.  I picked up two random colours from my stash: China Glaze - Define Good and Nails Inc - Lanesborough Place.

I'm really pleased with how it came out, considering being nail vinyls are not these stickers' intended purpose.  The Seche Vite topcoat kind of dragged the design a bit, but other than that it would be a pretty cool look for Christmas I suppose.

=:x

Turquoise Ombre + Polish Haul

Dear Nail Diary,

Long time no see again.  I still haven't been in the blogging mood until just recently.  Plus every time I had blog-worthy nails, I forgot to take photos of them!  I've just had a huge polish haul (which you can read about after the jump,) and as I was swatching them, I saw this cool sort of ombre effect develop - so I decided to apply it to my nails.

The lightest is two coats of Nails Inc's Swan Street, which is from their The New White collection.  Next two coats of Nails Inc's Belsize Lane, then Ciatè's Pepperminty and Maybelline's Turquoise Lagoon.  On my thumb is Ciatè's Headliner.

Happy Easter!

Dear Nail Diary,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but real-life issues have meant I haven't really been in the mood to do anything with my nails.  I thought I'd ease myself in slowly, as X99 is currently taking up all of my time.  I have a new camera (my first DSLR - a Nikon D3200) so I've been retaking photos of all my jewellery so it looks more professional.  I'm still learning all the features, so I thought I'd test it out on taking photos of my nails first.

Happy New Year!

Dear Nail Diary,

This is only going to be a quick photo post, which I'll add details to later, but I thought you'd like to see the nails I was rocking last night.

Christmas Nails

Merry Christmas!
I thought I'd show you some of the nail designs I've been doing in the run up to Christmas.

 This is the Gift Wrapped design I did for my mom.
I started out with two coats of China Glaze's Tip Your Hat from the Twinkle Collection.  Using gold sticker stripes and a gold bow, I created the gift design on the middle finger.  On the index and ring fingers I added glitter stars.

Recently I did this Christmas design, inspired by various designs I saw over the internet.

On the thumb, index and baby fingers, I painted two coats of Rimmel's Block Your Green.  Then on the middle and ring fingers I painted a two coat base of China Glaze's White On White.

 On the middle fingers I applied striping tape in a diagonal pattern, painted London Girl's 149 on top and carefully removed the tape to create this candy cane effect.

For the ring fingers, I applied tape in an inverted "V" and began dotting various sizes with the London Girl and the Rimmel to make a tree and placed a star sticker on the top before sealing it with a top coat of Seche Vite.

My own mani was inspired by a candle created by my friend Maryann over at One Stop Pamper. I'm not sure if she still makes it, but it smelt like peppermint.  It had these glitter particles in it, so it not only looked, but smelt like fresh snow.

Two coats of China Glaze's White On White and then a coat of Butter London's Frilly Knickers to create the snow effect.  On my thumb and baby fingers I did a glitter gradient with China Glaze's De-Light from the Twinkle Collection.  On the rest, I painted on Nails Inc's Diamond Arcade and sealed it with Seche Vite.

I may do another mani for Christmas Day, if I do, it will probably posted after the day itself.  It I don't, have an awesome December 25th, whatever you may be doing that day!

=:x

Happy Halloween!

Dear Nail Diary,

Happy Halloween!

I love this time of year - and not just because of all the sweet treats!  The weather (which has been unseasonably warm round here), the food and the nails.
First up, Candy Corn nails.  Maybe because I'm not American, but I don't get the hate that these get.  I always make sure I have a bag for Halloween.

Tutorial Tuesday - Inspirations (Part 2)

Dear Nail Diary,

I'm sorry this is later than I intended to post, but last week was rather traumatic.  It's still Tuesday though - just about, so here's the next tutorial that I promised from the Inspirations Mani.


Inspiration 2 - Doctor's Floor

As I said, I tend to stare at the floor a lot whenever I'm at the doctor's.  I think it's part of my social anxiety and agoraphobia.  Anyway, the last few times I've been to see the nurse, I've noticed they have this really bright yellow marble-like vinyl floor.

Tutorial Tuesday - Inspirations (Part 1)

Dear Nail Diary,

Inspiration 1 - Cat Food Packet

My middle cat, Jake has been very unwell lately and has been put on a special diet with special brand of cat food.  The design of it inspired me to do this mani.

Things You'll Need:

• Base Coat
• White Nail Polish
• Teal Green Nail Polish
• Green Nail Polish
• Nail Tape
• Acetone/Nail Polish Remover
• Angled/Makeup Brush
• Top Coat

Inspirations Mani

Dear Nail Diary,

I was going to post this yesterday for Mani Monday, however I've been feeling especially tired lately and it took a lot longer than I was expecting. I've been inspired a lot by things in my environment recently, I even made up crude design swatches on Paint for me to follow.

So as I took step-by-step photos, it can be Tutorial Tuesday instead!  I told you I'd get around to making more tutorials eventually. ;)
Part 1 will be posted shortly, you'll have to wait until next week for the next tutorial!

Mani Monday: Midnight Leopard & Handpainted Tortoiseshell

Dear Nail Diary,

Double post!
I did both my mom's (as she's been bugging me) and my own over the weekend.  I've been practicing making prints with my new nail art tools.  I'll start with mine...
I'm not really a fan of animal print, but I really like the effect of this mani.

Neon Criss-Cross

Dear Nail Diary,

I haven't been feeling up to doing my nails for a while, but I'm finally getting back.  Not sure where the idea for this came from, it certainly wasn't what I was intending, but I like it nonetheless.

After applying my base coat I painted two coats of Barry M - White.  Once dry, I sponged on some neons (Manic Panic - Electric Banana, Nails Inc - Kensington Park Road & Sloane Street, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard and Essie - Action) in random gradients.  I sealed them with SV and waited for it to dry.  I then applied nail tape in a criss-cross pattern across each nail and painted on a think coat of Barry M - Black over the top.  I immediately removed the tape and allowed it to set a little before I applied a final coat of SV.

It's quite pretty, however I think I'll take the plunge next time and use the neons as a base over the entire nail.

=:x

Sugar Sprinkle Gardens

Dear Nail Diary,

This is sort of inspired by my bathroom.  We have these new matching lilac accessories which contrast nicely with my favourite soap from Shoples.  I love their Beside The Sea soap and it gave me the idea for this mani.

After applying my base coat, I alternated two coats of Chelsea Physic Garden and Chelsea Manor Gardens. Not content with this on it's own, I added a coat of Grosvenor Gardens on my party nail.

 I finished off painting my tips with Park Lane and Fitzroy Square and then SV topcoat.  It's a Nails Inc extravaganza, before my haul for this month from Butter London comes.  I haven't tried any from them before, but these were on sale, so I'll see what I think.  I also have some nail accessory goodies from America coming, which I shall share when they get here.

=:x

Sunshine

Dear Nail Diary,

It may be a teensy bit grey outside my window, but at least my nails look sunshiney.  I told you I felt a yellow phase coming on.

Random Pick

Dear Nail Diary,

My nails are still in treatment, but I couldn't stand the bare look any longer.  I had no inspiration, so I just decided to do a random pick and whatever I picked up would be painted on my nails.

Two coats of Nails Inc - Kings Road.  I've been dying to try my new O.P.I - The Living Daylights, so I added a coat of that and sealed it with Seche Vite.  Hopefully I'll have some better inspiration soon.  I feel a yellow phase coming on.  At least my cuticles are looking better. :)

=:x

Cool Art Deco - TbT

Dear Nail Diary,

I'm not feeling so good, so I thought I'd take advantage of Throwback Thursday and post an old design.

It's using my favourite design medium - tape.
The design itself is one I adapted to my own tastes from this article.  There are some cool tutorials including the one I used for this, which is the 3rd one down about Chevrons.  I made the lines thinner and changed the colour palette so it had an Art Deco feel to it.
Hopefully I'll feel up to posting something new soon.  My nails are in treatment right now, so they might be in better condition for the next post.

P.S. I think my squovals will be back.

=:x