Leopard print fun

I promise I haven't disappeared or given up on nail blogging - I've just been reaaaaallllyyy busy recently. I also unfortunately have an exam in a few weeks, so any manis I manage to blog about until that has passed are likely to be quick 'n' easy - although that's surely never a bad thing??!! Nail art still provides a welcome distraction though - there are only so many times I can read about earned value formulae and stakeholder management theories (zzzzzzzzzzz).

I decided to continue with the animal theme this week and try out a leopard print mani - plus I knew it would be quick to do which was a definite plus :)

with flash inside

 One big downside of the colder weather and shorter days coming in is the lack of natural sunlight to take nail pics in - I may have to think about investing in a lightbox for pictures (what I really mean is I might need to bribe my husband to make one ;) ).

without flash

 I do love the cool weather though - I sleep with the window open so the crisp night air always clears my head (although the mornings can be a bit nippy and that means a dash to the warmth of the bathroom)!

flash again

For this mani I started with two coats of 'A Butterfly Moment' from the OPI Mariah Carey collection, then used 'You Don't Know Jacques' for the brown blobs. Finally I finished by using my Barry M nail art pen in black to make the outlines and adding a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

side view

 I quite like it and will likely give the neon or pastel variants a go too at some point, especially when my nails get long again!

What do you think, are you enjoying the cooler weather? Have you ever tried a leopard print mani?

Fx

Spotty dotty manicure

My dotting tools finally arrived last week - yaaaay! So I (of course) had to give them a go with a spotty, dotty mani. I've seen quite a few variations of this so it's by no means a unique or complex design, but I really like it - it's fun :)

in sunlight

I started off with 3 coats of OPI 'Did you 'ear about Van Gogh' from the 2012 spring Holland collection. This is a lovely light beige creme and will be really useful to have as a neutral base for manis in the future!

I then dotted on Sally Hansen 'Grass Slipper' (the green dots) with two big dots and 3 small dots on each nail, followed by the same of OPI 'Anti Bleak' (purple dots).

with flash

  Once those had tried I dotted Barry M 'Shocking Pink'on top of the green dots and 3 smaller dots arond, then Barry M 'Peach Melba' on top of the purple dots and around. I then finished with a topcoat of Seche Vite (of course).

indirect sunlight

I really like this effect and plan to repeat in the future with different colour combinations, and to perhaps spice up with some stripes. What do you think, do you like the colours? Have you tried this before?

Fx

Pastel skittle mani with decal

After a few more complicated manis recently (posts to follow soon), I decided to go for a simple mani with a little embellishment. I ordered some moustache decals from amazon a few weeks ago, so decided tonight was the night to give them a whirl :)

in daylight

A skittle mani is basically five different nails often following a theme. So you could have all with the colour blue, all with stripes etc - or you could throw caution to the wind and go wild!

Fot this one I decided to go with pastel colours, and used the following;

• Barry M 'Peach Melba' (orange)
• Sally Hansen ' Yellow Kitty' (yellow)
• MUA 'Pistachio Ice Cream' (mint green)
• Essie 'Cool Cascade' (pink)
• MUA 'Bold Blue' (blue)

indirect sunlight

All of these are 4 coats, with the exception of the yellow one which needed SIX coats - seriously?!

I then applied a coat of Seche Vite and the moustache decal, then glued on black gems on to each nail (and a pink one on to the nail with the decal). And then finished off with another coat of Seche Vite.

Partial sunlight

 What do you think, do you like the colour together? Have you tried something similar?

Fx

Polishes used

f

Striping mani with bright colours

My striping tape came from China - FINALLY! Five weeks I've been waiting for these bad boys to  get here, so naturally I had to try them out in a mani IMMEDIATELY!

I'm going to say this up front though - I don't really like this mani, it didn't come out all that well and I definitely need to practise more! Although I was a little distracted as I was putting it on when all the media coverge of the royal birth started, so I'll maybe blame it on that ;)

indirect sunlight

I think when I try it again I'll be very careful not to flood my cuticles as I think that's why it looks so messy with the white peeking through.

So, to start off with I applied four coats of OPI 'Funny Bunny' which is a fairly sheer milky white creme. Now anyone who knows me in real life will know I bought this polish for the name only, and it will most definitely not become my 'go to' white polish!

with flash inside

I then applied the striping tape in the pattern you see with a fair amount of help from my husband, and painted on two coats of;

Barry M Gelly 'Guava' (the blue polish)
Barry M 'Shocking Pink' (the pink polish)
Barry M '325' (the green polish)

I took the tape off while the polish was still tacky, although the tape had stained a little on my thumb nail so I had to go over the white with my Barry M nail art pen. I then topped off with a coat of Seche Vite as usual.

I was really disappointed with the geen polish, which is a limited edition from the summer range. It looked so rich and vibrant in the bottle but came out pretty wishy washy on the nail.

Partial shade

I do quite like the three colours together though!

What do you think, do you like the pattern and colour combination? If you've tried striping before did you need help? Any tips (please)?!

fx

Blue and white polka dot mani

I received a fairly large haul on Saturday - about 25 new polishes and a variety of nail art peripherals. So it was inevitable that I would spend most of Saturday morning trying out some of the goodies!

in shade outside

 I started with four coats of OPI 'I have a Herring Problem' from the 2012 spring Holland collection. This is a lovely dusky blue with both gold and silver micro glitter. It's a gorgeous polish but a bit thin - hence the 4 coats!

I then took the Barry M White nail art pen and dotted on polka dots all over my nails. Now this was a total pain in the bum to do and many swear words were uttered, but I do love the finished result!

in sunlight

Finally I drew on a heart on my ring finger then went round it with the same nail art pen in black. I will confess - this is my 2nd attempt as the 1st one was a total disaster! And a coat of Seche Vite to finish it all off.

partial sunlight

 I'm really pleased with this mani and will definitely be doing it again (or some kind of variation of it anyway). What do you think? Have you tried the nail art pens out yet?

Fx

love the shimmer!

OPI 'You Don't Know Jacques!' with bow nail art

My newest nail varnish purchase is the revered 'You Don't Know Jacques!' by OPI. This is probably one of the most famous OPI polishes ever made and has been copied (or 'duped) countless times by other brands. It was originally released in the 2008 autumn 'Collection de la France', and has became part of the permanent 'Classics' collection since then.

It's a brown taupe creme and in the bottle isn't something I expected to like - however I have to admit I really loved it on the nail! My only gripe is the formula is quite watery so needs at least 3 coats for even coverage.

 I decided to jazz it up with some nail art seeing as the weather is so nice in the UK at the minute.

In sunlight

I used 3 coats of OPI, then painted a cross on to my nail using Barry M 'Amethyst Glitter'. This is a nice glitter that I often use for gradient manicures as it's easy to drag evenly on the nail.

I then applied a topcoat of Seche Vite, then glued on a nail art diamante bow. The bow is much bigger than I expected and I think it will be gone within a couple of hours! I'm far too rough 'n' ready to keep something like that on! It looks pretty for now though, huh?

In sunlight again

Polishes used

 What do you think, do you like this colour? Do you already own it?

I've recently purchased quite a few nail art props and tools so will be experimenting with those over the next few weeks. In the meantime here is a pic of a mani I painted earlier in the week, but didn't have enough pictures of it in a good state to do a dedicated post. It has 3 coats of OPI 'Dulce de leche', Seche Vite topcoat, and a piece of fimo nail art (an ice cream cone as homage to the good weather :) )

'Dulche de Leche' is one of my favourite nail polishes and is used a couple of times a month at the moment!

I hope everyone is enjoying the good weather as much as I am!

fx