Pink, Nude & Gold

 Hello!

Here are my nails ready for back-to-work today. I picked out three nude/pale shades for this design, which I've seen in a lot of places and really wanted to recreate.

The base is Utopia by Models Own - I go back to this again and again for a lovely pink-toned nude shade. This was two lovely coats.

Once this was fully dry, I applied straight nail vinyls (or you could use striping tape) to section off a triangle at the bottom of each nail. I painted these pale pink (Rosehip, Barry M) and then removed the vinyls. Once this was fully dry, I applied new vinyls in the opposite direction, and painted the triangle with glitter (Duchess, Barry M).

The main thing here is to WAIT between layers. I gave enough time between the nude and the pink layer, but after I'd applied the pink I was too impatient to wait and tried to apply the nail vinyls when the base wasn't fully dry - it felt dry to the touch, but once I pulled up the vinyls, the polish slightly pulled up underneath - arrghhh!!! I tried as best I could to press them back down and topcoat them so it was less obvious, but I'm still so annoyed as the lines now aren't as neat as I wanted. Grrr. So the moral is - have patience!!!

Red & Pink

Quick post for today to show you a manicure I wore during the week.

For this one I used three Barry M gelly polishes - Chilli, Pomegranate & Rhossili. 

I started with two coats of Pomegranate. Then when it was fully dry, I taped off triangles and filled them in with Chilli. Once this was dry I used a dotting tool to add one dot on each nail using Rhosilli.

The overall effect was quite neutral - the colours were all so similar that from a distance they blended in, but up close the pattern was visible. Next time I try this I think I'll use more contrasting colours, because I do like the simplicity of the pattern!

Leopard Print Triangles

Hello!

Some more new nail art today. These nails were inspired by @lookatmynailart on Instagram who posted a beautiful blue version of this manicure. When I saw it I immediately knew it was something I'd like to re-create.

I decided to create a pink version. For the base, I used Strawberry Ice Cream by Barry M. This is one of their older polishes although I only recently purchased it. It's not one of their gelly range, but there isn't a gelly that's this perfect shade of pale pink - I love Rosehip but that's a bit TOO light for what I wanted here. However, this polish is very sheer and jelly-like and even after three coats I could still through it slightly! I stopped at three coats as I didn't want the polish to be too thick. 

Once this was fully dry (I used fast-dry topcoat and waited about an hour) I applied straight nail vinyls (stickers) from She Sells Seashells as guides to form the triangles. I could have used striping tape for this but found using the vinyls are much easier - they're pre-cut, and less flimsy.  This is what they looked like without the leopard print - I thought they looked quite nice like this!

I filled in the triangles with one coat of Lychee by Barry M (above). This one is a gelly so is a good one-coater! I peeled off the vinyls using tweezers. After some more fast-dry topcoat and some more waiting, I doodled on the leopard print pattern with my Barry M black nail art pen.

I topcoated this, but I was worried about smudging the leopard print, so I decided to 'dab' the topcoat gently over the design, then once dry add a second coat. This worked really well and prevented smearing the design after I'd spent ages filling in each triangle!

I love these nails, it's such a clever design (that I borrowed!) and looks so intricate, but it wasn't too difficult! Here's a quick collage of photos I took mid-design, including the top left which was a doodle I did at work to get it straight in my head how I wanted the design to come out on my nails!

Neon Gradient updated with tape

Quick post to show you how I've toned down my bright neon gradient mani ready for work tomorrow. This is the first time I've used striping tape and it's actually worked! Sooo fiddly though... I want to try again with more contrasting colours, but I don't know if I want to faff about with the tape again any time soon! 

Had a fab, hot day today at The Great Yorkshire Show. There was even a stall offering stamping manicures (didn't look great though!) 

Week 3 - Polka Dot Nails

Yay - finally time for week 3 of the HTV nail art challenge, polka dot. I've been looking forward to actually doing some challenge nails, but I didn't really have a set idea for this week. Until today I was just going to do pink with white spots, until I saw similar to this design I've done when I was googling. Thought it looked fab so thought I would try it! 

 

I'm semi-pleased with the result. I love the effect, but there are some imperfections that are going to annoy me, like the diagonal lines not being straight and the fact that the topcoat slightly smudged some of the dots. I'm pleased that the dots look reasonably even as this is what I thought I would have the most problem with!

Here's a step-by-step photo guide to how I did this. Masking tape to create the divide, and a dotting tool for the spots! (Oh - and the black nail art pen also has a brush, so I used this as it's the only black I have!)