Tuesday 24 May 2011

Pastel Stripey Manicure of Many Colours......

..... a take on the coat of many colours but this with just four and some gold bling!

So after my two gradient sponge manicures, I fancied something a little less "in your face".  So I did this stripey manicure of many colours (well three colours, four if you count white).
I used Nail Envy as always as a base then put on a thick coat of white 248 by Honeypot.  Then freehand painted on the other three colours by China Glaze: Lemon Fizz, Peachy Keen and Moody Blue.  Once dry I put on some bling using a gold striper pen and some heart rhinestones on the ring finger.  All finished off with a coat of SV.
Alas, although I am pleased with the result, not quite the effect I wanted, it is still in your face!  But I like it.
 

Monday 23 May 2011

Red, White and Blue

Well my daughter did her nails again this weekend and she wanted OTT and boy did she do it!

She had wanted to do a nautical theme manicure but went right off tangent and came up with the following idea as you will see in her photo's. The base colour is OPI Alpine Snow and I did the red stripes with OPI Red for her using my sticky back plastic cut into thin strips.  She put on the blue heart gems at the end and she did her OTT ring finger nails with me filling in the missing beads.  Lots of SV over the ring finger also.

And viola.......

Sunday 22 May 2011

Purple Sponge Gradient

Well I had my green gradient sponge manicure on for three days and I could have gone all weekend with it on but I had to have a change.  After doing nails for a friend earlier on on Friday afternoon, it was time for me to do mine. But one thing I will say is what a b****r it was to take off the nail stickers.  I even wrapped my nails in foil for a while but it still took me ages to get them off.  I liked the gradient sponge so did it with purple this time.

The colours I used were China Glaze Who's Wearing What for the cuticle area, OPI Funky Dunkey for the mid section and Avon Midnight Plum for the tips.  I added nails stickers for some more effect, a coat of SV and voila.
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Saturday 21 May 2011

Red Gradient Sponge and Flowers

Other than doing my daughters nails or my own I have never done anyone else's.  This is the first manicure I have done on someone else.  I had shown her my green sponge manicure a few days ago and she loved it. So I asked her to come over on Friday and I did her nails.  Again not fantastic photos but IRL the nails looked good.  I used ASOS Paints Blake for the cuticle area, OPI Red for the mid section and China Glaze Thunderbird for the tips, I used some Nail stickers to finish the look she wanted.  Topped off with SV for a shiny finish.

OPI - Baguette Me Not!

My daughter did her own nails last week, and she says she got so many compliments.  Her friends thought she had been to a salon! The photos here do not do the manicure justice, I have to practice taking photo's of someone else!  She used OPI Baguette Me Not, OPI Alpine Snow for the white dots and some flower gem stones.
Here is what she did.

Thursday 19 May 2011

Celebrating Eco Week

WEDNESDAY 18 MAY 2011
Well this week at school we are learning about being "green" and friendly to our planet.  Wednesday was a special day where everyone was encouraged to walk to school and wear something green.
Well I wore green and went all out and re-did my nails to suit.
I used my favourite sponge technique and added some nail art stickers. As you can see I did not clean up before taking photo, apologies for that.  I need to edit the rest and so will post more photos later.  I love this and have to say got lots of compliments.
OK, so I have edited my photo's.  Here they are in all their glory!  So the colours used were: near cuticle - OPI Green-wich Village, Mid-nail - China Glaze Paper Chasing and Nail tip - China Glaze Jolly Holly.

If you have not tried the sponge technique, you really should.  It is so quick and easy and you don't need so much polish/lacquer either.  So go on give it a go.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Grey Thames!

TUESDAY 17 MAY 2011
Well after wearing the gorgeous blue Lauren by ASOS Paints for quite a number of days, I needed a change.  I opted for this lovely dark creme grey by Nails Inc called The Thames.  I was only going to wear this for a day so cheated and only put on one thick layer over my Nail Envy, topped off by SV and voila.  Not bad coverage at all.
As my outfit for the day I had a yellow blouse on, I did a bit of sticky back nail art using OPI Banana Bandana..  It looked much more effective IRL.

Tuesday 17 May 2011

ASOS Paints - Lauren

I was going to take off this manicure, so thought I would have a little play with my sticky back plastic, this is what I did!
My favourite has to be the pinky finger and then the spots (spots done using a pencil and a safety pin).

Goodness, whatever happened to blogger?  All my posts have been mucked up!
I had this ready and it just did not get posted at the scheduled time.  So am having to re-do it again! Never mind, here it is now. After my Rrrrwwww! nails (I only had them on for two days, I got bored!) I chose this gorgeous blue  by ASOS Paints called Lauren.  This is two coats and that is all you need to get a good opaque coverage, beautiful.  To get a shiny finish SV of course.  I got many compliments on this colour and I have to say I liked it on my short nails.  This lasted from Friday 13th! through to Monday 16th May.  I could have left it on longer as it had no chips or tip wear! But you know, I needed to change! I will show you tomorrow what I wore today.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Rrrrraw - Tiger about!

We are teaching the children at school about the Rain Forest and although we learnt about the Jaguar I thought I would do another jungle animal inspired manicure instead.  I have done this before and because it is so quick and easy I thought why not.  This manicure is done using the sponge technique.  The colours I used are OPI - Banana Bandana (the yellow near the cuticle), Zoya - Felina (pink in the middle) and OPI - Atomic Orange (near the tip).  For the stripes just a regular black nail art pen and all topped off with a coat of SV.
This is without top coat and you can see the bumpiness!
These following three photos with top coat and the bumps have gone!

Wednesday 11 May 2011

FFF and Short Nails

No I am not swearing ..... Freebie Fashion Fawn!

My DH was going to Sainsbury's this weekend and I just happened to mention that if he saw InStyle magazine, would he be nice enough to buy one...or two... or even all three!  He got me all three and this is one of the colours that came free with it. You can also get it (or all three) in the June issue of InStyle Magazine.  It was lovely to apply and opaque in two.  You may also notice I CUT down my nails, on my RH they were splitting and chipping and so I just cut them all to the same size.  Hopefully they will soon start growing again.
This is not at all true to colour - REASON mega strong sunshine! :o) 
Then for a bit of fun I added some flowers using my ever trustworthy black nail polish by Honeypot Cosmetics and dotting tool.  To add a bit of sparkle a rhinestone in the middle.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

OPI - Shorts Story

5 MAY 2011
This is another one of my hundreds of un-worn lacquers!  I don't know why, perhaps because I keep buying new ones!  But I thought after my black nails I needed a bit of a lift, especially as the weather has been so nice.  So this is Shorts Story from the OPI Bright Pair Collection. It is a bright and vibrant creme colour.  It is opaque in two coats which is a must especially when applying lying in bed and with only a side bed light on!  Still not bad, but I won't apply like that again as I smudged two of my nails!  But oh, what a lovely colour.  I have also just noticed how my nails have grown in just two weeks, wow.  Must be the lovely sunshine we are getting at the moment.
For a bit of fun, using my sticky back plastic and my lovely black nail polish by Honeypot Cosmetics, I applied a little nail art on my ring finger. 

Monday 9 May 2011

China Glaze - Black Diamond

2 MAY 2011
I wore this just over a week ago.  This is Black Diamond by China Glaze, sorry for the bad pics, I forgot to take photos straight away, and been at work a few days and you can see the tip wear!  Anyway, this is a gorgeous colour, opaque in two coats and as you can see it is not a true black.  It has a blue/teal shimmer to it, love it.