Merry Christmas!

Today I have created a skittle manicure with lots of little Christmas friends, that you would normally see this time of year. I really love this manicure and I think it my favourite Christmas nail art I have done so far. Then again, I say that every time I write a blog post.

 

 

 

Let me introduce you all to them....

 

The Thumb: Christmas Tree

 

 

 

What is Christmas without a Christmas tree? I love putting up the tree, decorating it so it looks really pretty and it makes the home feel so festive. The house always looks so empty once we have to take it down. I created this look by painting my base colour with a no named green polish from Nails Supreme. I then used a dotting tool to create a zig-zag line using MUA's 'All Nude'. I created little baubles using different sized dotting tools, using the following polishes; 'Boudir' by Ciate, 'Vivid Lime' by Barry M and 'Sunshine' by Rimmel. All is topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

 

The Index finger: Santa Claus

 

 

 

Father Christmas tends to be the main man of Christmas in the modern world, and a little visit from him will tell you if you have been naughty or nice this past year. This little dude, is so easy to recreate. I first used two coats of 'Boudoir' by Ciate as my base and allowed to dry. Using a large dotting tool I placed blobs of Barry M's 'Matte White' to create the fur trim on his jacket. I then sketched out a yellow square, using 'Sunshine' by Rimmel using a small dotting tool. To finish off the belt and buttons using the same small dotting tool and Nails Inc 'Black Taxi' I placed dots for buttons and added the belt detail. Of course it was finished off with a coat of SV.

 

The middle finger: Elf

 

 

 

Everyone needs a little help at Christmas, even Santa. To create this little helper I applied three coats of Barry M's 'Vivid Lime', its a neon polish so it either needs lots of coats or you can make life easier and apply a white base before the green. I then marked off some lines with stripping tape and applied the same green polish I used for the Christmas tree. Once dry I used a dotting tool to create the collar using 'Boudoir' by Ciate and 'Sunshine' by Rimmel for the bells. I used some black rhinestones for button details, and topped it all off with a coat of SV.

 

The ring finger: Rudolf

 

 

 

This is probably my favourite nail. I just love him, and I think you'll agree he is everyone's favourite reindeer. I used two coat of Barry M's 'Matte White' as my base. I then used a dotting tool to create the shape of him using 'Mushroom' by Barry M and outlined it with 'Black Taxi' by Nails Inc. For his nose I used a blob of 'Boudoir' by Ciate. Finished it all off with SV.

 

The pinky finger: Snowman

 

 

 

Everyone dreams of a white Christmas, right? Or is that just me? No Christmas manicure would be complete without a little bit of snow. I've gathered all that up and made myself a little snowman. I used two coats of 'Matte White' by Barry M and allowed to dry. I painted on a scarf using Ciate's 'Boudoir' and added the strip detail using the green polish by Nails Supreme. I added buttons using 'Black Taxi' by Nails Inc. Then added my final layer of Seche Vite.

 

There you have it, a lovely skittle manicure in time for Christmas. I think they look quite nice this way, but would also look quite nice having your nails all the same and more uniform, so you could technically create five different manicures from this look.

 

 

 

I'm not too sure I will get time to do another nail art post before Christmas as I want to wear these for a few days as I worked so hard on them. I really love them too, so I may keep them on for my Christmas day Manicure. I shall be applying my top coat like a mad woman.

 

 

 

If I don't post again before Christmas, can I take this opportunity to wish all my lovely followers a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a lovely time and enjoy the festivities.

 

 

 

What do you think of my Christmas Nail art? Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments box below.

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

Its getting quite close to Christmas day, and I am now half through my lovely nail polish Advent calendar. I'm sure many UK residents are wondering if we'll be having a white Christmas this year. I live in London and the likelihood of having a snowy Christmas is very slim, but every year I always hope. A few years back it did snow a few days before Christmas, and it was looking likely to have a Christmas card type scene of Christmas morning, but it warmed up and the snowman I built had melted away, leaving a lovely puddle and carrot of its mere existence.

Tomorrow I am going to Bath (and English City) to get in the festive spirit, to visit a Christmas market with my Sister and my Mum. In the UK it is 'Wear your Christmas Jumper Day' so that is what I will wearing, and where I gained my inspiration from for this Christmas nail art post.

I prepped my nails with OPI's  base coat, allowed to dry and applied three coats of MUA's 'All Nude'. I wouldn't recommend this polish, its very streaky, watery and it didn't apply well for me. I wont be repurchasing this polish again. I applied a coat of SV to aid drying time.

Once this was all dry, I grabbed a toothpick and Barry M's 'Gold Foil' and got to work with painting on my snowflakes. I did try to attempt to stamp them on using Bundle Monster's stamping plates, but that was one bit fail.

I added one-two snowflakes per nail, To fill in a bigger spaces on the nails, as my nails are quite long at the moment, I placed some gold dots using a small dotting tool. To make it that extra bit sparkly I placed a rhinestone in the centre of each snowflake and sealed it on using a coat of SV.

Above is a picture of my Christmas jumper I shall be sporting this year.

What do you think? How are your Christmas nails coming along? Let me know in the comments box below.

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

It's CHRISTMAS.........! Part Deux

Its getting closer to Christmas, so today I have brought you my second nail art attempt for the holiday season. My boyfriend and I put up our tree yesterday, so our home is feeling very festive. To mark the occasion on my nails, I have added festive decorations and Christmas baubles to my nails.  I love the purple and gold combo, so that was my colours of choice this time around.

I prepped my nails with OPI's based coat and allowed to dry. I then used two coats of Barry M's 'Vivid Purple.' This polish is part of the Barry M's Gelly High-Shine collection and is supper glossy without a top coat. However I did add a coat of SV to help aide drying time, to seal the polish and added that extra bit of gloss.

Once the polish was dry, I prepped the water decals I had planned to use which I purchased from Sparkly Nails by cutting them to size. Once ready I placed the decals into a bowl of water for approx. 30 seconds, then applied them to my nails.

I used five different decals for each nail in gold. The decals are really easy to apply and I had no problem with them at all. I then sealed the decals on with another coat of Seche Vite.

There you go, a very easy Christmas manicure that looks really festive yet subtle.

 

What do you think? Do you have any special nail art planned for the holiday season?

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

On the first day of Christmas Nail Art

So I am kicking the first day of Advent off with a Christmas manicure. Its not overly Christmassy, as I still think it is a little bit too early to pull out all the stops, as much as I love Christmas. This is my first post of my Christmas Nail Art Challenge I created on my Google+ page. I am going to try to create 12 different Christmas themed manicures before Christmas day. This is going to be quite hard for me as I do like to wear my little art designs for some days before I take them off. If you would like to join in, you can post your photo's or blog posts here. I would love to see them.

 

 

 

For the first manicure of the challenge I decided to create a little wonderland on my nails, with a little snow storm, and two little friendly characters that you would normally associate with such adverse weather conditions.

 

 

 

To create the little snow storm nails you can see on my thumb, index and pinky finger, I first applied two coats of Rimmel London's 'Sweet as Sugar' with a dollop of Seche Vite to help aide drying time. Using a make-up sponge I dabbed on some of Barry M's 'Matte White' to the tips and applied the same polish with a dotting tool to create the falling snow. Again I used another coat of SV to merge the gradient effect together.

 

 

 

The penguin:

 

I first applied two coats of Barry M's 'Matte White' and allowed to dry with the help of a single coat of SV. Once dry I applied Nails Inc 'Black Taxi' with a toothpick to draw on the black outline of the penguin. I used the same polish with a tiny dotting tool for the eyes. I used the same dotting tool for the beak, feet and scarf using Barry M's 'Satsuma' and Nails Inc 'Denim'.

 

Mr Snowman:

 

I used two coats of Barry M's 'Matte White' for the base and allowed to dry with some SV. I used a small dotting tool to create the eyes, mouth and buttons using Nails Inc 'Black Taxi' The carrot/nose was created using a tiny dotting tool and Barry M's 'Satsuma' and the scarf is Nails Inc 'Rosary Gardens.' 

 

 

 

To make both these characters extra glossy I used a layering of SV to finalise my manicure.

 

On other news I got a lovely surprise from The Boyfriend this morning. He gave me an Advent calendar. Not any old Advent Calendar! A Ciate  mini nail polish one. I absolutely adore it and the bottles of polish are super cute. I am sure I will be able to create lots of lovely manicures with my newly acquired nail polish collection. He knows me SO well!

 

 

 

 

 

What do you thing of my manicure? Will you be recreating it or attempting your own Christmas manicures? Let me know in the comments box below.

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

Thanksgiving Nail Art

I know I am not American and do not actually celebrate Thanksgiving, but I have a lot of followers of my blog who are, so this nail art post is for you guys across the pond. Not that I need an excuse to paint my nails :)

My boyfriend pointed out that Thanksgiving is not only a day to be thankful, but its about family, friends, food and football (which he is vey excited about Thursday Night Football by the way, THREE games!!!!)

I started my manicure by prepping my nail with OPI's base coat, and applied two layers of Leighton Denny's 'Hint of Mint' followed with a coat of SV to help speed up drying time.

I decided to do a turkey accent nail on my ring finger. I used a nail art brush to draw the outline of the turkey with Barry M's ' Mushroom' and filled it in on the tip of my nail. I added eyes and a beak using a dotting tool with Barry M's 'Matte White', Nail's Inc 'Black Taxi' and an orange nail polish which doesn't have a name, from the Fraulien collection. I then created an outline of feathers around the turkey using Nails Inc 'Rosary Gardens', Barry M's 'Lychee' and a yellow-gold polish from the Fraulien collection.

Using the same polishes to create the feathers on the accent nail, I created three feathers on all other remaining nails and applied them using a dotting tool on a diagonal on the corners of my nails finishing it off with a generous layering of Seche Vite.

There you have it, very easy Thanksgiving nail art. I would like to end this post saying that although I do not celebrate Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for my wonderful boyfriend and family that make my whole world complete. I hope every who celebrates has a wonderful day tomorrow.

What do you think? How will you be celebrating Thanksgiving? What are you thankful for?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Christian Louboutin Nail art

Now that the party season is just around the corner with Thanks Giving, Christmas and New Years Eve in sight. I have put together a little nail art assemble to go with any LBD (little black dress.) When you hear 'Christian Louboutin' it may scream 'shoes' but those red bottom heels are not only for your feet, they are for your nails too.

I am very lucky to have my very own pair of Christian Louboutins in nude, which were bought for me by my wonderful boyfriend for my birthday last year. However to be more fitting with the wintry festive season, that will go with every outfit, I have opted for the glossy black version for the nails.

These nails are so simple to create, are very chic and I think they would look fabulous on any hand. They are very wearable, not just for the party season, but for those of you who don't like full on nail art and want to add a glimmer of colour to a dark nail too.

First I prepped my nails by giving them a good clean all over and painting on a coat of OPI's base coat to both the topside and underside of the nail bed and left to dry. Once dry the designer nails are ready to be created. For my 'soles' I used two coats of Nails Inc's 'Rosary Garden' which I applied to the back/underneath part of the nail using a thin square nail art brush to make clean up that little bit easier, making sure I capped the nail and topped with a coat of SV.

I then used Nails Inc's 'Black Taxi' all over the topside of the nail using only one coat and layered it with a generous helping of SV and left to dry.

To add a bit of festive sparkle I used a square rhinestone and placed it at the bottom of the nail bed at an angle to give it a bit of party bling using a clear polish and a toothpick. Once in place I gave my nails another coat of Seche Vite.

These nails are very addictive and I often find myself wiggling my fingers so I get flashes of red and a glimmer of sparkle as they really do look great when the light hits them. I guess a bit like when you are strutting yourself towards the party in those red-bottom heels, leaving everyone behind you 'oohing' and 'ahhing' and the flashes of red they see at you feet.

What do you think? Have you ever taken fashion as your inspiration to create nail art? Will you be creating these nails yourself? Let me know in the comments box below.


Until next time...


Laura-Jane

Remembrance Day Nail Art

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday and to mark the occasion I have been wearing little poppies on my nails.

I used two coats of Leighton Denny's 'Hint of Mint' as my base coat and applied a generous helping of SV to help speed up drying time and allowed to dry. I then used a Fraulien stripping brush in dark green to add four-five stems to all my nail starting at the cuticle.

I then used a small dotting tool dipped in Nail's Inc 'Rosary Gardens' to create the poppies. To create the poppy shape I carefully dabbed on four blobs of polish in a square shape to resemble the paper poppies you can wear to the tip of the stems.

I then took an even smaller dotting tool and applied a single dot of Nail's Inc's 'Black Taxi' to the centre of the square. To finish off my poppies I added tiny leaves using the same green polish I used for the stems.

I have also been wearing a very sparkly poppy on my winter coat, which was bought for me by my Mum (Thanks Madre.) I have received lots of compliments on it, and the money spent on is has gone to a very worthy cause.

To all those who have given their lives, this post is dedicated to you.

What do you think? How will you be remembering our fallen solders?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Remember, remember the 5th of November......

 

 

 

Tomorrow in the UK is bonfire night, so I have decided to create my latest manicure around this day. I used the movie 'V for Vendetta' as inspiration, and if you haven't seen it before, I recommend that you do.

The Nails:

The Thumb:

I used 'Rosary Gardens' by Nails Inc for my base and topped it with SV to aide drying time. Once dry using  tooth pick I placed a gold coloured rhinestone and painted on gold lines using Barry M's 'Gold Foil' polish to create the fireworks.


The Index Finger:

 

This finger represents the symbol shown in the movie 'V for Vendetta'. I used 'Black Taxi' as my base, then using the same red polish I used for my thumb I drew on the symbol using a toothpick. As the red polish didn't show up very well on the nails, I decided on using an unnamed sparkly red polish on top of 'Rosary Gardens' to give it an extra sparkle. After all fireworks are sparkly!

The Middle Finger:

This nails is a similar version of the thumb design. I used the same techniques for this nail, but used 'Black Taxi' as the base, and Barry M's 'Silver Foil' to create the fire works.

The Ring Finger:

This little dude is my version of Guy Fawkes (the whole reason behind the 1605 gunpowder plot, and why we celebrate Bonfire night today.) If you have seen the movie or plan to watch it,  you'll also see a load of these in a form of a mask. I used Barry M's 'Matte White' as my base coat, I then used a toothpick to outline the mask shape and facial details with 'Black Taxi' by Nails Inc and then filled in the rest of the nail using the same polish. To create the rosy cheeks I applied 'Warwick Avenue' by Nails Inc using a small dotting tool and used 'Gilston Road' by Nails Inc for some of the other facial details.

The Pinky:

For this nail, I used Black Taxi as my base coat, and topped it off with two coats of Nails Inc special effect polish, 'Reading'. This adds a touch of sparkle to the manicure and also ties it all together with the red, gold, and black theme.

What do you think? Will you be creating your own Bonfire night nails?

Until nest time....


Laura-Jane

Stand Up To Cancer and wear pink nails

If you're a regular reader of my blog you should already know that throughout the month of October I shall be wearing pink nails in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Today in the UK marks a very special day in the cause with 'Stand up to Cancer'. This is where people all over the country shall stand up and tell their story about Cancer to help raise awareness on the subject and help raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you would like to read more, you can do so here.

My story:

Although I have lucky enough not to have to hear the words that I have cancer, and I thank my lucky stars for this everyday. I hope I never have to hear those words. I know from first hand experience how hard it can be on suffers, their family, friends and support groups. I have lost a few family members to cancer and I have seen my Mum go through numerous types and of course she is a very strong woman and has kicked its ass every time. Go Mum! Last year I did have a little scare, where they found a tumour in my hip socket, which I recently had surgery on earlier this year in July 2013. I was lucky that it was not cancerous, but waiting for blood tests to come back was agonising. The brain always turns to the worse case scenario. Given my families medical history the big 'C' word was the first thing that swamped my thoughts and it probably wont be the last time either, unfortunately.

For those of you who have suffered from cancer in the past, are going through it/know someone who is at the moment or have lost a loved one to the horrible beast of cancer this nail post is dedicated to YOU. You are all so brave, strong and I salute you.  If we all work together to help spread the message then hopefully we can banish Cancer forever!

The nails:

Today's nail art is an easy little number. Its not that hard to do, but looks quite eye catching and probably looks harder that it actually is.

I first prepped my nails using OPI's base coat, allowed to dry and then topped it with Seche Vite's Breast Cancer Awareness polish 'delicate' and a coat of the SV fast drying top coat to help with drying time.

Once this was dry I used stripping tape to mark off areas on the nail bed to form little stripped patterns. I opted to create different patterns on each nail. I have only every really attempted vertical or horizontal lines using tape, and wanted to experiment a little with this nail art post and create a few patterns.

Once the tape was in place, I covered the whole nail with 'Kensington Rose' by Jessica, Which is a bold metallic pink and gently pulled of the stripping tape using tweezers whilst the polish was still wet. Once I had completed this process on all five fingernails, I then finished it off with another coat of SV and got to work on my other hand.

What do you think? which nail design do you like the best? Let me know in the comments box below.

Have a great weekend and remember today is Stand Up To Cancer Day. I did, will you?

Until next time....


Laura-Jane