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

Pink and gold skittle manicure for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

My second pink Breast Cancer Awareness manicure comes in the form of this little sparkly skittle manicure:

 

 

 

I decided to go with pink in lots of different forms and pair it with gold, as I think this colour combination is rather lovely. I first prepped my nails my clipping them a little shorter, filing down the tips and then coating all ten digits in OPI's base coat.

 

 

 

I usually prefer a more uniform manicure with all ten nails the same. However I have experimented with a skittle type manicure in the past, and I thought I would try and do one again. You can have so much fun with these manicures and create lots of different looks all on one hand, which I am becoming quite fond of.

 

 

 

 

Here are the nails, step-by-step, finger-by-finger:

 

 

 

The pinky:

 

 

 

I used a dark metallic pink by Jessica called 'Kensigton Rose' as my base coat. Using a small dotting tool I placed small polka dots all over the nail with Seche Vite's 'Delicate'. I applied a top coat of SV to help with drying time, and then topped it off with Nails Inc Matte top coat.

 

 

The ring finer:

 

 

 

I think this is my favourite nail of the bunch. Its so sparkly, looks like it has so many layers, and it also meant I was able to try my newly acquired nail polish from Barry M. It doesn't have a name on the bottle, which is a bit annoying. It a lovely pink iridescent glitter and is so sparkly its unbelievable. I used three coats of the glitter on top of Seche Vites 'delicate' to create this look and topped it off with two coats of SV to give it a glass like finish, which is smooth to the touch.

 

The middle finger:

 

 

 

I used Leighton Denny's 'Hint of Mint' as my base colour. Once this was dry I free handed on some stripes using a nail art brush. For these I uses Seche Vite's 'delicate' topped with my new Barry M pink glitter and for the gold I used Barry M's foil gold topped with Nails Inc 'Wembley'. I then of course finished it all off with a couple of layers of SV.

 

The pointer:

 

 

 

For this nail I used Barry M's gold foil nail polish, and to add that extra sparkle I added a layer of Nails Inc 'Wembley' to give even more sparkle. To add a touch of pink to this nail I placed a light pink heart shaped stud which I bought from Sparkly-nails. I attached it using clear polish and sealed it onto the nail using another coat of SV.

 

The thumb:

 

 

 

This one is probably my least favourite nail. I used Seche Vite's 'delicate' as my base coat and then created a gradient effect using the Barry M pink glitter, making it packed with glitter towards the cuticle and lighter towards the tip. I then mattified the manicure with Nail's Inc Matte top coat. I think making it matte made it look a little dirty rather than the effect I was actually going for. I wanted to tie it I with pinky finger which was also made matte using the same polish.

 

 

 

Over all I do love this manicure, I think the pink and gold are really lovely together. For those of you who don't really like to wear pink nails, this a great way to combine the #WearItPink colour into a manicure without it being too overpowering and also help create awareness of such a worthy cause throughout the month of October.

 

Are you a fan of the skittle manicure look? Which nail do you like the best? What other colour combo's do you like to mix with pink?

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

Pink Nail Art for Breast Cancer

As most of you know the month of October marks Breast Cancer Awareness month. The colour for this campaign is pink, so what better way to help promote this cause than to create some nail art to help spread the message. I plan to wear lots of pink this month for this great cause, if you would like to learn more and how you can help and donate, you can do so here.

My first pink manicure comes in this very girly form and I have to say I really love it.

 

 

I first prepped my nails with OPI's base coat and allowed to dry. I bought a new bottle of Seche Vite at the London Olympia Beauty show last month. It came as a set, with a very girly, light pink colour aptly named 'delicate' which is actually a pink shade released to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness month and for every bottle purchased a donation to the cause shall be made. I used this for  my base colour. Just like their fast drying top coat their actual polish shades dry super fast too, with a very shiny glass effect, but of course I added an extra coat of their clear top coat, just in case.

 

 

I then used a dotting tool to added some very small silver polka dots using Barry M's Metallic foil effect in silver. This look alone I really loved and thought it was rather cute. I then topped this off with Nails Inc matte top coat to give the manicure a beautiful dusty pink and silver look, which I adore.

 

 

I decided it wasn't girly enough and had remembered I had purchased a couple of packs of bow decals from the pound shop and dug them out. I used the baby pink bows, and placed them at the bottom of the nail bed as close the cuticle as I could with nail glue and held them in place for a couple of minutes. Then, I fell in love.

 

 

 

The bow decals are quite large, which is why I only placed them on an accent nails. I think also placing them on the bottom of my nails, meant they didn't get in the way of doing things like household chores et al.

 

 

This is another manicure I don't want to take off, however I did buy a new Pink glitter from Barry M yesterday that I want to try out, so I think this love affair will soon come to an end.

 

 

 

Will you be wearing pink this month for Breast Cancer Awareness? If you do I would love to see your designs, let me know in the comments box. Don't forget to wear something pink to help support the cause on the 25th of this month, and wear it pink!

What do you think of my design?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane