St Patrick's Day nail art

On Tuesday it shall be St Patrick's Day. With a family name of 'Connolly' and my Mother's maiden name being 'O'Neill', there is definitely a bit of Irish blood running through my veins, so I though I'd go green and don some nail art for the patron Saint of Ireland.

The green I used for my thumb, index and middle fingers is Nail Inc's 'Bruton Mews'. Its a glorious bottle green colour, which I rather like. It gives good coverage and is opaque in just one coat, but I used two just to be on the safe side. I topped this off with a coat of Seche Vite to speed up the drying process. This green is a real Irish green and is perfect for my manicure.

What St Patrick's day isn't complete without a rainbow? I did want to recreate my rainbow manicure, however I have run out of white polish, so did it on nude nails instead. I used a coat of OPI's base coat to create a flat surface for my nail and used a dotting tool to create the dots.

I used the following polishes to create the rainbow
Red - Nails Inc 'Rosary Gardens'
Orange - Barry M 'Satsuma'
Yellow - Barry M 'lemon ice'
Green - Nails Inc ' Bruton Mews'
Blue - Nails Inc 'Belgrave Place'
Indigo - Nails Inc 'Baker Street'
Violet - Barry M 'Vivid pruple'

I topped off the rainbow as always with a coat of Seche Vite.

Every rainbow is not complete without a pop of gold. On this piece of nail art, it is in the form of my pinky finger. I used a base of Nails Inc 'Gold Foil' and to add that extra sparkle of gold I use two layers of China Glaze 'I'm not lion'. I placed dots using the same polish to bring the manicure altogether.

What do you have planned for St Patrick's Day? Will you have the luck of the Irish on your nails? If you want some other ideas, you can check out last years St Patrick's Day nail art here.

Don't forget you can join and like my Facebook page here.

Let me know what you think.

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Chinese New Year nail art

I know I am a bit late, but Happy Chinese New Year! This year it is the year of the sheep/goat. I hope it brings all of my readers/followers a year full of love, fortune and happiness. Even though I am over a week late in posting this, I thought I would still do so, as I really like my design. I didn't opt for a sheep/goat look, but came up with this design using the colours I most associate with Chinese New Year.

I first prepped my nails with OPI's base coat, then used a Nails Inc shimmery red polish. Unfortunately I do not know the name of it, as it is a small bottle and part of a Christmas collection I got given a couple of years back. I used about three layers and topped with Seche Vite.

Using a make-up sponge and Nails Inc's 'Black Taxi' I created a gradient tip in black to each nail. Again I topped with Seche Vite and allowed to dry.

Using a dotting tool I was then able to get creative, I painted on delicate flowers and Chinese symbols using Barry M's foil effects in 'gold' and 'matte white' and Nails Inc in 'Heather grey'. I then topped it with Seche Vite and allowed to dry.

Let me know what you think in the comments box below.

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Roses are red, Violets are blue...

Valentine's Day shall soon be upon us, so I thought I would share my latest piece of nail art, which falls nicely in the theme of love. What better way to say those three little words everyone loves to hear, with roses...

The base coat is a beautiful lilac colour from Ciate called 'Sugar Plum', which I applied three coats to get an opaque look. As always I topped off it off with a coat of Seche Vite to help with the drying process.

To create the roses I used a large dotting tool and place random blobs using Barry M's gelly hi shine polish in 'Pomegranate'.

To add a bit of dimension, I uses a small dotting tool to create some swirls in the roses. The contrasting colour I used was 'Instyle Coral' by Rimmel London, which I think go really well together and also compliments the lilac base coat. To finish off the roses I used the small dotting tool to add a leaf to each rose in a dark bottle green called 'Burton Mews' by Nails Inc. The topped off with one more coat of Seche Vite's fast drying top coat.

You can see last years St Valentine's Day nail creation here.

Let me know what you think?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Baby its cold...

Apologies for the hiatus, I lost my blogging mojo for a little while, but over the last few weeks I have had an influx of likes on my Facebook page and it has kind of made me feel people are reading and interest in my little old blog, and it has spurred me on to do some more posts. I hope you all had a great festive season and a great New Year!

 

I live in London, and I know the temperature isn’t the coldest in the world, but this last week it has really dropped. As I work outside for 90% of the working week, I can definitely feel the difference! So I thought I would create a little bit of nail art in homage to my icy cold fingers. Rather than going down the traditional icy blue route I did a 180 for a pop of colour and created this frosty little number…

 

 

The best thing about this design, is that it is super easy to recreate. First I prepped my nails and applied a base coat. I used OPI’s base coat, but any shall suffice. This is just to help smooth the surface for the nail and also to stop the nail from discolouration especially when using a darker polish and reds, which are more likely to stain. Once dry, I applied a couple of coats of Seche Vite’s pink polish called 'Delicate'. I like to have a real opaque look, so I usually always use two coats of any polish. Adding the extra coat also gives the polish a nicer finish too in my opinion. Seche Vite is a very fast drying polish, even their colours, so it was read in no time.

 

 

 

After I had applied the two coats in quick succession I topped them off with a layer of Seche Vite top coat and waited to dry. Seche Vite, is a fast drying top coat, so you don’t need to wait too long. Then the frosting can be applied. I used Barry M’s white polish in 'Matte White' and applied to a make up sponge which I picked up a bag of about 20 from the pound store. I then dabbled the white polish on the sponge to my nail to create a gradient effect and giving the nail the frosty look I was going for. I did this to all ten nails before adding another top coat of Seche Vite. Adding the extra top coat, not only seals the polish in, but also give the two previously applied polish  that extra helping had to merge together.

 

 

 

Once all was dry I applied Nails Inc’s matte top coat in 'Westminster Bridge' to make it extra chalky, frosty and icy looking. This polish turns any colour polish into a matte shade.  I really do like these nails and were just the look I was going for. I especially like the texture the matte top coat gives.

 

What do you think?

 

Until next time…

 

Laura-Jane

 

 

 

Birthday Cake Nail Art

Today my little old blog reaches a milestone: its first birthday!

 

I have to say that this last year has flown by and I have really enjoyed my little blog and would like to say thank you to all of you that have had a little visit, followed, shared and especially to those who have left me such wonderful comments. I do read and reply to them all.

 

To mark the occasion I designed some birthday cake nails, as no birthday is complete without a little bit of cake! Right?

 

 

I prepped my nail using OPI's base coat and got to work with the base coat using 'Delicate' by Seche Vite. I allowed to dry (as it is Seche Vite, its super fast without a top coat) and then added on some sprinkle effect glitter polish by Nails Inc called 'Fulham Palace Gardens.'

 

 

To create the cake I used a selection of colours from Frauline which as all thin brushed nail polishes. Unfortunately they are unnamed. I first picked a fushia colour for the cake and applied a rounded shape to the tip.

 

 

Once dry I took the white polish and outlined the whole cake including the tip of the nail. To finish it off I added a single blue candle and added a touch of yellow for the flame. Now its time for the singing to commence and the wishes to be made.

 

 

Once again, thank you to everyone who has contributed to my blog. Without you guys, I don't think I would have reached this milestone.

 

What do you think?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

 

Super Bowl XLVIII Nail Art

The BF and I are avid American Football fans, which means for the last five or so months we have been staying up until 4.30-5am on game days watching the action take place. Tonight this all comes to an end with the Super Bowl and to mark the occasion I shall be sporting my latest manicure;

I prepped my nails by giving them a little file and applied OPI's base coat. I picked out the teams colours (green and blue for the Seattle Seahawks and orange and blue for the Denver Bronco's.) I used stripping tape to mark off the tips and first applied the green (Barry M's neon green) and then the orange (Barry M's 'Satsuma'.) I then topped it off with a coat of SV and allowed to dry.

Once all my nails were dry I tapped off the opposite corner of the tips on all nails and applied a dark unnamed navy blue polish by Nails Supreme and topped it off with another coat of SV.  Once dry I used a white stripping polish to add a white detail under the tips.

Important tip: take off the tape whilst the polish is still wet, to create a perfect straight line and avoid taking off the polish once applied.

To divide the teams I created an American football on my middle finger. I used one coat of Barry M's 'Mushroom', topped with a coat of SV. I then used the same white stripper polish as above to create the laces of the ball and again topped it all off with Seche Vite.

I am actually looking forward to the Super Bowl this evening, even thought I am not able to view the most anticipated commercials ever. I am also pretty jealous of those getting to go to the game as I adore New York (it is probably the only other city in the World apart from London I would actually live in.)

Now onto my picks for this evening; Whilst I have loved the atmosphere at the Seahawks home games and I think the twelfth man are amazing, I don't see anyone stopping Peyton Manning (and the rest of the team), so I am opting for a Bronco's win!

What do you think of my manicure? Are you Super Bowl ready? Will you be watching the Super Bowl? Who do you think will win?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

City Skyline nail art

Today on the blog, I have a done something a little different: a manicure that runs across all nails to create a little picture. My scene of choice is a City skyline at night. I love the way London looks at night, especially on a clear, crisp evening, where you can see all the sparkling lights from buildings. Canary Wharf is a particular favourite of mine.

I prepped my nails using OPI's base coat and allowed to dry. I created a blue gradient effect using two unnamed blue polishes. I topped it off with a good helping of SV to help speed up drying time.

Once dry, I was able to get creative and start my skyline. I used 'Black Taxi' by Nails Inc for the buildings which I applied using a small nail art brush. Once dry I grabbed a toothpick and a pale yellow polish by Sally Hansen for the warm glowing windows.

 

To add the finishing touch I finished off the sky with some stars and moon using a toothpick and Barry M's 'Matte White'. All is topped off with an other coat of Seche Vite.

What do you think? Do you like manicures that spread across the whole hand? Let me know in the comments box below, I love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time...

Laura-Jane