Stamping Nail Art

So, I have jumped on the nail art stamping band wagon. I know I am little late on this one. I received my very first nail art stamping set for my birthday last month from my Mum and I finally gave it a go in my latest nail art venture. The brand that was bought for me were by Bundle Monster (others are available.) I got the new 25 piece on their website and there are loads of images to choose from. I can see I shall be having a lot of fun with these in the future. I have actually bought one plate before, which I saw whilst looking for nail bits in the pound shop a few months back. I did give it a go, but the outcome was absolutely rubbish, so I would really suggest investing in good quality stamping plates, just so you do not get disheartened when you give it a try yourself.

For my base coat I used one coat of Barry M's Gelly Hi- Shine polish in 'Pomegranate.' Like I have said in my previous post I really do rate these polishes. They are super glossy, inexpensive and do the perfect job in one very quick coat.

Once I painted on my base colour and applied a coat of SV to speed up the drying process, I could then start my maiden attempt of stamping. I chose to do a diagonal French tip look using Barry M's 'Matte White.' and chose an intricate swirly design which I think looks quite nice. If you have this set already, you can Find the design I chose on plate BM-314.

I did one hand at a time, once all five digits were complete I topped it off with a second coat of SV to add that extra glossy finish before I worked on my other hand. I like the fact the design I chose shows the base colour through the French tip design, and I really like how the two colours compliment each other too. Not bad for a first attempt, eh?

I shall definitely be trying this look again, with different colours and different stamping designs. I will be the first to admit this is not the neatest manicure I have done, but after all it was my first attempt. I am hoping with time and practise I shall be able to perfect my nail stamping technique to leave my talons looking flawless.

Has anyone else tried stamping? What plates would you recommend? What designs do you want to see next? Let me know in the comment box below.

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Nude glitter manicure

Firstly I would like to apoloigise for my absence recently - I have a good excuse. I have recently undergone surgery so have been in hospital and have been trying to recover. I am finally able to stay awake long enough to write a blog post, so I would like to introduce to you my latest creation, one I am rather fond of and I really like:

 

 

 

This manicure is super easy to recreate, and you need little material to get the look.

 

What I used:

 

Lychee Gelly high-shine polish by Barry M

Craft glitter

OPI's top coat

Seche Vite top coat

 

 

I used one coat of the lychee polish, which actually looks lovely on its own. The Gelly high-shine is really glossy and super opaque, so it is the perfect polish for the quick manicure. To make it a little bit more interesting, as I am not one just to wear a plain polish (as you all know) I decided to add a bit a glitter.

 

 

 

I used gold craft glitter instead of a glitter polish, as I wanted the particles to be slightly larger in size, and the glitter polishes I have in my collection all seem to be very fine in texture. I used a little bit of OPI's top coat, as it doesn't dry as quick as Seche Vite to give my glitter particles to hold on to, which also gave me a little more time to work with.

 

 

 

I sprinkled the glitter so it was quite thick towards the bed of my nail near the cuticle, and tapered out towards the tip. I used a toothpick to gently place those ones so they were neatly sporadic and where I wanted them to be. To seal and finish the manicure I applied one coat of SV.

 

 

 

I really like this look, I think it has a very elegant and sophisticated look to my nails. The gold glitter really sparkles in the sun, and has caused a lot of attraction to my hands and lots of compliments too, which is always a sign of a job well done and of course I really like.

 

I really do like this design, and may give it a go with different colours. What colours would you suggest I put together? What would you like to see?

 

What do you think?

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

4th July nail art

When I comes to nail art, nothing pleases me more than when I have a World wide holiday or event to display on my nails. Not only does it give me a purpose to paint my talons, but it also means I don't have to be that creative when coming up with a theme or design, it's already marked on my calendar.

 

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you will already know that I am from London, England. However with this post I shall be transporting across the Atlantic and shall be donning red, white and blue on my nails for the 4th July celebrations.

 

 

 

I have been lucky enough to be in the US on two occasions when they have been celebrating Independence Day, one of which was last year. Both visits were to Disneyland, Florida, and both were spent at Epcot, although about 10 years apart. I love Epcot for a couple of reasons, you get to travel the word (Disneyland style) in a single day, and the firework display at the end of the evening, especially on the 4th July are amazing, The best display I have ever seen live. However the 4th July holds another very significant memory for me. This Thursday shall mark the one year anniversary since my Grandad passed away, in which this nail post is dedicated to.

 

 

 

To create my 4th July nail art I first painted on a clear base coat using one from OPI's range. This was just to prep my nails, as I know from experience, blue polish is a nightmare to get off and I wanted to limit the stains on my nails. Once this was dry I used stripping tape to mark off around a 1/3 of my nail, to creates a blue French Manicure tip. I used Nails Inc 'Belgravia Place' which I thought was the perfect blue for my nail art. I topped this off with Seche Vite to speed up the drying process.

 

 

 

Once dry, using a red stripper polish from Fraulien I painted a single red line underneath the blue tip to create a second dimension to the French manicure and to also add a touch of red. Whilst this was drying, I blobbed some of Barry M's 'Matte White' nail polish onto some tin foil and grabbed a toothpick to add tiny white stars. The blue polish is rather porous, so the white stars need around 2-3 application to maintain the true white colour, otherwise when the manicure is completely dry they'll end up being light blue in colour.

 

 

 

I then added another coat of Seche Vite, before this was completely dry, I placed a white iridescent foil star the edge of each nail to complete my nail design and of course another coat of Seche Vite.

 

I hope you like the post, and it has given you some ideas for your own 4th July nail art?

 

How are you celebrating 4th July this year?

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane