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

The classic French manicure

My latest manicure is actually inspired by my sister, Charlotte. Shortly after I came out of hospital from having hip surgery she came up for a little visit. She had recently been on holiday to my parent's house in the south of Spain and had gone and had a pedicure in preparation beforehand. It was only a French manicure, but it looked lovely.

I have to say I do really like the look of a French manicure, I find it looks very elegant, feminine and girly. I also like the look as it makes the nails look very clean and fresh. My sister's nails brought back lots of memories for me too - I have a confession to make; before I got into nail art and painting my own nails, I use to indulge myself with acrylic nails, going to the nail shop on a weekly basis for about six years. Fortunately my nails have come out the other end unscathed, as I have naturally strong nails which have always been in really good condition no matter what I put them through (something I inherited from my mother.) Whilst indulging in this bad habit I always use to opt for the French manicure look. I would change it up from week to week using different airbrush designs, glitter, rhinestones etc, but the tips were always white. I made them extra glitzy just before I would jet off on holiday too, just to make them a little bit different.

So feeling inspired by my sisters feet, and the weather being as nice as it has been recently in London (even the boyfriend mentioned it was "holiday" weather) I decided to hobble on crutches to my nail polish stash and give the French mani a whirl.

To achieve this look is a simple as 1,2,3...

I prepped the nails by using OPI's base coat. Once dried I used a white stripper polish by Frauline to paint a very thin tip (I am not a fan of the large white tips.) I did this freehand, but if your hand isn't as steady or you don't own either a thin brush polish or nail art brushes, you can section off the nail using tape.

To make it a little bit different and to add a touch of colour I used a bright pink glitter polish, again by Frauline, for an extra strip underneath the white. I think it looks quite nice, has a hint of Summer and of course makes it that little bit more girly. Not to mention it also matched the pink dress I was wearing when I painted my nails. Once I had done all ten nails, I then topped it off with a coat of SV.

So there you have it, its a simple design this time, but I rather like it. What do you think? Are you a fan of French manicures? How do you makes yours a little bit different?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Zebra print nail art

Today's manicure post comes in the form of animal print. I am not too sure where this idea came from, but I am glad it did, as I really like it.

 

 

 

It may have popped into my head subconsciously after my birthday meal with the boyfriend a couple of a weeks ago. He took me to a nice little Chinese restaurant situated on a floating boat on the river called Feng Shang Princes. The restaurant is situated within close proximity to London Zoo, where they are currently holding adult only night time access. This is basically an excuse to walk around the Zoo guzzling alcohol, and then you get to spend all your hard earned cash on animal print onesies, head bands and face paint. When leaving to go home all we could see were animals! It was like Noah's Arc had reincarnated into the London Underground whereby they loaded onto the tube (subway for my American followers) two by two. It looked like a lot of fun and very surreal!

 

 

 

For my base coat I used 'hint of mint' by Leigton Denny, which is an off white colour. I think I actually prefer it to a bright white. It makes the manicure more subtle.

 

 

 

To create the zebra stripes I used a black stripper nail art polish by Frauline.

 

 

 

Just like a zebra, where every animal has their own print, a bit like humans and our fingerprints.  I tried to emulate this on my own nails, to make each fingernail unique and not so uniform. It also helped me, as I didn't have to worry about every nail being perfect, and I could just have some fun with it.

 

 

 

To finish the manicure I used my trusted top coat by seche vite.

 

Has anyone else tried animal print?

 

What do you all think?

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

Surf's up...

I have recently been craving a holiday. For those of you who know me (or read my last post) it is one of the things in life I enjoy the most. Maybe it is because of the lack on sun here in the UK, the hectic workload, or the fact I just love holidays, but I really long to just get away and enjoy basking in the sunshine.

 

As I am waiting an operation date, a holiday doesn't look likely; so to satisfy my craving of the soft white sand, the radiating warmth of the sun on my skin and the gentle sound of crashing waves shimmering under the soft moonlight and stars, whilst taking an evening stroll on the beach, I have come up with this manicure.

 

 

To start, I painted my nails with two coats of 'Sweet as Sugar' by Rimmel London, then topped if off with Seche Vite's fast drying top coat.

 

 

 

Once the nails were dry, I could then start the fun bit by creating the wave detail. To do this I used some new nail polishes, which were a gift from my Mum. Unfortunately, they don't have nail polish names, which is a bit disappointing. As in my opinion, a good catchy name of a nail polish is half the fun of nail art. I used nail art fine liner polishes by a company called 'Fraulein'. I got a big box of them in an array of colours and chose the below to create my waves.

 

 

The waves are really simple to do. With a steady hand, create an arc shape and fill in with your main wave colour. Then, with different shades of blues, pearls and glitter, blend them together until you have the desired effect. Then top this off with another coat of Seche Vite and allow to dry.

 

 

Now, all that is left to do is to add the piece de resistance; the wave breaks. This is the most satisfying, as it really does complete the look. For this I used 'Matte White' by Barry M and a sponge.

 

 

 

 

The sponge I used was a great find. I bought it as part of a paint set just before Christmas, as I was making some salt dough Christmas decorations. The best bit is that the entire paint set, sponge included, was only £1! The little sponge is just the right size to create some great nail art effects and is also on a stick, which makes handling the tool so much easier. All you need to do is blob some white polish onto your work surface, then with the corner of the sponge, collect a tiny amount of polish, dab off the excess and sponge on the wave break, making sure you cover part of the wave too.

 

 

Allow to dry, and complete the look with yet another coat of Seche Vite fast drying top coat.

 

There you have it. A little bit of ocean on the tip of your fingers. It even makes me want to go surfing, although that sporting activity generally isn't on the top of my agenda when on a relaxing vacation.

 

 

 

April is also Autism awareness month, so the blue manicure ties in nicely (blue is the main colour of their cause). If you would like to read more about this cause, you can do so here.

 

What do you think?

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane