Vertical pinstripe nail art

This manicure is another one I created with the goodies I got for my birthday from my Mum and is the first time I used stripping tape. I also used my new Nail Inc polishes I got in a lucky dip selection from their website. I was very impressed by their colour selection and very glad I didn't get any dupes. The best thing about it too, was the price, it was a fraction of the cost if I were to purchase them all individually.

 

 

 

I prepped the nails with a base coat from OPI, and once dry I painted on my based colour; 'Berry ice cream' by Barry M.  I used a coat of SV to help with drying time, before I began the task of applying the stripping tape. A helpful hint I would suggest, is to cut LOADS of mini pieces of stripping tape before you begin this part of the nail art, just to make it a little bit easier. I placed the tape equal distance apart on each nail (doing one hand at a time.) Making sure there was some overhang on the nail to make it really easy to remove.

 

 

 

Once this was completed I was able to apply my contrasting colour. For this I used 'Market Place' by Nails Inc , which is a very light lilac colour with small iridescent flecks which give off a little bit of shimmer and adds a bit of texture and sparkle to the manicure. Both polishes have the same hues and in my opinion compliment each other well.

 

 

 

I used one coat of the 'Market Place' polish, until the entire fingernail was covered and then immediately removed the tape to create the vertical lines before I moved onto the next nail. It is very important to remove the tape as quickly as possible, whilst the polish is still relatively wet. If the top coat of polish starts to dry, when removing the tape it will become sticky, which in return shall not create neat vertical lines and shall ruin the manicure if not careful.

 

 

 

Once all the tape had been removed from one hand, I finished it off with a top coat of SV before starting all over again on the other hand.

 

 

 

The boyfriend actually likened this manicure to wallpaper. The more I looked at it, the more I thought it did. What do you think? Have you used stripping tape before? Let me know in the comment box below.

 

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

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

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

Beauty and the Beach part 2 - My entry

Today's post is an entry for a beauty competition held by Travel Supermarket consisting of three categories: hair, make-up, and nails, with the winner(s) receiving a cash prize of up to £1500. You can read more about it here. You have to be quick if you want to enter, as the competition closes tomorrow.

 

First up is the nail entry:

 

When I think of the beach, I automatically think of holidays. To me, a holiday means getting on a plane, flying somewhere exotic and being able to relax whilst sunbathing and listening to the waves crashing on the nearby shore. Besides trying to obtain that golden tan everyone lusts after, my favourite beach scene is at sunset. Not only is it romantic, which I am a sucker for, I find it very peaceful, tranquil, and something I don't see everyday living in central London. So, that is what I opted to recreate for my nail entry.

 

 

I started out by painting my nails with white acrylic paint to give myself a blank canvas. For the sunset background colours I used orange, pink, blue and purple acrylic paint and brushed on using a very watery brush to mix and blend the colours together.

 

 

 

Using 'Black Taxi' by nails inc, I created the silhouette beach once my based coat was dry. I hand painted the designs using very thin nail art brushes and toothpicks. I added touches of white polish and blue and silver glitter to add dimension to the waves.

 

 

I wanted a really shiny finish to the look, so a top coat of Seche Vite was in order.

 

 

 

I know my blog is dedicated to nail art, but I wanted to double my chances of winning a prize, so have decided to enter the hair style competition too.

 

The Hair:

 

To me, nothing says "holiday" more than beach wave curls, so I dug out my GHD straightening irons, some hairspray, and got to work. This is the outcome:

 

 

I divided my hair into several sections, starting at the bottom and working my way to the top to make it easier to work with. For each section, I applied a generous amount of hairspray along the length of the hair. I then clamped the section between the hot straightening irons at the root of the hair and slowly worked my way down to the tips, twisting and turning occasionally to create the soft curls.

 

 

 

I repeated this method to complete the remaining sections of hair. I then rearranged and styled the curls and pinned back a section using a faux flower clip; something I love to do using fresh exotic flowers on holiday.

 

 

 

To secure the look, give it another spritz of hairspray, allow to set and you are good to go.

 

 

What do you think?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane