Thanksgiving Nail Art

I know I am not American and do not actually celebrate Thanksgiving, but I have a lot of followers of my blog who are, so this nail art post is for you guys across the pond. Not that I need an excuse to paint my nails :)

My boyfriend pointed out that Thanksgiving is not only a day to be thankful, but its about family, friends, food and football (which he is vey excited about Thursday Night Football by the way, THREE games!!!!)

I started my manicure by prepping my nail with OPI's base coat, and applied two layers of Leighton Denny's 'Hint of Mint' followed with a coat of SV to help speed up drying time.

I decided to do a turkey accent nail on my ring finger. I used a nail art brush to draw the outline of the turkey with Barry M's ' Mushroom' and filled it in on the tip of my nail. I added eyes and a beak using a dotting tool with Barry M's 'Matte White', Nail's Inc 'Black Taxi' and an orange nail polish which doesn't have a name, from the Fraulien collection. I then created an outline of feathers around the turkey using Nails Inc 'Rosary Gardens', Barry M's 'Lychee' and a yellow-gold polish from the Fraulien collection.

Using the same polishes to create the feathers on the accent nail, I created three feathers on all other remaining nails and applied them using a dotting tool on a diagonal on the corners of my nails finishing it off with a generous layering of Seche Vite.

There you have it, very easy Thanksgiving nail art. I would like to end this post saying that although I do not celebrate Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for my wonderful boyfriend and family that make my whole world complete. I hope every who celebrates has a wonderful day tomorrow.

What do you think? How will you be celebrating Thanksgiving? What are you thankful for?

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

Christian Louboutin Nail art

Now that the party season is just around the corner with Thanks Giving, Christmas and New Years Eve in sight. I have put together a little nail art assemble to go with any LBD (little black dress.) When you hear 'Christian Louboutin' it may scream 'shoes' but those red bottom heels are not only for your feet, they are for your nails too.

I am very lucky to have my very own pair of Christian Louboutins in nude, which were bought for me by my wonderful boyfriend for my birthday last year. However to be more fitting with the wintry festive season, that will go with every outfit, I have opted for the glossy black version for the nails.

These nails are so simple to create, are very chic and I think they would look fabulous on any hand. They are very wearable, not just for the party season, but for those of you who don't like full on nail art and want to add a glimmer of colour to a dark nail too.

First I prepped my nails by giving them a good clean all over and painting on a coat of OPI's base coat to both the topside and underside of the nail bed and left to dry. Once dry the designer nails are ready to be created. For my 'soles' I used two coats of Nails Inc's 'Rosary Garden' which I applied to the back/underneath part of the nail using a thin square nail art brush to make clean up that little bit easier, making sure I capped the nail and topped with a coat of SV.

I then used Nails Inc's 'Black Taxi' all over the topside of the nail using only one coat and layered it with a generous helping of SV and left to dry.

To add a bit of festive sparkle I used a square rhinestone and placed it at the bottom of the nail bed at an angle to give it a bit of party bling using a clear polish and a toothpick. Once in place I gave my nails another coat of Seche Vite.

These nails are very addictive and I often find myself wiggling my fingers so I get flashes of red and a glimmer of sparkle as they really do look great when the light hits them. I guess a bit like when you are strutting yourself towards the party in those red-bottom heels, leaving everyone behind you 'oohing' and 'ahhing' and the flashes of red they see at you feet.

What do you think? Have you ever taken fashion as your inspiration to create nail art? Will you be creating these nails yourself? Let me know in the comments box below.


Until next time...


Laura-Jane

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

Remember, remember the 5th of November......

 

 

 

Tomorrow in the UK is bonfire night, so I have decided to create my latest manicure around this day. I used the movie 'V for Vendetta' as inspiration, and if you haven't seen it before, I recommend that you do.

The Nails:

The Thumb:

I used 'Rosary Gardens' by Nails Inc for my base and topped it with SV to aide drying time. Once dry using  tooth pick I placed a gold coloured rhinestone and painted on gold lines using Barry M's 'Gold Foil' polish to create the fireworks.


The Index Finger:

 

This finger represents the symbol shown in the movie 'V for Vendetta'. I used 'Black Taxi' as my base, then using the same red polish I used for my thumb I drew on the symbol using a toothpick. As the red polish didn't show up very well on the nails, I decided on using an unnamed sparkly red polish on top of 'Rosary Gardens' to give it an extra sparkle. After all fireworks are sparkly!

The Middle Finger:

This nails is a similar version of the thumb design. I used the same techniques for this nail, but used 'Black Taxi' as the base, and Barry M's 'Silver Foil' to create the fire works.

The Ring Finger:

This little dude is my version of Guy Fawkes (the whole reason behind the 1605 gunpowder plot, and why we celebrate Bonfire night today.) If you have seen the movie or plan to watch it,  you'll also see a load of these in a form of a mask. I used Barry M's 'Matte White' as my base coat, I then used a toothpick to outline the mask shape and facial details with 'Black Taxi' by Nails Inc and then filled in the rest of the nail using the same polish. To create the rosy cheeks I applied 'Warwick Avenue' by Nails Inc using a small dotting tool and used 'Gilston Road' by Nails Inc for some of the other facial details.

The Pinky:

For this nail, I used Black Taxi as my base coat, and topped it off with two coats of Nails Inc special effect polish, 'Reading'. This adds a touch of sparkle to the manicure and also ties it all together with the red, gold, and black theme.

What do you think? Will you be creating your own Bonfire night nails?

Until nest time....


Laura-Jane

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