31 Day Challenge - Day 16 - Geometric

Hey guys!

The prompt for day sixteen of the 31 Day Challenge is 'geometric', and I wanted to create some overlapping shapes on my nails. I started this mani with a base of Color Club 'Blue Heaven', an intense silver-blue linear holographic polish that I am in love with! I then grabbed a small detail brush and some black acrylic paint to carefully draw the shapes on the nail, making sure to create some overlap in them. Finally, using my detail brush I added colour with Kandy Colors 'Northern Lights' neon jelly collection (my fave jelly polishes to date!), and sealed it all in with Essence 'Better Than Gel Nails' topcoat. Et voila!

As you can see in that macro shot, the base colour is a holo finish and it is just beautiful when under the right light (i.e. not in my lightbox!). I tried to capture the colour shift as best as I could, but I'm not a photographer so these photos do not do it justice! Have a look at the photo below for a better idea of the holo goodness!

I was so pleased when I finished this mani as I can see a definite improvement in my freehand skills. Although the shapes aren't perfect, I am super happy with how this one came out, and it's given me more confidence to try freehand designs more often (even on my short nails) :D

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

31 Day Challenge - Day 15 - Delicate Print

Hi guys,

I had an unfortunate incident involving my nails and a car door the other day which has resulted in having to file them to a super short length. This makes me sad, but I'm determined to make the most of them being short! Being part of the nub club isn't that bad, is it?

Anyway, on to the design for today. The prompt for day 15 of the 31 Day Challenge is delicate print, and here is what I came up with:

I decided to stick to a very sheer polish as my base for this: Essie 'Sugar Daddy', which is barely noticable on the nail, even though I applied three coats here! I stamped the lace pattern (this plate from Born Pretty Store) onto my bare nail before adding Sugar Daddy. I then added a thin French tip with Claire's 'Rose Gold Liquid Metal'. On my ring finger I used two layers of Maybelline 'Gilded Rose', which is a gorgeous gold and pink glitter polish.

Finally I placed a small pearl at the base of my middle finger using Gilded Rose to hold it in place, and topped with WAH London 'Classy Glassy Glossy Topcoat'.

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

31 Day Challenge - Day 14 - Flowers

Hi guys!

I'm almost caught up on all of the prompts for the 31 Day Challenge now, which is good as the prompts are going to be getting tougher from here on out! Day 14 is flowers, so I did some freehand petals for this design:

I started with a base of my favourite nude - OPI 'My Vampire Is Buff' <3 I seriously cannot get enough of this polish. For the petals I used a small detail brush and Barry M 'Sugar Plum' and Barry M 'Kiss Me Quick' (pink flowers), and Seche 'Takes Chances' and Barry M 'Lap Of Honour' (purple flowers). I added leaves using Barry M 'Cardamom' and Nails Inc. 'Marylebone Road'.

I added a satin matte topcoat from Claire's to this design, which I think gives it more of a 'vintage' feel. What do you think?

With Matte Topcoat 

With Matte Topcoat

I really love this mani, and hope you do too!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

31 Day Challenge - Day 13 - Animal Print

Hi guys!

Here is my second potential nail fail in the 31 Day Challenge line-up so far!

So the thirteenth prompt is 'animal print', and I decided to think a little outside of my usual box (the box full of leopard print, giraffe print, zebra print, etc...) and I went for birds feathers instead. I had seen this look multiple times on Instagram and thought it looked so effective, and this was the perfect opportunity to try it out. 

I bought a pack of dyed feathers from a local craft store, and chose a pretty black and fuchsia pink spotted feather for this mani. I applied a base coat of Sinful Colors 'Mauve' to all nails, and painted a waterfall design onto three of my nails using a striping brush and OPI 'Significant Other Color', OPI 'Unfrost My Heart', Barry M 'Sugar Plum', Seche 'Takes Chances' and Make-Up Gallery 'Purple Sheen'. Then I added one coat of Rimmel 'Clear' polish to my other two nails and carefully placed the feathers onto my nail. After trimming the feathers to fit my nail, applied two thick coats of Glisten & Glow 'HK Girl' to seal it in and add a glossy finish.

Although I do like this mani, there are definitely improvements that need to be made. Showing a little bit of base colour is important to define the feather, otherwise it just looks a bit like a blob on your nail (see my ring finger). Also, the feather needs to be trimmed slightly shorter than the nail so that you don't accidentally scratch yourself on the face (lesson learned!)

What do you think of this look? Yay or nay? 

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

PS Check out other designs in this challenge on Instagram by searching the hashtag #31DC2015

31 Day Challenge - Day 12 - Stripes

Hi guys!

Moving swiftly on with the 31 Day Challenge, we are now up to prompt number 12 - stripes. I never really know what to do when it comes to striped nails and I wanted to do something a little bit different to what I originally planned (nautical nails, anyone?)

Here's what I came up with:

Using China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' on a naked nail is one of my most favourite things to do ever in the world of nail art. Look at how sparkly it is! I thought it teamed perfectly with the colourful stripes, and gives the design more of a 'fun' feel to it.

On top of my Fairy Dust base, I added strips of striping tape in random widths along the nail, filling in sections with 'Mating Surfaces', 'No Nails, No Life' and 'An Even Bigger Splash' by WAH London, and Barry M's 2013 limited edition yellow, which annoyingly doesn't have a name! (Why do Barry M do that?!)

I finished the look with some clear rhinestones from a gem wheel that I picked up in Poundland, and sealed it all in with WAH London 'Classy Glassy Glossy Topcoat'.

Hope you like them :)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

31 Day Challenge - Day 11 - Polka Dots

Bonjour!

The eleventh prompt on the 31 Day Challenge is polka dots, so I did a glitter placement! *Proud face*

If you've seen any of my regular polka dot manis, you will be aware that I am not the neatest 'dotter'. I am still learning how to get my dots equally spaces, the same size and un-smudged, so after a failed attempt at a simple dotticure, I took inspiration from @simplynailogical who's mantra is that glitter fixes everything. 

For this mani I started with a base of Essence 'Black Cat' which is a latex effect polish that dries semi-matte and is just lovely! As it was drying, I quickly added my loose glitter (also from Essence) in a polka dot pattern. As you can see on my middle finger, some of the pieces of glitter did not stick flat to the nail. I didn't add topcoat to this as I wanted the latex finish to be apparent, but if I was wearing this out of the house then a topcoat is a must to seal in the glitter. For my ring finger I added Rimmel 'Clear' nail polish in strips up my nail and placed the glitter pieces on by one to cover the full nail. This takes a lot of time but the effect is so cool. I found it difficult to line up the hexes so that they lay flush with each other, but that all comes with practice I guess!

All of this glitter has made me want to make everything look like a disco ball, so be expecting more glitter placement manis soon!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

PS Check out all of the other submissions for the 31 Day Challenge on Instagram by searching the hashtag #31DC2015

31 Day Challenge - Day 10 - Gradient

Hi everyone!

Today I have some gradient watermelon nails to show you. I've decided that it's still summer so therefore they aren't inappropriate to wear just yet. Although I know I'm going to have to start preparing myself for autumn, I just can't bear to pull away from bright colours!

This is my first attempt at watermelon nails, and I really like how they turned out. I am definitely going to recreate them at some point and add more detail as I think there needs to be a slightly darker shade of green towards the base of my nails and my seeds aren't perfect, but it'll do for now! 

I used polishes from a WAH London Ultimate Nail Art Kit that I nabbed from Boots for the super bargain price of £10! 'No Nails No Life' is the pink, and 'Biters Beware' is the green (how great are those polish names?!). I sandwiched MoYou London 'White Knight' in between the two colours as pink and green don't blend too well :)

Anyone else hungry for watermelon now?!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

31 Day Challenge - Day 9 - Rainbow

Hey!

Prompt number nine for the 31 Day Challenge over on Instagram is rainbow. I LOVE RAINBOWS! ALL OF THE COLOURS!!! This is my second design in a row where I just 'winged it', and luckily I like how it turned out :D You win some, you lose some, eh? 

I started with a base of Essence 'Wild White Ways' and let it dry. I then chose bright, eye-catching colours that really pop with a white contrast. The polishes were: Rimmel 'Raw As Night', Barry M 'Damson', NYC 'Summer In NYC', NYC 'Lexington Yellow', Hello Kitty 'Whatcha' and Models Own 'Pukka Purple'. I used the brush from each bottle to make a curved arc on the tip of my nail, making sure to overlap the colours. I finished off the look with Claire's 'Matte Topcoat'.

I really wish the red and orange shades had created more of an 'overlap' effect, but unfortunately the orange was just too opaque! If you are looking to recreate something like this, it's best to test the overlapping ability of your polishes before diving right in! :D

I seriously love how fun these nails are, and this design can easily be modified to incorporate so many different colours. I can't wait to do this one again!

What do you guys think of this twist on the classic French manicure? 

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

PS As always, check out the hashtag #31DC2015 for other designs created for the challenge prompts :)

31 Day Challenge - Day 8 - Metallic

Hi!

Day eight of the 31 Day Challenge on Instagram is metallic nails. I started these nails with only one plan - to use chrome polishes to create them. Unfortunately, this isn't a very detailed plan, and I am rubbish at winging it. I decided to post them anyway because that's what I love about nail art - it's a constant learning curve! Therefore, I proudly declare these a Nail Fail! :D

I started out by painting all of my nails a different metallic shade (polish details below).  I should have just applied topcoat at this stage and left it, because this is where it all goes wrong - I then painted a matching non-metallic strip of polish on each nail, and outlined with Barry M 'Pearl'. I finished 'the look' by dotting the metallic polish down the strip of non-metallic polish. Ugh, what was I thinking?! 

Polishes used:

Models Own 'Chrome Silver' + Andrea Fullerton 'Sharon'
Claire's 'Teal Liquid Metal' + Butter London 'Fiver'
Claire's 'Purple Liquid Metal' + Barry M 'Prickly Pear'
Claire's 'Pink Liquid Metal' + Nails Inc. 'Westbourne Mews'
Models Own 'Chrome Blue' + Nails Inc. 'York Street'

As you can probably tell I'm not particularly overjoyed with this manicure, but that's the great thing about nail art - I can just wipe it off and start over again! Next year my metallic mani is going to be AWESOME (I had better start planning it now!)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

PS Why not check out some of the amazing metallic designs others have created on Instagram for the 31 Day Challenge? Just search the hashtag #31dc2015 :D

31 Day Challenge - Day 7 - Black & White

Hi guys!

Prompt number seven of the 31 Day Challenge on Instagram is black and white. I used to believe that monochrome was a bit dull (what was I thinking?!), and always wanted a splash of colour in my manicures. However, I have grown to love the simple elegance of a monochrome mani, as it always looks so chic and striking. So without further ado, here are my black and white nails:

I searched Pinterest for inspiration for this prompt, and came across this manicure by Cubbiful from back in 2013. I loved it so much I instantly recreated it :D 

I used my favourite one-coat white - Essence 'Wild White Ways' - for the base on all nails. I then dotted my thumb, index and pinkie using WAH London '01 Black' nail art pen. Finally I created the geometric pattern with striping tape and Rimmel 'Black Out'. I really, really love this look, and it was so straightforward to achieve. Definitely a winner!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x