Textured Negative Space Nails

Hey guys!

Today I have a negative space manicure that I created using two polishes from the Nicole by OPI Roughles Collection. I used 'On What Grounds' (teal) and 'I'm Stucco On You' (purple). These polishes dry to a speckled, textured finish and are available in four pretty pastel shades (purple, teal, pink and yellow). I bought mine at Superdrug for £7.99 each.

Nicole By OPI - 'I'm Stucco On You' & 'On What Grounds?'

I actually added topcoat to this design which eliminated some of the texture. What I like about these polishes over other textured finishes are the tiny little specks of different colour - it adds a unique quality to the textured finish.

Negative Space

See the little specks of colour?

I'm still not sure if I like textured finishes or not. I have so many textured polishes in my collection, so something draws me to them, but I'm still figuring out how to use them successfully in nail art.

Rougles Negative Space Nails

What do you think? Yay or nay? Let me know in the comments! 

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Fairy Dust and Framing

Hi lovelies!

Last weekend I bought my first ever bottle of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' - I was so excited when I got home that I tested it out straight away. I haven't seen another glitter like it - the specks are so fine and yet super holograpic - it truly is a spectacular topper!

China Glaze - Fairy Dust

Not content with just Fairy Dust, I added extra sparkle to this mani with Nicole By OPI 'Awesome' as glitter placement around my nails, framing them.

Nicole By OPI - Awesome

I chose Barry M's 'Black' as my base, and added one layer of Fairy Dust over the top. Then, decanting Awesome onto a piece of paper, I picked up the glitter using a dotting tool and created a frame around each nail. I love how this turned out and was actually very quick and easy to do!

I topped this all off with two layers of Barry M 'Plumpy' to make it as smooth as possible, although the glitter did start peeling at the edges after about 12 hours. For someone who changes their manicure daily, this isn't so much of a problem, but if you want extra staying power on the glitter make sure to use a small amount of nail glue to keep them in place :)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Pretty In Pink

Hi guys!

I have a lovely simple manicure today using only two (yes, two!) colours and a sprinkle of gems. I recently ordered some Seche nail polish, hoping that they would live up to the reputation that Seche Vite topcoat has instilled into the brand. Although I haven't yet swatched these polishes properly, I thought that the below pink was perfect for the kind of mani I wanted to create tonight.

OPI 'My Boyfriend Scales Walls' and Seche 'Precious'

'My Boyfriend Scales Walls' by OPI is one of my favourite white polishes. It's not a true white and has an ever so slight grey undertone to it, making wearing it easy as it's not too stark. It matches beautifully with Seche 'Precious', which is a sheer pink with subtle lilac-silver shimmer. Gorgeous! Although the application isn't great (I found it quite thin in consistency) I managed to get a great colour using three coats.

Sorry for the blurry pic! Pinkie - Precious / Ring - My Boyfriend Scales Walls

The finished look

 I was super annoyed to have smudged my middle finger just before taking photos, but at three layers for coverage I didn't have time to re-do the nail!

Finally, can we all just take a moment to truly appreciate the fabulousness that is my new phonecase:

It is soooooo pretty! Video is on my Instagram page!

Sorry for such a short post today - I started a new job this week and I've not had time to blog, but that should change soon =) Hope you liked the nails!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Freehand Sugar Skull

Hello my lovelies!

I'm currently taking part in a nail art challenge which is being held on Instagram by @nailzz_designzz_, and day 3 is 'freehand'. I thought that this would be a good time to whip out my trusty Idiot's Guides Nail Art book written by The Lacquerologist (which I talk about here). I LOVE the sugar skull design, and decided to recreate it for this mani. Emily has a great tutorial very similar to the one in her book on her blog, so take a look!

For this mani I used the following polishes: Nails Inc. 'Notting Hill Gate', OPI 'My Boyfriend Scales Walls', Rimmel 'Black Out', Ciate 'Big Yellow Taxi', Seventeen 'Orange Soda', and Nails Inc. 'Kensington Park Road'.

L-R: Big Yellow Taxi / Black Out / My Boyfriend Scales Walls / Kensington Park Road / Orange Soda
Front: Notting Hill Gate (pink)

And here it is:

Sugar skull accent

I'm currently still using some brushes that I bought from Amazon and Poundland for my designs, but they aren't the best quality unfortunately. I have just ordered these (recommended on various blogs) so hopefully my detail can be a bit better once they arrive!

I absolutely love how this turned out - it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but my freehand skills are getting better all the time and I think sugar skulls are the perfect practising focus as they look even better when they aren't quite perfect! 

I'd love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to leave a comment :)

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Inspired By Underwear...

Hello lovelies!

Today's mani is inspired by one of my favourite underwear sets. Hey, we can't help what inspires us, right?! This little set is made by Freya and it is just so pretty - I love the mix of colours and thought they would translate nicely onto my nails! .You can buy the set here.

I had a good flick through my swatch book to find colours that matched as closely as possible, which I think I succeeded in! For this design I used Ciate 'Mojito', Barry M 'Dragon Fruit', Nicole by OPI 'I Can Teal You Like Me', and China Glaze 'I Sea The Point'. I was worried that the pink and lime green polishes would struggle to cover the dark blue base, but luckily they are pigment heavy polishes so I didn't have any troubles! I topped it off with my all time favourite topcoat HK Girl by Glisten & Glow.

L-R: I Can Teal You Like Me / Mojito / Dragon Fruit / I Sea The Point

I'm not too happy with the brush strokes on this, especially on my ring finger, but it's all practice! If anyone has any advice on brush techniques please do pass it on to me - I'd be very grateful!

Inspired by my pants! :)

Overall I'm pretty pleased with these ones, even though it's a little on the messy side, I love the colours and the fact that I can match my underwear to my nails makes me happy!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Pond Manicure using OPI Sheer Tints

Hello my lovelies!

Today I have a pond mani for you all! A pond mani is essentially a jelly sandwich (a layer of glitter between two layers of sheer polish), only instead of using glitter you create a simple design using polish - for example dots, flowers, hearts, etc.  Adventures In Acetone has a great description and tutorial that you can find here if you're looking to create your own pond manicure. I have seen some lovely pond mani designs using various sheer polishes, however since my collection is somewhat lacking in the sheer jelly department, I chose to use my OPI Sheer Tints.

OPI Sheer Tints
L-R: I'm Never I’m Never Amberrassed / Be Magentale With Me /
I Can Teal You Like Me / Don't Violet Me Down

I haven't properly explored the possibilities of OPI Sheer Tints, which is a shame because they are so versatile. The tints come in four different colours, but the beauty of these is that they can be layered to create many more colours and effects. When I first got my hands on the collection I layered them over a plain white base and blended the colours on my accent finger to create the effect below. The tints can be layered as many times as you wish in order to reach the opacity/colour that you're after. The downside to this, however, is that more layers = more bulge on the nailbed, and it can be difficult with regards to drying time. The consistency is also very gloopy (almost syrup-like), so I find that applying a few thinner layers works much better than one or two thick layers.

OPI Sheer Tints (please ignore all bad things about this photo!)

For this manicure I built up the colour of the tints without any base, which gives them more of a jelly appearance. Between each layer I stamped flowers randomly using the image from the circled area on the below stamping plate made by Essence, a brand that can be found in most Wilkinson stores in the UK (and online). These stamping plates retail for around £1.50, which is pretty good value! Obviously the quality isn't as good as other brands such as Konad or MoYou, but you get what you pay for!

Essence Stampy Designs - found here.
Can also be bought at Wilko in the UK!

Here is the finished look:

Stamped Pond Manicure

I started by stamping onto bare nails, then applied a layer of tint. After it had completely dried, I stamped again, then another layer of tint (etc., etc.) After four layers of tints I added one final stamp on each nail to make the pattern pop. Finally, I finished it off with a coat of Barry M's Plumpy Topcoat, which makes it super shiny and, well, plumpy!

Step One - one stamped image plus one layer of tint per nail

Step two - repeat as many times as you like!

Here are the bottles of tints as a comparison:

Index finger - "Don't Violet Me Down" / Middle finger - "I'm So Ambarresed" /
Ring finger - "I Can Teal You Like Me" / Pinkie finger - "Be Magentale With Me"

Macro shot of ring finger

It almost looks 3D - so much depth!

Pond manis have a subtleness about them that I love

What do you think of this look? 

Thanks for reading!

Helen x