Green Leaves Nail Art

Hey!

Today's nails are inspired by nature. And sparkly charms!

I've been dying to use this adorable leaf charm for a while, so when I saw a manicure by @charsnails on Instagram using it, I just had to paint my nails! 

I started with a base of Nails Inc. 'Marylebone Road' on all fingers except my ring finger, which I painted using Barry M 'Cardamom' (as a background for my charm). I then used the saran-wrap technique to blend 'Cardamom', 'Marylebone Road', and Make Up Gallery 'Spearmint' on the nail. The final step was to create a leaf pattern using acrylic paint, stick on my charm and top with Poshe Topcoat. Et voila!

These turned out much better than I imagined they would, and I really love the effect of the leaves. As a result of this mani, I now have loads of ideas for nature-themed nails that I can't wait to try out!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Cherry Nail Art

Hi guys!

I neglected the Weekly Nail Art Challenge on Instagram towards the end of July, but I'm going to make sure I complete all of the prompts in August! I love that the prompts this month are colour combos, with the theme of summer. The weather has just started turning sour here, so I definitely need some summery nails to cheer myself up!

The first prompt this month is 'lemon and cherry', so I decided to make use of two of my untrieds (I'm slooowly making progress with getting through all of my polishes!). I used Sally Hansen 'Sweetie' and 'Cherry Drop' which are both textured polishes from the Sugar Coat collection. I bought these on a whim, and as I'm not big into textured finishes I found them a little yucky. I thought I was being clever when I added a coat of Sally Hansen InstaDry Topcoat to smooth things out a bit, but it just made them look all mushy...

The detail was added with Maybelline 'Red Record', Color Club 'French Tip' and Ciate 'Mojito'. This was my first attempt at anything fruit related, and although it's not perfect I kind of like my cartoon-y cherries :)

I picked up these polishes in Poundland for, that's right, £1! They retail at around £7 in other stores, which I find overpriced as I'm not much of a fan of these polishes. But for £1 I can't complain!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Denim Nails

Hey guys!

I have been trying out a lot of my new (unused) polishes recently, and stumbled upon an Essence polish that I bought on a whim a few months ago - 'Blue Jeaned'. This polish is titled 'denim sugar', which I think describes it well! Blue Jeaned dries to a very fine texture somewhere between matte and glossy, and I don't have anything like it in my collection.

Obviously I wanted to create a denim-style manicure, so I teamed this with Barry M 'Mustard' and Color Club 'French Tip' and added a few stitches :)

On my middle finger I used a polish from Poundland's Make Up Gallery collection - 'Pink Sherbet', and added a little amber gem.

I really like the finish on this polish but I didn't want to risk going to work without topcoat on my nails so I added a matte topcoat after I took these photos. Obviously it smoothed out the nails texture-wise and I think I actually prefer it matte, although the denim effect is much more subtle. Naturally I didn't get any photos of it with a matte topcoat. Typical!

Thanks for reading!

Helen x

Hello Kitty - 'Respect' **Swatch**

Hi!

I've got a swatch of 'Respect' by Hello Kitty to show you today. I'm a huge fan of blue polishes and have quite a few in my collection, but 'Respect' is probably my favourite blue that I own. It is just absolutely beautiful in colour, application, and finish. Let's take a look:

I picked up this beauty from Poundland here in the UK and because of this I didn't have high hopes for the polish. How wrong I was! The application is perfect and it self-levels very well. Not only that but it is opaque in one generous coat. Shown here is two coats plus Poshe topcoat.

The depth of this colour is beautiful, it is such a rich navy blue that has an extremely glossy finish. Even without topcoat this polish is stunning!

BornPrettyStore Cute Cat Ear Ring

Hello Kitty bottle! <3

If you are near a Poundland store, definitely have a hunt for this little gem!

Thanks for reading,

Helen x

** Get 10% off your BornPrettyStore.com order with my code CESH10! Stuck for inspiration? Have a look at these owl decals, this thermal polish, or my cute cat ears ring that I am wearing in the picture above!