Pretty In Pink

Hey everyone,

Today I tried out something I've wanted to do for ages... water spotting.

It was trickier than I thought it might be but as with water marbling, it's easy when you get the technique right.

I started with a base coat and painted all my nails with 2 coats of Barry M - Strawberry Ice Cream. Once that had dried I got my trusty water marbling glass out and filled it with tepid water.

I dripped about 3 blobs of Barry M Gelly - Grapefruit onto the surface of the water and waited for it to spread out. Then I took a fan brush, dipped it into pure acetone and flicked it onto the polish in the glass so that it made little holes in it.

I picked out the part that I wanted on my nail and carefully pushed my nail onto the surface of the polish, in the same way that you would if you were water marbling (one nail at a time).

With my nail still submerged, I cleaned the excess polish off the water with a toothpick and then pulled my nail out slowly, and then cleaned up my finger with acetone and a cotton bud.

This is messy so you could tape your finger with sellotape beforehand or use Vaseline to prevent it sticking.

Once I'd finished, I used a coat of Seche Vite to make them dry super quick.

What do you guys think?

I really like how it turned out!

Over and out
Rach x

Pretty Peter Pan

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine this week. I've had a lovely week off and wish it didn't have to end :(

Had a little bit of a haul on Tuesday. I bought 2 of the new MUA polishes (Pistachio Ice Cream and All Nude) for £1 each from Superdrug, and I also got 2 Sinful Colors from Boots (Winterberry and Snow Me White) for £1.99 each. Bargain!!

Today I'm going to show you my take on the Peter Pan collar trend that has been around a lot lately.

These were so difficult to photograph, my phone just did not want to pick up clean lines so apologies for the slightly blurry pictures.

 

I started with a base coat and then filled 2 thirds of my nail with MUA - Pistachio Ice Cream. I created the semi circle with a nail art brush and filled it in with the same brush. You could also use hole reinforcers from a stationary shop but I didn't have any.

Once that had dried, I used my new Barry M Nail Art Pen in White to draw on the collar and button detail.

 

I've decided that these pens are very similar to the ink you'd get in a gel pen, they just have a fatter nib.

Once it had all dried, I used a coat of Seche Vite to add shine.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, I hope you like them!

Over and out
Rach x

Nicely Nautical

Hey everyone!

Finally the weather has started to warm up! Hooray!

Today I have something nautically themed to show you and I'm really chuffed with how they turned out...

I started with my base coat (Model's Own Pro - Nail Strengthener) and did 2 coats of Barry M - Matt White on each nail.

Then I taped off some lines with striping tape and did a single coat of Rimmel London - Aye Aye Sailor, one nail at a time and peeled back the tape while the polish was still wet.

I tidied up the edges of the lines where some blue had seeped under the tape by using a bit of acetone and a small brush and used a coat of Seche Vite to add shine.

Once that had dried, I applied a selection of gems and studs to the corner of each nail with nail glue to add a bit of detail. These were mainly from a wheel that I found in River Island for £3.99.

I'm off work this week so I'm planning another 2 posts for you :)

I hope you like my mani, please leave me a comment below

Over and out
Rach x

Neon Lights Swatch & Review

Hey everyone

Today I'm showing you something that I've been so excited about for the last month, and it finally arrived on my desk at work yesterday. I think I squealed in the office :S

I ordered Lush Lacquer's - Neon Lights about a month ago and waited (prayed) for it's safe arrival. Here's what I got....

 



This picture doesn't do it justice in the slightest, it's literally amazing in real life and applies like a dream! I paid about £12 for it including shipping from the USA which I thought was pretty reasonable.

 

It's a white jelly base which is a really nice consistency and surprisingly opaque (2 coats pictured). It contains lots of different sizes of hex glitter in neon pink, orange, yellow and green which are nice and evenly distributed through the polish.

 

 

I have to say I was surprised at how easy it was to apply because we all know that chunky glitter polishes like this can be a bitch sometimes.

 

Anyway, you can buy this polish here through their etsy store. I also quite fancy getting my hands on "I lost My Marbles" and "Chubby Bubby".

 

Let me know which ones you like by leaving me a comment below.

 

Over and out

Rach x



80's Splatter Mani

Hi everyone,

Today I have some nails to show which turned out nothing like I waned them to but I still like them! They remind me of 80's t-shirts and boy bands. I also chose to show you my right hand because I think they turned out better than my left (Cue awkward hand pose)

It's also a technique which I'd anticipated to be a lot easier that it actually turned out to be.

I started with my base coat and then did 2 coats of Barry M - Black (my go to black, always) and then picked out 3 different colours to use for my splatters. I chose the following...

Barry M - Peach Melba (peachy)
Barry M Gelly - Grapefruit (hot pink)
Barry M - Fuchsia (purply pink)

Once I'd picked them out, I blobbed a bit of each onto a piece of paper and dipped a straw into it to blow through onto my nail. This proved tricky and I ended up thinning each one down to a more watery consistency using acetone.

It took me a good few attempts to get it right and I still think they could be better but I'll revisit them another day.

Once they'd dried, I tidied up the edges (a lot!) with acetone and a brush and coated them with Seche Vite. Then I decided I'd prefer them matte so I used a coat of 17 Nail Xtras - Matte Top Coat.

What do you think?

Please leave a comment in the box below, I love hearing what you think.

Over and out
Rach x

Lemony Lines

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been aaaages since I've posted. I've been so tired lately, I think it's this miserable weather and the fact that I've quit Diet Coke. (This may seem like no big deal but I was drinking 3 litres a day and nothing else!) I've been Diet Coke free for a week and a day now :)

So today I decided to cheer myself up with a nice sunny mani, here it is...

I started with a base coat of Model's Own Pro - Nail Strengthener, then I did 2 coats of Model's Own Pro - Mellow Yellow on each nail. I used a coat of Seche Vite to make it dry super quick and then started applying striping tape in different width lines. To make the thicker lines I put 2 pieces of tape right up next to each other.

Once I'd applied the tape, I went over it with a single coat of a darker yellow (unknown from a set of mini's from Marks and Spencer) and while it was still wet I peeled back the tape with a pair of tweezers.

I tidied up the edges with a bit of acetone and then topped it all off with another coat of Seche Vite. Unfortunately I got a bit of shrinkage which you can see on my index finger :(

I hope you like today's mani! I bought Nails Inc - Leather Effect in black the other day so I think my next mani with include a bit of leather!

Over and out
Rach x