Colour Block Mani

Hey guys!!

I hope you're all having fabulous weekends! I can't believe its Monday again tomorrow, it feels like i've blinked and the weekend is gone :(

So today's mani is something that i've been struggling to get right for a looooong time.... you got it.. striping tape! But I think i've finally nailed it so here are the results...

 

I started with a base coat of Save the nail - Bridge the ridge and then did 2 coats of O.P.I - Skull and Glossbones on every nail. And heres the important bit... I coated them all with a single, thin coat of Seche Vite.

The problem that i've been having is that when I peel back the tape, it's been ripping up my base coat which was soooo frustrating. The Seche Vite means that they're completely dry.

So once my Seche Vite dried I taped off sections with my striping tape and filled them with my medium grey which is Rimmel London - Grey Matter, and my darker grey which is Rimmel London - Man Overboard.

 

I peeled the tape off while my accent colours were still wet and almost jumped for joy when I ended up with nice clean lines and an intact base colour. Now that i've perfected this art I think you'll be seeing more tape usage on my blog!

This week I also decided to clean out an old polish bottle and fill in with olive oil so that I can treat my cuticles on the go. I've been using it for 2 days now and i've seen sooooooooooooooooooooooo (yes really) much improvement in the condition of my cuticles.

I was almost at my wits end over what to do with them, it's been driving me insane but this has given me hope!

Anyway, I  hope you liked my mani, please let me know what you think in the comments below

Over and out
Rach x

Mario Clouds!

Hey nail art fans!

I'm ashamed at how long it's been since my last post :/ Sowwy!

I have no excuses, pure laziness! It has however given my nails a nice break. but I'm back now and I've got some super cute nails to show you all...

 

I'm so in love with this mani I can't even tell you!

 

I started with my base coat which is Save the nail - bridge the ridge and then did 3 coats of Barry M Textured Nail Effect - Atlantic Road which by the way I am obsessed with!

 

My lovely boyfriend got me all four of them for valentines day, he's a gem!

 

 

 

So once that dried....it took a while...... I used my biggest dotting tool to paint little cartoon clouds all over them with Barry M - Matt White

 

I haven't used a top coat because I'm not sure what it'll do to the texture but I'm toying with the idea of matte...hmmmmm!

 

Anyway, I hope you like my mani today, please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear what you think.

 

Over and out

Rach x

Cloud Mani

Hey everyone!

I wish the weather would cheer up, I can't believe we're still getting snow, it's driving me insane!!

Today's mani is a design i'm sure everyone has seen dotted around on Pinterest and Instagram, here's my version...

 

Unfortunately, my cuticles are refusing point blank to improve despite my best efforts so please excuse my horrific atempt at blurring them a little :S

 

I started with a base coat of Save the Nail - Bridge the ridge. and then did 3 coats of Barry M - Strawberry Ice Cream. I love this colour but the coverage isn't brilliant and I find it quite streaky.

 

Next I used my biggest dotting tool to add the scalloped lines using 17 Lasting Fix - Sherbert Lemon, followed by Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine - Grapefruit.

 

At this point you'll have a row of the darker pink dots, so I filled in the rest of the nail using the brush in the bottle.

 

I was pleasently surprised by how easy this mani was, and i'm pleased with how it turned out.

I topped it all off with 2 coats of seche vite to give it a lovely glassy shine.

I'm going to try and post a bit more frequently as I've been so lazy  with my nails recently!

Anyway, let me know what you think in the comments

Over and out
Rach x



Dorothy Nails

Hey everyone!

So I've not posted nails for aaages, sorry bout that! Spent lots of time with my other half this week which has been luverly, but I've also had heaps of problems with my new car which has not been so luverly.

So today's mani is something I've wanted to try for a long time but it's been one of those that I never got round to...until now! So here goes..

Cute? I'm loving them!

I started with a base coat (Save the Nail - Bridge the ridge) and then did 2 coats of Barry M - Matt White on all but my ring finger which is a single coat of Rimmel London - Double Decker Red (I should have done 2 coats)

Then I mixed my blue using acrylic paint and free handed the gingham with a small-ish striping brush. I'm sure I could have done a lot better if it wasn't 10pm and I wasn't tired but hey ho, such is life.

For the bits where the lines crossed I used a large dotting tool and a very slightly darker blue.

The red glitter is one of those phantom polishes that I've had for donkey's years and I have absolutely no idea where it came from. It's actually a really nice fine glitter, almost more of a shimmer really. I have a feeling its an Avon one.

I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I have a feeling I might end up adding little red hearts over the gingham at some point, since it'll soon be valentines day!

Anyway, I hope you like today's nails, I'll see you next time!

Over and out
Rach x

Chevron Nails

Hey everyone

I've had such a busy weekend! I picked up my new car on Friday afternoon. Oh my lord it's a pocket rocket! I've gone from a beat up 1.3 Ford Ka to a 1.6 Sport Ka, and I can tell the difference!

Then yesterday we went to Ikea and I bought about 15 mason jars for 80p each for some crafty things I'm doing, and a lamp with a clamp which is soooooo handy because my old lamp was too short to light the top of my lightbox properly so with this one I can bend it n stuff and it's clamped to the side of my mirror. Perfect!

So today's nails are my take on a mani I keep seeing everywhere...chevron nails! Here goes..

 

Most of the pictures I've seen have been coral, black and white so I mixed it up a bit and went with baby pink and grey instead.

 

I have a new base coat! I've been using 17 Nail Xtras Strengthening Base forever but it's gone all thick and it's nearly all gone anyway so I bought Save The Nail - Bridge The Ridge Base Coat on Saturday so we'll see how it goes.

 

I painted all but my middle and ring fingers with 2 coats of Barry M - Strawberry Ice Cream which is a gorgeous pink (pic doesn't do it justice).

 

My middle finger is Barry M - Matt White with about 4 coats of Barry M - Diamond Glitter (seriously, my nail is like a cm thick lol).

 

For my ring finger I did 2 coats of Barry M - Matt White and then painted the chevrons with a tiny brush and grey acrylic paint. It was fiddly but I think I did good!

I topped it all off with a couple of coats of Seche Vite, which promptly shrank and took off the end of my chevrons hence the slight line at the end of my nail where I touched it up :)



Hope you enjoyed today's post

Over and out
Rach x

Gaga Nails!

Hey nail art fans! So it's snowing again and that makes me sad :( so I did my nails which makes me happy again :)

I just showed these to my boyfriend and he called them Gaga nails so it stuck. They were inspired by a mani by The Nailasaurus who does some seriously amazing art! go check her out here. I used the studded cross on my pinky and improvised the rest within the same sort of theme.

If there was one thing I had to change about these nails it would be my thumb....too much seche vite has made the microbeads look wierd :( But otherwise I love, love love them!

All of the embelishments (is that the right word?) in todays mani are from a nail art wheel for £3.50 from River Island. I know.... shock, awe, pick your jaw up of the floor!

Base coat as always is 17 Nail Xtras Strengthening base coat and I used 2 coats of Barry M - Black.

So starting with mr pinky I used round gold studs, and then outined with Barry M Instant Effects - Gold Foil.
Ring finger is black pearls straight onto the black base
Middle finger is gold foil again, I used a toothpick to draw the crosses.
Pointer is large square gold studs onto the black base
And finally...my thumb is gold microbeads applied with a toothpick!!

I'm actually pretty surprised at how quickly I did these, they were less than an hour start to finish.

I added a coat of Seche Vite to each nail to seal in my work and give it a sexy shine. For my ring finger I spread the top coat on then wiped the brush on the side of the bottle and sort of poked it between the pearls so that they didn't look like one big ball on my nail. I think they kind of look like blackberries!

Anyway I hope you like my nails today and make sure you go check out the nailasaurus!

Over and out
Rach x

Watercolour Nails

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a good weekend and those of you from the Great British isles have not been incarcerated in your homes due to the snow!

So I did these nails last night but it was late when I finished them and as much as I love writing my posts, I like my bed more :)

 

These kind of remind me of that painting with the water lillies and the bridge, I think it's Monet. I can imagine them looking good in green tones with yellow details.

 

I started with my normal base and did all but my ring finger with Barry M - Matt White, Then I got my fan brush and licked it (lol) to make the bristles seperate. I dipped the very ends of the bristles in the following 3 colours one by one and dragged it across to make scruffy lines.

 

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine - Plum (Darkest)

Barry M - Bright Purple (Medium)

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine - Prickly Pear (Lightest)

 



 

I always find it kind of odd how some Barry M polsihes are called exactly what they are and others have a cryptic name.....hmmm something to ponder!

 

I kept layering the lines until I couldnt see any more white and I was happy with the effect.

 

For my ring finger I used a coat of Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine - Plum, followed by a coat of Models Own - Boogie Nights which looks great but is pretty tricky to work with. It's very 3D shall we say...kind of spiky! Once those 2 had dried, I used my as yet un-tried Max Factor - Fantasy Fire (OMG breathe *squeal*) For those of you who don't know of this polish it's like a purpley, pinky, bronzy iridescent polish which is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G in real life. Go buy....go go go.

 

So there it is...topped off as always with a dollop of Seche Vite.

 

Hope you like them!

 

Over and out

Rach x