Mosaic Nail Art Tutorial - Monthly Challenge

This month I'm taking part in #clairestell8sept monthly challenge! Every couple of days there is a different theme. To make it even crazier for myself, I actually decided to do #bestietwinnails for every theme!

Check out the other posts here!

For the 9th of September the theme was mosaic and I collaborated with Shakuh_05 from Instagram.

This design is inspired by @MaryMonkett.

I have a tutorial for these on my YouTube channel!

I started off with a nude base using 'Ard As Nails Sharona.

I then used the dry brush technique and applied brush strokes of different neutral colours. I used Pretty Serious Presence (white), OPI Designer De Better (shimmer), OPI I Sâo Paulo Over There (brown), and just to blend it all together I applied 'Ard As Nails Sharona over the top.

I then applied a fast drying topcoat and waited a good 10 minutes.

I then used a geometric stencil from Nail Mail for the triangle design.

I just applied the whole stencil onto my nail and filled in the triangles that I wanted using a black nail polish - Pretty Serious Absence.

I then carefully pulled the stencil off - while the nail polish was still wet! I waited another 5-10 minutes and then applied a topcoat.

That's it!

xx

Nail Art Challenge June - Neon Gradient

I decided to take part in two nail art challenges during the month of June. To view my other posts click here!

The theme for #nailartjun by @Californails on day 11 was Neon Gradient. I love mixing neons with neutrals and also love these triangle gradients. They're super easy to create and always look so pretty.

For my base I used Barry M Coconut, this is a beautiful off white part of the Summer 2014 collection. I'm a huge fan of the Gelly line by Barry M as their formula is always very easy to work with and they are super glossy without a top coat. The recent spring collection was a little streaky and needed three coats, this polish was the same. It was a little more tricky to work with as it was quite streaky. For the swatch I applied two thin coats and a third slightly thicker coat. I think the end result is beautiful and definitely worth the three coats. I've had this nail polish for about a month now and have used it more than any other polish. I think it looks great to use with nail art but also looks fantastic on its own. I'm in love.

When that fully dried I drew tiny little dots on my nails where I wanted the tape to line up and carefully applied the tape to my nails. Usually I stick the tape onto the back of my hand first so it loses a bit of its stickiness, that way it's less likely to pull up your nail polish.

I used a sponge from Primark, they're the best sponges I've ever tried for ombre, and added one line of Models Own Beach Bag, one line of Models Own Shades and a third line of Essie Bottle Service. I dabbed the sponge onto my nails and applied three "coats" of that to get the real neon pop.

I carefully removed the tape and added a top coat. I'm so happy with the outcome! The colours blend together really smoothly and they are so bright!! I love that the base is just an off white colour, I think the white would have been too overpowering.

Nail Art Challenge June - Cath Kidston

I recently heard about a competition by Fragrance Direct to become the face ob Fragrance Direct. It sounds amazing and all you have to do is create a tutorial on your favourite look, does nail art count too? I'm not sure but it's worth a try. If you're interested the competition is open to all bloggers, for full T&C go to http://www.fragrancedirect.co.uk/page/competition

I decided to take part in two nail art challenges on Instagram this month. The first my @californails called #nailartjun and the second by @glamourouspumps and @nailsby_redkoletz called #nailartchallengejune. Next up for the second challenge is Cath Kidston nails. I love Cath Kidston nails, they're always super girly and pretty and aren't too difficult.

I started off with painting my index and ring finger while using Alpine Snow by OPI. I painted my middle finger and pinky blue using Sambora in Baby Blue. This is a brand I bought in a Roxy shop in Surfers Paradise. I actually only used one very careful coat of Alpine snow, this is probably the most amazing white I've ever had. There is a slight streakiness but since I'm covering most of it up anyway, I didn't need to add another coat. I used two coats of Baby Blue, I'm in love with this brand, the formula is so easy to work with and it's so opaque!

I used my dotting tool to apply some white dots to the blue polish and when the white was fully dry I added striping tape to my index and ring finger and applied one coat of the blue polish. Be very careful when pulling the striping tape off because it might take some of the paint with it. Also try and take the striping take off as quickly after applying the nail polish as you can because if it dries it might also pull the nail polish off. I love the way it looks at this stage and was worried about adding the roses!

I then used Barry M Pink Punch and a large dotting tool to apply the roses. I scattered them around my nails so that each nail would be different. I used OPI Pink Friday and a toothpick (My nail art tools hadn't arrived yet!) to add some detail to the roses. It isn't perfect but I don't think it needs to be.

Finally I used the toothpick and Essie's Navigate Her to add some leaves.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I wasn't too happy with it when I just added the roses, but I think the leaves made a huge change! I always use Navigate Her by Essie for leaves for any floral nail art I do because it's a beautiful muted green that won't pull the attention away from the flowers, but will make them look much better.

Nail Art Challenge June - Fav Movie

Throughout this month I have been participating in two nail art challenges on Instagram, click here to see my other challenges.  The theme for #nailartjun for the 6th of June was fav movie. I don't really have a favourite movie so I decided to do something a little different. This is inspired by Packapunchnails on Instagram and it's a rainbow coloured film roll.

I started off with an off white base by Models Own called Coconut Cream. This is one of the two new scented polishes they have brought out for spring/summer. I will have swatches of the scented line coming soon. This is a beautiful colour and easy application. I did use three coats, but with careful application you can definitely get away with two coats. The polish smells of coconuts... surprise there! And even though I'm not the biggest fan of coconut smelling fragrances this is actually really nice and sweet smelling.

I then put tape on the tops and bottoms of my nails and used a sponge to create a gradient. From left to right I used: Models Own Shades, Models Own Beach Bag, Models Own Bikini, Models Own Flip Flop and Nails Inc Kensington Park Road. I recently bought the Polish for Tans collection by Models Own so that will be up on my blog soon too.

I then used my Barry M nail art pen to draw the lines for the film. It is all free hand so it isn't perfect, but Im still really happy with it! The nail art pen is incredibly easy to use since it has a sharpie/marker tip. You have a lot of control and it's super opaque so you don't need to draw over things a few times.

Spongebob Nail Art

Here's my first nail art post on my blog! I love creating nail art. I started in April 2013 and got really into it for a couple of months, then I moved to Australia and didn't have as much time. However, now I'm back at it again and I love it. I have tons of nail art on my Instagram so follow me there @elaine210792

An IG friend and I decided to do something that's called "Bestie Twin Nails" it's where two people do the same or similar nail art together! It's super fun to do and it really challenges me. We decided to create spongebob nail art.

I'm not sure who this design is originally by, I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest.

Alongside the nail art post I wanted to also include a tutorial. Like I said, I was inspired by a pin on Pinterest and I'm obviously not sure how they created it, but this is how I did it!

Base coat - Revlon Multi Care Base + Top Coat

White - OPI Alpine Snow

Light Blue - Own Made Nail Polish

Light Pink - OPI Pink Friday

Yellow - OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana

Dark Pink - Kester Black 4EVA

Blue - OPI No Room For The Blues

Green - Essie Navigate Her

Red - Ulta3 Watermelon

Brown - Mecca Cosmetica Maria 

Top Coat - Seche Vite

Barry M Nail Art Pen

Dotting tool

Nail Art Brush

Step 1: Apply a base coat, when that dries apply two coats of white on every nail but your right finger. Apply two coats of a blue sparkly nail polish on your ring finger. Let dry.

Step 2: Use a light pink polish to create Patricks shade. I just brushed the pink on like I would normally apply any colour, but left a white gap near my cuticles and the sides of the nail. Use a yellow polish to add Spongebob. Same as with Patrick leave a white gap near the cuticle, but go all the way to the edges of the nail.

Step 3: Use a nail art pen or small brush to create the design of the burger. I started off with the top of the burger, then drew the salad leaf, then the patty and then the bottom burger bun.

Step 4: Use a darker pink nail polish and a small brush to outline Patrick. Add three dots on the top op Spongebobs head to create the sponge look. Use a black nail art pen to create a mouth for patrick and outline the Spongebobs head.

Step 5: Use a dotting tool and white nail polish to add large eyes for Spongebob and Patrick. Use a black nail art pen to create Spongebobs mouth. Patrick is now done.

Step 6: Use a small brush to outline the eyes using black. Use a black nail art pen to add Patricks pupils and eye brows. Use a medium brush to draw a pink coral on the ring finger. To get full opacity I applied to layers of the pink polish

Step 7: Using a medium dotting tool and blue nail polish to add spongebob's eyes. When that dries add black pupils and his nose. Use a green nail polish to apply the sponge holes. Use a red polish and a small nail art brush to apply Spongebob's cheeks. Spongebob is now done. Use a green polish and a large dotting tool to add Gary's eyes. Use a nail art brush and blue polish to create lines connecting to Gary's eyes.

Step 8: Use a dotting tool and brown nail polish to colour in the burger bun. Use green to dot in the salad and red or a browny colour to colour in the patty. The patty is now done.

Step 9: Use a yellow polish and a brush to add the other coral. I used two coats to get this fully opaque. Use a small brush with black nail polish to outline Gary's eyes. Use a red dotting tool to add Gary's eyes and a black tiny dotting tool to add his pupils.

Finished!!!

Wait at least half an hour before adding a top coat to avoid smudging.