Nail Art Challenge June - Destinations

During the month of June I decided to take part in two nail art challenges. To view my other posts click here! Doing two challenges has been a little much, but I'm slowly going through them... Day 28 of #nailartjun was Destinations. As you may know I have traveled up the East Coast of Australia throughout May and it was amazing! One of my favourite places was Sydney (amongst many others). I felt right at home in Sydney and my boyfriend and I walked the Harbour Bridge. When I saw this design by @sparklicious_nails I know I had to recreate it. This is the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in Sydney. I actually took a photo of this view during the day. 

I started off with a white base, of course OPI Alpine Snow. When that fully dried I taped up the tips of my nails and used a sponge to create an ombre. I used Nails Inc Notting Hill Carnival (yellow), Nails Inc You're A Peach (orange) and OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips (pink) for the ombre on my index finger. I then used the above 3 colours as well as Mecca Cosmetica Timandra (purple/pink) as on ombre on my middle finger. I used a new part of the sponge and used Nails In You're A Peach, OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips, Mecca Cosmetica Timandra and Kester Black Bougainvillea (purple) for the gradient on my ring finger. I used Mecca Cosmetica Timandra and Kester Black Bougainvillea for the ombre on my pinky. 

I then removed the tape and create a horizontal gradient on the bottom bits. On my index finger only sponged on Kiss Me On My Tulips. On my middle finger I used Mecca Cosmetica Timandra and Kester Black Bougainvillea, On my ring finger and pinky I used Kester Black Bougainvillea and Mecca Cosmetica Cobalt. 

I then slowly started to draw using my Barry M Nail Art Pen in black. I started off drawing a line between the two gradients. After that I outlined the shape of the opera house and coloured it in and drew a line at the end of my pinky. I then applied some of the nail art pen product onto a note card and used my extremely thin nail art brush (that I thinned myself) to draw the Harbour Bridge. I started with the bottom line, then the first arch and then the second. I drew the zigzag line inside the arch and then drew the straight lines down. It was pretty tricky and needed a lot of patience and concentration, but I'm so happy with it! 

After waiting for about an hour I applied my top coat. I wanted to ensure that the design was fully dry before I do anything! 

The ombre looks so beautiful and it's the best sunset look I've ever created. It's also the most incredibly "scenery" or 4 finger nail art I've created. I'm so proud. Thank you to @sparklicious_nails for the design idea! What I love most about it is that I've seen that view in real life, and also that I walked over that bridge! 

What do you think of these nails?

xx Elaine 

Nail Art Challenge June - Picnic & Tropical & Summer

During the month of June I decided to take part in two nail art challenges. To view my other posts click here! Taking on two challenges might have been a bit too hopeful, because I'm drastically behind! As you can tell I'm trying my best to try and get them all done.... today...... So I'm a little more up to date with the challenges on Instagram, but like I mentioned in my previous post: It's about the nail art, who cares if it's a little late.. right?!

Today I am combining three different themes: Picnic and Tropical from #nailartjun and Summer from #nailartchallengejune. At the start of the month I was looking through all the themes and immediately wanted to recreate this manicure by @littletipoff and @sprangleynails on Instagram. I have seen this design floating around instagram and pinterest for a while, but I mainly looked at these two ladies.

It's a Sex and the City style picnic with tropical cocktails and how could this not resemble summer?! I have recently started rewatching Sex and the City from the start... again... and I love it! This is probably the only show I can watch and rewatch and rewatch. I used a ton of nail polishes. Each cocktail is made out of two colours.

I started off with a white base, of course OPI Alpine Snow. I used Furless Cosmetics Clouded and the bottom of the two brushes to draw the cocktail glasses. I love that grey and for a full review click here! I then used China Glaze Grass Is Lime Greener and Essie First Timer and slightly mixed them together using the thicker brush on the top. For the second cocktail I used Cotton On Body Candy Floss and Essie Camera. I love the Cotton On Body nail polish, it only cost $2.95 and it extremely opaque and neon. Camera by Essie is also a neon but requires a white base as it's a jelly formula. For the third cocktail I used Kester Black Blueberry Tart and Now, part of the Architecture in Helsinki limited edition due. And finally for the last cocktail I used Kester Black Peach Melba and Models Own Beach Bag.

I used Black Satin by Ulta3 for the straws and Mecca Cosmetica Ophelia for the cherries. Lastly I used Barry M Diamond Glitter for the glitter ice cubes. That's a lot!! Each cocktail had a bright pastel and a neon so the colours really popped.

I think these nails look really cute, what do you think?
xx Elaine

Nail Art Challenge June - Fathers Day & Recreation

During the month of June I decided to take part in two nail art challenges. To view my other posts click here! Taking on two challenges might have been a bit too hopeful, because I'm drastically behind! Anyway, I decided to combine two different challenges: Fathers Day - day 15 of #nailartjun - and Recreation - day 16 of #nailartchallengejune. Way back when I first started instagram I created a Delfts Blauw design inspired by The Polish Perfectionist. Delfts Blauw (Delft is a place and Blauw is Blue) is a traditional white and blue pottery made in The Netherlands and usually has iconic Dutch drawings like windmills, clogs, tulips, a boy and a girl is traditional Dutch wear kissing.

I loved the pattern when I first saw it, but didn't really have the right tools to recreate The Polish Perfectionists' nails. Now I do! The "then" photo is the top left photo and taken about a year ago. I believe I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a dark blue Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen. Although I quite like nail art pens, the tip of them is way too thick to do any kind of detailed drawings.

For the "now" I used OPI Alpine Snow, my favourite white as well as dark blue acrylic paint. I've never used acrylic paint before but I loved it! Polish thickens very quickly and it's hard to draw when it thickens. The acrylic paint stays wet for a longer amount of time so the drawings are much smoother.

So it easily fit in with recreation, but for Fathers day.... My dad used to fly a lot with KLM for his work and, I'm not sure if they still do it, but back then for every flight you could choose a little Dutch house (pictured above). We have tons of them now and they're all in my dads office! It's a bit of a stretch, I know, but it's about the nail art right?!

I'm so impressed with how these turned out, and it's such a huge difference between a year ago. I used a small detailing brush I bought on eBay. It was still too thick so I trimmed it down myself to the size I wanted it to be.. extremely thin.

Nail Art Challenge June - Fuzzy Coat

This month I wanted to get back into nail art and decided to take part in a nail art challenge. I actually couldn't choose which one so am taking part in two! To check out my other June nail art posts click here!

The theme for day 9 for #nailartchallengejune was Fuzzy Coat. I know I'm totally doing these out of order and on the wrong days, but I'm getting through them! I didn't own a fuzzy coat until a few days ago. They never really interested me and I've never been a fan of bar glitter anyway! I did some research on fuzzy coat nail art and found the cutest thing ever. I went out and bought Barry M Marshmallow especially for it. A bit excessive I know... but totally worth it.

I really like the colour combo of Marshmallow, it consists of white and light pink matte bar glitter.

I started off with a white base using Alpine Snow by OPI. This is the best white polish ever. When I first got it I wasn't too impressed, but it seems the longer I've had it for the better it gets. The photo below is one coat of Alpine Snow, it's super opaque and not too streaky either. It's just a quick photo from my phone so please excuse the super red fingers! Anyway, once the base dried I used OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender to draw the base of the fuzzy. I just used the nail polish brush to create a half circle on the tips of my nails. Once that dried I applied two coats of Barry M Marshmallow. I then used Ulta3 Black Satin and a large dotting too to create the eyes, and my Barry M black nail art pen to add the mouth. Finally I used a smaller dotting tool and Alpine Snow to add the white of the eyes.

I think this design is so cute! I found it on pinterest but unfortunately there wasn't any watermark and didn't redirect to the artists blog.

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.

Nail Art Challenge June - Disney

This month I decided to take part in 2 nail art challenges on Instagram. Click here to view my first post. 

The second challenge part of "The Totally Doable I have a life challenge" by @californails was Disney. I wanted to create something that was a bit different from the usual disney creations, but that's still obviously disney. I found a pin on Pinterest and recreated this. 

The base is Barry M's Coconut. This is a brand new colour part of the Summer Gelly collection. It's a very light creamy colour, just off white. The application was really easy, but I did apply a third coat just to even out any streaks. With more careful application you only need 2 coats. 

I don't have any nail art supplies at the moment, so I had to be a bit more creative. I actually used a very fine tipped sharpie. It didn't turn out completely black, and you can see from the photos, but it was great for the thin lines. I then went over the ears with my Barry M nail art pen. The tip of this is a bit too think for fine lines. 

It definitely isn't perfect, but I'm really impressed with it. I can't draw for the life of me, so being able to draw this on my nails is a pretty big deal!

Nail Art Challenge June - Sky & Matte

Since I have a bit more free time this month, I decided to take part in a monthly nail art challenge on Instagram. Californails has been making nail art challenges since I've been on Instagram so I decided to do her June challenge! I'm also taking part in a second one created by a friend of mine on Instagram, Glamournailart. Click the photos to enlarge!

The first theme for #nailartjun (by californails) was the sky. I decided I wanted to recreate a photo I took in Byron Bay in Australia. Byron Bay was my favourite place from our travels in Australia and we saw the most incredible sunset. I wanted to watermarble using neon shades inspired by the sunset.

I really wanted to use this new colour by Sally Hansen called Pretty in Hot Pink. I bought it from Fragrance Direct for £1.15. It was a limited addition shade last year and I found it thanks to Nicole from Youngwildandpolished. This photo is just a quick one from my phone, but I will have a Fragrance Direct haul up soon!

Anyway the theme was the sky and I created this water marble inspired by the photo above. I was actually really happy with how it turned out and was scared to draw on it! I used Sally Hansen Pretty in Hot Pink, China Glaze Sun Worshipper and Kester Black Paradise Punch.

I'm really happy with the final result. I didn't want to make the trees too large and be too overpowering. The mountains in the background were beautiful in real life and I wanted to add them to my nails, without them looking to overpowering either.

The theme for the first #nailartchallengejune was matte, and these themes fit together perfectly. I prefer the look of watermarble when it's matte anyway!