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Nail Art

Gradient, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge x Nailvengers: Gradient Artwork

30th September 2014

17 Comments

There’s so much going on in this post that I just can’t even! We’ve got some nail art, a video tutorial and a pretty sweet link-up right at the bottom! I’ve smushed together two different challenges in one for today’s nail art. Nailvengers this month called for gradients and I’ve gotten as far as ‘Inspired by Artwork’ in the 31 Day Challenge which looks like it’ll be stretching over more than 31 days by the time I get to the finish line.

My first stop for beautiful art these days is always Etsy and it never fails to deliver a healthy dose of nail art inspiration. I was looking for something featuring a gradient but with a fancy twist and when I came across this piece by May Frenzy Designs, I knew I’d struck gold. The watercolour finish is just perfect for me to revisit the watercolour gradient technique with a funky new colour combination.

For the nail art, I started with a base of Barry M White then created the watercolour gradient effect on top. There’s a video tutorial at the bottom of the post so be sure to scroll down for that and the colours used are: OPI William Tell Me About OPI, piCture pOlish Bonkers, Barry M Burgundy Crush and Barry M Caramel.

Watercolour Gradient Nail Art // The Nailasaurus

Watercolour Gradient Nails // The Nailasaurus

Purple Watercolour Gradient Nails // The Nailasaurus

Neutral Watercolour Gradient Nails // The Nailasaurus

An InLinkz Link-up

31 Day Challenge, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Pattern

28th September 2014

13 Comments

Marble image source: rockstella.ca

Today’s inspiration came from out of the blue. I was browsing Etsy for some pattern inspiration as I was in the mood for something graphic and/or geometric, when all of a sudden I just thought it would be cool to do some marble effect nail art.

I couldn’t be happier with the outcome – I think my nails really could pass for solid marble and considering it’s only my second time using the water spotted technique, I think I did a pretty swell job! I was going for ‘veiny’ rather than ‘spotted’ but I’ve found that using a hair spray that shoots out of the bottle pretty fast (although not aerosol) will make your dots spread further, even break apart, and look more like a marble effect.

1. I used two coats of Barry M White as my base colour.

2. Once that was dry, I shielded the skin around my nails with tape.

3. To create the marble effect, I used Sally Hansen Dorien Grey with the ‘water spotted’ technique (video tutorial here) then repeated with Rimmel Moon.

I used lukewarm water straight from the tap with VO5 Plump it Up Blow Dry Spray in case anyone is curious!

4. Finally, I finished it all off with two coats of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

White Marble Effect Nail Art // The Nailasaurus

31DC2014 // White Marble Effect Nail Art

31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by Fashion

27th September 2014

21 Comments

Catwalk image source: vogue.co.uk

Last night I spent so much time scrolling through the catwalk galleries on the Vogue website, I didn’t even get round to actually doing any nail art! I did, however, pick out this incredible dress from Naeem Khan as my inspiration.

I thought carefully through all my options on this one – striping tape, loose glitter, glequins and more – but in the end freehanding won out. I always feel a bit wobbly when I get started on a freehand manicure (especially one that requires poker straight lines) but soon surprise myself by doing a pretty good job of it.

I used Barry M Lychee as my base colour and freehanded on the silver detail using a nail art brush and A-England Excalibur Renaissance. It’s all topped with one coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

Barry M Lychee with A-England Excalibur Renaissance

Naeem Khan Inspired Nail Art // The Nailasaurus

31 Day Challenge, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Book

25th September 2014

11 Comments

So far this year, I’ve been on a YA binge when it comes to books. I’ve read Divergent, The Maze Runner and The Selection trilogies plus almost every John Green Book! Right now I’m reading 50 Shades of Grey so that’s what inspired today’s nail art – I literally painted 50 shades of grey on to my nails.

It’s not the most exciting, I know, and I was going to create something else but I wore it all day today and the effect really grew on me. I created these nails in the same way I would do a streaky watercolour (mixing nail polish with acetone to make it runny) but I used a striping brush and only painted on the colour in one direction to create stripes.

I used pretty much every grey in my collection for this and just mixed them together in every combination! I can’t guarantee there are 50 different shades of grey here, but I think there’s a good chance there could be.

Holographic, Nail Art, Swatch, Uncategorised

ILNP Fall Collection: My Picks

24th September 2014

12 Comments

Press Sample

ILNP Fall Collection Swatches // The Nailasaurus

ILNP’s fall collection touched down a few weeks ago and you probably shouldn’t go and look at it because you will only end up spending all your money! The collection consists of 11 polishes – some are multichromes re-imagined with a holographic twist and the others are straight up holos including a silver to rival the best of them.

All swatches are 3 coats with 1 top coat. The polishes work well with two coats but I was amazed at the difference a third coat made to the final look. You’ll notice when you apply them that the third coat just adds a hint of magic and a whole new dimension to these holo shades.

The softest of my selection, Champagne Blush, is a light pink holographic with just a hint of peach. A very girly but gorwn-up shade. The holo effect is really noticeable in this one but you only need to look at the pictures to see that.

This beaaaautiful teal is Fall Semester. It comes in at a close second for my favourite of the picks because it’s pretty much the perfect teal. Bold, beautiful and it didn’t stain my nails one little bit.

Black Orchid is my favourite of this selection which shouldn’t come as a surprise as I’m a sucker for deep, luxurious shades like this one – it’s a dark plum shade with holo. I love that there’s a strong hint of blue within the holo of this one.

Peace (H) is the holographic incarnation of the multichrome, Peace. It shifts from indigo to denim blue with a subtle scattered holo. It takes a really special multichrome to get me excited and this one really gets me going. With its purple to blue shift, I didn’t stand a chance!

Where to buy ILNP

ILNP’s fall collection is available from ilnp.com with worldwide shipping

31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Movie

23rd September 2014

9 Comments

I was grocery shopping on the weekend when I saw a real-life Herbie in the car park. I knew then and there that I would have to do some nail art dedicated to the famous Bug and luckily for me, it fits in perfectly with today’s prompt – Inspired by a Movie. There’s quite a selection of Herbie movies to choose from and it’s been a very long time since I saw one. I mostly remember watching the TV series in the middle of the day on the weekends as a kid and wanting a Beetle so badly!

For the nail art, I used a base of Sally Hansen Ion then a quick coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl to make it dry swiftly.

Next, I did the racing stripes using striping tape for the red and blue, then filling in the middle with a white striper polish. The red polish is NYC Rooftop Party Berry and the blue is NYC Hudson Breeze.

For the ’53’, I painted on the white circle using the polish from my white striper and added the black details with a black liner.

It’s all finished with another coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Song

22nd September 2014

12 Comments

Send you my love on a wire…

There’s a song that features in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by fictional band, The Clash at Demonhead (aka TCAT), called ‘Black Sheep’. There’s a line in there that goes ‘Send you my love on a wire…’ which served as inspiration for today’s nail art. Plus a literal Black Sheep, obvz!

Both the movie and the song are some of my all time favourites. Black Sheep is one of those songs that never fails to lift my mood. I can’t help but sing and dance when I hear it and I could honestly listen to it on repeat all day (yeah, so what if I actually have done that!). It’s written by Metric who originally recorded it, but I prefer the movie version which is sung by Brie Larson in the aforementioned band, The Clash at Demonhead!

1. For the nail art, my base colour is Nicole by OPI The Coral of the Story.
2. I freehanded on the ‘love’ wire with A-England Excalibur Renaissance and a nail art brush.
3. To paint on the black sheep, I used Pure Color Black Liner with Rimmel Grey Matter and the same nail art brush.
4. It’s topped with one coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl, then one of NYC Matte Me Crazy.