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Nail Art

Gradient, Uncategorised

Beauty and the Beach: Nail Art Entry

25th September 2012

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This is my entry to the Beauty and the Beach Competition which is being held by travelsupermarket.com.
I struggled for while to come up with a holiday look so in the end I just sat myself down and thought ‘What’s my favourite part about the beach?’, and the answer is easy… the waves!
This nail art is meant to look like the little remainders of the tide that wash up on the beach. For me, it doesn’t qualify as a holiday unless I at least get to dip my feet in that last inch of the ocean.

I used Cult Nails Cruisin Nude as my base colour then used Essie Mezmerized to create a gradient using this tutorial. Then I used a sponge to dab on some Barry M White to create the foam. Finally, I finished it off with two coats of Essence Better Than Gel Nails.

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Gradient, Uncategorised

I Fail at Video Making

24th September 2012

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This manicure is the result of my failed attempt to make a gradient video tutorial. I cannot stress enough how much I suck at making YouTube videos, which is why you don’t see that many from me.

I know how much you all loved my picture tutorial so I finally got around to making a video version this weekend but (and you’re gonna laugh at me) I forgot to press record when I got to the MOST IMPORTANT PART! DOH! So I ended up with these lovely gradient nails but no video to show for it. Maybe I’ll work up the courage to try again soon but it seems like the YouTube powers that be don’t want to meet me halfway on this!

My base colour today is an Essie polish and my first Essie polish EVER (except for Matte About You which doesn’t count)! I bought a pack of three – Mezmerized, Bordeaux and Lollipop – in TK Maxx for £9.99 and of course assumed that they’re discontinued colours. However, when I checked in Boots a few days later, I spotted at least 2 of them in the current range. So there’s my money saving tip for the day… check in TK Maxx before you drop £7.99 on one bottle in Boots!

My base colour is Essie Mezmerised and I sponged on Beauty UK Olympic Bronze following this tutorial to create the gradient. All finished with two top coats of Essence Better Than Gel Nails.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

NY Fashionail Week Day 5: Prabal Gurung

21st September 2012

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This is by far my favourite New York Fashion week nail art design which is why I saved it until last! The drippy manicure is nothing new, but I love this colour combination so much. The design was created by Sally Hansen’s Tracy Lee for the Prabal Gurung show.

I used two coats of OPI Samoan Sand as my base colour and freehanded the blood drips with Cult Nails Quench and a striping brush. All finished off with two coats of Essence Better Than Gel.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

NY Fashionail Week Day 4: Kate Spade

20th September 2012

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A while ago, a friend of mine asked if I could do some gingham nail art for her and this past weekend, I did! When I tweeted a picture of the manicure in question, Amy from Gotham Polish, came back and asked if I’d seen Deborah Lippmann’s nail art for Kate Spade’s NYFW show? I immediately checked out her blog post to see the nail art in question and she had indeed created gingham nails very similar to the ones I did. Great minds think alike hey?!
That’s pretty much how this theme week was born, so thank you Amy for pointing out that they have cool nail art at New York Fashion Week!

The catwalk models had all fingers the same colour but I wanted to try out as many shades as I could. I tried to go for polishes that I knew were slightly see through to recreate the gingham effect but only the blue and green seemed to work for that, the other colours were too opaque.

I used Barry M White as a base colour and a striping brush to paint on the stripes in Barry M Mint Green, Barry M Indigo, NYC Lexington Yellow and Miss Sporty Orange. I finished with two coats of Essence Better Than Gel.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

NY Fashionail Week Day 3: Tracy Reese

19th September 2012

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This nail design is from the Tracy Reese show at NYFW SS13. They were created by Sally Hansen’s manicurist, Tracy Lee. There were 4 different colour combinations but the blue was my favourite of course! You can see more pictures of the manicures and the other colour combos at The Budget Babe.

I used Barry M Blueberry as a base colour and then a striping brush with No7 Stand Back to first draw on two lines to make a triangle and then fill in the rest of the nail (If you don’t trust yourself with a skinny brush, I wrote a tutorial using scotch tape over at Makeup and Beauty Blog). Finally, I used two coats of Essence Better Than Gel Nails to top coat it.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

NY Fashionail Week Day 2: The Blonds

18th September 2012

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Today’s fashion week inspired nail art comes from The Blonds show and was created by CND’s Kristina Estabrooks which you can see here. The theme on the catwalk was ‘Psycho Beach Party’ and there were a few nail looks but this one, Shark Bites, is my favourite of the bunch!

I used W7 Black as my base colour and Models Own Utopia for the ‘bites’ which I applied with a striping brush. I finished it off with two coats of Essence Better Than Gel.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

NY Fashionail Week! Monika Chiang

17th September 2012

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Welcome to my first theme week for a long time – NY Fashionail Week! The plan is to create 5 looks based on the catwalk looks created for some of New York Fashion Week SS13’s runway shows.

I’ve started simple today with a design from Monika Chiang‘s show created by Lancôme which you can see here – coral with a silver stripe down the middle. Don’t worry, your eyes are not deceiving you, my stripes are actually bright yellow gold. They were silver but as soon as I applied my top coat, something happened and they immediately changed colour to this. I actually like it better than silver, it’s way more summery!

I used one coat of Jay Jays Ablaze and one of W7 Flaming Orange, which is an almost jelly, to create the perfect coral base colour. Then I took my striping brush and freehanded on the stripes in Barry M Silver Foil. Finally, I used one top coat of Essence Better Than Gel Nails which magically changed the silver to gold!

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