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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by The Supernatural

3rd October 2014

5 Comments

If I undertake the 31 Day Challenge again in the future, I’m going to take a stand and switch out Inspired by the Supernatural to Inspired by Legend (or something of the sort) because each and every year, I get stuck on ghosts! This time, I’ve gone for a more abstract take on the challenge with ghosty silhouettes. Pac Man style!

I used a base of Barry M Pearl and painted on a frame with a wavy tip using No7 Just Black and a nail art brush. It’s all topped with two coats of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

31 Day Challenge, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Flag

1st October 2014

9 Comments

I’m so close to the finish line, I can almost taste it! Must admit I’m a little envious of all the dedicated ladies who are finishing up the challenge today and returning to sweet, sweet freedom. Although, as much as I always grumble about the challenge towards the end nothing beats that feeling of smug satisfaction you get once you’ve completed it!

For today’s ‘Inspired by a Flag’ challenge, I’ve opted for a fictional flag again. From a movie… again! This year, it’s the flag of Genovia as seen in The Princess Diaries. I was really young when I first saw the movie and refused to accept that Genovia wasn’t a real place no matter how much my parents insisted! The real (fake) flag doesn’t have the gold stripes but I didn’t feel like braving a coat of arms design so I made a tactical substitution by adding the gold accents.

1. I started with a base of Barry M Matte White then added a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl to dry it off.
2. I covered the centre of each nail with a strip of scotch tape, then painted on either side with piCture pOlish Chillax and piCture pOlish Swagger.
3. I added the golld accents with Barry M Gold Foil, then topped it all with another coat of HK Girl.

Gradient, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge x Nailvengers: Gradient Artwork

30th September 2014

17 Comments

Image source: May Frenzy on Etsy

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