The Nailasaurus | UK Nail Art Blog

31DC2015: Purple Candy Stripes

15th September 2015

12 Comments

Striping tape is the oh-so-obvious choice for Day 12 of the Challenge but it’s a classic and I just couldn’t resist. This is another technique that I went through a huge ‘phase’ with a few years ago and I haven’t really revisited it properly since last year’s challenge.

I didn’t go in to this with a plan – just my striping tape and tweezers in hand. I took it one nail at a time and just went with my instincts, trying to make sure no two nails looked the same. I really love this look and especially how the colours work together. This base colour (Sally Hansen Ion) is what I would describe as a white-greige but I think it really takes on the tone of the purple in this close proximity.

For the Nails

My base colour is Sally Hansen Ion and I topped that with a thin coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl to dry it fast and hard.

On top of that, I laid out my patterns using some White Striping Tape. I painted over the tape one nail at a time with NYC Lavender Blossom and removed the tape immediately.

It’s all finished with two more coats of HK Girl to smooth things over.

31DC2015: Tiffany Looking Polka Dots

13th September 2015

7 Comments

Yay for lazy Sundays! I won’t lie, I spent pretty much the whole day watching Community and painting my nails. I’m taking a quick break to post these Polka Dot nails for Day 11 of the 31 Day Challenge before I go right back to Netflix and um.. painting my nails. OH! Plus cookies… I’m baking cookies so it’s all good.

We’re in to what I like to call ‘Phase 2’ of the challenge when the technical skills start to kick in. I’m feeling pretty confident about the next 10 days but I’ll let you know how I feel about Phase 3 when we get there!

I titled this post ‘Tiffany Looking’ because even though I wasn’t initially inspired by the iconic Tiffany packaging, I noticed after the fact that I had used a Tiffany blue polish with bright sparkling silver, a wave of recognition rolled right over me and it was just too much to ignore.

The Nail Polish

I used Rimmel Too Cool to Tango as my base colour with Rimmel Your Majesty for the accent nail and polka dots

31 Day Challenge, Gradient, Nail Art

31DC2015: Sunset Gradient Nails

12th September 2015

9 Comments

The Nailasaurus Gradient

The plan for my gradient nails was to recreate the smoky black and white gradient from Day 7’s Black and White Nails but when the time came, I caught a glimpse of the sunset and changed my mind! The sky was a pale blue fading in to orange at the horizon and I knew it would look just as beautiful on my nails.

Nail Polishes Used

I used NYC Raindrop first, followed by China Glaze Peachy Keen to create the gradient. Scroll to the bottom of the post for the video tutorial!

31 Day Challenge, Nail Art

31DC2015: Streaky Rainbow Nails

12th September 2015

9 Comments

Rainbow Nail Art

On to the rainbow nails! This one’s always a nice treat for me as typically I steer clear of multicolour combinations. This style is a play on my streaky watercolour look using a flat nail art brush (much like this one). I didn’t thin out the polish as much as shown in the video because I wanted the brush strokes to be more visible.

For The Nails…

I used Barry M White as my base colour, let it dry thoroughly, and painted on the colours with a flat nail art brush.
Those colours are
Red: OPI Cinnamon Sweet
Orange: NYC Sunny Manhattan
Yellow: NYC Lexington Yellow mixed with Revlon Buttercup
Green: Sally Hansen Grass Slipper and Kriston 10
Blue: Kriston 52
Purple: Lacquer Lab Ultra Violet

31 Day Challenge, Nail Art, Stamping

31DC2015: Metallic Geometric Stamped Nails

10th September 2015

7 Comments

The Nailasaurus | Nail Art Blog

If you follow me on Instagram, these nails might look kind of familiar! Since the challenge started, I’ve been working on these manis for the challenge quite late in to the night. By the time I was done with these yesterday, I didn’t have it in me to sit down and write the post so I totally just crawled in to bed and grammed from there! #nailbloggerproblems

I didn’t go for an all out metallic this year, as I’ve never really been a fan of the all over foil look. I do have a lot in my collection though because they’re unbeatable when it comes to stamping. I get a lot of questions about stamping and, in particular, which polishes work best. The answer is always chromes! I’ve only ever come across one chrome polish that didn’t work for stamping and that’s because it was a watery mess. This copper from Beauty UK is a couple of years old now, but still one of my favourites. Plus copper is so in right now. Pinterest said so!

While we’re here, let’s have a little little recap of the challenge so far… Although it’s technically 10 days in, metallic nails are the prompt for Day 8 so I’m a little behind. I’ve done the nails up to Day 10, I just haven’t had a chance to blog them yet so I’m hoping the weekend will give me a chance to catch up.

For the Nails…

…I used NYC Statue of Liberty as my base colour. Once that was all dry, I stamped on this geometric design from Bundle Monster Polynesia Stamping Plate BM-XL119 using BeautyUK Olympic Bronze. It’s all topped off with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

31 Day Challenge, Gradient, Nail Art, Waterfall

31DC2015: Black and White Nails with a Skittle

8th September 2015

9 Comments

I literally can’t remember the last time I did a skittle mani (a different design on every finger). I went through my skittle-mania phase in 2012 so it was likely all the way back then. I am particularly fond of this one as it has a few of my signature styles in – we have a spot of stamping (which is how this blog got started), my waterfall design and the classic gradient (the tutorial for which remains, to this day, my most popular post). So alongside being a rather breathtaking monochrome mani, it’s a quick trip down memory lane too!

The Nails

Base Colour Barry M Coconut
Thumb MoYou Back to the 80s Plate 03 stamped with W7 Black
First Finger Waterfall design with W7 Black & Silver, Sally Hansen Dorian Grey & Black Platinum, Barry M White
Middle Finger Chevrons with W7 Black using Whats Up Nails Skinny Zig Zags
Ring Finger Gradient with Barry M Coconut, Sally Hansen Dorian Grey and W7 Black
Pinky Finger Dotting with W7 Black

31 Day Challenge, Glitter, Nail Art

31DC2015: Violet Nails with Lightning Flashes

7th September 2015

3 Comments

I always assume that Day 6’s Violet Nails have to be somewhere on the purple colour scale so I’ve gone right ahead and thrown in a few different shades, including one that’s actually called ‘Violet’ just for good measure! I think I feel a skittle mani coming on for Day 7 of the challenge. It’s been a long time since I went for a complete skittle (normally playing it safe with a few accents) but the more I look at this mani, the more I think it could have been even more awesome if I’d thrown in a few different designs.

The Nails

I used OPI Kiss Me – Or Elf! as the fuschia base colour, then topped with a thin coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl. I used NailVinyls Lightning Bolts and painted over with Kiko Gel Effect in Violet.

The glitter nails are two coats of piCture pOlish Lollipop over the Kiko Violet.

It’s all topped off with two coats of HK Girl to smooth things over.