Browsing Tag:

Chevron

Holographic, Nail Art

Militarised

10th December 2014

8 Comments

Chevron Nail Art with piCture pOlish LakodDom and Moscow

I got a few of the new piCture pOlish collaboration shades over the weekend and you’ve already seen LakoDom in my latest tutorial post. Today it features again, joined by Moscow which is a beautiful berry holo shade. LakoDom is just the perfect shade for Winter so I’m sure you’ll be seeing it here a few more times before the season is over. It’s a slightly grey tinted white with subtle holo shimmer – just as beautiful on its own as topped with nail art.

For these nails, I used piCture pOlish LakoDom as my base colour. Next, I applied some chevron nail stencils from Nail Mail and applied piCture pOlish Moscow over the top. It’s finished off with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

Popping Tribal Nail Art

5th November 2014

13 Comments

Tribal Nail Art // Freehand

When I saw that Hannah from The Dalai Lama’s Nails listed Winstonia Store’s brushes in her ‘Can’t Live Without’ products in this month’s Nail It! magazine, I knew I had to get my hands on some. I went for the 5-piece set (recommended by Hannah) and also the 1.4cm and 1.65cm stripers. All the brushes are really amazing but you can’t beat a strong, skinny striper for some tribal nail art.

I also have to give a shout out to these Skinny Chevron Guides by What’s Up Nails. I threw them in to my Winstonia basket along with the brushes, but they also have their own site where you can buy too (and you can get 10% off all vinyl products with the What’s Up Nails code: NAILASAURUS10). All the chevron decals/guides/stickers/vinyls I’ve used in the past have been bigger and I can never fit all that many on my nails but the skinny size works so well on my tiny little nail beds. Can’t wait to try more things with these!

Tomorrow, I’m off to Nail Harmony HQ to spend the day mastering Gelish. It’s very exciting since I’ve never (EVER!) used gel polish before but I really want to learn more. Gels are such a huge thing now, even some of my friends who normally show little interest in nails have been asking me for advice about which techniques and products are best. They get a bit of a surprise when I sit there quietly and tell them I have no idea! Normally you can’t shut me up when someone asks anything vaguely nail related! It should be a fun day and I can’t wait to meet some new bloggers. As always, you can follow me on Twitter for updates on the day (and maybe a selfie or two!).

For this nail art, I used a base of Barry M Coconut and topped it with a thin coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

For the chevron nails, I used What’s Up Nails Skinny Zig Zag Guides with piCture pOlish Sizzle and NYC Hudson Breeze.

I freehanded all the tribal details using the 1.4cm striper from Winstonia. The colours are NYC Hudson Breeze, piCture pOlish Sizzle and Sally Hansen Tahitian Sunset.

It’s all topped with two coats of HK Girl.

Gradient, Nail Art, Stamping, Uncategorised

Gradient Stamping with MoYou Fashionista Collection

28th October 2014

18 Comments

Gradient Stamping Nail Art

I did a spot of MoYou shopping last weekend because I’ve had my eye on a few of the Fashionista plates since they dropped in to my inbox a while back. I’m showing off one of the Fashionista plates today – SO MANY CHEVRONS! I also did some quick thinking while I was there and picked up the Festive Collection 06 plate (the one with all the cute fair isle patterns) since it sold out last year before I had the chance to snap it up! Looks like I did the right thing because it seems to be sold out already. It’ll be here when it comes back in stock.

I’m having a lot of fun experimenting with stamping on gradients. It’s a good alternative for stamping over a gradient since it requires considerably less time and skill than creating the traditional gradient with a sponge. This time I used a bright blue and bright pink for the stamping and they’ve mixed nicely to create a purple fade through the middle.

A video tutorial for this technique is on my to-do list, and has been for a while. I’m completely swamped with other projects at the moment – all very exciting stuff but very time consuming – so I just haven’t had enough time to sit down and film it. I just wish I had a camera-person to do the filming for me because I love the editing process and can just get lost in it for hours… maybe one day! In the meantime, my YouTube channel is here if you want to catch up on some of my older tutorials.

1. I painted on a base of Barry M Elderberry.
2. Using MoYou Fashionista 05 Stamping Plate, I painted on the two colours next to each other and mixed them together as I swiped to create the gradient effect. The shades I used are Barry M Rhossili and Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue.
3. Finally, I topped it off with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

Hugs For Emily: Chevron Tribal Nail Art

14th October 2014

11 Comments

Our friend Emily is something of an exceptional character in so many ways. I’ll try not to get too soppy here but she’s one of the first people I met through blogging and I’ll always count her as one of my best ‘internet friends’! She’s always there to offer advice and recommend a good TV Show. If it weren’t for her, I would still be stuck in a pretty awful place with my photography. What can I say? I owe her a lot! If you haven’t seen Emily’s blog, make sure you check it out here.

She’s going through a bumpy patch at the moment so I’ve joined forces with a few more of Emily’s friends to dedicate a day of blogging to her. Just so she knows we’ve all got her back! We’re all taking inspiration from one of Emily’s past nail designs. I’ve gone with her recent piCture pOlish Blog Fest chevron design. Like really gone with it! I have the exact same polishes in my stash so I tried to copy it down to the last detail. I didn’t know if I’d be able to squeeze all the details on to my nubbins but I just about made it!

For this nail art, I used Barry M White as the base colour where I was going to be painting the chevrons with a thin coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat to dry them hard and fast.

I applied Hex’s Chevron Decals and painted each chevron individually using piCture pOlish Chillax and Mad Magenta. I also painted the ‘leftover’ fingers using these shades.

I painted all the details using black and white acrylic paint with a skinny nail brush.

Finally I added a few small pastel studs and topped everything with a coat of HK Girl.

Click to see more Hugs For Emily: Paulina’s Passions, Wondrously Polished, The Nail Polish Challenge, Love. Varnish, chocolate, and more…, One Nail To Rule Them All, Nail Polish Society, The Lacquerologist, Lucy’s Stash and Chalkboard Nails who we have to thank for organising the day!

Nail Art, Uncategorised, Video

Video: 3 Ways To Use Chevron Decals

16th August 2014

8 Comments

Streaky Watercolour Nail Art Tutorial // The Nailasaurus YouTube

This video is completely different from any of the tutorials I’ve done in the past and I had so much fun making it. Quite a few people have asked me how chevron decals are used and I think the best way to answer is to show you a few different ways to have fun with them and hopefully answer any questions about the decals themselves.

Items used

C H E V R O N D E C A L S
Nail Vinyls (Grey)
She Sells Seashells (Pink)

L O O K 1 | T H E C L A S S I C
Barry M White
NYC Hudson Breeze

L O O K 2 | C R A C K E D
Barry M Rose Hip
NYC Peach Popsicles
The Lacquer Lab Ultra Violet

L O O K 3 | T H E G R A D I E N T
Barry M Huckleberry
NYC Blue Sky
Barry M Cancun

T O P C O A T
Glisten & Glow HK Girl

C L E A N UP
Flat Nail Art Brush
Pure Acetone

If you take some inspiration from this video, I’d love it if you tag #looknailasaurus when you post your look on Instagram so I can see.

Glitter, Gradient, Nail Art, Uncategorised

T-Rex Decals from She Sells Seashells

8th August 2014

10 Comments

So I’m just scrolling through Instagram one day when I’m tagged by @dilemmanails in a photo of the most perfect nail embellishments I could ever hope to see – tiny little T-Rexes! Luckily for me, the embellishments are from She Sells Seashells, a UK based nail art store and one of my favourite places to buy nail decor online. I snapped some up for myself (along with a few other items!) and set about waiting for the postman to pop the package through my door.

When they arrived early this week, I couldn’t wait to try the embellishments out. I love that they’re really tiny so they don’t take up too much space on my little nails. It’ll be fun to try out some other ways of wearing them!

PROTIP: If you have curved nail beds, bend metal decals like these gently around a pen or the handle of nail art brush to match the curve of your nails. That way you won’t get bits sticking out and catching on things, the embellishement will sit flush to your nail.