If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen a very coy sneak peek of these nails yesterday and since it’s my absolute favourite mani for a while I had to honour them with a blog post. I also wanted somewhere to put the video tutorial so you guys could see how I got the gradient effect in the stamp. So, hey if you’re back here from Instagram!
Please let me be the first to call myself out on the lack of blog posts coming from this direction over the last month or so. There is no big reason for my extended absence; for one reason or another I just haven’t been feeling it for a while.
I’m still thinking about blogging every single day, multiple times a day… okay basically just all the time. It’s in my bones now and I can’t escape it. The ideas keep on coming but I’m lagging a little on the execution side of things. I’m sure some of you know exactly where I’m coming from with this. Please tell me I’m not alone!
I’ve obviously been keeping myself busy with nail art and snapping pics the whole time though. We all know how much I love a gradient and what’s better than one gradient? Lots of them! I did neglect notekeeping duties on occasion but all the info under the images is correct to the best of my knowledge!
Barry M Coconut
Sally Hansen Blinding Blue
Sally Hansen Jungle Gem
NYC Statue of Liberty
Gradient Watercolour Tutorial Here
China Glaze Pink-ie Promise
Sally Hansen Dorien Gray
Simple Gradient Tutorial Here
Barry M Coconut
Kriston #35
NYC Sunny Manhattan
Uber Chic Beauty Stamping Plate 2-01
Gradient Stamping Tutorial Here
Revlon Minted
Barry M Coconut
1.2mm Silver Studs from Born Pretty Store
In between running a mountain of errands and hanging out with my dog this weekend, I managed to squeeze in a video tutorial. I’ve been putting it off for a while (like 3 months, a while) but suddenly had a surge of determination to just get it done. I wish my brain worked this way all the time. And while I’m making wishes, if the weekend could be twice as long that would be nice too!
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.
Today’s nail art is something new to me – a gradient stamp. I’ve stamped over a gradient before but this time the stamping is the gradient. It took me a few goes to master getting a smooth gradient and even more to get the designs straight on my nails but I made it in the end!
I know tribal pattern nails are really popular but insanely hard to perfect so I thought this plate was worth a special mention as it’s covered in ready made tribal nail art. There are a few more in the Explorer Collection that have similarly awesome tribal designs so definitely worth a look if you’re in the market for some easy tribal nails. If you’ve never purchased from them before, you can get 20% off your first order with the MoYou discount code, SAMMY20. Just make sure you’re signed in to your account or the code won’t work.
