Barry M Coconut
NYC Velvet Chic
Barry M Silver Foil
Glisten & Glow HK Girl
Gradient Tutorial Here
Browsing Tag:
Purple
Last weekend, I was on the hunt for NYC’s new peel off base coat which, amazingly, I found on the first try. While I was there, I spotted the 3 for 2 offer across all cosmetics and inevitably got sucked in to buying two extra bottles of polish! One of them was this new NYC shade I spotted, Velvet Chic. Although we’re a bit trained to think of dark colours as winter nail colours, this caught my eye as a perfect winter shade. It’s like a cool pastel; not too bright but not dull either, just somewhere in the middle as classy to boot.
For the nail art here, I was inspired by this post at Chalkboard Nails although instead of dotting on the colours, I used some little round glequins from Born Pretty Store over NYC Velvet Chic. I think the iridescent effect is interesting paired with the matte top coat.
I topped it off with one coat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl and then one of NYC Matte Me Crazy.
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.
Better late than never! I’m here at the finish line of the 31 Day Challenge and amazingly only a few days late. For the very final day of the challenge (oh god, it feels so good to say that!), I have to Honour Nails I ♥ so I’ve selected a design by one of my favourite nail artists – Paulina’s Passions. Paulina was actually inspired by Very Emily – another one of my favourite nail ladies so this mani has given me the chance to pay tribute to two talented artists that I admire!
As you may know, I’m in the running for the Best Established Beauty Blog award at the Cosmo Blog Awards and the ceremony is tomorrow. I’ve had a busy evening spent packing and I’ve managed to get everything I need in to a reasonably sized duffle bag so I’m feeling like a packing pro right now! This is the third year I’ve been nominated but only the second time I’ll be going to the ceremony. Last year was amazing fun and I’m sure this year will be another night to remember. I’ll be meeting up with Lucie and Alice in London and we’ll be representing the nail blogs this year! If you want to follow any of the action, keep up with me on Twitter and Instagram.
For this nail art, I put down my base colours: Barry M White, Essie Go Ginza and Barry M Majesty.
For the patterned nails, I used striping tape to mark off where I wanted the white to show through. I created a textured saran wrap pattern over the top using Nicole by OPI LeaPink for Joy, Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue and Essie Go Ginza and removed the striping tape immediately. There’s a tutorial for the textured saran wrap technique here.
It’s all topped off with two coats of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.
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.
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
It’s happening! I’m finally catching up with the challenge! When I got myself in to this, I knew this year would be more trying than ever before and although I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself to complete the challenge, that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel the pull every day to stick to the schedule and OWN this thing!
So far I’ve only fallen two days behind and I’m confident that this weekend I’ll be able to catch up and get back on track. After today, I need to step my game up for some of the more creative challenges. I think almost everyone that takes the 31 Day Challenge lives in fear of the dreaded ‘Day 20: Water Marble’ prompt and I count myself among them. I’ve had a few mildly successful water marble attempts this year so I’m going in with my head held high and I refuse to let it beat me this time around. See you on the other side!
Galaxy Nail Art – Items Used
China Glaze Tart-y For The Party
W7 Baby Pink
NYC Raindrop
ILNP Black Orchid
China Glaze Fairy Dust
Sweet Color White Liner Polish
