Proceed with 'Caution' - Gelish

I recently ordered some really nice Gelish colours and due to me having a busy few weeks, this is the manicure that I have been wearing.

Gelish 'Caution'.
I accomplished this look with white striping tape and some gems that I got from eBay (not Swarovski).  

The floral detailing was painted (free-hand) with white acrylic paint after I had put down the striping tape. Usually with gel polishes, you are left with a sticky dispersal layer after curing. You would generally wipe this away prior to adding any art, but on this occasion, I placed the tape on after partly curing my last layer of colour for about 10 seconds. After adding the tape. I cured for another 20 seconds under an LED lamp and then added the top coat. When this was cured, I removed the dispersal layer, buffed LIGHTLY with a white block, painted on the flowers and added another layer of top coat when the paint was dry.

Here's a sneaky peak at my right hand, which is completely unused to modelling! I'll let you into a little secret...this was done about two weeks ago has grown out now although the gems are still intact. I'll probably remove it tonight though, because I'll be manicuring on a nail bar this coming week and want my nails to look freshly done!

If you wear gel polish, how long will you usually wear it before removal?

Have a great week.

x

Embellished gel

Hello friends.

I've had this gel polish for a few months now,  but I've only just now got around to actually using it.
The more nails I do for others, the more my own manicures are laid to waste. I'll go in with banging nails and come out with my own nail polish non-existant or smudged and adorned with lint and cotton wool!

I've used two colours here: Scarlett and Burgandy.

I didn't want to go with the plain ol' nails because I had a meeting with a nail bookings agent and wanted to snazz it up a little.

I'm pretty annoyed though - my right hand although beautifully glossy, has chilpped already! After one day!
Sooo, I guess we all know what I'm going to be doing tonight whilst watching 'X Factor', right?

Thank you, as always, for sticking with me during my absences.

xx

Rhino.

There's not often a day where I don't have something nail related on my mind. Unfortunately, I seem to be painting my own nails less often and that's usually because I'm prioritising other things. Right now, I should be folding washed clothes. You'd laugh if you could see how precariously my laptop is currently balanced on a stack of baby vests.

Last night I created these nails. I've been saying that I have intentions of opening an Etsy shop to sell some of the nail sets that I've been making, but I have yet to actually get five minutes to do so. So far, I've been painting them and putting them in a drawer!

Here are my Rhino nails.

 I had some studs and the very gorgeous Black Out by Rimmel (60 Second range), so I just had to play around with them.

 This is only one half of the set. My sets consist of 24 nails - one fish bone for the left hand and one for the right. This way, you will find a nail that fits you, without having to file the sides too much.

These were also going to go into the drawer, but they've already found a home.

I suppose these should be sold with a disclaimer...I don't want to get sued for any soft tissue damage!

xx

Hello!

Well, hello!!

It's been about a month since I've blogged or even attempted to have a look at my dashboard. After having so many things going on, blogging became a second thought and I didn't want to just churn out manicures for the sake of it. Hence my sabbatical.

I thought that for the next few posts I would just show you what I've been doing.

 I absolutely love this pink. It's a jelly polish so you will need a few coats of it, but this is a colour that will definitely cheer you up. I wore this manicure to The Nails Show...but it didn't last more than one day because I used the wrong UV top coat and the whole thing started to crack!

 

I worked at The Cherished Hair Party the following weekend and wore the below designs:

Here's a set of nails I did at the party:

And here are a few pictures of some other manicures that I've done recently:

This particular design was one I found on Instagram and replicated.

I do have a backlog of pictures, so please bare with me.

Thanks for continuing to subscribe and follow during my absence.

xx

Gems and glitter.

Hi everyone, happy Hump day (the hump being the middle of the week, just in case you didn't know. I'm not being condescending...I'd never heard that phrase before until last year. I kid you not!)

I was hankering after a bit of embellishment last week and came up with this. I even rocked this for a couple of days at work - hence the tip wear.

Sally Hansen's 'Red Carpet' in it's glittery goodness.

 I used Swarovski crystals here, so even after putting on a layer of Seche Vite, the shine wasn't dulled.  I have found, in the past, that some of the cheaper rhinestones can be dulled by clear polish. I put some holographic glitter polish on the area joining the black and red and then stuck the stones into it whilst the polish was still tacky.

My right hand thumbnail was slightly different.

All in all, I actually enjoyed wearing this, but did experience some evil staining underneath the stones :( I know it's probably more fitting for a night out than a week in the office, but since when has that ever stopped me?

I'm not the only one who likes a bit of 'grrr' on their nails am I?

Well, Hello Kitteh!

Hi friends, I hope this blog post reaches you in good health...

My last post featuring the water decals was quite some time ago - but this is mainly because they lasted so long. Well over a week, in fact. I enjoyed wearing them so much, I didn't have the heart to remove them.

Unfortunately, my nails have reached the length where they usually start to break on me. 8/10 of my nails is sporting a patch at the moment. Only my ring fingers are damage free :(

Here is something I did last night with a polish I picked up from H&M (or Hennes, as I frequently call it...yeah, I'm old skool).

I painted the tips pink first and then made the stripes with this polish. When I was done, I added the rhinestones and then the lace sticker tape for a final touch.

I like 3D nail art, especially Japanese nail art trends. Anything sculpted, embedded or contrary to the normal manicure is the thing for me. I can't say that I'd wear all of it because I've seen some really abstract designs, but I'm interested in the creation of nail art.  So much so that I've decided to further my knowledge about the nail industry and take a course.

So, what areYOUR favourite nail trends? What manicures are easy on your eye? Which ones make your skin crawl? Which nail shape do you prefer? I'm so NOT a fan of mid-to longer length nails that are rounded to a point and look like lions claws...are you?

My current PEDICURE!

 ...you don't like feet! Okay, you can, but I thought I'd better warn you first.


Unfortunately, my feet no longer look like this:

 If they did, I would never wear shoes. 

L-R, Rimmel's 'Portobello Pink', Sinful Colors 'Frenzy', China Glazes 'Flying Dragon' and Beauty UK's Glam Nails in white.

Two layers of the pink, one layer of glitter, sponged on purple, glued on gems and painted white tip.

I hadn't done a clean up before I took the photos. I hope you like :-)

xx

Pink 'n Gems

Hey everyone.  I'm sorry for the recent lack of posts, I've just been so busy and so tired after work; my blog has taken a back seat :-(

I was having a look at my nail art magazine recently and noticed that a lot of the manicures in it used pearls and jewels.  I thought I'd do my own jewel encrusted manicure.

I used Rimmel's Ethereal as a base, sponged OPI's And This Little Piggy

 I used nail glue to stick on some gems and pearls and also used a few from this sheet of stickers...which is looking pretty sparse at the moment.

This wasn't my best manicure and I felt a bit weirded out with the texture at times (okay so that might be odd, but aren't we all? I mean, my husband gets the heebie geebies at the sight of Oak tree bark!) I wouldn't say it was practical, but it was fun whilst it lasted.  I actually wore it for three days, hence the tip wear.


xx