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

Estee Lauder inspiration

Oh. My. Goodness.

Weeks without posting here on my blog. Absolutely appalling.

Without further ado, I present to you...

 Some Estee Lauder inspired nail art! That's right. I've been completely and utterly neglectful and have failed to provide my lovely readers with regular updates and nail-candy.

These nails are actually modelled on a cosmetics bag that was being given away as part of a promotion in Debenhams recently.  The black is acrylic paint and the rest is all nail polish. Check out the Swarovksi Elements Crystals too *wags fingers* - does the shine hurt your eyes much? I pushed the stones into tacky polish and then dabbed around the edges with clear polish to set them. As I knew that this manicure wasn't one I was going to be wearing for too long, I didn't bother with gel top coat. As I'm doing a lot more manicure work nowadays, I tend to slather all of my manicures in a Gelish top coat.

 One more picture before I go!

Thanks for reading - have a good week.

xx

Barry M - Tropical Florals

Tonight on the blog, I have some hand painted flowers for you.

The inspiration to do this design actually came from a pair of flip-flops - one's that I am wearing right now, actually.

Please excuse the picture quality. My camera has dropped a million times and I'm actually surprised that the thing even works now! Time to upgrade methinks. Anyway, back to the nails...

 Barry M's 'Green Berry'.

 The art is a combination of Barry M's 'Pomegranite', 'Mango' (both from the Gelly Range), Milani 'Neon Pink', green from a random eBay nail striper and detailing with Nail Supreme nail art pens in neon and matte colours. Those of you who know how miserable I can be will be aware that I struggled with these pens for a while...I like them now!

Thanks all for tonight folks. If you want further info - just let me know. Maybe I might even do a tutorial...let me know what you think?

xx

Just a bit of glitter and stickers

Today, I thought I'd show you a mani that I have been wearing for about a week. 

This is gel polish, and some Nailtopia nail stickers.

 The stickers are roses and the rest is acrylic paint.

  The lines are done with a very thin detailing brush and the dots? A dotting tool!

Here they are again in a 'negative space' manicure. The polish is gelish this time.

The stickers are thick and raised, so if using them with nail polish or gel polish, you will feel them if you run your finger over them. I suppose that this isn't a bad thing really - the stickers are quite sturdy as a result. I can't really fault them and I have been quietly adding these to my stash since last year...shhhh. It's not just polish that I hoard (muhahahahaaaa!)

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