Invasion of the British

So, I might be a bit bit late with the whole invasion of the British thing- I know Union flags on nails have been done a billion times before- but I just thought I'd share my ones because they took fooking ages!

Did these over Jubilee weekend but never got round to blogging about them. I think I got a bit sick of being British to be honest- what with the wedding, the Jubilee, Wimbledon, I ODed a bit on the whole patriotism thing. But I am loving the Olympics so I thought I'd get back in the game!

These looked a lot better in person than in pictures, boo. This is my favoured technique- I always try and use tape where I can because a) I'm lazy and b) they make nice crisp lines.

I used:

OPI Nail Envy (blue is a bitch for staining)

OPI Ogre The Top Blue

Rimmel Double Decker Red

Revlon White

Seche Vite

Sellotape

Scissors

Tiny art brush

My red polish was a tiny bit gloopy and quickly became a NIGHTmare to work with. Next time I'll use an OPI or an Essie, as they're slightly more watery and easier to apply.

Also, I have been informed that a Union Jack is in fact only a Jack when it's on the side of a ship. Otherwise it's a plain old Union flag. Trivia of the day!

Alice

xXx

Holy @?!# it's Pop Art!

These are quite possibly the COOLEST nails I have ever done! Uber chuffed with myself and these bad boys.

I was inspired by the old school comics, like the picture below- all that 'crash bang wallop' jazz in the Batman cartoons.

They took a hell of a long time to do, I'm not gonna lie! And there was no way I was going to do my right hand as well- I'm pretty good at doing designs with my left hand but this was a tad ambitious. They're a tiny bit messier than I would like- a few slightly messy lines (yup I know I have OCD) but at a glance they really stand out.

I used about a bazillion polishes for this mani (well, it feels like it!) On my right hand I switched them round for a bit of variation, and just put polka dots all over rather than do the pop art. It's pretty unusual for me to have non-matching hands- I love me some symmetry- but it actually looked better that way, I think both hands would have been overkill.



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L-R: Seche Vite, Art Deco Black, Clarins Orange Pur, No. 7 Stand Back, Miss Sporty Yellow, Barry M Spring Green, Clarins Golden Red, Art Deco White...and a dotting tool (phew!)



I actually think my nails looks pretty cool with just the white explosions on them, before the polka dots!

I put Nail Envy on as base coat, then painted my main colours over that. Seche Vite on top to speed up the drying process, before I drew on the white spikes with Art Deco. It has to be one of the most annoying polishes to use long term- if you keep the bottle open for more than two minutes it gets so gloopy and unuseable. My thumb is my favourite, and by the time I got to my ring/ pinky finger it as like trying to paint with tippex! Then I used the black Art Deco to line the spikes (again, by the time I got to the ring finger it was so gloopy I was THIS close to throwing it against the wall).
Another Seche Vite layer, before using a Sharpie to write on the exclamations. That was a nightmare- by then my nail was so thick with polish I had to write really, really lightly, and slowly build up the letters as any pressure made the polish dent and drag.

Then I used my dotting tool to paint the white....and you can probably guess what next (yup, another layer of Seche!) I had to wait about an hour to put the final top coat on thought, as any sooner than that and the Sharpie smudged something rotten.

It was all worth it in the end though!




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indoors with flash



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right hand




favourite nail

I did my friend Sarah's nails for her and she loved them- but I always find it so much easier to do art on my own nails rather than someone elses! Definitely need to practise that


Sarah's nails

I'm definitely going to do this again, I really want to practise it and get it perfect. I just got some nail art pens, I might try it with them and see if it makes drawing the exclamation bubbles any easier.

Thanks for reading!

xXx



Splatticure!

So I've finally tried my hand at a splatter manicure! Very exciting stuff. I used two layers of OPI Nail Envy (standard), then put on two coats of gray- Mavala no. 217 'New-York' on, then used Leighton Denny 'Do Me a Flavour' in orange for the paint effect, as well as Avon 'Viva Pink'. Absolutely loved the contrast between the bright colours and the gray, it gave it a really modern vibe. 

I half cheated on the splatter- I used the straw method as well as just putting a dollop of varnish on and spreading it with a dotting tool (see my left pinky for an example!) I found the straw method a bit unreliable for creating the right effect- sometimes it looked awesome but other times it came out like a huge blob and looked crap. I topped the mani of with two layers of SV and it made it so glossy and lovely.

Not happy with the fact that I've had it on for an afternoon and I already have tip wear on my thumb...! Not sure if it's my extreme clumsiness or the fact that there's quite a lot of layers involved so it's bound to get a bit raggedy.  

Might have gotten a tad picture happy with this one so bear with me.......

I love it! Really hoping it lasts a decent amount of time. Although I am looking forward to experimenting with some dotting tools....watch this space!

xXx

Stamp happy

Ok so I decided to jazz up my normal manicure with a stamp or two! 

I had the most GORGEOUS purple Barry M nail colour on- Indigo- and it already looked really rich and vibrant, but I thought a white stamp might make it pop even more (also, I love that the purple matches my living room perfectly....yes I need a life). I also put two layers of OPI Nail Envy on, as I think it's the best for reducing that horrible staining efeect you get from dark polish.

I used Konad image plate M2 and Konad special polish in white for the flower- I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to stamping, and I actually ended taking one nail off and re-doing it as I'd stamped the flower too centrally! Topped it all off with two coats of SV as usual.
 

I love how simple and pretty it is- and I have a real weakness for shiny shiny nails so Seche Vite is a godsend! And I bought the bundle monster set of stamps (21 pieces!) so I'll be giving those a good airing at some point.

Thanks for reading,

xXx  

(and here's what I used!)------------------------------------------------------>>>>>