Showing posts with label gems. Show all posts

7 Deadly Sins - Lust

Hello strangers! I admit I've been MIA at the moment, mainly due to a few important meetings over the past week or so. I didn't fancy going along with bright, sparkly and/or funky nails, especially when the circumstances were professional, however I still made sure that my nails were freshly painted and looking pretty (I stuck to pale pink or grey for most of the week). I got some brilliant nail mail recently too, courtesy of Models Own and Superdrug :) Here's a cheeky sneaky peak...
I got Barry M 'Shocking Pink' which I love, and one of their Sequin Nail Effects polishes. To be honest I'm not really that pleased with the latter, and I don't even know why I bought it because I've seen a few reviews that deem it unimpressive and messy. The sequins are pretty (red, blue, green, gold and silver), but the consistency of the varnish is really thick, and you can't get away with more than two coats without the polish looking grey and gunky. It's a shame really, but at least it has proven once more that Models Own Ibiza Mix 'Hed Kandi' still reigns supreme on the glitter front! 

I also got Essie 'Matte About You' which is AMAZING. I really really really love it, and I can't wait to get more confident with applying it (it's very unforgiving with regards to tiny detail mistakes). From the Models Own website I took advantage of their 'Buy 5 Save £5' deal and bought another Scratch n' Sniff varnish, 'Apple Pie', along with a pretty pink 'Soda Pop Pink' and a beautiful minky-grey shade 'Utopia'. I also opted for 'Bare Beauty' which is one of those shades that you can't really describe, kind of browny-orangey-nudey-goldy-nudey? Finally I got a lovely shimmery blue, 'Indian Ocean', which looks perfect over the top of my other Scratch n' Sniff shade 'Blueberry Muffin', as well as my favourite  Essie polish 'Sweet Talker'.

Anyway, I better get started with the actual tutorial! As the title suggests, this design is my second manicure for my self-assigned 7 Deadly Sins theme (see the previous post for an explanation). I decided on Lust this time, and to be perfectly honest I'm not really that pleased with how it turned out. I feel like the corsets are rubbish compared to what I've done before (Corset Babydoll Nails), however I'm going to blame this on the two Mixed Fruit Kopparbergs I had at lunchtime... 
The equipment

Models Own 'Soda Pop Pink'
Red (no brand or name, oops!)
Dark red (again, no brand or name...)
Models Own white nail art pen
Models Own black nail art pen
A fine nail art paint brush
0.5 thickness fine liner
Silver gems

If you've looked at my tutorials before, you'll know that this is the first time I've used a fine liner. I knew that the fishnet and lace design would be very, very tricky, and rather than risking using my nail art pen (there can be blobby-shaped disasters!) I thought it best to use a normal pen instead.
I started out with bases using Models Own 'Soda Pop Pink'. Ignore my thumb nail - I was originally intending on a pale pink to red gradient, but this didn't end up working out! Eventually I removed the Models Own 'Pastel Pink' and applied 'Soda Pop Pink' as well.
Using my fine paint brush and bright red, I painted on the block designs. I created corset shapes on my middle and little finger nails, and added red blocks to the top quarters of my other two nails.
Once dry, I used my darker red (it looks much darker on the photo, but in 'real life' it is more burgundy) to add a central panel to the corsets. Then I used the fine liner to begin the fishnet design. I drew two horizontal lines to create the top section of stockings, and then began the criss-crosses.
I finished off the fishnet stockings with smaller criss-crosses on the top sections, and then added a few dots and squiggles to make it look lacy. I originally wanted to create a flowery lace design for these bits, but there wasn't much space to be too intricate. I also added black bows to the corsets.
Next I added narrow vertical lines to the fishnet nails, creating suspenders. With the corset nails I lined the top of the bra section with white dots, and then outlined them, as well as outlining the corset shape. I also added criss-crossing ribbons down the front, and highlighted the bows tiny white lines. I finished off with silver gems, and wrote 'lust' on my thumb nail. 

What do you think? In my opinion these nails are no where near as good as 'Envy', but I do think the red, pink and black colour scheme is very effective. I also like how my fishnet stockings and suspenders turned out, although I have a feeling they might be a little bit TOO racy and may have to be taken off before any more meetings...

Askruk46

Purple Plaits


This manicure is pretty plain compared to some of the others I've done, but I wanted to do a tutorial of what I think is the easiest way to achieve a braid effect. I've seen lots of step-by-steps which I find much more complex than this way, so if you've struggled with plaits before, see if you find this tutorial easier :)

The equipment:

Natural Collection 'White'
Fearne 'Cotton Candy'
Rimmel 'Pompous'
Models Own 3-in-1 clear coat
Silver gems
A fine nail art paint brush
I started off with a white base, and applied 2 coats for a clean finish. I made sure that the polishes I used in this manicure have a thick consistency, as the colours were to be layered on top of one another. Using watery or pale nail varnish will cause a plait manicure to be extremely tricky, so stick to thick brands and opaque shades.
Once dry, I started adding diagonal stripes in pale and dark purple. The Fearne brushes are quite smooth and narrow, so easy to apply freehand. However, Rimmel brushes are quite thick, so I had to use a paint brush for the dark blocks of colour.
When my first set of stripes were dry, I began to create the plait effect. Using the dark purple, I painted a triangular shape on top of the white at the base of my nail, and made sure it joined up to the pale purple stripe neatly. 
I then used the white to create another diagonal stripe, which cuts across the pale purple and ends on the edge of the dark purple. The pattern repeats with two more diagonal stripes, and I made sure that the colours remained in the right order.

I neatened up any suspicious looking areas and then applied a clear coat, which made for a better finish. On my other fingers I just applied 2 coats of 'Cotton Candy' and finished with silver gems! As I said before, it's a pretty simple manicure, but it looks really cute. The plait will probably look more effective with thinner stripes so that the pattern can continue for longer, so next time I think I'll just use a fine paint brush all the way through!

Has anyone else attempted braid/plait nails? And what kind of technique do you use?

Askruk46

Pastel Butterflies!

Hi guyssss. Today I decided to do some super girly nails, with lots of pretty colours and sparkles! My last attempt at butterfly nails was way back in 2012, just as I had started to get into nail art. At the time I thought they were absolutely amazing and I was so proud, but I can safely say that I've come on leaps and bounds with this manicure.

The equipment:

Models Own 'Peach Sherbet'
Models Own 'Pastel Pink'
Essie 'Sweet Talker'
Fearne 'Cotton Candy'
Fearne 'Lemon Drizzle'
Models Own 3-in-1 clear coat
Models Own black nail art pen
Silver gems
A kitchen sponge

Yes, a kitchen sponge! I've tried using soft make up sponges for my nail art, but even with gradients I find my trusty kitchen sponge to work the best. Plus they're less than a pound for a pack of four, so they're bargainous AND effective! 

So I started out with my base coats, applying 'Peach Sherbet' to my thumbnail, blue 'Sweet Talker' for my index finger, 'Pastel Pink' for my middle finger, 'Lemon Drizzle' for my ring finger, and finally the purple 'Cotton Candy' for my little finger nail. I decided to have different bases for each nail as I wanted  a bit of variety, and I knew I'd be sponging the other colours on top eventually.
Once dry, I began work with my sponge! I snipped off a section so that I had a few different lengths and shapes to work with...
Using a flat edge of the sponge, I blobbed on the colours in different positions, and layered them up for a funky graffiti effect...
As you can see, the blue and purple stand out the most. For the paler colours I made sure to dab again with another blob of varnish on the sponge, but I didn't worry too much about the solidity of the colours as I knew I'd be adding another design on top.
I then used the sharper edges of the sponge for thinner, more defined patches of colour. These turned out really well on my thumb nail, middle finger nail and index finger nail, where the purple and blue cut through the other colours beneath.
Next I took my black nail art pen and applied the outline of my butterfly. As I always say, get to know your nail art pen prior to attempting complex designs, since the amount of pressure you apply to the bottle is important in the avoiding of mistakes! A fine paint brush would probably suffice if you don't have a nail art pen :)
Then I filled in the wings with little swirly patterns and dots. I also thickened out some parts of the outlines, and made sure that I was completely happy with the final design. Finally I added little silver gems for the butterfly's body! As you can see in the first picture, all the butterflies differ slightly in their angles and patternings, but I think this just makes more a more interesting nail design :)
Once 100% dry, I topped with my Models Own clear coat. I really love this manicure; it's so cute and girly, and the butterfly design was pretty simple to achieve despite it looking rather complex! Have you ever tried a design like this? And does anybody else employ the use of basic kitchen utensils in their nail art endeavours?

Askruk46

Union Jackie Nails!

So yesterday I managed to spill nail polish remover all over my iPhone. I spent the rest of the day trying to dry it out (pointless really since solvents dry instantaneously, and so no amount of rice made any difference), then researched my insurance plan and realised it'll cost me a minimum of £50 to get it fixed. ANYWAY, it's still completely usable and the only issue is the screen, which now has a lovely patchy effect across it. It's not really noticeable unless I'm loading up a blank page, so I reckon I'll just have to live with it. My sparkly gold case was not so lucky - overnight the acid went to work bubbling and disintegrating the plastic, so I'm crossing my fingers that this won't happen to my phone as well!

This morning I reopened my nail art box, and decided to try a design that I've been thinking about for a while. It's a girly take on the Union Jack, swapping red and blue for pink and purple, and adding a little gem. All of this was done freehand as I want to get as much practise with straight lines as possible, so apologies for the messiness! I think they look quite cute, but they're not an all-time favourite. Maybe if I'd kept my nails square it would have looked better... Anyway, here's how I did it!

The equipment:

Natural Collection 'White'
Models Own 'Pastel Pink'
Fearne 'Cotton Candy'
Pink gems
Models Own 3-in-1 clear coat
A fine nail art brush
I started out with white bases, using 2 coats to achieve a good finish. I didn't realise that this Natural Collection varnish is actually a nail tip whitener... I got it from Boots as they have a 3 for 2 on cosmetics at the moment, so I couldn't really resist. It seems to work okay, but it's nothing to write home about!
Once dry, I started adding crosses using my fine brush and the pale pink. As I said before, this was all done freehand, so the lines aren't perfect. I think I did pretty well though!
When my pink St. George's cross was dry, I added the outlines of triangles using purple. These were really tricky to do, and I had to make sure that my paint brush was carefully cleaned prior to application. I also cut away any stray bristles which could have caused trouble!
I filled in the triangles, leaving enough white gaps to finish adding the St. Patrick's saltire (yes, I am a geek who researched exactly which part of the United Kingdom each section of the flag relates to!)
Once complete, I added a pale pink gem to the centre of each flag, and then finished with a top coat. The Models Own clear coat always seem to neaten out any messy bits, and creates a lovely finish. As I said before, this would probably look better with squared off nails, but I'm still pretty pleased with it. I'm probably the least patriotic person in the world, but I've seen so many Union Jack/flag nail designs, I had to add a Little Tip Off twist. Maybe I'll try this again with striping tape, to ensure straight lines and symmetry, or mix it up a bit with different flags for each finger nail!

Askruk46

Tyin' the Knot! with a Sweet Talker

My parcel from Direct Cosmetics has finally arrived, along with a few other things... I really need to stop all of this online shopping. The postman even pointed out that after handing over my packages, his bag was a lot lighter! Along with my treats from my new favourite cosmetics retailer, I got a long awaited copy of a book for my diss., and some business cards that I ordered from Vista Print. 
At £2.99 for a bundle of 100 (p&p was about £4 if I recall correctly), and with an extremely professional look and feel, they're really good value. I love the black, purple and gold colour scheme, and I decided to keep it nice and simple with a title, brief description and contact details. I can't wait to start handing them out to my friends/family/random unsuspecting strangers who look like they might be interested in nail art. 

Along with Jeane Phillipe Apothecary Wild Honey Exfoliating Body Scrub (99p),  and Sally Hansen Petite Nail Nipper (£2.99), I got a couple of new nail polishes from Direct Cosmetics. I was disappointed to find that they'd sold out of the other varnish I ordered, which was a Sally Hansen No Chip 10 Day Colour in 'Reliable Beige', but whoever packed my order left a nice little note on the invoice to explain the situation and assure me that a refund was on its way. I'm really glad that it was the beige polish that had sold out rather than the my other two colours, because the moment I set eyes on them I knew life without them would be a terrible thing! They are both absolutely gorgeous, and even though I didn't realise upon ordering them, they complement perfectly and look like they were made to be together.
I've suddenly become obsessed with blue, and this is a beautiful little addition to my growing collection. I was worried that it was a bit too similar to Models Own 'Blueberry Muffin', but upon application I realised it's actually a purer blue, while 'Bluberry Muffin' has more purple tones. It's funny when you compare colours which initially look identical, and then discover they are poles apart! Essie 'Sweet Talker' is a gorgeous sky blue with a fine shimmer throughout, and it applies really smoothly and evenly. I've always loved Essie because their brushes are broad and soft, and the consistency and quality of their varnishes mean they're easy to apply and long lasting. However, I tend to be put off by the price tags (I'm a bargain hunter, after all), so when I found that Direct Cosmetics sell Essie polishes for an amazing £2.99, I couldn't resist!
This Sally Hansen polish was even more of a bargain. At 99p (yes, 99p!), 'Tyin' the Knot!' is Diamond Strength and chip resistant, and is a lovely shimmery grey. I immediately fell in love with it when I noticed the little 'diamond' on the bottle - so cute! Since I'm a magpie, I think I'm going to have invest in the rest of the Sally Hansen Diamond Strength collection, even if it's just to gaze at the pretty gems. The brush is much narrower than Essie polishes, but it still applied nicely and only took 2 coats for a clean finish.
I love how these colours look together, and when I have a bit more time (I'm supposed to be concentrating on uni work for the next few days, d'ohhh) I think I'm going to spend a good long while creating a funky manicure. I'm thinking bases in this order, and maybe an accent nail with a swirly pattern? I might even add a few gems...

Askruk46

Pink Leopard Print


I have so much work to do before I'm back in uni (3 weeks Easter break!), but nail art is proving to be a fantastic form of procrastination. Who wouldn't pick painting pretty pictures and getting high off fumes over writing a seminar presentation, planning two 6k word essays and researching a dissertation?! 

My purchases from Direct Cosmetics are already making a vast difference to the strength and overall look of my nails. Even after only two applications, my Sally Hansen products appear to be working really well; my cuticles are already looking neater and my nails feel stronger, but I can't bare to leave them plain! After all, no manicure is ever complete without a nice shade of nail varnish and a cute design...

I've been looking back at some of my earliest nail art efforts and they make me cringe! It's amazing how much progress can be made in such a short space of time, and although it's often hard to track your own advances, I can definitely see big improvements. One of my biggest progressions is with leopard print nail art; originally my design was always large and a bit messy, and I only stuck to traditional leopard colours (gold, brown, black). Now that my nail varnish collection has expanded, and my hand has grown much steadier, I decided it was about time to return to leopard print nails, a nail art classic!


The equipment:

Models Own 'Pastel Pink'
Fearne 'Coral Island'
Models Own black nail art pen
Models Own white nail art pen
Models Own 3-in-1 clear coat
A fine nail art paintbrush
Silver gems

After filing my nails and applying Sally Hansen 'Age Correct Stregth Dry & Brittle Nail Care' as a base, I use my Models Own pink as my main colour. As you can see in the above picture, I originally wanted my accent nail to be white. I quickly changed my mind after rediscovering Fearne 'Coral Island', which was hiding in the back of my nail art box! I took off the white and applied the dark pink - it tends to take about 3 coats using Fearne nail varnish, as it's a very runny consistency.
Once I was happy with my bases, I began to add the splodges (I've adopted this as a technical term). For the white I used my nail art pen, as the nib end allows a steady flow and tiny little dots. For the pink, I dipped in my finest nail art brush and applied via that. I made sure all splodges varied in size and shape, but were all quite small.Another original intention was to limit the leopard print to one side of my nail, but eventually the design crept further and further across!
When the splodges were dry, I took my black nail art pen and began to add the black patterns. I think of these as outlining the splodges, however I let some overlap, stretch further around and also blend into one another. After all, no leopard has completely symmetrical spots! I also like to add a few little black dots in and amongst the print.
The above picture shows the original plan of leopard print limited to the side of my nails. It just didn't look complete, so I had to keep going! Maybe on a gradient base this would be more effective? Then at least there's still something going on in the blank bits!
For my accent nail, I just inverted the colours, using Models Own 'Pastel Pink' along with black and white for the leopard print. I then added a little silver gem (not shown in the main picture). The manicure probably doesn't need this, but I like to have a bit of sparkle! 

I really love this manicure, and I think I've made dramatic improvements since my initial attempts at leopard print. I've learned that the smaller and tighter the design, the better it looks. Also, going for unusual colours works well, so don't feel limited to typical 'animal' colours like gold and brown... Leopards can be pink!

Askruk46

Purple Lace and Gems

For the past week or so I've been embracing the theme of Easter; that means lots of pastel colours, polkadots and bunny rabbits! I fancied doing something a little different today, and so created a design around my new favourite colour, Rimmel 'Pompous'. 
The product photo doesn't really do the shade justice - it looks matte here, but is in fact a gorgeous deep purple speckled with silver and blue shimmers. It's also one of Rimmel's quick drying varnishes, and so is brilliant for impatient, serial-smudgers like myself! I got this a few weeks ago from Nail Polish Direct (see my whole order here!). I was really impressed with both the prices and the quick delivery - if you want cheap nail varnishes, go, go, go!!

The equipment:

Rimmel 'Pompous'
Models Own white nail art pen
Lilac gems

This manicure uses so much less than others, and it felt weird only having a couple of things out in front of me, rather than the usual pile of equipment! I started with clean, filed nails and applied two base coats...
Once dry, I took my white nail art pen and began the lace design. This consisted of two small semicircles in the top right corner (the inner one looks more like a blob in this picture!), and then several dots around. I then encased the design in a wavy line, mimicking the pattern of lace. 
I then applied a thicker, larger wavy line, leaving enough space to add gems in the middle. The little white 'spikes' completed the pattern.
Once I was happy with my lace pattern, I added lilac gems. When everything was dry, I applied two top coats. 
Depending on how steady your hand is, you could paint on the lace using a fine paintbrush, as the flow of varnish out of nail art pens can be a little inconsistent. However, as long as you're used to your nail art pen - the pressure you need to apply, the speed it comes out etc. - then it's pretty safe to use it for a lace design. I know I always say it, but it's much simpler than it looks :)
I cannot express how much I love this colour! I'm never usually fond of purple shades, but the subtle shimmer of Rimmel's 'Pompous' makes it really rich and elegant. I wholeheartedly recommend! 

Oooooh and just before I go, I thought I'd share my new storage system for my nail art tools! My art box is no longer large enough for everything, so it's now only dedicated to my nail varnishes and nail art pens. The pink plastic set of drawers keeps everything else; including dotting tools, paintbrushes and gems; neat and tidy! 
I was so proud of my organisation skills that I treated myself to a little Models Own spree (any excuse for new nail varnishes!) After a lot of umming-and-ahhing, I decided upon 'Blueberry Muffin' (from the Fruit Pastel range), 'Pastel Pink' (from the Ice-Cream Sundae range), 'Peach Sherbert', 'Gold Finger', and a 3-in-1 base coat/top coat/gloss. If you purchase five polishes you save £7 (three polishes = £5 saving), so my grand total was about £20 inc. p&p. The last time I ordered from Models Own my haul was with me within a few days, so I hope the same happens again! 

Askruk46

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