Nail Art Style

Hi everyone! Today I've created a really easy manicure which, despite its simplicity, is very effective (well I think so). I've been struggling to come up with new design ideas recently, but was really desperate to paint my nails and achieve a pretty mani. So, as many of us do when we're lacking inspiration, I went for the old failsafe of glittery polish! Also, if you're a regular reader, you're probably wondering why my primary manicure photo has changed (normally I do a full 'claw' shot). For some unbeknown reason, my long-suffering iPhone camera had actually decided to focus amazingly for once. I thought it was well and truly dead after spilling acetone all over it, but evidently it can still manage to take decent shots every now and again. Anyway, since my blog generally lacks high quality photographs (but not for long - it's my birthday next month and I am expecting a camera-shaped surprise!), I thought I may as well showcase a half decent image!

Sinful Colors 'Black On Black'

e.l.f. Cosmetics 'Chic Confetti'

OPI 'Magazine Cover Mouse'

Medium nail art paintbrush

Once dry, I used OPI 'Magazine Cover Mouse' to paint love hearts. This polish is truly amazing - it's a liquid sand, so once dry it has a lovely texture and sparkly finish. To construct the hearts, I used a medium sized paintbrush, and just dabbed on two dots, joined them together with a triangle, and then filled in the gaps.

I know this manicure isn't as complex as my usual efforts, but sometimes it's nice to have simple nails. Plus, how can you ever go wrong with glitter?! I'm kind of toying with the idea of a deck of cards mani now, using this same style but varying the hearts with diamonds, clubs and spades... And maybe inverting some of the base colours... Watch this space!

Rimmel 'Rose Libertine'

Models Own 'Pastel Pink'

Models Own 'Feeling Blue'

Models Own 'Blueberry Muffin'

Models Own 'Fuzzy Peach'

Models Own 'Peach Sherbet'

W7 'Purple'

Fearne 'Cotton Candy'

Models Own 'Jade Stone'

Fearne 'Lemon Drizzle'

Models Own white nail art pen

Models Own 3-in-1 clear coat

Dotting tools

Medium thickness nail art brush

For each nail, I used a paler shade of the base colour for the dots. I don't have an extremely pale pastel green, so yellow had to do for my ring finger! I think my pink, blue and peach nails look best with this design, and this is due to them all sporting Models Own varnishes, meaning the darker and lighter shades complement one another nicely.

I then added some love hearts using my medium thickness nail art brush. I switched around the colours, adding pale blue to my pink nail, pale purple to the peach, and so on. The hearts took about 2/3 coats each to make sure they were a solid colour.

Once my hearts were dry, I added a clear top coat. My favourite colour combination is my thumb nail; the pale blue heart goes really nicely with the pink base, and I think if I do this manicure again, I will stick to these colours for every single nail.

Once the clear top coats were all dry, I added more polkadots. For each love heart I used the darker shade of the base colour, and so the pale blue heart received darker blue polkadots, the pale purple heart got darker purple polkadots, and so on. Once complete, I outlined each love heart using my white nail art pen. This was a very slow process, as I didn't want thick uneven outlines. As you can see, there are a few shaky mistakes, but I managed to cover these up in the next step...

 

Continuing with my white nail art pen, I added a lace pattern to each outline. This works best if you don't break the flow of nail varnish coming out of your nail art pen, which involves a consistent amount of pressure and a steady hand! It was hardest on my little finger, as the love heart was so tiny to fit on my nail, but I managed to finish them all without too many mistakes! Once completely dry, I added another top coat.

I love having cute, colourful tips, and this design is simple yet very effective. I'm thinking of combining it with my Birdie Nails, and making the love hearts big enough to fit a little bird inside. This will be really tricky no doubt, but I'm certain it'll look really cute.