Nail Art Style: tribal

Showing posts with label tribal. Show all posts

Hey everyone! How are you all? I'm so excited to have a week off uni! Although, I have 2 essays to write, so maybe it's not so much a week off, but at least I get to see my family and friends for a bit. Anyway, today I have a review of the Original Rio Professional Nail Art Kit. The kit includes 8 colours: white, red, yellow, blue, black, dark green, silver and a metallic pink. It also comes with a bag of rhinestones, a pot of gold glitter, a full bodied brush, an instruction book, and a step-by-step DVD. As you can see the box is full to the brim with stuff, so you're definitely getting a lot for your money. I decided to just review the pens, but perhaps one day I'll use the rest too! I decided it would be better to review each pen separately and then I'll give my overall views at the end.

Black pen: Good consistency, opaque and comes out easily

Yellow pen: Much better consistency than I was expecting, nearly as opaque as the black and not too blobby when coming out

White pen: Opaque but a bit too free-flowing, meaning it blobs a bit. Although, this may just be my bottle, and if not, putting it in the fridge often helps

Green pen: Opaque, great consistency, easy application (as in, it doesn't come out quickly) same as the black

Pink: Much too free-flowing and as a result it was difficult to control. Also, not very opaque as it's a shimmer polish, this was probably my least favourite of the bunch

Red: Opaque, although less creme that the others, but free flowing like the white

Silver: Not as opaque as I was hoping for, free-flowing but manageable

Blue pen: Exactly the same as the green and black

The base for these nails was 2 coats of the gorgeous NYC - Raindrop (which seems to now be called Blue Sky), and Nicole by OPI - Spring Break, with a coat of Barry M - Crystal Glaze topcoat on the latter. The design is all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

If you're interested in buying this set you can find it on their website here although the pink seems to have become purple. You can also find them on Facebook here

Alice

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I bring you a review of a new Models Own set, and some funky mechanical-inspired nails. My favourite nail polish brand and Ford Retail have recently teamed up to develop an A/W collection, and the colours all match the new Fiesta shades. These varnishes are perfect for petrol-heads with a penchant for pretty polish!

First up is 'Candy Blue'*, which I adore. I have a thing for blue and turquoise polishes, and this is a lovely edition to my collection. Once applied it has more of a green tint than the bottle suggests, and there's a gorgeous fine glitter throughout. This only took 2 coats and it dried nice and quickly, like all Models Own polishes. My only gripe is that the consistency was rather runny, but this always tends to be the case with subtle shimmers.

Next is 'Fashionista'*, which I hate. I have never come across a nail polish colour that I dislike so much. I knew as soon as I saw it that it would NOT be a winner, and once I applied it, I was so unimpressed that I had to remove as quickly as possible! There was just something about the colour that didn't sit right with me. I tend to like my golds really rich and lively, but this has more of a greenish tint. The finish was also streaky, and it took quite a while to dry so I smudged it a lot.

Finally is 'Hot Magenta'*, and I'm so gutted that my iPhone camera doesn't do the colour justice, because it is gorgeous! It's a deep burgundy with a very subtle red shimmer throughout, and it only takes 2 coats for a perfect, smooth finish. This cheered me right up after my 'Fashionista' woes, and I loved it so much that I kept it as a base for my manicure!

So, as I said at the beginning of the post, Models Own and Ford Retail have recently partnered in the creation of a new collection - the 'Glam It Up' set - which will be exclusive to test drivers of the new Ford Fiesta throughout the month of September '13. To get your paws on a set, all you have to do is register your details with Ford, visit one of their new car showrooms, and take a car for a test drive. Then this set will be posted out to you! The whole concept developed from the new Ford Fiesta's contemporary style, with every feature designed to make for a state-of-the-art, fashion forward driving experience.

I wanted to do some car-inspired nail art for this manicure, so I Googled 'car engine' and used the images as a starting point. It would have been reeeeally difficult to recreate an actual engine on my nails, so I kept it a bit more simple and just took inspiration from the components. My manicure ended up looking quite tribal, but I still think it echoes the cogs and contraptions of a combustion engine, and the added bits of glitter make it very girly!

The equipment:

Models Own 'Hot Magenta'*

Rio gold nail art pen

Rio silver nail art pen

e.l.f. 'Dream Maker'

Tiny dotting tool

With my rich red base, I began to add details using Rio nail art pens. I used the striping brush ends for the lines, and then added more details using the pen nibs. I combined stripes, dots and dashes, and then carefully added the larger sequins from 'Dream Maker' using the dotting tool.

I wasn't too sure about this manicure at first, but I really like how random and funky it is. I also love the gold and silver details on top of a red base, it's very autumnal! What do you think? Do you like Models Own and Ford Retail's "road-worthy nail polish collection"?**

*'Glam It Up' will be exclusively available to test drivers of the new Ford Fiesta for the month of September. To book your test drive visit www.glamitupagear.co.uk. These products were sent to me for review, however this has not influenced my opinion in any way. As always, I have been 100% honest about my experiences with the product.

**Quote Ford Retail's Group Marketing and E-Commerce Director, Celia Pronto.

Hey everyone, today I've done a guest post for The Nailasaurus so I wont write much as you can see it all here. I still can't believe that I've written a guest post for such an brilliant nail blog, it's such an amazing opportunity!

If you like the look of the black glitter you can get it here at feelunique.com for just £6.80, and they have free worldwide delivery!

More pictures over on Sammy's blog

I hope you like it!

Alice

I've always wanted to do nails with dreamcatchers. I went to paint these and I had no clue what I actually wanted to do, so I kind of just went for it.

I think I like these nails, I just hate how the actual dreamcatcher turned out. In my mind it was to be detailed and what not but I can't actually execute something that detailed I suppose.

If anything, the pictures I took of these nails turned out really good and usually that doesn't happen.

(fun fact: I took the above photo in In-n-out burger)

The thumb was kind of a miss. At first I wrote "Dream" on it but that looked awful so I did this ugly heart which I also dislike. Oh well.

P.S. the color is Zoya "Neely"- like all Zoyas, it has a great formula.

Thanks for reading!

Celine

Happy Easter everyone! I'm going to hopefully be posting twice today because I'm going to quickly try and do a 'Then and Now' post for tonight because I didn't have time to do one last night. But I just wanted to show you these neon gradients I did, and then decided to add a tribal design to. I shall have a tutorial coming up for this soon if you're interested? These were meant to be my 'easter' nails for this year but I fancied something a little different to the usual pastel combinations.

I actually quite liked the design with just a neon gradient but as always I knew I wanted to add more to it, oops. The base for this design was MASH - White, which is meant to be for stamping but as it's so opaque it works great as a base too. The neon colours were Models Own - Toxic Apple, Orange Sorbet and Pink Sorbet, all of which as you can see are really bright and great neons, I would definitely recommend getting them if you haven't already got them. As neons tend to be quite translucent they're great for gradients.

(The number 2 is there as it's part of the tutorial)

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Also, today is my blogiversary! This little blog is one year old today, I had started a Tumblr 8 months previously so it's not a year since the start of my 'nail art journey' but it is via blogger! I shall be having a little giveaway soon to celebrate so stay tuned!

Alice

EDIT: the tutorial can be found here

Hey everyone! I've been traveling all day and I really just want to crawl into bed so this post wont be a long one I'm afraid.

To do these nails I used these brushes from Born Pretty Store, I absolutely love this set, I'd say my favourite is definitely the smallest one. I'd definitely recommend getting them if you're just starting out with detailed nail art because they're great for variety. Don't forget to use my code KHL91 for 10% off!

These nails were definitely not planned out, I painted a base coat of Essence - I'm Bluetiful and decided to add some white acrylic paint detailing, but it looked a bit plain so I added red, yellow and blue acrylic paint, and Collection 2000 - Ninja to add some extra detail to the design. Personally, I feel like it ended up being a bit too much, but for some reason I still really like them.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Hey everyone! I'd like to start off with an apology. As some of you may have noticed I've not posted in nearly 2 weeks, and I'm really and truly sorry about that. I never wanted it to be this long before I posted again but last week was one of the hardest weeks I've ever had and I definitely wasn't up to posting. I dont really want to go into detail but I absolutely promise it wont happen again if I can help it, and I've got some great stuff coming up for you this week which I hope you'll all stick around for :)

Some of you may have also heard that Google Reader is being canceled in July, I dont really know what this means for GFC, but just in case, I do have a bloglovin (widget at the side, because I cant seem to find the link) if you'd like to follow that as well.

Now, on to the nails! I decided to do another video tutorial, this time using a mixture of gel pens and nail polish to create a tribal design, I'm afraid it's a little bit rushed but I hope you like it anyway!

Alice

Surprise!!! I got my Thanksgiving nails done last night so I decided to schedule this to post while I'm not home. Right this second, I'm enjoying turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and many more yummy, yummy things. :) I hope you guys enjoy this mani and have a wonderful (and safe) Thanksgiving.

I did Pilgrims and Indians. The Indian nails were inspired by this absolutely gorgeous printed skirt I found browsing Google. If I could find this skirt for sale somewhere I would totally buy it ... and I don't wear skirts; I just love it that much!

And you can't forget about the turkey on my thumb. I'm sorry the picture is kind of fuzzy. I couldn't get my hand twisted just right to get anything better than this.

Enjoy and I'll see you tomorrow. :)

So today I decided to combine some of my favourite nail artist's ideas into one manicure. I chose pink because it was first to hand but I may try this with other colours in the future because I really enjoyed doing them.

Thumb - based on tutorials by The Nailasaurus
Forefinger - based on a more complex design by Dressed Up Nails
Middle finger - MrCandiipants' lovely little flowers
Ring finger - just fancied some studs and I've seen a few people do these
Little finger - Mr Candiipants' again with her zig zags.

Alice

Hello (and goodbye) girlies. I leave early tomorrow morning for a lovely week-long beach vacation, so this is my last blog post until I get back. I'm hoping to stay in contact through my Facebook page though so check there if you need me or just want to see beach pictures. :)

nails nailart nail art Spellbound mani manicure China Glaze On Safari Collection Adventure Red-y Elephant Walk polish nailpolish

First off, painting your nails outside? Not as great as it sounds. Even less so on a hot day. The heat of the day and the cool breeze I enjoyed so much played havoc with this polish. It started drying on the brush after just one swipe onto my nail and bubbled like crazy! I was so disappointed because this is such an amazing color. I wanted to keep it on for at least another day or two, but I just couldn't stand the bubbles.

But enough ranting! This is the last polish I own (besides the glitter and I have something special planned for that) from the China Glaze On Safari collection. It's probably my second favorite color, after Exotic Encounters. It looks fairly plain at first being a soft grey creme with a very light silver shimmer. However, upon closer inspection it has a slight leaning towards green in certain lights. As for the shimmer ... well, have a closer look.

These are an up close look at this silver shimmer in direct sunlight. In shade it's a fairly nondescript silver shimmer, but it comes alive in sunlight.

This isn't my best tribal design. I ran out of original ideas after the first two or three polishes of this collection, but I do love how the red of Adventure Red-y looks against the soft shimmery grey of Elephant Walk. It's a striking combination.

Hello girlies! Another post, another day closer to my vacation. This just leaves one more post (Friday's post which will be set for auto-post) until I get back. I may post a few beach pictures to my Facebook page if anyone is interested.

neon Sun Worshiper China Glaze On Safari collection nails nailart nail art mani manicure tribal Autumn Summer Spellbound Jungle Queen

This is Jungle Queen from the China Glaze On Safari collection. I love purple nail polish so it really goes without saying that I love this color. It looks stunning in the sun, doesn't it?

It left me a bit wanting indoors. The color is still pretty, a greyish purple, but it lost all it's brightness and shimmer. It was ... dull. With this in mind, I just had to do something to brighten it up.

After painting my fingernails, I moved onto painting my toenails with the standard summer neon - Sun Worshiper. Well, some of that awesome neon orange speckled onto Jungle Queen. It was certainly eye-catching and just wouldn't come off. I had an idea. I thought was barmy at first and tried to resist the urge.

However, the urge to do Jungle Queen's tribal design in Sun Worshiper proved to be too strong. There was no resisting, and I'm really glad I didn't because this looks amazing in my opinion. It adds just the right touch of summer to this fall color.

Wow! This is my 100th post according to Blogger ... and it is so late! I'm really sorry about that but vacation is coming at a fast clip and I spent all weekend doing some last minute shopping. More on that later. For now, onto the post!

On Safari China Glaze collection khaki color nail polish nailart nails art tribal leopard print Spellbound swatch

This is Kalahari Kiss, another from China Glaze's On Safari collection. I really didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I really didn't expect to like this collection as much as I do! When I first picked up Kalahari Kiss I thought it might pass as a twin of Revlon's Bare Bones but it is far from the shade of Bare Bones.

Kalahari Kiss goes on a khaki color. It's a really weird shade that I thought would completely clash with my skin tone but was actually really complimentary.

Kalahari Kiss makes a great leopard base, especially when using Desert Sun from the same collection and an unnamed black.

I'm disappointed that I didn't do all the nails leopard print. After having to carefully use a Q-Tip and some nail polish remover to take off the first (really horrible) design there was no removing this one unless I wanted to start all over. The last thing I wanted to do was start all over.

For those wondering about my vacation, I'll be leaving early Saturday morning and won't get back until Sunday the following week. What that means is that this week's posts will likely be my last for a few weeks. I was horrified last year to come back with my nails a ragged mess. I'm honestly expecting no less this year. Nails just don't take well to hours and days submerged in sea water ... any water really. If anyone knows of things I can do (besides staying away from the water) that will keep my nails from being completely destroyed I would love to hear them before I leave!!

Hello again girlies and welcome to my new followers. This is another On Safari swatch. We're coming to the end of the polishes I own from this collection. I'm sad to see them go, but I'm also looking forward to doing some nail art that isn't tribal. I'm running out of unique tribal designs. :)

This is Adventure Red-y. I'm not usually one for red, but I love this color! I don't know what it is about Adventure Red-y that is so different from all the other reds I've tried but there's just something so unique that makes it amazingly eye-catching.

I had no problems getting full coverage with just two coats. It also went on smoothly with no bubbles or pulling up. I did have problems with drying time but I give credit for that to the heat and humidity around here.

I love this design and it looks so great in these pictures. However, in person it was impossible to see unless you were nose to my fingers.

The black design darkened this pretty red to something that I just couldn't be happy with ... no matter how much I loved the design.

Still, this is one of the only reds I will use on my nails so that has to say something. If you haven't picked it up yet I definitely recommend doing so. :)

Hello lovelies! I bring good news, great news even! The prizes for my upcoming giveaway have arrived and I will be spending tomorrow setting up the post and Rafflecopter so be on the lookout August 1st.

With that awesome news, I bring you today's post. I know it can't really compare, but I hope you enjoy another On Safari swatch.

This is Purr-fect Plum. I thought it really was going to be the most perfect of plums but it went on so much darker than I was expecting. The color was much lighter in the bottle but went on the deep, dark color of an actual plum fruit.

On Safari is a China Glaze fall collection however, so this color will be perfect for Autumn. I actually have the perfect matching outfit already and can think of another handful of ways to use this color.

Here is a look at Purr-fect Plum in direct sunset lighting. Is this not a really gorgeous color? I can just imagine how wonderful this will look surrounded by brightly colored leaves or even against the brightness of snow.

The only thing besides Fall that could make it better is nail art! As I said in my previous post, I'm hoping to continue with a tribal theme. This isn't the design I had sketched out, but I think it works somehow.

It's a bit of an odd design, isn't it? Maybe not fully tribal ... it actually kind of reminds me of a door. A heavy wooden door? A castle door? I don't know but whatever it is, I like it.

I really didn't want to take these nails off, so I did what I originally intended to do with them (but forgot to do like a doofus) and mattified them! I love mattified nails as I've said before, not only do they make taking pictures a billion times easier but they also look so cool! I hope you like them as much as I do :) (Part 1 here)

I used Rimmel's Matte Top Coat in addition to yesterday's colours

Alice

P.S. Do I get some kind of woman/blogger points for actually managing to post this before midnight (shock horror)?

I love doing tribal print. Somebody asked me to do a tribal nail set for them a while ago which forced me out of the 'I won't be able to do tribal print and I'll feel like a failure so I'm not going to try' mindset and made me do them, and they're great because my OCD can fade away and I dont have to be precise, I can just splodge whatever the hell I want on there and hope for the best. However, I did get a bit carried away on the detail today, I can never be simple can I? I hope you like them :)

I used toooooo many colours to list but the black and white is acrylic paint :)

Alice

Hello again lovelies! Another day, another On Safari polish swatch.

This one is Desert Sun. I am amazed at the pictures I managed to get with my new camera. I'm sure my old camera would have turned this lovely shade some vastly different color, but I am beyond happy to say that my new camera managed to capture the shade nearly perfectly.

The color of Desert Sun is hard to categorize. It's a very muddy orange color, not unlike sun-baked clay. I think the closest shade I've found through Wikipedia is one of the many tawny shades.

I decided to keep with the tribal theme. I'm thinking of carrying this theme through almost the entire collection seeing as these colors are just so perfect for tribal art. The exceptions would of course be those colors I don't have (yet) and the glitters.

Desert Sun was so much better than I expected and it looked wonderful with this tribal design; I didn't want to take it off! When I first showed interest in this color it was simply as a base for the glitters of this collection, but I see now that it can be so much more!

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