Tag Archives: Nail polish

March 21, 2015

Mermaid Nails

By Ruth

Hey Everyone! 🙂

Mermaid Nail Art

Mermaid Nails

I have finally caught up with the 52 Week Pick and Mix Challenge! Yay! 😀

This week the prompt is Mermaid and the colours are Lilac and Green.

For my Mermaid nails I used

  • Sinful Colors – Snow Me White
  • Sally Hansen – Moonstone (Lustre Shine)
  • China Glaze – Make A Spectacle
  • Sally Hansen – Orchid Express (Insta-Dry)
  • Maybelline – Flash Cosmic
  • Sally Hansen – Blue Streak (Insta-Dry)
  • Messy Mansion – MM21
  • Konad Special Polish Black
  • Seche Vite
Mermaid Nail Art

GLITTER!

I decided to try out a new (to me) technique for this mani. The technique is called Smoosh Attack (amazing name!) and you can find a pictorial tutorial right here Smoosh Attack.

Over a coat of Snow Me White I Smooshed a mixture of Blue Streak, Orchid Express, Moonstone and a a little bit more white polish.

When it was dry I added the glitter polishes Make a Spectacle and Flash Cosmic.

Then I applied a coat of Seche Vite to smooth out the glitter.

Mermaid Nail Art

Messy Mansion MM21

I used Stamping Plate MM21 From Messy Mansion, I was going for an angled gradient with the scales, but that turned out to be a lot more tricky than I was expecting. But this looks much better than how I pictured when I was planning it. 😀

For the stamping I used Konad Special Polish in Black and Moonstone.

Then I added a final coat of Seche Vite.

Mermaid Nail Art

Scaly Nails!

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March 19, 2015

Tomb!

By Ruth

Hello 🙂

I’ve almost caught up with the 52 week pick and mix challenge! Yay! 😀

Gravestone Nails

Gravestone Nails

From last weeks two prompts I chose to use just the Non US brand of polish.

This is Tomb. Tomb is part of the 2014 Halloween collection from the lovely UK indie brand Tara’s Talons

Tomb

Tomb

Tomb is a Grey Jelly base with loads of mixed pink and purple glitters along with holographic micro glitter!

I absolutely love this polish! It’s all of my favorite polish colours in one bottle! 😀 Look at that holo sparkle! Oh and It looks so squishy!

Gravestone Nails Tara's Talons Tomb Moyou Gothic 04

Moyou Gothic Collection 04

I couldn’t resist doing a little stamping over this, with a name like Tomb it needed some gravestones!

The image is from Moyou Gothic Collection 04 and for some reason the stamping was not working 😦 this was the third try, and I’d had enough so I just tried to tidy it up a bit with my Barry M Nail Art Pen…

couldn't resist adding the gravestones.

Couldn’t resist adding the gravestones.

At least they look like gravestones now rather than a dreadful mess lol! 🙂

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges, Nail Art

March 18, 2015

Stripey Metallic Roses

By Ruth

Hi! 🙂

Metallic stripey rose nail art

Metallic stripey roses

Today I have another 52 week pick and mix (catch up) mani to show you, the prompts for that week (beginning 2nd March) are Metallic and Ikat…

I’m really not a fan of Ikat nails so for this post I’m just using the metallic prompt.

metallic stripey rose macro nail art

close up!

The two Metallic polishes I used are Artemis (purple) and Aglaia (teal) from the 2true Metallica Collection.

I started off with a coat of Aglaia, then when it was dry I applied the striping tape to my nails (and my desk and the floor and even my keyboard :/)  and added a coat of Artemis.

Removed the tape and applied a coat of Seche Vite.

Artemis and Aglaia from 2true Metallica Collection

Artemis and Aglaia from 2true Metallica Collection

The stamping plate is Moyou Pro XL 07 and I used Konad Black Stamping Polish.

The roses are my favorite images on this plate! 🙂

Metallic stripey roses Moyou Pro XL 07

Moyou Pro XL 07

Here is the 52 Week Pick and Mix Pinterest Board for more amazing nail art! 🙂

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges, Nail Art

March 16, 2015

Red And Black Houndstooth Nail Art

By Ruth

Hello! 🙂

Red and Black Houndstooth Nail Art

Red and Black Houndstooth

Here are my red and black houndstooth nails, these are for the 52 week pick and mix challenge (that I’m now ridiculously far behind on now! Oops) the prompts where Houndstooth along with Orange, Red and Yellow.

Red and Black Houndstooth

Sally Hansen Ruby Stiletto and Revlon Stiletto!

The two polishes I used for this are Sally Hansen Ruby Stiletto and Revlon Stiletto I only noticed the polish names after I had finished lol!

I also used Moyou Pro Collection 07 XL stamping plate for the houndstooth pattern, Konad special polish in black, some french tip guides and Seche Vite. 😀

Red and Black Houndstooth

Moyou Pro 07

 

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges, Nail Art

March 6, 2015

Geometric Nail With Illamasqua Velocity, Swarm and Scorn

By Ruth

Hey everyone! Long time to see! 🙂

Geometric nail art using Illamasqua Velocity, Swarm and Scorn

Illamasqua Velocity, Swarm and Scorn

I have been so busy the past couple of weeks I haven’t had a chance to post anything :/ But more on that later.

Todays post is a catch up mani for the 52 week pick and mix challenge! So here are my Geometric nails! 🙂

Geometric nail art using Illamasqua Velocity, Swarm and Scorn

Tape!

The polishes I used for this are Velocity the pinky lilac shade, Swarm which is the black glitter in clear a base and the black polish is called Scorn. I used tape to mask off the bits of my nail!

I think it would have been a lot quicker to create if I had applied quick drying topcoat between the layers of polish!

Geometric nail art using Illamasqua Velocity, Swarm and Scorn

Geometric nail art using Illamasqua Velocity, Swarm and Scorn

The last couple of weeks have been rather busy, I’ve spent most of it covered in mud, compost and seeds, my little home is filled with mud and plants, every surface seems to be covered in pots and germinating seeds…After all the planting my poor hands have been in such a state.

Hopefully everything has calmed down a bit now so I can get back to posting regularly! 😀

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges, Nail Art

February 21, 2015

Illamasqua Swatches Part Two

By Ruth

Hallo!

For your viewing pleasure here are the second half of the Illamasqua polishes I recently purchased!

These polishes are

  • DWS
  • Velocity
  • Scarab
  • Swarm
  • Harem
  • Regal
  • Vice
  • Scorn

Starting with a grey polish that’s been on my wish list for ages

DWS

Illamasqua DWS Swatch

DWS

DWS is a lovely light flat grey cream. The formula is fantastic, it flows easily from the brush and was opaque in two coats.

I’m so glad I got this one, I really like grey nail polish and this one is definitely going in my top 10 🙂

Velocity

Illamasqua Velocity Swatch

Velocity

Velocity is a lovely grey purple creme, like DWS the formula is fantastic, only taking two coats to be opaque.

Scarab

Illamasqua Scarab Swatch

Scarab

Scarab is a brown toned red metallic polish, this is a really foxy polish! The polish itself is a dark grey, almost black jelly which gives the finished colour a lot of depth.

This took three coats to be opaque.

I have to admit that brown/orange tinted reds are not my favorite, but this is a really flattering shade for my skin tone.

Swarm

Illamasqua Swarm Swatch

Swarm

Swarm is a black glitter topper, it’s made up of matte black micro glitter and matte black medium sized hex glitter, the glitter payoff is pretty good, I did find that the glitter tends to clump a bit  This is one coat over Illamasqua’s Collide.

Harem

Illamasqua Harem Swatch

Harem

Harem is a really pretty violet toned pink, the formula is really lovely, very creamy with loads of pigment, this is three coats.

Regal

Illamasqua Regal Swatch

Regal

Regal is a really lovely shade of dark blue, I found the formula to be a bit odd, it’s nice and easy to apply, if a little watery. I think the only way I can describe it is somewhere between a crelly and a cream, this is four coats and there is still some VNL!

Vice

Illamasqua Vice Swatch

Vice

Vice is a pretty pinkish wine. It has the lovely Latex finish, I found that it dries to a slightly more red than the shade in the bottle. This is two coats, I found that it also dries slightly faster than the glossy Illamasqua polishes.

Scorn

Illamasqua Scorn Swatch

Scorn

Scorn is an lovely satin finish black, it’s definitely one of my favorite black polishes! This is two coats.

😀

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