The colours I used are:
- Barry M’s Nail Paint in Shade #161 Vivid Purple
- Rimmel’s I Love Lasting Finish in Shade #500 Disco Ball
- Ruby Hammer Recommends in Gold (on ring finger)
- Maybelline Express Finish in Clear
It’s been a really long term and we’re only halfway through it! I’ve been so busy that I haven’t painted my nails in a really long time. It also doesn’t help that I’ve broken my nails a million times, so that my fingers are looking extra-stubby right now.
If the state of one’s desk is a reflection of one’s mental state, we all need to hold a prayer circle for me, because dear Lord…
I actually love how these turned out in the end, and it was so much fun to do! I had wine (which probably contributed to the mess, but whatever), pancakes and bad late night TV; it was like a one woman sleepover. (We’ll ignore how sad that makes me sound.)
I’ll might end up adding another colour, but I’ll see how I feel.
You will need:
- one nail varnish for the base colour (I used Barry M’s Nail Paint in Blueberry Ice Cream)
- another colour(s) for the splatter effect (I used Beauty Forever’s Nail Lacquer in Shade #49)
- clear nail vanish
- a straw
- paper/old newspaper/old t-shirt to protect whatever surface you’re painting
- tape/Vaseline for your cuticles and fingers
Step One: use the clear varnish to create a nice smooth base (I’m taking for granted you will have filed and buffed your nails.)
Step Two: slick on one or two coats of your base colour and wait until they’re at least semi-dry.
Step Three: making sure that your hands are on top of your paper, dip the straw in your splattering polish, aim it at your nail and blow through it with a sharp, short puff. Repeat as often as you want, with as many colours as you want.
Step Four: when everything is COMPLETELY DRY, use one coat of clear polish to seal the deal.
P.S If you think the paper/t-shirt is optional, think again.
blackalternativehairandbeauty:
I’m longing for autumn already, and autumn means one thing: HALLOWE’EN. and my birthday And in the spirit of such celebrations, I bring you eyeball nails. It doesn’t matter that we’re two months early; Harrods start celebrating Christmas in June.
You will need:
- whitenail polish
- red nail polish/nail art pen for the capillaries
- assortment of colours for the irises (I chose brown, blue and green, but you could use different colours for zombies, Lord Voldemort, the Cullens et cetera)
- clear topcoat.
First step: paint your nails with the white nail polish. Usually, I say two should do it well enough, but white polsih is a bit transparent, so three is your best bet.
Second step: When your basecoat has dried, use the colours you’ve chosen for your irises to paint circles in the centres of your nails. Freehand is probably better for those with artistic tendencies. For the rest of us, hole punching a piece of paper and using that as a stencil might be the best way to go.
Third step: use the red nail polish/nail art pen to paint capillaries around the edges of your nail. Make sure to paint from the outward edge inwards; it looks neater.
Fourth step: using black nail polish/nail art pen, paint in pupils.
Fifth step: as usual, seal the whole shebang with the clear topcoat.
And there we have it! Creeeeeepy eyeball nails. You could even use cream or light yellow instead of white if you want a slightly jaundiced look.
It’s October. You can’t have enough eyeballs…
Because the weather can’t decide whether it wants to be ridiculously balmy and summery or you know, grey and damp and typically English. And besides, every girl wants nails like Pat Butcher.
You will need:
- base colour in a sky blue (I used this colour)
- nail art pens in these colours -
- brown for the palm tree trunk
- yellow for the sand
- gold for the sand
- a transparent, glittery blue for the sea
- various shades of green for the leaves of the palm tree
- and of course, a clear topcoat to seal everything
First step: paint your nails completely with the shade of blue you’ve chosen for the sky. Do two coats and leave to dry COMPLETELY. I say this because this nail art requires so much varnish that you’re much better off leaving each stage to dry totally before moving on. It applies to each step, so you don’t have to read me saying that every. single. time.
Second step: use the yellow, then the gold to paint a little mound at the base of each of your nails. Don’t worry if the colours mix a bit, you want that weird golden quality sand has. (Look at that picture of the beach above).
Third step: using the transparent blue glitter, paint a small strip above the gold/yellow mound; this will be the sea. You can even paint in waves if you’re feeling adventurous.
Fourth step: take your brown shade and paint in a slightly bowed line from either the very base of your nail or from the top of the mound. Don’t worry about painting over everything else, this will make it look like it’s in the foreground (look at acting like I know I’m talking about when it comes to painting/drawing).
Fifth step: using your different shades of green, paint bowed lines from the top of the tree trunk.
Sixth step: seal everything with the clear topcoat.
And there you have it. Sunny nails to look at, even if the view from window is awful.
(in case anyone is wondering, the book I’m holding in the pictures is Complete Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm.)
I’m longing for autumn already, and autumn means one thing: HALLOWE’EN. and my birthday And in the spirit of such celebrations, I bring you eyeball nails. It doesn’t matter that we’re two months early; Harrods start celebrating Christmas in June.
You will need:
- whitenail polish
- red nail polish/nail art pen for the capillaries
- assortment of colours for the irises (I chose brown, blue and green, but you could use different colours for zombies, Lord Voldemort, the Cullens et cetera)
- clear topcoat.
First step: paint your nails with the white nail polish. Usually, I say two should do it well enough, but white polsih is a bit transparent, so three is your best bet.
Second step: When your basecoat has dried, use the colours you’ve chosen for your irises to paint circles in the centres of your nails. Freehand is probably better for those with artistic tendencies. For the rest of us, hole punching a piece of paper and using that as a stencil might be the best way to go.
Third step: use the red nail polish/nail art pen to paint capillaries around the edges of your nail. Make sure to paint from the outward edge inwards; it looks neater.
Fourth step: using black nail polish/nail art pen, paint in pupils.
Fifth step: as usual, seal the whole shebang with the clear topcoat.
And there we have it! Creeeeeepy eyeball nails. You could even use cream or light yellow instead of white if you want a slightly jaundiced look.
I’m baa-aaack!
I’ve been wanting to try this for ages, and when I changed my mind about my nails (I was originally going to do Potter-style lightning bolts), I thought this would be the best way to go.
You will need:
- base coat in an opaque colour
- gilttery topcoat
- clear topcoat
First step: paint your nails with your chosen base colour. Two coats, as always, are best for full coverage. Sticking with my Gryffindor theme, I chose a deep, shimmery maroon from the Miss Sporty range for my base and a bright gold glitter from Star Gazer for the topcoat.
Second step: using the glitter topcoat, brush your entire nail very, very lightly. The glitter should not be dense at all. This coat will dry very quickly simply because it’s so light.
Third step: load your brush up with glitter a bit more, and paint only two thirds of your nail with this layer of glitter (meaning that the third of your nail nearest your cuticle will not be painted again). Wait for this layer to dry completely as it’s a bit thicker.
Fourth step: load up your brush completely and paint the very top third of your nail. The tips of your nails should be thick with glitter.
Fifth step: when all of this is completely dry, finish all of it with a clear topcoat.
This is what your nails might look like when you try it:
I’m pretty happy with it, but maybe next time, I’ll use a looser glitter, because my gold polish is pretty old and it’s congealed a bit, which made it a lot harder to use. I’d love to try different combinations as well; perhaps black base and red glitter, or maybe even navy blue base and silver glitter.
(my [piss poor] excuse for this being a day late is that flowers bloom under their own steam. Cheesy, I know.)
It’s raining as I type this, but it’s never inappropriate to have cheery nails. *sighs and looks out of the window*
You will need:
- turquoise nail polish
- deep brown nail polish
- pink nail polish
- white nail polish
- clear topcoat
- paint brush
- dotting tool
I used two Barry M Nail Paint in Shades #306 (Blueberry Ice Cream) and #54 (Clear) and a bright, non-neon pink, a deep brown, and a pearl white from my nail art kit (which is why I didn’t need to use a brush/dotting tool).
First step: paint your nails with the blue polish (two coats for best coverage, as always) and wait for them to dry.
Second step: using the brush, draw on stick-like shapes with the brown nail polish. You actually don’t have to wait for this to dry if you’re extra careful.
Third step: using a dotting tool, paint on dots using the white polish in a vaguely flower-like arrangement.
Fourth step: repeat step three using the pink nail polish. Wait for all of to dry.
Fifth step: cover everything with a clear topcoat.
and whoo! Cheery, cherry blossom nails.
This week’s edition of Nail It! comes to you with the panicked realisation that:
a) I’m going out tonight and cannot step out of the house without my nail game being on point and
b) there hasn’t been a Nail It” post for about two weeks.
Oh dear…
(btw, it’s amazing what more water, calcium and fruit and vegetables in your diet will do for your nails, hair and skin. I also caved and bought some fancy olive oil for my hair and skin, but that’s another blog post.)
The colours I used were Stargazer Shade #104 (the neon pink) and Beauty Forever Nail Lacquer Shade #104 (the carroty, neon orange). The stripes were made up of an assortment of pinks, oranges, white, and glitter from my nail art kit.
First step: paint your nails in your desired base colour(s). I used the orange on my ring fingers and the pink everywhere else, as I thought the colours worked really well together, and I liked the arrangement. Wait for them to dry.
Second step: paint your stripes on! I used all of the colours in the picture below.
I wsa going for a sort of candy-cane, sweet look; I wanted my nails to look good enough to eat!
Third step: as always, topcoat topcoat topcoat. Wait until your nails have dried though!
I love you guys for not unfollowing even though I’ve been so wanky with posts ILU
I’m not gonna lie, I’ve kind of missed plain (for me) nails, so I was a little lazy and decided to fall back on my trusty old fake foil effect.
All you need for this is your favourite colour nail varnish and a glitter topcoat in a shade that matches as closely as possible.
Two coats of your base shade, two of the glitter topcoat, one quick swipe of a clear topcoat and bish bash bosh, YOU’RE DONE.
In direct sunlight, it twinkles like crazy. This effect in red is actually really good for a subtle Christmas look (because that’s so very relevant in June).
Proper (and punctual) nail art next week, I promise!
Thanks to my year ending ridiculously early, I have time on my hands. Having time on my hands means watching films and reading. Watching films and reading means ideas for nail art! The latest one is The Comedian’s badge from Watchmen.
You’ll need:
- Yellow nail varnish
- Black nail art pen/varnish + brush
- Red nail art pen/varnish + brush
- Clear topcoat
I used the blood red and midnight black nail art pens from this set, a lemon yellow polish from H&M (shade YELLOW) and a clear Barry M topcoat (Shade #54: Clear).
First step: paint your nails completely with the yellow polish, and try not to do it as messily as I did. Two coats should be perfect.
Second step: when they’re dry (or mostly dry, if you’re impatient) and paint on smiley faces using the black nail art pen/varnish + brush, using something like this as your reference:
(don’t worry about the blood just yet.)
Third step: there will be blood. Splash blood on those motherfuckers. Or a less weird way would be to drip some red varnish down your fingernail. If you’re artisically inclined, you could even draw the blood drops instead of letting them happen naturally
Fourth step: when the blood the red nail varnish is dry, paint a clear topcoat over your handiwork. And voila!
