Techniques Challenge: Foils

I was really looking forward to this day of the challenge as this was a technique that was completely and totally new to me and I was excited to give it a try. I bought a pack of foils and glue off ebay and watched a few tutorials before feeling ready to give it a try.

First, I found the glue a bit tricky to apply. It was fine for doing whole nails but when I tried to just do the tips I couldn’t get a neat line as the glue seemed to shrink away from the polish underneath.

I was surprised that it was relatively easy to get the foils lying flat and smooth as I had thought it would be a problem but it wasn’t at all! I had read that top-coating foils could be difficult and I tried with a couple of different non-quick dry top coats (on my non photo hand of course!) but they both made the foil break up and look a bit dull. So the picture you see is without top-coat. That’s also the reason the base colour doesn’t look as nice and smooth as usual.

I definitely want to experiment with foils a bit more and am glad this challenge got me to try them out!

Tri Polish Tuesday: Pink Blue And Yellow Leopard Print

This is the last of the pink, blue and yellow Tri polish manis and it’s been a fun and versatile combination to work with. I was trying to think of a design or technique I hadn’t visited in a while and thought of leopard print. It’s always a design I worry might look a bit trashy but when I get it on my nails I really love it and don’t care if anyone thinks it’s trashy! I particularlyenjoy wearing it in bright colours so I thought I’d chose some bold shades of pink, blue and yellow for this one.

I also learnt a valuable lesson doing this mani. When I do a gradient I usually put down a white base, or the lightest colour in my gradient, but I sometimes get bored of waiting for all those layers to dry before I actually start on the gradient. So I thought maybe it would just be quicker to build up the layers of sponging without a base colour. It isn’t. It took ages! And the pink built up and became opaque much quicker than the yellow so I worried about it getting uneven. I have no idea how many layers of sponging I did but I am pretty positive that it was no shortcut!

Anyway… On to the nails!

I used: Candy Floss – Ciaté, Sumner Place – Nails Inc, Incognito in Sausalito – OPI

L’Oreal Peach Neglige and Jackie Tweed

Here’s the second of the L’Oreal polish combinations I bought in the three for two sale. I was most excited about Grace Tweed but bought the other two in the collection as well and am really surprised by how much I like Jackie Tweed!

I was really sceptical about these polishes when I saw them in the bottle but they look so much nicer on the nail than I thought they would. Jackie Tweed makes me think of ice-cream sprinkles and is a really fun one for summer.

I’d realised I didn’t own much in the way of peach polishes so was really happy to find a peach I liked and I think the tweed topper goes well with this shade

Techniques Challenge: Galaxy Nails

I know I’m really late for this one but I actually did them much earlier in the week and then didn’t get round to posting them because I went out to see actual stars for the meteor shower that happened this week. We went out of the city to a park with some friends and had a little evening picnic while watching for shooting stars. It was a really lovely night but as I usually post on my blog in the evenings it kind of threw me even more off schedule than I should have been!

Anyway, galaxy nails! A design I really love but have only actually done once before. I’ve kept meaning to come back and try it again and this challenge is just what I needed together me going and have another go at this gorgeous technique.

I was pretty pleased with the way these turned out and like the more subtle colours I chose this time round. I’ll definitely revisit galaxy nails again soon!

I used so many different colours I don’t think it’s worth listing them all!

Twin Post: Primary Colours with Manis and Makeovers

Another twin post! this time with Lothwen from Manis and Makeovers.
Our group’s theme for the month was colours and we got primary colours. Lothwen came up with the great idea of doing puzzle pieces which I thought would look great in the bold primary colours and of course link in with Autism awareness month.

We decided to outline our puzzle pieces in black and use silver as the fourth colour in the puzzle square. It’s a fun and simple design which I’m really glad I tried. I used black acrylic paint for the outlines which I never seem to get as neat as I’d like but overall I think the effect is great.

Check out Lothwen’s fab primary colours puzzle mani here!

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I used: Red Vamp – Layla, Southwark – Nails Inc, I Just Can't Cope-Acabana – OPI, Fit for a Queen – Ciaté, black acrylic paint.

Lothwen made this pic so you can see our designs side by side:

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Tri Polish Tuesday on a Wednesday

I was doing so well and had got into a good rhythm with my blogging which I just seem to have lost recently and can’t quite get back into just now. Easter holidays and then a couple of really busy days have thrown me.

Anyhow here’s my Pink, Blue and Yellow Tri Polish Tuesday which seems to have become a Wednesday thing. I’ve wanted to try dry marbling for a while and recently saw a tutorial for really simple hearts done with the dry marbling technique. Unfortunatly I can’t find the tutorial again and whatever search terms in put in I just find kind of bright tie dye patterns and nothing like the simple but pretty hearts I saw before.

It wasn’t difficult but equally it wasn’t easy to get a really good result and some of mine look a bit untidy. I definitely think it was a good design to try for a first attempt at this technique though and maybe I’ll try something more difficult next time.

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I used: My Boyfriend Scales Walls – OPI, I Just Can't Cope-Acabana – OPI, Southwark – Nails Inc, Indian Rose – Rituals

Fingerfood’s Theme Buffet: Fishtail

I was looking forward to this week’s theme buffet as I love the fishtail design and always enjoy having it on my nails. I wanted to use some bright and summery colours now the weather is getting nice and warm and I’ve spent the last week by the beach. I also decided to try a fine stranded fishtail rather than the chunky bands of colour I usually use. I liked the result but it took much longer than usual and I got a bit bored towards the end! Maybe a fine fishtail is best saved for an accent nail rather than every finger!

I used: I Just Can’t Cope-Acabana – OPI, Def Defying – China Glaze, Hopscotch – Ciaté

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Techniques Challenge: Flocked Nails

Getting behind with my posts again, oh dear! I’ll try and get back to normal next week. I had planned to do something a bit fancier with my flocked nails for this day of the techniques challenge. I had seen some people do stripes with look really cute and wanted to give it a go. I packed loads of nail art supplies to take on my holiday but forgot striping tape so had to give up on that idea. In the end I just did straightforward flocked nails in pink and green.
I do like this look and am always surprised that flocked nails last better than I expect them to, even through showering!

Posting from my phone again so I’ll add inlinkz later on when I’m back home.

Late again! Tri Polish Tuesday: Pink Blue and Yellow

I’m going to blame being relaxed and on holiday by the beach for my late posting today! As it’s Easter week and I’m not going to see any Easter eggs here in Spain, I thought I’d use the bright, fun colours of this month’s Tri Polish challenge to create Easter egg patterns on my nails.

I didn’t really plan these out in advance, just went with whatever I felt like doing as I painted them! I think they’re fun, bright and great for this time of year and am happy to overlook their little inaccuracies this time!

I used: I Just Can’t Cope-Acabana -OPI, Blue Collar – Orly, Candy Floss – Ciaté

L’Oreal Nouvelle Vague and Grace Tweed

I saw the new L’Oreal polish collection while I was out shopping and really liked the pastel colours they had. I also noticed the tweeds that are part of the collection and as the polishes were only 2.45 € and 3 for 2 I thought it was a good chance to try them out. I have of course seen similar polishes like the Nails Inc Feathers polishes but I was never that excited by them and didn’t want to fork out a lot of cash for something I wasn’t sure about.

I’m glad I bought these L’Oreal polishes as I actually really like the tweed effect. Grace Tweed is a pretty combination of blue and white bars in a clear base and I think it looks great over the pastel Nouvelle Vague. Both polishes applied really nicely and I used two coats of Nouvelle Vague and one of Grace Tweed.

I’m on holiday at the moment and the wifi in the apartment I’m staying in is crap so I’ve posted this from my phone. It’s the first time I’ve used the wordpress app to post from my phone so I hope it looks ok!