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

Tri Polish Tuesday: Green, Purple and Blue Camouflage Print

This is the last of March’s green purple and blue posts for Tri Polish Tuesday. I’ve loved this colour combination and really enjoyed the manis I’ve done this month.

I did a camo print mani a while ago and really loved the look and how easy it was to create. Last time I used traditional camouflage colours but I thought some muted shades of blue, purple and green would work really well with this design.

I really liked the result although I got a bit of streaking when I applied the matte top coat (I always find it tricky to get it on in one swipe as my nails are quite wide) I think the matte finish was a good choice and I’ll definitely be trying camo nails out in other colours too.

I used: Sky – Picture Polish, Faux Pas – Illamasqua, It’s Rambo No.5 – Catrice, Stylenomics – Essie

GOT Polish: Orange

This orange polish is one I’ve had for ages. It also has a stupidly long name that comes out as something like The Most Awake Bright Psychedelic Orange when translated from Japanese – it’s from a Rimmel collection which was only available in Japan and I got as a gift when I lived there. I’ve used it in loads of manicures and will be sad when it finally runs out.

I wanted to try the houndstooth check pattern but knew it would be a challenge so decided to use white acrylic paint to try and make it easier. It was still a huge challenge and my second mani of the week that looks much better from a distance and shouldn’t be examined too closely!

I followed this tutorial by 10 Blank Canvases which made it look so much simpler than it is! Hers were so perfectly neat! Mine are a bit rough around the edges and I don’t think I got my grid of dots and then squares evenly spaced at the beginning which is key to a good result in this pattern.

I’m still quite pleased with the result, even if it’s not that neat, and am glad I tried this pattern out!

I used: Psychedelic Orange – Rimmel, white acrylic paint

Tri Polish Tuesday: Grey, Pink and Brown Plaid

Plaid was one of the very first designs I ever tried when I got into nail art. Someone, somewhere had said it was a simple nail art design for beginners. I totally disagree! It was way beyond my capabilities then and I’m still struggling with this design as it really requires perfectly straight lines and mastery of the striping brush. (Or tons of patience and tape maybe, but given my hatred of tape I’m more likely to achieve striping brush perfection!) It’s one of those patterns I know I need to return to from time to time to see how I’m progressing and if I’m any closer to getting it right.

I followed this photo tutorial that I came across on a google image search. The google search links to someone’s Pinterest board and I have no idea who originally put this tutorial together – if you know then please tell me and I’ll give proper credit. I thought my mani looked great from a distance this time, but up close my decidedly wobbly lines are pretty obvious. It’s an an improvement on my previous attempts so I’m happy with that! This won’t be my last plaid mani, that’s for sure.

It will be my last grey, pink and brown mani for the Tri Polish challenge though as next week we’ll have new colours for March! I’ve enjoyed my first month taking part in this challenge and am looking forward to March’s colours.

I used: My Boyfriend Scales Walls – OPI, Miss Grey – GOSH, Lady in Black – OPI, Hoopla – Ciaté, You Don’t Know Jacques – OPI

Twin Post: Abstract Pattern with Fairly Charming

I recently joined a Twin Post group which is new for me and I really like the idea of collaborating with other bloggers. This month’s theme for the group is Patterns and my twin blogger Stefanie from Fairly Charming and I were assigned abstract as our style of pattern.

I was a bit puzzled as to what to do with this very open them to begin with but Stefanie suggested doing something very free and unplanned. I loved the idea and thought we also needed something to tie our ideas together so we were still creating twinned manis. We decided on bright (possibly neon) colours, dots and squares to create a spontaneous abstract pattern each. I tried a neon yellow base first but the neon yellow looked so horrible with my skin tone I opted for a bright yellow creme instead.

So here’s what I came up with! I was quite pleased with the result and felt it was my first proper bit of nail art for this year and my free-handing skills will only improve if I give myself challenges like this!

I used: Sumner Place – Nails Inc, Draycott Place – Nails Inc, Blue Collar – Orly, NA07 – Flormar

Make sure you check out Stefanie’s abstract manicure over at her blog Fairly Charming (I think we’re in very different time zones so you might need to wait til a bit later in the day for her post!)

You can also check out what the rest of the group created for their patterned manis here:

Looking forward to next month’s!

33DC: Featuring three patterns

I have to say this one was done in a bit of a rush and without much of a plan. I divided my nail into three parts with striping tape and then used the first three patterns that came into my head with the first couple of colours I grabbed that wouldn’t look strange with the pale blue I already had on.
For such a rushed job I don’t think it looks too bad. A bit chaotic with three clashing patterns but in some ways that was the idea (or so I’m telling myself!!!) it was quite fun to do and a relatively quick mani, which we all need now and again!

I used: Play it Blue – Catrice, Artificial Sweetener – Orly, Where’s My Chauffeur? – Essie

33DC: 3 Colour Gradient + Pattern

I’d seen these stunning nails by Coewless Polish a while back and thought of them immediately for this day of the challenge. I recently bought a matte topcoat and thought this was the perfect opportunity to try it out.
After my disaster with tribal nails earlier in this challenge I was really pleased with how these turned out and I love the matte top coat and can’t wait to use it again soon!

I used: Westferry Circus – Nails Inc, Mojito – Rituals, Pineapple Juice – Rituals, black acrylic paint, matte top coat – OPI

33DC: Based On a Pattern in My Wardrobe

Oh dear, I’ve got soooo behind on my posts. I have to blame it on this mani – I was really pleased with how it turned out but the photos just didn’t come out right – the light was all wrong and you couldn’t see the pattern well. My lovely boyfriend spent ages adjusting all the setting in Lightroom trying to get the light to look right and he did a great job of saving the photo but it still looks a bit streaky and with some odd reflections – anyway not having the photo ready to post kind of threw me out of the rhythm of posting and here I am over a week late… Expect a rush of posts over the next day or two!

Anyway – this mani was based on a pattern on a winter scarf which I recently got out of my winter clothes boxes – it’s still not cold enough for it here – we’re still hitting 27C during the day although the evenings are starting to feel a bit chilly so I’m sure my winter clothes will be needed very soon.

I enjoyed doing the fine pattern on this mani and free handing patterns is a skill I always enjoy improving.

I used: Lady in Black – OPI, 2007 – Bourjois, Miss Grey- GOSH

33DC: Follow Someone’s Tutorial

There were so many great tutorials to choose from but finally I chose this one by Chalkboard Nails as I’d been on a camping trip a few days earlier and was inspired by my camouflage print picnic mat but couldn’t really think how to do camouflage nails without the help of a tutorial. I’d come across Chalkboard Nails’ tutorial a while ago and had it on my “to try” list.

I went a bit crazy on my left hand and made it a bit too busy I think but my right hand turned out simpler and maybe more effective (although I broke a nail on my right hand on that aforementioned camping trip and had had to cut them all down a but short on that hand…)

I love the result and would like to try it in unusual colours next time.

I used: My Boyfriend Scales Walls – OPI, Def Defying – China Glaze, Kalahari Kiss – China Glaze, Stylenomics – Essie, Black Taxi – Nails Inc

33DC: A Mani with 2 Patterns

I had several ideas for this mani but couldn’t get over the idea that two patterns on one nail would end up looking too busy and not very attractive. I thought about trying the “tribal” nail art again but while looking for animal print inspiration I stumbled upon this fab two pattern mani by Kayla Shevonne and it was exactly the balance I’d been dreaming of (2 interesting patterns that don’t end up clashing or making your eyes feel funny) so I decided to recreate it.

I still had the Zoya. Blu on from the day before and was enjoying wearing it so used it as my base colour. I really like the result with the two animal prints together and feel like all the searching for inspiration was definitely worth it this time!

I used: Blu – Zoya, Just Gorgeous – Anny, My Boyfriend Scales Walls – OPI, Black Taxi – Nails Inc.