Techniques Challenge: Watercolour Nails

I wasn’t sure exactly what water colour nails involved and I found various different techniques all labelled as watercolour effect nails. I quite liked the idea of the technique using blobs of polish spread around and marbled together using a piece of a plastic bag. I followed this tutorial by Makeup Savvy

I wanted to use warm feeling spring/summer colours and went for greens and yellows. It was a very simple technique to do but I think a bit more experimentation would get a better result. The bright green I used didn’t seem to spread as well as the other polishes and looks a bit blobby rather than smooth and marbled. I also have to admit that I fell asleep before these were completely dry so the might have a bit of a weird texture to them, most likely from my sofa…

I can definitely see myself trying this technique again and testing out different polishes and colour combinations (and not falling asleep!) to try and get a really smooth look.

I used: Tracie – Zoya, Lime Cocktail – Sephora, Crush On You – Orly, Melodious Utopia – Orly

Techniques Challenge: Newspaper Nails

Oh so horrifically late, I did these last week and completely forgot to post them before I went away on holiday to Portugal for a long weekend. I had tried newspaper nails once before on one nail but this was my first proper attempt at full on newspaper nails.

I found it took a bit of experimenting with different alcohols and paper/print types to figure out what worked best. It turned out that cheap tequila and a non glossy but colour leaflet were my best combo!

I wanted to try and get a regular print so used a phone renewal leaflet/brochure which had the same calling plan information on every page to try and get them all looking similar.

They didn’t turn out as neat as I’d have liked but I was happy enough for a first real attempt. I have two photos, one with the print backwards as it came out and then a flipped image so the text is readable. Which do you think looks better?

Techniques challenge: Gradient

I was really sad to have missed last week’s prompt of water spotted as I’ve only tried this technique once and would like to give it another go. I’ll definitely try and do it when I have a day free.

Gradients are a technique I love and often but not always have success with. I tried a vertical gradient not all that long ago with pastel shades (check it out here I wanted to try this technique again with bright rainbow shades. I came across something similar by Sparrow Nails who I borrowed the idea of a glittery topper from.

Mainly this gradient went well but I’m not sure I used the glitter topper well. One some nails where the gradient was’t as smooth as I’d hoped I was glad of it as it hid the gradient a bit and made it look really fun and rainbows. But then there were some nails where I was thrilled with my gradients and felt sad to cover them up with glitter – plus I think I was a bit heavy handed with the glitter on the middle finger.

Overall I’m pleased with it despite my nails looking very short after a nasty break on my index finger a couple of days ago.

I used: I Just Can’t Cope-Acabana – OPI, Papaya Punch – China Glaze, Pomegranate – Barry M, Violet Femme – Picture Polish, Baker Street – Nails Inc, Def Defying – China Glaze, Hello Holo – Essence

Techniques Challenge: Skittles

I’m not sure if these really count as skittles but I like them anyway! I was thinking of doing something cute and cartoony in a different colour on each nail and started looking for some inspiration. I came across these nails by Polish Art Addict. I loved them straight away and decided to try and skittle them by doing the paint drips in different colours.

I painted the stripes in first with a striping brush and then did the paint drips over the top, outlining them in black and adding white shine lines to try and make them look 3D. I think I did a fairly good recreation of the originals and was really pleased with the results!

I used: My Boyfriend Scales Walls – OPI, Lady in Black – OPI, Grosvenor Street – Nails Inc, I Just Can’t Cope-Acabana – OPI, Def Defying – China Glaze, Papaya Punch – China Glaze, Baker Street – Nails inc.

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!

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.

Techniques challenge: Watermarble

Oooops! I meant to post this last night but was really tired. Can’t wait for Easter holidays next week and a full week of chilling out at the beach!
Anyway here’s my unintentionally green watermarble. I didn’t actually use any green polishes to create this – I picked a dark blue and a bright yellow which I thought would be great together but somehow they blended together. I have a feeling it might be to do with the angle or speed I put my finger into the water and that as it entered the water it broke the tension that kept the bands of colour separate and they started to bleed into each other.

I still quite like some of the nails but it’s not my best watermarble. In fact my best water marbles were the first ones I ever did and I seem to have gone downhill from there! Maybe I was more careful then, using filtered water and letting it adjust to room temperature, filling the cup to a point where it was easy to lay my nail into it rather than have to plunge it in. Yep! I think I’ve just become a bit lazy with my watermarbling and need to pay a bit more attention to detail preparing for it!

I used: Incognito in Sausalito – OPI, I Just Can’t Cope-Acabana – OPI

Techniques Challenge: Ombré

A day late but here’s my ombré mani for the Techniques Challenge. I decided to try a ruffian ombre but I’m not sure I chose particularly good shades of blue for it. They looked good in the bottles but didn’t necessarily make a good ombré, especially the thumb and forefinger which just look way too similar.

I like how the ruffian worked with the ombré though and think it was a good choice for a slight twist on a traditional ombré. I still need to work on getting cleaner lines for my ruffian manis but overall I’m pleased.

I used: Fit for a Queen – Ciaté, Play it Blue – Catrice, If I Were a Boy – Essence, Matte Aqua – BYS, Baker Street – Nail Inc, Southwark – Nails Inc.

Techniques Challenge: Ikat

This is the first time I’ve tried an ikat mani and after looking at lots of pics of both ikat nail art and ikat fabrics I chose this pattern as my inspiration.

I liked the idea of doing a sponged gradient and then painting the ikat pattern over the top. I loved the warm fiery colours in the fabric and thought it would be the perfect choice.

I found the technique fairly easy although my polish went a bit thick and sticky on my middle finger so it doesn’t look great. I’m pretty pleased with the way the others have turned out though, especially as it’s my first time trying this technique.

I used: Bring Me Peach – Catrice, Papaya Punch – China Glaze, Encore! – Ciaté, Victoria – Nails Inc, Wanna Say Hello – Essence, Notting Hill Carnival – Nails Inc

Techniques Challenge: 3D

I seem to own a huge number of different caviar beads which I’ve received as gifts or as part of sets but have never actually bought for myself. As this is the type of 3D adornment I own most of I thought it would be a good choice for this day of the challenge.

I decided to combine caviar beads with rhinestones of the same colour for some fun and cute 3D nails. They were nice and easy to do, looked really fun and I loved the bright rainbow colours. Unfortunately I’m not a great fan of 3D nails from a practicality standpoint, so as much as I loved the look of these nails I didn’t wear them for very long. Still, they were a fun burst of colour in my week!

I used: Southwark – Nails Inc, Def Defying – China Glaze, Lanesborough Place – Nails Inc, Elizabeth Street – Nails Inc, Boudoir – Ciaté