Tuesday 30 December 2014

Catch-Up: Other Nail Art

Here is my final catch-up post, showing the last of the never-quite-made-it designs!
Most of these are not too bad, I just didn't have time to post every single one.

I am just going to post pictures for this. If I tell you all the polishes used in every one of these, this post will end up ridiculously long! However, if you want to know a specific polish or have a question feel free to post in the comments. :)











Catch-Up: Christmas / New Year Nails

The second post in my catch-up series will show you a few extra Christmas nails I painted, plus some which were not originally intended for New Year, but would work well.

First up, the Christmas nails:


This nail art is based on the film Polar Express, My index finger shows the bell from the movie, my middle finger represents the present Santa leaves for the little boy. My ring finger is supposed to show the train ticket, which has the word 'Believe' punched into it by the conductor.
I used Sinful Colors Blue by You, Sinful Colors Cool Gray, Sinful Colours Nirvana, the gold is an unnamed PS by Primark polish, Rimmel Red, Steady, Go!, La Femme Ultra Green and Barry M Black.


This picture was posted on my Instagram, however I never took any camera pics to add it to my blog, hence why it never made it here. I didn't think it was particularly good, however it ended up being one of my most liked Instagram photos ever! 
I used Sally Hansen Cosmic blue as the background, George Natural White for the moon and painted the details in Black acrylic paint.


Another Instagram pic. These were my Christmas day nails. I didn't have much time for blogging over Christmas, however I did still paint my nails and Instagram is much quicker to use!
I used a red Models Own polish and a Red Models Own Glitter for this, which I don't know the names of as they belonged to my mum! I also used Ciaté Fit for a Queen for my ring finger and I created a stamping decal for the flower.


Now for the New Year Nail inspiration!


I wore this for Christmas eve. I really love it, however that glitter placement took such a long time, And it is pretty messy compared to others I have seen! The black is Ciaté Unrestricted glam and the glitter pieces are from Born Pretty Store.


I painted these ages ago and at the time loved them. I'm not really sure why they were never posted. I used Barry M Black and Rimmel Space Dust in Aurora,



These I painted on my sisters nails. She saw my nails in the above picture and wanted something similar using the Rimmel Space Dust. This is what we came up with! Sorry, I'm not sure what other polishes were used, these are from July so I don't remember! Again, excuse the poor quality phone picture. 


Catch-Up: Swatches

Over the past year there have been many times I have done my nails, photographed them, edited pictures then for whatever reason, not put them up here on this blog.
I want a fresh start in the new year, not to be uploading old pictures! So today I have a series of 3 posts where I am going to show you some of the nail art that never quite made it, for various reasons!

This first post is going to show you four swatches that never quite made it:


I love this picture and the polish (Make up Gallery, Scarlett Sparkle) is one of my favourites. It is a beautiful raspberry coloured gelly with tiny pieces of glitter. I would recommend anybody to go buy this! I love it so much!
This was never posted simply due to lack of time! Such a shame as it is so gorgeous!


This second swatch is H&M Blue Bliss, which is a glitter topcoat in a very pale blue gelly. I swatched this over lilac, blue, grey and black, though I don't remember what the polishes were! This picture was taken back in August, hence the pointed nails and I honestly don't think I have used the polish since, it didn't make a good first impression!


This third picture shows you Ciaté Baby Doll, which is actually a pastel pink, not orange as the poor photography appears, hence why this was never posted. Oh and no, I don't have green fingers either! Also, all my nails are different lengths and shapes. What was I thinking?!
The polish has a lovely matte 'porcelain' finish, however it chipped off within hours.


Finally, another that I love. This is an unnamed PS by Primark polish. It is a beautiful dark pink and gold textured holo polish. It is truly beautiful and the colours change completely in different lights.
This was also not posted due to poor photography, however I managed to find this one awkward looking, but salvageable picture.

Sunday 21 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Presents

For today's prompt, Presents, I decided to make my nails into presents, rather than just painting presents onto my nails!


I painted them using Make Up Gallery Scarlett Sparkle, which is one of my very favourite polishes!
Then I cut out little pieces of silver ribbon and stuck them onto my nail using clear polish, to create the look of a pretty wrapped present! 

Super simple, but I quite like how these turned out! 

See more entries for this prompt:

Friday 19 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Ugly Sweater

The prompt for today was 'Ugly Sweater Nails'.
I had what I thought were the perfect water decals for these nails, but unfortunately it didn't go quite to plan!


I have used water decals plenty of times before, I know what I am doing with them, but these just would not work. It seems that the plastic they are printed onto is way too thick for this purpose. Even after soaking in hot water the plastic remained rigid and wouldn't adhere to the nail the way decals usually do. I ended up covering the nail in topcoat and sticking the plastic to that. Even then I had problems getting the image to lay flat as the plastic was too rigid and I could feel them sitting on top of my nail, which isn't usually the case with decals. (The image below shows how bad this was!)
It's a shame as I have never has a 'bad' product from Born Pretty Store before, but these were so disappointing and I was so looking forward to using them!

Urgh, look at how bad those decals are! Not nice!

The base polish I used was Ciaté Cupcake queen, topped with Ciaté Candy Cane glitter. I love these two polishes together!



See the other, more successful entries for this challenge:


Wednesday 17 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Glitter

Today the prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge was Glitter!

I may have gone a little overboard with this, but I love it!


I used two Ciaté loose glitters from my Mini Mani Manor: Let it Snow and Slumber Party.
I used a wet brush to put them onto my nails and create a gradient effect.


I love how these turned out, so christmassy! The glitter is lasting really well too, I have been wearing this mani for two days now and there is only a small amount of tip wear.


Doesn't it look even more beautiful when blurred!!


Monday 15 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Decorations

Yay, a prompt that is not colour based!! Today it is decorations.
On my tree I have lots of delicate, cut-out decorations, so I chose to base my mani on a particular one of these.


I'm really pleased with how these candles turned out, though the ribbon leaves a little to be desired!


I used a tiny detail brush and a whole load of Ciaté polishes: Strawberry Milkshake, Silhouette, Fit for a Queen, Velvet Tuxedo, Encore! and Big Yellow Taxi. I also used OPI AmazON... AmazOFF for the leaves.


You can see the other entries to this challenge here:


Sunday 14 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Red and Green

I am a little late with this post, it was supposed to be yesterday but I found it really difficult to think of a design for the prompt 'Red and Green'.

This prompt is probably one of my worst nightmares!
1. I hate colour prompts. They are just so vague!
2. I don't like contrasting colours. I am all about matchy colours!

But this is what I came up with:


I know, its kind of cheating using each colour on different fingers, rather than integrating them, but by this point I was fed up! I already tried using the colours together, creating designs with red on top of the green watermarble, but they turned out horrendous! This was my 3rd attempt and I wasn't going to try again!!


For the red fingers I used Essence, Do You Speak Love?, Rimmel, Red Steady, Go! and Nails Inc. Hanover Square.
For the green nails I used Essence, Thats What I Mint!, Essence, Lets Get Lost! and Sinful Colours, Kissy.

I'm really happy with how the green turned out... not so much the red!

Check everyone else's (much better) mani's for this prompt:

Thursday 11 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: The Song

Today the prompt for the 12 days of Christmas challenge was the '12 Days of Christmas' song.

I have kept it quite simple and chosen the line '2 Turtle Doves'.


I started with two coats of Ciaté Mineral Clarity, which is such a gorgeous deep blue glittery texture polish. I then stamped the doves using George Natural White and this cute stamping plate from Born Pretty Store.


The doves don't stand out quite as much as I might have liked. The George white polish is not the best for stamping, but my favourite Barry M Matte White has thickened too much to use. I desperately need some polish thinner!



Tuesday 9 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Blue and White

The promp for today was 'Icy Blue and White'.
I felt a bit lost for what to do with this prompt, I much prefer the more structured prompts!


I went for a simple sponged white to blue gradient using George Natural White, Revlon Blue Lagoon and Make Up Gallery Sky Blue.
On my index finger I used a blue Barry M crackle polish followed by MUA Luna, the pretty glitter.


Finally, I added a little bow stud from Born Pretty Store on my ring finger. I think it finishes off the look nicely.

Overall, I'm not too sure about this. I didn't really have a direction when I started, I just made it up as I went and I think you can tell that.

Check out the other entries:


Sunday 7 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Santa, Baby

Today the prompt was Santa and/or Elves.

I also just recieved my Ciaté Mini Mani Month Calendar, yay! So I wanted to incorporate some of the polishes from that.
BTW, I won't be posting swatches from the calendar on here each day but I will be posting them on Instagram @nailsmustbepainted so make sure you're following me if you want the updates! :)


The grey is Ciaté Sharp Tailoring (Day 2), the red is Ciaté Runway Ribbon and is a gorgeous loose glitter and the white is George Natural White. The Santa is a sticker I got from Poundland a few months ago! I am feeling poorly at the moment so didn't feel like concentrating long enough to do my usual freehand art.


Take a better look at that red glitter! I have never used a loose glitter before but wow this is gorgeous! The picture doesn't really do it justice. It is sooo sparkly and beautiful! 
I discovered just how difficult loose glitter is to clean up though!

Check out the other amazing entries:


Friday 5 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

Today's prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge is Snowmen.
Of course, being a primary school teacher I had to paint everyone's favourite snowman of the moment... Olaf!!


I used a Primark Blue Glow in the Dark Polish for this. It doesn't actually glow, but the colour is just beautiful. Although the polish is blue, it has a very subtle gold shimmer which appears in certain lights. I also added a coat of Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Royal Icing on my index finger. Olaf is painted using acrylics.

The snowflakes were sent to me to review by Born Pretty Store. 
They arrived in a little plastic pot which was actually a lot bigger than I had expected.


They are very cute and sparkly. Because they bend easily they sat quite flat on the nail, meaning they stayed on around a day... which is longer than I manage to keep most 3D type things on my nails! I would say they are definitely worth the £2.33 they are on the website for!

Get 10% off these here or other items at the Born Pretty Store with voucher code: EHG10.


Check out the other entries to the challenge here:


Wednesday 3 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Christmas Trees

Today's prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge is Christmas Trees.

I started out intended on a really simple mani for this one. Then I kept adding to it, though I'm not sure if I was improving it or making it worse! I took photo's at each stage anyway, so you can decide for yourself! I think my favourite is the second one.




I started with a base coat of OPI AmazON... AmazOFF on most fingers and a PS by Primark unnamed Gold polish on my ring finger and thumb. I used striping tape to create the shape of the tree on my ring finger and added a small star stud from Poundland. 

Then I decided it needed more glitter, so I added one coat of Ciaté Party Shoes and one coat of Barry M Starlight, both on my Index finger.

Next I felt the actual tree was missing some glitter/decoration. I remembered I had some caviar beads I had never used before aptly named 'Christmas Tree Caviar' by Ciaté, so went about creating a string of beads on the christmas tree. This is where I ruined it I think. It's just a bit too much!

Which is your favourite stage of this mani?


Check out the other entries to this challenge below:



Monday 1 December 2014

12 Days of Christmas: Snowflakes

Hello!
This month I am planning on taking part in Challenge Your Nail Art's '12 days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge'. I have never managed to complete a challenge where I have to post more than once a week, so we'll see how it goes!!

The first prompt is 'Snowflakes':


I love how these turned out! The two different blues really make me think of day and night.


I used L'Oreal Million Sapphire on my index and middle fingers and Make Up Gallery Sky Blue on my ring finger, pinky and thumb. 
That L'Oreal glitter is so perfect! Full, even coverage of glittery goodness in just two coats. Bad side, it peeled off in the shower. As a whole piece. Strange!
I then used acrylic paint and a tiny paintbrush to paint the snowflakes and finished off with my usual Essence Quick Dry topcoat.


See the other entries for this challenge here:


Sunday 30 November 2014

Autumn Days

Today I have an autumnal mani to show you.
 I have been planning this one a while but was awaiting the arrival of the leaves from the Born Pretty Store which took two months to arrive. Hence, this is not really seasonal anymore!


The above photo was taken in natural light and is a lot more colour accurate. The below photo was taken under my new LED lamp, which is a lot better than photographing under my 'normal' lights, but still not great. I am contemplating making another light box.


Anyway, I was going for a 'leaves blowing in the wind' look for this. I quite like how it came out, though it's not quite as I envisioned it would be! My pinky was supposed to be the pile of leaves, then the other fingers showing them blowing away, with the swirly lines representing the wind.

I used Jess polish in Innocence for the background. The swirls were Sinful Colors Nirvana and an unnamed gold PS by Primark polish. The gold leaves were from the Born Pretty Store.

You can get 10% off these leaves and anything else on the Born Pretty Store with my discount code: EHG10.


Thursday 27 November 2014

Fringed Nail Art

Today I have some very... different nail art!
I heard about the Quiz Dress Your Nails competition and wanted to take part. I was looking through their dresses to find the one I wanted to use when I came across this fringed dress.


Straight away I knew what I wanted to do, I just had to figure out how I could possibly make it work!

A quick Google search found a grand total of 0 other fringed nail designs, so I had to figure it out for myself!!

.
This is how it turned out. Not quite what I had in mind, but not too bad!!


I had a nightmare trying to figure out how I was going to do this! I ended up using white cotton thread. I used a piece of kitchen towel, which I painted in Barry M Black. Once dry I began gluing pieces of cotton onto the kitchen towel. I then splodged the ends of the cotton with black acrylic paint and a small amount of gold Primark nail polish to get the colour.

Once I had two pieces of kitchen roll complete with 'dyed' cotton thread I painted the nail black. I then used clear topcoat to attach the kitchen roll pieces onto the nail, overlapping them slightly as is the case with the dress.


These didn't turn out quite as I had imagined, but it took an awful lot of experimenting and I am quite proud that I eventually found a way to make this idea work, even if they aren't the most attractive nail art! At least they are original! :)