Cheerful and Childish

Today's nails are, as the title says, very childish and cutesy. They make me feel cheerful and think of happy times!

I started painting my nails with very little direction or plan. I knew I wanted a gradient, so I picked two polishes at random to start with. I ended up with two Sally Hansen polishes: 'Pinch of Punch' and 'Coastin' By'.

The gradient I ended up with was cute, but felt it needed something else so I opted for some stamping. I used a plate from Born Pretty Store - MLS301, with a cute sweetie design and stamped using Barry M Silver Foil Effect polish.

I like how these turned out. They are very cutesy, remind me of unicorns and magic!! If only I hadn't had to cut all my nails short they would have looked even cuter!

31DC: Reversed Polarities

As soon as I saw this prompt an idea popped to mind.
I have since found out that this was not what the prompt actually meant, but I did it anyway! :)

I'm not crazy on how it turned out. It's kinda messy, and the colours make me think of mud! (I suppose the polish is called Mudslide Tote for a reason!!). It's probably my least favourite mani of this challenge so far. 

I used Maybelline Mudslide Tote and Revlon Trade Winds to create this reverse gradient.

Have a look at the other, much better entries below!

31DC: Glitter Base

Today I have done a glitter base with even more glitter on top!
I absolutely love how it turned out, shame the pictures don't really do it justice.

I used three polishes from my Ciaté Mini Mani Manor to do this: Silhouette, the dark burgundy base, Candy Cane, the pink glitter and Celestial, the silver glitter. 

I sponged the glitters on to create the gradient effect.

I literally can't stop looking at them and moving them around to see how they sparkle!

Check out everyone else's glittery goodness:

31DC: Follow a Tutorial

I have made a last minute decision to attempt the Crumpets Nail Tarts 31 Day Challenge. I have never before managed to complete a challenge where I have to post everyday, hence why I wasn't planning on participating, but I just changed my mind.

Day 1 was 'Follow a Tutorial'. Yes, this was technically meant to be posted yesterday but nevermind!

I followed an Instagram tutorial by @Nailstorming for a dotty gradient. 

The above photo is inside under my lamp, the below photo is in natural light.

I used 5 polishes for this: Colour Couture Beauty in Bloom, Sinful Colors Cream Pink, Sally Hansen Fuchsia Flare, Rimmel New Romantic and Jess Polish Innocence.

I really like how it turned out, and the staining on my natural nails creates a gradient-like effect!!

See everybody else's mani for this prompt:

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. :)

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!!

An InLinkz Link-up

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:

An InLinkz Link-up

Pretty Peacocks

I recently received a long awaited order from Born Pretty Store which I have been waiting for since September!
I bought two of their new stamping plates and had to try one out!

This is Born Pretty Plate 04 'Dancing Peacock'. This plate has some lovely images on it. It is well engraved and my stamper had no problems picking up the details of the image.

I started with a base of George Natural White on my middle and ring fingers, with Revlon Aquamarine on my index and pinky fingers. I then stamped the peacock using Sinful Colors Kissy and added a Born Pretty green stud to my index finger. I felt the bottom of my ring finger needed something so I created a glitter gradient with H&M Blue bliss, also adding this on top of my pinky finger. I finished with a coat of Barry M Diamond over my middle, ring and little fingers to give a bit of sparkle. :)

Use code EHG10 to get 10% off these and other items at the Born Pretty Store.

Firework Inspired Nails

Here is a very quick post to show you my nails for Bonfire Night.
I didn't have much time so it had to be something simple, so I opted for a bit of glitter to represent fireworks! :)

Excuse the poor quality picture from my Instagram (Follow me @nailsmustbepainted). I have been very busy!

The base colour is Nails Inc Wigmore Street, a very deep purple which was free with Glamour magazine. I then sponged On Rimmel Space Dust in Aurora, followed by Ciaté Party Shoes, for lots of glittery goodness! This looks much better than the picture!

Although this mani is super simple and took me about 5 minutes to do I really like it! The colours contrast nicely and the glitter creates a very firework-y feel.

Green Gradient

Today I have a very quick post to show you this simple green gradient I painted.

The colours look much closer in the pictures than in real life, making the gradient look more subtle.

I used two Essence polishes for this, That's What I Mint! and Lets Get Lost! 

I love how well the colours go together. 

If you want to try a gradient mani yourself, I have a tutorial HERE.

Harry Potter Nail Art

This week the theme for the Llama Nails Movie/Book Challenge is Mystery.
Again, this was a difficult one for me to think of a film for, so I turned to IMDB's top 50 Mystery films.

Harry Potter is not a film I would consider a mystery, but at least 4 of the films were in the top 50 mystery films, so I just went with it!! My mani is based around the Deathly Hallows films.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out! Particularly the round gradient!

I started with a base of a Nude Unnamed Revlon polish, over which I sponged a circular gradient of the same nude polish and Sally Hansen Kiwi Bikini. I was trying to recreate that eerie green Voldemort glow!!

 I then used Barry M Black and a thin paintbrush to paint the symbol of the Deathly Hallows and the Dark Mark on my ring and index fingers. On my middle finger I painted Harry's lightening bolt scar using Rimmel Sunny Days and outlined in Barry M Black. I then used a Jess Matte Topcoat on all but the lightning bolt, to make it stand out.

I enjoyed using the box as a photo prop way too much with this mani!! I don't know how I never thought of it before, as I have many of the films I have based my mani's on for this challenge on DVD!

An InLinkz Link-up

Black Swan

This weeks Llama Nails Challenge prompt is Thriller Movies/Books.

 I found this prompt really really hard! Thriller's are not my thing, at all!! After trawling through IMDB's top 100 Thriller's I finally found a film I had actually seen at number 80!! Black Swan.

Although it took a while to get there, I actually really like this mani. I tried to show the progression of the transformation from white to black swan. Not sure how well I did that, but I still really like it!

I used quite a few polishes in this mani so I'm just going to list them below:

• Sinful Colors Cool Gray
• Barry M Matt White
• Barry M Black
• Rimmel Cupcake Pink
• Rimmel Golden Hour
• Rimmel Red, Steady, Go.

The feathers on my middle finger are water decals from the Born Pretty Store.

I'm really enjoying this challenge, it always makes me think carefully about what to do and I actually spend a lot of time on the mani's for it, rather than just rushing something!

An InLinkz Link-up

Llama Nails: Comedy

Today the new Llama Nails Challenge starts. This time round it is based on Movies and Books, with a different genre each week. The Facebook group for this challenge is HERE, if anyone wants to join!

This first week the genre is Comedy, so I have based my mani on one of my favourite RomCom's - 27 Dresses! I have created a skittle where each nail is based on a different dress from the film!
I am well aware that my idea for this mani is much better than its implementation, but I don't care, I still love it!! Here are shots of my Right and Left hands:

Now I'm going to show you each nail individually, with the dress alongside it, so you can see where the inspiration came from! I will also list the polishes with each picture.

Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Sweetie and Sally Hansen Fucshia Flare.

Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Sweetie, Missguided Missmatch and Rimmel Golden Hour.

Barry M Silk Heather, Barry M White, Sally Hansen Grape Race and Missguided Missmatch.

Sally Hansen Fucshia Flare and Missguided Missmatch with Gold Sequins from Barry M Sequin Effects Black.

Sinful Colours Cool Gray, Sally Hansen Red Hot and Rimmel Urban Purple.

Barry M Matt White, Barry M Black and Sinful Colours Cool Gray.

Barry M Matt White, H&M Blue, Barry M Black and Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream.

This is my least favourite of the lot! Rimmel Golden Hour, Barry M Papaya, Rimmel Coralicious.

Barry M Matt White, Sally Hansen Fuschia Flare, Barry M Black.

Sally Hansen Grape Race, H&M Blue, No.17 Mettalic Grey and Barry M Black.

An InLinkz Link-up

Chinese Lilac Flower

A few days ago I did a mani for a challenge post, which has yet to be posted...
When I was taking it off, I loved my middle finger so much that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it, so instead I incorporated it into a new mani, which is this one:

When I first painted this nail my boyfriend didn't believe I had painted it myself! He was convinced it was a decal and refused to believe me for ages!!

For my middle finger I used a base colour of Barry M Silk in Heather. I then painted the flowers using Barry M Matt White, Sally Hansen Grape Race, Missguided Missmatch and Sally Hansen Kiwi Bikini for the leaves.

On the rest of the fingers I sponged a purple-white gradient using Sally Hansen Grape Race, Barry M Silk Heather and Barry M Matt White.

I really really liked this mani and would quite happily have kept it on much longer than I did!!

Gradient Tutorial

I created this amazing gradient a few days ago. After posting on Instagram there was a lot of interest and questions from friends, so here I have created a tutorial for everyone to have a go!! :)

First, I would recommend gathering together everything you will need.

• At least 2 different coloured polishes
• Base coat
• Top coat, 
• Nail polish remover/acetone (I use both, but one or the other will do!)
• A sponge
• Scissors (you may not need these depending whether you would rather use the sponge whole)
• Clean up brush.

I am using Neon colours so the polishes I need are Barry M Matt White, Sinful Colours Cream Pink and W7 Fluorescent Yellow.

I started with a base coat. I use Sally Hansen Nail Nutrition, followed by a white layer of Barry M, as I am using neon colours and the white base helps make sure the colours stand out.

Once the white was dry I got my sponge. Some people say make up sponges are the best, but I just use a regular washing up sponge and have never had any problems! I find it easier to work with a smaller piece for better precision, so I cut a chunk off the sponge.

Now I would recommend opening all the polishes you want to use for your gradient, so you can easily get at them.

Hold the sponge, then using the other hand paint a small line of your first colour. Directly below this, paint a line of your second colour.

Now, the messy part! Sponge the paint onto the nail. Make sure you dab the sponge up and down a bit, so the colours blend in the middle and don't forget about the sides of your nails! It will end up all over your fingers, but don't worry about that!!
You can probably do 2 or 3 nails before you need to put more polish on the sponge, depending how fast you work. If it is starting to get tacky, or not transferring well, just put fresh polish lines on the sponge!

Now, depending how bright you want the colours, once the first layer is dry you can dab more polish on. In this picture you can see the colour difference between one layer and two layers.

That's the main part done, hopefully you're gradient should look something like this:

Now for the clean up. I use another piece of sponge and some Nail Polish Remover to clean the worst off my fingers.. It would take forever to clean all that with a clean-up brush.

Then I use some acetone and a clean-up brush to make sure my cuticles are all clean and tidy!
Follow with a layer of topcoat and you're done! I use Barry M 3 in 1 topcoat.

Ta Da!! Happy Gradient-ing!!

You can create lots of different effects with this technique, just by using different colours.
Here are a few other gradient manicures I have done: