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

MUA Luxe: Luna

Today I bought the new MUA Luxe polish in Luna. My previous experiences with MUA have not been great, but I couldn't resist buying one to try as they looked so pretty!!

This is a glitter polish with hexagonal pieces in blue, white and lilac, glitter bars in black and white and very tiny, fine blue holographic glitter pieces.

This was the finished result. I swatched it on several different colours, to compare how it looked best and to ensure all the colour were visible on at least one of them!!

However, although the finished result was good, this is how it looked after one coat:

Not great. I applied a thin layer, but the glitter seems to stick to the brush. I found that the best way to apply was to not wipe the brush on the side of the bottle, just use it straight out. This meant that the polish was extremely thick and took an awful long time to dry. But, this is also the way to get the glitter!!

I do like the finished look of this polish but it has certainly not changed my thoughts about the quality (or lack of!) of MUA polishes.

I also took close-up photo's of the individual nails to make it easier to compare how it shows up on different coloured bases. It stands out the most on the grey and pale blue nails. The base polishes I used were: No Polish, just base coat, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, Barry M Silk Heather, Sinful Colours Cool Grey and Barry M Matt White.

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:

Bunting Gradient

When I did these nails (Admittedly, a few days ago but I've been too busy to post!), I wanted something summery but a little bit different. Also, I seem to have had a bit of a pink phase recently, so I didn't want to use pink!

So I ended up with bunting painted on my accent nail over a gradient of lilac and grey. I really like these nails. They are subtle but still pretty!

(Sorry about the upside-down picture!!)

For the gradient I used Sally Hansen Grape Race and Sinful Colours Cool Gray.

For the bunting I used Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream and Sally Hansen Pinch of Punch then outlined the flags in Barry M Black.

 Here are my leftie and rightie pictures! I didn't even attempt the bunting on my right hand!

It is a long time since I have done a gradient but this one seems to very bubbly! I'm not sure if this was the polishes I used, the sponge I used or something else!? I still like the overall effect though!

Neon Dotticure

Today I have another super summery look!
This weeks Simples challenge is a dotticure using different sized dots together. So this is what I came up with:

I really like this. It reminds me of glow-sticks! I think a splatter mani in these colours would be amazing!

I used Barry M Matt White as a base colour.
Then I did the dots with dotting tools, using Sinful Colours Cream Pink, La Femme Beauty Ultra Green and W7 Fluorescent Yellow which I placed randomly around the nails.

Lace Saran

This week's Simples technique was Saran Wrap.

I used Sally Hansen Fuchsia Flare as my base colour, then dabbed on Sinful Colours Cream Pink and Barry M Papaya. These blended much more than I had hoped, creating a very, very subtle saran effect! You can tell if you look very closely but only just!

If you haven't already realised, I can never leave my nails plain, so I had to add some nail art! I used white acrylic paint to paint a lace design onto my nails, varying the pattern between each nail. I then finished with a matte top coat.

I really like these! My middle finger didn't quite turn out as planned but overall I still like them. :)

L'Oreal Confetti

Last weekend I had a little haul of 5 new polishes.

One of these was a L'Oreal Confetti called Graffiti D'Amour, which is a matte hexagonal glitter. I absolutely fell in love with this and couldn't wait to try it! I wouldn't normally buy these due to their price, but Superdrug had a 3 for 2 offer on!

I love it! My biggest problem was what colour to wear underneath it!! As it had white, pink and red pieces, it was difficult to find a colour which would go with all three, without hiding one of the colours.

So I used a grey accent nail. This is Sinful Colours Cool Gray and the red is Rimmel Red, Steady, Go (Both also new buys!).
It goes on nicely, with a reasonable spread of glitter pieces, although I did have to place some of them to ensure I had no bare patches.

Overall, I am glad I bought this polish! :) After using it I still love it as much as I do in the bottle!

Neon Pink Sinful Colours

Today I bought my first Sinful Colours Polish, in Cream Pink, which is actually a gorgeous neon.

The photo's are two coats. I love how bright this polish is, and its such a lovely shade of pink. So summery, perfect for today! It went on nice and easy. Was touch dry very quickly, but I soon realised it wasn't completely dry underneath when I managed to smudge my thumb!

  On my accent finger I did a layer of Barry M Diamond Glitter, followed by a coat of Barry M Crystal Glaze. I managed to get this amazing macro of this nail and it looks so good!! Unless you look really close it just looks glittery but I love the detail in this picture!