Inspiration : Joules

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the clothing shop Joules. It's so fabulous. Kind of like country/equine wear! Anyway, last winter I bought the most beautiful navy blue duffle coat, and kept the tag, just cos I liked the pattern on it (I have a pin board full!) - 

Snazzy! So I saw it swinging away on my pin board and thought 'I know, I'll do THAT on my nails!'. So I put it on my nails - 

Equally as snazzy.

So kids the colours I used for this look - 

- Barry M 134 Yellow

- Barry M 66 Matt White

- Barry M 291 Cobalt Blue

- Barry M 273 Raspberry

I also used some striping tape to create the yellow line, but we'll come to that later!

- So as usual, two basecoats to start

- Next, two coats of the yellow

- Spray of quick dry 

- You want to make sure the varnish is pretty much dry before you apply the tape, as when you remove it, it may take some of the varnish with it if it's still wet!

- Next, I applied some of the striping tape in a diagonal pattern across my nail - 

- Then, I painted a layer of the white over my whole nail - 

- I then painted two coats of the blue down the middle section of the nail, inbetween the lines of tape - 

- Next, I finished off the pattern with two coats of the red on the outside sections - 

- Spray of quick dry

- You want the nails to dry before you remove the striping tape, as this will make sure the lines stay sharp. (As you can see from my attempt, I was impatient!)

- Remove the striping tape, and top coat to end.

This look took quite a long time to do, but I think really cool and a great effect!

I don't think it's too bad for my first go......

I do tend to just have an idea and go with it, and it doesn't always work, but I'll share it anyway!

And you see, you can get inspiration from anywhere :)

Enjoy yourselves!

WN x

All Kinds Of Sorts.

Another fabulous purchase from sparkly-nails.co.uk!
I got some fimo slices which (apparently!) look like liquorice all-sorts which look like so- 

And here is was I did with them - 

Tasty.

So Just one colour for this! I know, weird. This one is Barry M 284 Emerald Green.

- Obviously to begin - two basecoats.

- I then taped off my nails using scotch tape, where I wanted the green the end - 

- Next Two coats of the Emerald.

- Spray of quick dry to keep that line nice and sharp - 

- I then painted a small amount of clear varnish over the end of the nail where I was going to put the fimo slice

- Then, using tweezers, I carefully placed the slice on the edge of my nail and pressed it down - 

- Top coat to finish.

I love these fimo slices and, as I'm sure you're all fully aware, the come in all kinds of designs and colours! So there's a million and one designs you can do with them.

I found them super easy to work with even as a fimo first timer!

I think I'm gonna go shop around for some more....

See y'all soon :)

WN x

Oh Stop It!

Like most people in love with nails, I'm also in love with pretty much any form of cosmetics. One of my faves is Chanel because I think the products are just so glamorous! Current favorite is this gorgeous blush - 

So I thought, why not paint my nails to look like it. Obviously.

I love the way Chanel has incorporated the pattern of their famous tweed into the cosmetics. So here they are - 

Now, as you guys know, what I post on this blog is my first attempt at things. I don't like to make everything perfect, as I'm not a professional and I'm trying to show you that anyone can do it!!

However, I think not being perfect is exactly the reason why I love this look!

The kind of mis-matched effect and the difference between each nail is, I think, really fun and super pretty!

It was also relatively easy to do. Just quite a bit of layering

The colours I used were - Barry M 318 Peach Melba

                                    Barry M 305 Pink Flamingo

                                    Barry M 302 Fushia

- So obviously, two basecoats to begin!

- Then two coats of the Peach colour - 

- Next, using a brush from my fabulous kit from ebay, I painted various shapes onto the nail, using Pink Flamingo, to try and resemble the tweed pattern! - 

- Then I filled in a few of the gaps to just leave little bits of the Peach poking through - 

- And for the finishing touch I used a thinner brush to layer on the Fushia to finish off the pattern.

- Top coat to end.

This look was so fun to do and obviously you can use any colours you want to do your own patterns.

I hope you like and/or find this useful!!

Bye for now....

WN x

Laced Up

I thought I would try something a bit different after my recent trip to hobbycraft. (I know, I love it!) I picked up a few bits and bobs, which included some beautiful white lace. And here is what I came up with - 

Definitely a bit different!

I think this look is super pretty, however it's one for an event I feel, as it didn't last very long.... 

Anyway let's get started. This look took quite a while to do but I think that's because I'd never done anything like this before and once I got a bit of a roll on, I got through it quite well!

Colours - Barry M 66 Matt White

             Barry M 273 Raspberry

- Two basecoats to begin

- Once they're dry I taped off my nails where I wanted the colours to meet - 

- Next, two coats of the white.

- Spray of quick dry

- Remove the tape - 

- Then paint the rest of the nail with two coats of the red colour

- More quick dry spray! - 

- You don't have to worry about the line where the colours meet being too neat, as it will just get covered up with the lace.Obviously it wants to be a bit neat though!

- This is the lace I used- 

- I cut sections of the lace to roughly the size of the area of the nail I wanted to cover.

- Next I applied the lace by first painting on a top coat and laying the lace over the top while the varnish was still wet. I did each nail separately beacuase if I did all the top coats and then went onto the lace, the varnish would have dried, and the lace wouldn't stick.

(I hope that makes sense!)- 

- Then to finish, I just trimmed round the lace, using nail scissors, so it fit the shape of my nail and gently pressed it down so it would stick.

The End.

I really like this look. It was a lot of fun to do, and I like experimenting with different materials other than varnish! 

Happy experimenting guys :)

T.T.F.N

WN x

Great British Summer

Obviously, the weather inspired me to do this look - 

This look has a fair few steps but is relatively easy to do.

Colours -

- BarryM 295 Turquoise

- BarryM 134 Yellow

- 17 Nail Tip Whitener

You will also need an old cosmetic sponge to do the clouds!

- So, first off, two basecoats.

- Then, two coats of the Turquoise.

- Spray of quick dry.

- Next, use the sponge to dab on two coats of the white to make the cloud effect - 

- Using one of the nail art brushes, I painted the yellow on my ring finger to look like the sun!

- Dab a small amount of clear varnish where the rhinestone is going.

- Stick on the stone using an orangewood stick.

- Top coat to finish.

Lov-er-ly!

I really enjoyed doing this look, and I think it's nice and, well, summery....

See you guys soon!

WN x

Get Foiled : Snake Skin

Another fabulous purchase from sparkly-nails.co.uk. I got some foil with a fabulous snake print on, and according August fash mags, snake print is gonna be big this A/W.
Again another first! Here's how they turned out - 

Shiny! So along with the foils you'll need some foil adhesive too, which I also got from sparkly-nails - 

They were £4.85 all together. And considering that the adhesive will last me for a long long time, probably a bargain.

- So first off I used one basecoat as I wasn't using any colour, so my nails weren't likely to stain

- Then I applied a thin coat of the nail adhesive and waited a few minutes for it to go tacky - 

- Then, I cut off a section of foil and gently laid it on top of my nail - 

- Next I just rubbed over the foil with a cotton bud, being careful not to crease the foil.

- Top coat to finish.

The great thing about these foils is that if they don't quite cover right, you can just re-lay the foil on the nail, rub it again with the cotton bud and you can  patch the nail up easy peasy.

I think foils give a really nice effect, and even though it my first go, I found them quite easy to do! Ofcourse there is an infinite range of colours and patterns available. And they're good fun too :)

Stay shiny! 

WN x