Textured Rims

I recently rediscovered my love of the Barry M textured collection. The finish itself is a bit annoying as it collects fluff like nobody's business but I like the interest it gives to basic manis. I love the colours in this collection too - they're perfect for this glorious sunshine we are having. 

I have seen black outline manis floating around but thought I would try the look with a white edge instead as it seemed more fitting for summer. Whenever I have tried this before it has turned out really badly as I could never seem to get the lines even but it seems that months of nail art practise are finally paying off. 

I really liked this look but forgot how much of a hassle these polishes are to take off! 

Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine. 

Hugs

Revlon Nail Art Duos

I was recently given a couple of Revlon's new nail art duos, one in blue, one in dark red. The duos are made up of a matte polish with a normal brush, and a coordinating metallic with a striper brush. They looked really interesting and the colours are gorgeous so I thought I'd put a review of them here for you. 

I started with the blue version. The matte polish is really dark navy, such a lovely colour. I was a bit disappointed as the polish was thick and gloopy, but even so, it applied well and dried with a really lovely matte finish. I didn't need to top it up with a matte topcoat as you do with some matte finish polishes. The metallic polish has a great formula which is opaque in one coat, although I used two here. It wasn't easy using the striper brush for a full nail, but that's not what it was designed for! I used a dotting tool to add the detailing on my ring finger.

The red formula was much better than the blue, making me think that maybe I was unlucky getting a gloopy one. It went on so smoothly and dried to a lovely matte finish nice and quickly - important if you're not adding a top coat to help the process! I went for a simple design again, with one metallic nail. The metallic in this duo is a pale gold, again opaque in one coat and really easy to use. Again, I used a different tool to add my design, as the built in striper is quite thin. I used a small brush to draw on leopard print, the gold and the red lent themselves perfectly to a bit of animal print! 

These duos are really cute colours, lovely polishes and easy to use. You may need to additional tools to create intricate designs, but the built in striper is perfect for french tips, half and half nails or stripes. If you want to have a go at nail art without buying a load of bits and bobs these are definitely worth trying out!

These are available in Boots and other UK stores, RRP £7.99.

Love,

Sweet Like Sugar

I'm not a fan of diets as food is one of my favourite things. So much so, I've piled on the pounds recently and had to force myself into a strict new regime - including a complete sugar detox. This, teamed with the heatwave we're having, means that I'm seriously craving ice cream and other tasty treats! What better way to satisfy these cravings than drawing tiny little pictures of them on my nails! 

I used a ton of polishes for this mani, if you hadn't guessed! I wanted it to be as colourful as possible to pulled out most of my pastels collection. The total polish list is:

Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream, Blueberry Ice Cream, Mint Green, Caramel, Peach Melba, Bright Green, Bright Red and Mushroom. Black, White and Pink nail art pens. 

Models Own - Magpie Green, Duck Blue and Swan Lilac.

Rimmel - Ultra Violet 

I tried cupcake nails a while back and they were rubbish so I gave up. I'm really pleased with how they turned out this time, although I regret not adding some lines to the cupcake casing. I love baking so creating something yummy looking on my nails was really good fun. 

I did intend to have a cupcake on each nail but thought I'd mix it up a bit with an ice cream instead, seeing as it's been so hot. London has been getting temperatures up to 30 degrees this week, which is not comfortable in a crowded city. I've been so jealous of people cooling off with delicious looking ice cream!

Rather than continue the same theme, I chose to fill the remaining three nails with Models Own Speckled Eggs polishes, which remind me of mini eggs - so maybe they do continue with the theme!! The mint one also makes me think of mint choc chip ice cream mmmm my fave!

I totally love this mani, it's so silly and fun - perfect for summer fetes or parties!

What's your favourite ice cream flavour?

Love,

Summer Ready Leopard

We are having a bit of a heatwave in London at the moment which is making me feel a bit ill! I'm an autumn baby through and through and need a bit of a cold chill to function at full capacity. Having said this I am still enjoying showcasing my summer nails which look even better when I've caught the Sun a little bit. I took the opportunity this weekend to wear one colour that definitely looks better with a bit of a tan - white. 

To add a bit of a colour pop I used my new faves from the Maybelline Bleached Neons range: Sun Flare and Coral Heat (I know, I know, I'm using them again but I'm obsessed!). I decided on a simple leopard print as it was easy for me to do on both hands so that I could wear outside and blind everyone even more than the sunshine. 

What colours do you wear to show off a tan?

Hugs

Barry M Half Stripes

This design was inspired by a total stranger, a girl I saw on the street wearing a really cute mint and striped top. I almost stopped her to ask where she got it but didn't want to chase after her down a busy street! I was feeling bit uninspired, nail art wise, so was really pleased to stumble upon such a cute pattern and colour combo.

I used all Barry M polishes to create this design, Bikini*, Greenberry, Black and White. I started with a white base on every nail. Once this was dry I applied 2 or 3 pieces of striping tape to the top half of each nail. I filled the bottom half of the nails with the blue and mint polishes, and added black on the top half. When I removed the striping tape I was left with black and white stripes across the end of each nail, with block colour at the base. 

I absolutely love how simple yet striking this design is. The striping tape requires a modicum of patience, but if you have that then you're set! Another good thing about this design is that you can use pretty much any colours. You can team monochrome stripes with whatever base colour you like, or mix up the stripe colours too. I was contemplating an all pastel design for a more subtle look - perhaps pink and white stripes with a pale lilac base. 

I'm getting better at taking striping tape off without smudging it now, although I did smear the black lines with my top coat on this attempt, grr! Black lines just love smudging into white, so if you try this out make sure you wait until they're fully dry and take extra care with your top coat.

Love,

Pinkie Shimmer

My nails have been in an awful state of disrepair at the moment. When my nails are in bad shape I try to stick to simple manis as the pictures don't look as good and I feel like all of the effort spent creating an epic design is a bit wasted. This look is a bit random as I was trying out colour combos but I quite liked the result so thought I would share with you all.

I used H&M's Misty Lilac on my nails, except for the ring finger where I used Barry M's Matt White. I used a black nail art pen for the dots and a top coat of Morning Mist Glitter* by Graffiti Nails on my pinkie.

Hugs

Pretty Panda

You may have spotted that I've got a bit of a thing for animal themed nail art at the moment. I've already posted Siamese cats, ladybirds, a pug, bees and now it's panda time! I think it's the lovely summery weather we've been having recently which has been inspiring me to bring some nature to my nails.

 

It was my colleague, Taz, who suggested panda nails. I have done some in the past, but just when I was starting out and they were pretty rubbish - you'll have to take my word for that as I'm not sharing any pics! This time round I used the same technique as with my siamese cats and pugs - drawing the shape on in white and filling in the details by layering on top. Being monochrome, pandas are nice and simple with not too many layers (meaning less drying time in between!) I used black and white Barry M nail pens for the whole panda - no brushes or tools required.

 

I chose to add some bamboo to accompany the little panda. I wasn't 100% sure about adding green to the pale pink and monochrome design, but I like that it added a bit more colour and depth to the design. I painted on rough white stripes, topped these with Rimmel's Round and Round the Garden, and then added detailing with a black nail art pen. They're not the neatest bamboos but that's the look I was going for - honest! The base colour is the gorgeous baby pink Models Own - Pink Veneer Hypergel polish.

 

@theprincessandthepolish posted a similar mani on Instagram yesterday using panda decals from Born Pretty Store. Yes! We're definitely up for a panda nails craze, come on people, join the club! If you fancy trying out some decals make sure you use Alexandra's Born Pretty 10% discount code - FDJ61.

 

I don't see this animal theme dying out any time soon so if you have any requests for us please comment!

 

Love,