Artist Inspo: Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein - 'Brushstroke' 1965

Emma and I are both big fans of Roy Lichtenstein and went to the Tate Modern exhibition last year. It was a wonderful exhibit of his work and Emma blogged about it here.

I've been thinking of doing a pop art nail design for a while, but have been waiting for the right inspiration. This finally came along in Lichtenstein's 'Brushstroke', right. I've always loved the simplicity of this painting and recreated once before for a school art project.

To make this work as nail art I had to alter the design and decided to mix up the colours a little too while I was at it. I elongated the brush stroke to spread it out across four nails. 

To create this design I started with a base of white polish. Onto this I added the smallest dots I could, as close together as possible, using a black Barry M nail pen. Once the dots were dry I drew on the brushstroke outline using the same pen. I then filled the colour in with another Barry M pen, this time pink. Finally, I added the detailing with the black pen and topped it with HK Girl. 

I really wasn't sure how this was going to turn out, and was completely prepared to scrap it if the finished mani didn't do old Roy justice. However, I'm pretty pleased with the result and hope that you all feel the same. My brushstroke looks a little more like a ribbon as I spread it out, that's something I would try to improve if I did this design again.

Who's your favourite artist? Have you ever created nails inspired by their work?

Love,

What The Angels Eat

I'm not sure if Mark Twain was right when he said “when one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat” as I have never been a huge fan of the taste but they sure do look cute. Like my palm tree mani I found inspiration for these watermelon slices on Pinterest. I knew as soon as I saw the print that I had to try it on my nails.

I used Barry M's Rosehip* as the base for this look as it is a really soft pink that wouldn't intrude on the pattern too much. For the melon slices I drew some white triangles using my Barry M white nail pen and then used a small brush to add Barry M's Grapefruit and Mint Green. To finish I used my black nail pen to add the pips. Experience has taught me to take a pic of my mani before adding something that I am unsure of hence why I have one with pips and one without. I'm not sure which is my fave - I quite like both

Which version do you prefer? Pips or no pips?

Hugs

 

P.S. Did you see that we're running a giveaway on our Instagram account? We've got some great goodies up for grabs. The giveaway is open until Saturday so make sure you enter!

Dotty Daisies

It's amazing what you can create with a dotting tool! These pretty pink daisies started off life as a circle of five dots. Once I added a few more dots the flowers emerged! Perfect for a sunny bank holiday Monday!

The polishes I used are all Barry M. The base is Rose Hip*, a beautiful pale pink. The pink petals are Grapefruit and the yellow centre is Lemon Ice Cream.

To create the daisies I started by adding circles of five medium sized dots using Grapefruit. Inside these dots I added smaller ones in Rose Hip. I then finished off the daisies with a yellow dot in the centre and sealed it all with HK Girl top coat. 

These aren't my usual type of florals but it's nice to have a change. These daisies are super cute and work in all kinds of colours. 

What are you getting up to today?

Love,

Happy Easter!

After all of the designs I gave you on my Easter wheel I am afraid that I went for a bit of a generic one for my own nails. I have seen variations of this design all over Pinterest and Instagram but I just couldn't help myself. Who can resist a cute Easter bunny? Certainly not me. 

Did anyone give up chocolate for Lent? I did not. However, I still feel as though it's only right that I eat my body weight in Mini Eggs today. It's what Jesus would've wanted right? Maybe not. 

What are you feasting on today? 

Hugs

Scalloped Edges

I love the scalloped edging trend and have been meaning to try it out on my nails for a while. A scalloped nail edge reminds me of a French tip, but with a bit of a twist.

To create this look I started with a white base coat. I then added a piece of striping tape across the top of each nail, and painted the nails orange up to the tape. After removing the tape I used a dotting tool to add the scalloping. It was a bit of a pain using the tape as I had to wait for the polish to dry fully first. I'm still trying to work out a way quicker way to create this lovely look.

I used two of Rimmel's Rita Ora polish range - Hot White Love* and Oragasm* (Emma's favourite polish name ever!). I've been dying to try out Oragasm as I've been after an orange polish for a while but wasn't brave enough to wear it. Over the white base this colour is incredible, it's so bright and rich and I love it!

Now I must remember to go back on a diet so I can fit into my favourite scalloped edged skirt and wear this nail design to match!

Love,

Sharpie Stripes

I stumbled across this post on The Beauty Department a little while ago and it really stuck in my head. So much so that when I saw these pastel Sharpies on offer the first thing that popped into my head was how I could used them for some nail designs. This was actually my second attempt at using them on my nails as I totally effed up my first mani by using a top coat. The top coat seemed to break down the ink which was very weird so I didn't use one in this pic which is why my nails don't look quite as smooth as they could. 

Overall I enjoyed using these. They are thinner than nail art pens which makes it easier to get nice fine lines. However, they weren't quite the little miracle workers I had hoped. I will probably try them again though as the first mani I created was an intricate aztec one and it looked pretty good before I ruined it.

Have any of you tried Sharpies on your nails? 

Hugs

Spring Greens

I seriously can't get enough of Models Own - Green Gladiola. It was the only new polish colour in their Sticky Fingers range and came out just in time for spring. 

When I saw this floral design on Instagram by Mllrdesign I knew I had to try it with Green Gladiola! I love the vintage look of the florals framed in ribbon-like stripes. As always, I changed the design around a bit, dropping the dots and doubling the accent nails from the original. I used striping tape to create white squares on my two middle fingers. I also chose to use just one main colour, but that's because I couldn't decide what to team it with!
 

I absolutely love this design and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to faffing around with striping tape, but my little nails only needed a four strips each! I'm going a bit mad for florals at the moment, think I've caught a case of spring fever... 

What's your favourite spring design?

Love,