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,

Petite Palms

I have been in a bit of a tropical mood recently. I blame it on two things: the increasingly warm weather and the amazing summery prints doing the round on Pinterest. I found this print recently and knew that I would have to recreate it on my nails. What's cuter than little palm trees on a pink base?

I used Barry M's Strawberry Ice Cream for the base colour. Surprisingly this is my most used nail polish; it's nearly all gone! To create the palm trees I drew the shape with my white nail pen and then used a thin brush to colour them in. I used Barry M's Mushroom for the trunk and their special edition green from last year for the leaves. 

Hugs

Florals with Attitude!

There are a fair few Instagram accounts we frequently lust over and one of these is @attitude_nails. A few weeks back Nikki posted a photo with tons of different lettering using studs, leopard print, florals and other patterns. I really loved the floral lettering so decided to give it ago. 

Nikki used red and green flowers outlined in black, so to mix it up a bit I chose a more leafy and girly version. I used a combination of pastel tones from Rimmel to create this mani. Three from the Rita Ora collection - Pillow Talk* (base), Lose Your Lingerie* and Don't Be Shy* (flowers), plus Round and Round the Garden (leaves).  

To create the lettering I applied blobs of the darker pink, using a dotting tool in the vague shapes of the letters. I then filled the gaps in with leaves using a small brush and green polish. Finally, I added some rough detailing to the flowers with the lighter pink. I tried not to make the flowers or leaves too uniform as I think it looks more natural if they're a bit messier. I topped this mani with Matte About You from Essie, purely because I hadn't done a matte mani forever! 

I love that I got to take this photo while the sun was setting on a beautiful day in London, perfect lighting for this design!

If you are still wondering what the letters stand for, it's Dahlia Nails of course!

Love,

Easter Nail Art Ideas

I have experienced a bit of a nightmare with nail wheels over the past few months. When I order, I order in bulk and last time I did this I ended up with odd, almond shaped ones which I did not enjoy. Sending them back was too much hassle so I just reordered. Then they didn't show up. Argh! Luckily I bought from a decent place and they resent them to me. Now I have them I have gone crazy with designs and first up on my list was Easter.

Easter is one of the cutest holidays to design for as it's all about pastels, bunnies, dots and general girlyness so I went a bit OTT for this wheel. I'll go through the wheel in three sections but will try to keep my descriptions of the designs short and sweet. 

From L-R: simple black and white triangle on a textured pastel yellow base; mixed circles; white chevrons (I need to work on these a lot! Or buy some vinyls) on a mint green base; pink on pink roses; candy-coloured confetti over white; mixed black and white stripes over a pastel orange.

My surprise favourite of this batch was the confetti top coat. It's a really simple look that is good for when you're in a rush and can't be bothered to do anything more strenuous. 

From L-R: black and white tribal; textured polka dots; Easter bunny!; simple white flowers on a yellow base; mini crosses on a pale blue; a carrot for the bunny!

I like a few of these designs: the bunny and the crosses but particularly the polka dots on the textured base. 

From L-R: pink confetti over pink base; Easter egg; mini black polka dots; hatching chick; simple white tribal; cross on textured pink.

I think my favourite of this lot is the tribal. I was disappointed with the Easter egg. I could probably do this a lot better but I had already done the other designs and really did not have the patience to start all over again. 

I created all of these looks using Barry M nail paints and pens. 

Hopefully this has given you some ideas for next weekend. 

Hugs

Easter Dotticure

A 'skittle' mani is when each finger is a different colour. I don't often go for a full skittle mani but do like to incorporate the idea into nail art. As we're well into spring now I am loving light colours and pastel shades. For today's post I chose five different pastel shades to make a very simple design more interesting and striking.

I use uniform polka dots a lot, but usually small ones using a nail art pen. For a change I wanted to give big dots a go so dug out my dotting tools and set to work. I started with a base of Barry M - White. Once this was dry I added the dots using four more Barry M colours - Mint Green, Lemon Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream, Blueberry Ice Cream, and Rimmel - Ultra Violet. 

To get smooth even dots always dab the polish onto a piece of foil (or similar) and dip the tool into that, rather than dipping directly into the bottle which I used to do!

This design reminds me of little Easter eggs so is perfect for this time of year!

Love,