Minion Rush Nail Design

We have had a couple of requests for Minion nails in the past but I have always put off doing them as I LOVE Despicable Me and really wanted to do it justice. Lately, however, I have been playing a lot of Minion Rush on my phone (I'm addicted) and it got me in the mood to finally attempt a Minion design. If you haven't played the game before you run around collecting bananas (hence the bananas), dodging obstacles etc. It's very fun, a bit like Temple Run (sorry if you aren't familiar with that either). 

I used a heap of polishes that I can't quite remember. I wrote them down somewhere so if you want a list, let me know and I will dig it out. 

I'm so happy with how these turned out. They are super fun and something that I can definitely see myself wearing in the summer months. 

I'm so annoyed that I have a chipped index nail for this mani but I couldn't wait for my nails to grow out. I always seem to have a chip on that corner of my nail. I think it's from having that finger in my mouth too much! 

Hugs

Disco Diva Striped Glitter Fade

I'm so cross! This design looked absolutely gorgeous in real life but the photos came out horrendously. It doesn't help that I have now broken both my daylight bulbs and am using regular bulbs with my lightbox, the colour just doesn't work! Ahh!

Ok, rant over, these were inspired by @lookatmynailart on Instagram who created a gorgeous pink striped glitter fade combo. I also picked out pink so I could use Rimmel's Disco Diva* glitter, but chose to use muted tones. The pink I've used it Rimmel - Lose Your Lingerie* but I found that it's just too pale for the contrast to be picked up by my camera. The white is also Rimmel, called White Hot Love*. As I mentioned, in real life the contrast was clear and the dusty pink glitter complimented the pink and white stripes perfectly - you'll just have to take my word on it!

Sorry about our ongoing lighting problems, we can't wait for more daylight hours so we can take photos in natural light again!!

Love,

Take A Walk On The Wild Side

I have always been a huge fan of Penguin books. I am a bit of a collector so tend to buy books from the same range so that they look nice on my shelves. As an illustration lover I am drawn to Penguin books in particular as they tend to really think about the artists they use to get the tone just right. Having said all of this I actually got the idea to look to Penguin for inspiration from the lovely Alice at OneNailToRuleThemAll who has done a couple of book related manis. I am a bit disappointed in myself for not thinking of the idea before! 

Source

The inspiration for this mani in particular came from an image I found on good old Google. I think it was part of a competition to design a Penguin cover and is by artist Vicky Mills for Wind in the Willows. I was drawn to the fun toad pics and the classic Penguin-orange vibe. 

To create my mani I used Rimmel's Oragasm* as it was the closest orange I have to the cover. I also used a matte top coat as it didn't look quite right when shiny. 

I love how these turned out and have been inspired to look to my beloved book collection some more. 

Where do you find inspiration?

Hugs

Feeling Dotty!

A simple dotticure can go a long way! We love a good dotty mani as they're so versatile and fun to create. Dots can be a simple filler pattern in a complex mani or the main act on their own. Somehow whatever you do they always look different as there's so much you can vary - colours, dot size, uniformity, spacing and of course, top coat. 

Today's design started with a base of Barry M - Huckleberry*. I wanted varying dot sizes but in an even pattern, so I applied a quick template of white dots using a nail art pen. I then picked out a couple of dotting tools of varying sizes and selected a trio of polishes - Bikini*, Cancun* and Chai* all by Barry M. I find it easiest to dab a blob of each polish on my plastic mat and dip the dotting tool into them. You have to work quickly before the polish dries but it's way easier than dipping it into the bottle (trust me, I learnt this the hard way, and Emma laughed at me!) 

Simple, quick, adaptable and fun to create - dotticures are a nail art staple and always will be! 

What's your favourite dotticure colour theme?

Love,

Then and Now: WAH Aztec

NOW

THEN

Jo and I have both spoken before about how we were inspired to start doing our own nails by the WAH nails team. They will always be the spark for us that ignited our interest in nail art. As such a lot of our initial designs came from the first WAH nail art book. Sometimes I look at recent designs and worry that they look a bit dire or that I don't seem to have improved all that much but then I look back and realise just how far I have come in the year or so since my interest began. 

I actually can't express how funny this picture is to me now. Look at the black dots on my cuticles! The position of my hand! The really wonky lines! I don't even think I used a top coat! AAAAHHH! I remember being so proud of these as well. It just goes to show that with a little practise you can go a long way. I'm still not perfect at straight lines and I still have that annoying little break on my index tip but overall there has been a significant improvement. 

I used the same colours for both manis: H&M's Mint Madness for the base colour and a pink, black and white nail art pen for the details. I added some white dots to the tip of my new mani as the blank space looked empty. 

We hope you like looking at these then and now pics as we are thinking of making this a regular feature. Let us know what you think. 

Hugs

Charlotte Love - Colour Pop

Today's design is inspired by a collection put together by interior stylist Charlotte Love. I stumbled across it on Pinterest and loved the mix of patterns, check it out here. I already had a black, white and baby pink colour theme in mind so when I saw the images it was fate!

I love mixing patterns but always find it tough to make a mix and match work. You need a strong colour theme and patterns that compliment each other, but you don't want it to be too matchy matchy. I'm not sure I've got this one quite right, but loved the combo of geometric patterns and couldn't choose between them! My favourite is the index finger, although I could have executed it more neatly. I'd like to incorporate this idea in future manis so keep an eye out!

Polishes: O.P.I - Put A Coat On!*, Nicole By O.P.I - At Least I Pink So*, Barry M Black Nail Art Pen, Barry M - Matte Top Coat*

We try to get inspiration for our designs from all over the place to keep it interesting for you. We get a lot from Pinterest and other bloggers, but also find nature and art hugely inspiring. Is there anything that particularly inspires you? Or anything you could recommend to us? 

We would love to include more input from our readers into the blog. If you have any feedback, favourites or requests just let us know in the comments or on email - dahlianails1@gmail.com.

Love,

Ikat Print Nails

I have tried Ikat nails twice before. I showed you one attempt last January in this post. The other attempt was too poor to showcase. I don't know what it is but I find it really hard to get the Ikat print looking good. Even in this try the black cracked which ruined everything at the last minute. Super annoying!

I used Barry M's Elderberry and Peach Melba for this mani. I actually used a blue/orange combo last time as well. Clearly a fan of these colours together! 

I couldn't tell you why my Ikat nails never come out perfect. I always love the look on other people but they just don't look right on me. If any of you have a particular knack for it, please let me know! 

Do you have any looks that you struggle to get right?

Hugs