it's-a meee, Mario!

Yesterday, I asked you to share your Nail Art ideas for a Rainbow Base, and the response was incredible! You all have some fantastic imaginations, I tell you, and I struggled to pick one design - until I saw Ngelic's suggestion. Girl, you had me at "Rainbow Road". Clearly a geeky girl after my own nerdy heart, she suggested a design inspired by the "Rainbow Road" level in the MarioKart Nintendo Games.

New Years Eve, this year, was a really great one for me, a small group of close friends came over to my gaff, we played hilarious board games, set off some Sky Lanterns and played drunken MarioKart to see in 2011. Now, I love a party, but I wouldn't have had this any other way (seen as last year I had an asthma attack, and the year before that I rubbed cat on my face, drunkenly forgetting that I am horrifically allergic!) So, with my love for beating the virtual shit out of my friends, for lungs that work, and for Italian Plumbers, you won the vote, Ngelic!

I hope this is along the lines of what you had in mind :)

 Ring Finger, Middle and Thumb are the stars that give Mario invincibility - I freehanded in the star-shape with Claire's Black Nail Art Pen striper, then filled in the black, adding a coat of Technic Bonanza - a blue glitter in a black jelly base.
For the Pinky, I used thin strips of Scotch Tape to make the crazy race track pattern from the game, then painted over it in black, and then Technic Bonanza. I removed the Tape Strips before the polish was dry so the edges were neat.
I couldn't resist adding Mario to the Index Finger. I started with the peach face shade, freehanded in the moustache and hat, then outlined using Claire's Black Nail Art Pen. If you would like to know what particular shade is, just ask me in the comments - there's a lot to list here!
I topped the whole thing off with 2 coats of Seche Vite topcoat, to smooth it all out.

Ngelic, I hope you like it! Thanks for the inspiration! Ngelic has a beauty blog of her own and it's fantastic, letting us know about all the latest trends, new products and the offers going on at the moment. Get following!! :D I have added 10 entries to my Giveaway (WHICH ENDS TOMORROW) for you, as a wee prize :)

I hope you enjoyed the Royal Wedding if you managed to catch it. In my opinion, Pippa Middleton stole the show in her stunning Bridesmaid dress, the queen looked like a giant (bored) Easter Bonnet, and Prince Harry - what a loveable Twat.

Weekly Blog Round-Up!

I hope you've all managed to catch a bit of the Royal Wedding - I have far more important, pressing matters to attend to, so OF COURSE I am watching it!

Every week, a group of us get together and share our favourite posts from this week, and create a collective post - here is this weeks:-

Stacie went Rockabilly http://kawaiinailart.blogspot.com/2011/04/rockabilly-nails.html over at Kawaii Nail Art

The Nail Addict created some beautiful butterfly nails which look like damask silk http://thenailaddict.blogspot.com/2011/04/you-give-me-butterflies.html

Claire at Top Twenty Nails road tested some CDN Shellac http://toptwentynails.blogspot.com/2011/04/shellacs-rock-royalty-great-purple-long.html

Sharon mixed 2 blues to create a gorgeous effect http://polishinfatuated.blogspot.com/2011/04/beautiful-squishy-jelly.html

Linda was inspired by tokidoki and Sanrio http://wuliaonails.blogspot.com/2011/04/tokidoki-for-sanrio.html

Emily decorated her nails perfectly for Easter http://emilysnailfiles.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-manicure.html

Grace showed her patriotic side with these cool Britannia nails http://ooooohpretty.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-royal-wedding-nails.html

Gradient or Holo? Jen went for both http://moondancerjen.blogspot.com/2011/04/purple-holo-gradient.html

Lena stamped with bundle monster on Essie Bermuda shorts http://thestudentsguidetonailpolish.blogspot.com/2011/04/essie-bermuda-shorts-preview.html

  

My personal favourite post from around the Blogisphere this week is Prettyfulz post on the New BundleMonster plates - she took a photo of each one so we can have a real good look at the new designs! I was really grateful! click HERE to see them!

If you would like to be involved in future round ups contact Stacie at http://kawaiinailart.blogspot.com

My Rainbow Manicure NEEDS YOU!

Last night I painted my my nails Rainbow Stripes, and, while I wasn't exactly stuck for ideas for what to do with it, it got me wondering how YOU lovely lot would finish off the design!
So here is the plan: For today (and maybe tomorrow), leave your comments below, suggesting what else you would do to the design, were it on your own nails - would you add a glitter topcoat? Freehand in some Rain-clouds? Add Black Crackle? Shooting stars? Add some Bling? I want you to decide the next step in this Manicure!
After a period of 24hrs or so, I will choose my favourite suggestion and bring it to life - the winner gets an extra TEN ENTRIES in my Giveaway (if you haven't already entered then I will enter you :D) and, of course, all credit and linkage will go to you! Here is what you have to work with, and to get your creative juices flowing!

All colours over white, using a striping brush.

Here is a list of what I own so you can make sure your design is possible, with the equipment I own, before you suggest something involving unicorn tears, or phoenix feathers:

• Freehand - ANYTHING GOES - I love a challenge, and have nail art brushes and pens/polishes in every colour, so go wild - anything from your favourite cartoon to a polished reconstruction of your life story is coool with me.
• Scotch tape - would you tape a section (or sections) off, and change the colours around? Any colour goes!
• Glitter topcoat in any colour, including holographic and big hex glitter
• Loose glitter in silver, purple, pink
• Crackle Topcoat in black (Barry M)
• French tips
• Fimo cane ( the usuals: fruit, teddy bears, butterflies, flowers etc) see this post for a selection
• Rhinestones in clear, pink, yellow, lilac, green, mint green, gold, little red stars.
• All of the FIRST Bundle Monster set, for stamped designs
• Konad M57, M79, M73, M29
• Born Pretty Store Hello Kitty plate
• Matt topcoat
• Sponges for a gradient effect
• Kiss White Daisy Nail Stickers

Blog Lovin'

 Hi folks!

I'm now on Blog Lovin' - another way to follow my blog, especially easy if you don't have one of your own :D Get email updates on the blogs you follow :D


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Easter Manicure

I wanted to quickly show you what I was sporting on Easter Sunday, but first - I have reached 500 followers today! How cool is that?! Thank you so much to everyone who reads! If the 100 follower Giveaway wasn't already running, I would do something to celebrate - I'll rack my brains for something after it's ended!


For this Manicure I used a base of Models Own BlooBoo for all but the ring finger (Rimmel Lemon Drop)  and thumb (American Apparel  Coney Island). I then used Claire's Nail Art Pens and a dotting tool to create the nail art. If you have any questions about any colours, just pop it in the comments and I will let you know - there are too many to name!

 So we have an Easter Chick and an Easter Bunny, who has dropped some eggs off in the grass :D

I love Pastels and Creams, so this was a nice Mani for me to have on! I hope you all had a lovely day and you're not getting as fat as me from over indulgence!

Sorry for the rather sporadic posts, after this MASSIVE piece of work is handed in to Uni, I will be back on form :D

If you haven't already, enter my International 100 Follower Giveaway - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pop your details in the Google Docs form! I can't accept entries that are added to the comments! Good Luuuuck!

Weekly Blog Round-up

Hi everyone, today is the Blog Round-up, where a few of us bloggers get together and write a collective post, showing you our favourite bits of the week! Here is our collaboration, click the links to see the images and discover some great, new blogs:-

Claire gave us a right royal review http://toptwentynails.blogspot.com/2011/04/kate-will-nails-inc-limited-edition.html

Grace has gone psychedelic with her 60's inspired nail design http://ooooohpretty.blogspot.com/2011/04/hairspray-part-two.html

Dawn showed us how to have some fun http://thenailaddict.blogspot.com/2011/04/just-for-fun.html

Nicole funked up her French http://nicnacksnails.blogspot.com/2011/04/funky-french.html

Linda was inspired by Despicable Me http://wuliaonails.blogspot.com/2011/04/despicable-easter-art.html

My favourite post from around the Blog-isphere, this week, is Leslie's Cartoon Inspired collection over at Nail Polish Art Addiction - http://polishartaddiction.blogspot.com/2011/04/eh-whats-up-doc.html

If you would like to be involved in future round ups contact Stacie at http://kawaiinailart.blogspot.com

Diet Coke inspired

I was sat in the sunshine, guzzling a gallon of Diet Coke (more commonly referred to as Dissertation Fuel/Hangover Cure) and decided to transfer the pattern on the ASOS.com Competition bottles onto my naaaailllzzz. I could've incorporated some fun freehand in to this, but wanted to do something quick and easy.

I started with a base of Catrice Be My Millionaire (acquired recently from a giveaway win over at colourful bottle - thanks Dolores!). This is a rather sheer silver, so I applied 4 coats. I then used Barry M Bright Red to stamp with. I chose not to use the Konad Special Polish in red, because I wanted some of the shininess of the Silver to show through! Here is the bottle I used for inspiration, and some sunny pictures of the Mani!

 

I tell you, I think my nails are becoming free advertising space! This was a fun, and it was nice to do something quick, bright and eye catching! 

News on the Bundle Monster contest is that I didn't win, unfortunately, but never mind! I was going to buy the new set of plates (the prize) anyway, and it was fun to enter - thank you to everyone who gave me a vote, it is very much appreciated :D

I have just returned from an over night Spa day at a fancy hotel, for my 21st birthday (which isn't until June - any excuse eh?!) so I am nice and relaaaaaaaxed! I hope you're all well and lovely!

I Won! Contest Prize!

Does anyone remember me entering That's So Fresh's Spring Manicure contest? Well....I won! Wooo hooooooo! I found out a while back, but wanted to have received my prize before letting you all know!

I entered with this freehand Manicure, created before I got any tools, so the whole thing is done with a toothpick and nail art pens: -

 

You can see the whole post on this, HERE.

So I won! How exciting! I was absolutely over the moon when I heard, that was the end of Uni work for the day! 

The prize was a $50 coupon for www.wowsocool.com, a great online supplier of Konad and Nail Art products.Unfortunately, because I live over here in the UK, I had to pay $10 shipping - which I used part of my coupon for, as I'm not exactly minted right now! If you're in the USA or Canada it is free shipping over $20, however. I didn't mind, as it still left me $40 to spend on some stamping stuff :D Here is what I received, it took about 2 weeks to arrive, and was well packaged - no spillages!

Read about these nails tomorrow :D

I picked a selection of Konad Special Polishes for stamping, a yellow because it's difficult to get a regular yellow polish that's opaque enough for stamping, a black because it's an essential, and green and red because they're primary colours and bound to come in handy! I didn't go for any pastels because I can mix them myself (see how HERE).
I also selected M57, beacause I'm curious to test out stamping leopard prints vs. freehanding them. I know you will get a fishnet design on the new set of Bundle Monster plates due to be released, but I wanted it :D and the little flowers are sweet. I bought M29 because, let's face it, who DOESN'T want a pineapple on their nails? Exactly.
All in all, I'm thrilled to have won, because it's given me the opportunity to own some proper stamping equipment, instead of making do with what cheapo stuff I can find in the shops (God, Cinderella much?). Very excited to be trying it all out soon - a MASSIVE thank you to April at That So Fresh! Check out her blog if you havent already, her nails are amaaaziingngng.

xxx

Cherry Blossom Freehand

Hi everyone! Today is a new day, and you can vote for my Bundle Monster Contest Entry! You can vote once per day, I would LOVE it if you could give me a cheeky thumbs up! Cheers m'dears!

Todays Manicure was actually very quick and easy, although freehand. No tiny shapes and intricate parts to consume time, you can do the whole thing in 4 steps (I should really do a tutorial for this). It was inspired by Sakura, Japanese Cherry Blossom Trees - They're beautiful and are my favourite flower (is a blossom a flower? It is now.)

Obtained through Google Images.

I painted American Apparel L'Espirit over my base coat, a beautifully smooth Lilac Creme, opaque in ONE COAT (although did two anyway). Using Barry M Mushroom, I then used a small paint brush to paint jagged tree branches in straight-ish, horizontal lines across the nail. Once this was dry, I used a small dotting tool to dab in spots of American Apparel Coney Island at the end of the banches, and then repeated with Superdrug MUA Medium Pink. Here are the results:-

all pictures in natural light - no sun!

my camera HATES purples - this is slightly more lilacy IRL, and less cornflower blue.

flutter by!

As you can see, I added some Fimo Cane butterflies, purchased from eBay. For those of you who don't know, Fimo canes are a nail art applique made from polymer clay that come in a long cane, with a design through the middle - see THIS post for more info. You can then slice them very thinly, with a craft knife, and stick the resulting piece onto the nail design. I was awful at slicing to begin with, but, like everything else, practice makes perfect, and I managed to slice these thinly enough that, with two coats of Seche Vite Topcoat, they were smooth to the nail and incorporated flat into the design. I prefer it this way because then I don't catch them on things, or pick at them, but you could cut them thicker and "perch" them on, to look like "real" butterflies - it's up to you!

It's a very Springy look, and I like the way it came out, but if I could change one thing it would be that it's maybe a little crowded - a few less branches next time :)

I BUM American Apparel polishes - the formula is perfect and their shades are great. the types of creme polishes are right up my street aswell - I love matte block colour, can't be doing with these shimmery polishes I'm afraid! They've bought out some new shades too, check it ooowwwwt. As I mentioned, L'Espirit is more lilacy and less blue, but my camera has a little cry when it sees purple - I have NO idea how to adjust the colour in any kind of editing program, either, so you will have to use your....

 Imaginaaaaaaation.

Hmm. Too obscure?


x

Rimmel Fruities and Kiss Nail Art Stickers

Just a quick reminder to all of you that you can vote for my entry into the BundleMonster Nail Art contest over at their Facebook page! You can vote once per day until the 20th :D

A rather simple one - I actually did this manicure a couple of weeks back, and forgot about it ha - I've used Rimmel's Fruity polish in Apricot Punch. It's a scented polish, and smells looovely and fruity when it's dry. This polish is a warm Red Coral, and it dries quickly and goes on really nice and smooth - this is three coats:-

Natural light, overcast.

 The smell lasted really well and was still lingering after a couple of days, even with a topcoat - it's not too overpowering that it gives you a headache first-off, though. I also own Lemon Drop, and although both smell rather artificial, I like them both, MAYBE Apricot Punch a little more :D

I was stuck for ideas (I feel coral is a hard colour to work with when thinking of nail art colour combos - is it just me?!) so I decided to add Kiss Nail Art Stickers, purchased from Superdrug for around £2.85.
Now, I didn't have any problem with the quality of the product itself, they were quick and easy to apply, came in a range of sizes, some with rhinestones, and they lasted alright with a topcoat - my only beef is that they only give you SIX of each design. EH?! Utter Face-Palm moment, Kiss. Did you skive Biology? Did the Nail Art Mafia chop off 4 of your fingers for crimes against Manicures? If not, it's a pretty shocking oversight since I have TEN WHOLE NAILS!!!
Unless you're doing a mismatched design there is no way to get your nails all the same! This, quite literally, baffled me. Why not include enough of each sticker to do ALL of your nails? If this is a sales ploy, then it will fail because I'm more likely to never buy them again, than to buy another packet to finish my manicure - madness. Here they are anyway, I used the large daisy design for my right hand, and the smaller (NOT-MATCHING) design for my left hand. They're so easy to use, literally peel them off and whack 'em on wherever you like:-

all photos in weak, pathetic British sunshine

And for the left hand with the smaller daisies:

I think I prefer the smaller ones. I did have a problem with them lifting after a couple of days, even with a topcoat, and the almost spongy texture of the transfer went a bit sticky. They were, altogether, a bit meeeh - I wont be buying them again.

On a more positive note, you've still got bags of time to enter my 100 Follower Giveaway (even though I have 400 today! Waheeeey!) to win yourself a fabulosa goody bag of British Polishes. NOICE.

xxx

GOOODDZZIILLLLLAAAAAAAAAA!

This was fun...

 

Watch out Godzilla, the chopper is out for you. I freehanded all the detail using brushes and polish, aside from the clouds (stamped from M79) and the skyscraper type buildings (stamped from BM plate). The blue background is Models Own Blooboo, if you want to know any of the other polishes/shades, just ask me in the comments - I used a shit-ton. I started with the cloudy background, painted in Godzilla, then the grey buildings - first in the darker shade, then over the top in a lighter shade, to add depth. I couldn't get Godzillas teeth right, so just decided, in the end, to give him the gift of fire. I freehanded in the helicopter, game him some ammo/a fighting chance, and added two coats of Seche Vite.

I also did this in bed, you should've seen me, I was surrounded by polishes like a crazy person. I woke up with a Barry M wedged under my armpit, it was a very surreal experience. 

This was an idea I had had for a while, and it came off surprisingly well, I'm always disappointed/frustrated when I can't get things to look as they do in my imagination - Hopefully I'm getting better with the brushes.

Right, get ready for some shameless self-promotion, I hate doing it because I didn't start this blog for any personal gain, but if you've been reading lately, you'll know that I have entered the Bundle Monster Facebook Contest, blogged about HERE. It would be SUPERAWESOMELOVELY if you could spare a couple of minutes, head over to the contest page, and see if I deserve your vote! It's a simple "like" system, and you can vote once per day, so if you want to vote for more than one of your favourites throughout the week, you can do - or, if you crave my eternal love and affection, you can vote for me erry'day. The contest is open until the 20th, so check it owwwt - there are some crazy-good entries. 

THANKS GUYZ. :D

Nauti-cool nails

...Yes, I'm just THAT pun-tastic. I don't know why I'm loving nautical this week, but here's another super-sailor manicure done with mostly Bloom Polishes - only managed one good picture:

Didn't come out terribly neat, I think I had a clog in my Claire's Black Nail Art Pen but I was too lazy to jog upstairs and poke a pin in it.
I didn't want a bright white, so did a base layer of Nails Inc Caramel, followed by two coats of Bloom's Nicole - looove this polish, it's a muted cream - goes on really nicely and dries shiny shiny. Good for both an opaque look or a frenchie.

 

 I then added some red stripes with a stiping brush, using Barry M Red, and added a coat of Seche Vite.

Ha horizontal stripes make you look fat. When it was completely dry, I taped off the nails diagonally, and added two coats of Bloom's The Cassette Society 1. My original plan was to stamp the anchor image from one of the Bundle Monster Image Plates, but my nails are too little at the moment and it was too large, so I resigned myself to free-handing them in using Bloom's Goldie and Barry M Mushroom.
I used Barry M mushroom and some yellow acrylic paint (which was a bit of a gloopy disaster) to make the rope, first as a stripe, then adding the detail with Claire's Black Nail Art Pen. LAVLY.

I hope you like it! Let me know what you think! Is it a look you would wear?

Also, I found an old sketch book today, and this little guy was cotching in it. I must've been fourteen when I drew this. I forgot I could draw, how weird is that?! I freakin' LOVE crayons. Like a lot. Too much.

oh heeeeeey

I can smell a frog Manicure. It smells of old leaves and awesomeness.

:D

BundleMonster Contest Entry

If you haven't heard, BundleMonster (the creator and distributor of the Image Plates I use to create some of my designs) are having a Nail Art competition over at their Facebook Page. There are 25 sets of their NEW image plates up for grabs for those with the most "likes"! Voting opens on the 13th, and I would REALLY appeciate it if you could wander over, take a look at my entry (and the others of course) and see if I deserve a thumbs up! I implore you to enter yourself, too, what have you got to lose eh?

Here is my entry, you had to use Bundle Monster products and I wanted to submit something that showcased some skill, as opposed to just a simple painted base and stamped image, so I whipped the pan scrubbers out and did a pink to purple, sponged gradient base. I hope to do a sponging tutorial in the near future, as it definitely requires a "knack" and I think some people might benefit! I then stamped the flower image from BM16 in pastel blue.

I started with two coats of Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, then painted a blob of MUA's Medium Pink Shade onto a small piece of sponge that I cut from a standard, kitchen pan scrubber. I then repeated this on the tips with Barry M Ltd ed. for Boots.

Now, I needed the stamped image to be very opaque, and I don't own Konad Special Stamping Polish in Pastel Blue, but I DO own the White - I'm going to quickly show you how I mixed my own Blue stamping polish:

I started with The Konad Special Polish and Barry M Cobalt Blue. I then popped a blob of each onto the image on BM16, next to each other (as opposed to on top of each other) so as not to gammy up the brushes:

I then used a paintbrush to swirl them together, you can create a cool gradient image if you only mix them up a  little bit.

Make sure you still do this mixing quickly, as if the polish begins to dry on the plate, it will be difficult to scape and stamp a complete image. Once you've scraped off the excess polish, and rolled your silicone stamp over it, you're ready to stamp the image in Pastel Blue:

BOOM! The stamping polish world is now your oyster -you can literally do this with any coloured polish to mix your own pastel Special Polish - this will save you splurging on all the different coloured Pastels that Konad offer, because you can still get a good quality, opaque image when using this technique. Cool!

I added clear Rhinestones to the accent nails with Nail Glue, silver dots to the centre of the flowers with Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen and then added 2 coats of Seche Vite - what do you think, was this good enough to be entered into the Bundle Monster comp? Some of the designs over there are really good, but my nails just aren't long enough to do something fancy-pants with lots of different stamps. I really like how a gradient Mani looks - I get asked if they're Minx all the time!

Don't forget I have Giveaway going on! Win yourself some sexy stuff!

PEACE OUT