Aloha! Tropical Sunset Manicure!

Y'all know how much I love my tropical manicures. I was stuck for ideas (hence the lack of posts this week), and decided to to a gradient manicure, and see if inspiration struck. Reminded of a tropical sunset, I added some palm trees and fimo cane fruit, and the Totally Tropical manicure 2.0 was born:

 

I started out with a base of Bloom Flamingo Sands, and used a piece of sponge to apply China Glaze Papaya Punch to about 3/4 of the way down the nail. once this was dry, I then repeated this on the tips using Miss Sporty Taxi. Because yellows are generally sheerer than most other coloured polishes, I sponged the yellow tips twice, for a brighter fade. This Sponging/Gradient technique works best when the colours are close in shade and tone, as it creates a neat, even fade.

I then added the black palm trees and "Aloha" using Konad Plate M29 and Konad Black Special Polish, and used MUA shade 2 to add a little, silouetted desert island at the base of each one. I used Claire's Black Nail Art Pen to freehand in the little birds.

I'm going to take this opportunity to review the Fimo Canes that I was recently sent by BundleMonster (well known for their affordable nail art supplies), because the fruity appliqués you can see on the ring finger came as part of a pack they sent me.

Fimo Cane is rubbish if you get it wrong, and great if you get it right - it can be a bit tricky to master. All Fimo Canes come as little sticks that have a picture all the way through the core (like seaside rock!), and you then slice it very thinly, with a craft knife, to be left with a little Fimo picture that can be stuck onto the nail with clear polish or nail glue.

If they are sliced thinly enough, you can use a couple of coats of Seche Vite and have the Fimo completely flat and smooth to the nail, but some prefer to slice it a bit thicker and simply "perch" them on. I really liked the Bundle Monster Fimo Canes, and are definitely of better quality than the ones I purchased off eBay. I find the designs are generally clearer, nicer and more usable than some of the very odd ones that come in the eBay packs! (evil, teddy bear Frankenstein anyone?...No, didn't think so.) All in all, I got on with these Fimo canes very well, and would definitely recommend them! :)

One of the packs offered by bundlemonster, which you can also buy from Amazon.com

I added slices of the Lemon, Watermelon and Kiwi to my Tropical Design! :)

Thanks guyyys, let me know what you think! I will also be announcing the winner of my Apothica Giftcard giveaway very soon :) Sorry for my absence, I'm back on the ball!

x

She's My Cherry Pie

If you haven't been over to www.bornprettystore.com, seriously, check it out! I get a lot of my nail art supplies from there (my brushes, rhinestones, fimo canes etc), because they are so affordable, and it's free international shipping - always a bonus! They often run little contests and give away freebies too, which is great - they're a really customer-friendly company with a wide range of supplies.

I was sent some of their heart-shaped rhinestones to try out,* and was struggling to think of a design to incorporate them into. I've wanted to do a Manicure along these lines for a while, using cherries, and thought I may as well use some of the red heart rhinestones :D

I started with a base of American Apparel Palm Springs, a lovely peach nude, and used a dotting tool to add some red dots in Boots 17 Knockout Red. I added some highlights and shading with Nails Inc Shoreditch High Street and Claire's White Nail Art Pen, and some stalks using Claire's Jade Green and Barry M Spring Green. On the accent nail, I used Born Pretty Store's heart-shaped rhinestones as the cherry fruit, rather than painting them :D

With Flash!

And there we are! Because it's a nude base, it reminded me of cherry pie :D

Here is the wheel of Heart Shaped Rhinestones, they come in 12 different colours, and you get around 30 of each colour, I'd say:

my own photo

my own picture - much less in there!

Here is the picture they use on the website:

stock picture

As you can see, the stock picture is rather misleading regarding the amount of rhinestones you actually receive. where the stock picture is jam-packed, the reality is you probably only get half that amount - if that. Nowhere in the item description does it specify how many rhinestones you will receive. This is really the only criticism I have here, as they really are a great product, some people may be disappointed, however.

The packaging is a good idea, the top of the wheel rotates round to reveal each segment at a time, however the rhinestones do become statically charged, and stick to the top, which leads to the colours getting all mixed up. It doesn't really bother me, as I still think it's a better method of storing them than having them stuck to a sheet of acetate, like the Kiss ones I bought from Superdrug. 

The hearts really are sweet, and are a great alternative to regular circular rhinestones - I love them! They're the perfect size, around 2mm, and the range of colours mean you can literally incorporate them into any design.

The wheel costs $3.33 (£2.06), with free shipping, which is fantastically cheap considering the quality and amount you get (even if you are misled in the stock picture!). They also get cheaper the more wheels you buy, for example, if you buy ten wheels, you get a 10% discount.

These took around 2 weeks to reach me in the UK, I'm not sure how long it would be for anywhere else in the world, but the website says to allow up to 4 weeks. The service is great, though, and there's always someone on the email who is quick to reply to enquiries you might have.

To pick up your own set, or check out some more cheap nail art supplies, you can click on the banner at the side of this page :D

Let me know what you think of the nail art, guys! xxxx

*This product was provided by the retailer for review. I am in no way influenced by any affiliation with the company. All opinions are my own, and honest. For full details please read my disclosure policy page

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