Easter Nail Art Tutorial - Cadbury's Mini Eggs!

This design was suggested to me by my best friend Sara - as soon as she said it, I knew it had to be done, if only as an expansion on the Cadbury's Chocolate Manicure! I worked tirelessly on a tutorial for it so you can all do it yourselves at home :D I know it's a bit early for Easter Manicures, but it's that time of year where Mini Eggs hit the shops an I love them! I don't know if you can get them in the US, but FIND THEM. THEY ARE LIKE EASTER-TIME CRACK.

This will also be part review for Boots 17 new nail polishes which I picked up last week. I chose 3 of them - Mellow Yellow, Glisten and Juicy. They're really fresh, bright spring/summer colours so I really couldn't resist. First up is Mellow Yellow, a gorgeous mid-tone yellow with gold micro-shimmer. It's beaaautiful.

The application of Mellow Yellow was lovely, this is two coats and there is no visible nail line (VNL). It's glossy and dries relatively quickly. From experience, 17 polishes go thick and unusable rather quickly so invest in a polish thinner like Seche Restore if you want to keep this bad boy for more than a few months.

The perfect yellow for a mini eggs packet, I hear you say? Yes, it is. Tutorial time!

1. Start with your yellow base and take a chocolate-brown polish like Barry M Mushroom. Draw large ovals in a sporadic pattern across the nail. This is the outline of the eggs!

                        
2. Take a selection of pastel coloured polishes. I chose American Apparel Office (green), Collection 2000 Candyfloss (pink), Natural Collection White and Collection 2000 Angel Wings (purple/grey). Paint over your brown ovals with the pastel shades, but leave a small brown outline.

3. Time to add some brown speckles to the eggs! Take a dotting tool (or a toothpick if you don't have one!) and take a small bead of your brown polish on the end. dab this gently onto your pastel eggs.

4. Take a purple polish or purple Nail Art Pen. This step is much easier to do when you have the control of a Nail Art Pen, but if you have a steady hand then go for it with a small brush. Write the words "Mini Eggs" in the Cadbury's font on your thumb. This is optional, you could always just draw more Mini Eggs!

5. Add a topcoat to protect your design from wear and tear and to make it super glossy. I used Seche Vite.

6. Stand back and admire your Cadbury's Mini Egg Easter Nail Art!

I added Claire's Matte Topcoat over the top to achieve that powdery look and feel that mini eggs have.

There you are! Cadbury's Mini Egg nails, perfect for Easter! If you've given up chocolate for lent then a) I don't know how you live b) You can enjoy chocolate in an alternative way!

As always, if you follow my tutorial I would love to see it so pleeease let me know!

I hope you have fabulous weekends!

Scaly Fingers - Barry M Croc Nail Effects

Sorry for leaving you all lonely for a week...

You'll all be thrilled to know, I'm sure, that I spent my weekend pretty much immersed in nail polish and therefore have lots and lots of new manicures to show you! I picked up Barry M's Croc Nail Effects the other day, but wasn't really expecting to like the results. I thought it would be too subtle and a poor alternative to the crackle effects - I was proved wrong, however, and I actually really like the effect it has given!

You apply the polish just like a crackle polish, with the thickness of the layer determining the type of crackle you get. the thinner the layer, the smaller the cracks, the thicker the layer the bigger the cracks (within reason - don't go plooping loads of it onto your nail, it will just get messy!) I started with a base of Barry M Gold Foil Effects, and found the Croc Effect worked better over a "touch dry" base, rather than a completely dry coat! I applied a medium coat and it took about 2 minutes to crack fully, leaving tiny vein-like cracks in the black polish - just like crocodile skin!

index finger - moments after Barry M Croc Nail Effects application

Barry M Croc Effects 2 minutes after application

This polish also dries shiny (as opposed to the matte crackles), so this is with no topcoat. i'm two days later and I have to say it has worn pretty well, considering it's just 2 thinnish layers of polish! Nice one Barry M! As I said, I wasn't really expecting to like this effect all that much and it is very subtle to the naked eye, but its really grown on me and I've ended up loving my scaly fingers! Mmmm scaaallyyyy.



A different kind of scaly, crocodile fingers

Thanks everyone, let me know what you think on the comments!

(Did I make up the word "plooping"? I'm pretty sure I did. I'm Captain Dictionary, over here.)

Claire's Holographic Glitter and Bundle Monster Stamping Art!

Hello lovelies, my blog has a new outift - how do you like the new layout and banner?! It's a work in progress so forgive any glitches you might come across!

I nipped in to Claire's Accessories the other day (as any self-respecting, 21 year old does on her lunch break...) and noticed a couple of polishes I hadn't seen before - the shop girl informed me that they were, in fact, new out and I had the last one of their (usually impossible to get hold of) lilac holographic glitter. Since I want anything 100x as much if I know I can't have it, I thought I better buy it to save myself later heartache. It did not disappoint, it is a gorgeous holographic lilac glitter and opaque in 3 coats:

please ignore the stub...

Ahhhhh rainbow!

As if that weren't interesting enough, I thought I'd stamp the cute heartey-liney image from Bundle Monster BM11 (imaginative adjectives don't come easy, late at night) using Konad Black Special Polish.

This looks great when it catches the sunlight and the stamping makes a glittery manicure a bit more fun and interesting! I added a coat of Seche Vite to finish and the glitter is totally smooth - not gritty at all. I'm not looking forward to the removal though, it will be the foil method, for sure. (I will do a tutorial for this!)

Thanks everyone! I have recently joined Pinterest so I can share all my favourite nail designs and inspiration on a virtual pinboard - if you're on Pinterest, it is really easy to pin anything you see on Emily's Nail Files - just sign up and get a "pin it" button on your toolbar! Alternatively, look for the Pinterest button on my pages :D

love!

Anti-Valentines Day Nails with Nails Inc!

Now, I'm not a bitter old hag but mushy just aint my style. I'm also going to be single this year and so wanted to do a manicure for the singletons that wasn't covered in hearts and bows and glitter and feeeeelings.

I started out with a base of Nails Inc Tate, which came free with a British Magazine (I forget which - Glamour?!) and is a gorgeous shade of deep red. For the accent nail the base is Colour Club white with a Tate heart - I drew this using a dotting tool. The rest of the details were added with Claire's Black Nail Art Pen:

I would also like to add that I am not a narcissist, I just thought it was funny hahah.

Whatever you're doing on V-Day, I hope you have fun! I will be watching Bridget Jones, painting my nails and enjoying the freedom to belch whenever I like. I'm allergic to roses anyway.



xxx

Autumn Leaves

It's getting to that time of year where I can't wait to crack out last years over-sized woolly jumpers, hats and scarves (as well as buy new ones!). Despite it being unseasonally warm in the UK last week, I have to admit that this summer baby is oh-so-keen to bury herself in winter clothes, drink mulled wine and go sledging. My nails reflect my mood and eagerness for the changing leaves:

I started with a base of Nails Inc Jermyn Street, a purple toned brown, and then sponged Nails Inc Candy Orange, American Apparel Manilla (yellow) and Barry M Bright Red onto random areas of the nail, to create the autumn-coloured  mottled effect. I then added a coat of Gosh Rainbow, an iridescent flakie topcoat that adds a subtle flash of red and green, before stamping the leafy image from Bundlemonster image plate BM04 with Miss Sporty Electric Beige. This caught the light differently at different angles and looked really pretty!

What do you think? What's your favourite part of Autumn?

Not my favourite song from him, but it's pretty appropriate, and I can't stop listening to him at the moment, everything he does is stunning:

Plus...I love a good ginger.

xx

They're Not Teardrops...They're FLOWERS NOW!!!!

Many of you who follow my blog (and probably some who don't!) will know that the designs I showcase are a mixture of both freehand and "stamped" nail art, with the image plates I use for the latter coming from Bundlemonster (and the occasional Konad!). WELL. Bundlemonster don't just do image plates, no Sir, they kindly sent me an array of other Nail Art bits and bobs that I wasn't even aware they produced! These included little wheels of rhinestones of carious shapes and colours, sequins, little starts, little flowers, and even teeny tiny coloured balls.
Many of the rhinestones are in a teardrop shape, and they came in such pretty colours that I really wanted to use them. Call me Little Miss Sunshine, but I didn't fancy using them as teardrops, and so decided to utilize their shape and create little diamonté flowers! Each petal on the flower is a separate Bundlemonster, tear-drop rhinestone - and they're great, really easy to work with:-

My short nails are really starting t bug me now, they just KEEP breaking! I don't want to have to resort to fakies!

I started with a base of Barry M Spring Green, and added the leafy design using Konad Special Polish in Green, from Bundlemonster image plate BM19. After a couple of heavy lashings of Seche Vite, these babies stayed put for a couple of days!

Overall, these little Nail Art additions are really good, and can add an entirely different dimension to a manicure, not to mention some bling! They're really not all that expensive from their website, about £10 for a set of 5 wheels, each containing 12 segments with a different accessory in it. They are also a fantastic company, who take customer satisfaction very seriously, always looking to improve their products on OUR suggestion.

I hope you liked this design! Let me know :D

Don't forget you can still vote for me in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards! You can find me under Best New Beauty Blog of 2011! Click on the picture to cast a vote - it's quick and easy! :)

*Product was provided by Bundlemonster, but all opinions and reviews are 100% honest, and completely my own. For more info, please visit my disclosure page!*

It Doesn't Get Much Sparklier Than This! Scotch Tape Nail Art!

When I was in the USA recently, I popped into a local Claire's Accessories, expecting it to be much like the UK shops, Nail Polish wise. I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG. I picked up some really interesting stuff like the Claire's Mood Polishes, a Glow in the Dark topcoat, a Deborah Lippman dupey-looking Rainbow Glitter and THIS amazingly sparkly holographic Gold Glitter Topcoat. Topcoat? psssssht, Ill just whack it on on its own thanks!

I did start out with a base of Bloom Goldie, just to minimise the appearance of any bald patches that might occur. Formula is fine, I only needed 3 coats for full glitter coverage, then it was like a Unicorn expoded all over my hands:

natural sunlight

A blurry picture shows the holographic rainbow effect better!

It really is a sight to behold in the sunlight! I added some Scotch Tape Nail Art, cutting tiny strips of tape, and sticking them in a "starburst" pattern on the nail. I then painted over the entire nail in MUA Shade 2, a very opaque Black. I removed the tape strips while the black was still wet, then added a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all over.

The Gold looks great, all the holographic yumminess just peeking through. Here's a video so you can see how it catches the light:

Look at it go in the bottle haha!!

I like the trashy, blinginess of Claire's Gold Glitter Topcoat by itself, but I think it looks much more sophisticated and subtle as a highlight on a black nail. What do you think everyone?


Don't Forget you can vote for me to win Cosmopolitan's Best New Beauty Blog of 2011! Click the pic to be taken to the really easy voting system!

Thank you so much :D

Minnie Mouse - Disney Nail Art

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for my absence, I've been on holiday in Majorca! Me and my family had a lovely time, it was great to unwind for a week and catch some sunshine, as well as stuff my face - something I am rather good at.

I popped on a new manicure as soon as I got back, and, inspired my excitement for m next holiday (a trip to Disney Land), I decided upon Minnie Mouse Nails!

I started with a base of Barry M Peach Melba (the Barry M Red polish I used really "pops" when it's applied over a light, neutral colour, it's a bit sheer and dull, otherwise), and then added two coats of Barry M Red. I used Konad White Special Polish and Image Plate M79 for the polka dots, and freehanded in some black bows using Claire's Black Nail Art Pen. For the Accent nail, I mixed American Apparel Palm Springs with a little Natural Collection White Polish and painted the whole nail. I then added the details using Claire's Nail Art Pen in Black and White. I topped it all off with Rimmel's 60 Second Topcoat!

So there we are! I'm sure I will be sporting this a lot when I'm over in America! Let me know what you think guys, I love Disney so I'm sure there'll be a lot more where this came from!

I also had some interesting blog traffic this week, and logged on to find a lot of referrals from www.bodycare.becomegorgeous.com, who have written and article on little old me, in relation to summer nail art trends. You can check it out HERE! :D
xxx