Christmas nail art overload!

So it's almost the night before Christmas and up til now I haven't done any Christmas inspired nails. I've had a few designs in mind but for one reason or another haven't had time to do them. So tonight it's a Christmas nail art overload! 
It will take me ages to go through how I did each nail so I won't go there, but here's which polishes I used...

Rudolph thumb
Base colour - No7 Stay Perfect limited edition in Sultry Sands
Face - Essie Nail Colour in Lady Godiva
Eyes - 17 Lasting Fix in Mini Skirt (from limited edition Best of British nail art kit) and Models Own nail art pen in black
Nose - 17 Fast Finish in Knockout Red (from limited edition Best of British nail art kit)

Christmas tree index finger
Base colour - No7 Stay Perfect limited edition in Sultry Sands
Tree - one coat of Ruby and Millie Nail Color in Green 720C followed by a coat of Bad Apple in Green Bramley
Tinsel - 17 Fast Finish in Knockout Red (from limited edition Best of British nail art kit) with dots using a No7 nail art pen in silver
A silver nail art diamante for the star on top!

Santa suit middle finger
Base colour - 17 High Gloss in Risky Red
Fur trim - 17 Lasting Fix in Mini Skirt (from limited edition Best of British nail art kit)
Belt & buttons - Models Own nail art pen in black

Christmas pudding ring finger
Base colour - No7 Stay Perfect limited edition in Sultry Sands
Christmas pud - Essie Nail Colour in Lady Godiva
Icing - 17 Lasting Fix in Mini Skirt (from limited edition Best of British nail art kit)
Berries  - 17 Fast Finish in Knockout Red (from limited edition Best of British nail art kit)
Holly leaf - Ruby and Millie Nail Color in Green 720C

Gift little finger
Base colour - Barry M  Nail Paint Instant Effects in Gold Foil
Ribbon & bow - 17 Fast Finish in Knockout Red (from limited edition Best of British nail art kit)

My particular favourite is Rudolph!

Then I've just mixed up the designs on the right hand...

Right I'm going to eat my body weight in mince pies!

Merry Christmas and happy painting... the nailist xxx

80s disco ball

Very quick post tonight as I'm mid gift wrapping and general Christmas business!

I absolutely love this glitter polish - and the W7 brand in general... they have such a wide and usual variety of shades and, although on the budget end of the market, they're great quality. Nail Polish Direct have a good selection.

The glitter polish is two coats of W7 in Moondust (I even love the name!). Then, as the glitter reminded my of a disco glitter ball, I added an 80s inspired zig zag line. First, a single line using a Models Own nail art pen in black. Then, a line either side of the black using Andrea Fulerton Nail Boutique dot & flick pen in pink.

Here's my right hand...

All finished off with a coat of W7 top coat.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Studded pink party nails!

It was my work Christmas do this week so I set about creating some party worthy nails. I bought some silver ball nail art studs a while ago so, as I was aiming for a bit of bling, I thought I'd try them out. I'm really happy with the result but did struggle firstly, with the top coat which went a bit bubbly for some reason and secondly, with actually taking a decent photo - believe me they look a lot better in the flesh!

I started off with two coats of Max Factor Nailffinity in Onyx. Once dried, I free hand added inverted pink triangles using Bourjois 10 days no chips in shade 15. Then the time consuming bit began... the balls are individually stuck on using top coat and a cutcile stick. So one nail at a time I painted top coat on in a line where I wanted to add the balls. Then, by adding a bit of top coat to the end of a cuticle stick you can pick up the little silver balls and dab them onto the nail. Add the top coat line by line and nail by nail, otherwise it will dry too quickly.

Then to make sure they were all sealed on, I finished three coats of Seche Vite quick dry top coat. I think I added these too quickly one after another  - hence the bubbling... lesson learned for next time!

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Accidental silver tips

They're accidental as I intended on doing a purple base with two silver vertical half moon lines, so it divided the nail into 4 purple sections... but I went wrong on the first nail so improvised!

The purple base colour is Mavala in 30 'Mexico' and I free hand painted on the silver design using a No7 nail art pen from a Christmas gift set. It's basically two outward bracket shaped thick lines touching in the middle and then the top section filled in.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Python skin

This design is probably more appropriate for Halloween seeing as it looks like my nails are haemorrhaging! But I thought I'd share anyway as I love how well this crackle effect cracks...

This is two coats of Models Own in Utopia followed by Bourjois Top Coat Python in unnamed red shade. Finished off with a Save the Nail 45 second top coat.

Might go and get myself a different colour!

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Polish Days - Get your bling on!

It's Polish Day time again and it's all about bling! Even though I love sparkles I really struggled to come up with something really inspired for this one. So I decided to just use the sparkliest polish in my collection and add some more bling, courtesy of some recently purchased nail glitter off of Ebay.

It's really hard to take a photo of sparkly nails - this was about my 56th attempt and it still doesn't really do them justice but at least it's not just lots of camera flash!

The base colour is two coats of Nicole by OPI 'Kardashian Kolor' in Follow me on glitter. I love this polish as it's hard to find a glitter polish which actually delivers what it looks like in the bottle...this one does - it's really dense and sparkly!

I then added an angled tip of glitter in a mixture of silver, dark pink and light pink just with top coat and a cuticle stick. Finished off with about 4 coats of Seche Vite quick dry top coat. Here's a close up...

It's definitely put me in the mood for more sparkly festive nails!

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Peekaboo leopard print

I actually did these nails on Monday but just haven't had a chance to post. So I'll miss out my usual preamble and get to it...

I've come to realise I have a slight obsession with animal print... the other day I had a pink leopard print top on, a grey leopard print umbrella, a purple leopard print phone cover and these leopard print nails! Eek! Need to be careful I don't tip over into tragic thirty-something.

This design was a Models Own extraganza! The base colour is two coats of Models Own in Mushroom. Once dry I added an angled tip with Models Own in Concrete Mixer. I then free hand painted the leopard print using black and white Models Own nail art pens. Finished off with some Seche Vite quick dry top coat.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Gilted pink

Ooh I'm back on my sofa catching up on X factor after a party weekend in London. My body is feeling a bit worse for wear after far too many drinks and definitely too much fast food from Camdem market, which always seems like such a good idea at the time. But hey my nails are still looking good!

This is a two coat base of Barry M Nail Paint in Black followed by a free handed pink inverted triangle in Max Factor Nailffinity in Disco Pink. Then I added a lovely gilted edge to define the pink triangles with a 17  nail art pot in Gold (this was from one of their Limited edition 'Hot Metals' nail art kits).

As always, I finished off with a good coating on high shine quick dry top coat - this time I used INM Out the Door.

Right I'm off to drown myself in carbs before detox Monday arrives.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Lucky dip favourites

So as I mentioned on my last post there was a charity nail polish lucky dip at work. I've been working my way through my haul and here's a few of my favourites.

The base grey is Models Own in Mushroom and the two lines are Butter London in Artful Dodger (turquoise) and Dahling (dusky pink). I particularly love the Models Own one - might try it with a matte top coat next time.

I started with the grey all over the nail then free hand added the layers of colour so the top part of my nail has basically got 4 coats of colour. Just make sure you let it dry between coats otherwise it will be too thick to dry.

Finished off with a coat of Save the Nail 45 second top coat.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Stripe out

It's been a week since my last post because I've had a busy busy week with no time to do my nails - shocking I know! The main culprit is putting in some extra hours at work but I also went to my first yoga class on Tuesday (only just stopped aching but loved it!) and also out for obligatory Thursday night cocktails (Thursdays are the new Fridays!).

Low light of the week was my thumb nail breaking and taking some skin with it (youch!). Highlight of the week was Children in Need charity day at work in which there was a 50p nail polish lucky dip - imagine my excitement! I was by far their best customer and while doing my bit for charity bagged myself around 10 new polishes. Favourites were some Butter London (love this brand) and a couple of Bad Apple polishes which, as far as I know, are fast becoming popular - or I might just be behind the curve, who knows! Anyway, one of them features in today's post...

The base colour is two coats of No7 Stay Perfect in Me Me Me! then, nail by nail, angled striping tape followed by a coat of Bad Apple in 3D Arkansas. Make sure you tape is stuck down right to the edges before applying the top colour and also be sure to peel it off almost straight away before the paint starts to dry. Hopefully you can see from the pic that the Bad Apple Arkansas is a lovely iridescent turquoisey pink.

Sorry about the ugly thumb  - makes me look like I have man hands :o(

Finished with a top coat of Seche Vite quick dry.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Falling to pieces

Quick post today as I must go to bed at a decent hour. After a lovely weekend visiting the parents and basically eating, I've watched X Factor and have now vowed to get a good night's sleep. However, I know I'm myself as my sister and I are currently addicted to playing scrabble and hangman against each other via Facebook! Seriously, we can't put it down and are ever so slightly obsessed... she's the hangman queen but I usually wipe the floor with her on scrabble. Reading that back we sound like complete losers... I promise you we're actually quite interesting, trendy and cool people... honestly!

Anyway, enough of my rambling.. tonight's post is something I saw on a YouTube tutorial a while a go and have been meaning to try.

I started with a base of Models Own in Fuzzy Peach then free hand painted the black squares with Barry M Nail Paint in Black. If you struggle painting free hand then you can either add some guide lines with a nail art pen or you could try using sellotape to tape off the squares. Just make sure you wait till the base colour is completely dry before taping and then once you've painted the black pull off the tape before it dries.

Then using a dotting tool I simply added dots to create the jigsaw connections. Quite simple really.

Finished off with a coat of Seche Vite quick dry top coat.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Mixed up monochrome - Nailed It's Two Bottle Challenge

Hey peeps

The first challenge of the week was Polish Days' MAN-icure, now it's time for Nailed It's 'Two Bottle Challenge' to celebrate the blog's one year anniversary and reaching an amazing 555,555 views, whoop!

The rules are simple - use two bottles of polish to create a design without the use of stamping or embellishments. You are allowed to mix the colours to create more colours but for me it had to be plain black and white because I love the monochrome look and you can create really striking designs. I also love mixing up designs because I'm a girl who wants it all - not just happy with the one design so I get carried away. So here it is...

My two bottles were Models Own Pro in French White and Barry M Nail Paint in Black. I used striping tape to create the straight lines on the ring finger and a dotter for the polka dots, but everything else is free handed.

I then did the same designs but mixed them up on my right hand...

I love it! Hope you do too. Head over to Nailed it to check out the other entries and of course her fab blog. Happy Blogiversary Nailed it!

Happy painting.. the nailist xxx

Polish days - MAN-icure

It's Polish Day time!.. the monthly blogger event put together by Hannah @ PollyPolish.com. This month's theme is MAN-icure in honour of it being Movember. The brief was either a the iconic moustache design or a tribute to any special men in your life.

I decided to go literal and simple....

I had a bit of trouble with the moustaches due to a gloopy black nail polish but no time to redo unfortunately! Still loving it though - makes me laugh every time I look at my nails.

And what makes me giggle even more is that if I look at them the other way the moustaches, unintentionally, look like eyebrows and I have angry/surprised faces looking back at me!

I opted for muted 'manly' base colours:-

Thumb - Nail Polish by H&M in Nerd

Index - W7 in 29 Grey

Middle - Models Own in Concrete Mixer

Ring - Bourjois 1 Second Gel Silicone Texture in 04 Taupe Classy

Little - Bourjois 10 days No Chips in shade 23

Happy painting.. the nailist xxx

Baby you're a firework - or not in this case!

After the success of my Halloween nail design, I set my sights on creating something fab for Bonfire night. EPIC FAIL!

I still think my idea was a good one but the execution not so much. I intended on doing a half moon design which looked like a Catherine Wheel firework but I've ended up with regular old bonfires!

Apologies for the very dodgy photo - they were a nightmare to take without flash glare so I've had to do a bit of post light balancing which isn't great at all - they are a lot more glittery and fire like in the flesh! Also you may notice my thumb nail is looking a bit worse for wear around the edges - I've got a really low break, too low to cut off (ouch!) so I've had to put a silk wrap on to hold it together but the brush-on gel (basically the essential bit which makes it all bind together) was all dried up. So I just had to cover the silk bit with base coat, which of course doesn't really work! I give myself a hour tomorrow before I end up with a painful ripped off nail.

Anyway, all in all not my finest work but topical all the same.

I started with a base of Estee Lauder Pure Colour in 20 Perfect Storm. Then once dry went over this with Barry M Nail Paint in Black Multi Glitter, leaving a semi circle of the base colour exposed at the base of the nail.

I then just built up the sparks of a variety of colours, creating flicks with a striping brush:-

Barry M Nail Paint Instant Effects in Gold Foil

17 Fast Finish in Potion

17 Fast Finish in Fury

17 HoloNial Polish in Silver

No7 Speed Dry in Queenie (this is the small flashes of red/pink)

Barry M Nail Paint in Silvery Lilac

LA Splash Nail Polish in Midnight Rain

No7 Stay Perfect Limited Edition in Golden Palms ( I used this one to define the edge of the half moon too)

Here's a pic of the whole kit

As always, finish off with a top coat to protect the design - I used INM Out the Door

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Halloween nail fame!

Hey everyone

I'm finally famous! My Halloween design is on Boots FB page - yay! Thanks Boots.

It's really great to see so many people liking the design, head over there and (shameless plug) share the post.

And if you've come over from the Boots UK page then take a look a the post below for the Halloween 'how to'... and many more designs!

Happy (spooky) painting... the nailist xxx

The graveyard shift

Well I had to do it... spooky nails for Halloween is a must. Unfortunately I'm not going to any Halloween parties this year so this is purely for my own enjoyment (and yours of course!)...

As you can see I have a creepy graveyard design which is on top of a purple grey gradient.

I started out with a base of deep purple. I used a really old bottle of a colour that I love but it's one of those cheapo brands of the market called 'La Femme Beauty' (!) and has no shade name sorry. Any deep purple will do,  just think stormy night sky - Revlon in Plum Night is a good option.

I then layered on a gradient of Mavala in shade 12 Berlin, using a cosmetic sponge. Best way I've found is you paint the polish onto the sponge and dab on the nail starting by covering as far down as you want the gradient to start. I did all 10 nails and then went back to the start to allow each layer to dry.  Then dabbed on more just starting a bit further up the nail tip so to create denser colour towards the end. Trick is to keep loading the sponge. If you allow it to dry out you just end up sponging the polish off the nail.

To finish off the gradient and to add some sparkle to the misty graveyard scene I sponged on a bit of Barry M Nail Paint in Silvery Lilac where the grey met the purple. Here's the gradient before the graveyard was added...

I then freehand drew on the graveyard using a black nail art pen and a yellow one for the moon.

For the spiderweb, use a black nail art pen and draw three diagonal lines from one corner of your nail to 3/4 of the way down. Then connect these with evenly spaced curved lines. I added a bit of silver with a nail art pen for extra pop.

Finish off with a quick dry top coat - I used Save the Nail 45 Second Top Coat... and there you have it!


Happy Halloween... the nailist xxx

Wig Wam Thank You Mam

I've gone all tribal! This is all painted free hand and is meant to be a little bit messy to add to the effect.

I started with the peach base colour - Models Own Nail Polish in Fuzzy Peach. Then some free hand random stripes of green and blue/grey. I used Bourjois 10 day Anti Chip in shade 23 and Bourjois So Laque  Ultra Shine in Bleu Asphalte. And then just start adding lines, dots and flicks with black and white nail art pens.

Finish off with a quick dry top coat after the design is fully dry to avoid colour bleeding.

Happy Painting... the nailist xxx

Crazy nail polish lady!

Yes this is what I need to be called... despite a recent collection count totaling over the 350 mark, I've been unable to resist the urge to buy more polish! And this time I've gone way over the top  - 15 new ones found their way home with me.. oops! So in order to give my purchase a purpose, more than my obvious craziness and glitter nails being on trend, I thought I'd show a sample of each one for your viewing pleasure... very rough painted, so all over the place and some of the glitters/metallics have been victim to flash glare but it gives you an idea.

Little finger - Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine in Lime Catwalk (2 coats)
Ring finger - Barry M Nail Paint in Silvery Lilac (2 coats)
Middle finger - Miss Sporty Metallic Flip (2 coats) this actually looks the colour above from one angle then a metallic olive green from another - very cool!
Index finger - Barry M Nail Paint in Pink Sliver Glitter (2 coats)
Thumb - Barry M Nail Paint in Black Multi Glitter (1 coat!) - this looks a million times better in the flesh, the glitter is really multicoloured.

Little finger - 17 Fast Finish in Potion (2 coats)
Ring finger - Barry M Nail Paint in Silver Multi Glitter (3 coats)
Middle finger - Rimmel Precious Stones in 001 Diamond Dust (2 coats) - this looks like really uncrusted diamonds in the flesh
Index finger - 17 Fast Finish in Fury (2 coats)
Thumb - Bourjois 1 Second Texture Gel in 20 Perle Illusion (2 coat)

Little finger - Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine in Bleu Asphalte (2 coats)
Ring finger -Revlon Nail Polish in 261 Sparkling (4 coats!)
Middle finger - Bourjois 1 Second Texture Gel in 16 Bleu Moonlight (1 coat!)
Index finger - 17 Holo Nail Polish in Silver (2 coats)
Thumb - Models Own Nail Polish in Fuzzy Peach (2 coat)

Happy Painting (and shopping!)... the nailist xxx

Unleash your inner pink... take 2!

I wasn't very happy with the last ones so here's a second attempt at a Breast Cancer Awareness Month inspired design... much better I think! What do you think?

Colours used:
Pale pink - Models Own Nail Polish in Pastel Pink
Dark pink - Bourjois 1 Second Nail Polish in Rose Cupcuke
Silver details - No7 nail art pen from a Christmas 2011 gift set

I had to use a striping brush (very thin paint brush) to create the detail in the dark pink

Happy Painting... the nailist xxx

Unleash your inner pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month so I'm unleashing my inner pink in support of the campaign!

I started with a one coat base colour of No7 Stay Perfect in Milan, which is gorgeous dense glitter polish... one of my favourites. Then free hand painted the baby pink, which is Models Own Nail Polish in Pastel Pink, over the full nail leaving a slightly curved peek-a-boo triangle at the base. I actually originally added a defining line of bright pink with a Models Own Nail Art Pen but it was too luminous, so I went over the top using a striping brush and Bourjois 10 Days No Chips shade 15 - which is why the lines look a bit like country lanes! Oh well.. it's for charity!

Check out Breast Cancer Care's Pink Friday's fundraising page for ideas of how you can 'Unleash your inner pink'

Happy Painting... the nailist xxx

Chocolate heaven

Well I'll be damned.. it's only the best week ever in the UK - National Chocolate Week! I don't really know what it means but I'm taking it as an excuse to eat chocolate and create chocolate inspired nail art!

This is my first attempt at the drip style nail art and there's definitely room for improvement! It's more effective if you look at it this way....

The colours don't actually look true to life - I think my flash was a bit too close! The base colour is Revlon Nail Enamel in Charming which is a very light lilac colour. And the drips look more chocolatey as the colour is a gorgeous rich brown... Essie Nail Lacquer in Lady Godiva.

I created the design by applying a base coat of the lilac which I let dry. Then on each nail painted a thick tip of the brown, added dots of brown where I wanted the drips to end and then using a thin brush stretched out the dots towards the tip to create the drip trail, adding more polish to the brush where needed.

Happy Painting... the nailist xxx

Braid it!

All of a sudden it's Sunday evening and I don't know where the weekend has gone! Well... I did spend a ridiculously large amount of time playing with my new phone.. a Samsung Galaxy SIII - it's amazing. Got it out the box at midday and before I knew it, it was dinner time! Anyway, I'll stop waffling as I, of course, still found time to do my nails and here's today's design...

It's basically made up of free hand alternating strokes of three colours. I used No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in Sunshine, which is the metallic. The black is Max Factor Limited Edition Nailfinity in Onyx and the bronze is an unnamed bottle from an FCUK nail gift set.

I learnt the technique on a YouTube tutorial and it definitely requires concentration to make sure you do the stripes in the right order, but worth the effort as the overall effect is fab.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Greyed out

I love grey polishes and W7 Nail Polish in Grey is one of my faves. So using this as a base I've played around with three Models Own nail art pens. The plan was just to have a heart on one finger but as usual I got carried away! Unfortunately, I made a rookie mistake and didn't wait long enough before applying top coat, so I've smeared one of the design .. grrrr!

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Viva Las Vegas!

Today is a second stab at a Vegas design for Chelsea. Trying to capture the glitz and glam of Vegas with some nail art detail. There's three different type of nails which can be worn as is or used on every single nail. I've tred to mix it up a bit as my last attempt was OTT nail art detail. Hope you like it!...

So step by step.. here goes

Start with the base colour on all nails. The glittered nails have a black base, I used Max Factor Nailfinity in Onyx. The cream is No7 Anniversary Colour in 60's Mini Skirt and the index finger has a deep green to match poker table felt.. I used Ruby & Millie Nail Colour in Green 720C .

Step 1

Once dry, add a glitter polish to the black nails. I've chosen one with lots of different colours, Nail Polish by H&M in Confetti, but you could use a single colour... anything glitzy basically!

Step 2

Now to both index fingers, using a white nail art pen, add a semi circular tip guide line.

Step 3

Then fill the circle in with a white polish such as Barry M in Matt White.

Step 4

While that's drying, use the dotter on a black nail art pen to create the dice pattern on the middle fingers. You can pick whichever numbers you'd like but I think 5 and 6 look more obviously like dice.

Step 5

Once the white semi circles have dried you can add the poker chip detail... this is the most difficult part.

Step 6 left

Draw a smaller semi circle using a primary colour, leaving a small white border - it helps to use a nail art pen or small brush for accuracy. Then add detail to the white border creating a broken line of two long dashes and one shorter dash in the middle.

Step 6 right

Then finally add the top have of the chip value numbers. Pick whatever numbers you find easiest to draw.

Step 7

If needs be, add a second coat of glitter to the black nails, then finish off with a a quick dry top coat to all nails. Viva Las Vegas!

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Eat cake, make money for charity!

Today is Macmillan Cancer Support's 'World's Biggest Coffee Morning'. Donate to a very worthy cause by eating cake... what's not to like?!

That's exactly what I'll be doing while sporting my Macmillan-esque nails!

Base coat: Save the Nail Eau so hydrating
White: Barry M Matt White
Green: W7 Neon Green
Detail: Models Own white & black nail art pens
Top coat: inm Out the Door quick dry


Happy painting (cake eating and coffee drinking!)... the nailist xxx