Funky matte french

So I'm not a huge lover of matte top coats - often finding they just make you look like you've scratched the sheen of a nice glossy polish. But I think it all depends what colour you're top coating and also the quality of the top coat. I've found one I really love from Models Own Pro which gives a lovely satin finish rather than dull matte.

This twist on the classic french manicure is two coats of Essie Nail Lacquer in Fancy Pants, followed by a free hand striking fuchsia tip using Models Own in Purple Passion (I personally think it's more pink than purple!). Finished off with the Models Own Pro Matte top coat. You can't really tell from the photo but the finish is a lovely muted sheen rather than being completely dull matte.

I think the colour combo works really well. The key is to use a muted sophisticated colour for the base and then a colour that really pops for the tip. It's a great way to venture into nail art or to take a boring work mani to the next level without being over the top!

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Acid angles

So as the snow scuppered my plans this weekend I decided to get ahead of the seasons and rock out some truly summer colours to bring some sunshine into my life!

I absolutely love acid colours so didn't feel I should have to wait til summer to wear them!

The base orange is two coats of Angelica Nail Colour in Hip Hop from Primark. I then free hand painted a inverted triangle using Barry M Nail Paint in Matt White, followed by a smaller triangle in Bourjois Ultra Shine So Laque in Lime Catwalk. Then using a black nail art pen, I used Models Own, I defined the triangles.

The result would have been a lot better if I'd used tape for cleaner lines but oh well! I'm trying not to sweat the small stuff as much in 2013!

I used W7 top coat to finish off.

Happy painting... the nailist xxx

Dash dash dash

Well I have basically been a bit rubbish with the posts lately - I've got a bit of January inertia! I plan to make a more concerted effort from now on!

I'm using two new polishes in today's post. I went on a bit of spree before Christmas so have quite a few to try.

The base blue is from a RCH Style Society gift set in the Boots Christmas range. After two coats of that had dried, I applied a horizontal brush width stripe on each nail using Essie Nail Lacquer in Fancy Pants (love this name!). Any wonky lines I just straightened up with some more of the blue.

The I simply added some pink and white dashes using Models Own nail art pens.

This is one of the designs that there's no need to worry about being exact as the overall effect is what you're after.

I finished it all off with a coat of Save the Nail 45 Second Top Coat to make it all nice and shiny!

Happy Painting.. the nailist xxx

Dark side of the half moon

Hey there, it's been a while but I'm back!

I wasn't going to blog these nails but for a few reasons I changed my mind. So I work in marketing in the retail industry and I get to here about up and coming trends and the word on the street is that come Spring/Summer nail art with be out and stripped back nails will be in! It will be all about muted colours and very simple designs such as the half moon. I'll still be going strong with nail art mind you!

On a recent photo shoot I was at the nail artist did a half moon design in a navy and gold colour combo which I just loved, so I had to recreate it (I used a slightly lighter coloured blue and did bigger half moons)

So the trends news and the colour combo were two reasons for me deciding to blog this look but another is that this has lasted for a whole week without any chips whatsoever and no top coat touch ups! I'm well impressed particularly as the blue colour is a very cheap brand. It's two coats of Angelica Nail Colour in Sapphire 55 from Primark, which I picked up for the grand price of £1.50!

I then added the gold half moon using a nail art pen from a No7 Christmas gift set and finished off with a coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

Simple but very effective!

Happy painting... the nailist xxx