31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

Ok so I'm a massive fan of Sci-Fi so there were countless options for me for this week's challenge but did I do Sci-Fi nails? No. I did not. 

No, for this weeks challenge my nails have been taken over by unicorns.

My nails are super girly, super cute, super super and I LOVE IT. Every girl (and guys too if they want) should have unicorn nails. I have been in the best mood today and I'm pretty sure it's the nails doing. I have been looking at my nails and smiling. I have been singing about unicorns. I have been singing about glitter, unicorns, rainbows and tea cups. The unicorns are helping me type this. They also helped me dissemble a cherry muffin earlier >.>

It's been a fab day.

Here is a list of what I used:

Sinful Colors (The lack of "u" bugs me.): Snow Me White

Barry M: Berry Ice Cream, Lemon Ice Cream, Mint Green, Strawberry Ice Cream, Nude

Models Own: Beth's Blue

Rio Nail Art Pen: White

China Glaze: Fairy Dust

These, in my eyes at least, are the perfect unicorn colours. My unicorns think so anyway. Also I love the Sinful Colors white, it's awesome! One coat was enough for my tips to be covered and it's a nice formula too, it glides on smoothly. Very happy. I picked it up in Boots in a 3 for 2 along with 5 others, adding to my SC collection lol. I'm SO happy these are in Boots now! SO HAPPY. I hope other American brands will be available here (*cough* ZOYA *cough*) more readily because I have a big American-Polish-shaped hole in my life right now. 

I can't stop staring at my hands lol I think every day should be unicorn day tbh.

Gemx will be back soon I'm sure, she's just crazy-busy so look out for an update soon! In the meantime check out Alli's nails, they're so awesome!

-Leisha

31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 28 - Inspired by a Flag

Yes I'm aware that we are nearly into the next week and therefore I'm WAY behind but there we go, this week has just been crazy-busy.

For my flag nails I chose to use the International Maritime Signal Flags. Each flag represents a different letter but also other warnings and messages to passing ships. I chose to use the flags to spell out my blog name on my nails =)

 My right hand thumb is a hyphen and my right pinkie is a heart from my blog logo, so those ones aren't flags in case you were wondering why they weren't on the list, I just had to make up space on my hands lol

I'm pleased with how these turned out and I have had tons of compliments on them! They're quite striking to look at.

For these I used a base of 3 coats of No7 Snowflake on each nail, which as I've mentioned before is a total pain to use but my other white has gone too gloopy to be saved. I did buy another this week but after I'd already done my nails. The other colours were from my Rio Nail Art Pen kit.

Gemx has been really busy too this week with family stuff meaning I haven't had anything from her so I'll add it later. Alli is back though! So go and check out her blog to catch up with how her challenge is going!

That's it for now! I can't wait to do my nails for the supernatural challenge, I've been sitting on an idea for ages! Expect lots of sparkles!

-Leisha.

31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 27 - Inspired by Artwork

This week's challenge was fun for a few reasons,
1. I got to browse lots of artwork on google!
2. I got to rummage through my entire polish collection look for colours to use!
3. I got to use some colours I hadn't opened before!
4. MY NAILS ARE SO SHINY.

Anyway, moving on..

My nails are inspired by the artwork of Gustav Klimt, mostly The Kiss (1907) and The Tree Of Life (1905). Klimt used a lot of gold leaf if his paintings so my nails this week are painted using various shades of gold! 

Usually I stay away from gold because it looks weird with my skin tone but I actually own a few shades of gold that are really wearable! My skin looks very red in most of my pictures and the ones that look more colour accurate are a bit.. wishy washy.. can't tell you why. No idea. So I included one of the crazy red-skinned ones for you to see the nails better. Sorry about the lobster.

These are the golds I used:
Barry M - Gold Foil
Models Own - 25 Carat Gold, Gold Rush and Champagne

Gold Foil is an antique-gold shade that only really needs one coat. It isn't really a foil exactly though, not like MO Champagne is, and it does show a lot of brush strokes, however it is fab for stamping as it's so pigmented. The colour reminds me of those gold marker pens that you get, where you have to push the nib down to make the ink flow. Champagne is a very pale gold that looks rose-toned when compared to the others. It's a foil finish so no brush marks and SO shiny. Gold Rush is sheer sparkly yellow-gold but because it is quite sheer it allows some of your nail colour to show through meaning it is less stark and more wearable. It essentially is very fine gold glitter in a clear base. Surprisingly I really enjoyed wearing this one and will definitely bring it out in summer! 25 Carat Gold is a yellow-gold shimmer polish. It isn't quite a foil but it isn't so frosty that you're left with lots of brush strokes. The shimmer is very fine which makes it glow. It's looks like gold leaf.

And here are the colours on each of my fingers:
Thumb - Base of Barry M Gold Foil, topped with a coat of MO Gold Rush (to make the colour more yellow-toned). The swirl is painted using China Glaze Harvest Moon <3 using a small paint brush.
Index - Base of MO Gold Rush (2 coats, quite a sheer polish but super sparkly) circles painted with MO 25 Carat Gold and outlined with CG Harvest Moon and Barry M Gold Foil.
Middle - Base of MO 25 Carat Gold, lines painted in CG Harvest Moon, No7 Grey Skies, Barry M Gold Foil and Rio Nail Art Pen.
Ring - Base of MO Champagne, triangle at base of nail using Barry M Gold Foil, outlined in CG Harvest Moon with Rio Nail Art Pen triangles. 
Pinky - Base of Barry M Gold Foil topped with a coat of MO Gold Rush (same as thumb) squares painted using CG Harvest Moon.

PHEW.

I think these are very Klimt-esque, especially as there are so many different shades of gold. The patterns that I picked out are very characteristic of his style.

Those of you that have been following for a while will remember that China Glaze Harvest Moon was on my May Wishlish .. Well I FINALLY bought it last month along with Luxe and Lush (also on the wishlist) and Electrify. I cannot wait to use Harvest Moon properly! I'll swatch it very soon. 

Gem's nails are superly gorgeous this week! 

"This week I wasn't sure what to do. It's difficult to replicate art on nails! I picked Peggy Garr to try and replicate her art on my nails. I really like her paintings with the earthy toned background and the abstract floral/trees in the foreground.So I gave that a go!
I used:
Models Own Golden Peach
Models Own Snow White
Models Own Lemon Meringue
Revlon Cherries in the Snow
These were sponged on to create the background. I then use Snow White to dot on some flowers and Andrea Fullerton black nail art brush in black to draw on the tree."

I LOVE the background colour. I may need to try this myself! Golden Peach is such a pretty colour. When summer (eventually) comes I know I'll be wearing it a lot.

That's it for this week's challenge! Next time the theme is 'Inspired by a Flag' which perhaps isn't the most exciting but I have a good idea for what to do =)

See you soon!

-Lei.

31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 26 - Inspired by a Pattern

Yes I'm aware this post is super late but there we go..

Week 26 is all about taking inspiration from a pattern, but there are so many patterns to pick from. I had considered doing something Maths related (sequences) for this challenge but kept getting drawn to spirals and ripples. As I suck with decisions I went to my mum and asked for her suggestions and she said I should do paisley, so here are my paisley nails.

I got the colour theme from this image on google:

I liked the green and pink, it looks exotic and full of contrast. I did a pink background using Rimmel's Pop Rose that I picked up in poundland a few years ago (before I realised about animal testing). I topped the pink off with some China Glaze Fairy Dust to give it some sparkle. The details were done using my Rio Nail Art Pens; I used the white to fill in the shapes then blocked it in with Nails Inc Wimbledon (that was a pita because of the brush size -I couldn't find my nail art brushes) and used the dark green pen to add detailing.

I really like how these turned out =) I did my right hand first, as always, and learnt what I didn't like so much in order to improve the left hand. So I prefer the left hand to the right for a change. The dark green pen also seems to have discrepancies in the colour as it looks a lot darker on my right hand. I love the Fairy Dust sparkling through, it's so pretty! I'll definitely try paisley nails again as I love the pattern and there are so many colour combinations to try!

Gems nails are so pretty this week as always!

"I choose a zig-zag as a pattern as I hadn't done that before. I used OPI DS in Extravagance and Coronation. I first used my Make Up Store Aqua base coat, it seems to hold onto these polishes better and it smells really good for a base coat! (NB: Don't sniff your polishes). I then put on a coat of Extravengance and a quick drying topcoat while I cut some cellotape into zig-zag shapes. I then stuck the tape on and painted a coat of Coronation and prayed that when I pulled the tape off it wouldn't look awful! As you can see, it worked out ok and I didn't ruin any nails! 
I really like this combo and so did my cat apparently. I only get sunlight in my bedroom in the daytime so I went in there to take some pictures and my cat was desparately wanting to be stroked so I took a picture of him. He looks a bit crazy with his ear scruffed back like that, but look at those cute eyes, awwww! :D"

Ok firstly how cute is the kitty!! I'm a total sucker for pink kitty noses haha I want to give him nose nubs <3 I love how sparkly Gems nails are, the DS series are so shiny it's unreal. I am totally jealous of Coronation but never mind lol. The two colours work very well together and the zig-zags show up nicely with the contrast =) simple designs are so often the best!

That's it for now, I'll be back with the next part of the challenge very soon =)

-Lei.