Scotch Tape Zebra Print Manicure

Hello everyone! I know, two posts in as many days, almost like the good old days eh?!

When I was on holiday with my family, we had a very restricted weight allowance for the flights, and so we ditched all the heavy beach gear in favour of lighter alternatives. This included picking up some cheap, light beach towels from Asda, and my, ever tasteful, father chose the most trashy-fabulous, attention grabbing, lurid print that was available - zebra print with a bright purple border. They were amazing. And chavvy. But mostly amazing. They inspired this manicure!

I started with a base of 3 coats of Natural Collections White and allowed to dry before stamping the zebra image from Konad M57 with Konad Special Polish in Black. If you're in the UK, and don't want to splash out for the Konad special Polish, I've heard that MUA Shade 2 - available for only £1 in Superdrug - is a fantastically opaque alternative, though I've yet to try it myself. I added a coat of Seche Vite to dry it all quickly, and ten minutes later added strips of scotch tape diagonally across each nail. I then painted the nail in Claire's Matte Purple (I LOVE mixing textures!) and pulled the tape away while still wet. ET VOILAAA! Trashy Towel Nails.

 

I love how the shiny and the matte finishes look together. The cameras playing tricks on your eyes, the purple is, in fact, a lot more violet and red toned in real life, my camera is in perfect, purple denial, turning it blue. The photos were also taken at dusk, so sorry they're a bit dark and blue. (gawd I need to build myself a light box!)

Let me know what you think everyone! :D

The girliest you will ever see me!

Don't worry, these are MY nails, not those of Katie Price or any of the cast of The Only Way is Essex. I would never call myself a girly-girl (she says with a blog centred entirely around nail polish art and makeup), preferring to do more colourful, eyecatching and badass designs. This manicure is, however, the most trashy-fabulous you will ever see my nails haha. All that's missing is a giant 3D acrylic bow.

I've got exams coming up (BOOOO), so wanted something on my nails that would tempt me away from removing it and doing something else, to maximise revision time. Anyone whose ever had a full glitter manicure on, will know what an utter ARSE they are to remove. I am hoping that the fear of removal will make me concentrate harder on revision, and resist using nail polish as a distraction!

I started with two coats of Catrice Be My Millionaire, a silver polish, then added 4 coats of Models Own Juicy Jules. Juicy Jules is AMAZING, it's a holographic glitter, and catches the light beautifully - perfect for sunny days. I could have got away with 3 coats, but I wanted maximum glitter coverage. I had a hard time photographing the sheer awesomeness of this glitter, and I'm sure that if I had got it perfect, your eyes would have exploded anyway. I resorted to using a lamp directly over the nails, and using the macro setting (as opposed to the SUPERmacro setting) on my camera to blur the image sliiiighttly so you can see more of the holographic-ness. *gets a bit pic heavy from this point onwards...*

Juicy Jules on its own:

blurred so you can see the holographic sparkle

a sharper picture that doesnt show the colours as much! also sorry for my STUPID index finger that broke, I know it looks ridiculous!

I added a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out and create a base for Barry M's new pink crackle polish Pink Fizz. I find the best way to use the Barry M crackles is to apply them thickly, as they crack better, with larger spaces between the pink bits. I hate it when you use a crackle and it barely cracks, so you can only just make out the base colour (I'm looking at you Boots 17!).

I added another coat of Seche Vite to top off the whole thing, and because the Barry M Instant Nail Effects dry Matte.

under the lamp

under the lamp

natural light

I tried my best to capture it, but imagine all that holographic glitter shining through! BLINGTASTIC! Now, this was somewhat of an experiment, but I took a video on my camera to see if I can better show you the sparkle. The quality is pretty poor, but it does give you a good idea of the shine. (bloody nicked my cuticle right before though didn't I?!)

 

Hopefully you get an idea! I actually tweeted this manicure at Amy Childs from The Only Way is Essex (a trashy reality TV show over here in the UK - IT'S BRILLIANT), she is yet to reply though haha :P

Let me know what you think everyone, was it worth it to include a video? I really wasn't sure about it, but thought I would get some feedback from you :) I realise this isn't strictly Nail Art, but that's what I love about crackles, they add instant interest to a Manicure with minimal effort. I know they've been around a while now, but I've not seen this combo before :D

Em x

Nails Inc Lucky Dip Haul

Evening All! Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, I moved back to Nottingham from my my Uni house in Birmingham. Our postman in Birmingham must be some kind of crazy person, shoving all kinds of mail into our letterbox, just for funsies, as we very rarely receive the mail we are after in Brum. Because of this, I always get internet shopping sent to my Nottingham home - this means that I had a pretty good stash built up for me to open today! Yay! It was like my freaking birthday! Plus, you always get loads of bubble-wrap, which is half the reason I was excited - pop, pop, popppopopppp
My Nails Inc Lucky Dip Package was one of them, here are the polishes I received:-

From left to right we have:

• UV Topcoat and Basecoat - This was the only 'guaranteed' polish you received in the offer, and claims to lighten and brighten the nails, and protect from staining - can't wait to try out and review this one, as it's a bold claim!
• "Shoreditch High Street" - This is a deep raspberry colour, and I'm actually curious to see how it compares, colour-wise, with Barry M Raspberry, as they look very similar in the bottle.
• "Augustus Street" - This is a medium grey with a lovely, pearly silver shimmer and really shocked me when I tried it and it was Suede!  I don't mind the matte finish, but I wasn't expecting it. It was the first one I tried, and although a fan of matte polishes, I added a topcoat to restore the shimmer.
• "Upper Street" - a muted Turquoise cream, excited to try this one, especially as a base for some nail art - under the sea, anyone?!
• "Hans Road" - I really can't decide if its Red, Orange or Pink. It's got a fierce shimmer to it - not really my favourite type of polish, but it's definitely the most interesting one I received.
• I also had an eBay-purchased bottle of Seche Vite waiting for me - there really isn't enough good things to be said about the Holy Grail of all topcoats, it's haaamazing. SV dries so incredibly fast, protects against chipping like an absolute trooper, and has the most perfect glass-like, high-shine finish. GET YOURSELF ONE (if you don't already!)
• Sally Hansen "No More Breaks" - in an attempt to strengthen my weak, peely nails :( Anyone tried this? Is it any good?
• Came across a cheap Konad Special Polish on eBay and, as it's a staple polish for anyone into stamping, snapped it up - I've been struggling to find a regular high street white polish that is opaque enough to stamp with, for my liking.

So there we go! I have only tried Augustus Street and Seche Vite so far, but I'll be swatching them for you over the course of the week. All in all, I was pleased with the polishes I got in the lucky dip, would've been nice to see some paler colours, nudes or pastels, but I suppose that's why they call it a Lucky Dip! You can't choose! For the bargain that they were (£10 for the lot), I am not turning my nose up at them.
I also got a pack of 15 Nail Art brushes from eBay, they look great, ranging from fan brushes right down to the tiniest paintbrush and dotting tool you've ever seen! So long, toothpick, I'm a profesh now!

 As I previously mentioned, I tried Augustus street - sorry I didn't swatch it while it was still suede, I was too eager to get stamping and try out Seche Vite!

Sorry for the rubbish photography, I've not worked out the best place, with the light, is in my Notts house!

I stamped from BM21 using Claire's Black Nail Art Pen (Striper) and free-handed in the black tips with the same. Topped off with Seche Vite, the effect is smooth, hard and SO shiny! Love!

I got some Fimo Canes too, I'm a bit skeptical, but will definitely give them a try: -

Just a selection of the 100 I ordered - like the look of the fruities!

Which of the Nails Inc would you like to see next? Will you be partaking in the Lucky Dip offer next time it rolls around?