Out of this world - Cling Film Nail Art

I've been a little lax with my nails recently. I think it is a combination of having my polishes upstairs out of the way and getting a new carpet (meaning I am more careful to spill anything). Having said that my nails needed some proper painting so I decided to use the old cling film technique to get this gorgeous effect.

I had planned on this looking a bit more like the world with green patches of land and blue sea but when I put the colours on I thought they looked a bit more space like. I've previously only used one colour in a cling film manicure but I thought I'd try two for a change which I think worked really well.

If you want to know how I did this, listen up. Paint your nails a base colour, I used OPI Eurso Euro. Get two pieces of cling film, crumple them up separately. The pieces don't have to be too big just big enough that they cover your nail when pressed flat. Paint some polish onto your cling film (I used Essie - trophy wife & fair game), dab it on some paper to take the excess off then start pressing it on your nails. Then do this with the other piece until you like the look of it on your nails. This will get messy around your nails so maybe use tape around the edges or you will have some major clean up.

I hope you like this manicure and that you will give it a go! It is super easy and creates a great look. Let me know if you try it!

Manicure Monday - Gloopy Nails

This manicure was supposed to be wholly one colour, that colour being Revlon, whimsical. In the bottle this is a lovely mint green with specks of pink and blue glitter. However after three coats of whimsical it still was no where near mint green. In order to improve this I decided to add something to my manicure, gloopy blue and pink tips to be exact.

The colours I used for the gloopy tips were Zoya - Robyn and Barry M - Grapefruit. Both are very pigmented colour and worked great for this nail art. In order to do the tips like this I blobbed some of the polish on to paper and used my dotting tool to apply it to the tip, dragging some down the nail to make the gloops.

Do you like? Would you attempt this?

Halloween Blood Spatter Nails

For Halloween I didn't have any plans or an opportunity to dress up, so I thought the least I can do is ensure my nails are looking the part. Instead of spending hours, that I didn't have, trying to create a pumpkin or a goul on my nails I wanted to go with the simple blood spatter.

After trying to use the straw method (blowing through a straw with wet polish at the end to create a spatter effect) and it epically failing on me to the point I thought it was the straw or me that was broken, I decided to go at my nails with a nail art brush and some red nail varnish.

It turned out better than expected, after I'd cleaned my red hands up, and I am glad that my first attempt failed. It does look a bit messy, but hey blood isn't supposed to look neat and tidy!

What do you think? Would you create this effect next Halloween?

Striping Tape Nail Art Tutorial

A few months back I purchased a lovely sparkly orange/red colour from Avon and I hadn't got round to using it, until now. As I'm off to London tomorrow, I had to do something to my nails that was a little bit special. I knew I didn't want to paint my nails in just one colour, so I had a think about what I could try.

After a nosy through my nail box, I came across my striping tape and thought it was about time I perfected the technique. I'd tried to do a striping tape manicure previously but I failed miserably!

This time before I started I decided to do some research and watch a few Youtube videos. I came across a video by SuperWowStyle which worked perfectly. The key to a striping tape manicure is being prepared and taking the tape off a few seconds after applying the top colour coat.

To try this nail art you'll have to get yourself some striping tape (you can get this super cheap from Ebay), your chosen nail polish colours (one for a base coat which you'll see when the tape is taken away and another for the top) and a pair of tweezers (to peel away the tape).

The steps for this manicure are simple:

1. Apply your base coat as normal and then paint on your base colour. I've used Colour Club - 38.
2. Make sure this layer is completely dry before applying anything else. As I am too impatient to let it dry itself I added a coat of Seche Vite to ensure it was fully dry.
3. Cut your strips ready to apply. I stuck mine along my table as I would with sticky tape when wrapping a present. You can then apply these with your tweezers. Apply onto the nail in any style you like. Make sure they are stuck down well or else your colour will seep under with enough excess at the end to be able to pull it off.
4. Paint your top colour on.  I used Avon, 'Apple of His Eye'. Then take your striping tape off with your tweezers. The manicure will work better if you paint one thick coat rather than two as you need to remove the tape after around 10 seconds. If the paint starts to dry you'll mess your whole nail up. Make sure to remember the order in which you stuck down your pieces of tape so you can take them off in reverse, i.e the top one first to prevent smudging the nail varnish.
5. When you have completed all nails simply apply your top coat and you're done.

I hope this tutorial helps you out if you are going to attempt this nail art. I'd love to see if you try this out.

How to: Ombre Nail Art Tutorial

I love to take time to paint my nails but trying out new techniques is not something I often have the chance to do. I don't have much patience, so if I mess up my nails I'm in a terrible mood. I like to do other people's nails and when I asked my sister what nail art she wanted me to try, she asked for multiple colours. I'd seen ombre nails on Instagram so suggested I could try this technique and see how it turned out.

In order to understand how to create the look I used this a Youtube tutorial which was really easy to follow and created the desired look. To help you recreate this nail art look I've written a short tutorial below:

You'll need:
- A white nail varnish (I used OPI Alpine Snow)
- A sponge cut to the size of your nails (makeup or household)
- Three nail varnish colours to be used in your ombre (I used Sinful Colours - Blue - Sweet Nothing, Purple - Candy Coated, Pink - Sugar N Spice)

1. First, paint your nails a base coat of white. 
2. Paint the three nail varnish colours in lines one after the other onto the sponge. Make sure you get enough polish on the sponge so that it will apply nicely.
3. Press the sponge on to your nails, you can either roll it on or press, I think a combination of the two works best.
4. Then as the sponge will have been slightly bigger than your nails you need to clean up! Do this will some nail varnish remover and a small nail art brush.

What do you think? Fancy trying this out? Let me know if you do!