Tutorial: Great British Flag

This tutorial is quite rushed as I am in a hurry to get this post out there before the Jubilee weekend.

1) After using a base coat paint all nails in a blue polish, I used Models Own - True Blue

2) Try and paint a cross on top of the blue using a white polish, I used Barry M's - Matte White

3) Using the same polish drag some diagonal lines in the gaps of the previous cross

4) Most complicated part, paint a fine line down the diagonal cross lines. I used Eyeko - Saucy

5) With the same polish paint another cross over the larger one in the middle. Once that is dried paint on a top coat to help smooth out the polish from being a little bumpy. Tidy up any mishaps and you are done!

Summer Nail Challenge: Sunshine

Following on from yesterday's Sunrise challenge is today's sunshine one. For this I reused the base from yesterday and added a massive sun high in the sky, a couple and a palm tree.

Summer Nail Challenge: Sunrise

The challenge for 29th May was to create a Summer Sunrise

George @ Asda - Buttercup

Color Club - Warhol

ELF - Mango Madness

Collection 2000 - Hip Hop

Barry M - Indigo

Nails: Nude / Neon

Going with the beige / neon nail trend;

Base Polish: ELF - Desert Haze

Thumb: ELF - Fire Coral
Index Finger: George Asda - Buttercup Shine
Middle Finger: ELF - Teal Blue
Ring Finger: ELF - Purple Dream
Little Finger: ELF - Mango Madness

Swatch: Revlon - Cloud

Finish: Cremé I would say, its a off white very pale blue tone
Opacity: The above photo was three thin coats
Lasting Power: Standard
Brush Type: Standard
Anything Else? Dried quite quickly

Summer Nail Challenge: Summer Colour

Today's challenge is, 'Your favourite summer colour' I wouldn't say I have a favourite summer colour and so I ended up just doing a summer colour manicure.

Color Club - Pop-tastic

Sally Hansen - Strike a Pose

Summer 2012 Nail Challenge: Orange

Today's challenge is 'Orange' and I seem to be lacking creativity and time so hopefully this will do!

Color Club - Wham! Pow!
ELF - Black

Swatch: Color Club - Twiggie

Opacity: Nice and opaque, if you are careful a one coater!
Finish: Ever so slightly matte, neon cremé
Lasting Power: Standard
Brush Type: Standard

Summer Nail Challenge: Summer Dots

Challenge for today is 'Summer Dots' for which I chose a yellow;

W7 - Sheer Yellow

Color Club - Almost Famous

Summer Nail Challenge: Chelsea Flower Show

I wanted to see if I can step up to this challenge, if you are interested in finding out more or joining in then check out 'The Crumpet'.

'Chelsea Flower Show'

No clue about Chelsea Flower Show, so I went with the easy option of flowers!

52 Week Challenge: Week 34 - Half Moon

Base Polish: Color Club - Mrs Robinson

Top Polish: ELF - Black

Swatch: George Molten Metals - Party Animal (No.5)

George Molten Metals - Party Animal (No.5) as oppose to just doing a quick swatch I think a mini review would be good, especially seeing as I purchased this intentionally for stamping purposes.

Its a typical chrome as in it is difficult to get an even finish, shows streaks and chips quickly.

This photo hopefully shows the polishes stamping ability;

Swatch: Color Club - Poptastic!

This is apparently a massive trend colour for this spring / summer. This was part of a neon set which I got from Tkmaxx.

Opacity: In the swatch photos I was wearing two, however you could see my nail line so I think this is a three coater polish
Finish: Cremé Neon
Brush Type: Standard
Staying Power: No chipping in three days
How much is in there? 15ml

Summer 2012 Nail Challenge: Olympic Torch

'Olympic torch starts its journey'

So apparently 2012's Olympic Games has the slogan ' Higher, Stronger, Faster'. The torch itself has 2000 holes in it which represent all the people who will be carrying it about the country. Anyhow this was my interpretation of the Olympic torch starting its journey.

Stamping Plate: A37

This stamping plate for some reason is about an inch bigger than the usual stamping plate. I need to get a larger stamp to be able to pick up the entire web, will be useful for stamping my nails when they are longer.

As you can see all of the images stamped well, the shimmer in the chrome polish reflected when my flash went off. I quite like this plate, think it is quite different which I like.

You can see all of the nail art attempts I have tried using this plate: here.

Swatch: W7 - Red Crackle

This crackle top coat is nice enough but it isn't very opaque. Only really shows up on lighter colours, which is a shame as I would have loved to wear it over a black.

NailPolishDirect
£2.95 - 15ml

52 Week Challenge: Week 33 - Orange

Week 33 and the challenge is 'orange', here is ELF's Fire Coral, which is orange with a slight pink undertone.

Sunday Stamping: Plate ending in 5

Being that it is Sunday here is my stamping attempt for today. Such a shame the feather on my index finger didn't stamp 100%

Base Polish: W7 - Metallic Mars

Stamping Polish: Stargazer - Silver Chrome

Stamping Plate: BM15

Stamping Plate: QA8

I bought this for the pirate skull image.

You can see all the nail art I have done using this plate here.

This was stamped over the Ylim colour changing polish, very effective.

Swatch: Color Club - Pucci-licious

As usual this 'burple' colour isn't showing up accurately.

Opacity: Almost a one coater

Lasting Power: Standard
Brush Type: Standard
Finish: Cremé Neon

Nails: Polka Dot Holos

A England - Bridal Veil
GOSH - Holo

Nails: Monkey See Monkey Do: Rock-a-Billy

Along with the various other challenges I am partaking in I will be dipping in and out of 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' which basically is a concept created by The Crumpet.
See nail art and inspired by it = Monkey See Monkey Do!

Inspiration from: NailPolishWars

52 Week Challenge: Week 32 - May Flowers

Week 32 and the challenge as the title suggests is May Flowers. It seems to be really cold in England at the moment, colder than over the Christmas season so I doubt there will be any flowers!

Swatch: Barry M - Buzz

Brush type: Standard
Finish: Cremé
Opacity: Two coats needed

52 Week Challenge: 31 - NEON!

This polish is undeniably neon, I haven't edited the colour in this photo at all.

52 Week Challenge: Week 30 - Galaxy Nails

This was a challenge I was looking forward to doing, I'd been meaning to try doing Galaxy nails for quite some time. I think this worked although not sure if the star shaped glitter was overkill or not.

Swatch: Sleek - Poison Ivy

Finish: Somewhere between a shimmer and a frost
Longevity: Use a top coat otherwise it will chip in hours
Opacity: Standard two coats needed
Brush Type: Standard, lid is a pain to work with

£3.89 - 10.5g
Sleek

Nails: St. George's Day!

52 Week Challenge: Week 29 - Fashion

Week 29 is here and the theme was to do nails inspired by fashion. I don't know the first thing about what is in fashion currently and what isn't so first thing I did was some research in to that! One of the reoccurring things which came up was tribal patterns;

Can you even see the tribal pattern?

Swatch: OPI - Nevermore

Swatch: Claire's Iridescent

I couldn't find anywhere which gave this polish a name or a number which is quite annoying. 

So I have named it Iridescent!

This is two coats of iridescent on top of one coat of ELF's Black polish. As you would expect this polish is a pain to photograph but to the eye it is really beautiful. The reason I chose a slightly blurry photo is so you can see the effect it gives, looks a little like the night sky here. 

Claire's Accessories

£2.50 - 14.7ml

Swatch: ELF - Twinkle

Finish: Fine glitter, in a clear base. Blue, silver, greens almost holographic looking

Opacity: A topcoat which one coat is enough

Lasting Powder: Unsure

Brush Type: Standard

How much: 10ml

Repurchase? Yes, but this will last me a good while.

£1.50 - 10ml

ELF UK

Swatch: Max Factor - Graffiti

Finish: Shimmer, mainly green but some blue flecks
Opacity: 3 coats were used above, I would layer this polish
Lasting Power: Average

4.5ml - £3.99

52 Week Challenge: Week 28 - Yellow

Yellow is the challenge of this week.

Base: W7 - Sheer Yellow
Stamping Plate: Konad Q1
Stamping Polish: ELF - Black

Swatch: W7 - Green Dazzle

A blurry photo chosen purposely to show the sparkle of this green glitter polish.

Finish: Glitter in a clear base, all pieces are created equally
Lasting Power: Removed after 4 days with only tip wear
Opacity: The above photo is four coats, you will need a topcoat to smooth off the finish

15ml - £1.95
NailPolishDirect

Swatch: Sally Hansen - Delphinium

Finish: Cremé
Lasting Power: I didn't wear this for long alone, but going by other SH
Complete Salon Manicure polishes at least 3-4 days
Brush Type: Very flat and wide

14.7ml

52 Week Challenge: Week 27 - Quack

Just over half way through this 52 week challenge now. This week as you can guess is Easter themed. 

Swatch: Kleancolor - Silver Star (31)

This is swatched on Sally Hansen Delphinium. Silver star is a clear based polish with silver star glitter as well as small silver glitter pieces. The above swatch is two coats.