NAILS Mag Day 19 - Outline

Hello everyone! Today's prompt in the NAILS Mag 31DC is Outline. I haven't done many of these manis so far as they tend to be a bit understated and my nail-style is pretty much anything but that. Since working on this design I've some up with some ideas for outline manis that fit my personality a little more, so stay tuned for those, but in the meantime, I couldn't resist adding a little bling to this one too :)

I started with three coats of the stunning Nails Inc King's Road and then painted in the outline with LA Colors Black Velvet (and a very steady hand!). I had already planned to do an accent nail to break it up a bit, but decided to use a rainbow of rhinestones (part of a prize I won from the fab nail art forum Nail Artsy!) for the outline on my ring finger, set into carefully applied glue. A coat of Seche Vite finished the look.

This Nails Inc polish is really something else, a really subtle rose gold foil effect. If I went for subtle polishes I would get through sooooo much of this polish! I do like the outline look, although I always have to resist the urge to turn them into cartoon nails. However, like I said earlier, I have some more of this design style on the way that are a little less subtle all round! :)

A GOT polish challenge and NAILS Mag 31DC combo coming your way tomorrow. The GOT prompt is "Ruffle mani" and NAILS Mag is "A New Technique" - yay for fortuitous timing!

Sam xx

The NCC presents "Inspired by Summer" #4

Hello everyone! Today I have my final summer-inspired mani for the Nail Challenge Collaborative. Its has been a breath of fresh air painting some summery manis in amongst all this grey and wet weather and I have enjoyed this theme more than any other for a while.

For my last mani, I have had some beautiful floral stickers from Nailtopia that I've been wanting to try out for a while and this seemed like a great opportunity. I've been a big fan of their stickers for a while now. I originally bought a selection to help when I was asked to do nail art at a school fair a couple of years ago. I then tried them myself and have never looked back if I need a quick fix of something awesome!

I started with three coats of LA Colors Sand Storm and one coat of Seche Vite. I applied the stickers over four nails with tweezers and then added matching lavender rhinestones between the stickers, as well as all over the nail on my ring finger for some accent bling.

I think it has a vintage floral feel, but also a little something of summer? Maybe a bit of a stretch, but hey ho... I wish I had used the stickers over a creme base instead of a shimmer as its made the edges of the stickers show up a little more in the photos than they do in real life, but I don't think that it takes away from the design too much.

I purchased these stickers myself, although I have been sent two sets of a new range of nail stickers that Nailtopia will be carrying to review. That review will be going live later today, so see you again soon :)

Our theme for next month is "Untrieds". Given that I immediately use any polish I receive, this is going to mean a shopping trip - or as we have to do four manis, four shopping trips?! Hmmm... ;)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

The Lacquer Legion - Adoration

Hello everyone! I have a new nail art group to tell you about today run by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails, The Nailasaurus, Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails and Leslie from work/play/polish. This is actually their second month (and second prompt), but I couldn't find a way to fit in the first. There is one prompt per month and a date set for when we post our nails along with a hashtag to post with the mani. All the details can be found in the FB group here.

This month's prompt is adoration and you can choose to interpret that in as literal or abstract a way as you choose! I only really adore one thing in the work and that's my daughter, so I thought I'd ask her for ideas. First off, she wanted to do them for me, which I did let her do but decided not to go with for the challenge ;) (there is a pic of her work at the bottom of the post though - pretty awesome for 7!). Her next idea was "Diamonds! Big ones!", so I started from there. 

Three coats of LA Colors Sand Storm and a coat of Seche Vite. I then carefully glued the "diamonds" in place and added the gold bands using 2mm gold tone round studs.

I think its pretty simple, but effective! Scarlett thinks it looks like I have a jewellery shop on my nails and took photos of "her" great idea in to school for show and tell, so I managed to please the one I adore :D Hope you all like them too! Here's a quick pic of the mani she did for me:

Sam xx

FingerFood's Theme Buffet - Sparkle Week!

Hello everyone! Today I have for you something of a glitter bomb! Seeing as its Sparkle week over at FingerFood's Theme Buffet I couldn't really resist! I decided to go with my beloved Color Club Glitter Vixens collection and put together a shattered stained glass look with a ton of glitter :)

I started by painting random sections of nail with base blue, green, purple and silver and then added the corresponding glitter over the top (managing for the most part to stay inside the lines!). The blue glitter is Sexy Siren, the silver is Sex Symbol, the green is Object of Envy and the purple is Tru Passion. I allowed these to dry for a while before carefully lining the sections with black and finishing with Seche Vite.

I'm glad I had a chance to do a bit of full-on glitter. Its been too long! Definitely not a look for every day though and the fumes from being around the open glitter polishes definitely sent me a little bit giddy!

Our theme for next week is Birthdays/Celebrations (as its my birthday on the 4th), but while you wait for those manis, check out all the other fab manis full of Sparkle using the links below!

Sam xx