A Pointy Radiant Orchid Dotticure (and my first #NAILLINKUP mani :)

Hello everyone! Today I have a mani that I did quite some time ago, but that I completely forgot to post! That was until I saw the May/June issue of Nail It! magazine as they featured it in their dotticure section! 
It also coincides with me discovering a new nail art link up put together by Craftynail, Brijit's Digits and Eeeek! Nail Polish! and this week's theme is dotticure. Its a fairly non-committal link up where there are set weekly themes - you can dip in and out when you like and the Inlinkz remain open all month. You can find the themes, challenge graphics and Inlinkz here :D

I started with three coats of LA Colors Lilac Frost and then dotted on a French tip shape using Orly Pink Waterfall, Revlon Sassy and LA Colors Wisteria on four nails and fully dotted the accent nail, before finishing with Seche Vite.

This is such a simple design, but I think its pretty cool. A springy test for colour blindness on stiletto tips with a radiant orchid colour scheme - what's not to love? :)

Sam xx

FingerFood's Theme Buffet - Mocha Coffee Chocolate Frappuccino (Inspired by Robin Moses)

Hello everyone! I have been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks but have never found the right time until now! Everyone knows my love/hate relationship with water marbling (love to look at it, hate to do it), so dry marbling was always a preferable option for me. I had a go following this fabulous Robin Moses video and I was hooked. I used the technique to create this look for the GOT Polish challenge the other week, but this was my first attempt. 

I decided to use it for the Theme Buffet this week as the prompt is "Delicious" (suggested by Ivy of "Nails of Blue") and it reminds me of my favourite mochas from Costa. Coffee and hot chocolate, best of both worlds! :)

I started with two coats of Color Club Earthy Angel and allowed it to dry. I then added one more coat and while it was still wet added "blobs" (a technical term!) of LA Colors French White and Color Club Rebel Spirit and Positively Posh. I dragged a fine detail brush through the blobs to create the marbled effect. Because there is quite a lot of polish on each nail, its best to give it a while before finishing with top coat. 

I decided to keep my pattern in a little bit more of a uniform French shape that Robin goes for in the video, but I am such a big fan of this look. Some colour combos that I've tried really haven't worked out that well, but this one just makes me want another Costa :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

NAILS Mag 31DC March Day 10 - French

Hello everyone! Today's prompt in the 31DC is French. I'm not a big fan of French manis in the traditional sense - well, given how much colours I regularly splash all over my nails, somethig as tame and subtle as a traditional nude French mani was never going to work for me, but I understand that they have their place (and do them regularly for other people!).

Having said that, I felt I needed to do a "me" French, so I Started with several coats of Nails Inc Baker Street (a super striking blue), and painted the tip with LA Colors French White (finally using it for its named purpose lol!). I then painted on large pink circles using LA Colors Absolute, filled those in with more French White, and added more circles with LA Colors Mint. Iadded a few smaller dots using all the colours and then finished with Seche Vite.

I love these colours! So bright and bold - this mani really cheered me up in the middle of a pretty rubbish time all in all. I wish I could keep them on for longer, but tomorrow calls for a Purple themed mani as well as my next Tri Polish challenge design for March, featuring green, blue and purple. Lots of painting to do! :)

Sam xx