Gemstone Polish

A Good Day To You!! Continuing on with my epic Pinterest expedition, my next inspiration stop is the striking art of Sonia Delaunay. In particular I'm really into her more graphic designs with their unusual colour combinations. For today's nail art, I decided to use this piece for inspiration :). I like how it has an ethnic feel to it without being obviously tribal! I started this manicure with Barry M 'Passion Fruit' which is such a gorgeous coral red! The above photo is the most colour accurate in terms of the nail polish (my skin is not that yellow!!). I normally steer away from these kind of shades as they don't suit my skin tone but this is just way too pretty to pass up! I decided to depict the whole pattern on my thumb and middle nails as they are my widest nails, ha ha! I used a medium sized detail brush and Essie 'Russian Roulette' to paint diamond shapes slightly off-centre on these nails. It's slightly darker than 'Passion F...

Good Evening People!! Recently, during an epic Pinterest expedition I discovered the wonders of abstract art. In particular the artwork of Erin Cooper  is just ah-may- zing and gave me a shedload of inspiration for some nail art! The combination of colours she uses are just so perfect and fresh, great for Spring :)   I started this artsy manicure with OPI 'My Vampire Is Buff' (thumb, middle and ring nails) and Rimmel 'Lunar Love' on my accent nails. 'Lunar Love' is absolutely stunning and great value for money :) It contains small flecks of iridescent glitter so it's much more sparkly in person.   I then started on the actual abstract nail art which is based on this painting. I used a small detail brush and painted on the nail polish in lines and patches. To bring in the accent nails, I started with  'Lunar Love' for the berry pink even though it's a texture nail polish (which turned out looking pretty cool!). I then us...

Heylo Everyone!! I'm still happily immersed in thoughts of florals and romantic shades (see my previous post ) in the hope that sheer perseverance will make warm weather appear sooner, ha ha!! So in predictable fashion, I've done some more 'Spring trend' themed nail art-yay!! I started this pretty manicure with OPI 'My Very First Knockwurst' (on most nails) and China Glaze 'Teal The Tide Turns' for a quircky/unexpected accent nail. I find the best way to apply these kind of textured nail polishes is to paint thin layers and allow plenty of drying time. This seemed to prevent lumpiness and made for a more uniform coverage! Using a small flat brush, I dabbed on nail polish to create random flowers on my non-accent nails. I used Barry M 'Dragon Fruit' (pink), China Glaze 'Gothic Lolita' (purple), Rimmel 'Peppermint' (duck-egg) and 17 'Parma Violet' (lilac). I then used a small detail brush and the same ...

Evening Lovely People! I cannot wait for Spring. This year I've really been blown away by the Spring trends especially the blushing pinks and old rose hues, brushed metallics, romantic florals and swathes of delicate lace and sheer fabrics. Unfortunately the weather isn't quite allowing me to cover myself in these so for now I'll have to settle with just my manicure!! I started this soft, romantic nail art with Zoya 'Addison' (thumb, middle and ring) and W7 'Silver Suede' (pointer and pinkie). 'Silver Suede' takes a few coats but I love the soft matte finish, it's really pretty :) I created a gradient over 'Addison' with OPI 'My Very First Knockwurst' . I wanted to do a more chunky/textured gradient so I used a flat brush and diluted the nail polish with some nail polish thinner. I pretty much just did it how you would with watercolours, using thinner by itself when some super blending was needed! Over the g...

Evening All!! It's no secret that when it comes to my favourite nail art, a geometric manicure wins hands down! Lately I've been loving the framed/cut-out trend (hopefully this will make more sense when you see the photos!) especially some of Chelsea Queen's older stuff. It's getting me in the mood for warmer weather, bring on Spring!! To be honest, I'm not completely enamoured with these as so many things went wrong but I'm glad I had a go anyway!! I started off with Essie 'The Girls Are Out' , a lovely deep pink colour which leans purple in lower lighting (as in the photos!). As per usual, I created a glitter accent nails with LA Girls 'Splash' . I'm so into these pastel matte/silk glitters right now!! On my thumb and pinkie nails, I used Rimmel 'Peppermint' and my striping brush to paint on some outlined geometric shapes (triangles, squares and rectangles). On my middle and pointer nails, I used Essie 'Coat ...