Pencils

So having just started uni I haven't had the time to paint my nails and having the same design for almost a week has been killing me recently. Today I finished earlier than expected so I got on and did my nails!

I used Barry M Yellow as the background and pencil colour and then acrylic paint for every other colour just so it would be quicker.

I think I'll have to cut down my thumb nail completely next time as it's got snags in both sides which might mean I cut down my other nails to match which I really don't want to do :'( 

Also, when I was top coating my right hand, the top coat seemed to pick up some of the black and transfer more and more to each nail as I went along despite me wiping off any black from the brush! Here is what my right ring finger looks like  

I know the paint job is a mess but look at the black streaking and mess, I'm seriously at war with my top coat!!!!!

Day of The Dead Skulls

I don't really know the 100% correct term for what these are but I'm calling them day of the dead skulls.

I just moved so I packed away most of my polishes so I only used Barry M Matt White as the background colour and the rest is done in acrylic paint. I love how fun these look and halfway through doing them they look like members of Kiss so that's interesting to see.

Panda

I found the inspiration for these nails on one of my bags. I thought it would look really cute and simple and convenient as I had no other inspiration. 

The panda on my left hand is actually a lot cuter but slightly messier obvisouly so I'm glad that this is a design I can handle with my wrong hand. I used Barry M Coral as the base colour and then acrylic paint as the other colours as I thought it would be easier to get them more opaque on top of the red than nail polish. 

Autumn Florals

I thought I'd try some Autumn florals as the weather here is changing from summer. My nails were also getting quite weak so I thought I'd cut them down as I'd be using them a lot more now I'm about to start uni.

I honestly thought that the grey I used for the background would be lighter so I'm not that pleased with these just because I don't like really dark nails on myself. Also, my fingers look really wrinkly so I apologise for that.

The background colour is American Apparel Echo Park, which is a great consistency, as I find with all American Apparel polishes. The flowers are Barry M Coral, Yellow and Bright Purple. The leaves are Barry M Spring Green and Racing Green, the middle of the flowers are Barry M Indigo, Gold and American Apparel Meteor Shower. As I thought the nails were too dark I added some dots with Barry M Matt White.  

Stripes & Rhinestones

I thought I'd go for something quite simple today. These nails remind me of candy corn, not my intention I must say.

The colours I used were Barry M Bright Red, Matt White, Mint Green and Yellow. Rimmel Tangy Tangerine and Sea Green. My Matt White is getting a bit gloopy now it's towards the end of the bottle so hopefully I'll be able to thin that out sometime soon. For the green stripe I mixed Barry M Mint Green and Rimmel Sea Green. I also added some 1.5mm clear rhinestones.

I used my striping brush for this design and because I was feeling lazy, I just used the regular polish brush on the other hand and it was so much easier! A little messier yes, but my right hand always is messier. Also my red polish dragged when I put my clear coat on which makes me sad :(

Gnomes

I've been wanting to do gnomes for a while so I thought I'd give them a try today. Hopefully they look like gnomes to other people and not old men/santa. 

Whenever I think of gnomes I think of mushrooms for some reason so that's why there are mushrooms as well. I used Barry M Matt White as a background colour and the rest is acrylic paint, I'm really liking using that by the way. When I put my top coat on the paint on the faces cracked a little bit and I don't know why. It's not very noticeable but sometimes gnomes crack so maybe it'll make them look authentic. 

Big Bang Florals

So I' obsessed with floral nails and I'm always looking for inspiration. I was watching The Big Bang Theory and I saw this plate in Penny's apartment and I thought it would look great as nail art!

I'm really pleased with how these nails turned out and I think they look similar to the plate which is an achievement. 

I used a lot of colours for these nails so here comes the list. I used Barry M Matt White and Bloom Nicole, which is a fantastic cream colour, on top for the base colour of the nails because I didn't want to have to do loads of layers of the cream Bloom. The red flowers are Barry M Coral with Barry M Indigo at the centre. The other flowers are Barry M Berry Ice Cream, Lemon Ice Cream and Rimmel Tangy Tangerine. For the centre of these flowers I mixed Barry M Mushroom and Black so that they weren't too dark and harsh. The leaves are green and green and black acrylic paint mixed together. 

I love the colour combinations and I think I'll defiantly look closely in the background of other TV shows for nail art inspiration! 

Tutorial

First attempt at a tutorial. Tell me what you think

Dark Florals

Some darker florals, probably should have done these in winter because I think they're too dark for now but oh well..

I used Barry M Black as the base colour and then white, green, red and yellow acrylic paint for everything else. I wish they were a bit brighter but I think it's because I'm so pale the black looks so dark on my skin. 

Neons!

I bought a few neons recently and went crazy with them.

I used American Apparel Neon Yellow and Neon Green, Gosh Spot On! Pink, Models Own Tangerine Queen, Barry M Pure Turquoise and All In One to blend the colours together. The yellow in real life is so highlighter yellow and the orange is much brighter as well but I think everyone finds neons hard to photograph.