Fair Isle

So my plan was to do Nutcracker nails today but I honestly don't even know anything about The Nutcracker. I'm not sure if the plot has anything to do with Christmas but I know in my mind it is associated with Christmas. The only nutcracker character I know of is the nutcracker solider which I find to be extremely creepy looking so I didn't really want to have to look at that everyday and I don't know any other characters so I didn't know what to do on he other nails. I know it's something to ballet but I'm not the type of person to have ballet dancers on my nails so I just decided to scrap the nutcracker idea and thought I'd do Fair Isle pattern nails.

To me this is a christmas/winter pattern and so I thought I'd do them on my nails. When I looked up the print to see what patterns I should use, it was mostly red and black and white so I thought I'd do green as I like green much better than red and black. I used Barry M Spring Green as the background colour and then white acrylic paint because I couldn't be bothered to have to replenish my white polish supply.

I really don't have much else to say about these nails except I'm so glad I didn't do creepy doll soldiers instead.

 

Blue Moon

I have to say, Blue Moon is most probably my least used Barry M colour. It's hard to say what it is because I would say it is a jelly but it doesn't finish as most jellies do. The first coat you put on is barely there which is obviously jelly but with the second coat, it actually covers quite well and it doesn't have the plasticy look that most jellies have. I wouldn't have thought that Barry M had jelly polishes until they brought out their Gelly collection, although they don't seem very jelly to me, just shiny. 

I'd say this polish is a jelly that is trying to mask itself as a creme. All these photos have two coats on the nails and although you can see my nail line on my ring finger quite prominently, most of my nails were covered really well with two coats which surprised me but I think that's because it's got some creme characteristics. On my left hand, some nails aren't covered nearly as much so they would need another coat but I couldn't be bothered. I think if you make sure that you can actually see a layer of polish after the first coat and not just a shine on your nails like I did, then the second coat will cover your nail well. 

I think that this is a really lovely shade of blue as it is nice and subtle and pale even compared to most baby blues which is why I bought it and I think if you don't care about having jelly polishes then Blue Moon is a good choice. 

I think one of the things that makes me question the jellyness of this polish is that when it dries, it doesn't have the shiny plasticy look that almost all jellies have and it looks like a matt rubber sometimes. I'm still undecided on this polish but I think having realsied today that it does cover quite well with only two coats, I might use it more often. 

Nail Rings

So as part of my uni course we do jewellery projects and for mine this term, we had to make jewellery that was partially recycled. Being the nail fanatic that I am I decided to make nail rings, which apparently no one knows what they are or that they excited, I think it may only be a 'nail' thing if you know what I mean. Anyway, a few people asked me if I had put the pictures up on my blog and I wasn't planning on doing so but I thought I might as well and if people want to see them they can.

So, here are the pictures, there's quite a lot as I made 13 rings but I'm not going to describe them or anything so you can just scroll through as fast as you want.

 

I might as well tell you about the nail polish, I wanted a dark red because I thought that would go with everything but I know that Raspberry photographs really red so I did a layer of Barry M Black 

before I did Raspberry which came out looking the burgundy colour I wanted.

Penguins

As a major fan of Christmas, I had so many christmas nail ideas I had to start doing them now in order to get them all done before Christmas. I'm trying to do the less Christmasy nails now because it's not even december but I'm getting into the Christmas mood so I don't really care.

I kind of wish the penguins were a bit different to each other and I thought about doing a scarf or something but I thought it might look too crowded so I just left them. The other day I bought tiny googly eyes and even though these eyes do look slightly too big, they are 3mm so I'm not sure if they exist in a smaller size. Anyway, my base colour is Barry M Blue Moon which I hardly ever, in fact never use because it's more of a jelly which I can't quite cope with but I wanted a blue and the penguins cover up my nail line so you can't see anything. The black and white of the penguins are acrylic paint, I set out to use polish but I wasn't sure how they would layer and I wanted to be quick with these nails. The orange for the feet and beaks is Rimmel Tangy Tangerine and I put a bit of China Glaze Fairy Dust in the background on the blue which you can't really see in the photos. 

Fairy Dust is my first China Glaze polish, so I don't know how I feel about the consistency and brush of them yet as glitter is different but, I have been thinking about getting this polish for a while as I wanted a glitter that didn't give too much full coverage so I would be able to use it to get a nice layer on top of a colour. I got my googly eyes from Hobbycraft as I had taken a thirty minute bus journey and twenty minute walk with the hope I would get some so when I saw them I bought three packets just because.

Praline Whirl

Praline Whirl is one of the polishes I bought when on my neutral/dusky/nude hunt. Along with Sugared Almond, I bought this from collection 2000 and it seemed to be in the shop a close colour match to my skin. 

The brush is the same as the other collection 2000 polish I bought, short, wide and square. Although when I started using it I thought I would have trouble but it confirms my thoughts from last time about how it makes it easier to get a good line by my cuticle. The one issue I have with the brush is that the stick the brush is on is the same shape and size as the brush so there is not a lot of room between the stick and the bottle opening so it gets covered in polish and is hard to get off as it gets rid of the polish off the brush along with the stick. 

I think this polish has good coverage and is a nice creme. The photos show two coats of the colour and there is no streaking. The colour of the polish is slightly darker than my skin tone but I am quite pale and my skin has more of a pink undertone whereas the polish has more of a yellow undertone. When it has one coat on, I'd say the polish matches my skin tone perfectly but as the second coat goes on it goes darker and more yellow which I think makes me look ill and as if I have discoloured nails which I don't really like as a whole colour but when there is a pattern over it, it looks as though it is my exact skin tone.

If you excuse the first two fingers looking dark, I couldn't seem to get rid of a strange shadow that came out of nowhere. I do like this polish and I think the collection 2000 polishes are £2.99 which is an excellent price. 

Also, people have told me that this is a good nude which makes me happy as I was considering buying OPI Samoan Sands as I know this is meant to be a good nude but for now I'll stick to Praline Whirl.

Henna

I saw this robin moses henna design tutorial and I felt like having a slightly more autumn design today so I decided to use it, along with making the colour slightly lighter as well. I really like how this design looks as the colour on top of the nude looks really chic and it surprisingly didn't take long considering the detail.

The base colour I used was Collection 2000 Praline Whirl, another new polish for me. I bought it hoping that it was the perfect nude for me and I think it almost almost is. In the photos I think it looks like a perfect match but in person it looks a bit darker with more of a yellow tinge which makes them look unhealthy when it is just the plain colour. The colour I chose for the henna is Barry M Raspberry which is technically a burgundy colour but as I have said before, photographs a lot redder and brighter. 

These are definitely autumn nails I can get behind.

 

Sand Tropez

So it was fairly recently that they brought out Essie in england and I thought that it really wasn't worth buying as you can tend to get most of the same colours for a lot less. I don't know how much they are in America but over here they are £7.99. The problem I have with Essie, and it's not so much of a big deal now, is that they have A LOT of neutrals and sheers which just aren't my thing. There seems to be about five options for a white or just a sheer that seems to have no colour to it what so ever. If you like those kinds of polishes then I'm sure Essie is great for you but I know of people that have bought the wrong colour polish simply because they thought they were the same as they all look so similar. Having said this, when I saw Sand Tropez and was looking to buy a nice light brown/beige, I knew that I had to give in and buy it as I had not seen any colour that was close. 

I don't know whether this is true for all Essie polishes but for Sand Tropez, the formula is really thin and yet gives good coverage. When I did one of my nails, I may have been able to get away with one coat of it but I wanted two as I wasn't putting much pattern on top. 

I do really like this colour and I'm glad I got it as it's kind of a nude/beige which for me is good. As you can see on these nails, it creates a really nice base and platform for nail art as it does not distract from the design. I don't really know how to explain the consistency of this polish as it looks like a creme but is too thin to be described as a creme and yet not sheer enough at all to be considered a jelly.

I'd say there is quite a good shine to this polish as all the photos show it without top coat although I have no idea how long it would last without a top coat. I have heard some people say that it doesn't last long but as I never do nails without a top coat I woudn't know but I have been wearing this colour for four days and it shows no sign of chipping. 

Metal Florals

I wanted to mix the hard and soft in these nails so I chose this design using caviar beads as an accent nail with these floral nails.

I used Barry M Matt White as the base colour on the floral nails with Barry M Pure Turquoise, Coral and Indigo for the flowers with Barry M Bright Purple in the centres. For the metal nail I used Barry M Silver Foil and silver caviar beads. I don't have any nail studs but I like this look as I think it is more raised than studs would be. I put on one layer of Silver and then applied the beads to that as it was still wet. I waited until I had finished the rest of my nails completely before I put on the second coat of Silver so I didn't pull off any beads. I then put a generous layer of top coat on the accent nail after the paint had dried to make sure the beads stayed on. 

I really like 3D nail stuff and I haven't done any for AGES so I really like the accent nail and I just want to do more. Also, I feel as though I have a terminator finger which is really fun!

 

Sugared Almond

I have always admired other people's nails whenever they have on a muted dusky pink and yet I have never owned any of my own. I have made it a personal mission to acquire dusky pinks and neutral colours as the majority of my polishes are bright colours which I obviously love.  

I have never bough a collection 2000 polish before and mainly because in my mind they are a cheap brand so I thought they wouldn't be as good quality. However, I looked at all the brands and they did have some good colours so I bought this Sugared Almond. The bottles that I bought seemed to have separated or something, you know when they have the random colour running through them. This also made me hesitant but I went for it as it was cheap. 

I'm a fan of the colour as it is something I've never done before and it has made me want to get more. I know in the photos you can see my nail line but this is quite a creme polish. I can't actaully remember if this is two coats or one thick one, it looks like it may be one so I think if I did two good coats, there would be no nail line showing through. 

There is no top coat on these nails and as you can see, they are very shiny and the consistency is really good. It has made me more open to collection 2000 and I think I need to stop being such a polish snob. The brush for this polish is quite wide and short in comparison to others but I think that the width helped me get a good line near my cuticle, plus, with the wider brush, more polish can probably be held which means that it wouldn't run out mid stroke. 

I think this is a good dusky pink and if you have any other dusky pink ish recommendations I'd love to know about them so I can build up my collection. 

Tattoo Writing

I was really quite excited to do these nails as I've never done lettering before and I really like the tattoo style writing. I do really like these nails but literally everything went wrong when I was doing these. I know most people do love hate nails when doing this writing but I didn't want to be doing different words and I'm not really a love hate person. I chose to do the word neon and use neon colours within each letter and also have an accent nail design on my thumb, that soon changed when I tried it.

So my left hand, apart from the thumb went swimmingly well, especially as I've never done it before. I used Essie Sand Tropez as my base coat, the first Essie I have bought by the way. I decided to just go for it because I knew that it was a great colour and I wasn't going to get anything as nearly as close so I splurged, even though I have spent more on a polish before but that was for a special colour as well. The black is Rimmel Black Cab and going from the thumb to the little finger the colours are Barry M Pure Turquoise, American Apparel Neon Green, Models Own Tangerine Queen, American Apparel Neon Yellow and Gosh Spot On! Pink.

On my thumb nail I was going to do the grunge acid wash look from Just Tis Ems which I absolutely love. I think that look is amazing and I've tried it before and it really didn't work but I thought, I've had more practice now, I'll try it again. It still didn't work, to epic proportions. I did it using the neon colours and it looked like a unicorn had been sick on my nail, and not in a good way. It didn't help that I added a flaky polish on top to mask the terrible colours, I've honestly never seen something look so bad. It was just plain awful. I then decided to put an exclamation mark on my thumb instead and I'm not sure it looks like one because it kind of reminds me of a sail.

When doing my right hand, I still wanted it to say neon and be readable from left to right however, I made a whoopsie and put the E on the wrong finger making it say Noen. It says neon if you read it from right to left but it makes me look like an idiot just having put the same letters on the same fingers rather than switching them which I really really meant to do. Having written noen on my right hand I went to put a topcaot on which led me to dip my little finger on my left hand into the pink and get it all over the nail. I managed to get most of it off without ruining it thank god. I then put the topcoat on none and smeared the black which makes me look like an illiterate sloppy person. And if you didn't think that was enough, as I went to take my photos, I ended up pushing the still wet nails so that my right hand index finger was all distorted which I tried to fix but didn't want to mess it up even more.

Anyway, the final result is a good one I think however, the journey I took to get there was a nightmare.

Fruit

I wanted to do some fun fruit nails, I've done strawberry nails before but that was when I didn't take any photos so I thought I'd go wild and do all different kinds of fruit! I know it's quite a summery design but I don't do dark and autumn nails so why not be fun and have fruit.

I used absolutely no acrylic paint in these nails which I am proud of, especially with the thin black lines. The base white colour is Barry M Matt White which I used on all the nails but the orange one as I wanted the colours to be opaque and to have no nail line show through which I knew would happen with my red. 

The apple is done with Barry M Bright Red and Yellow, Bloom Nicole in the centre, American Apparel Mousse as the stalk and Rimmel Black Cab as the outline and pips. The strawberry is done with Barry M Bright Red, Spring Green, Yellow and Rimmel Black Cab. The kiwi is Barry M NPG2 with Barry M Racing Green as the framing. The centre of the kiwi is Barry M Matt White, Yellow and Rimmel Black Cab. The grapes are a mixture of Barry M Bright Purple and Berry Ice Cream, the same combination I used for Little Miss Chatterbox which makes me think I need to buy a polish that is this colour as I am clearly in need of one. The stem/stalk of the grapes is American Apparel Mousse and all the black is Rimmel Black Cab. Finally the orange is Models Own Tangerine Queen with Barry M Block Orange as the framing and segment pieces. 

I am extremely pleased with my grapes as I don't think I've ever achieved such perfect circles when outlining and especially in black which I personally think is notorious for going gloopy quickly. 

Poison Dart Frogs

I wanted to do frog nail art but I didn't want to do too many frogs so chose to put them on a rainforest background and made the frogs colourful. I chose poison dart frogs as I like the fact that the colour stands out against the black however, I took elements of tree frogs to make the feet and the eyes more colourful.

I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as the base colour and then sponged on Rimmel Aqua Cool as the sky on all fingers but the little one. I used American Apparel Neon Yellow for the frog on the thumb with Models own Tangerine Queen on the feet and eyes. The frogs are outlined in black acrylic paint but the spots and eyes are Rimmel Black Cab. The rocks are American Apparel Echo Park with Barry M Grey as the outline and sponged on lightly. The leaves are American Apparel Neon Green and Barry M Spring Green. The red frog is Barry M Bright Red with the same black and orange as the yellow frog and the frog footprints on the little finger are Barry M Bright Red. 

Watercolour Painting

I wanted to do something quick and simple today so I decided to go for a watercolour is type look. 

I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as a base coat with Bloom Nicole on top as it's a really sheer colour and I wanted an easy way to have the cream colour show up. To get the colours to look how I wanted, I mixed a small amount of all of them with nail polish thinner so that they would overlap and not be too opaque. I used Gosh Spot On! Pink, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, Cobalt Blue, NPG2 and Bright Purple.

I think these would look nice with a small stud but as I do not have them and plan on buying them soon, I'll have to cope without the studs.

Mr Men and Little Miss

I have a thing for colour so I thought that Mr Men nails would be fun to wear. From the thumb across there is Mr Tickle, Little Miss Chatterbox, Mr Bump, Little Miss Naughty and Mr Happy.

The base colour is Barry M Matt White on all the nails and all the black is acrylic paint. On Mr Tickle there is Barry M Block Orange and Cyan Blue. Little Miss Chatterbox has an unknown Barry M pink colour that has no label on, American Apparel Neon Yellow and Cyan Blue. Mr Bump is Cyan Blue, Little Miss Chatterbox is a mixture of Barry M Berry Ice Cream and Bright Purple with Spring Green on the bow and Mr Happy is Barry M Yellow. 

The character that came out as my favourite has to be Little Miss Chatterbox despite the fact that Mr Happy is the classic Mr Men character.