Realistic Stone Marble | Gel Polish Nail Art

This is quite a hard one to explain in words, I will try to break it down, step by step. I highly recommend checking out the video at the bottom of this post if my written instructions do not make this technique very clear.

Gel Polish Stone Marble Nail

Step 1 : Apply base colour, in my case 2 coats of white curing each layer completely.

Step 2 : Apply a coat of top coat. DO NOT CURE.

Step 3 : Using a fine detail brush draw in thin lines using a dark grey gel polish. DO NOT CURE.

Step 4 : Dip the same brush in a little bit of ispropyl alcohol and start to blend the lines in a wiggling motion, hard to describe, see video for visual demonstration. Once happy, cure.

Step 5: Repeat steps 2 to 4 using white gel polish instead of the grey. You can also add in a little extra grey if you want. Once happy, cure.

Step 6 : You can now repeat the steps again or topcoat and you are finished.

Check out the video for a better explanation of the technique.

Nail Art Basics | Chevron/Zig Zag Design | Gel Nail Polish

Hand Painted Chevron/Zig Zag Design

If you want to know how I hand paint chevrons, check out my newest video.

If you have any requests for nail art videos please leave them in a comment.

Nail Art Experiment | Sketched Flowers | Gel Polish Nail Art

Because I don't want to redo my nails every week I thought I would do some nail art experimentation posts/videos for the weeks that I have not done my nails. For this design I took inspiration from a picture on pinterest.

With these Nail Art Experimentation posts the nail art may not always turn out as my best work but they are a good way to try new techniques and combinations.

Sketched Flowers | Hand Painted Gel Polish Nail Art

I can't say these flowers are my favourite but I think they ended up not too dissimilar from the inspiration pic. It is definitely harder to create nail art from inspiration rather than just straight copying another nail photo.

If you want to watch how I did this nail art, please watch the video below.

I hope you found my experimentation interesting.

Spring Flowers with Holo Glitter | Gel Polish Manicure

I decided to record myself doing my nails. This wasn't mean as a tutorial more of a nail GRWM but you may learn something from this video. Sadly the video quality is not as good as I had hoped because the colour keeps changing but I think you can still see what I am doing. I hope my next attempt at a nail video goes better. I am hoping to record my own nails every time that I do them and also throw in a few quick nail art experiment videos in between.

Anyway here are the nails I did, I have kept it really simple because I couldn't decide what to do. I wanted to use my new colours and also my new holographic glitter.

Spring Flowers with Holo Glitter Nail Art.

This manicure could easily be recreated in regular polish although I would probably skip out on the loose glitter and use a glitter polish instead.

If you want to watch how I did these nails, here s the video.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to add them as a comment.

Hallowen 2015

This year I had a party to attend so I wen all out with my Halloween costume, Int the past I have generally just played with makeup and worn regular clothes because I had no where to go. I tried a little bit harder with my outfit this year although I think it is still evident that I put more time and effort in to the make up.

I have recorded myself getting ready, it is by no means perfect but definitely an improvement on previous years and I hope I will only continue to improve next year.

The two more yellow photos were taken with the flash on and the top right photo was no flash

My 2015 Zombie Look

This is a zombie look I did in 2013. Do you think I have improved?

Zombie 2013 

You can watch how I got my 2015 Halloween look here:

3 Ways to use Glitter with Gel Nail Polish

3 types of Gl Polish Glitter Nails

All of these techniques can be varied by using different polish colours and glitter colours. You can choose to use the same colour polish and glitter or use a different coloured polish and glitter. This looks especially good with method 1 using your manicure colour as the base polish and adding a gold or silver on top. Also with method 2 a black base and silver glitter look nice together. I think I also need to add that the photos do these nails no justice, it is so difficult to get a good shot of glitter.

Sheer Gel Polish Glitter Nail

1. Sheer Glitter Nail
For this method start by applying your basecoat and two coats of colour polish curing between layers, if your colour is not opaque apply more layers. On a palette place a drop of top or base coat and add loose glitter of your desired colour and mix together. Then apply this mixture to the nail, I like to use a dabbing method as it gives more even coverage. Then cure the glitter layer. You can stop here and apply top coat or you can add another layer of the glitter mixture if you want more glitter. Once you have applied your final top coat check to make sure there are no rough areas, if there are then buff the nail and apply another layer of top coat.

Medium Coverage Gel Polish Glitter Nail

2. Medium Coverage Glitter Nail
For this method you want to start the same way as the first method, apply your basecoat and 2 colour coats curing between layers. Get your glitter on a fluffy brush and press the glitter into the sticky inhibition layer. Then cure in your lamp. Now gently dust off ant loose glitter and apply a top coat. Remove the sticky layer and buff the nail before applying a final top coat.

Full Coverage Gel Polish Glitter Nail

3. Full Coverage Glitter Nail
For this method apply your base coat and one coat of colour polish and cure between layers. Next add a second coat of colour but before curing pour on your glitter until it covers the whole nail, shake off any excess and cure in you lamp. Now brush off any loose glitter, apply a top coat and cure. Next remove the sticky layer and buff the nail before applying a final top coat.








Gel Polish Glitter Nails are so easy to do and add such a great accent to any manicure. The colour combinations are endless. I hope these steps made sense, if anyone would like me to elaborate or make a video tutorial please let me know.

Braided Nail Art Gel Polish Manicure

Braided Gel Nail Polish Design

Another post starting the same way as always, sorry for not posting in a very long time. I really have no excuse so I'm not going to try make one.

Here is a set of nails I did on myself. I find it hard to describe how to do designs just using photos, so I though I would record myself doing the design. It was my first time doing a braided design and also my first time filming this way. The video isn't the best and I can definitely improve on a few things, like getting closer to the fingers. But hopefully the video gives you an idea of how to do a braided nail design with gel nail polish.

Happy watching. :)

Day 26 - Eyebrow Tinting

It has been quite awhile since I last tinted my eyebrows and I have been spending quite a lot of day make up free recently, so I thought I would tint my brows and show you some photos.

I am aware that that the before photo is blurry but I didn't notice until now and obviously I can't retake it now.

In the first photo is my naked face and natural brows, in the second I have the tint mixture on my brows, in the third photo I have just removed the tint and in the fourth photo I waxed my brows and I applied mascara to show how it looks.

I know my brows my look a little dark but the colour fades in the first couple of days because at first the skin under the hair is also tinted but as you wash your face, the tint comes off your skin and the brows look less dramatic. For this reason I always go a little darker than I think I should but you can experiment and see what works best for you.

If you would like to read how to tint your brows read on.

You want to start by cleansing your brows to remove any oil that will prevent the tint from sticking. I just wipe them with toner.

Next, using a cotton bud and some vaseline, mark off the areas you don't want tinted. Basically outline your brows with vaseline.

You now want to mix up your tinting solution following the directions that come with your product.

Now apply the tint to your brows making sure to rub in both directions so that you get down to the root of the hair.

Next clean up your lines using a cotton bud to wipe off any tinting mixture that is not where you want it.

Now let it develop on your brows for 2 - 3 minutes, then remove with a damp cotton pad. If your brows are not dark enough reapply for another 2 minutes or until desired colour is achieved. I left mine on for about 6-7 minutes. If it is your first time it is better to have to apply a few times than leave it on too long and your brows go too dark. Remember you can always darken but you can not lighten.

Make sure all tint is removed and you are done. You can now go on and shape your brows how you would like.

Mint and White Heart French Manicure

Long time, no blog. Feels like I start every post with something along those lines and a promise to post more frequently from now on. No such promise this time, I will do the best I can to post more often but I will most likely fail to do so. 

The upside to being absent for so long, I have plenty of photos of nail designs that I can now share with you. Instead of lumping them all together in one post, as I have done previously, I thought I would give more detailed explanations of each design in their own separate posts.

This first design is using three polishes, a white (Orly White Out), a minty green (Orly Gumdrop, is slightly more minty in person) and an optional glitter polish I used Wasabi. I can't remember the brand name of the glitter polish, but if anyone needs to know I can search it out for you.

I start with basecoat as always then apply a few coats of Orly Gumdrop, you can use any colour you prefer. Then using the white polish draw to semi circle shapes at the tip of the nail overlapping in the centre, creating the heart or lip french. This shape of french is very easy to do because the brush does most of the work for you. You may need to do two coats of the white if the colour underneath is showing through. You could stop here if you want to, but I chose to continue and using a dotting tool and the same white polish I added a few white dots along the line of the heart tip.

You may see in the photo I added a few rhinestones, which you may like to do also, although I prefer the design with out. At the time of this manicure I had on some very grown out acrylics which I was being lazy about removing so I added the rhinestones to disguise the acrylic nail which was most obvious on my ring finger.

I know that was a very rambly explanation, so if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.

Manicure Monday: Nude and Dotty

After 14 days of wear

Before I get on to this weeks manicure I wanted to show how my last manicure went. The photo on the right is my manicure after 14 days. It is a little grown out and there is some chipping on both of my index fingers. but overall I would say it has worn well. I could easily fix up the corner of my index fingers and it would still be an acceptable manicure if I was in a rush. The manicure stayed relatively chip free until around day 10 when the index fingers chipped. I did not take any extra care of this manicure, I left it as it was when I finished it.

Nude and dotty

Today's manicure is fairly simple although it requires patience.

After I had removed my old polish, I quickly manicured my nails before applying basecoat.

Next I applied two coats of Revlon Nude Chic to all of my nails. This colour is actually slightly pinker than in the photos.

After letting this dry at least 90%, I made a vertical line of dots down the centre of my ring finger using a dotting tool and pink and white nail polish. You could choose any colours that you prefer.

I then continued to fill my entire nails with vertical lines of pink and white dots. I did two pink dots in each column. I tried to make it random but a lot of my pink dots ended up in line diagonally.

I chose to only do the dots on my ring finger because I lack patience and couldn't be bothered to do it to all my nails, but if you have the time and you like that look, then you could.

It is important to make sure that the dots have completely dried before adding topcoat because if they aren't they may blur and the finished product will not look as crisp.

I think this is a great way to add something interesting to a nude manicure. It doesn't take much skill although a steady hand can help, but so long as you take your time, anyone can do this.

F.O.T.D Friday: Navy Blue Intense Eye Tutorial

Intense Navy Eye

This F.O.T.D. is a little different, normally I will be doing my make up for work or going out somewhere and choose to document it for my blog. This time I was bored and thought I'd have a play doing something more intense.

I started the same way as last week applying the Designer Brands Moisturising primer with my hands.

I then applied my Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush.

Next I sprayed my face with the Australis Finishing Spray and pressed it into my foundation.

You could powder your face at this point, I forgot so I didn't do it until the end but I used the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Transparent.

I then applied the darkest colour from the Revlon Illuminance Creme Eyeshadow in Electric Pop to my lid and blended out the edge into the crease.

I then applied a bright blue eyeshadow to my lid.

I then took a slightly deeper blue and blended it in the crease and outer V to act as a transition colour. I chose to build up the colour with this look, so that I didn't go too dark too fast.

I then blended the edge with a clean fluffy brush.

Next I added an even darker blue to the crease and outer V. I went back into the transition blue and blended the top edge.

I then used a black with blue shimmer in the crease and outer V into the outer edge of the lower lash line.

I then used the same shadows under the eye.

I added under eye concealer to help shape the lower shadow. I used Wendy Hill's A Good Nights Sleep.

I also highlighted my inner corner with a pale blue.

I then went on and filled in my brows before coming back to smudge a covergirl black pencil liner into the lash line. I smudged over it with the black with blue shimmer.

I then lined my waterline and tightline with Maybelline Gel Liner in Black.

I then added Revlon Growluscious Mascara.

I foinished the face with my LA Colors Contour Powder and a pale pink blush and also a highlight.

I then wore a nude lip using L.A. Colors lipliner in Nude, Wendy Hill lipstick in Au Naturel and a nude gloss from Models Prefer.

Please watch the video to see exactly where I placed the eyeshadow. Sorry it is a bit long but feel free to skip throught to the bits you want to see.

Manicure Monday: Nail Care Routine and Nail Art Tutorial

Pink and green nail art

To make up for missing last weeks Manicure Monday, today is a double whammy. I am doing a step by step nail care routine and also a nail tutorial for this look.

First off, let's start with nail care.
Step 1: Trim nails with nail clippers. You only need to do this if you are wanting to shorten your nails dramatically. Make sure not to cut your nails too short.
Step 2: Using a fine grit nail file, file your nails to remove sharp edges and get the exact nail edge you want. This is the point where you can make your nails round, square, pointy etc.
Step 3: Remove excess cuticle. See the video for my rant about what you can use to soften your cuticles.
Step 4: Trim off any hang nails.
Step 5: Buff your nails to remove ridges if you have any. You can skip this step if you want to.
Step 6: Remove any oil from your nails using a cotton pad with nail polish remover on it. This is an important step because if oil is left on the nail, the nail polish will not bond with the nail and it will not last.

Now on to the nail tutorial.
Step 1: Apply a base coat. This will help your manicure last longer and prevent staining.
Step 2: Apply the colour you want for your border all over your nail. I chose O.P.I. Kiss me on my Tulips. I only needed one coat to get the opacity I wanted. If you need to apply two coats, go ahead and do that.
Step 3: Make sure your border colour is dry and then go in with your middle colour. I chose O.P.I Fly. Apply this like you did the first colour but leaving a 2 to 3 mm border of your first colour at the cuticle and side walls. Let this dry and then apply another coat to reach your desired opacity.
Step 4: You can at this point choose to leave it as it is or make a full border by painting your first colour on the tip of your nail as though doing a very thin french manicure. I chose not to.
Step 5: After making sure your nails are at least 90% dry, apply a top coat. Then once it is dry, your manicure is complete.

I would like to add a little disclaimer about the video. This is the first time I have ever recorded myself on camera and you may notice I stumble over my words and ramble quite a lot, so please do not judge. Also the pink does not show up true to colour in the video, it is an almost neon pink. The photo does it more justice.




The files I used in this video are here. And here is the buffer and cuticle pusher.

Manicure and Tutorial

This is what I have on my nails right now, it's really easy so I thought I would share it with you.

Step 1. Always start with clean freshly manicured nails and remove any grease from the nail plate with nail polish remover

Step 2. Apply your favourite base coat to protect your nails and make your manicure last longer. I am using O.P.I Nail Envy.

Step 3. Pick two nail polish colours, they can be contrasting or complementary. You can even use just one colour. I have chosen Orly Purple Crush (pink polish) and O.P.I Fly (blue-green polish).

Step 4. Using a thin nail art brush and a black acrylic paint brush two stripes onto each nail in a cross shape. The crosses can be different on each nail or the same if you prefer. You can use black nail polish for the crosses if you have it. If you want really crisp lines you can tape off your nails in the cross shape. I don't use tape because your nails must be completely dry before putting tape onto the polish.

Step 5. Apply your favourite topcoat and enjoy.

Don't worry if your crosses don't look perfect close up, I always look at my nails from arms length and if they look good from there I'm good to go.

My birthday nails

Here are my nails inspired by the dress that I plan to wear out on my birthday. Sorry if there are too many photos but I wanted to show every step. When doing my own nails I try to simplify the pattern as much as possible because I am not ambidextrous.

My inspiration.

The colours I used.

Always apply a basecoat before painting your nails.
I used OPI Nail Envy.

Two coats of Revlon Pure Pearl and one coat of Nailene Acrylic Strong Topcoat.
Make sure this is completely dry before continuing with the nail art.

After applying two stripes of OPI Red to each nail.

After applying two stripes of LA Colors Static Electricity to each nail.

After applying two stripes of LA Colors Gold Glitter to each nail.

After applying one stripe of LA Colors Silver glitter to each nail.

Finished nails with Nailene Acrylic Strong Topcoat

That is how I did my nails. Just click on the pictures to enlarge them. Any questions just ask.