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.

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.

Nail Art Practise

I had a bit of spare time and decided to try a new nail art design. I recreated a design by All Nails Everything. I  used  Gel Nail Polish colours but you could absolutely use regular nail polish for this design. Here is how I recreated the design.

Step by Step Nail Design

Step 1: After applying your basecoat apply a couple of coats of white polish until opaque.

Step 2: Fill in the top corners near the cuticle with black polish as pictured. For this I used a small detailing brush.

Step 3: Paint in five lines roughly then thicken them to be more like elongated triangles as pictured. I used the same detailing brush for this step. These do not have to be perfect, we can fix any mistakes in the next step. My black lines are thicker than the original design, if you want finer lines you can do so. This step could also be done by taping off the areas you want left white but I do not like this method because it can be quite fiddly and does not always give crisp lines.

Step 4: Now go in with your detailing brush and white polish to perfect the lines and make sure the black triangles come to a point at the top of the nail.

Step 5: Time for a second coat on all the black areas. If you make any mistakes or you are not happy with your lines keep switching between the black and white polishes perfecting your lines, making sure to cure the colours between each layer. If I had been doing this design on a real nail I would have continued perfecting my lines because as you can see they are not perfect.

Step 6: Apply a colour of your choice, I chose this coral/ peach shade, in a V shaped french covering the ends of your black triangles. Repeat this step until the colour is opaque.

Step 7: Attach a nail stud to the top of the nail in the white area, I used a gold square stud because I have no triangle studs like the original design. I used clear top coat to attach the stud.

Step 8: Remove the tacky layer and add striping tape in a V shape where the coral/peach shade overlaps the rest of the nail.

Step 9:Apply top coat over the striping tape to help it stay on longer.

Step 10: Top coat the entire nail and you are done.

I hope to try out some of the other designs in the original manicure soon.

Christmas Mosaic Nails

 I found it really hard to decide what I wanted on my nails this Christmas. I wasn't feeling the literal approach (Santa hats, reindeer, snowmen etc.) I had just done a lovely set of white and gold Christmas nails on my friend and they were gorgeous but I didn't want to copy.

I had also just taken part in the Neiru fine lines workshop and was wanting to try out some new techniques. I decided to try out mosaic nails but make them Christmas themed by using red, green and gold.

Mosaic Nails are relatively easy to do and can be adjusted to suit your abilities. If you find it difficult just make your lines thicker, if you find it easy aim for the thinnest lines possible. I did do this design with gel nail polish but I am sure it could also be done with regular polish or acrylic paint.

Christmas Mosaic Nails

I will give a brief rundown of how to do mosaic nails but if you want a more in depth look at how i did my Christmas nails check out the video below.

I started with base coat then applied a nude pink colour as my base so I would have to do less coats when filling in my shapes. Next I took a fine liner brush and painted lines on my nail, some straight, some curved. Intersecting at different points. It's up to you the shapes you want to create and also how many shapes you want on you nail. Make sure not to make the shapes too small otherwise it is harder to colour them in.

After the white outline is set its really just colouring in. Like I said I chose red, green and gold for Christmas but you can use whatever you like. I counted the shapes and tried to divide the colours evenly but I also didn't want any touching shapes to be the same colour. When filling in the shapes you can correct any of the white lines that are too thick.

After the shapes have been coloured in, you may need more than one coat, I traced over the white lines perfecting them as much as possible. Then topcoat and the design is complete.

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 12 - Valentines Day Nails

Here are my Valentines Day inspired nails. They didn't turn out exactly as I pictured them in my head but I thought I'd share them anyway. I ended up just doing a custom blended pink and accent glitter nail on my right hand.

I started with applying to coats of base colour, pink on the pointer and pinky, white on the middle finger. I then made a gradient. White to pink on the middle finger and reverse on the pointer and pinky.

On the ring finger I mixed some gold glitter with some pink glitter to make it fit in with the theme a little better.

I painted one heart on the pointer, middle and pinky fingers in the original base pink.

I painted some roses using the colours I used in the gradient on my ring finger.

On my thumb I did three coats of white and then painted on a heart on the original pink.

If you have any questions on this design or would like a more in depth tutorial let me know.

Day 8 - My go to Face MakeUp

Today's post is all about my go to every day face make up. This is the base for my daytime looks, I start with this base and then add my other makeup depending on how much time I have available.

This base takes me no longer than 5 minutes and looks great finished off with just mascara and lipgloss, maybe some eyebrows if you have fair brows like me.

Lets get into what I do. I start with my morning skincare routine, then I apply Nutrimetics Liquid Cover concealer on to any redness, blemishes or under eye circles and I blend this out very well because the shade I have is a fraction too dark for me at the moment. Next I buff on a layer of Nutrimetics Velvet Finish Mineral Foundation to even out the rest of my skin tone, you may notice in the first photo I have a lot of redness in my skin, I use a yellow toned powder to counter act this. If you have good skin, you may be able to skip the concealer step and just use the powder. And that is all. Simple and easy, two products and one brush is all you need. I used the real techniques buffing brush but you can use your favourite.

From here I add mascara, brows and lip gloss if I am in a rush, or I add more if I have the time. Today I had quite a lot of spare time so I chose to do a little extra, which you can look forward to seeing in a future post.

You can buy the two products I used here in a kit with a kabuki brush. I have tried the kabuki brush and it is not my favourite, it is not as soft as I would like. You can also buy these products separately but I can't find a link.
Edited to add you can purchase Nutrimetics products separately by browsing the online catalogue here.

F.O.T.D Friday: Purple and Gold Eye

Purple and Gold Eye

I started by applying the DB Moisturising primer with my hands.

Next I applied Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff with a Real Techniques Buffing brush.

Next I filled in my eyebrows using the Rimmel eyeshadow in Dusk with an angled brush and then set them in place with the LA Colors clear mascara.

Next I placed LA Colors Loose Eyeshadow in Sunshine all over my lid.

I then applied LA Colors Loose Eyeshadow in Radient to my crease with a fluffy brush and blended it out.

I then highlighted my brow and inner corner with a yellow toned highlight colour.

Next I applied La Colors Eyeliner in White under my lower lash line as a base for the purple.

Then using a damp pointed shadow brush I applied a purple shadow on top of the white liner and blended it out a little bit.

Next I tightlined my eyes with a black eyeliner pencil.

I then applied Revlon Growluscious Mascara to my top lashes and Maybelline Great Lash to my lower lashes.

I then went back to the skin and powdered my face with Rimmel Stay Matte.

I then bronzed/contoured my face with the LA Colors pressed powder in Cocoa.

I then applied a pale pink blush.

Then onto the lips I lined my lips with LA Colors lip liner in Pinky and topped that with LOL lipstick in Kiss Kiss.

Next I went back and lined my waterline with a black pencil before applying false eyelashes. I then blended the lash band by applying Maybelline Gel liner in Blackest Black.

And here is the video if you want to watch how I applied it. Please excuse the bad editing, singing and weird faces that I make at the end of the video.

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.