Lilac to Blue Gradient

I love gradient nails.  They're quick to do and dry quickly as a plus and they're always my go to nail art when I'm stuck for other ideas.  You can use whatever colours you fancy and some of the best gradients I've seen about are with some of the most obscure colours, that you'd never think of putting together.

I like to play it safe though, so for tonight's gradient I used Ciate's Ferris Wheel and Sugar Plum.  These are beautiful pastel colours and look stunning together.

I applied two coats of Ferris Wheel then used a make-up sponge to apply the gradient.  It only took a couple of goes to get this nice coverage.

I then topped it off with Nail Lacquer UK's Brony Me (which is actually Saz's).  I have to give it back next weekend, so wanted to get another go of it before I relinquished it.

Sadly, AJ at Nail Lacquer UK has decided to close up shop (which is very very sad news - as you all know, I'm a massive fan of her polishes).  If you'd like a chance to get your paws on some of her polishes don't forget to enter my giveaway - there's only a few more days left!

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Blue Studs!

Just a quick post from me today just before life gets a little hectic again!

Last week I was filming on set and tried to keep my nails basic (but still nice) with easy to repeat designs just incase of chippage.  If you're filming for a few days in a row, everything about you has to stay the same for continuity - to make sure that odd person doesn't complain that you, although in the deep background of a shot) was wearing pink one second and blue the next.

So I used one of my new Ciate polishes (which has fast become one of my favourites because it's so versatile) - Ferris Wheel.  I dug out a stud wheel and matched some studs on my accent nail to do a basic, but lovely design.

I can't handle boring one colour nails any more unless I'm just swatching!!

P.S My giveaway is still running!  Don't forget to apply!

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Tri-Polish Tuesday: January Week 3

This is my final January Tri-Polish Tuesday manicure, so the final time I'll be using Red, Yellow and Orange.  I wanted to do something special so I decided to go for a fiery manicure.

I painted every nail bar my thumb and pointer with China Glaze Stone Cold from their Hunger Games range.  I then free-handed the flames using the same Red, Yellow and Orange that I've used throughout January - Ciate's Boudoir and Hopscotch and Barry M's Limited Edition Yellow.

Once my freehand flames were finished, I used a small brush dipped in acetone to try and make them look wispy.  I then highlighted the base of the flames using China Gaze's Electricity - also from their Hunger Games range.  I finished the whole manicure off with two coats of Poshe.

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Pink Sparkly Leopard Print Nails

If you follow me on Instagram , you'll see that I managed to get my paws on a half price Ciate Advent Calendar so I decided to use it through January.  It's definitely got me through January.

The final polish, for day 24, was a beautiful pink sparkly glitter called Serendipity.  Straight away I knew I had to use it.

First I painted all my nails with Barry M white, apart from my pointer on which I used Dragon Fruit.  I then applied two coats of Serendipity.

However, I felt that this still wasn't enough and the manicure was missing something.  My colleague Louise had Leopard Print nails so I decided to use these as inspiration.

I freehanded Dragon Fruit "splodges" onto my nails then topped these with Serendipity.  I then freehanded the black outline.

P.S I'm having a Giveaway - there's still time to enter to win some fantastic Nail Lacquer UK polishes!

P.P.S So is Nail Art Novice.

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Tri-Polish Tuesday: January Week 2

So I accidentally missed last week's Tri-Polish Tuesday because I went to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the Tuesday night.  Although the nails were all painted, I didn't get home in time to write about them.  It's saved me having to do a manicure this week though, so really it's all worked out fine!

I used exactly the same polishes as I did last time around (here's my last post here - with a reminder of the rules).  These were Barry M Limited Edition Yellow and Ciate Boudoir and Hopscotch.  I also used white this time around.

So I applied two coats of Barry M's White then once it was dry, used masking tape then sponged a gradient over.  This worked in some places but not in others!  After cleaning up, I applied two coats of insta-dry!

I love this effect but I wish it looks like a gradient on all the nails.  Also, the masking tape didn't quite work and blurred some of the lines.  I tried to top this up with my Barry M nail art pen to make it look neater.  Has anyone got any better alternatives?

You may have noticed I have a new look blog.  I really love it but I'd also love to get your feedback!  Let me know what you think! :-)

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Tri-Polish Tuesday: January Week 1

Last year I was involved in a year long challenge, which I mostly managed to complete.  This year, I've tried to look for something that's not so limiting and will help encourage me to try different things and designs.  So I joined the Crumpet's Nail Tarts facebook group and decided to take part in their challenges.

The first one this year is the Tri-Polish Tuesday challenge.  The rules are pretty simple:

• Post every Tuesday (although you don't have to post every week) starting 7th January.
• Three colours will be chosen for each month and you post up to four manis using those three colours, plus the allowed extra colours of black, white, silver, gold and glitter toppers.
• You don't have to stick to the same three polishes for the whole month, as long as you stick to the three chosen colours and allowed extras.
• At least one mani must contain all three colours, while the others must contain at least two of the chosen colours.

So easy peasy! 

This month's colours are Red, Orange and Yellow.  I've got loads of ideas for this month but I'd thought I'd start off with a simple dotticure.  I used Barry M's Limited Edition Yellow, then Ciate Boudoir and Hopscotch from my advent calendar.  I forgot to take a photo of the yellow - oops!

I applied two coats of Barry M White as a base then used a dotting tool to dot the different colours.  I was going to do all shapes and sizes and patterns but they just kind of happened this way and I kind of like it!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Challenge Week 27: Bling Nails

I love everything bling, I'm a real magpie for sparkly things but I struggled a bit to think of something different to do for this manicure.  But then I spotted these fab nail stickers in Claire's (but in blue) and had to pick them up.  They were only £3.50!

I'd also picked up the free Ciate Caviar set in a magazine recently and decided to combine the two.

Unfortunately, the pictures aren't the best, I must have been having an off day! :-(

An InLinkz Link-up

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