Nails Inc Concrete - Flame Art

Hi Goddesses

So last week I showed you the Nails Inc Concrete polishes - HERE.    At the time, I said nail art WAS possible with them, but that it had to be a certain type of nail art (having failed, I felt, with my soldiers, here).

THIS is why I love the Concretes.  I'm going to share with you how I did this mani, but most of all, just look at that finish - doesn't it look like it's an oil canvas ?  I don't know of any other way I could have gotten this effect.

This started out as a base of Monument, the horrible yellow polish.  I then gradiented with it, using Barry M Coral.   The unevenness of the base allowed for some cool gradienting effects, but it was also harder to control.

After that layer, I decided on the flame theme, and added some Barry M Blood Orange to the tips, to take the gradient darker.

I then stamped using Cheeky CH52.  As you can see, stamping isn't a guaranteed success on this bumpy base, but I love the overall effect.

So what do you think ?   As I said, it's the "oil canvas" style to the art that's appealing to me - it opens up so many doors of variety.

Have you bought any textured polishes yet ?  Are you ready to play with them ?

Enjoy xx :)

31DC Day 30 - Inspired By A Tutorial

Hi Goddesses

One of the things I love about the nail community is how inspiring they are.  There are so many amazing creative ladies doing amazing creative things with their manis, that days like this aren't difficult.  It's also part of the reason Monkey See, Monkey Do Mondays started - to honour and share the genius of nail bloggers.

Today's mani comes from a tutorial my beloved Sarah of Chalkboard Nails did in the summer - starfish nails.  Her mani was very different, both in colour choice and positioning, but what I loved was how simple her tutorial made the drawing of a starfish.  Previously, I'd have tried to draw a star - unsuccessfully probably - but thanks to Sarah, this is how it's done - 

Since then, I'd seen versions of this in more traditional colours, and I loved the vibrant clash of the turquoise and coral, so that's what I aimed for.

The night I did this, it wasn't my plan to at all, but the minute KBShimmer Proud Peacock landed on my nails, my head couldn't think of anything other than a seabed.

Proud Peacock is a gorgeous aqua blue jelly, laden with multi-blue coloured glitters.  I think I used 2 coats here, and I loved how at that moment, it had blueness, but also transparency, just like exotic seas.

So, then I did my starfish, using Sarah's simplified shape-building and Barry M Coral.  There's something about coral on blue that just POPS.   The lighter dots were done with Models Own Fuzzy Peach.

Overall, I really love this mani.  No, the starfish aren't perfect, but overall the colours work and the theme works. So thanks Sarah for breaking it down to a level even a splodger like me can understand!

Enjoy xx :)

31DC Day 27 - Inspired By Artwork

Hi Goddesses

As a self-declared splodger, it really shouldn't surprise you which direction I took today :)  I was Googling around, looking for something funky yet random, when I found this -

And I likeyed.  A lot.  In the end, it was harder to do than I anticipated, mainly because a nail is not as large as a canvas lol, but I do wish I had done the pattern across all the nails, rather than individually on 5 nails.

In the process though I used my Sally Hansen Nail Art pen for the first time and we are soooooo indecently in love we need an 18 rating.   I can't believe it's taken me ppppffff  15/16 months of nail art before I knew of its existence, but now that I have found her, I am not letting go!

The base for this mani was the stunning Zoya Megan, which will be coming to a Work Wear Wednesday near you soon.   I then created my pattern with my white pen, and coloured in, using a thin dotting tool and the following colours - 

Barry M - Turquoise, Mint Green, Indigo, Coral, Bright Pink, Bright Purple

Overall, this mani has got some POW but I don't think I've quite captured the original.  That said, it's exactly the sort of random nail art that I adore.

Fresh, funky and colourful.

Enjoy xx :)

Barry M - The Orange to Yellow Spectrum

Nails I Love

BARRY M – Coral, Block Orange, Peach Melba, Lemon Ice Cream, Gold

Hi Goddesses

Here we have 5 different Barry Ms, all similar in spectrum, for a lovely happy skittle!

On the thumb, we have CORAL – a pinky peachy orange – and usually a colour I hate.  To be fair, this isn’t too bad, and is nice and bright, with probably more emphasis on the orange tone.

On the index finger – BLOCK ORANGE.  Now, I Do Not Like Orange on nails, but I love this colour!  It just is what it is – orange – with the dial of intensity turned up to 11.  Very bright, very deep, not at all neon or nasty.

Middle finger is PEACH MELBA, a .. peachy colour J   Again, not a colour I like on me, but there is a lovely dreamy creamy quality to this.  It is quite bright, and there’s a teeny pink tone going on as well.

Ring – Lemon Ice Cream.  Can I tell you how many times I have ever worn yellow nail varnish ? None, lol.  It’s just not me, but again, for what it is, this is really nice.  Lovely and creamy, not too pale, not too bright, no nasty neonness going on – this is lovely and subtle yet not bland.

Little finger – GOLD.  A gold metallic, trillions of tiny particles suspended in a clear base.  Amazingly smooth coverage, and a reasonable sparkle factor.

The skittles then got glitter skittled.  There’s some great combinations here.

Thumb – CG Snow Globe – really brings out the bright, happy qualities of CORAL.

Index – I am LOVING THIS !!!  This is BLOCK ORANGE with a top coat of CG White Cap.  I love it!  The gold works perfectly with the orange.  I would actually wear this.

Middle – some OPI Rainbow Connection over the Peach Melba – very much adds to the ice cream sprinkle feel of the polish

Ring – how could I resist?  I had to put Wet n Wild Tangled in My Web over LEMON ICE CREAM.  Doesn’t it look great ?

And finally, some Color Club COVERED IN DIAMONDS over the GOLD.

This is not a mani I would wear at all, but I think they look lovely in combination.

Enjoy xx J

J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.