Nail Fun - Splatter 31st July 2011

Nail Fun

Nail Fun is all about having fun with your nails.  Layering it, splattering it, making pretty patterns with it … it’s the most fun you can have on your own with a child in the house !!  J 

SPLATTER  FUN 31.07.11

So, let the official first Crumpet nail splatter begin J

The tools you need – base coat and top coat.  Lots of newspaper as this WILL make a mess.  At least 3 straws, and scissors to keep trimming the messy ends off.  Nail varnish remover.  Either an old top or a top you don’t mind attracting the odd bit of splatter! 

Colours – it’s all about contrast.  For my base colour I chose OPI’s Skull & Glossbones, an off-white colour.  And for my splatters, I chose 5 polishes by Zoya – Paige, Dawn, Demi, Mira and Quinn (this is the order they appear in on the left hand; I reversed the order for the right hand).

You'll see that all of the nails have splattered a little differently.  So, i have learnt - to create a great big blob splatter (such as the left middle finger or the right index finger) hold the straw really close to the nail and absolutely vertical - this means the nail varnish doesn't have far to drop and literally explodes.  To get the more squiggly splatters you need to blow from further away and at a slight angle - these are the ones that go EVERYWHERE.

 The purple one- MIRA - is my favourite, purely for the way it has splattered.  It also provides a great contrast to the base colour.

When I did the right hand, the purple landed ALL over the nail as I had the straw a little too close.  I managed to tone it down by splattering some of the base colour over the top and then dabbing it - just about rescued it I think.

And just to give you a laugh - this is what your hand looks like before you tidy it up with nail varnish remover.

Have fun - you CANNOT go wrong with a splatter mani, AND it's fun :) 

NAILS I LOVE - OPI - Skull & Glossbones

Nails I Love

Nails I Love is written to celebrate some of the most beautiful nail varnishes on earth and to help you choose which colours and styles will suit you. 

Each posting will feature details about the colour as well as photos.  I guarantee every photo will show the varnish as it looks on your fingers, otherwise, what’s the point ? 

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.

OPI – Skull & Glossbones

When I first saw the Pirates of the Caribbean Collection from OPI I was MASSIVELY disappointed.  Puky pastels are so not my thing and I might even have harrumphed.  However, the more I saw photos of them, the more they seemed appealing, and I eventually picked up a bargain set on eBay, partly so I could get my hands on silver shatter.

Once on the nail, my pastel-aversion was forgotten.  Super glossy and super gorgeous, they looked like pearls on the nail, and whilst I didn’t love all the colours, some became keepers …

And so to Skull & Glossbones which surprisingly is one of my favourites.  This is a high gloss crème in an off-white colour.  Slightly putty-ish, slightly beige, slightly newspaper-ish, this makes nails look like a million dollars.  Elegance in a bottle, it can’t be pigeon-holed.  There’s undoubtedly a little bit of green in there just to keep it the cool side of dull, but for a pastel – and an almost colourless pastel at that - this takes some beating.

Nail Fun - Splatter 1

Nail Fun

Nail Fun is all about having fun with your nails.  Layering it, splattering it, making pretty patterns with it … it’s the most fun you can have on your own with a child in the house !!  J 

SPLATTER  FUN FOR BEGINNERS !

So, I have been very intrigued by splatter manis, and have read lots of different tutorials.  There are a few ways to do it ….

For the first 3 you will need … newspaper (cos you’re gonna make a mess), and a straw.  I used a normal drinking straw which I cut to a shorter length.  Other tutorials have recommended even thinner straws, but I’m struggling to find them in my local Tescos!

You ARE going to make a mess, so you either need to be prepared to use a cotton bud and nail varnish remover to tidy up your nails OR, you can surround your nail with Sellotape, and then pull this off afterwards.

All of these 3 splatters have been done on top of 1 coat of OPI Skull & Glossbones – remember, you are trying to create drama, so you want a bottom coat that contrasts with the colours you are going to use.

Splatter 1 has been done with 2 ESSIE colours – Soiree Mauve and Smokin’ Hot.  I put a big blob of nail varnish on a scrap piece of paper, dunked the end of the straw in, and blew, quite close to the nail (when I tried blowing from further away, it went everywhere BUT the nail lol).    I quite like how this one looks, especially the overlap of the colours.

Splatter 2 was done differently.  This time I used the nail varnish brush to put the varnish INSIDE the straw – what can I say, I’m very impatient, and it took a LOT of blowing to do Splatter 1!  You can see straight away that this has a much more dramatic effect and plops much more colour on the nail.  If I could have been arsed, it might have been nice to use a different pink on top in the slower method.  I think using the 2 styles has promise.  I used OPI’s I’d Like To Thank for this one – it’s a metallic, and there’s a fabulous contrast where some bits went on thick, and others went on much lighter.

The 3^rd one is my favourite.  It’s just so dramatic and it LOOKS LIKE A FLOWER!  A gerbera to be precise, which is my fave flower of all.  This was done using PARIS by Nails Inc.  Again, I shoved this one INSIDE the straw, and because it’s thinner than the OPI, it flew onto the nail with spectacular effect.  I will definitely be doing this one soon for real.

Finally, I thought I’d show you another way to splatter.  This technique was in Kayla Shevonne’s blog post.  For this one, you drop a blob of colour on the nail and then use a dotting tool to spread the blob into a splatter pattern.  This can be tricky, as the spreading can go a bit streaky.  If you haven’t got a dotting tool you can use a pencil or a blunted cocktail stick.  You then use your tool to add another few dots.  You’re supposed to use at least 3 or 4 colours for this, but I think I did my blob too big!  Also, I have no idea how you’d do this to the nails on your right hand – could go very wrong !!

 I'm off to have more fun .......

NAILS I LOVE - Zoya - MIRA

Nails I Love

ZOYA – Mira

Ok, this has been the hardest nail varnish EVER to photograph and I’m still not convinced I’ve managed to take a photo that even resembles it, so you really do need to be Googling if you’re thinking about buying this one.

MIRA is another lush Zoya purple.  It’s a medium dark bright purple, very Royal, almost a Cadbury’s purple!  It’s a pure crème polish, no shimmer, no glitter, but very beautiful – just pig-difficult to photograph.

Like all Zoyas, this dried darker on the nail than it looks in the bottle.  In the bottle, it’s got quite a cold vibe going on, but on the nail it’s deeper and richer and a lot less blue.

This is the photo I am happiest with and which seems to capture the colour quite closely -

Another good photo, the thumb did look like this is real life and this also captures how the nail colour looks less blue than the bottle.

Last photo - shows the Crackle contrast really well, but you can see how blue the varnish photographed.  The little finger has an overcoat of OPI's I Lily Love You (although it's in a pink suspension, on Mira it provided a mainly blue kaleidoscopic glitter.)

NAILS I LOVE - Lippmann - RUBY RED SLIPPERS

Nails I Love

Nails I Love is written to celebrate some of the most beautiful nail varnishes on earth and to help you choose which colours and styles will suit you. 

Each posting will feature details about the colour as well as photos.  I guarantee every photo will show the varnish as it looks on your fingers, otherwise, what’s the point ? 

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.

DEBORAH LIPPMANN – Ruby Red Slippers

This is Lippmann’s legendary Ruby Red Slippers, a nail varnish that is fun, funky and totally redefines glamour.  Red glitter and sequins are suspended in a browny black base varnish.  Layer on to your heart’s desire for a look that is original, modern and the envy of your friends.  The red is bright and happy and although it’s not solid, catches the light to give an impression of jewelled nails.

I have used 2 coats, but to be honest 3 might have been better – this looks like red fire stars twinkling in the night sky.  The more you apply, the more depth you get to the red.  Sensational and unique.  A keeper.

NAILS I LOVE - Zoya - SUVI & EDYTA

Nails I Love

Nails I Love is written to celebrate some of the most beautiful nail varnishes on earth and to help you choose which colours and styles will suit you. 

Each posting will feature details about the colour as well as photos.  I guarantee every photo will show the varnish as it looks on your fingers, otherwise, what’s the point ? 

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.

ZOYA – Suvi & Edyta – Greens

I am not really a green girl if I’m honest.  Green is one of my favourite clothes colours, I have green eyes, I think they look awesome in the bottle, and then I put them on me and they just look…. wrong.  Which is a shame, because these are both brilliant colours.

SUVI is a peacock green (on my thumb, middle and little finger).  Its forest dark, but with flamboyant shimmer which brings out green glimmer when you bend it to the light.  It also has an oil slick vibe going on and happily changes colour, bringing out notes of gold, sludge brown and black.  Really dramatic and almost Victorian in its grandeur.

EDYTA (index and ring finger) is from the WICKED Collection and is a whole other ballgame.  This is a metallic antique dark green and I actually might keep this one as it’s really unique.  It has a dark sludge green base which is jam-packed with gold micro-glitter.  On the nail it all blends into a grungy green – quite fabulous.  

NAILS I LOVE - Zoya - HARLEY

Nails I Love

Nails I Love is written to celebrate some of the most beautiful nail varnishes on earth and to help you choose which colours and styles will suit you. 

Each posting will feature details about the colour as well as photos.  I guarantee every photo will show the varnish as it looks on your fingers, otherwise, what’s the point ? 

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.

ZOYA – Harley

HARLEY is from the Intimate Collection and is a super soft fluffy grey.  Really!  In the bottle, it looks to have a beigey undertone to it, but this disappears on the nail, although there is still something there giving it warmth.  It’s a beautifully soft colour with subtle underhints of mushroom and lilac lush.  This contains a massive amount of micro-shimmer which all adds to its plush effect. 

Lovely and subtle and with enough going on that it’s not remotely boring.