Nail Fun - The Cling Film Splatter Marble Mani

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 

CLING FILM SPLATTER-MARBLE

So, splattering I love, and I play away to my heart’s content, and marbling I love but oooooh no no no no no cannot master.  Grrrrrr.  Then, last night as I was falling asleep I had a master idea ….

The plan was to splodge various blobs of colour on the nail, and then squash them down with cling film so that they bled into each other, creating something a little more random than a marble, and a little bit more “spread” than a splatter.  And actually, it didn’t go badly at all ….

So, step one – apply base coat and blob your nail.  Blobs should not be too small else they won’t bleed into each other, and partly you’re trying to achieve some sort of artful swirly mess !

Next, press down with a small strip of cling film.  This does require care – you can leave fingerprints in the varnish if it’s too thin (although that did look cool too).  A tried to avoid leaving fingerprints by prodding with a pencil, but that tended to lift off the colour AND the base coat, so Don’t Do That !

You’re then left with a lovely splodge on your cling film which you can then apply to the next nail … clever huh.

Mostly, I was experimenting with fire colours, and it still needs some finessing.  But it’s a good start.  On Monday I’ll show you how it looked when I wowed it up into a finished look J

Happy nailing J

NAILS I LOVE - OPI - Not Like The Movies

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 – Not Like The Movies

I personally don’t feel OPI have had many “wow” moments in the last year.  I think they have launched some pretty colours, but are at risk of becoming a bit samey.  The truly iconic polishes are few and far between, and they are being out-sighed by the more adventurous brands.

Not Like The Movies however, remains a classic.  It’s a Stop The World nail polish, one you HAVE to own, and one that you find yourself just staring at all day, often with drool.

Released in the Katy Perry Collection, Movies is an amazing identity mess of a colour.  A grey green lilac fawn duochrome with shimmer, this looks like petrol in the bottle, and continually takes your breath away.  It genuinely bends with the light and manages to be both subtle and dramatic at the same time.

I love it, can’t get enough of it, will keep it in my collection forever.  I love that this is amazing without any effort whatsoever.  If you can’t be bothered to do something special with your nails, just pulling this beauty on will do all the work for you.

Just for fun, I then thought I’d crackle every shade out of it and something REALLY interesting happened.  The red crackle?  In certain lights ?  It turns pink!!

PS what the hell do you call this tip wear Sally Hansen - 2 hrs after applying your top coat !!  harrumph

Happy nailing J  Let me know your comments – I’m always interested to know what you think!

Nail Fun - 27 polishes, an 8 yr old, one hour and 1 Momma!

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 

The “Beth”

So, in a rare moment of agreeable mumliness, I had agreed that Beth could do my nails in the holidays.  For those of you who don’t know her, Beth is 8 and a mini me.  I’ll admit, I expected her to use almost every polish I own, for the layer of varnishes to be at least an inch thick on every nail and for me to be ITCHING to rub it all off.

But, you know, she’s good my daughter, and amazingly, she came up with some COOL designs.  The thing I loved the most was her care and attention to detail – she rarely went outside the lines, treated the polishes like the goddesses they are, and although she did try to use 5 polishes on every nail, she’d thought it through, and knew exactly what to dab where.  Yes, she was a dabber.  A super delicate, tongue-slightly-sticking-out, don’t breathe dabber.  Bless her.

Oh yes, this is where she turned to my face of awe and wonder and said – “you just thought I was clumsy didn’t you?”   Nooooooo.

So, to give it its official title – 27 polishes, an 8 yr old, one hour and 1 impressed Momma!

I’m going to start with my absolute favourite – isn’t this one AMAZING?!  Tiger stripes and glitter.  Amazing combo, and she did something I would have NEVER thought to do – she applied the colours independently rather than 1 on top of the other, so not only do you get the colour contrast, you get a texture contrast too.  Gold star for Beth!

My equal favourite was this amazing galaxy explosion - it looked slightly more cool in person.  Oceans of navy and red polish dabbed together and then a layer of CG Techno to give it that galaxy dazzle.  Really loved this one, especially with the red peaking through.

Here's another galaxy type one she did, this really needed a base colour though ....

I love this crazy cami one too.  Blue and green varnish with some stretegic and amazing dabs of Not Like The Movies, covered in a KleanColor green glitter - me likey this one.

This one makes me smile - isn't it like Christmas ?

This one is ANNOYING.  She did an AMAZING wave design i was jealous of in navy, blue and lilac which looked super beautiful.  Then she put a great big dollop of yellow on it (though she did get it to look like dripping paint - how is she DOING this ?), so to tone it down we shattered it.   Not too bad.

And finally, the not so pretty ones - especially the double crackle mess on the end !!!

She had a whale of a time which is the whole point, but YES they were a bitch to take off !!!

Happy nailing:)

NAILS I LOVE - Zoya - KATE

Nails I Love

ZOYA – Kate

If there’s one shade that’s my signature colour, it’s the not-quite-red-not-quite-pink-or-brown-or-what-WOULD-you-call that colour lol.  I am drawn to “off reds” and Kate is another of ‘em.

Kate is another Zoya beauty – super glossy, super glam and just so damn pretty.

Ok, where to start …

• She’s a bit more pink than red
• She’s soft, smooth, girlie
• She is under-stated sexiness in a bottle
• She is almost raspberry-glamorous, but not quite.  She’s quite young, and I am sure she wants to be a fully grown raspberry when she grows up J
• She’s a muted cerise, a bashful blush of a colour
• Her pink has the softness of angels to it.  She is so under-stated, so shy, so secretive about her beauty
• She is an English rose, bright yet muted, budding but not yet in full bloom, deeply rosy, deeply divine

Sigh – she’s lovely.  She makes me smile and she brightens my day.  Kate is the pathway to instant happiness, elegance and understated glamour.

Delicious.

NAILS I LOVE - Zoya - COCO

Nails I Love

ZOYA – COCO

Coco is another of my famous “is it” colours J  Coco, however, is nothing like I expected.

Remember, all Zoyas go on darker than the bottle?  Coco goes loco and is LOADS darker than the bottle.  When she’s trapped she looks like a raspberry milkshake with a spoonful of chocolate thrown in; on the nail she morphs into a dark, VERY dark drunken raspberry.

Deep brown tones underpin this colour, keeping the darkness warm and muted.  This is a vibrant cerise-brown, a loud brown berry, a raucous chocolate summer fruit cocktail J

I think Coco works best as an autumn colour where her natural warmth sits right at home with the earthier tones.  She’s like that dramatic berry you get in a Christmas wreath; the rogue maroon leaf in a sea of autumn bronze.

There’s something of the night about her, something very humid and alive, like a caged tiger, or a night about to turn wild on cocktails.  She is a dark mix of drama, fun and plum in the sun, deep brown violent wine …  Oh and then I got myself carried away with the tiger talk and decided to pop some stripes on her.  Apologies if they look amateurish, it was my first time drawing stripes on a real nail, and on my wrong hand!!  Lol.

Seriously, you could write songs about this one !

Have fun my lovelies J

NAILS I LOVE - Zoya - DOVE

Nails I Love

ZOYA – Dove

The legendary Zoya Dove, probably the first Zoya I truly lusted after, is elegance in a bottle.  Super glossy, super swoony, this makes your hands look like a million dollars, and will make you feel that little bit more ladylike.

Dove is pretty much the perfect grey.  Light as meringue, supersoft, airy – this is delicacy in a bottle.  There is nothing over-powering about this colour, yet it’s still a traffic stopper, mainly due to it’s shy, subdued glamour.

Dreamy and creamy, divine and superfine, lush and plush, this is a grey for all seasons.  Pastel and neutral, monochromatic and subtle, this is a colour that matches any outfit, yet takes a back-step so that it’s not the centre of attention.  Ironic, because anything this beautiful WILL always be the centre of attention.

In the bottle, it looks like a fluffy cloud of happiness, all muted wonder and feathery nuance.  It really really does remind me of doves and pigeons – that fine underbelly softness.  Dove is a colour you just want to nuzzle.

Just for fun, I then splattered on it, with a white and Caitlin, then Gemma, Jo, Dree and Kotori.  What was interesting was how less beautiful the other colours made it, bleaching out its pearly wonder and replacing it with something a little more concrete.

I think it works best with Gemma – this would make a really good base for a camouflage mani – and like the thumb too with its tricolour of glossy goodness.

You only need one grey – make it this one and you’ll never look back.

Have fun my lovelies J

NAILS I LOVE - Zoya -REA

Nails I Love

ZOYA – Rea

Zoya Rea is a metallic medium iced grape that has depth, shine and ooh la la.  Not my normal colour, this is a keeper partly due to its versatility – this is great for being arty with due to its different texture.

Each nail looks like it is filled with a million particles of iced plum delight, a meringue shine of fluffy grittiness, with aluminium, grape, lavender and cloud all swirled into the mix.

This is very much a sister to Marina, Tao and Harley, sharing their cashmere depth and metallic gleam.  Colour-wise it’s a dark mauve, a light grape, a pastel aubergine, a shimmery glimmer of multiple tones that give it that deep fuzzy layered look.

For a bit of fun, I then layered it with KleanColor PARTY FEVER, a jelly of fine raspberry glitter and blue, gold and violet sequins. 

Have fun my lovelies J