The Nailasaurus

Pop

2013-05-25T18:00:00.000+01:00

The pink polishes in my collection get overlooked most of the time - I'm just not a pink and sparkly kind of girl. I spotted this colour combination somewhere this week (although I have no idea where!) and it just popped right out at me so the next logical step was to paint it on my nails!

The blue is Barry M Guava and the pink is an unnamed Kriston polish which is a brand I've only ever seen in my local pharmacy. On my pointer finger, I used one coat of the Kriston polish with two coats of Sally Hansen Lady Luck. The black studs are from Born Pretty Store and on my ring finger I'm wearing a base coat of Barry M White stamped with W7 Black and Bundle Monster Plate BM201.

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Candy Crush Nail Art

2013-05-24T18:00:00.000+01:00

Has anyone else been struck down by a crippling Candy Crush addiction of late? It's one of the most frustrating games I've ever played but I keep going back for more! Today's nails are my very minimalistic take on Candy Crush. I used so many polishes for this that I won't list them out and it was finished with a top coat of Rimmel's Mattifying Top Coat.

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Snippet: Blue Paisley Stamping

2013-05-23T18:00:00.000+01:00

2 coats of Barry M Blueberry

1 coat of Black Cat Lacquer Put A Bird On It

2 coats of W7 Cosmic Blue for the accent finger

Bundle Monster Plate BM315

NYC 243B

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3 Stripes on my Sneakers (Adidas Nail Art)

2013-05-22T18:00:00.000+01:00

When I was a kid it was all about the Adidas poppers... you know the ones I'm talking about! The tracksuit bottoms with three stripes and poppers running all up the side? Please tell me I wasn't the only one!

I had a grey pair which I wore to death. Man I loved those things when I was 11 but I don't think I've worn a pair of tracksuit bottoms in public since. Oh 90s fashion, thank you for staying in the 90s!

For the stripe nails, I used 2 coats of Barry M White and then topped it with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly. Next I used striping tape to mark off three stripes and painted over it using Essie Mezmerised before peeling off the tape (tutorial here). On my ring finger I used Mezmerised first and marked off the logo using striping tape to keep my lines nice and straight, then I filled in the gaps using BK Matt White and a nail art brush. Finally, I topped it all of with one coat of Rimmel Matte Finish.

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Models Own Artistix Duos Review

2013-05-21T18:00:00.000+01:00

Press Sample

Models Own recently released a range of funky polish duos. Each duo is a pretty combination of one colour polish and one glitter from their extensive line of polishes. I love wearing glitter toppers on my nails and I don't know about you guys, but to this day I've never made it to the bottom of a bottle of glitter! Has anyone?! These sounded like an ideal solution - a little colour and a little glitter for almost the same price as one regular bottle of polish. (These RRP at £6 each and the regular bottles are £5). Win win!

The duos come in double ended bottles with the brushes sticking outwards from the middle. Now I know what you're thinking... at first I had doubts about how easy these brushes would be to manoeuvre too but they're surprisingly easy to use and I didn't have any problem with application. Now on to the fun part... swatches!

Blibble - Bubblegum x Blizzard

Blibble is a very 'loud' combo, perfect for summer holidays. The base colour is Bubblegum, a bright fluorescent pink and it applied well in two coats. My camera didn't do a very good job of capturing how bright it really is. I used one coat of Blizzard on top and coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly to finish it off.

Jade Flakes - Jade Stone x Snowflakes

I love the base colour in this one but I was disappointed with the topper. Snowflakes is very thick and gooey so I found it hard to manage and there wasn't much glitter payoff for all my troubles. I used two coats of Snowflake and you can see it's still very sparse. It is a lovely looking combination but with all those coats it took way too long to dry thanks the gooey base in Snowflakes.

Jade Stone is a Models Own shade that I've had my eye on for a while and it's as brilliant as I'd hoped. Perfect application in two coats!

Pink Stuff - Pastel Pink x Hot Stuff

This is my pick of the three and I don't have much to say about it other than it's great! I love the hand cut glitter in Hot Stuff which is from the mirrorball collection. I used 3 thin coats of Pastel Pink with one coat of Hot Stuff plus a top coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

Models Own Artistix Duos are £6 each and available in Boots stores nationwide and from modelsownit.com.

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Stop and Smell the Roses

2013-05-20T17:24:00.002+01:00

Happy Monday! I know some of you will be thinking that Monday is not a day to be happy, but it's recently become my favourite day of the week because it means a new episode of Game of Thrones! I can't believe there are only 2 episodes left in the season after today's. I must confess I haven't read the books, so far I've only made it half way through the first, so I have plenty of material to tide me over until the fourth series.

I used NYC Lavender Cupcake as my base colour with Sonnetarium Lenten Rose glitter on my ring finger. I did the pinstripes on my index finger using striping tape and BK Matt White. For the roses I used NYC Bubblegum Pink, Barry M Blood Orange and BK Matt White with NYC Mint Macaroon for the leaves. There's a full tutorial for the roses here. Finally I topped it all off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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Sally Hansen Street Style Tutorial: Studs n' Chains

2013-05-19T18:52:00.000+01:00

Shiny Tips

2013-05-18T18:10:00.002+01:00

I'm not really sure where the idea of matte x glossy came from but it's been at the back of my mind, niggling away, all week. I've been playing with different combinations and I really wanted to try it with stamping although nothing seemed to work. I'm going to keep at it as I'm determined to perfect glossy undercoat with matte stamping but for now, I've settled for something simple (again)!

I used two coats of No7 Just Black as my base colour with one coat of W7 Cosmic Black on my ring finger, then used one coat of Rimmel's Mattifying top coat. Then I took a nail art brush and applied NYC In a New York Minute just to the tips of my nails.

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I Like My Candy Mattified

2013-05-16T21:13:00.001+01:00

Press Sample

I like it when my nails look tasty! Thanks to that super bright pink, my nails are looking sugary sweet today and the matte top coat is just a perfect addition. I got this effect using striping tape and although it would figure that it took a long time because it took a hell of a lot of tape, it was actually a lot quicker than some of my more intricate tape manis. I think because once I'd done one nail, all I had to do was repeat it on all the others and I had a good rhythm going by the end!

I used two coats of Barry M Lychee as my base colour and topped it with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly. Once it was all dry, I placed on some striping tape where I wanted Lychee to show through (tutorial here). Next, I painted over it with Models Own Bubblegum and Barry M Mango one nail at a time and immediately removed the tape.

I topped it with another coat of Dries Instantly and finally once it was all dry, I added one coat of Rimmel's Matte top coat.

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Wham Bam!

2013-05-14T20:09:00.000+01:00

Back to the very basics today with some simple half moon nails. It looks to me like the half moons are making my nails look impossibly square. I know they are square but do they look more... angular dressed up in half moons? Let me know if it's just me!

I used Barry M Lychee as a base then painted on the half moons with W7 Black Cherry using a nail art brush. Still using the nail art brush, I used a little bit of top coat to attach the studs which are from Born Pretty Store. It's all topped off with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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Aphrodite Lacquers: Ever Unhappy and Romance Never Dies Swatches

2013-05-12T22:27:00.000+01:00

Press Sample

There's a new indie collection in town. Aphrodite Lacquers have just released a beautiful new collection, True Love and Heartbreak, which is made up of 6 Glitter Jellies and 3 Glitter Top Coats. I've got two of the polishes swatched for you today, one jelly and one glitter topper.

They're all available from the Aphrodite Lacquers Etsy store for $9/bottle.

Ever Unhappy is a plum pink jelly sandwich in a bottle. I used 3 coats here with a top coat to smooth it all over. It's quite thick in consistency but applies smoothly with a good distribution of glitter.

The glitters are various sized hexes and squares and I'm in love with the bluey purple iridescent glitters which completely hide away until they catch the light and start sparkling.

This is one coat (seriously, one coat!) of Romance Never Dies over Barry M Blue Grape. There's so much bling packed in to this bottle! The clear base is full of blue, silver and holographic shimmer with squares and hexes in matte white, silver and the same iridescent blue that makes Ever Unhappy so special.

If you want to see the rest of the collection, check out the Aphrodite Lacquers Facebook page. You can buy the polishes from Aphrodite Lacquers on Etsy.

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The Great Gatsby Inspired Nail Art

2013-05-11T21:08:00.000+01:00

Since I first saw a trailer for The Great Gatsby I've been completely besotted. I like Baz Luhrmann and I love Leonardo DiCaprio (who doesn't amirite?!) so I can't wait to see the movie. I'm a sucker for beautiful looking films and I'm sure this one won't disappoint in the aesthetics department. The posters alone are gorgeous enough and you know I can't resist a good gold and black combo so today's nail art is inspired by the amazing art deco pattern plastered all over the artwork for the movie.

For the base I used one coat of Barry M Gold Foil and one coat of Sally Hansen Gilded Lily to get the luxurious, glistening gold look. I painted on a thin coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly and waited about 15 minutes before applying striping tape where I wanted the gold to show through. Next I painted W7 Black over the top and swiftly removed the tape. There's a full striping tape tutorial here which explains in more detail. Finally I topped it off with another two coats of Dries Instantly to smooth everything over.

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Barry M Summer 2013 Gellys

2013-05-08T19:37:00.001+01:00

Press Sample

Next month Barry M are adding 5 new shades to their amazing Gelly range ready for summer. I feel kinda bad teasing you with them this early but I really couldn't wait to show you... forgive me?!

As always I've got only good things to say about these shades, the formula is perfect and the colours are absolutely stunning. Without a doubt, these are my favourite shades to come out of the Gelly range yet. I've split the polishes in to two batches - the warms and the cools - to do some nail art!

Passion Fruit is a coral which leans more towards orange and it's the best coral I've ever worn. Too often I find coral shades are very jelly like and almost impossible to get opaque but this one only needs two thin coats.

Mango is a creamy orange colour, again perfect in two coats. Beware though, this one's a stainer so make sure you wear a good base coat underneath.

On my index finger, I used Mango as a base and stamped using Passion Fruit and Konad plate M60. There's a gradient tutorial here and a striping tape tutorial here for the other nail art. It's all topped with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

My favourite of the 5 new shades is Guava - the aqua blue. I'm a sucker for blue nail polish, especially when it applies this easily, looks this good and doesn't stain my nails.

The green, Key Lime, is also another stand out for me. It's so close to being slime green but it's just on the right side of bright and beautiful - one of the first bright greens that works with my skin tone. And how amazing does it look next to Guava? It did leave a bit of staining so use a base coat!

Finally we have Blue Grape, the cobalt blue. This is a great dupe for Revlon Royal and the most 'jelly finish' like polish of the bunch but it's completely opaque in two coats, unlike Royal which needs a lot of coats and tends to drag at the cuticles.

Again, we have a gradient tutorial here and a striping tape tutorial here and it's topped off with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

These new shades will be available in Superdrug on June 5th and Boots on June 12th.

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Facets of Fishtail

2013-05-07T21:25:00.002+01:00

It's only now that I'm writing this post that I remember I really wanted to mattify this manicure! I think the purple glitter would look phenomenal with a matte top coat. I've had matte on my mind for a long time now but it always skips my mind when I'm actually in a position to use it, doh! I think I need to put my matte top coat in prime position on my desk so I don't forget it next time I wear a pretty glitter.

The beaut of a glitter is Revlon Facets of Fuschia and I applied that over a coat of PVA glue to make removal nice and easy.

I created the gradients using Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings as the base with Sally Hansen Gray by Gray. Finally, for the fishtail nail I used a nail art brush to apply those two Sally Hansen shades with Born Pretty's Matt White polish.

It's all topped off with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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Freehanded Rose Nail Art Tutorial

2013-05-05T18:43:00.000+01:00

Now that summer's here I'm seeing floral prints everywhere. I'm not one for going all out on prints in my outfit choices but I think a little here and there looks great. I've been using these roses as accents in a few of my manis and I had a few requests for a tutorial so today I'm gonna share my method. It's much simpler than it looks and the results are definitely a stand out.

The stuff you need

A small nail art brush is essential and you'll need quite a few nail polishes too...

From right ← left

Base colour: BYS Pretty as a Peach

3 colours for the roses: NYC Bubblegum Pink, Rimmel Heart on Fire and Models Own Utopia

A green colour for the leaves: NYC High Line Green

I also use acetone to get my brush super clean between colours. Nail polish remover works too but I find it's not quite as hardcore at cleaning as the acetone!

Start by painting on your base colour and letting it dry completely.

Paint on some random circles and don't worry if they aren't perfectly round. You could even use a large dotting tool for this part.

Take a darker colour and draw some contour lines within each circle.

Next, using a lighter colour, draw on some highlights in the same way. You can skip this step and still get a really nice result.

Add one or two leaves to each flower.

Finally, add a top coat then use a small paintbrush dipped in acetone to clean up around the edges of your nail and you're all done!

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Snippet: Hunter Green Houdstooth

2013-05-04T21:44:00.000+01:00

OPI Live and Let Die
Bundle Monster plate BM322
Barry M Gold Foil

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L'Oreal Confetti Top Coat Swatch

2013-05-02T20:12:00.002+01:00

L'Oreal Confetti is a polish I've been wanting for quite a while now but for the longest time I couldn't find it on shelves anywhere... I was obviously late to the party! I finally found some in Boots last week and promptly picked up two bottles. In hindsight, maybe I was a little overexcited at the time and I realise now I'll never need two bottles. It's just always nice to have that spare one there, you know, just in case!

Confetti is a pretty topper that contains two sizes of hexes in matte black in white glitter. There's also a very, very subtle shimmer in the clear base. I used two coats but it looks just as good after one. It's probably not one I'd normally wear on every finger like this but you all know how much I like a good glitter accent nail and this polish will be just perfect for that.

This swatch is two coats of L'Oreal Confetti over Sally Hansen Green Tea and Sally Hansen Crinolin all topped with Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

Does black and white glitter get your thumbs up? Or do you prefer to keep your manis colourful?

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Thnks Fr Th Mmrs: Gradient Nails

2013-04-30T20:12:00.001+01:00

I really enjoyed putting together a Thnks Fr Th Mmrs post earlier this month so I think I'm going to make it a regular feature around here if that's okay with you!

Today is the one year anniversary of my Gradient Nails Tutorial and just I knew I had to mark the occasion with a little homage. That tutorial is the most visited page on my blog... by miles and miles and lightyears even to this day.

I think it really took off because everyone was having the same problem as me. They were seeing pictures of pretty gradient nails on the internet and wanted to do it themselves, but there wasn't an easy DIY tutorial out there yet until the one that I wrote came along to fill that gap.

As you can see, my gradient skills have improved immensely since then which is a good testament to my motto, 'Practice makes perfect' or as Macklemore more eloquently put it, 'The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they'd paint a lot'.

No one gets it perfect first time and you pick up tricks as you go; the little things which can't be taught that you just have to learn from your own experience. For example, the sponge that I was using at first wasn't ideal and now I've learned to use much 'finer' sponges... make up wedges are the best! Gradient nails... thanks for the memories!

I used the same base colour, BYS Pretty as a Peach, as I did last year but unfortunately the darker of the two colours has long since dried up so I replaced it with NYC Bubblegum Pink which I think is a pretty good match.

I couldn't resist adding some roses for an accent finger. For those I used the NYC Bubblegum Pink again, Rimmel Heart on Fire, Models Own Utopia and NYC High Line Green with a nail art brush.

It's all topped off with a coat of of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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Red Red Ruffian

2013-04-28T22:47:00.002+01:00

This weekend has completely passed me by, I really can't believe it's already over! I've had a good balance of excitement and mundaneness. Think a Saturday night drinking with old friends and watching Iron Man 3 today vs. lots of cleaning and a nail polish cull!

I reorganised my Helmer and picked out 37 bottles for recycling, or as I like to call it.... frankening fun! It was good to go through my stash and rediscover a lot of polishes that I'd kind of forgotten about. Every two minutes I'd be like, 'Aaaah yes, I remember you!'. It made me realise I probably need to figure out a way to catalogue my ever growing collection. Call me crazy, but that job sounds like hella fun!

The two colours here are Barry M Lychee and Barry M Blood Orange. I painted on the red ruffians using a nail art brush and added some orange studs from Born Pretty Store. Finally I topped it all off with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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Patchwork Colour Block Tutorial

2013-04-26T21:12:00.000+01:00

Penspired

2013-04-25T19:50:00.002+01:00

When I was out shopping on the weekend, I spotted a pen with a funky chevron pattern and of course, the first thing that ran through my brain was 'I can put that on my nails!'. I bought the pen solely for that reason! I actually only planned to paint a chevron and maybe a few stripes on each nail but I may gotten a little carried away.

The colours I used are Barry M White, W7 Black and Sally Hansen Fairy Teal. I varied the base colour on each finger and painted on the details with a nail art brush. True story.

It's all top coated with Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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Happy St George's Day!

2013-04-23T21:10:00.000+01:00

I actually didn't know it was Saint George's day until kinda late in the day! Saint George is the national saint of England and I actually live and work in Wales so I think I can be forgiven, right? Here's a fun fact for you, my younger brother is called George. Anyway, on to the nails!

I used Rimmel Heart on Fire and Barry M White as my base colours.

On my thumb and ring finger, I used two coats of Aphrodite Lacquers Smolder. My index finger has a coat of Sonnetarium Snowfall and my pinkie finger has Sally Hansen Cha-Ching sponged on to the tip.

I used a nail art brush with Rimmel Heart on Fire to draw Saint George's cross on my middle finger and topped everything off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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Flowers and Pinstripe

2013-04-21T17:59:00.001+01:00

Every now and then, one of those special manis comes along. The ones you absolutely love and never want to take off. This is one of those! I wore it for very close to 48 hours which is probably the longest I've kept anything on my nails all year.

The green polish is NYC Mint Macaroon although I'd say it's closer to Jade green than mint, stuck somewhere in between.
For the pinstripe nails, I started with a coat of Born Pretty Matt White then used the striping tape method to create the thin stripes (tutorial here).
I freehanded the roses with a nail art brush using Models Own Utopia, NYC Moma and a hint of the Born Pretty White. The leaves are NYC High Line Green.
The glitter on my ring finger is Sonnetarium Snowfall.

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Barry M Nail Art Pens Giveaway!

2013-04-20T11:42:00.003+01:00

Press Sample

So you know these new nail art pens from Barry M that everyone's been talking about? (If you don't, I reviewed them here!) Today I have a brand spanking new set to give away to one of you lucky readers and I've made it super easy to enter because I'm just nice like that!

Hit the jump to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway is open internationally because I know there are plenty of you who would love a set of these but can't get your hands on them outside UK.

The pens are available from Boots and Superdrug. RRP £4.99.

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Drip

2013-04-18T19:09:00.003+01:00

I found myself in a tricky spot earlier this week when I tried to get Google+ integrated with my blog. What a nightmare. I've never been a fan of Google+ or the way it was sort of forced upon us all and I was reminded exactly why when I tried to get a simple gadget for my sidebar!

Now that Google Reader' facing iminent death (with GFC and Feedburner likely to follow), I suspect Google have some major changes up their sleeve to do with Google+ so I thought it was about time I just accept that and let it happen! I'm pleased to tell you The Nailasaurus now on Google+ right here and I really appreciate all your spare +1s or if you add me to one of your circles or something. There's also a gadget in the sidebar where you can add me directly!

If, like me, you're not quite sold on the idea of Plus just yet, there are plenty of ways to follow this blog over there in the sidebar but I must say I recommend Bloglovin' if you want to keep up with every post.

Today's nails really remind me of Art Attack. It's completely unintentional but when I was admiring my handywork after the fact, that TV show came to mind. I loved watching that cheesy old show as a kid!

My base colour is two coats of Sally Hansen Ion.
I used a small art nail brush for the drips and the polishes I used, from pinky to thumb, are:
NYC Wild With Passion, Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue, Sally Hansen Grass Slipper, Sally Hansen Rapid Red, NYC Lexington Yellow
I used China Glaze Dandy Lyin', a shimmery white, for the highlights.
It's all topped off with a few coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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