Nail Designs

Here's some inspiration...

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:30:00 +0100

Hey lovelies!

As Ive been off the nail art radar lately, I thought its best to start from scratch and look around for some inspiration - and where else to find this, other than pinterest.
If you dont know what pinterest is, then where have you been??? The only way to describe it as a massive collection of photos, of anything and everything you could want. Its amazing, and I love it! Check it out! www.pinterest.com

Ok, here is a brief selection of some nail art Im loving;

I love the multicoloured stripes, gorgeous.

So simple and easy to do.. and so cute!!

You cant go wrong with black and white spots... and a pink bow? Perfect!

Probably my favourite colour at the moment. Cute design too.

Aztec print, probably hard to do on myself!

Very spring-time. Very pretty.

So, which one was your favourite?

As ive not blogged, or even painted my nails much lately, Im going to start back with some basics like spots, stripes etc.
I think if I jump in all guns blazing and try the aztec design and mess it up, it will put me off big time because it wont be perfect, and I dont want that!

Have you created some nail art designs lately? Id love to see them, so send me a link below.

Thanks for reading, and Id love it if you would follow me :)

Libby xx

Instagram ; @queenlizard45uk
Twitter ; @libbyhughes4

Long Time, No Nail Art!

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:29:00 +0100

Hey everyone,

Ive been wanting to write a blog post for awhile now, but it's been so long since my last post (AUGUST 2012!!) that I've been a little nervous about returning. Quite an odd feeling actually.

So, here it is - Im back :)

Im hoping to get back into this blog and keeping you all up to date with all nail related stuff.

Anything in particular you would like to see a blog post on? I have had a request on my nail art pens, so will look into that!

Thank you all for sticking around and heres to the nail future!!!!

Libby xx

Hello Kitty Nail Polishes

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:00:00 +0100

Hello!

Ok everyone, keep your feet onto the floor, hold onto somethign - Hello Kitty are launching THE most cutest nail polishes ever.

With 8 shades to choose from and being priced at only £4.99 from superdrug, Im going to find it very hard to resist collecting them all. Look at them - they're just so adorable!!

Unfortunately these wont be available until mid october, but at least it gives us time to save some pennies! Also, my birthdays in october, so these will be on my present list for sure!!

How much would you spend on Nail Polish?

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 18:51:00 +0100

Hello everyone!!

How much would you spend on nail polish? Me, personally - not alot. I find that some cheap brands, for example Barry M are amazing quality. With these priced at £2.99 and are often on sale for 3 for 2, I find it hard to spend more than this on nail polish.

Anyway, while browsing the net I came across a nail polish that costs... wait for it....

$250,000 which comes to around £160,000!!!

Im sure youre shouting - what the HELL do you get for money?

Well, it contains 267-carats of black diamonds. Blimey. I can also reveil that there is only 1 bottle of this in the world. I dont know who would want to spend that much!

However, budget style versions will be on sale at a price of $25 but will only contain 1 single diamond!

Even though the polish looks lovely, Im doubtful that anyone (with a right mind) would want to pay that much!!

What do you think??

Ruby Red Glitter Ball

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sun, 1 Jul 2012 11:00:00 +0100

Ok, I admit it - I went abit mental with this. Ive seen so many designs with these gold or silver balls and I just didnt want it to be another 'one of those'. These designs are always beautiful, but every stud has to be in a specific place, it has to look neat and tidy. But why? Whats wrong with a bit of crazyness!!

I love the contrast between the vivid red and the harsh silver studs, I think it adds abit of glamour.

Another Barry M polish you say? Of course!! (I think I should be an offical tester for Barry M! haha) This colour is bright, vivid... everything. Like all other Barry M polishes, it just glides on as if your buttering hot toast :) The studs I bought from ebay, these were around 99p... BARGAIN ALERT!

Purple Fever

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:08:00 +0100

Not to sure how this design came about but I love the colours.

As usual a Barry M polish was used (Actually love this brand SO much!!) Now the 'white' coloured polish, isnt actually white. When you apply it to another polish it seems to lighten it and add a shine, as you can see from the lines on the nails. Its created a lilac/shimmery colour, which I quite like. Maybe this design would look good with different coloured lines, black? pink?

The gems are always hard to apply, as theyre so tiny and fiddly!! I has resorted to applying them with a pair of tweezers which seem to work quite well.

Life's A Beach!

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:59:00 +0100

Hello everyone!

This weather is hideous, where is our summer? Sadly its not something we can change, but we can make ourselves feel abit summery with our nails!

Here is my latest design - Life's A Beach!

Lets hope our British weather gets abit better!

What do you think of my latest design?

Wildlife Safari

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:10:00 +0100

Hello all :)

Here is my latest false nail design - Wildlife Safari!

It basically consists of my idea of a safari, greenary, zebras.. and a splash of colour!!

The polishes I used were Rio Nail art pen (green), this is part of a set I bought from argos. Black art deco pen, this was purchased from Discount UK for 89p!!! No7, coral... originally £7 but I got this for £2 when using my £5 No7 voucher from Boots. Another green polish, this time from collection 2000, and my basic white polish which you all know is from poundland!!

Hope you all like my new design. Feel free to try it out! Let me know what you think with a comment below, and if you dont follow me - why not!? Go on, Its free :)

Its true, you really dont need to spend alot on polishes, some cheap ones are just as good!

Tenacious D Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:05:00 +0100

Hello :)

I went to see the awesome 'Tenacious D' afew days ago in London and just before we nipped out, I quickly transformed my nails for the occasion.

I admit this is not the best or prettiest nail art Ive done. It was just a quick idea and I was in a rush, but thought you'd like to see it :)

Have you wrote anything on your nails before?

Ciate - Jelly Bean

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 21:00:00 +0100

Hello All :)

Have you picked up your copy (or copies!) of Marie Claire magazine this month? They have an amazing free gift - Ciate Nail Polish! Ive never tried Ciate polish before because at £9 a bottle I thought it was a little expensive to just 'try out'. So I was really excited to see it as a free gift with aMarie Claire, especially at £3.70. What a saving!

You can choose from 3 gorgeous colours; Bon Bon (Beige), Jelly Bean (Hot pink) and Purple Sherbert (light purple)

I have purchased one magazine so far, which had the Jelly Bean polish in it!

My first thoughts were - "OMG THE PACKAGING AND BOTTLE ARE SO GORGEOUS!" I really love the bow, its such a small detail but adds so much! <3

Ok, onto the polish itself... this is after one coat;

Check out the pigmintation after one coat! Wow. This isnt something you normally get with nail polishes, nearly all of them need at least 2 coats, so this is very good! The brush is quite chunky with a flat side, its very easy to use and the polish glides on like butter.

If you've been reading my blog, you'd know that I always have to apply 2 coats of polish. A little habit Ive got into!

So, heres 2 coats;

Even though I have little cash at the moment, I do think I will buy the other 2 nail polishes as this is such a bargain and they apply really well.

Also, there is a 25% off Ciate products in June/July buy quoting - Marie25 at the checkout online.

Have you purchased any of the polishes yet? Which is your favourite?

Happy polishing :)

New from Barry M - Chameleon Nail Paint!!

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Fri, 1 Jun 2012 10:01:00 +0100

Barry M have just announced a new line of polish on their Facebook page!!! How exciting!! And its realised TODAY!!!!!!!!!

This is what they had to say last week:

"Very excited to share with you our NEWEST nail effect nail paint CHAMELEON!! 2 colours in 1, simply brush a stroke of clear nail paint over one coat to see a new colour appear! In Superdrug and Boots next week. Colours include Pink, Lilac and Blue. Lid indicates the shade your nail paint will change to."

I am definitely going to have to buy some of these, especially is Superdrug still have the 3 for 2 offer! This is going to make nail art so much easier - dots, lines, patterns, you name it!

I have to admit, I still haven't bought any of the Barry M magnetic range. I'm not sure why, but they really don't interest me. Maybe its the designs they create, or maybe its the bulky packaging? Either way, I need convincing!

Much love fellow readers!

Jubilee Nail Art!!

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Thu, 31 May 2012 18:18:00 +0100

The Queen's Jubilee is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate then painting your nails?

This is a simple jubilee design, painting each nail a different colour of red, white or blue.

Perfect, simple, easy!

The polishes I used were:

Barry M - Bright Red

Salon System - White Tip

Barry M - Cobalt Blue

(again, Im faithful with my trusty Barry M <3)

Bright Red is a gorgeous vivid colour. Definitely what the title says!

This isnt my favourite polish. I bought this ages ago from poundland, and to be honest - its nto very good! Its VERY thick. Then again, Its only for manicure tips, and Ive never actually used it for that. Opps!

Cobalt Blue, Mmmm what a yummy colour. (ignore the cuticles... they are so bad at the moment!!)

Ahh, the final result. Hello Jubilee Nails!!

Burgundy Nail Art

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Wed, 9 May 2012 21:22:00 +0100

Hey everyone :)

My latest chosen design is something I have been thinking about for awhile - Burgundy! Its not a design for everyone but I must confess, Im slightly a fan of Burgandy... its not something I would go mad on, but tiny amounts I think is fine.

I forgot to take pictures throughout my design (sorry!!) so instead I only have a finished product, but Im sure you will all get the jist :)

What do you think?

I struggled with the lines, again. I think Im going to have to invest in an even thinner brush - that and a strap to stop my hand from shaking all the time!!!!

Id love to hear your comments, so feel free to pop them in the box below!

Lots of love,

Queens Jubilee Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:02:00 +0100

Hello all :)

Hope you're all keeping well! Im back after having a little break from nail art. I went through a rough patch thinking I was awful at nail art, and what was the point in having a blog if I wasnt as good as everybody else. Well, Ive decided to stop being so hard on myself and anyway - nail art is supposed to be fun!

So, on with the show....

As the Queens Jubilee is fast approaching us, I decided to jump on the band wagon and design the most iconic design there is - The Union Jack!!!

I started with a deep blue base coat;

Adding the white lines were tricky (but not as tricky as the red lines!!) My hands still seem to shake as much whenever I want to create a straight line!

Here is the final design, what do you think?

What other designs do you think I should try for the Queens Jubilee?
Thanks for reading, please leave me some nice comments :)

Show Stopping Spring Nails!

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:06:00 +0100

Nail Rock!!

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:14:00 GMT

Hello everyone, how are you all doing?

There are some things I want in life, and these are definately on the list... oh my, HOW GORGEOUS!!

Aww, little teddies!!!

Tattoo Print!

These are cute cupcake designs!!!

I think my favourite is the cupcake ones!! Im in love with the swallow design in the tattoo print pack, but Im not so keen on the fire flames and anchor. Not really my thing. I will have to invest in these beauties though. Its such a shame you can only use them once!

Marbel Nails- Without Water!

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 22:13:00 GMT

Hey guys!

Ive been trying to look after my nails the last few weeks, so not alot of painting has been done :(

The good thing is that my nails are looking SO much better, so will probably paint them tomorrow, YIPPIE!

Here are some marbel nails I created - without water!! (Quick, easy and less messy)

Its actually THE easiest nail art ever!!!! Basically, all you do is choose 3 colours and one by one literally dab them onto each nail. You dont need to be careful about anything, the sky is your limit to this design, so HAVE FUN!!

The only problem using this techinic is that you will contaminate your polishes with the other colours.... so definately dont use your favourite or most expensive polishes.

What do you think of these? Are you going to try this out? If so, please let me know and send me a picture! Id love to see everyones different ideas :)

Lot of love,

Pick 'n' Mix Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:15:00 GMT

Happy Sunday folks :)

Last night I went around a friends and she let me experiment some ideas/deisgns on her lovely nails. Painting other peoples nails is something I rarely do. I get rather nervous, my hands shake and I just cant concentrate! This is because I believe Im not as good as people think I am, but thankfully, Nina was lovely and after afew restarts from rubbish mistakes, I began to relax and enjoy.

I have 2 favourite designs on this hand - the grey with black stripes and the orange with black heart. Both are very simple, but I think they show an artistic side without being over the top.

The second finger is a foil wrap, which is actually quite hard to use. You paint your nail with a special adhesive glue, wait for it to go clear, stick the foil ontop and quickly pull off. It sounds easy but it never comes 'fully' off, so it would be a knightmare if you had to allign up a pattern.

The silver on the first finger is yet another foil. Only a tiny bit came off, so I quickly turned it into a half design. I actually quite like it, again simple! The ring finger was probably the most fun to create, but I think I need a thinner brush, as the writing was tough to do. Its a comic book theme design with 'Nina' written underneath it, would look fabulous as a full set of nails with different colours etc!

Hope you have enjoyed my little experiment, I definatly did!

Lots of love,

Glitter-Tastic Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:27:00 GMT

Hello everyone :)

How about some full on glitter nails to brighten up your day?

I hope you can see just how much glitter is on these nails! It shines so much, which is hard to capture on camera.

I painted the nails a silver colour and literally covered them in craft glitter!!!

What do you think?

Lots of love,

False Nails with Adhesive Tabs

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:10:00 GMT

Hello lovelies :)

Last week I attempted something I hate - False Nails. Im seriously not a fan because I find when I have them I cant do ANYTHING, plus they never seem to last long so to me, theyre a waste of money. Im guessing theyre like marmite - you either love them or hate them.

The only reason I tried these out was because I won them in a blog competition, and Ive never used adhesive tabs before, just glue. So I thought - why not!

The adhesive tabs were actually pretty easy to use and made the whole 'applying false nails' process alot easier and less stress free. Usually I would have glued some fingers together, I really do need supervision when using glue!)

for some reason, this photo wouldnt turn round!

The tabs were all shaped in different sizes, just like the false nails. This made it easy to select the perfect size for each nail.

I started to fall in love with the nails as I progressed through. Look how gorgeous my nails look compared to normally?

The finished results....

So, what do you think? Pretty cute huh? and easy peasy with the adhesive tabs! If you're a false nail fan then I would definatly recommonend them.

I am a pretty untidy worker though....

I adored these nails for.... one day. (see, im really not a fan of falses at all)

Ok, the next day the nails seemed to be 'lifted' from my real nails. It wasnt due to them coming loose because the adhesive was well and truely sticking to my nails bed. I hope you can see from the photo below what I mean.

I suppose it wasnt really a 'problem', but everytime I picked something up, it felt as if my actual finger nails were going to be pulled off.... a strange feeling!

At the end of the second day, I sadly had to take them off. I believe this was a mix of the adhesive tabs expanding, and me generally not liking the 'false nail' feel. Such a shame!!

I followed ALL the insructions about how remove them aswell but STILL they seemed to ruin my nail bed...

My poor nails!!!! It took me ages to get the damn adhesive tabs off... they really do stick to your nails!

Anyways, my verdict is that adhesive tabs seem a good idea, and the false nails I used were really pretty, but unfortunatly false nails are not for me.

Im more of a nail art preson!! :)

Flower Power

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:57:00 GMT

Hello lovelies!

Just a quick post to show you my latest false nail design. I used some of my flower nail stickers I had for Christmas and I even got round to using my 3D flowers on the ring fingers, wahey!

I was originally creating a fade effect between pink and purple, but then suddenly started adding a flower here and there... and before I knew it, this was the outcome!

What do you think? Something you would wear?

Lots of love,

Valentines Day Nail Art #2

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:04:00 GMT

Hey lovely people :)

So, its valentines day tomorrow and what better way to spend the day then flashing some super 'hearty, loving' nail art!

I didnt have a clue what I was going to do, just that I wanted to include my new sleek silver polish and obviously have some hearts.

In the end, I used all these polishes... woah!

I painted afew random nails in 'mushroom' silver by Barry M, with the other nails 'Warwick Avenue' pink/orange by Nails inc.

After abit of doodling here are the results;

I used my new white polish art brush. It was a bargain at only 89p from a local store called 'discount uk'. Keep a look out for this shop, it has amazing cheap nail products and this was actually amazing to use.

The nib was very fine and perfect for bordering my heart design and adding the white stripes.

I love that my nails dont match on each hand. Not something I have done alot but its fun so I reckon ill be doing more of this in the future!

aghh, its so hard to write with my left hand!

I added those 4 little letters 'Love', the words every girl longs to hear - especially on valentines day. I also couldnt resist popping on some sparkle polish on my silver and white striped nails. Gorgeous!!

I hope you all like my nails, feel free to try them out yourself :)

Id love to hear your comments, so drop them in the box below!

Lots of love,

ps, HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE! xoxox

This Nail Polish's Inspiration?

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Thu, 9 Feb 2012 15:50:00 GMT

Hello lovely people!

Again, you have read the title correctly. A couple of weeks ago I created a blog post about the Nail Wraps by Nail Rock which had a vagina illustrated on one nail but now somebody has gone that little bit further into the 'damn right disgusting' catagory!

The brand 'Strange/Beautiful' have launched there 5th range of shades, inspired by menstrual blood, bruises and other extremely odd inspiration sources. Apperently the brands creator Jane Schub didnt want to create a 'typical' set of nail polishes, and instead referred to the colours in terms of materials that they looked like.

Menstrual Last Day, Gradations of a Bruise, Estuary Run-off, and Worn Black Bible are just several shades from the latest nail polish collection.

The colour of Menstrual Last Day might be gorgeous, but knowing what its called an then thinking about that and then looking at my nails - I might actually be sick! Im sorry, but these names may be unique and very good for promotion, but I dont think it will make my buy them, infact - Im put off by these names!

If, however you are interested in buying them - feel free to pop along to http://strangebeautiful.biz/home.html, but as $79 for 8 polishes, are they really worth it?

So, gross or great? Id love to hear your opinions!!

Water Marble Effect Nail Art

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Mon, 6 Feb 2012 20:17:00 GMT

Hello everyone :)

I have been considering trying out water marble nails for ages, but the process seemed so messy and time consuming that Ive always put it off - But today, I jumped straight in and gave it ago. (But I was right, its very messy and very time consuming!)

Before starting, you will need to choose at least 2-3 of your favourite nail polish colours. I went for red (nails inc), pink (accessorize) and purple (barry m), and give your nails a good base colour, I choose white as it helps the other colours stand out more.

Fill a bowl with room temperature water. It cant be too hot or too cold as it effects the way the polish reacts, so make sure this right before you proceed. You really dont want to have to start all over again!

An important tip is to cover all around your nails with tape. This ensures that they dont get covered in nail polish (and believe me they will!) and that you spend hours trying to clean them up.

Heres the fun part - Add little droplets of your polish into the water, one by one, mixing and matching with the colours.

Using a toothpick, gently pull from the middle of the circle dragging outwards. The outta edges of the polish is already dry (strange that the polish is dry while in water, but it is!) so make sure you always drag from the middle.

You can create whatever design you fancy!

Insert your fingers into the bowl, one by one and leave for about 30 seconds. With the toothpick collect the rest of the polish around the finger and then gently remove your finger from the bowl...

As you can see from the above picture, it really is a messy process, as this needs to be repeated for each nail, so will take up some time.

Once all nails are done, they should turn out something like this (probably completely different, but you get the jist!) My little finger went abit wrong :( but over-all Im pretty pleased with them.

left hand

right hand

I have found this design tricky but the good thing is, there is no right or wrong way. It is however, time consuming and messy so its a design that you would only want to do now and again, so unfortunatly not practical.

I love the fact that every time you do this it will be unique and it would be good to mix and match the polishes you rarely use!

Have you tried water marble before? How did you find it? Let me know if/when you try it out, Id love to see your designs!!

Lots of love,

Myleene Klass Nail Wraps

noreply@blogger.com (Libby) — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 14:04:00 GMT

Hello all :)

Have you seen these new wonderful nail wraps by the gorgeous Myleene Klass?

http://www.heatworld.com/

I like Myleene Klass and am excited about her career path into nail art. Although, Im not a fan of nail wraps. I feel as if they are cheating 'proper' nail art, but I guess its good if youre in a hurry. I did try a cheap set from poundland once butI just didnt understand them. Maybe it was because they were from poundland?! I dont know.

ww.jmldirect.com

However, my team leader in work came in the other day with a gorgeous set of zebra print nails. This is obviously the first thing I notice and she explains she picked these 'Klass Nail Wraps' up from asda for a mere £5.99.
Ohhhhhh.

http://www.yourasda.com/

She has had them on for well over a week now, and they are still in amazing condition. No pulls, no chips - NOTHING.

I think Im going to have to try these beauties out and see if they can convert me. Im just trying to decide what pattern I would want?! Help!!