Summer Nail Challenge - Day 12

Today is Day 12 of Makeup Savvy's Nail Challenge and todays theme is striped nails, if you don't know what I am talking about then you can see more info on, or if you want to get involved yourself you can find all the information HERE.  I also did the challenge on day 6, 7, 10 and 11 so if you want to see my glitter nail post then you can HERE, if you want to see my neon nails you can HERE, if you want to see my gradient nails you can HERE and if you want to see my metallic nails you can HERE.

Okay so today's theme is stripes and I know what you are thinking when you look at the picture, I know I have used dots but I have made the pattern of stripes.  I am not good at creating the conventional stripe pattern on my nails because my hand is not the steadiest and one of the important things about the stripe is that it is relatively straight, and does not end up being a shaky mess on my nail, which mine mostly is.  So to avoid this problem, and to help any of you that are not the best at doing stripy nails, I have created this look which I hope you like, and now I will explain how I did it.



For the base coat of my nails I used this gorgeous colour by MUA called "U R FAB" which is from their love hearts collection.  I love this product for so many reasons and I have actually done a separate review HERE so if you want to find out more about this product, pricing, where to buy etc then you can but in short: the colour is so unique, the application is amazing, the opacity is great 2 coats is plenty to create an opaque nail and the drying speed is amazing.  I am a massive fan of MUA anyway as they are so affordable and when I got this I was bracing myself to not be impressed with the polish because it was so reasonable, but I have to admit if I had paid more money for this product I would not have been disappointed, so if you are near a Superdrug any time soon check out the MUA stand.



After the base coat had dried I used a white polish to create the dotted effect on my nails, the white I used was from a Primark set from a while ago but any white polish will give the same effect.  A lot of you may think that this design can only be achieved if you have a nail dotter or another nail tool, which is not the case at all.  I simply used a bobby pin, or a hair grip which ever one you call it, which if it has the tiny little grippy bobble on the end of the grip will do this effect, you can pick these up so cheaply from most stores so it is a cheap but very effective alternative to a nail dotter or nail tool.  Just dip this bobby pin into the nail varnish and then create the design on the product. Simple.  Obviously the more product on the end of the grip means the larger the dot, so you might want to vary this depending on which nail you are doing.  



I then created 2 lines of these dots down the central third of my nail as the first part of my striped nail design.  You could just leave the design here as I think it is a simple yet very effective design, and this was my original idea, but I decided to go one step further and add some more dots to create a more patterned nail.  You can also vary the colours and designs of these dots to create millions of designs, and when you have mastered the design believe me it is so simple, yet people will always question how you have done this design.

Next I chose to use this gold colour by Nails Inc called Lanesborough Place which is a colour that I also used in my metallic nails design from yesterdays challenge.  This is a gorgeous colour and also quite subtle on this design, that adds a little bit of colour but this is not too bright or overwhelming for the nail design.  I then added 3 stripes of dots on both sides of the white dots and one in the central part of my nail.  I think that this just made the nail slightly more busy and filled up than with just the white stripes, but you could have used more than just 2 colours for this design which might have made the striped design more obvious but I think that this is quite a subtle design.

So there you go, my not so traditional striped nail design, but I think that it is a bit more unusual than the normal striped design and definitely something to try out if you are not so steady handed or do not have time to spend hours doing extremely precise nail art.

If you have entered todays challenge feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments section below, or feel free to email or tweet your photos to me, all information on how to contact me can be found on the right side of my blog.  If you haven't entered today feel free to head on over to Makeup Savvy's page to see tomorrows category HERE and see if you are up for the challenge on Day 13.

Summer Nail Challenge - Day 11

Today is Day 11 of Makeup Savvy's Nail Challenge and todays theme is metallic nails, if you don't know what I am talking about then you can see more info on, or if you want to get involved yourself you can find all the information HERE.  I also did the challenge on day 6, 7 and 10 so if you want to see my glitter nail post then you can HERE, if you want to see my neon nails you can HERE or if you want to see my gradient nails you can HERE.


So as the olympics is drawing to a close for another 4 years I have decided to base my nails on an olympic type theme as I have selected to use bronze, silver and gold colours reflecting the medals.  I have had all these colours for quite a while now but haven't really found myself drawn towards wearing these colours during the summer as its the one time of year I think you can go crazy with colours and patterns, but surprisingly I found I loved this combination more than I initially thought I would, and I think this would be a perfect combination to wear if you are perhaps not such a fan of bright colours this summer.

For my thumb and little finger I used this gorgeous gold colour by Nails Inc called Lanesborough Place.  Personally I prefer this kind of gold that isn't too shiny or over the top, I think that this is the perfect gold if you want to be more subtle.  Another thing I like about it is that it doesn't have heaps of glitter in which a lot of gold polishes do, and although I am a fan of glitter I think sometimes with golds it can be a little too much.  Also you can always add a glitter polish over the top if you want to.  In terms of application this was a dream to apply, in 1 coat the polish was basically opaque and dried really quickly.  This is a polish I had bought but not used a lot since I bought it, but now I have rediscovered it and will definitely be using this again in the near future, through summer and autumn.





On my index and ring fingers I have gone for this glittery bronze coloured polish by Rimmel London in the 60 Seconds Collection called Star Dust number 530.  This is a gorgeous bronze colour which I tend to use more in the autumn than the summer just because it is the perfect autumnal colour, in my eyes anyway, as it is not too dark and not to bright.  Going against everything I said about gold and glitter, this polish has a subtle glitter which is finely milled to just add something extra to the polish with being a glitter polish itself.  I love this colour and in terms of application 2 coats gave plenty of coverage, this is definitely another polish that I have rediscovered my love for.  I also think that the gold and bronze combination could also be another combination if you wanted to stay clearer of the silver tones.



On my middle finger I have used this silvery grey polish again from Nails Inc called Augustus Street.  I picked this product up last year in TK Maxx in a pack of 4 for £10 which was a bargain, but after checking on the Nails Inc website they no longer stock this product so I'm not sure where you would be able to currently find this.  Anyway, the product is a silver polish with finely milled dark grey glitter which I think is an unusual combination, and what makes this product so unique.  But there is a definite downside to this product in my eyes.  It dries completely matt which would be fine on its own if you like matt nail varnishes, but when contrasted against the other two colours this looked out of place.  Due to the matt finish the product as dries a lot darker than the other two, which is something to bear in mind, so although this product is a gorgeous product the thing that puts be off is the matt finish as even with a top coat, it has a completely different finish to the rest of the nails.  


Overall I think this is an nice combination especially for the olympic games, so if you are off to any parties for the closing ceremony maybe you can try out this look that is not too over the top, but is very topical for this time of the year.

If you have entered todays challenge feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments section below, or feel free to email or tweet your photos to me, all information on how to contact me can be found on the right side of my blog.  If you haven't entered today feel free to head on over to Makeup Savvy's page to see tomorrows category HERE and see if you are up for the challenge on Day 12.

Summer Nail Challenge - Day 7

Today is Day 7 of Makeup Savvy's Nail Challenge and todays theme is neon nails, if you don't know what I am talking about then you can see more info on, or if you want to get involved yourself you can find all the information HERE.  I also did the challenge yesterday so if you want to see my glitter nail post then you can HERE.

Today's theme is Neon which I think is a perfect theme for the summery months because I always think that those girls who can rock a neon nail look on holiday or just during the summer months in general, always looks amazing.  But I have been a little resistant to try this out because I am always afraid of them looking to over the top, but I have tried this design as a way to try and break myself into the bright coloured nail trend for this summer and future summers to come.

I tried to stay away from the typical highlighter shades of orange, yellow, pink and green as I wanted to try out some other colours and show that neon nails can be worn, even if you are slightly afraid of the fluorescent colours that are traditional worn as neon.  Instead of using one neon shade I have opted for a few different colours and shades because I think this adds an extra bit of interest to the nails.  Also the design sort of combats the bright colour (well in my mind anyway) because the pattern is a bit more eye-catching than the bright colours themselves, if you see where I'm coming from, as you notice the pattern and multiple colours rather than simply being overwhelmed by one neon colour.

On my thumb I have used this bright pink shade from the 17 vintage collection which I got ages ago, but I love this colour because it is such an unusual shade of pink.  Not the traditional neon or bubblegum pink put a softer bright pink which I haven't found anywhere else.  This is a very girly colour but I think it is also a very good alternative if you are not into the pastel pinks that are in at the moment because it is a nice compromise between a pastel and a neon.  This applied very well and within 2 coats was completely opaque, so that is a definite bonus in my books.

On my index finger I have used this bright orange colour, which is probably the brightest colour that is in this design, and in my collection.  It is from the Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours range number 303 which can be found in Boots and Superdrug.  I Miss Sporty polishes because they have such good pigmentation and last a really long time on the nails, and the best part, they are extremely affordable as they are only £1.99 and for that price you get 7ml of product.  This also applied amazingly as it dries really quickly and only required 2 coats, after being nearly opaque enough to leave it after 1 coat!

My middle finger is a bright corally pinky orange colour, which I don't think is being show up true to colour in the photo as it is even brighter in real life.  This is colour is by Nails Inc and is called Copacabana, but unfortunately I don't think this is still available to buy because it was part of a deal in Boots last summer where you brought 2 products and got this free.  In my opinion it is the perfect summer shade, being a bright coral I would have thought this would only look nice on tanned skin, but in fact it looks gorgeous on any skin tone and I think this is something really nice about this product.  This required 2-3 coats as it is a slightly thinner product, but again it dried relatively quickly meaning it was not too much of a problem.

My ring finger is in this bright canary yellow colour, which is another Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours Nail varnish number 453.  This is a bright yellow, but not the kind of highlighter neon yellow which I like because it is much more wearable than that fluorescent yellow colour.  When I first bought this I was worried about when and wear I would be able to wear this but actually I was pleasantly surprised when I wore this a couple of weeks ago and got lot of complements about the shade of yellow and how unusual it was, so maybe check this out if you are interested in a new yellow nail varnish.  Again the application on this was really quick and easy and only required 2 coats at the max as this product is very opaque.  But I would warn you that it applies a slightly stronger colour than in the bottle so not be afraid if this happens when you first apply the product.

Finally on my little finger I have used the Sally Hansen nail varnish in colour Orange you Cute number 450 which is a bright pink, but this is a slightly red pink so it is not your typical pink colour.  This means it is slightly brighter than your average pink but not too over the top, instead it is just a really nice colour that is the perfect summer shade.  I have to admit that when I bought this Sally Hansen was not really readily available where I live, but I now know that they have started to stock this in Superdrug when I last went in.  But this nail varnish was actually brought in Poundland, for £1! It is such an unusual colour and an absolute bargain, so when you are next in your nearest pound land keep your eyes open for any nail varnish.  This applied well too and only required 2 coats to get this opacity.

Today's challenge has been a bit more of a challenge for me than maybe a few others as I don't often wear these kind of neon colours but this combination has really inspired me to wear more bright colours this summer without feeling worried of looking over the top.

If you have entered todays challenge feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments section below, or feel free to email or tweet your photos to me, all information on how to contact me can be found on the right side of my blog.  If you haven't entered today feel free to head on over to Makeup Savvy's page to see tomorrows category HERE and see if you are up for the challenge on Day 8.