Mushroom Nail Art

My Color Club - Nomadic in nude seems to be getting a lot of use at the moment! Poor thing, I'll be needing a new one before long.

 

I needed to go in search of some stationary last week, I needed a new file and notebook for my PGCE class on Tuesday...so I dragged my sister to Wilkinson's with me to have a wander around.

I found this cute little letter writing set (which I haven't bought by the way) I restrained myself from getting it as its not what I went for. And...I didn't even buy what I went for in the end, I think I'm going to have to go back to pick up a plain black file and notepad...So forgetful!

Because I didn't buy it I've done some nail art to match it instead.

 

 

NSI Natural Acrylics

Now, I don't usually do acrylics that often because I know how much damage they can cause to your nails.

Normally I would try and talk someone out of having them done but my brothers girlfriend desperately wanted them for her graduation so I gave in.

She wanted them natural but with a decent length so that's what I did.

Here's how the nails looked prior to the acrylics...

I always use NSI products because that's what I used when I was training.

I've had my acrylic brush for over 4years now... I don't think I could ever use another brush again. It's like my little baby, it needs lots of care and attention and I most certainly don't let anyone else use it. We've had one or two incidents in work when the acrylic brush hasn't been cleaned and a big chunk of acrylic has dried in it, Disaster! Thank god I never leave mine there or I think it would end up in the bin after a week or two.

Sam wanted to have clear natural acrylics, and that's what she got. I used NSI purely pink masque powder mixed with the NSI acrylic liquid. To finish off I used China Glaze - Hope Chest with NSI glaze and go over the top.

 

 

 

Pearl Manicure

I'm not usually into these bright reds or pinks but I really like this colour.

This is one of the new MUA nail polishes, its called Bright Coral and its only £1!

My first thought when I applied it was that its not really coral, I think its more red than anything.

So as usual I was procrastinating and started doing this mani

I applied two coats of MUA - Bright Coral on all nails and before it could dry I started plonking on these little white pearl looking caviar balls to my ring finger, then I made the mistake of thinking

"I'll just stick a topcoat on now...what's the worst that can happen?"

Don't make the mistake I did by being impatient, let the polish dry off for at least 5minutes before you put the topcoat on otherwise your going to have a problem of trying to put all the little pearls back into their places.

 

Splotchy Accent Nail

Hmm...it looks like I have an addiction with these MUA polishes

At least I'm keeping to my word and uploading more images of the colours I have. I will do some swatches of them as well instead of just nail art.

 

For this manicure I have used

Frozen Yoghurt

Bright Coral (Main Colour)

Natural Days (Accent Base)

Lush Lilac

NYC Topcoat

I applied two coats of Bright Coral over all of my nails accept my ring finger which I put two layers of Natural Days on.

I let my nails dry for 5 minutes whilst carefully having a cup of herbal tea...trying to be healthy sucks!

Using my different sized dotting tools I used Lush Lilac, Bright Coral and Frozen Yoghurt and applied different sized blobs all over my accent nails.

I had to wait a further 5minutes for the blobs to dry until I put on my topcoat.

Finished result equals cute shiny splotchy nails =)

MUA Nail Polish Swatches

Okay, so first things first before I start this post I need to apologise for not posting for a LONG time!

I've been so wrapped up in starting my PGCE this September and haven't given a thought to my poor blog.

So I think its time to start blogging again, although I think my posts are going to be a bit scatty. If I get round to it I might even post a few of my lessons up on my blog!

 

Wow!

These nail polishes are only £1 from Superdrug...Bargain!

I have a few more pictures of the different colours I have to upload when I get the time.

I've nearly bought the whole range of these new MUA polishes, but the ones I don't have are always out of stock.

Ah well, I will just have to be patient!

 

Well, considering these polishes are only £1 you'd think they'd be rubbish runny polishes where you need at least 3 coats to look good and I'm here to tell you they're not.

These polishes are fantastic for the price, its just a shame they don't do them in bigger bottles because I would definitely buy them.

I've done 2 coats of polish on each of these manicures just so you can see what they look like. They definitely need the two coats though, you couldn't ever get away with just the one like you could with some O.P.I polishes, but seriously they're at least £10 cheaper than any O.P.I polish anyway, so who cares?

 

All the polish names below are linked to where I have bought them from

 

 

 

MUA - Stormy Skies

 

 

MUA - Moody Mink

 

MUA - Lush Lilac

MUA - Ameretto Crush

MUA - Bold Blue

 

 

 

Jumbled Stripes

 

I don't know what happened today really, this manicure is a lot darker than usual. Ah well its a change from all the light bright colours I've been using lately.

I was in the mood for stripes this morning but couldn't decided how I was going to do them so I started off by applying two coats of Collection 2000 - Wham

I waited 15 minutes for it to dry with a cup of tea and biscuits Mmmm.... such a yummy distraction!

Anyway back to the nail art.. after my polish had dried off enough I started applying my stripes.

I did cheat a little doing this manicure, instead of using nail polish for the stripes I used acrylic paint with a long thin nail art brush. I didn't have a set plan on what colours I was going to do so just picked them out at random and hoped for the best, doesn't look too bad either.

 

 

This is how my nails looked after I'd finished doing the stripes

I think I prefer them looking dull/matte rather than glossy with a top coat.

 

 

Here's how the manicure finished looking with one coat of NYC - Top coat

 

Hexagon Glitter Accent Nail

 

I wanted some new glitters to add to my collection and have bought some off Ebay before.

 So I decided to get some more from the same place and here's one of them in #5 coffee.

 

When they arrived I wanted to do a manicure with the hexagon glitter ones so I came up with this manicure:

Base colour : Color Club - Nomadic in nude

Accent Nail : Orly - Prince charming

#5 coffee hexagon glitter on accent nail

I used NYC - Top coat to finish off the manicure