Life in Lacquer Nail Art Challenge: BLUE featuring Video Tutorial

Another #lifeinlacquerjuly mani. How are you all liking the challenge so far? I hope your enjoying seeing others work on my Instagram!

Ive been totally overwhelmed by all the people taking part! I thought no one would so I am sooo happy you are all joining me on this!

Today is another very broad prompt...Blue. 

I chose to get my Nail Stickrs out for this one. Maybe it would have been more suited to the Geometric prompt but oh well :)

AND theres a couple videos to accompy this too! Im getting there with the whole video thing. I still find them quite hard and awkward to film but I am getting there. 

Again these are fast so I can put them on Instagram. Do you think I should make longer versions for Youtube? 

Here is how I did the gradient.....

 

And here is how I used the Nail Stickrs to create a sponge chevron.


I hope the videos go a little way in showing you how I did this look.
I am really interested to know what you think about them so please do let me know.

For this look I used Essie Butler Please, Avenue Maintain and Sweet Talker. I also used Moyra 304 on the chevron nail. 

All of this was one ontop of a white base

And then of course it needed some bling! These beautiful metal star charms are from Effect Beauty. I love them! They are slightly curved so fit to the nail really well unlike other flat charms, plus you get a decent amount for your money.

Soooo what do you think? Please check out the other blog entries from Life in Lacquer July below!

An InLinkz Link-up

**some of the products featured were sent to me as press samples. All opinions are my own**

Mylar Nail Art

Heres a new one for me.... Mylar.

I first heard about it years ago when I was working as a nail tech but I had never tried it.Until now!
I know Mylar can be great encapsulated in gel or acrylic but I was unsure how to use it with polish.

This is shade Iridescent Hot Pink and in the bag you get 5g but that is loads!

I basically just put it on top of wet nail polish to stick it and then topped with topcoat. 2 coats needed at least. If you are one of those people who don't like things sticking on your nails then this wouldn't be for you at all.

I really like this Mylar. Its pink but also looks blue and even Orange sometimes. I think it adds a unique dimension.
I was in a massive grump doing this nail art so as you can see its not my best. I just hate Rose Hip by +Barry M . Its streaky and hard to apply. It gets me in a rage every time I use it! I just love the colour though... Anyone know of any alternatives?

I used a darker pink acrylic and a nail art brush from Effect Beauty to do the squiggles and dots.

You can buy the nail art brushes and Mylar from Effect Beauty. They sell everything you could ever want in regards to nail art plus you can get 10% off using code LACQUER

Like I said Mylar may not be for everyone but sticky up bits don't bother me and I rather like it.

*press sample, All opinions expressed are honest and my own*

Feather Nail Decals

I am trying so very hard to keep the blog up to date but as some of you may know I also crochet things for people and at the mo I have loads to do so my little blog has suffered slightly. Normal service will resume soon!

Anyway.....
I have a very simple nail art to show you today. AND I used the mysterious fan brush.... The fan brush usually comes in most nail art brush kits and I have seen a few people ask what to do with it, so here is just one thing you can do!

I used +Barry M  Gelly polish called Key Lime and China Glazes  Flying High. I then added some feather water decals from Sparkly Nails.
I then topped it all off with Mentality Matte top coat! I love Matte top coat and I just want to matte all the things!
Ive said it once and I'll say it again... If you don't like hand painting nail art then water decals are the option for you. They are easy to use and don't stick up like stickers. plus they can be cut and edited to fit any design you might want to do.


The fan brush is part of a set of brushes from Effect Beauty. For 10% off  use code LACQUER.

What do you think of this look?


Some products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own and they are all honest.

Foil Squiggle Nail Art

I have wanted to try foils for so long so when Effect Beauty offered to send me some I jumped at the chance!
 I wanted to have a play and not, for now, go for the full nail foil coverage.

The foil comes rolled up in a plastic pot so its great for storage in ye olde Helmer. The actual sheet of foil is really long, I could do this nail art about 20 times I think! Obviously you would use more foil if you were doing a full nail.

This was really really hard to capture! 

I used a dotting tool to add the foil glue onto the nail in a random squiggly pattern. Then waited until the glue went from white to see through. I then placed and pressed the foil onto the nail and pulled it off. And this was what I was left with!!

In love with this, it catches the light and reminds me of a very exotic fish tail or something ha ha.

I used Mentality Polish Scoundrel. A black with a minute shimmer.

This foil and others are available from Effect Beauty and you can get 10% off with the code LACQUER :)

some of these products were sent to me for my honest review

Artistic Brush Strokes Nail Art

Effect Beauty has sent me a ton a goodies to play with and share with you all and today we have a very simple nail art using one of their nail art brushes and their silver Mylar flakes. 

Today I wanted to show you all a nail art that can be done using a flat brush. I usually save these for clean up brushes but I wanted to try out something different this time. 

I used 3 different coloured acrylic paints. 

The paints I used are just a cheap set from The Works. If you don't use acrylic paints then please look into them and give them a try. I used to struggle with nail art until I started using paints. They cover better and I personally think more is achievable with them. 

ON TO THE NAILS......

The brushes seemed alot nicer quality than the cheap ones on eBay. They are softer and I can wait to try more of them out! 

They come in a set of 5. 

The Mylar Flakes come in a bag of 5g but going by the tiny amount I use for this, that's going to last a LOOONNNGG time! 

I used the brush to "scrub" the colour onto the nail. 

Do not overload the acrylic paint on the brush. It needs to have like minimal paint on the bristles. 

I then placed Mylar onto one corner using topcoat to stick it. It reminds me of a mermaid! 

I used an unnamed light greeny blue Color Club polish for the base. The glitter polish is Laugh Myself Lily by KBShimmer, matted. 

I really like this nail art. It really does remind me of the sea or mermaids, Its so easily achieved too.

Effect Beauty have been very kind and they are offering all Life In Lacquer readers 10% off on their website. Just use code LACQUER at checkout. 

This code should be valid from 02/05/2014

CLICK HERE to be taken to Effect Beauty :) 

**these items were sent to me for my honest review. This are my own opinions**