MoYou London Nail Stamping Plate Review and Tutorial

PRODUCT SAMPLE


Hello my loves, I am so sorry I haven't posted in a while. Things are really hectic here in the run up to Christmas.

I have another review of a MoYou London plate for you today. I did another review and video tutorial a few weeks ago which you can view here.

I used two polishes from my recent China Glaze haul to do this although you can barely see the colour difference but I can assure you in real life it was very noticeable.

To see how I did this look and to hear my full opinions on this plate please join me after the jump.

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**

Life in Lacquer Nail Art Challenge:DOTS featuring Video Tutorial!

How are you enjoying the challenge so far? Please do share the challenge around so others can take part!

Today is dots. I liked this prompt as its very open and also lends itself to beginners.


I chose to do something simple AND I made a video to go with it! YAY!


Here is what I came up with.

I used Manhattan Laque Lotus and Sugar Fix by Sally Hansen (textured) 

The bow was from Poundland! 

I love the textured polish over the smooth. I think its a great way to jazz up a simple mani.

Want to see how I did it??!! NOW YOU CAN! 

It is a fast video as I planned to put them on instagram.

What do you think? Do you like to see how it was done?

Tune in soon to see the next installment in Life in Lacquer July!

An InLinkz Link-up

Guest Post on Nail Parade.

Today I am over on the Nail Parade with a guest blog post.

The post features my first ever pictorial. Yay!

What do you think?

You can see the post and check out Rach's other art using THIS link! 

Cartoon Nail Art

I have always wanted to do a cartoon themed mani. In fact I did one a while back but it sucked sooo bad!

I started by picking out some bold primary colours. I thought It would be easy but it turns out I own like one of each!

I chose Chick Me Out by KBShimmer, Mojito Madness by Essie, Keeping Suzi At Bay by OPI and Red Passion by Maxfactor Glossfinity.

I started by doing two coats of each colour on each nail then waiting a little before adding the designs. I used acrylic paint and my fave brush, St Petersburg by Moyra UK, to do the designs. If you are in need of some really fantastic nail art brushes for acrylic nail art I really could not recommend Moyra enough. Aliz is fantastic and will help with any questions you may have :)

I then top coated and waited overnight before I used Nail Stickrs to make the "boom" shape. I was going to write Boom and Pow in them but I made them too small :(

The only reason I waited overnight was because it was SOOOO late by the time I finished this (about 2am) I didn't want to risk mucking it up.

I placed the Nail Stickrs where I needed them and made sure to press down along the nail walls. Then applied Alpine Snow by OPI over the top. I always remove the stencils when the polish is WET. I feel it works so much better and is less likely to ruin the design.

Using St Petersburg I outlined the explosions with black acrylic paint. Added topcoat by KBShimmer and....
TaDa all done!

Again the vinyl stencils worked wonders! I am loving them right now.

Nail Stickrs are available to purchase HERE (they do ship to UK) and you can see another mani I did using Nail Stickrs HERE


*some of these products were sent to me as a press sample. My opinions honest and of course my own*

Nail Stickrs Review and Nail Art

Today I received these lovely samples in the post!

Nail Stickrs is a company based in the USA but they DO ship to the UK.  Shipping is cheap too, $2.50 which works out at around £1.49

I was sent a pretty big pack of stencils and stickers to play around with so expect quite a few designs with these babies!

Okay so today I decided to try the straight lines and the arrow type ones first. I am in love with all things geometric at the mo!


The polish needs to be proper dry before using these so I recommend waiting a while after base colour application. I didn't use a fast dry topcoat so waited about an hour. I have tried to use a topcoat to speed up this process before but I actually don't think it works too well. It makes you think its dry when its not, sneaky!

First I picked up a bunch of the stencils and the placed them on my nails. This way I can ensure they are straight and equally spaced. 

Then I removed every other sticker. I found using tweezers made this part easier. 

When I was happy with the positioning I used the end of the tweezers to push the stencils down into the sides of the nail to make sure there are no gaps. 

And there you have it. The smallest tutorial of all time! The base is Manglaze Mayonnaise. A matte shimmery white. Takes 3 coats for opacity.

I then used a sponge and OPI Nein Nein Nein Okay Fine and Mentality's Scoundrel to create the gradient.

The triangle shape was also made using Nail Stickrs but this time I used the straight lines.

I did make some mistakes with these though. Some of the polish leaked under the stencil. I found using a little brush with some nail polish remover on cleaned it up a bit. I don't think they are bad at all for a first attempt!

Matted it all, again. I mean I just love matte!

What do you think of these new Nail Stickrs? I love them and whether your new or a dab hand a nail art these have a use for everyone.


You can purchase and peruse at their WEBSITE, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM


*products featured were sent to me as a press sample. Opinions are honest and all my own*

MegaMix Nails. Turn Your Nail Polish Into Gel Polish!

 This is part two of my Mega Mix series. Please see my previous post on gel polish. 

So here comes the practical bit! 

I have prepared a little step by step for all y'all that are new to gel polishing and to show how to use Mega Mix, hope you enjoy!

You will need...

UV lamp

Nail polish of your choice

The three Mega Mix polishes (Amazin Base, Mega Mix and Amaze Glaze) 

A brush 

A nail buffer of 240 grit or more.  

Cotton pads. 

THIS STEP TO STEP IS GOING ON THE BASIS THAT ALL YOUR NAILS HAVE BEEN FILED INTO SHAPE AND YOUR CUTICLES HAVE BEEN PUSHED BACK. 

It is essential to remove all the cuticle off the nail plate or the gel will not adhere properly. 

1. To start you are going to want to remove the shine on your natural nail. Please do not use a regular nail file for this. Using a normal nail file will cause damage to your natural nail. I choose to use a grit of 240 or over. It is only to remove shine. so a couple sweeps of the nail file over your natural nail will do it. After you have done this then use some polish remover to clean your nail and make sure no dust remains.

As I am wearing a patch on my index finger (I had a very nasty break) I cannot put gel polish on that nail as when I remove the gel it'll soak it off. Soo i have decided to paint this nail with regular nail polish as a comparison. 

2. Time to apply the base coat. You only need a thin layer. Apply Amazin Base in the same way you would apply nail polish. Do not flood the nail with gel. I tend to do four fingers on one hand, then the next four. I choose to do the thumbs separately as its easier for me.

3. Cure the nails for 2 minutes in your UV lamp.

4. Now its time to mix your colour. You may find this easier to do BEFORE you apply base coat. If this is the case, then please move the mixed colour AWAY from the UV lamp as it can start to cure.

Start with a 50/50 ratio. It says on the website this can be increased to a ration of 80 polish to 20 gel. 

5. Apply your colour. This must be done thinly otherwise it may not cure correctly and could wrinkle. Make sure to use a brush soaked in acetone to clean up any mistakes. Once it is cured that way it cant be tidied up. Cure after layer for 2 Min's.

6. Continue step 5 until you have your desired coverage.

7. Once you are happy top it all off with Amaze Glaze. One coat. Cure again for 2 minutes. 

8. Wipe off the sticky layer with a weak alcohol solution or a gen finishing solution.

TaDa! 

Okay... 

My index finger nail shows Essie's Wheres My Chauffeur using 2 coats. The other fingers show the same polish, mixed with Mega Mix and using 4 coats. 

The coverage is so much better with the polish

The coverage was not very good with this mixed gel polish. This could be due to many things I suppose. The pigmentation of the polish and the ratios I used? You can see on my ring finger especially that it is quite patchy. I suppose when you mix a polish with a clear gel it is effectively going to "water down" the colour.

I was a bit disappointed with this but I suppose it is only my first go and maybe with a more pigmented polish it wouldn't be so streaky. I'm not sure if this is the next big thing? I really love the flexibility of wearing nail polish. I can change it in an instant. BUT I can see the appeal for those wanting longer wear time. 

Mega Mix is available to buy from Martin HERE

What do you think about this? Do you have any questions? 

Stay tuned, next time I will be trying another polish.....

This gel system was provided to me for my honest review, Please see my disclaimer for details 

Watercolour Style Nail Art

Hello! 

I feel like its been ages since my last post, Ive been super busy with some top secret things! 

All will be revealed in Oct. 

Here I have a watercolour style nail art. I used my Squishy Stamper to achieve this look and it was sooo simple. 

I used Essie's Butler Please and Shes Pampered. 

The base is BarryM Matt White.

I placed a blob of each on a mixing palette then picked it up with my stamper and repeatedly stamped it over my nail until I was happy with the look. 

This is the first attempt and it could have been better but i still love it! The way the blue mixes into the red is lush! 

For some reason the red isnt being picked up properly on my camera. I have tried to edit it so you an see it but still its a bit naff. Sorry!

One other thing.... The clean up is, well, a pain in the ass. But maybe if I had thought about it I should have masking taped my fingers. 

Confetti Zigzag

I am a massive fan of L'Oreal's Confetti topcoat. I saw it sat on my shelf looking all lonely so I just had to crack it open! One of the things I like most about the Confetti the micro glitter partials, if you squint you may see it! But seriously, in real life, you can see it and I really think it adds too the whole effect.

To do this I used my ole faithful! Neo Whimsical by Essie. I use this polish more than I use any other (maybe on par with BarryM's Matt White)
I find it a great base for doing art and I am a big fan of a nude, oh behave!

I then used some of those fancy scissors to cut this shape out of masking tape. I am "borrowing" these off my Nan and she has lent me about 15 pairs of different shaped ones! She uses them for card making but they work really well for this.

The darker pink is Essie's Cascade Cool. I did try and do the Confetti in a zigzag and it did work, of a fashion, but I wanted to accentuate it so outlined in acrylic paint. The line is not exactly straight so that's a bummer but I am still happy with it.

Its been a while since I have done anything like this and I think I will be doing it more often, its really pretty :)

A design like this works in any colourway but just bare in mind to go from light to dark :)

I hope you like this everyone and please leave me a lil comment below, I love getting comments, its like the excitement I get when I am waiting for the postman!

Geometric Design,Decal Stamping Method Tutorial

As you all have guessed by now, I love stamping! 

I created this simple design using the decal technique. 

I also used the same technique to do THIS mani. 

I thought i would do a little tutorial type explanation on how I do it. 

I use a "squishy" type stamper for decals as it really wraps the design around your nail. Unlike the normal Konad stampers, Squishy's have, what i can only describe as, a marshmallow at the end! I purchased mine from eBay for £2.35 from the UK.

First I select my design and do the normal stamping routine to get the design on my stamper.

I then let it dry on the stamper (which takes about 1 min lol) 

I then pick out the parts that I want to colour in. Today I have chosen to add a slightly darker blue polish to the shaded area of the box. 

You can use either polish or acrylic paint to colour in the stamp. Both work equally well in my opinion. 

Then it will look something like this.....

It doesn't have to be too neat as long as it doesn't overlap onto parts you don't want that colour LOL 

As you can see you can paint over lines etc and they will still show, it works on a layering principle.

Then paint your nails as normal. 

While the polish is still tacky, stamp your nail as normal. 

Be extra careful and slow. I also press a bit harder than I usually would. 

The you will be left with your design on your nail! 

All that's left is to clean up. In this instance clean up the overhang BEFORE topcoat  Otherwise the topcoat will cause the remaining polish to fold over on to your design. Such a bummer when that happens!!

And TaDa! 

The possibles are truly endless with this!