Return of dots & entry of nail caviar

Dots, dots, dots. They're a very good fall back option when you're out of ideas and can be varied in both layout and colours, essentially giving you an unlimited number of designs. The first picture below is a combination I've used before but this time in a more stamp-like pattern. I failed completely at taking a picture of the full design, so I only had this one with my (now broken) iPod.

This second design is a bit more elaborate. I was given quite a bit of nail caviar for my birthday but I've been a little sceptic to how long it will last (especially given my current training schedule). On the the other hand, since I now had so much of it I figured I should give it a try. I couldn't find a colour from my collection which matched the caviar perfectly, so opted for three shades of blue. Luckily, the dark blue has aged enough that it's not as runny as fresh polishes are, meaning that I was able to make some smaller dots with it.

I have yet to see how long this caviar lasts, if it's good enough I may start using it more often.

Super Mario

I'm going through a phase of failing at taking pictures of my nails. I'll often do it just as I've finished, but before I've cleaned up but then forget to do it before they fall apart. You'll just have to bear with it :)

Super Mario design was something that we first came up with as an interior thing. Gema, a friend of ours and I ended up browsing the internet for how to furnish a flat in all gaming/geek related stuff and there were some brilliant Super Mario pieces. Since I don't really have the money to carry the project through, it became a nail art inspiration instead.

It's been on my to-do-list since we started planning our Avenger designs and I've occasionally browsed through what others have done. Some projects are well impressive, partly because they've got such long nails and can fit a lot more.  I loved all the mushrooms and couldn't resist including Mario & Luigi (the moustaches were surprisingly hard!). I didn't feel I had the accuracy to include the monster flowers or make a tube look pretty, so ended up with a turtle shell and the chance-box's question mark.

Unfortunately, the nude I was using didn't last for very  long. It was a shame, since I was rather pleased with the final result. Apart from the moustaches (which I now realised would be much easier with a nail art pen) there weren't too many details to fiddle with, so do give it a try!

Dandelions

This is a design which has been in my backlog for a while. In the original inspiration they've used a very pale grey as a background and also managed to get the "leafs" (or what you call the things coming off the flowers) like normal brushstrokes. I, on the other hand, do not have that set of brushes and compensated by trying to make some of the strands slightly bluer.

It's a very calm design, both motive and colour palette. I found it a great work design (for stricter offices than mine maybe, most of my colleagues like pretty much all of my designs and have even come up with various idea). Even looking at it made me calm down a bit, which at times can be quite useful

For the white details I used a toothpick, the black was done with my nail art pen. Base is a Loreal that I've used before - I love the colour but it's still very tricky to work with (requires two layers or more and dries slowly). But as said, great for work if you're looking for something that isn't just single colour.

Black stripes

My flatmate had come across this design on Pintest and asked me if it was hard to make. To give her a bit of a revision break I volunteered to give them a try. Now, they probably would have turned out better if I planned ahead a little. Rather than starting with the top stripe, ensuring that it reached the end of the nail, I kept starting with the bottom one. Other than that, it's a very straightforward design for the one looking for something a bit whacky but with limited amount of time (base coat, then use a black striper - or other colour for that matter!).

The idea of using only the transparent base coat and not a covering colour is interesting, could be good to keep in mind for other designs.

Swirls of pink and black

I have times where I don't have a lot of inspiration, or time for that matter. This was one of them, even if I in hindsight could have gone for a much simpler design. I wanted to try out the pink nail art pen (topshop) combined with a silver base (Barry M). The silver is one of my favourites and works to pretty much everything. 

When I completed it, I realised that it would probably have been much cooler if I just had stripes but in alternating black/pink. I guess I'll just have to keep that idea in the backlog with the conclusion that this colour combination definitely works!

Alice in Wonderland

A friend hosted a Mad Hatter's party a while ago, which opened a great opportunity for design. It was first suggested that I should try something like this one, but that felt like a challenge way above my skills. The regular research started and I fell for this as the source of inspiration. Whilst I didn't have any pearls or other decorations for the 3D effect much of it could be done with the much trusted toothpick and a black nail art pen. 

As a base I've used Loreal's French Riviera, a lovely colour but tricky to work with. It definitely requires at least two layers and is sometimes hard to paint even with. It also takes a while to dry, so at the end of the day it's a fair amount of effort for the colour compared to many others!

 All the black details were done using the tip of the nail art pen from TopShop, white was done with a mixture of the normal brush and toothpick to get the edges right (circles are tricky!) and the eyes were done using the home made dotter. The cat is meant to be Cheshire cat that can make itself invisible.

Unfortunately, I only got around to taking pictures when the design was falling apart, hence the index finger looking a bit messed up. As you can see I deviate a bit from the original design by changing the bow tie for the smiling cat and the hat. Especially since I didn't have the physical decorations it ended up as a good compromise. 

Index fingers were time consuming and the base layer's drying time but still think I completed it in 1.5h! 

Star Trek - Into Darkness

After patiently waiting since 2009 for the next Star Trek movie installment, Star Trek Into Darkness has been finally delivered. The week before it was released in cinemas, in my excitement I put together a Star Trek inspired design.

Started with creating galaxy nails on my thumb, index, middle and little finger which involved starting off with a black base and then sponging a mixture of colours such as white, green, blue, purple and pink. A glitter top coat on top of the galaxy nails helped give the impression of little stars.

On the tips of the index, middle and little fingers I had at first did french tips in the common colours of the Starfleet uniform which are blue, red and a golden yellow shade. But later altered the design and increased them into nail dips to add more colour.

On the thumb, on top of the galaxy I painted in the Starship Enterprise and on the ring finger on top of a dark grey background I sponged white in the style of the Star Trek Into Darkness promotional posters and finally drew in the little villain.

I mirrored the design on my left hand.

- Nail Art Love -