Free hand Striped Nail Art

I have a simple but striking manicure today ...

One Stroke Purple Flowers Nail Art

I love one stroke nail art and keep thinking I ought to do it more often so that I can improve upon my previous attempts. So here is my latest manicure with some one stroke purple flowers ...

Shamrocks on Gold French Tips

A simple little green and gold manicure for St. Patrick's Day today - gold french tips with hand drawn green shamrocks.

Diagonal Dotted French Tips

I did this manicure with my March Nail Art Challenge in mind, the prompt for which was a 'Dotticure'. I don't think I do French tip manicures often enough - I am not a big fan of the plain white tips but I do love a more fun and colourful take on it, like this one ...

Blowing Kisses!

I love those "girl blowing dandelion" manicures and have wanted to try one for a while. But since its close to Valentine's Day I thought I would do hearts instead of dandelions. I didn't have a stamping plate with the face though so I thought I would try my hand at painting mine freehand. It is much trickier to paint the silhouette of a face on your nail than on paper, let me tell you! This is how it turned out ...

Tropical Flowers Nail Art - GOT Polish

I have some catching up to do with my GOT Polish challenge. And one of the prompts I missed was for something tropical! I did, in fact, do the manicure earlier - just did not get a chance to post it. So here it is, at last.

Easter Eggs & Bunny Manicure - Tri-Polish Tuesday

Continuing with the eggs theme for Easter and the pink, blue and yellow colours for Tri-Polish Tuesdays, here's another Easter eggs manicure!

For this manicure, I used the same base as before - Models Own Speckled Eggs Nail Polishes in Duck Blue, Dove Pink and Goose Yellow.

Roses and Pearls Spring Manicure - GOT Polish Challenge

I have another Spring Manicure on the blog today! The colours I have used in this manicure are just perfect for spring, in my opinion. And when you think of Spring, you have to have some flowers so I did some roses on my accent nail. And to top it off, I thought I would add some pearl studs.

Starting from the thumb, the nail polishes used are Revlon Cupid, Barry M Gelly Greenberry, Rimmel 311 Spring Yellow, Barry M Matt White and Barry M Gelly Blueberry. On the accent nails I did freehand roses with the colours on the other nails and the leaves with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Emerald Express.

Ruffle French Tip Manicure - GOT Polish

The prompt for the GOT Polish Challenge is the Ruffle Manicure. For this manicure, you just need to use a large dotting tool to create a line of dots on your nails. Then follow it up with successive lines of slightly overlapping dotted lines in a different colour. The end result looks like fabric ruffles. There's a good tutorial on Chalkboard Nails.
I thought it would be nice to use the ruffle nail art as an accent and french tips rather than the whole nail so this is what I did.

Its a pretty simple technique and the end result is very cute and colourful. This is my first attempt at this kind of nail art. I painted my nails with China Glaze For Audrey. And I did the ruffles with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Flashy Fuschia and Revlon Gold Coin.

Holi Manicure

Holi, (Pronounced the same as "Holy"), also known as the Festival of Colours is a Spring Festival. To quote Wikipedia, " It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well as people of other communities. Holi celebrations start with a Holika bonfire on the night before Holi where people gather, sing and dance. The next morning is free for all carnival of colours, where everyone plays, chases and colours each other with dry powder and coloured water, with some carrying water guns and coloured water-filled balloons for their water fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders. The frolic and fight with colours occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings." I found this Youtube video for Holi, that you may like to see.

I decided on this colourful manicure to celebrate Holi. This manicure also uses my Tri Polish Challenge colours.

Neon Hearts French Manicure

The Valentine's Day theme continues with a Neon Hearts & coloured French Tips manicure. I got these cute neon heart rhinestones off eBay and I thought they would go beautifully with my Neon Pink polish. Since its such a bright pop of colour, I thought it would look good as a heart shaped French manicure tip to mirror the shape of the rhinestone. I don't do this type of a manicure often but I love this look!

The nails are painted with OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! I did the tips with Kleancolor Neon Pink. I outlined the heart shaped tips with a small, thin striper brush and then filled it in with polish. Then on three fingers, I dotted the outline with Kleancolor Neon Amethyst. And on the thumb and ring finger, I added the heart rhinestones with top coat.

Got Polish Challenge - Dotted Blossoms Nail Art

The prompt for my Golden Oldie Thursday Challenge is Green. I loved the cherry blossom stamping nail art that I have done in the past so much (here & here), that I wanted to do that again for this. But instead of stamping the image on, I thought I would try a simple little free hand this time. So here are my blossom laden branches!

The green polish is Barry M Greenberry. The branches are done with Barry M Black. The dotted flowers have been done with the polish Bourjois 10 Days No Chips No. 15.

Tri-Polish Tuesday - One Stroke Floral Nail Art

For my Tri Polish Tuesday manicure today, I have some one stroke flowers on my nails.
The red base polish is Rimmel Riviera Red. The freehand floral nail art is done with NYC Lexington Yellow, Barry M Mango, Key Lime and Matt White. I used a flat nail art brush for the flowers, a fine detailing brush for the leaves and a fine dotting tool.

There are a lot of great tutorials on the internet for these one stroke flowers. I saw a few of these tutorials on youtube for inspiration although I didn't follow anyone exactly.
The tutorials that I saw for these flowers use acrylic paints for the nail art. I used nail polish for mine but I can see how it would probably be easier to use acrylics. I guess the best way to describe it is that acrylic paints would glide on easier - nail polish gets a bit sticky, specially when its been sitting on your palette for a few minutes and it can smear your base polish a little. Also, acrylic paints can be washed off with water if you make a mistake and want to start over without messing up your base polish. I was just too lazy to go dig out my acrylic paints - but I might have to try that the next time!

Festive Food!

Food is an important part of any festive celebration - and the prompt for my Christmas Nail Art Challenge. And Christmas has so many foods that are eaten specially at this time of the year. This manicure celebrates some of these yummy treats - Christmas Pudding, mince pies, gingerbread men and sparkling wine!

The base polish is Revlon Hot for Chocolate. The little finger is stamped with gingerbread men from the image plate GA41 from the Gals Fairy Set with Essie Good as Gold. The mince pies on the pointer are also stamped from an image plate from the same set, GA47. The bubbly on the ring finger is from the Messy Mansion plate, MM02. The middle finger and thumb have a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top of the brown polish. The Christmas pudding is painted free hand with OPI Alpine Snow, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Quick Brick and Jumpin Jade. I finished everything off with top coat.

Gingerbread Men

Gingerbread man on my nails today!

For this manicure, I used the polish, China Glaze Fast Track. I love this polish - its a natural beige but has a lovely sparkle to it. I stamped these three nails with the Gingerbread men image in Konad Black from the GA41 image plate from the Gals Fairy Set. The other two nails are painted with Revlon Hot for Chocolate. I painted the Gingerbread Man on the ring finger and thumb freehand with OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? The hand painted gingerbread man is decorated with chocolate buttons!

Woods in the snow and a snowman

The manicure today is my attempt at winter nature. I painted the snowman freehand. The trees are stamped and I dotted on the snow. The trees in the snow looked better in my head, I have to say! But I guess, you can still make out what I was going for!
For this manicure, I used a base of OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam. I stamped the trees with Revlon Hot for Chocolate from the MoYou London image plate 04 from the Mother Nature Collection. I dotted on the snow with Barry M Matt White and finished with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. The snowman is painted on with a nail art brush in Barry M Matt White.

Goodbye Sachin, you'll be missed!

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest players to have ever played Cricket! He is the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the first player to score a double century in a One Day International, and the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket. He is also a humble person, a devoted family man and sponsors 200 underprivileged children and supports other charities. He retired from Cricket on the 16th of November 2013 after playing his 200th and final Test match for India.

My manicure today is just a little tribute to him!

The Indian Flag on the thumb and ring finger has been painted free hand with Barry M Matt White, Essie Fear & Desire, Revlon Emerald and Barry M Black. The middle finger represents his blue jersey with the number 10, painted with Barry M Cyan Blue and Black. The pointer and little finger represent the green cricket field with the wickets and the cricket bat and ball are painted on Revlon Emerald.

For "Children in Need" - Pudsey Nails

Children in Need is a BBC UK charity which has the Pudsey Bear as its mascot. Since 1980 it has raised over £600 million to change the lives of disabled children and young people in the UK. You can support the charity by donating here.

One of the ways, I am showing support is with my cute Pudsey manicure!

For these nails, I used the polishes, Barry M Matt White and NYC Lexington Yellow to paint my nails. The dots are done with a dotting tool and NYC Lexington Yellow, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Rapid Red, Barry M Cyan Blue and Revlon Top Speed Emerald. Pudsey's face and paw-prints are done free hand with a nail art brush with Barry M Black.

Poppy Nails for Remembrance Day

"Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty.
Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918.
The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields". These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war."

For my manicure today, the red polish that I have used is Essie Russian Roulette. The white is Barry M Matt White. I painted the poppies free hand with a small nail art brush, with the polishes: Sally Hansen Insta Dri Rapid Red, Barry M Matt White and Black.

This manicure is a small way to pay tribute to the soldiers who have laid down their lives to protect us.
"Lest we forget ... "
R.I.P.

Celebrating the Festival of Lights with Nail Art

Wearing nice new clothes is an important part of the Diwali celebrations - so of course, you need pretty nails to match! The Diwali inspired nail art today uses a traditional Indian colour combination - dark red and gold. Also, Diwali is the Festival of lights and traditionally tens of small earthen lamps (diya) are lit by every household on Diwali. And the day is not complete without some fireworks! I have tried to include all these aspects of the festival into my manicure.

For my Diwali nails, I used China Glaze Fast Track on the middle and ring fingers and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Quick Brick on the other three. I then used a nail art brush and the polishes, SH Quick Brick and Essence My Fortune Cookie to paint the diyas and the sparkly fire fountain from those fireworks flower pots. I added gold and red hex glitter for extra sparkle.

To everyone who celebrates this festival, wish you a very Happy Diwali!