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!

Tri-Polish Tuesday - Fishtail Braid Manicure

For the Tri-Polish Challenge, I need to use three colours for a manicure, so what better time to try out the lovely Fishtail manicure? I tried it first here - 31DC2013: Day Thirty-One. I absolutely love this look. It does not need any special equipment other than three colours of nail polish and is relatively easy to do and looks great. What's not to like?!

I used NYC Lexington Yellow, Barry M Gelly in Mango and Rimmel Riviera Red for these nails. The rhinestones are from Cheeky. I began by painting three nails yellow - other than my middle and little fingers. Then I painted the fishtail pattern on the two nails with alternating, overlapping, diagonal criss-crossing stripes! Its good to wait a minute or two between each stripe to let it dry a bit, specially when you cross a dark colour (like red) with a light one (like yellow) - that can smear if very wet. I finished with top coat. It was sunny today and this is just the look for a day like that - it would be a great summer manicure!

Tri Polish Challenge 2014

I haven't posted in the last few days because I got a nasty cut on a finger and thought I would give it a few days to heal. Its still not healed completely but its better. Also, I broke a nail quite badly and had to cut my nails really short. I like my nails a tiny bit longer for nail art but they'll have to do for the next week or so! I am also planning to invest in a couple of nail products to strengthen my nails some more. If they work, I will post a review.

I am starting the Tri Polish Challenge for 2014 today. The rules of the challenge are that we post up to four manicures a month from the three colours chosen for each month. Black, white, gold, silver and glitter are allowed for nail art. At least, one of these manicures should use all three of the colours and the others, at least two of the chosen colours.

The colours for the Tri Polish Challenge for January 2014 are: Red, Orange, Yellow.

I chose the colours yellow and orange for my first post in the challenge.

The yellow polish is NYC Lexington Yellow. The stamping has been done with Klean Color Metallic Orange. The images are from the XL Image Plate A.

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.

Halloween free hand Witch Nail Art

Time for some free hand Halloween nail art today. Its a simple black manicure but with an accent nail, which has a yellow moon behind a witch flying on her broomstick. The witch is painted with acrylic paint and I originally painted the moon with acrylic paint too - but it didn't come out smooth and the paint was quite thick so didn't dry for ages. So I started again and painted the moon with nail polish as well. 

For this manicure, I used Revlon Black Star. I painted the yellow moon with NYC Lexington Yellow and a nail art brush. The witch was painted free hand with acrylic paint and a nail art brush. I used this wonderful tutorial to paint the witch.

Happy Halloween!

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Seven - Inspired by Artwork

My manicure today was inspired by this beautiful painting by Vincent Van Gogh - Starry Night Over the Rhone.

For the three nails with the rhinestones, I used OPI Sea You In Hollywood. On the accent nails, I used horizontal brush strokes to paint with Barry M Blackberry, Cyan Blue, before adding the other details with NYC Lexington Yellow and Konad Yellow. I think this was definitely the hardest bit of the challenge. If I do this challenge again, I definitely need to visit some art galleries for inspiration!

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Five - Inspired by Fashion

For my fashion inspired nails, I chose a dress by Balenciaga, AW12.

I started with a base of Barry M Matt White and stamped with Konad Black with the image plate, Konad M57. I then added a layer of top coat. I was planning to use scotch tape to section off the nails diagonally before painting with the second colour. But I was too impatient to wait for the nails to dry - Scotch tape manis can end really badly if the nails are not completely dry! So I used a nail art brush to draw diagonal lines across the nails before filling them in with NYC Midnight in Amethyst.

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Two - Inspired by a Song

The days are getting shorter and colder - its almost autumn. That and this lovely song by Ed Sheeran inspired this manicure - Autumn Leaves - it just seemed so appropriate for this time of the year!

I used NYC Pure Air as the base. Then I sponged on some 2True Shade 9, a glittery bronze, on the tips. I stamped one nail with the music notes and bird image from  the plate Pueen47. The stamping is with Essie Penny Talk and Konad Black. The stars stamping is from the image plate QA15. I free handed the different coloured leaves with a fine nail art brush, using Rimmel Camouflage, Konad Yellow and Essie Penny Talk. I definitely need to improve on my free hand leaves but its a start ...!

31DC2013: Day Sixteen - Tribal Print

For the tribal print nails, I painted the entire nail with NYC Lexington Yellow. Then I painted a thick vertical stripe on each nail with Barry M Matt White. After this, I used Konad Black and a fine nail art brush for the pattern. Lastly, I used a dotting tool and nail polishes in various colours for the dots. I painted over with top coat.

I must confess that when I first saw tribal art nails on the internet, I was silly enough to think they would be easier to do than other patterns/techniques. But I learnt the hard way that its a little bit trickier to free hand symmetrical lines and dots than it looks!

31DC2013: Day Fifteen - Delicate Print

For this manicure, I painted my nails with Sally Hansen Green Tea. Then I sponged it very lightly with Rimmel 830 Camoflouge, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Chartreuse Chase & NYC Lexington Yellow. I wanted to create a lightly dappled yellow-green effect. It turned out quite subtle and I don't think the photos managed to capture it really but I quite liked it! I then stamped with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Jumpin Jade and the Gals Fairy GA31 image plate. Here's another look ...