Coloured tip nails :)

Sooo i thought i'd do a little post on one of my fave easy mani's to do
It basically involves leaving most of your nail nude and painting cute coloured tips to make them pop :)

So here's how:
1) After applying a clear base coat, paint a few coats of a colour which is similar to your skin for a mannequin-hands effect. I use OPI Samoan Sand :) You could skip this stage and just use your natural nail colour as the base but I like the ultra-nude look Samoan Sand gives me :)

2) Leave the base colour to dry for a good amount of time (so if you're using nail guides they will not pull off some of the polish when you take them of). Then, using nail tip guides (or free hand if you dare!), paint a layer of colour on the tips.

3) Leave to dry and wack on a top coat to keep it looking glossy and chip-free, and ta-dah you are done!!

Here are some of my favs, purple (fav colour ever!) and hot pink:
(Not gunna lie these are very messy, did the purple free-hand in a hotel room with my nails in the worst condition they have EVER EVER been because surfing destroyed them so bad ;/ BUT WHATEVER :))





Samoan sand looks two totally different colours in these photos, it's more like the first not sure why it appeared so dark in the second set of photos but ohwell :)

Hopee you like!
xo

Half-moon manicure tutorial

This week I had to cut my nails drastically - they have been in awful condition since I went surfing on holiday and since then i've been covering up the damage with polish but they were all splitting and peeling and I couldn't hide the damage anymore so unfortunately they had to go :(

After leaving them nail polish-free for about 5 days I really couldn't stand the sight of my tiny 'naked' nails anymore aha...so i decided to paint them, and to make up for the previous plainess I wanted to make them more interesting with a half-moon (or reverse french) mani :)

Here's what I came up with: (before cleanup sorry aha)


I used:

OPI Rumple's Wiggin & Max Factor nailfinity 882 Angel Nails (metallic silver/purple colour)

How to do the half-moon manicure
1) Remove previous nail polish and apply a clear base coat

2) Once base coat is dry, apply the colour you want as the half-moon, so here I applied the metallic purple/silver colour from Max Factor. This is quite opaque so I only needed 1 coat, do more if you need to but try to use opaque colours otherwise you will end up with looads of layers of nail polish which will peel.

3) Wait about 15-20 minutes for this layer to dry completely, and then stick on nail guide stickers where you want the half-moon shape to be at the base of your nail. The sticker protects areas you want nail polish free. Here's a (pretty bad, sorry!) photo explaining what I mean:



4) Apply your main colour (here I used OPI Rumple's Wiggin which is a lilac) from the nail guide sticker upwards, and leave to dry. Once it is fully dry remove the sticker and apply a top coat to seal it :)

Tah-dah! You are done :D

I've tried doing it the other way around and putting the main colour on first, then using tips to draw on the half-moons but even with the tip guides this gets quite messy and it's difficult to get the right shape, so this technique works better!

There are soo many combos you can try out, google image 'half-moon manicure' for inspiration!

Thanks for reading!

What do you think of half-moon manis? What colour combinations do you like?
xo

Glitter tip nails :)

A couple of weeks ago I had a glitter cravingg and decided to use loose glitter on the tips of my nails.
The process was extremely messy - there was literally glitter everywhere - but the result was worth it! Plus I was helping out at Rhythms of the World music festival that weekend putting wristbands on hundreds of people, so my nails got the best exposure ever!! ;D

Here are some pics (apologies for poor application and lack of cleanup!)





A blurred pic to show the glitter colours:



To do this manicure I started by applying a few coats of the base colour, Collection 2000 Hot Looks Fast Dry in Vogue (these nail polishes are really great and affordable)

After waiting about 10-20 minutes for the polish to be completely dry I stuck nail tip guides on my nails and put a clear top coat on the tips.

I then pressed the loose glitter onto my nails using my fingers. I tried sprinkling it on but it didn't stick as well and there was too much waste. This method was also quite messy but the glitter stuck amazingly and the manicure was perfectt for a good few days before chipping or major glitter fallout.

Once the tips had dried i removed the nail guides and painted 2 layers of clear topcoat on to ensure the glitter was well stuck down and it was not gritty.

I personally love this look but its far too much hassle to do on a regular basis!! Thank god for glitter polishes, I think I may use them to recreate this look again in the future aha :)


Have you ever tried using loose glitter on your nails? If so have you found an easier mess-free method? Let me know!♥