Birds soaring over a sunset scene

These nails were inspired by the migrating birds which gather in their hundreds, even thousands, before heading off from warmer climes.

Even though it's winter, there are some beautiful sunsets around. And they are made extra special when there are stunning murmurations of Starlings twisting through the air in front of them.
(Murmurations is the name of the shapes that large flocks birds make in the air - You learn something new everyday!)

This design took a few layers to get the gradient in the sunset - I used a pale yellow for the base then layered up with a bright orange, hot pink and shimmery gold. To get the gradient, I just used the brush that came with the polishes but wiped off most of the colour to be able to blend them together. To finish off the gradient, I used a pink to create a solid end on my nail - I really like the look of that!

 

With the gold, I striped it on over the top and it the glammed up the sunset.

For the birds, I used a small dotting tool with a black polish and created 'v' and 'm' shapes. I think the birds would have looked better if they were little bit smaller

To give it a beautiful shine use a top coat, I really like Barry M's clear (No surprises there!)
TOP TIP: Two thin layers of clear polish works a lot better than one thick layer. It will protect your design for a lot longer and make them shine wonderfully.

Hope you like this design (and the bird fact)!!

--Leah

RSPB nails

I created this design to wear for a charity bike ride I took part in called NightRider, which is a 100km (65 mi) bike ride through London at night with hundreds of other cyclists also taking part - I started at midnight and finished at 5:35am. It was a tough challenge but totally worth the months of training and the tri-weekly onset of 'jelly legs'. 

I chose to raise money for the RSPB and saw the opportunity to create a totally cute design with birds (I LOVE BIRDS!). I didn't have much time to do this design between the training sessions and travelling to London, but here's how I did it. 

 These nails were created by firstly applying a blue base coat, which I let completely dry. I added the dots in a lighter blue and a light turquoise around the white letters that I free handed on with a striper. The starling (Yes, its a Starling not just any old bird!) on my thumb was made by dipping a little brush into black polish and adding little flecks/dabs of orange/gold to the wing to give a more detailed effect.

I decided against adding more detail such as eyes and more wing definition because I liked the way it looked and I had very little time free.

I finished the design with a matte top coat, I used Essie Matte For You, to give it a more cartoon-y feel - which I thought was much better than with a glossy top coat.

Hope you enjoy this design as much as I did. 

-Leah xx