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

Cath Kidson Nails

As with many of my designs I got the idea for this one from The Nailasurus's blog (http://www.thenailasaurus.com/2013/09/cath-kidston-provence-rose-nail-art.html) I just loved the finish on this and how intricate it looked when it actually isn't too hard or take too long to do!

I started with a base of Barry M Blue, then once dry applied the Barry M white for the background of the flowers using a large dotting tool. The pinks were two from my extensive collection that are unbranded, I applied the lighter first, then the darker on top not in any particular pattern with a white splodge in the middle finishing it off. Using the smallest dotting tool I applied the green for the leaves. The hardest part was getting the dots around the edge consistent, take care when doing this! But as you can see mine aren't perfect, and I still got lots of compliments on them so it can't have been that bad! Finish it all off with a lovely top coat and you're ready to go!

If you have a go at any of our designs we'd love to see them! Find us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/thenailsketeers and let us see your creations!

~Heather

Summer inspired nails

I was searching through my favorite blogs for some inspiration for some summery nails, and came across a design on probably my actual favorite nail blog Pshiiit.com. It is in french but as I did French for A level and it is pretty much all picture related, I get on ok. So, for this blog post, I have shamelessly completely copied this blog post. 

I was actually surprised by how easy this was to do! so I painted my nails with the Barry M Gelly, Lycee as my base. Then painted the stems in black with a striping brush. Then blobbed on a bit of yellow (Maybelline Colour show, another brand I am falling in love with!) left that to dry for a little while, then added the detail on the flower all with a stripier brush! And as always topped it off with a coat of Sally Hansen - Drys Instantly, cus I don't have time to wait!!

I love these nails!! I never want to take them off!!! I love them so much, and they worked so well, I have even posted a picture of BOTH HANDS! Which I never usually do as my right hand is usually a train wreck, but this time, it almost looks better!! These nails are like Art that i would put on my wall! Did I mention that I love them?

Give it a try yourself! I bet the results will be better than you think!

-Faye.