Criss-Cross nails

I wanted a design that was pretty but not too complicated to do and here it is!

I began with the base colours painted over the whole nail, next I used striping tape to section off the the bottom of the nail and to get the nice crisp lines using two strips for each nails. I then painted over these with Barry M frost nail varnish to create that lovely silverish/ivory colour. You need to take care when painting over the tape to not go over the tape on the side you don't want it - higher up the nail. But just doing it slowly meant it wasn't that hard!

This design would look great with different colour combinations also so have a go with the colours in your collection!

~ Heather

Tis the Season!

First Christmas nails of the season! I'm sure there will be many to follow in the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled!

The base colour was a lovely navy colour which I recieved in my Birchbox (my monthly beauty box - click the link for more info!)

The silver is my trusty Barry M silver foil. I created the dotty snowy effect with a dotting tool (very cheap on eBay).

I finished the whole thing off with a speedy top coat from Sally Hansen!

Hope you like, post us back with #Nailsketeers

- Faye

Hunger Games Nails

The Hunger Games number 2 film is coming out and I am SOOOO excited! I absolutely LOVED the first film and will be going to see this one ASAP! I am SO excited that I just HAD to do some nails in tribute (eh, Tribute, eh!) to the woman herself, the Girl on Fire. 

Once again - gone for the accent nails, one of the mockingjay, above (Quite a difficult one to do on such a small canvas) and then of the flames below. 

Obviously topped it all off with a matte top coat - our fav Essie - Matte About You, and we are done!

Materials for the Mockingjay - Barry M limited edition gold from a few years ago, and then a few pound shop glitters for the fire nail!

Any other huge Hunger Games Fans out there?

For this movie they are releasing a Capitol Makeup Range which will include nail varnish and nail decals - SO excited!!!!

Here is the Trailer for your viewing enjoyment! And if you haven't watched (or read) the first one - DO IT NOW!!!!

- Faye. 

Halloween Nails (that are suitable for work)

So, Halloween is almost upon us. And for my first Halloween nails of the week I have gone for a spooky subtle accent nail! 

I have done these halloween nails a bit unobtrusive so that I can wear them to work (I don't like to be too loud with the nails at work). So its just a bit of ombre in a Halloweeny purple and a wee picture of a witch, flying over a full moon! 

Materials used: Barry M - Berry, Barry M Gelly - Plum, 17 - Mini Skirt (White), Natural Collection - Sugar Mouse (the shimmer over the white of the moon) and the Barry M Nail art pen in Black. And of course Sally Hansen Base and Top Coats. 

Hope you like! Please show us your own Halloween Nails by using the hashtag #Nailsketeers!

Just on a side note, if you are looking for halloween nail ideas - One Nail to Rule them All has a few brilliant posts that I will certainly be trying out myself!! 

Happy Halloween Week,

- Faye

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

Galaxy Nails

This week I attempted the fairly in and quite on trend galaxy nails! 

Here are all the colours i used, and i just used a cut up sponge as my main tool, a dotting tool for the smaller stars and a small brush for the bigger stars!

Then I had the mad and brilliant idea to put a matte top coat on them (Essie - matte about you), and it looks AMAZING!

Here is a picture of my right hand with the glossy top coat, I love my little fingers I think they look the best, and surprisingly, again, my right hand doesn't look half bad! (I am right handed and so they were done with the left hand!).

Hope you all like them, and I would recommend giving them a go, I have put it off as they look so hard but it is actually fairly easy to make these look great!

- Faye

Multi-coloured flowers

Hello nail art lovers! 

Another design created when glamping! Some multi-coloured flowers!

Started with some Barry M Lycée as my base, a favourite here at the nailsketeers, then used some other colours to do the petals and then did the black dots in the middle with the Barry M nail art pen. I think they turned out quite well, and they were a hit with Alison who is wearing them, who doesn't usually paint her nails! Have we got a convert!? 

Hope you liked it! The inspiration for this did come from another nail art blog, but it was so long ago I have forgotten which one!! Sorry if it is your design, get in contact and I will link to the original if it is!

Thanks!

- Faye

Banksy Nails

I was looking for inspiration on the web and came across this lovely design on Smashley Sparkles blog which I thought I'd give it a go!

 http://www.smashleysparkles.com/2013/02/the-digit-al-dozen-does-love-heartbreak_13.html

The design is a nail art version of Banksy's famous graffiti art the girl with the balloon. It was quite a fiddly design to do but surprisingly didn't take too long!

The design began with a base of Barry M white, I used Nina ultra pro red fox for the balloon and NYC black for the girl and string. The balloon was done with a dotting tool which allowed me to get a nice curve for the heart shape and the rest was completed with nail art brushes and Rimmel's Matte top coat.  It was hard to get the girl looking good, the black base was easy enough, but then deciding where the white highlights should go was hard. I'm still not sure I'm happy with how it ended up, but felt it was a good first attempt so thought I'd share the design anyway!

I really love creating designs with well known pictures or characters on them! 

Think I might try another Banksy creation on my nails in the near future (if I can find one that's not too complicated)...so watch this space!

~Heather