Valentines - Nail Art

Today is Valentines Day and I have to say I am not much of a fan.

But I have made somewhat of an effort and put a heart on one of my nails so I thought I'd show you!

For these I started with two coats of Barry M Matt White and used Avon Nailwear Pro Vintage Blue to make the umbrella/pinwheel pattern.

It's quite tricky to try and explain clearly how I did it but I'll give it a go.

I started with a really small dot roughly in the center of my nail, and made a line with the blue polish from the dot to the edge of my nail, I then made another line from the dot to the side of my nail so I had a quarter marked out. I then divided that quarter into four and painted two of those sections with the blue and repeated for the other three quarters.

If that makes as little sense as I think it does let me know and I'll make a tutorial!

For the heart I used China Glaze Igniting Love and Barry M Red Glitter then just framed the pinky and index fingers with red Glequins!

I like it, it's not too Valentines-y but shows that I'm aware of the date and that I'm not a completely bitter married just yet ;-) I suppose you could make it a bit more valentines appropriate by using reds and/or pinks instead of blue and white but I really like theses colours together, it's a combo I'll be sure to use again.

Hope you are all have a good day!

♥ A ♥

Leopard Print & Half Moons - Nail Art

Here is my nail art post that was supposed to go up yesterday but then I fell asleep! Whoops!

I was inspired by this Pin I have on my Nail Inspiration Board on Pinterest.

Unfortunately after spending most of the morning and the afternoon up until now searching I cannot find where the original image came from to link back to, so if anyone knows please let me know so I can add the link.

*Edited to add link - HERE*

For these I started with two coats of Barry M Black on the Thumb, Middle and Ring fingers and two coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones on the Index and Pinky. I then free handed the half moons with Barry M Black and used  Models Own Bronze Rage and Barry M Black again for the leopard print. I added the Swarovski Crystals (HERE) on to a wet layer of China Glaze No Chip Top Coat and then finished the all black nails with a coat of Seche Vite. I didn't topcoat over the crystals as I didn't want them to lose their sparkle but they are still going strong 24hrs later!

♥ A ♥

2True Glitterati Nail Polish - Swatch and Review

This post was scheduled to go up yesterday evening but Blogger decided that was far too much to ask and didn't post it at all! So today you will have two posts from me.

Today I have the 2True Glitterati nail polish in Shade 1.

2True isn't a brand I have paid much attention to in the past, I have seen their stand in Superdrug but nothing had ever really caught my attention enough for me to stop and have a proper look but the other day when I was having a nosey this little beauty caught my eye.

It is a aqua blue jelly base which has fine glitter in addition to silver and iridescent blue/green hex glitters. Two coats give good coverage however you can still see the nail line so I tried it layered over Barry M Cyan Blue below.

I found the polish it self to be quite gloopy and difficult to control so if you are quite picky about the line at the cuticle being neat I recommend an under layer of a similar colour polish, but other than that I am in love.

You can buy 2True products in Superdrug, this polish was around £2.

♥ A ♥

Camouflage - Nail Art

Happy Monday to you all, I hope everyone has had a good start to their week!

Today I have some nail art for you that was inspired by a YouTube video by Love4Nails.

Back in November Love4Nails uploaded a Camouflage Nail Art Design Tutorial.

I loved the design and the colours she used together, however my nails are a lot shorter than hers so I had to adapt the design a bit. Instead of doing a camouflage french, I did a mix of half moons and full nails.

I love these so much!

I used two coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones as my base colour then started with large, random blobs of  Models Own Bronze Rage. For the green I mixed Barry M Lime Green, Mint Green, Spring Green and Mushroom and applied that randomly again overlapping slightly on some of the bronze, then I used Barry M Black for the smaller blobs. Finally I added Barry M Green Glitter over the top of the green and a coat of Seche Vite to finish.

Then I got curious and for the first time in quite a while I went and got my No7 Stay Perfect Matte Topcoat to see what it looked like matte.

I like it, but much prefer it glossy!

What do you think?

♥ A ♥

Glitter Tips Gleeq Week - Day 5

Today is Day 5 and the final day of Gleeq Week!

I wanted to do something a little softer today so I went for a pale pink base and the light gold Glequins.

I'm not sure how well you can see it, but it's supposed to be a bow.

I started with the bow on the ring finger then made the ribbon ends loop and trail across the rest of the nails.

The base colour is two coats of Barry M Baby Pink over two coats of Matt White.

You can purchase the set of Glequins I have been using this week from the Born Pretty Store HERE for $6.45 with free delivery. Don't forget to use the code QPL91 to get 10% off your order. The code will remain up in my sidebar for you to use anytime you might want to make a Born Pretty Store order!

I hope you have enjoyed Gleeq Week and it has given you some ideas of how Glequins can be used, I have had so much fun playing with them this week that they have become a firm favourite and a staple in my nail art draw! I will most definitely be reaching for them regularly.

♥ A ♥

Glitter Tips Gleeq Week - Day 4

Today is Day 4 of 'Gleeq Week' and I went for circles.

I started with two coats of Nails Inc Tudor Way then placed a silver Glequin in the center of each nail to work round for the circles. Originally I just did the ring of light blue and dark blue and top coated, then I decided it needed more silver so added the extra ring which I'm really glad about as it really finished it off.

You can purchase Glequins from Born Pretty Store HERE for $6.45 with free delivery. You can get 10% of your order using the code QPL91 which will also be in my side bar!

I hope you have been enjoying 'Gleeq Week' and come back tomorrow for the last day!

♥ A ♥

Glitter Tips Gleeq Week - Day 3

For Day 3 of Gleeq Week I thought I'd show you one of the first designs I did using Glequins.

I decided on a diamond pattern and picked Avon Vintage Blue as the base colour. Then I picked the light green and blue coloured Glequins for the diamond pattern.

It's not as neat as the previous two designs from days One and Two, but I really liked the colours and the pattern so I still wanted to show them.

I really enjoyed wearing these, after a while the diamonds started to look like little fish to me!

You can purchase the Glequins from the Born Pretty Store HERE for $6.45 with free delivery and you can get 10% off your order using the code QPL91 which is also in my side bar.

I hope you liked these as much as I did and come back tomorrow for Day 4 of 'Gleeq Week'!

♥ A ♥

Glitter Tips Gleeq Week - Day 2 Glequin Gradient

It's Day 2 of 'Gleeq week' and today I have a Glequin Gradient to show you.

If you missed yesterdays Glequin mani and my review of the Born Pretty Store Glequins you can see that HERE.

This was so tricky to photograph!

Hopefully you can get the idea from the pictures though.

I've used two coats of Barry M Matt White as a base and positioned the Glequin gradient across the middle of the nails. I also tried to give the effect of it fading out to the top and bottom of the nails too if that makes any sense at all!?

Starting from the thumb the colours are Red to Orange, Pale Pink to Pale Lilac, Dark Blue to Turquoise, Dark Green to Lime Green, Pale Green/Gold to Silver.

You can purchase the Glequins from the Born Pretty Store HERE for $6.45 with free delivery and you can get 10% off using the code QPL91 which is also in my side bar!

I hope you have enjoyed Day 2 of 'Gleeq Week' and see you tomorrow for Day 3!

♥ A ♥

Glitter Tips Gleeq Week - Born Pretty Store 'Glequins'

As I mentioned in yesterdays post this week is 'Gleeq Week' on Glitter Tips.

I was kindly sent a 12 pack of 'Glequins' from Born Pretty Store to review and I had so much fun using them I thought I'd make a week long series of posts.

For those of you who don't know what 'Glequins' are I will explain the best I can.
They are hexagonal pieces of glitter that come in many different. They were dubbed 'Glequins' by Sammy at The Nailasaurus as she felt they were to large to be called glitter but too small to be called sequins, so using both the words 'glitter' and 'sequin' she coined the term 'Glequin'. And it stuck!

I find the best method of applying these fiddly little things is to first apply your base colour and wait for that to dry. Then apply a coat of normal, not fast dry, topcoat or clear polish and use the end of an orange stick dipped in topcoat/clear polish to pick up the 'Glelquins' and gently place onto the wet/tacky nail. I then finish with another coat of the normal topcoat and a coat of my Seche Vite Fast Dry top coat, mainly because my nails don't feel finished without it now, but also because it leaves the surface nice and smooth for extra sparkle. And boy do these sparkle!

My first 'Glequin' look is after the jump!

A Little Update...

I disappeared again!

Sorry about that.

Yet again it was due to internet problems. Never get Virgin Media. Ever.

It seems to have resolved itself for the time being but not in time for me to have any chance of catching up with the New 31 Day Nail Challenge unfortunately. Hopefully I'll be able to give it a go again next time it comes round.

However, during my mini blogging break I had a chance to think about ways I can make my blog content a little more structured and varied. I quite often find myself stuck for inspiration so I think a bit of structure might help that a bit and enable me to provide you all with a bit more variation and more regular posts without straying too far from what I've always wanted my blog to be primarily about, nail art.

So here is what I'm aiming for-

Monday, Wednesday and Friday - Nail art posts.

Tuesdays - Tutorials/Swatches/Reviews etc.

Thursdays - My favourite post from another blogger that week/An interview with another nail blogger. This is all dependent on how much interest I get. Picking a favourite blog post each week will be fine but if you have a nail blog and are interested in having an interview on Glitter Tips then email me at glittertips22(at)gmail(dot)com.

Saturday and Sunday - I want to keep the weekends quite casual, my weekends are usually quite busy with the kids, friends, family and naps, so I may not always have a post for these days but if I have anything extra to post like hauls or updates then these will be on the weekend.

That's my aim, hopefully it will work but I'll see how it goes and give things a tweek as I go along if needs be!

This week however, will be 'Gleeq Week' on Glitter Tips.

I was sent some Born Pretty Store 'glequins' to review and decided to dedicate a week to them!

Anywho, that's all the news I have for you so I shall leave you with a few recent photos of my little pugger, Rolo.

♥ A ♥