Tropical Palm Nail Tutorial

Tropical palm print has reached saturation point, and being naturally suspicious of the longevity of such a huge trend (also, it just ain't my bag - I'm rely more of the teddy-girl-come-polshed-punk type myself), I decided the closest I would get to the tropic trend would be my nails.

What you'll need:

• White nail polish - I used OPI's Alpine Snow;
• Light green nail polish or striper;
• Medium green nail polish or striper;
• Dark green nail polish or striper;
• Yellow nail polish or striper; and
• Thin brush (if you don't own striper polishes)

Obviously, the first thing to do is apply two coats of your white base.

With the light green polish, paint a couple of leaves along the edges of the nail.

The next step is essentially the same - using the remaining green shades to create more leaves (some overlapping) in varying sizes and shapes.

Use the white polish and contrasting shades of green and yellow to create veining and dimension on the leaves - lines of lighter colours where the sun would hit the surface of the leaf and darker shades to create depth and shadow.

Easy. Just repeat nine times and you are the epitome of tropical chic or something.

Ombre Leopard Nail Art Tutorial

Leopard print is the nail enthusiast's bread and butter. It's my go to design when I'm pressed for time or just feeling lazy (which is the case more often than not). It's quick and requires little to no technical skills, and it can look chic or terrifically garish depending on your choice of polish and the size of the leopard spots.

What you'll need:

• Two shades of nail polish - one a few shades lighter than the other - I used a fuchsia (Australis' Bombshell) and a dark blue-based purple (Color Club's Disco Dress)
• Makeup sponge
• Aluminium foil
• Black nail art pen, striper polish or polish and thin brush

Obviously you need to start by painting your nails your base colour, which will be the lighter of the two polishes.

Place a few drops of your dark polish on a piece of aluminium foil (this will prevent the polish from drying up too quickly). Dip your sponge into the polish and dab off the excess polish before patting it onto the bottom half of your nails.

Repeat this step, but this time only on the bottom third of your nails to create a graduated ombre effect.

Finally, to create the leopard spots use your nail art pen, striper polish, or polish and thin brush (what-have-you) to draw wonky, disconnected circles, semi circles and spots of differing sizes all over your nail. There's really no method to it - the more hap-hazard the better - neatly disorganised is the goal, really.

And that's all there is to it. Plenty more obvious nail art tutorials in the pipe so enjoy!

Tie-dye Nail Tutorial

Many a time (well, maybe twice) I have been left unreasonably frustrated, a floor strewn with nail art tools before me after a litany of attempts at tie-dye nails. It seems simple enough - take a few colours and use a toothpick to swirl them around on your nails; and yet, it always seemed to end in a gloomy mess.

A few weeks ago I saw this tutorial by Wah Nails and everything changed.

What you will need:

• Three nails polishes (preferably three shades of the same colour as they will mix nicely. I used Lime Crime Parfait Day, and Colour Club Flamingo and Warhol)
• Toothpick
• Topcoat (as always I use Seche Vite)

Firstly, paint one coat on your nails in your lightest colour, and wait a few minutes for them to dry.

Next, using all of your shades, place a few dollops of polish on each nail. 

Then, taking your toothpick lightly place the thin end on the surface of the wet polish and begin to gently create swirls, mixing the colours into one another. If you apply too much pressure with the toothpick you with reveal bare nail go gently.

It's important to work on one nail at a time because the polish needs to be very wet when you go in with your toothpick. Also, don't be tempted to create too many swirls or the colours will just mix all together to create one colour.

Easy. Well, maybe practice a couple times first to get the hang of it, but after that - wa-hey, psychedelic nails!

Chanel Pastel Tweed Nail Art Tutorial

Image Source

I saw this tutorial from Spindle magazine via @effynails on instagram (an infinite source of nail art inspiration) and knew that this was something worthy of procrastination of other, more adult, tasks.

This tutorial is so simple - it's really just a collection of lines painted haphazardly in pretty colours. Here's what you'll need:

• Cream/ off-white nail polish (I used Lime Crime's Milky Ways)
• Pastel striper polishes in Blue, green, pink and purple (or pastel nail polishes and a very fine brush if you don't have striper polishes)
• Gold Glitter nail polish
• Black striper polish

Apply two coats of the cream coloured polish. Once dry to the touch, using the pastel blue polish, paint two vertical and two horizontal lines as shown above.

Then, with the pastel green polish, paint three horizontal and three vertical lines.

Using the pastel pink polish, paint three vertical lines and four incomplete horizontal lines (two coming out from each side), as shown above.

Paint a few incomplete purple lines close to the pink lines.

Do the same with the gold glitter polish, painting over a few of the other colours to create the tweed effect.

Finally, sung the black polish, paint some thin crosses  on the nail and finish it off by painting two tin borders down either side of the nail.

When everything is dry apply a topcoat to protect your efforts.

Well done, you!

Rosebud Nail Art Tutorial

When I'm feeling lazy (which is often - I lead quite the Dionysian lifestyle minus the hedonistic excess, so just the lying down and eating grapes), I always seem to turn to floral nail art because despite appearances it can be very simple.

Today I have one such simple floral tutorial for you. These rosebuds are essentially made up of a dot and a few little lines but the effect is quite dainty and Cath Kidson-esque.

What you will need:

• Navy nail polish ( I used Rimmel's Aye, Aye Sailor)
• Light pink nail polish ( I used OPI's Mod About You)
• Two shades of green nail polish or striper polishes
• White nail polish or striper polish
• Red polish or striper polish
• Small dotting tool or bobby pin
• Small thin brush if you don't own striper polishes
• 
  
  
  Start by applying two coats of your navy polish. Once it's dry to the touch use a dotting tool or bobby pin to paint small light pink dots on your nails, leaving enough space between each dot to add leaves.
  
  
  
  Use your darker shade of green to paint small leaves attached to each bud. Then use your lighter shade of green as a highlight on the leaves.
  To add detail tot he bud (and make it actually look like a flower bud rather than a dot), use your white polish to roughly outline one half of the bud - this doesn't need to be neat. The using your red polish, roughly outline the other half of the bud.
  
  
  
  
  
  I also used a darker pink striper polish to add some extra ... depth, I suppose you could call it?
  Et voila! Dainty little rosebuds on your dainty little digits! 
  
  
  And here's a little rose-themed song for you to play as you go about your life with roses on your toeses. Or fingers.
  
  
  
  

Libertine LFW Inspired Nail Tutorial

Is it just me or is it always fashion week? I imagine Anna Dello Russo must shrug and say "well, it's fashion week somewhere," before she dives into yet another absurd outfit. And still, I love it. The clothes, the make up, the nails, the spectacle. I love it.

I was taken with quite a few of the beauty looks this time round, and I hope to recreate a few on this blog, but this week I'm starting with Libertine's show. Butter London was responsible for both the make up and nails for Libertine's look. Bold natural brows, and sexy black sixties eyes with a hint of smoke around the very edges - perfect. Perhaps not for everyday but something to pull out when you're feeling especially daring.

Image source

However, today I'm focusing on nails. And before we start I should apologise on the poor photo quality - I only had my iPhone camera today and I really wanted to get this post up.

Butter London nail artists used four polishes to create this look: Diamond Geezer, Stardust, Black Knight, and an as yet unreleased polish called Anorak, which is a chunky silver, black and white topcoat. Diamond shaped silver holographic glitter was then placed ad hoc to finish the look.
To recreate this look, you will need a silver foil/metallic polish, a silver glitter polish and a glitter polish with a dark base (preferably black), and some silver glitter/sequins.
I used Australis Nail Colour in Foil Spoil, OPI Serving Up Sparkle, Zoya Fei Fei (I have misplaced my bottle of Butter London Black Knight and this was the closest thing I had to a dark glitter - a charcoal grey/navy blue base with gold and silver micro glitter), and diamond holographic glitter from Born Pretty Store.

Start by applying two coats of a silver foil polish.

Next apply your silver glitter polish on the top two-thirds of your nails creating a subtle glittery ombre.

Apply a few coats of your dark glitter polish to the top third of your nails to build up the desired colour.

Apply a clear polish over the nail and, using an orange stick or bobby pin, stick the holographic glitter in a haphazard pattern down the nail, making sure not to cover to much of the glitter ombre.

Finally, all you need is a good topcoat to keep everything in place. Et viola! Chic LFW nails, dahhling.

P.S. I'm sorting out the camera situation so photos with actual resolution of some description are imminent, so hang tight. 

Valentines Nail Art

You don't need a sweetheart to don some super sweet nail art this Valentines Day. I've been practising some love-themed nail art in the lead up to Thursday.

Conversation hearts, ring of roses, tattoo heart, XO, bleeding heart and valentine. I altered a few designs by some of my favourite nail artists - Nancy Mc Nails and Fluery Rose.

The bleeding heart nail is great if wearing pretty little hearts all over your nails is too saccharine for your taste. You can choose whichever colour you like as a base (white contrasts really well with the red). Use a nail art pen of a small brush to paint a red heart in the centre of your nail. Then you can either use a tiny brush to paint the drips, or alternatively, you can use a brush dipped in acetone to make the red polish run, creating drips (a la Fluery Rose). After the red polish dried, I outlined part of the heart with a black nail art pen.

These are the nails I'm sporting this Valentines Day. I'm still practising writing on my nails so forgive my illegible words.

...And these are my love tattoo nails I wore last weekend for our first wedding anniversary.

If you'd like a tutorial for any of the nails, or you have any at all say (whether of value or not), give us a shout!