31 Week Nail Art Challenge 16-Tribal Print

Hello lovelies!

I'm kind of really proud of these nails, I have only ever done tribal nails once before and they didn't come out too well so I really like the way these ended up. I didn't really have a design in mind, just had a look at some designs on google and also asked some of the ladies in the Inspire Me Nails facebook group for a little inspiration (thank you!)

I used all Barry M polishes-Lychee, Mustard and Paprika as well as the black nail art pen, and then I added a layer of Rimmel's matte top coat to finish them off. Big thanks to my boyfriend as well, who did all the outlining on my right hand because straight lines are hard!

I really like these! The earthy colours are really autumnal, and as it's my favourite season I really like them! Also I love the matte look, normally I am a shiny girl but I think these were crying out to be matted. I also think they would look cool with bright colours instead, and I might have to try that soon!

What do you reckon?

Here's a list of the rest of the prompts for this challenge...reckon I'll get it done by Xmas?

~Nail Art Novice~

ABC Challenge: X is for X Marks The Spot

I had a really great idea for these nails but it just didn't translate well, probably due to my poor art skills! I wanted this to be like an old treasure map with X marking the spot and a trail to follow but I'm not sure how well it's turned out.

Polishes used: Barry M-Lychee  as a base colour with London Girl-# 95 sponged on top. For the details I used a dotting tool and OPI-Suzi Loves Cowboys. From little finger to thumb it's supposed to be a compass point, a ship, a dotted line trail and an island with X marking the spot for treasure. My right hand just has waves and an island because by this point I was rather tired and couldn't be bothered repeating all the details with my non-dominant hand.

I'm just not feeling this really. It feels weird having such neutral colours on my nails and I don't think the nail art is the best I've ever done. Be sure to check out the other ladies in the inlinkz collection for some much better x-amples (haha) of 'X'!
~Nail Art Novice~

Guest Blog from Pocket Money Polishes

Right now I am in Brighton, doing my final rehearsal bits before my first performance of Titus later, woo!
So last Saturday I was chatting on FB with Charlie from Pocket Money Polishes and really cheekily asked her if she would be willing to do a guest post for me whilst I was away-completely expecting her to say no. To my surprise she readily accepted so I'm sending out a MASSIVE thanks to her. With no further ado, I'll let her get on with it!

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Hello Nail Art Novice Lovelies!
My name is Charlotte and I have a blog called Pocket Money Polishes. I'm delighted to say that I've been asked to do a guest post for you this weekend-apologise for the intrusion. I'm having a crazy busy week between deadlines, blogging and other projects so I have put together a simple look today using some of my favourite trends and techniques.

First I created a block ombre across my nails (going from light on my thumb to dark on my pinky), I excluded my ring finger as that is my finger of preference for an accent-this I painted white. I used a total of 5 varnishes for this look: Fast Track from China Glaze is a beautiful neutral gold that glistens and has a great textured appearance but is smooth to the touch, it does take a little building up and this photo shows 3 thin coats. Barry M's Mushroom is a grey leaning brown and one of my favourite polishes for the days when I need to have serious nails.Cackle is from George (Asda) and is a fairly standard brown with a good formula for easy consistent coverage. Finally, the darkest brown on my little finger is Roasted Chestnut by W7, which is one of my most beloved polishes with its deep chocolate brown colour and coppery shimmer. To these colour block fingers I added a slightly curved column of white dots to one side of my nail, as always my white is from the Natural Collection at Boots. Dots are a nail art staple and such a quick way to spice up a simple mani.

I painted my accent finger first to ensure that it had plenty of drying time as I was using thin striping tape, and if you don't give your base enough time to dry it will just be ripped up when you remove the tape. I used three pieces of tape, two horizontally across the nail and one vertically down the middle. The next step was to randomly add a square of each colour to my nail, and then while this polish was wet remove the tape. I then added some top coat to smooth the edges and voila-all finished! I am describing this manicure as 'coffee squares' in my head as it has all my favourites-latte, cappuccino and vanilla colours.

Thanks for having me today, please feel free to pop over to my blog and see what I am up to-I am usually up to something!! Wishing Novice luck with her polish buying ban and hope she's having a good weekend away.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
 <3 Pocket Money Polishes

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Yay! Look at those pretty nails =) I love this look, I'm definitely going to try it out myself soon! BIG THANKS to Charlotte for doing this so last minute for me, I'm so impressed that she managed to fit it in her busybusy life! Please do go check out her blog, I'm sure she'll be glad to have you!

I'm back on Monday so normal posting should resume on Tuesday!
I'll see you then

~Nail Art Novice~