Sparkly Zig Zags

As I said in my last post, I am starting a new job tomorrow (aah!) and I don't yet know what the rules will be regarding nails so for the first couple of weeks I'm going to go with toned down nails which will be weird! Because of this I decided that I would do one last ridiculously colourful/sparkly mani before I go for something much more work appropriate later this evening.

I started with a base of Dark Metal Lacquer-Flashy Sparklies which is an amazing gold holo glitter polish that just looks fabulous. I used some zigzag vinyls from VyNails and then added bright colours on top using Barry M-Satsuma, Blue Grape, Kiwi, Passionfruit, Key Lime, Sinful Colors-Amethyst, Dream On and Sally Hansen-Brisk Blue, Sonic Bloom, Man-go Team! 

Bright and cheerful! I figured I'm probably not going to be able to wear most of these colours at work so I'd give them a final showing before they go into semi retirement for the time being. Also that base polish is just gorgeous, I love the way that it sparkles!

Wish me luck for tomorrow lovelies!

~Nail Art Novice~

Geckos And ZigZags And Holos, Oh My!

Hello lovely readers! How's your weekend going? I've been home alone since Friday and I'm kinda bored and lonely now, boo!

I used a couple of lovely holo polishes for this mani- GOSH-Holographic Hero and Too Fancy Lacquer-Cooper Trooper. I also used nail vinyls from Nail Stickrs (zigzags) and Vinyl Boutique (geckos that Rara got me for my birthday!).

Hehe I love those adorable little geckos as well as those colours together (I'm not a Slytherin, promise!), plus the holoy ness of course! I'm a little sad the sun's gone away at the moment because it means my holos only light up like this when I'm doing the washing up! Ah well, this is Britain, haha!

Enjoy the rest of your Sundays folks!

~Nail Art Novice~

Nail Stickrs Review II

Hello! How're you all doing? I'm getting really excited cos I go away to Australia in a WEEK! SO much still to do though, eek!
I've got some more nail art using the Nail Stickrs vinyls (see my first review here) today, also incorporating some texture and my boyfriend's absolute favourite technique-the jelly sandwich. I used the zigzag vinyls, both in a 'tape mani' style and as a stickers to create a skittle mani using Revlon-Silver Screen, Kiko-643 (a gorgeous shimmery green Sugar Mat I picked up in a blog sale a few weeks ago), and Barry M-SLE'13B  for the sandwich (cos my boyfriend really wanted me to use the stickers under layers!).

On my index/ring fingers I started with a coat of Silver Screen and then applied the vinyls on top. They come in a set all together so I just placed them on as one unit and then used tweezers to remove every other strand, which was tricky but doable, even on my off hand! I then applied the Kiko over the top and pulled them off while it was still wet to make the pattern. On my thumbs I did the opposite-started with two coats of the Kiko and then placed the silver zig zags over the top once it was dry-I wanted to see how well they stayed on for. I topcoated over the top of them to secure them, and so far they haven't budged at all, even through multiple hand washings/showers/washing up.

The butterflies are normally silver, but I actually quite like the shade of gold they've turned under the green, and the fact they're still really sparkly, even with topcoat. The vinyls themselves are really easy to use-although a pair of tweezers is always useful to have on hand to help with placement-and I really love all the fun things you can do with them. If you're a newbie to the nail art world you should definitely think about getting yourself some cos they're really easy to use and give you some awesome looking designs  (when we all know they're so much easier to use than they look, but shhh ;) )

You can find Nail Stickrs here: 

  Website | Facebook | Twitter

Thanks for reading! I've got one more design with/review of these coming up this weekend so keep an eye out for that.

~Nail Art Novice~

31 Week Nail Art Challenge 8-Metallic

Hey lovelies!
I've got some cool metallic nails today. I was originally going to do these in the more usual metallic colours-gold, silver and bronze, but then I remembered a couple of polishes I inherited in a blog sale a while back and decided to throw them into the mix instead. Polishes used: Revlon-Silver Screen, Color Club-Millennium and Sally Hansen-Purple Bolt. I also used some zig zag stickers from my French Tip set but cut them in half as they were a little large for my nails (hence why my zig zags vary in width!)

Admittedly it's not the neatest nail art I've ever done but I actually like the result. It reminds me of knitted vests from the 70s but in a good way-haha!

I don't really have much more to say on these-for once you get a short and sweet blog from me haha!

Next week-rainbows =D

~Nail Art Novice~

The Final ABC Challenge Mani-Z is for ZigZags

So this is it, this is the end of the ABC Challenge-boo! I've had a lot of fun doing them and have met some really lovely ladies through this challenge, who've done a lot of really fabulous manis along the way. I decided to go out with something ridiculously bright and colourful so did a zigzag mani using the new Barry M summer Gellies collection.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how fab these colours are together?

Thumb to little finger that's Blue Grape, Guava, Key Lime, Mango and Passion Fruit, 2 coats of each. And that shine? Not a hint of topcoat in sight, they're just that glossy and lovely on their own! I think this is the first time I've ever wanted an entire collection-all of these colours are amazing on their own but together they're just totally delicious! After a layer of Seche Vite on top of them and a short wait to make sure they were completely dry, I stuck on some zig zag french mani guides (from the same set I used in the V mani which you can find on ebay here) and layered another colour on top before removing the sticker. To add a hint of subtle (read: impossible to capture on camera) shimmer I added a coat of OPI-I Juggle...Men which shifts from bright fuchsia to electric blue and looks fab when it catches the light.

I love these, they're so bright and fun! A fab way to end our challenge, don't you think?
But fear not, because there is a new nail art challenge starting at the end of July  and you can join in, if you so wish! I'm not 100% sure on the organisation right now (as I am scheduling this post) but drop me an email (nailartnovice@gmail.com) for now if you're interested and I will let you know more details as and when.

As always, don't forget to check out all the other fabulous 'Z' manis in the Inlinkz below.

~Nail Art Novice~