Chinese New Year 2012

I recently entered a competition to do a nail art design for Chinese New Year. We were told that even though it is the year of the dragon it could be anything to do with Chinese New Year. I decided to do some cherry blossom and some Chinese symbols.
I used 'Miss Sporty 150' red for the red base coat, then the branches for the blossom was done in Nubar 'Noir'. I used a striper brush to draw the branches onto the nail.
The cherry blossom was done using Orly Instant Artist 'Pink Pastel' and a dotting tool to do the three dots of the blossom, then using Nubar nail art striper 'Basic White' I put a dot in the middle of each blossom.
I decide to put two Chinese symbols on the nails to help break up the red. I put a Dragon symbol on one to symbolise the year of the dragon. I then thought it might be nice to put the symbol for the Ox which is from the year I was born.
Altogether I think the design works well, and has the effect that I was looking for.

Simple but effective!

Pink and Green Marble Art

I decided to try my hand at marble art this week and was very impressed with it. Marble art is so easy to do and you can get some brilliant results from it. I decided to use Nubar 'Amazon Coral' and 'Pink Lily', Solutions 'French White' and 'Miss Sporty 150'. I took it in turns to put a drop of each colour into a tub of cold water. I alternated the colours until I had what looked like a bullseye of colours.Then with a cocktail stick I gently pulled the paint from the outside in. I done this several times until it made like a flower shape.

Then once I had the desired effect I put my nail into the water and kept it at the bottom of the water. With my other hand I used my cocktail stick to peel the polish off the top of the water. It should make like a skin on the top so is easy to pick up. Once the polish has been taken off the nail can be taken out of the water. Once the nail had fully dried I put a topcoat on and it just made it shine. I was really pleased with the end result and because I had done it on a nail stick and had put no base colour on first, it made it a little bit transparent which I like.

I also tried the same effect using different colours. These would be great for near Christmas time. Again I used the 'French White' and 'Miss Sporty 150'. I also used Orly 'Luxe' and 'Miss Sporty 346'.  

I used them in exactly the same way as before and the end result is below.

Halloween Nails

For halloween this year I thought I would try and do something different. I thought that instead of doing the traditional thing of doing all your nails in one design I would alternate the designs. I went for pumpkins and cobwebs this year as I thought it would be quick and simple. I was so wrong. As long as I only do nail art on my left hand I'm ok.

I started by putting a base coat of the Gelicure in Black. I done the Gelicure as I would normally which means when I put the nail art on, it will be easy to wipe it off the nail and still leave the black on the nail. To do the nail art I used the Orly Instant Artist Orange Peel Water-Based Nail Art Striper, Nubar White Nail Art Striper, and their Silver Glitter Striper.

With the cobwebs I did them in white, and then done the silver glitter over the top of the white. This just makes it sparkle and gives it that edge. You might be able to see this effect in the picture on the right.

The pumpkins were done with dotters as I found it easier this way, rather than using the striper brush.