Merry Christmas!

Just in time for the holiday season I have redone my nails to a festive but simple Christmas theme =)  I used the gel colour Burgundy applying it à la French mani and rounding it off with gold holograms.  Thanks to all those who have visited my blog throughout the year, whoever you are!  It is much appreciated and I hope some of my designs have inspired other nailists out there as well.  Do pop by and have a look at what designs I come up with in 2013 =)  I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!

Shell Confusion

So it hadn't gone exactly 3 weeks but felt it was time for a new gel design!  This must be the danger of being able to apply gel by yourself- changing when you don't really need to!  Anyhoo, I went for a white shade with shells embedded and then did a very random thing by painting my left index and right pinky finger pink!  Don't ask me why cos the two don't go together whatsoever, I just wanted something to stand out :P  I used Safety Gel's Pearl White and added shells (thought this looked very bridally actually!) and Elegance Pink Lamé on the two odd ones =)  Hope everyone is having a great start to the week!

Coral French

After doing my colleague's nails, I got the urge to do a French mani myself :)  So here we have French with Safety Gel's Light Coral, very natural and subtle.  On my index and ring fingers I added some flower stickers.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Client work!

Yesterday I did a client's nails, namely my lovely colleague!  She asked for a French manicure with a pinkish glitter line on the smile line; one nail was done with bigger holograms in a similar colour and on another I added a flower.  She was very pleased with the end result and nothing makes me happier than  a happy customer!

French mani with pink glitter and hologram line

Fall Feathers

As predicted, I became bored fairly quickly with the subtle design I posted last time, so on Sunday I changed my nails into something a little flashier yet with a hint to the deep colours of autumn.  It became a peacock design (a fav of mine!) using Safety Gel's Bordeaux, Gold and Brown.  I alternated the order of the colours on my left middle finger and my right index- see if you spot the difference!  Personally, I think I actually prefer when the red is on the outer rim...:)

Fall Feathers

 

Brown, Gold & Bordeaux

Nudedition

It hasn't gone that long since my last update but next weekend sees me off to the UK, more specifically Dorset, so I don't want any nails lifting or chipping where I can't do anything about it!  I was going for a bold design to begin with but ended up with the opposite instead =)  Here we have Light Beige with a white line sticker- nudelicious!

Autumn Tie Dye

My new design for this period is autumn-inspired using Safety Gel's Purple as the base colour and Light Peach on the tie dye nails.  A very simple and effective technique to jazz the look up!  Naturally I finished off with some purple holograms- when don't I!

Summer updates!

So I've been awful yet again at updating regularly but I have a very good excuse- my wonderful sister and equally wonderful nephews were visiting me for a whole month which means I did very little updating in general!  On Monday it shall be a week since they left and I miss them terribly...but I'm already looking forward to spending next summer with them in Japan!

Anyway, this means I have 3 designs to upload, two previous ones I had as well as what I am currently sporting.  So let's go back to June and since it was a while back I don't quite remember what colour I used...I'm thinking it might have been Champagne with a thin gold glitter line on the tips.

Champagne with gold glitter

The second design I had until yesterday and it was a simple French nail design but instead of the traditional white I used Mauve Pink Pearl.  Simple and subtle!

French nails with Mauve Pink Pearl

After a couple of months with muted colours I am now in the mood for something brighter and more vibrant, so I went for a deep French nail with Bordeaux (although I feel it doesn't differ much from my Red!) and a reverse gold glitter gradation.

Bordeaux deep French with gold glitter gradation

 The summer hols definitely got in the way of my updates but returning to work and getting the old routines back up and running should remedy this!  With some sadness I admit as I could definitely have some more time off!

Marine Summer

Off to the sea!

New design update for June/July- I opted for a marine theme using Opacity White and Navy and as always adding a bit of sparkle with some glitter =)  I loved my previous design and was thinking about doing another peacock design with different colours...maybe in 3 weeks time!  I will also be adding to my colour selection soon, thanks to my darling sister who is providing me with a new range- exciting stuff! :P  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, especially those on holiday- as for me I have another 2 weeks before I am off and then it should be a fun-filled noisy summer.  Can't wait!

Hawaiian Peacock

Hawaiian Peacock design

So here is my next design called Hawaiian Peacock!  My darling sister should actually get the credit for the nomenclature as she thought it reminded her of Hawaii...so thanks, Boo!  Safety Gel's Mint, Opacity White and Rose Pink were used and as always, a little touch of glitter to top it all off.  I had been meaning to do a peacock design for some time now and got inspired by other nailists, and seeing how effective it can be I am sure to be doing more in the future with different colour palettes.  Happy weekend everyone!

Design updates!

Wow, it's been exactly TWO whole months since my last post!!  No, I haven't been unable to update my new designs.  Yes, I've been way lazy...but now I'm back and with not only one new design but three!  A quick description so we know what's what:

I was reminded of the marbling technique not too long ago so two designs as you will see are based on that.  The first one that I had at the end of March was a brown and gold marbling design that I like to call Marbled Caramel =)  I used Brown and Gold from Safety Gel and topped it off with a gold glitter line.  I was very pleased with the end result.

Marbled Caramel

The design that followed was also of the marble nature but this time with Navy and Opacity White finishing off with a silver glitter line.  The image I was going for was something reminiscent of porcelain...or blue summer skies!  Whatever floats your boat I guess :P

Blue China

The third design and the one that I currently have on is based on the fact that we have finally entered into the wonderful season of spring, and what better way to express it than with flowers!  First I made a pretty Sakura Pink gradation coating it with Clear Hologram Lamé Mix to give it an extra subtle sparkle before applying dried flowers on top.  Another design that I am happy with =)

Now I hope I won't be as tardy again with my posts...have a great weekend everyone!

Pink Lacy

Sakura Pink on my left thumb

Mauve Pink Pearl on my right thumb

And here is a design that I absolutely love and will most likely keep for the next 2-3 weeks, or as long as they hold =)  The pinks I used are called Sakura Pink (the lighter shade) and Mauve Pink Pearl.  I opted for a deep French, topping the smile line with silver glitter.  On my index and ring fingers I also put on a lace sticker.  As the pictures show, my left hand is slightly different to my right as I alternated the colours- the result is that this may be my favourite design yet!

Nudey Nails

Here comes a design that I only had on for a week or so...and which I didn't get round to uploading on the blog.  I used a color called Light Beige that I applied as a gradation finishing off with some white shells.  After having had quite a few colour-popping shades of late I found this a bit too neutral...and thus they came off after a week!

Circus!

Light Blue gel nails with holograms

Et voilà!  The second design for February became a whimsical circus theme...or so I like to see it anyway!  The colour I used was Light Blue (as always from the brand Safety Gel) that I applied diagonally and topped off with some blue and green holograms.  I wasn't too sure about the blue to begin with but it came out better than expected =)  This design can definitely be improved upon and be used with more colours so we'll see what crops up in the next few weeks.  Happy Monday!

Variation on French nails

Goodbye January, hello February!  Time seems to fly by whether one is having fun or not...which I guess is a good thing, especially when things are not so fun.  But this is no place for complaints but a place of joy and beauty!  I was able to keep my red nails going for quite some time and could probably have had them for more than a month, but I got a bit bored so on Sunday I redid them.  A bold red is always nice and once you get used to them a muted look feels somewhat bland in comparison but I am still pleased with my new look.  I used a colour called Natural Pink doing a variation on French nails and finished off with a gold lamé line.  The pink doesn't come out quite so well on film (it's pinker in reality) but that's the best my iPhone camera could do!

Natural Pink with a gold lamé line

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More in a few weeks!  Mata ne =)

Going bold!

It's Friday, end of the week and it's been a long one!  So I wind down with some gelling that relaxes me so- a perfect way to start the weekend especially as I'm all alone in the flat while my boyfriend winds down with a few beers with his colleagues =)
I was toying with the idea of either going very bold or opting for my preferred muted tones...I decided to go all bold!  And I like the end result =)  I wanted to keep the design simple so I only applied gel colour to my nails with no extra touches like I most often do.  The colour I used was Red Lamé by Safety Gel and then I topped it off with a non-wipe gel that actually worked this time!  I'm very happy about that as my previous endeavour had been less successful and I thought that the product might have to go to waste...but no!  The only negative with using such a bold colour is that I will have to fill in with red where my natural nails show through by the cuticles in about a week's time.  This is not always necessary with other designs as it's not as obvious when my nails grow out, however this time there's no escaping this task if I want to keep them red for the next 2-3 weeks.  Have a great weekend everyone!  My honey and I turn 29 on Sunday- eeeek, this is the last of the 20s!!

New gel colours and accessories

Nail brushes and nail stand 

Different gel colours

Nail stickers

Japanese inspired nail stickers

As promised, the new gel colours and accessories that I got from my sister for Christmas!  I can't wait to start making new designs and as I also got 80 clear nail chips to practice on I don't need to wait until I do my own nails!  I hope to keep expanding my collection but for now this is plenty.  Thanks Boo, you're the best!

Christmas Nails

Wow, it's already 2012 which means I've been fairly pathetic about updating this blog for the last month or so.  That said, I've had my wonderful family with me which means time flies!!!  As I mentioned in my earlier posts, my sister was going to supply me with new gel colours and other tidbits and she definitely came through on that!  I will post some pictures on what she brought with her from Japan as well as putting up pictures on the nails I had during Christmas and what I have now.

First things first though.  Uploaded is a picture of the design I had during Christmas-nothing too snazzy as you can see but I wanted something simple.  I opted for a snowfall impression with white glitter that I simply mixed with some clear gel.

After Christmas and thus being ammoed with tons of colours and nail stickers I went for a cute look, using a colour called Strawberry Milk from N.O.U.V that I did the gradation with and then added a strip of black flower stickers over the nail.

I also posted the design my sister came up with using Navy from Safety Gel and drawing silver lines across the nails with Silver from the same brand.  Very dramatic!  Her thumb gel nail typically had to lift on the day she was leaving and we only had 15 minutes until the taxi arrived but still managed to redo it!  That's the beauty of gel nails cured with an LED light, it only takes 10 seconds to cure each layer!

White glitter gradation

My sister's nail design

Pink gradation with flower strip stickers

So that's pretty much it from me for now. I hope you have all had a great Christmas with your nearest and dearest and a fantastic beginning to the new year.  May 2012 bring you all much love and inspiration and in my case, lots of new nail designs!