Choi's nails

For this manicure you'll need:

• One coat of your preferred base coat (I used Essie's Protein base coat)
• Two coats of Models Own's Lilac Sheen - Pastel purple
• With and black and gold polish, stamp the image from the Moyou Festive collection No 22 plate on the ring finger nail.
• Seal the nail with one coat of your preferred top coat. (I use INM's Out the door.)

Hmm, I tried to do the whole two tone stamping technique but with the design lines being kind of thin and all it didn't quite work out. The two shades did mix a little but I didn't think it was much of a big deal overall I'm still quite happy with how it turned out.

What do you think of this manicure? What other colour combinations should I try for the two tone stamping techniques?

For this manicure you'll need:

• One coat of your preferred base coat (I used Essie's Protein base coat)
• Apply two coats of Models Own's Strawberry tart, a pastel pink polish. One I do like to go back to once in a while. The photo above shows it as a full mani on it's own. This polish is part of MO's scented collection and the smell is still there for my one.
• Apply a layer of top coat on a nail stamper.
• With a design from the Moyou's Kaleidoscope collection plate 01 and the Konad white stamping polish, do as you'd normally do to transfer the image onto the scraper.
• With your choice of polish shades, colour in parts of the design whilst it is still sitting on the scraper. A dotting tool, toothpick or thin brush is recommended for this part especially if you're going to be painting the smaller/intricate parts.
  Here I simply used Misa's I will survive, a standard black and Barry M's Gold foil.
• Once the colouring is done, apply a layer of top coat over the design and wait 10 minutes for it to dry. 
• Using tweezers, gently remove the design from the stamper and place on the ring finger nail. If the design rips, you may need to leave it for a few extra minutes before attempting to remove it again. If the design still looks a bit 'wet' then I'd suggest doing so.
• Seal the whole nail one coat of your preferred top coat. (I use INM's Out the door.)

Have you tried the reverse stamping method yet? Well, you should! The process is a little time consuming with a bit of waiting here and there especially if you're going to go ahead with doing the full thing but the results are very satisfactory.

For this manicure:

• Apply one coat of your preferred base coat (I used Essie's protein base coat.)
• Apply two coats of a basic white. Here I used Nails Inc's Floral street.
• Using the following colours apply to a sponge and sponge onto each nail.
  China Glaze Spontaneous - Purple
  China Glaze Wicked Style - Fuchsia pink
  China Glaze Secret peri-winkle - Periwinkle blue
  Misa Good to be green - Light grass green
• With black polish and the flower image on Bundle Monster's BM 221 plate stamp the image onto each nail.
• Seal with one coat of your preferred top coat. (I used INM's Out the door top coat.)
  

I might have over sponged everything here so it's not looking as 'bold' as I wanted it to but the end look is still satisfactory.

For this manicure:

• Apply one coat of your preferred base coat (I used Essie's protein base coat.)
• Apply two coats of Misa's So HOT in sunglasses - Bright fiery hot red.
• With Nails Inc's Willow place - Gold shimmer glitter apply on the ring finger nail.
• Using the Moyou Festive collection plate no. 22 and the Konad white polish, stamp the design on the nails.
• After stamping seal with one coat of your preferred top coat. (I use INM's Out the door top coat.)
  The top coat started 'melting' the design so quite a bit of smudging here and there. I guess the trick with this top coat is just working fast.
  

I only decided to layer some glitter and stamping over the base because this red was extremely bright. I didn't feel like leaving it plain either but after putting everything on top it looks quite festive. This manicure feels a little out of place right now looking quite Christmas-y when it's getting quite summery here in London. But you know when Christmas comes round it'll be a design to consider :)

Only after looking at the photos closely now I just realised that there were some air bubbles more visible on my middle nail. It did feel good to wear some of my old polishes though. I still remember Techno being one of the holographic glitters I liked to pick out more often than the others.



What is/are your favourite holographic glitters? May be a little late to ask but everyone had a nice Easter? ;)

For this manicure you'll need:

• One coat of your preferred base coat (I used Ciate mini's Underwear)
• Two coats of a basic white - Here I used Barry M's Matt white.
• Misa's I will Survive - a black and Essie's I pink I can - baby pink for the stripes. Paint these on a plastic wrap, wait until it's fully dry before peeling and cutting into thin strips. Place carefully on the nail.
• Alternatively you could use nail vinyls which have been trending recently to create the stripes.
• With the black, pink, a yellow - China Glaze's Lemon fizz and a dotting tool, dot the colours randomly on the nail until you're happy with it.
• Seal with one coat of your preferred top coat. (I use Misa's UV Bounceback)

As much as I love my square nails I really wanted to see what it was like to have almonds so I went for it. This time instead of just filing my left hand I filed everything! Like last time it went wrong and it just didn't look right on me so I think I can stop dreaming about those almonds now. My nails are literally nubs right now but they're I've shaped them into sq-ovals. It'll stay like that until my nails get a bit more length. Thank gosh I have some posts lined up.

For this manicure you'll need:

• One coat of your preferred base coat (I used Ciate mini's Underwear)
• Three coats of Models Own's Trillion taupe - taupe shade with tiny gold dust.
• Misa's I will survive - plain black for the image stamping with the image on the Bundle Monster's BM 225 plate.
• Seal with one coat of your preferred top coat. (I use Misa's UV Bounceback)

For this manicure you'll need:

• One coat of your preferred base coat (I use Essie's Grow Stronger base coat)
• Three coats of Barry M's Matt white. I usually do two but my bottle is starting to thicken up making the application uneven so it looked best at three coats.
• Misa's Skinny dipping - a shimmery turquoise and Barry M's Gold glitter for the nail decals. Paint one to two coats on a plastic punched pocket and wait until they're fully dry before peeling the polish. I think it'd be better to wait for at least an hour. Keep it aside, put your feet up and relax until it's ready.
• Once the polish is dry, use the pointy end of a cuticle pusher or any other tool better for the job to peel the polish away from the plastic wrap. Cut the polish in squares or other shapes you prefer.
• Place wherever you like on the nail.
• Apply one coat of your preferred top coat to seal everything. (I use Misa's UV Bounceback)

Any nail inspo for what my manicures I could do next?

For this manicure you'll need:

• One coat of your preferred base coat (I use Essie's Grow Stronger base coat but I think I'll need to invest in another one soon)
• Two coats of China Glaze's Lemon Fizz.
• A sponge painted with a yellow China Glaze's Lemon Fizz, an orange Barry M's Mango and a red Misa's So HOT in sunglasses from top to bottom. Sponge the nails until you're happy with the results. Add more polish to the sponge if you feel like the colours need a bit of a top up.
• The flower image from Bundle Monster plate BM16 and Konad white polish for the image stamping. This image had to be stamped twice to fill the nails as these were the first generation stamping plates that BM had introduced so their image sizing wasn't quite right.
• Glitter nail art pen to dot the middle of the flowers. Doesn't have to be a pen, any other glitter polishes would suffice.
• One coat of your preferred top coat. (I use Misa's UV Bounceback)

If you're looking for summer nail art ideas maybe you could try this gradient design. :)

What gradient colour combination would you like to see next? Other than Bundle Monster and Moyou plates which I'm already aware of, can anyone suggest any other image plates that are available to the UK?

The base is Essie's I pink I can from their Breast Cancer awareness 2014 collection. In fact I even purchased the other two from the set because they looked like awesome pinks to have but they've just not been tried as of yet.

I used 2-3 coats here with a thin runny formula. Maybe it's been too long since I've added a new Essie to my collection that I've forgotten how the formulas usually were but it is gorgeous though isn't it? ;)


For the leopard print I used Barry M's gold foil and using a dotting tool drew different patches over my nail almost forgetting that I had to add the black. With Misa's I will survive and a nail art brush I did some small lines/c shaped lines around the gold to make it more like the prints.