Baroque 'n' Roll | Nail Art

Bahahaha. Yes, that excruciating pun did just happen. I'm not even going to apologise for it.

Hello and Happy New Year! How I've missed my wee blog. November and December were really rather busy months for me and I ended up being away from home quite a bit, so sadly nail art had to take a back seat. I'd say it was a pretty productive time, though, and I'm looking forward to what 2014 will bring... I hope it will be a joyful, prosperous year for you all. :)

Nail art!

Neutral Leopard, Popping Neon | BornPretty Fluorescent Studs Review & Nail Art

Hi friends! Apologies for the extended absence. I'm back with another review for BornPrettyStore.com, this time for these fluorescent studs. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I've always been impressed by BornPretty's value and service, so I won't rehash all that. You'll find a 10% discount code at the bottom of this post (and also in my sidebar).

On to the fun stuff! Here's the nail art/inspiration combo:

It's possible to draw inspiration from what is, in essence, an advert - who knew?! 

So, the studs. I like them a lot. There are are 2mm squares and circles in each of six colours. The first thing I have to point out is that they are waaay brighter than the above photo shows - my camera refuses to accept that neons (or at least pink ones) exist. My 'phone camera kind of likes them though, so you can enjoy this fuzzy delight:

I'd say that's relatively colour-accurate (if not quite perfect). The product page says there are 400-ish in the box; I'm not going to count them, but there seem to be plenty. In case you're interested, that would work out at approximately 67 per section if evenly divided. Do with that information what you will.

For me, 2mm is an ideal size for studs and so on - I generally don't like my decorations too big. The backs are hollow and I found them pretty easy to apply: plop a dot of top coat (or glue) on the nail where you want the stud to be (I use a toothpick), pick up stud with a moistened orange stick (or alternative), place it where you want it; you'll have a little time to get the placement perfect before your adhesive dries. I use a top coat over the entire nail to seal everything in and I had no problems with the colour on the studs running or anything like that. The sides of the studs do stick up a little and there's a gap before the colour starts (i.e. the sides of the studs are silver) but if you're used to wearing studs, I don't think you'll notice it at all; and if you're not, you'll soon acclimatise! 

Also a 'phone photo - sorry!

As to longevity, I think you can expect these studs to last a good few days, at least. I did lose a couple within the first day or so, but as they were both from the same finger, I'm pretty sure that was top-coat error on my part. After a few days, I seem to have scuffed some of the colour off the top of a few studs; I'm not sure what caused it, though (there's a chance I did it with a buffer) so that might be might fault, too. I think you might be able to reuse these if you're super careful when you remove them, but my (limited) experience is that it can be tricky to get all the polish off them without stripping the neon colour, too, so it probably isn't worth the hassle.

I appear to have run out of photos, so just a brief overview of the nail art itself. Base is three coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Crinoline (not a 'me' colour at all, but I love it); spots are Barry M Lychee Gelly with a teensy bit of Nails Inc Fenchurch Street mixed in; black is Orly's Liquid Vinyl. For the leopard print, I used a dabbing motion with a little brush. I used a dotting tool for the cross on my middle finger and there are some 1.5mm black rhinestones on there, too, which you can barely see.

I haven't worn leopard print in what feels like forever - I think I worry it might be perceived as 'boring' - but I kind of love it! I've seen so many great leopard colour combos lately, too. Also really digging the neon pop against the neutral background. My only qualm (with my nail art, not the studs) is that I occasionally feel I've created a leopard with chicken pox...

As always, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments and if there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask. And finally:

DISCOUNT CODE

Neon Skittle Nail Art feat. Illamasqua Collide & Gamma

Remember last time I talked about how difficult Nubar Violet Sparkle was to capture on camera?  Neons are even more elusive!  I need to stop doing this to myself, haha.  Enter Illamasqua Collide (pink) & Gamma (orange).

They do look relatively glowy here but the colours aren't perfectly accurate - Collide is hotter in person and Gamma possibly looks a little softer or peachier?  I think the orange overpowers the pink a little in these pictures.  Here is a really attractive 'phone photo:

Collide looks more like this most of the time - the 'true' colours (shining throoough) are probably somewhere in the middle and probably more neon.  Also, you can see the effect on my middle finger much more clearly here.

SO.  I had originally painted my nails white with the intention of trying out the 'watercolour' technique but it wasn't exactly working for me so I've shelved that for the time being.  I didn't want the effort of painting my nails white to go to waste, though, so neon seemed like the natural choice!

Awkward thumb, hello to you!

This was more or less a 'make it up as I go along' affair.  Index to pinkie we have: neon clouds; saran wrap technique (I think I first learned this from Chelsea's tutorial but there are others out there, too); some funky lines; and a psychedelic swirly thing which makes me think of lollipops.  Some excellent naming there.  My thumb echoes my ring finger but runs horizontally rather than vertically.  I painted everything (except my middle finger) using little brushes.  The outlines are Barry M Gold Foil, which is a go-to nail art polish for me; and the studs are from this set by BornPretty, stuck on with a blob of top coat and sealed with layer of the same.

I really love this combo - it's so fun and happy!  I just wish (again) that it was easier to photograph.

What do you think?  Will you be sporting some feisty neons this summer?

Zig Zags/Floral Tribal Mish Mash

Hello!  I'm back!  We had a very busy (in a good way!) Easter weekend last weekend but I have now had a chance to paint my nails & take photos etc. soooo yay!  Nails!  

I think this looks kind of like an Easter manicure (cute colours + zig zags = Easter?) but that really wasn't my intention!  Guess I still have Easter on my subconscious brain.  I started out with base colours of China Glaze 'Re-Fresh Mint' & Color Club 'Sweet Pea'.  I hadn't really decided in advance what I would do next, but zig zags just seemed an appropriate choice!  For the other nails, I was going for a tribal-esque vibe, but with little flowers instead of dots (am I still making sense?!).

I picked out Essie 'Blanc', Barry M 'Blackberry' Gelly (the purple one) & Barry M 'Gold Foil' (which I use a LOT for nail art) and added the details with some striper brushes and my second smallest dotting tool.  It was starting to get dark when I painted these so I rushed them a little, but thankfully I don't mind the 'hand painted' look, haha.

I was pretty disappointed with these at first - I absolutely love Re-Fresh Mint & Sweet Pea together and I think I felt that the busyness of the design kind of detracted from that.  They have definitely grown on me, though.  What do you think?

Got some bonus Easter photos for you, too!

Heilan' Coo

The top photo is of some nails I did for the delightful Maddy while she and my sister, Alison, were up staying with us over Easter.  I think nail art looks super cute on wee nails.

The bottom photo is of a heilan' coo (highland cow) at Pollock Country Park because HIGHLAND COWS ARE AWESOME.  Seriously, so cute, I love them.  This one is a 'baby' - look at its little teeny tiny horns just starting to poke out!

Hope you enjoyed these little extras & that you all had as splendid an Easter as I did!  As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Illamasqua Jo'Mina Debut | Stripy Geometric Mix

Hiya!  I'd fancied picking up Illamasqua's Jo'Mina for a good while, having seen/read so many complimentary things about it on various blogs.  Finally I caved and nabbed it from eBay (for slightly cheaper than normal) last week, thanks in part to the absolutely lovely Kayla Shevonne who was kind enough to send me a bottle-shot comparison to help me decide whether I 'needed' it (haha).

I was really keen to use it but didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do, so in the end I just picked out a couple of colours I thought would complement it and got to painting!  Here is the result:

I'm generally a wee bit apprehensive about beginning a design without knowing what I'm going to do (it doesn't always end amicably!) but I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out.  I think the skinniest stripes, which I included on each nail, pulled the different designs together quite neatly, along with the framing.  I still find lines a bit tricky at times and I know a few of them are a bit wonky, but not too badly (I don't think?!).  I totally dig bold, geometric-esque mix & match designs, although it's not something I do often.  

Illamasqua Jo'Mina is a fantastic purple.  It's more intense (and possibly a touch pinker, I'm not sure) in person.  Here I've matched it up with Barry M Shocking Pink and 17 (by Boots) Smokey Marble.  (It's spelt 'Smokey' with an 'e' on the bottle, though I don't know why!)  I really wanted to use something other than my go-to black or gold as the offset/outline colour and I think Smokey Marble was a good choice here.  It's a bit darker than it looks in the bottle - I think I'd call it 'gunmetal' - and the shimmer is pretty subtle, but I think it makes a nice change!

For my index and pinkie fingers, I found it easiest to paint the pink and purple first, then add the darker, thinner lines at the end.  After having to redo my ring finger, I decided it was best to outline the patterns on the remaining nails, fill them in, then tidy up the lines where necessary.  I mostly used striping brushes (in a variety of lengths, so I didn't have to clean them constantly!) for this design, including my super cut-down brush for the skinny lines.

What do you think?  Are you a fan of mixing-and-matching?  Do you have a favourite finger?  (I realise that last question sounds kind of creepy.)