I started with two coats of Revlon Minted and, when this had dried, painted on a coat of Essie Mojito Madness. When this was still wet I dabbed it with scrunched up cling film and followed with a coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment for a bit of sparkle.
I started with a white base before using striping tape to mark off the squares. I used the bottle brushes to carefully paint each coloured square - you definitely need steady hands for this! The colours I used are OPI Done Out in Deco (lilac), OPI Banana Bandanna (yellow), Revlon Minted (green), and a random Color Club pink that doesn't seem to have a name.
I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, but if you look closely you can see the white bled a bit on my index and little fingers. Boo. Oh well, you can't tell from a distance. :)
It's a bit more pink than it appears in my photos; it's one of those shades that's very difficult to photograph accurately!
My Valentine's manicure this year is based on a design by Chalkboard Nails. She freehanded an adorable pair of owls and I knew I had to give it a go. I love owls - according to my parents I've been obsessed with them since I was little - and recently I've been going owl mad. I've bought an owl necklace, jumper, snood and ring. Owl nails seemed an obvious progression!
The base colour for this design was OPI My Very First Knockwurst, a pinky nude. The two pinks I used for the owls themselves are Essie Tour de Finance and Essie Sure Shot (which I also used for the hearts on my thumb). The heart-shaped rhinestones are from a set I got on eBay.
Right, I'm off to watch Sixteen Candles and eat too much chocolate. Have a great day!
I really liked wearing this but it's not very practical for everyday wear! I think it would look great for a night out though. :)
I used two coats of the leather effect polish. It's not quite as opaque as a normal black so it does really need both coats. It takes a little longer to dry than normal nail polish and you obviously can't apply a top coat or it will ruin the effect, but as long as you're prepared to wait it's fine. It's worth noting that while the polish doesn't dry smooth it also isn't gritty - it doesn't snag on anything. I actually found it quite entertaining to stroke my nails with this on!
The set costs £19 on the Nails Inc website and includes some 3D skulls, but I chose not to use these. I did, however, do some different nail art with this polish, which I'll show you tomorrow. :)
Have you tried the Nails Inc leather effect polish? What do you think of the texture trend? Are you a fan or do you prefer a smooth finish?
After the Rain has a blue shimmer base with multi-coloured glitter - I could see white, red, green, yellow and purple glitter. The base is pretty opaque so it doesn't need undies; this is two coats on its own. It has a great balance of glitter to base and was a breeze to apply.
If We Could Meet By the Sea has small teal and white hex glitter, smaller white glitter and teal bar glitter in a clear base. It's a really pretty combination and it does remind me a bit of the ocean. I've shown a single coat over Essie Turquoise & Caicos - again, it application was very easy. I think this is my favourite of the two!
