#OnWednesdaysWeWearPink Fishtale Braid Nail Art Tutorial

 I was browsing through Pinterest when I came across this effecting rainbow fishtail braid nail art by The Nail Polish Challenge. The inspiration behind for my take on this nail art look came from combining two of my favourite things, pink and glitter.

To create this nail art look you will need a selection of pink and glitter polishes. The shades I used were Models Own 'Sun Hat', Illamasqua 'Harem', 'Seance' and 'Fire Rose', Avon Gel polish in 'Lavender Sky' and Graffiti Nails 'Butterfly Pink'. 

Step 1: Begin by painting your nails in a base of dark pink polish and leave to dry completely.

Step 2: Taking some striping tape, create the braid effect by placing pieces diagonally across the nails.

Step 3: Take each pink and glitter polish in turn and fill in the gaps between the striping tape.

Step 4: Remove the tape to reveal your design and paint a layer of top coat to each nail.

And there you have your fishtail braid nail art.

I'd love to hear what you think of this nail art so be sure to leave me a comment below.

Happy Nail Art-ing! Sam x

Cocktail Ombré Nail Art

I was feeling bright and colourful when I created this nail art so I went for a neon ombre which reminds me of a summer cocktail!

All you will need for this look is a white, yellow, orange and pink polish, as well as a small makeup sponge. The shades I used were Models Own 'Coconut Cream' on the base to brighten up the colours and Graffiti Nails 'Mellow', Illamasqua 'Gamma' and Models Own 'Sophie's Pink'.

Step 1: Begin by painting the base of your nails in a white polish and leave this to dry completely. By doing this it will really help to brighten up the ombré shades.

Step 2: Stripe the 3 shades onto a small makeup sponge and press this onto the nail, dabbing the sponge up and down to create a seamless ombré design.

Step 3: Once everything is dry, go in with a top coat to even out the nails and give them some shine.

And there you have your cocktail ombré manicure!

What shades do you like to use in your ombré nail art designs?

Happy Nail Art-ing! Sam xx

Valentines Nail Art #1: Pink and Red Ombré with Polka Dots

We are now into February and its under 2 weeks away until Valentines day, so I though I better start some Valentines themed nail art to help spread some love! Whether you have someone special to share the day with or you have a date with a box of chocolates and the TV, add a bit of romance into the air by creating a fun nail art. If you want to find out how I created this pink and red ombré with polka dots keep reading...

All you will need is nail varnish in the shades red, pink and white, a tooth pick / dotting tool and a small makeup sponge. You may also want to have some cotton buds and nail varnish remover to hand just to tidy up around the nails, as the ombré can get a bit messy!

I used the shades: Illamasqua 'Throb', Graffiti Nails 'Butterfly Pink', and Models Own 'Coconut Cream'. 

Step 1: I began by painting my nails in one coat of white polish, just to make the ombré shades more vibrant.

Step 2: Next, by taking a stripe of the red and pink polishes onto a small makeup sponge and pressing onto the nail, I created the ombre effect.

Step 3: Then I took some white polish onto a toothpick and added small polka dots evenly across each nail.

Step 4: Finally, once everything was dry I added a top coat to each nail just to seal everything into place.

What do you think of this nail art? Will you be creating any yourself for Valentines day?

Happy Nail Art-ing AND Happy Valentines Day!

Sam x

Googly Eye Halloween Nail Art Tutorial

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I am SOO excited for Halloween this year! After celebrating at the #AsDarknessFalls Halloween party last week I am in the spooky spirit to do it all over again tonight! Today I created a googly eye nail art inspired by a look I saw over on the WAH nails Instagram page.

Unfortunately I didn't have the right lighting to take step-by-step photos when I did the nail art last night (definitely something I'm adding to my xmas list!). However this look was really easy to create...

Step 1: Begin by painting all nails in black and leave to dry.

Step 2: Next taking the white polish onto a large dotting tool, create different sized circles over the nail, to act as the base of each eye.

Step 3: Next taking your different colours in turn, add smaller dots inside the larger white dots.

Step 4: Taking your black and white polishes onto a small dotting tool, create a further two dots inside the coloured circles.

Step 5: After you have left everything to dry completely, add a top coat to each nail to seal everything into place.

And there you have your googly eye nail art!

I hope you all have an amazing Halloween tonight! Let me know in the comments below what you're doing to celebrate!

Sam x

Pumpkin Halloween Nail Art Tutorial

Im back with another Halloween nail art and today is the turn of the ever famous Halloween Pumpkin! I LOVE pumpkin carving, however uni has taken over a bit this year and I haven't had time to whip up a pumpkin creation. I guess painting a pumpkin nail art is nearly as good! If you want to find out how I created this look keep reading...

All you will need for this look is nail varnish in the shades: orange, yellow, black and gold glitter. It will also be handy if you have a dotting tool and sponge to hand.
I used Illamasqua's 'Boosh' (black) and 'Gamma' (orange); Graffiti Nails 'Mellow' (yellow) and Barry M 'Yellow Topaz Glitter' (golden glitter).

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: To begin paint all nails in a base of orange and leave to dry.

Step 2: Next taking the yellow nail varnish onto a small sponge, create a mottled effect over the nail.

Step 3: Taking your black polish onto a dotting tool create the pumpkin faces.

Step 4: Next, taking the yellow shade on the sponge carefully apply this on top of the black detailing to create some texture.

Step 5: Now its time to top the pumpkin faces with the glitter. I did this using a dotting tool.

Step 6: Finally, once everything is completely dry apply a top coat to each nail.

And there you have your pumpkin nail art!!

What do you think of this nail art look? What are you guys up to this Halloween?

Happy Nail-Arting!
Sam x

Detailed Floral Nail Art Tutorial

So I've been doing nail art for a while now but to date I have never used acrylic paint on my nails. You may be thinking WHAT!? Acrylic paint as an alternative to nail polish!? Thats exactly what I thought but its fantastic to use, especially with black detailing, in order to prevent the dreaded smudging when you apply a top coat. Therefore I thought I would give it a go!

This detailed floral print was inspired by this amazing design from Lindsey at Wondrously Polished. Although mine are no way as good as Lindsey's at least I gave it a try hey!

All you will need is black acrylic paint (I just picked mine up from Hobby Craft), a pale yellow polish for the base (I used Illamasqua 'Load'), and purple, orange, mint and lime green shades for the flowers (I used Illamasqua 'Harem', Rimmel 'Tangy Tangerine, Graffiti Nails 'Pistachio' and BarryM 'Key Lime' respectively). Its also handy to have a top coat and a selection of fine nail art brushes and dotting tools to hand.

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: To begin I painted all my nails in the pale yellow base shade. I waited for this to dry completely before moving on.

Step 2: Next, taking the black acrylic paint, I created the outline of the floral print on each nail.

Step 3: Taking the various coloured polishes, I added these to the centre of the flowers.

Step 4: Finally once everything was dry I went in with a layer of top coat on each nail. this will help to seal in your design and prevent chipping.

And there you have your super detailed floral print nails!

What do you think of this design? Have you ever created any intricate detailed nail art?

Happy Nail Art-ing!
Sam xx

Colourful Mosaic Nail Art Tutorial

Im back with another nail art tutorial. Today I was feeling colourful so I went for a rainbow of shades and created a mosaic look which is sure to catch attention. This look is super easy to create so keep reading if you want to find out exactly how I achieved this design...

What will you need?

All you will need for this look are around 5 shades (and 2 variations of each shade) and also a white polish. The 5 colours I went for were pink, purple, green, blue and peach. You will also need some nail art striping tape and a dotting tool. 

The shades I used were:

Pink: Graffiti Nails 'Butterfly Pink' and Barry M 'Rose Hip'

Purple: Barry M 'Vivid Purple' and Avon 'Lavender Sky'

Blue: Illamasqua 'Cameo' and Models Own 'Blueberry Muffin'

Green: Graffiti Nails 'Pistachio' and Models Own 'Apple Pie'

Peach: Illamasqua 'Lament' and 'Purity'

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Begin by painting all nails in a white base layer. Leave this to dry completely before moving onto the next step. You may want to paint a fast drying top coat to the nails to speed this process up slightly

Step 2: Next take pieces of striping tape and place these in an 'x' shape over each nail.

Step 3: Using your 2 shade variations, take the darkest of the two and paint this into the tip triangle, then take the lighter shade and add this to the two outer triangles.

Step 4: Remove the tape, clean up around the nails and add a layer of top coat to each nail.

And there you have your mosaic nails!

What do you think of this design? Do you prefer super colourful or more subtle designs? 

If you recreate this look yourself, be sure to share it with me on Instagram @insamazement!

Happy Nail Art-ing! Sam x

Fruit Salad Nail Art Tutorial

Im back with another nail art tutorial and I'm probably not the only one who has seen a lot of fruit nail art flying around the internet (especially watermelons!). With this in mind and because its super summery, I thought I would create a fruit salad nail art. Cherrys, Kiwis, Watermelons and Lemons make up my nail medley so if you want to find out how I created this look then keep on reading....

All you will need for this nail art is a selection of nail varnish shades - light green, dark green, red, white, black, yellow and coral. You will also need some nail art tools; I used a mixture of dotting tools and nail art brushes to create my design.
I used a selection of Illamasqua, Rimmel, Graffiti Nails, Mavala and Models Own polished to create my design.

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Begin by painting all nails in a base of white polish. I went for 2 coats to ensure my base was super opaque. 

Step 2: Once the base coats were dry, I used a dotting tool to create the outline on each fruit. I actually ended up changing the lemons to circles instead of slices.

Step 3: Next its time to create the detailing. For the majority of the designs I used an ultra fine nail art brush, as this made it easier to create the super thin lines and dots. 

Step 4: Finally once everything is dry, go in with a top coat and paint a layer onto each nail. Also be sure to take the top coat over the tip of the nail to make them last a little longer.

And there you have your fruit salad nail art! 

What do you think of this nail art design? Which is your favourite nail?

Thank you so much for reading and if you recreate this look yourself happy nail art-ing!

Sam xx

Double Polka Dot Nail Art Tutorial

A polka dot manicure is one of the easiest nail art designs to create and I regularly find myself grabbing my dotting tool in a rush and quickly adding some polka dots to an other wise simple, one colour manicure. Today I went for a double dot nail art look, which is just as easy as the standard polka dot design to create.

What will you need?

All you will need is a white nail varnish, along with three variations of your favourite shade (so I obviously chose pink haha!). You will also need a dotting tool and if you don't have one of these a toothpick or the end of a hair grip works just as well!

The nail varnish shades I used are Graffiti Nails 'Butterfly Pink', Barry M 'Rose Hip', Avon Nail Experts 'White' and Avon Gel Finish 'Parfait Pink'. 

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Begin by painting all nails in white and leave this to dry.

Step 2: Next using the three shade variations on a dotting tool, randomly place dots all over the nails.

Step 3: Again using the dotting tool and the three shade variations, add smaller dots into the centre of each dot you created in step 2.

Step 4: Once all nails are dry take a top coat and paint a layer onto each nail. This will even out the nail and seal the nail art into place.

And there you have your double polka dot nail art tutorial!

What do you think of this nail art look? Have you created any nail art looks recently?

Happy Nail Art-ing! 

Sam x

Graffiti Nails: Swatches and Review

You may not have heard of Graffiti nails as they are a relatively new nail varnish brand. Graffiti nails were set up with the help of the amazingly talented Alice from the nail art blog One Nail To Rule Them All. There are currently 13 shades in the collection, as well as a top and base coat. I was very kindly sent 3 of the shades to review - Mellow* (lemon yellow), Butterfly Pink* (coral pink) and Pistachio* (mint green).

I love the square shaped bottle and the lid can be pulled off to reveal a round lid, making it easier to apply the polish to the nails. I found all three nail varnishes super easy to apply neatly onto the nail and two coats was sufficient to create an opaque base. All three shades had a shine finish, however I did apply a top coat in order to add extra shine.

So onto the swatches....

Mellow:

Pistachio:

Butterfly Pink:

At just £3.99 per bottle you can't really go wrong and when you purchase 3 or more postage is free! The only negative thing I have to say about the polishes is the smell. They smell quite cheap which is a bit of a shame, however this is only a small thing and I can't wait to combine these shades into a nail art look very soon! You can check out the full range of Graffiti Nails here.

What do you think of these shades? Have you tired any of the Graffiti Nails?

Sam xx