Valentines Nail Art #2: Glitter Stripes and Hearts

Im back with my second Valentines day nail art and today I created a striped design, with a heart on the ring finger as an accent nail to help share the love!

To create this nail art all you will need is nail varnish in lilac, barbie pink and silver glitter. It will also be handy to have a top coat, some striping tape and a dotting tool! 

Step 1: Begin by painting all your nails in the lilac shade and leave this to dry completely

Step 2: Next, taking the barbie pink shade onto a dotting tool, I created the heart shape.

Step 3: Whilst the heart was drying, I took some striping tape adding two pieces to the nail and painting the pink shade down the centre to create the first stripe. I pealed the tape off whilst the nail varnish was still wet and left this to dry.

Step 4: Once the heart was dry, I took the silver glitter onto a dotting tool and added this into the centre of the heart.

Step 5: Next I added glitter, again using a dotting tool, down the centre of the pink stripe and also down either side of my nails. 

Step 6: Once everything was nice a dry, I went in with a top coat adding a layer to each nail to seal in the design!

And there you have your sparkly Valentines nails!

Do you have any plans for valentines day? I also have a Valentines makeup look coming up later this week!

Happy Valentines Day! Sam xx

New Years Eve Nail Art

You may have seen my New Years Eve makeup post yesterday, so today is the turn of nails and I have created a super sparkly nail art design, perfect to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015. 

To create this design I used Barry M 'Magnetic - Violet', Illamasqua 'Viridian', Colour Club Gold Glitter and Mavala 'Pure Diamond'. 

1. I began by painting my nails in the jade and deep violet shades and leaving this to dry completely.

2. Next taking some striping tape, I placed strips evenly over each nail to create the design. 

3. Taking the gold and silver glitter polishes onto a dotting tool, I carefully filled in the gaps between the tape. I left this to dry and then removed the tape. 

4. Finally once everything is completely dry, take a top coat and apply this to each nail to seal in the design and even out the nails.

And there you have your super sparkly NYE nail art design!

What do you think of this look? I hope you have a fab new years eve and Happy 2015!

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

VW Camper Van Nail Art Tutorial

The sun is shining on me through the window and has got me in a summery spirit. Therefore I thought what better nail art look to create than a VW camper van! VW camper vans really remind me of summer and spending time at the beach (something I cannot wait to do in the months to come)! I was inspired to create this nail art look by the amazing Alice from 'One Nail To Rule Them All', and although I could only wish my nail art was as good as her's I gave it a go!

What Will You Need?

All you will need to create this look is nail varnish in white, black, light fuchsia and grey. You will also need a top coat and dotting tools in various sizes.

The nail varnish shades I used are Illamasqua 'Scorch', 'Harem' & 'Boosh', Mavala 'The Elle Grey' and Seche Vite 'Fast Dry Top Coat'. 

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Begin by painting all nails in white. I used two thick coats to ensure the base was opaque.

Step 2: Next using the grey nail varnish to begin with, create two squares at the top of your nail and outline these with black to create the windows.

Step 3: Using the light fuchsia shade dot a large circle under the windows and create the side panelling of the van.

Step 4: Taking the grey nail varnish again, create a 'v' shape under the large circle and above the panelling. Next take the white varnish and create the 'vw' lettering in the badge.

Step 5: Using the black nail varnish, create two dots on each panel and also a small rectangle on the tip of the nail for the number plate. Next taking the grey, create two smaller dots in the centre of the black for the lights, and using white create some detailing in the number plate.

Step 6: Finally once all the above steps are completely dry, go in with a top coat on each nail to seal all the nail art in.

And there you have your VW Camper Van Nails!

What do you think of this nail art? If you recreate this look I would love to see a picture so share it with me by tagging me in your picture on Instagram (@samantha_helen5)!

Happy Nail-Arting! Samantha xx

My Beauty Countdown to Christmas

I know I'm slightly late posting about a beauty advent calender, but I wanted to save writing about how I counted down to Christmas until I had opened all the doors and tested out some of the beauty products I opened the doors to. I had the Boots '24 Days of Christmas of Beauty Treats' Advent Calender and it really did make counting down to Christmas that bit more exciting!

There was a great selection of brands amongst the advent calender treats including Soap and Glory, 17, Vichy, Nails Inc and Rimmel. What I loved most about the selection was the variety of both make-up, haircare and skincare gifts. I am usually a lazy one when it comes to skincare and testing out different skincare products, so receiving them in the advent calender meant I had the chance to test some out. 

Being a nail art lover, some of my favourite treats from the calender were the nail varnishes. I had not tried Mavala polishes before so I loved trying out both 'London' and 'Pure Diamonds'. You may have seen I grew very fond of 'London' the red shade and used it in all of my Christmas nail art looks!

Full products list:

Soap and Glory Clean Girls Body Wash

Balmi Lip Balm

Mavala London 53

Nina Fragrance

Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation Ivory

Vichy Idealia Life Serum

Paco Robanne Black XS Fragrance

Umberto Ginannini Hair Tie

17 Supreme Shine Nail Polish

Orly Bonder Base Coat

Ghost Fragrance

Boots Salon Nail Shine Solution

Vichy LifeActiv Serum 10

Juicy Couture Fragrance

17 Tattoo Me Liquid Eyeliner

Dotty Nail File

Soap & Glory Scrub

Ghost Fragrance

Classic Calmex Moisturising Lip Balm

Mavala Pure Diamond 213

Botanics Heat Protection Shine Serum for hair

Nails Inc Porchester Square

Umberto Giannini Glam Hair Back comb in a Bottle

17 Blow Out Mascara

When I opened door number 24 I was greeted with not only a 17 Blow Out mascara but also a extra gift of a voucher offering triple advantage card points when you purchase any of the products from the advent calender.

There was one product in the advent calender which really stood out to be so this was my choice of product to get my triple points on. My favourite product of the 24 days was the Rimmel Stay Matte foundation. I was really impressed with this product and for a drug store foundation which puts you back just £5.99 I would recommend this for anyone wanting to try a foundation with a matte finish. I am not normally one for a matte look as I usually like a dewy glow to my make-up. However I found this foundation didn't matte my skin to the point where my skin was left looking dull, my skin still had a glow and the thick texture of the foundation left my skin looking flawless. This therefore left me no decision but to purchase the full size product!

I hope you enjoyed this post! I cant wait to find out what Boots will have in store for next years advent calender and no doubt the variety and brand selection will be as good, if not better, than this years. Did you try out any of the beauty advent calenders this year?

Until next time,

Samantha xx

Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer

I'm back with my second Christmas nail art and with just 9 days till Christmas Day I'm feeling very festive. I have seen lots of reindeer nails flying around the internet so I thought I would try my own! As always I have put together a step by step picture guide as to how I created my reindeer nails so if you want to find out keep reading ...

What will you need?

In order to create this nail art you will need nail varnishes in light pink, light brown, dark brown, white, black, red and glitter. You will also need a top coat and dotting tool in various sizes.
I used the following nail varnishes: Bourjois 'Rose Satin', Loreal Paris 'Beige Countess', Barry M 'Magnetic Red Sparkle', Barry M 'Matt White', Miss Sporty 'Black', Mavala 'London' and Rimmel 'Finishing Touch Glitter Top Coat'.

Step-by-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Paint all nails in the light pink shade. I painted on three coats as my varnish was quite sheer and I wanted an opaque base.

Step 2: Using the light brown shade paint on semi circles at the bottom of your nails to create the face of the reindeer.

Step 3: Using the dark brown and a small dotting tool create the antlers. I began by dotting on a vertical line and then added the smaller diagonal lines after.

Step 4: Using a reasonably large dotting tool created two large white dots for the eye.

Step 5: Next take the black nail varnish and with a small dotting tool add two black dots in the centre of the white dots to create the eyes. Then take a larger dotting tool and create a semi circle for the noses on all nails apart from the ring finger.

Step 6: Take the red nail varnish and the large dotting tool and create the final nose on each ring finger.

Step 7: Taking the light pink again on a small dotting tool, add a dot to each reindeer cheek to give them a slight blushing colour to the cheeks.

Step 8: This step is optional but I wanted to add some festive sparkle so I added some fine glitter on a dotting tool to each nose of the reindeer.

Step 9: Once everything is dry add a layer of top coat to each nail. This will seal in the nail art and prevent any chipping.

I hope you have enjoyed this nail art! If you create any festive nail art I would love to see or if you have any ideas for other Christmas nail art I could create comment below and let me know. 

Until next time, Samantha xx

Snow Is Falling All Around Us

With just 17 days until Christmas day, I thought it was about time I started on my Christmas Nail Art adventure! The first design I decided to created was this snowflake/ snow blizzard look. 

As always I have put together a step-by-step tutorial as to how I personally created the nail art look below and all the bits and bobs you will need to create this look. 

What will you need? 

As in many of my nail art posts you will need a dotting tool and nail varnishes in the shades red and white as well as a top coat. However there are some tools I used in this nail art which may not be familiar! These are a nail art stamping disc, a nail varnish scraper and stamper. I got these a while ago and I always forget to use them as I am so used to creating designs from scratch! However they are the perfect tool for creating intricate designs that may be difficult to achieve using a standard dotting tool. I used the stamping disc to create the snowflakes and the design of this can be seen in the top left of the disc in the image above. 
The nail varnish shades I used were Barry M Matt White (White) and Mavala London (Red). 

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Paint all nails in a coat of the red nail varnish.

Step 2: Using the stamping disc, nail varnish scraper and stamper, stamp white snowflakes randomly over the nails. You begin by painting over the snowflake design on the disk with white nail varnish, then scrape off the excess nail varnish on the disk, leaving just the snowflake. Next you take the stamper and roll this over the snowflake to transfer the nail varnish onto the stamper. You then roll the stamper over the nail to create the snowflake design. 

Step 3: Take the dotting tool and white nail varnish and place dots in free spaces over the nails.

Step 4: Take a top coat and paint over each nail. This will seal in all the nail art, prevent shipping and give your nails a shine!

I have also created another step-by-step image so you can see each step in more detail...

I hope you have enjoyed this post. If you have created any Christmas nail art, feel free to comment below with a link to your image/ blog post as I would love to see! Also if you have any ideas for Christmas nail art designs I could try in the upcoming weeks to Christmas I would love to know! 

Until next time, Samantha x