Tah-dah! What do you think? Will you be picking up a Flower Manicure kit?
Although I still love spending far more time than I should painting my nails, I have recently neglected blogging about them, so here’s a little update. If you want more frequent nail updates, then feel free to follow me on Instagram @hannahlouisef or on the web version instagram.com/hannahlouisef!
After seeing the above photos floating around Tumblr, I was dying to try Comme Des Garcons Play logo nails for myself! I traced the photos back to the amazing Elizabeth Monson, check out her blog here. My nails certainly aren’t as perfect as Elizabeth’s, but I’m still really pleased with them, I never want them to chip! Check out my attempt below, for the base coat I used ELF’s ‘Nude’ with a Rimmel matte top coat and for the red I used Filthy Gorgeous’s ‘Noelle’. If you’re going to try this look you should file the ends of your nails into a point to achieve the heart shape. What do you think?
For the first time ever, Chanel’s FW12 Haute Couture show featured nail art (above) so naturally there has been some fuss about it! I decided to try out my own version of the ever-so-simple but effective silver and pink outline manicure.
- First I applied two coats of Orly Foil FX in ‘Shine’, then allowed my nails to dry completely.
- I then applied my pink – I used MUA Shade 16 (the nails at Chanel were a slightly paler pink than this, but you can use any pink for a similar effect!), leaving an even gap all around my nails except for the tip. You don’t need any special brushes for this look!
- I also added a small Chanel motif to each ring finger nail, which I got in a set for just 59p on eBay!
Marbling is one of my favourite nail art techniques because it’s so simple and yet the results are really striking! Here I used MUA’s Shade 16 (pink) and Technic’s ‘Lolli Pop’ (lilac) together to create the marble effect, for instructions on how to do this check out my post here (much easier than the water bowl method!). I also added a few gold circle studs to my ring finger and thumb nails. They’re really easy to apply, simply use tweezers or your fingers and place them onto slightly wet nail varnish and press them in lightly – you can get these studs on eBay for under £2 here.
This week I painted my nails Barry M’s ‘acid yellow’ and added a silver tip using Orly’s ‘shine’ from their Foil FX collection. ‘Acid yellow’ provides an amazing block colour look because it’s a bright and very opaque varnish. I rarely find fault with any of Barry M’s nail paints and this is no exception! Orly’s Foil FX ‘Shine’ is my go-to silver nail varnish simply because it is the most shiny and Minx-like metallic nail varnish I’ve ever tried, without actually using nail foils. It needs a few coats to become opaque but once it is the metallic micro-glitter gives the silver an ultra-sparkly finish. Mixing neon and metallic is still a key trend this summer, and a nail art which does this is the ideal way of working the trend subtly!
I haven’t posted about my nails in a while, so here are a few snaps of what they’ve been looking like recently!
Happy Easter everyone! What good is a holiday without some nail art to match – I decorated my fingertips with bunnies, chicks and Easter eggs today on a base of Topshop’s ‘Forget Me Not’.
This week I went for a simple nail design, combining two pretty pastels by Barry M: ‘308 Berry’ and ‘304 Mint Green’. I also used a Rimmel mattifying topcoat to complete the look.