New CND Shellac Colours for Summer 2013!

Holy Moly! Another colour launch for 2013?

And so soon after the Sweetdreams collection release here.

Let me introduce CND Shellac's Summersplash shades that were launched earlier last week:

The collection consists of four colours:

Water Park - deep aqua blue
Pink Bikini - sizzling summer pink
Grape Gum - a true concord purple.
Lobster Roll - bright red-orange

Just check out those swatches below...

I knew that CND would be launching some new shades, but so soon? I am impressed! Now to get hold of the damn things!

Disclaimer - Photos are not my own, they are courtesy of the Sweet Squared Press Release on facebook here.

CND Shellac Nail Art - Cath Kidston Cuteness

Hello and happy Sunday people! The weather has been so un-Spring like that I thought it about time I got round to some very Spring suitable nails to cheer us up. The kind hand model for the occasion is (obviously) Stacey and after the popularity of her black bow French manicure on my instagram (@brushupmakeup), she decided to beat her record with these babies.

The design came from missgoob on instagram (@missgoob) - a very talented nail artist and cupcake extraordinaire! The original design that inspired me was this one (link):

missgoob used OPI Mermaid Tears for this design
(photo courtesy of @missgoob on instagram)

Stacey loved the Cath Kidston style of this but of course, CND Shellac is limited in it's greens, so we went pink instead and changed up which design went on which fingers.

The colours we used were all CND Shellac:
white - Cream Puff
pink - Rosebud
pale pink (on rose detail) - mixture of Rosebud and Cream Puff
green (rose leaves) - mixture of Pretty Poison and Hotski to Tchotchke

The floral design consisted of two coats of Cream Puff for an opaque white base (curing after each), then rough 'blobs' of Rosebud for the roses which I added pale pink detail to before curing, then the green leaves came last and were cured before topcoat.

The polka dots were done over two coats of Rosebud (curing after each) and made from a dotting tool and Cream Puff, cured, and finished off with topcoat.

The middle finger was simply two coats of Rosebud (curing after each) and two placed diamantés - one 1.5mm round and one 2mm square (from Viva la Nails) turned on its side - before adding topcoat.

And there you have it, nails Cath Kidston would be proud of and last an amazing two weeks :)

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - French Manicure with Black Bows

Oh look! Stacey again, last seen here, here, here...this list goes on!

This time she went a little more classic, she's not one for the simple french-y manicure so we jazzed it up with some inspiration from I love Pink Nails instagram page - a nail salon in Las Vegas.

We used Negligee for the base, Cream Puff (two coats) for the tips and Blackpool for the black line and bow. I added a little 1mm or 1.5mm diamanté before sealing it all in top coat. And yes, the black detail was all done completely freehand - no striping tape in sight!

I have to say, she chose well, this is one of my most popular photos on instagram and I have a lot of people asking me to recreate it.

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Tutti Frutti Glitter

So I've FINALLY caught up with the last few manicures of 2012 and I can finally move into this year... Thank God!

To start us of we have Rachel again (last seen here with the Hot Pop Pink diamantés). In keeping with her love of pink, she decided to try out a new colour in the collection, Tutti Frutti, a beautiful opalescent pink that just screamed for something extra. So we added a bit of purple glitter to pick out the shimmer in the base colour.

To recreate this mani just follow these steps:
Apply base coat, cure, then two coats of Tutti Frutti making sure to cure between each. Then mix a glitter paste of Mother of Pearl and Gosh Nail Glitter in Topaz Lavender in a palette. Take some striping tape/foil and mark off the diagonal on each nail. Then use a nail art brush to paint the chosen half of your nail in the glitter mix - make sure you carefully remove the tape/foil before you cure. After curing, add more glitter freehand where needed, then cure again, finally add top coat and cure for one last time.

Voila! Perfect pinky-purple.

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Blackpool Glitter Edge

Oops! Only a couple of months late but this is Fung-ling's NYE manicure... remember her from her mermaid glitter fade and WAH basketcase manicures?

Well for NYE she wanted something fairly glittery and of course, a little different. So she went for simple chic  Blackpool with a glitter mix around the cuticle edge. I painted the two coats of black first before adding the glitter and to help make the line nice and smooth, I used some of those French manicure tip guide stickers. Just make sure you press them down really well or be prepared for a little leakage!

To create the silver glitter mix I used CND Shellac Mother of Pearl and mixed in some Gosh Nail Glitter in Silver and the CND Additive in Sparkling Silver from the Christmas 2012 Twinkle Collection. I placed the tip guides in reverse on the nail before painting on the glitter edges and made sure I removed the sticker before curing. If there was any slight leak under the sticker, I cleared this up with a brush dipped in acetone, but as long as the sticker was stuck well, the line stayed fairly crisp. I had to add a second glitter coat in places so that the black didn't come through, but this wasn't too difficult to do freehand.

Seal it all with top coat and voila! What do you think?

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Stippling with Cityscape and Midnight Swim

Remember those amazing gradient dots (à la Chalkboard Nails) that I did for Jene back here? Well she's back, but opting for a slightly different effect this time.

This manicure was made up of CND Shellac Cityscape for the base and then Midnight Swim over the top. I used to two coats of the pale grey to create a smooth, opaque base, then I roughly painted a French manicure tip using the dark blue. To create the stipple effect I used a small fan brush and some of the blue in a mixing palette, and literally 'stippled' it onto the nail to blue the distinct French tip line I'd created. I then gradually moved the stippling further towards the cuticle to create a gradient effect.

Next step is to try this with a make-up sponge and see if Shellac will conform to the classic nail polish gradient I see so much of online.

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Overtly Onyx Crosses

Bloody Stacey! She gets everywhere doesn't she?! Ha, well as you can see her Vexed Violette is gone and she's moved onto the next Shellac colour in the Autumn 2012 release.

We loved this dark steely grey, with the smooth shimmer and almost-black-but-not-quite look. Overtly Onyx looks amazing on it's own but you know Stacey, she didn't want to leave it that. So I added some 1.5mm diamantés in the shape of a cross on both her ring fingers, before adding a final layer of top coat.

Very fashionably on trend dahling!

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)