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Sunday, 26 January 2014

CND Shellac Nail Art - Diagonal French and Polka Dots




Aaaah, it feels good to get back into the nail-art-swing of things. I kick-started the 2014 nail art with Rachel (best known for these and these) and a take on one of cutepolish's designs.

If you haven't already come across cutepolish (where have you been hiding?!) then check out her YouTube channel, her Instagram and her Twitter to keep up to date on loads of fabulous nail art ideas and how-to's.

Rachel brought the design to me from a google search and after a little more hunting it didn't take me long to find it on cutepolish's channel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXd_nxlEuKA


We changed it up slightly though - pink dots on a white tip and a lilac glitter line instead of purple - and recreated it in CND Shellac of course. So what colours did I use?...

After base coat I used one coat of Negligee then two coats of Cream Puff for the diagonal French tip.

To get an even line on all nails I used striping tape to guide me for the line on the first coat of white so all nails looked roughly the same - don't forget to remove the tape before curing! - and then I free-handed the second coat of white over the top. It doesn't matter if the line isn't that neat as you will go over it with glitter in a little while.

After curing the white I used a medium/large ended dotting tool to add polka dots in Pink Bikini (if you don't have a dotting tool, the end of a hair grip is a similar size). Once the dots were cured I then added a lilac glitter line - using a glitter paste of Mother of Pearl and Gosh nail glitter in 13 Topaz Lavender - cured the glitter and finally added top coat.


What do you think?

Most Gosh Nail Glitters are available from Superdrug in the UK for £4.99 (only the 02 Gold is online, the other colours are all in store). 


Disclaimer - I be not professional, just well practised but if you want more info about my CND Shellac hobby obsession then check out my disclaimer page here. What's not to like about a manicure that actually lasts?!

Sunday, 12 January 2014

CND Shellac Intimates Swatch - Bare Chemise



What better way to kick start the New Year than with a fresh natural nude for the nails? I thought I'd start the first post of 2014 with a swatch of my latest Shellac purchases - the glorious 'Intimates' collection.

Back in October, you may have spotted my post that talked about the soon-to-be-released neutrals and naturally they went straight onto my 'must have' list. Sure enough they arrived a week or two before Christmas but until now, I haven't had the opportunity to try them out.

So lets take a look at my first swatch from the collection - Bare Chemise - this is a beautiful semi-sheer nude, a sort of golden, very pale beige as it has the subtlest of shimmers to it and just the right amount of pink tone to keep it chic and not too 'false' looking. Above is 2 coats topped of with top coat.

Out of all 4 colours, I would say that this is the best one for creating that 'mannequin hands' look. A classic nude that will go with literally anything.

Stay posted for the other swatches coming soon...
Disclaimer - I be not professional, just well practised but if you want more info about my CND Shellac hobby obsession then check out my disclaimer page here. What's not to like about a manicure that actually lasts?!