CND Shellac Nail Art - Pink Bikini Glitter Fade

Last one for this weekend. A good old glitter fade for Stacey using Pink Bikini. For a newly released colour (see this post) I'm a little surprised that I've not had many requests for this shade yet?!

Stacey wanted a glitter fade like her Autumnal nails from last year (here) but in Summer colours of course! So we had a little play around with my glitters to see which would work best. In the end she opted for Gosh Nail Glitter in Rose Quartz and some pale pink glequins from the Born Pretty Store.

Much like her Autumn nails, this one was quite simple to create - base coat and two coats of colour in the normal Shellac fashion - then a glitter fade using a glitter paste and finished off with top coat. The glitter paste was made from a mixture of CND Shellac in Mother of Pearl, Gosh Nail Glitter in Rose Quartz (available from Superdrug stores) and the pale pink glequins.

Et voilà! Pretty pink nails.

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. Once you Shellac you never go back!

CND Shellac Nail Art - Black and Gold Glitter

Oh I have missed a good ol' glitter fade! Say hello to Gemma who last sported some Christmas nail art (here) and penguins (here) on her fingers.

She wanted glitz and glam all rolled into one, so out came the glossy Blackpool which we teamed with Gosh Nail Glitter in 01 Gold. I painted two coats of the black and then painted on a glitter paste in a fade up the nail. The glitter paste was made up of Mother of Pearl and the gold Gosh glitter. I sealed it all with top coat and voila!

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 Rockstar Nails - Green and Blue

It's been a while since we've seen some full on Rockstar nails, not just an accent finger. And Tyra is a bit of a Rockstar fiend. This was one of her semi-regular manicures from early last month and she'd decided on glitter before she even looked at my swatch sticks.

She picked out the Gosh Nail Glitter in 12 Jade Green and the CND Additive Glitter in Winter Blue. As a base colour we used CND Shellac in Pretty Poison and Midnight Swim.

To add the glitter I mixed each coloured glitter, separately, in a ceramic dish with a little CND Shellac in Mother of Pearl. With a brush I then painted the glitter paste to the nail - two coats were necessary to get full on glitter - and sealed it all in with top coat.

It's a pity that glitter never photographs as well as it looks in real life!

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 - Princess nails

Ah look, Stacey, taking more inspiration for instagram again I see. This was a design by a Japanese nail art salon in California, Atlas Nail, that caught her eye.

Atlas nail (@atlas_nail on instagram) have loads of designs for inspiration, by the looks of it they are mostly done in gel too, but it was this exact one (link) that got Stacey's attention:

(photo courtesy of @atlas_nail on instagram)

 

To recreate this in CND Shellac we used a variety of colours and details:

nude/clear base - one coat of Negligee layered with one coat of VIP Gold Status over the top
soft pink/white - Romantique painted on in an inverted 'V' chevron
gold glitter detail - a mixture of Tinsel Toast and Gosh nail glitter in Gold painted in a line with a detailer brush along the 'V' edge
diamanté detail - silver and gold diamantés on all fingers except just silver on the first and little fingers



I got my diamantés from eBay (similar to these) and Gosh nail glitter from Superdrug. Of course the whole design was sealed with top coat and there you have it - nails a princess would be proud of.

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 - A French Alternative

At the end of January, Fudge (@fungling_y on instagram and twitter) was off on her hols to Hong Kong (lucky cow) and wanted to update her NYE nails. So she showed me a picture that she found on google somewhere and we reworked the design with CND Shellac. The original was a deep red shimmer from memory but we changed it up to use a dark grey instead.

For the base colour she went for an almost invisible layer of Negligee and the dark grey was the sleek Overtly Onyx. From memory it was one coat of the pink and two of the grey.

I then used some Tinsel Toast mixed with a little extra Gosh nail glitter in Gold to paint the glittery lines and added a diamanté to the thumb and ring fingers, before sealing it all in with top coat.

I quite like the edgier take on the classic French manicure, don't you?

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 - P-p-p-penguins

Ah, another archive gem! I forgot all about these cute little penguins....

Gemma asked for these late last November following her Granite/Stud manicure here. To say she's obsessed with penguins is quite an understatement, but she had to keep her nail art minimal for work. Hence these little flightless friends adorning just her ring finger because believe me, she would have had them on every nail given the chance!

To create the penguin look, I used a mixture of CND Shellac Blackpool and some Gosh Nail Glitter in Grey Moonstone for the background, then I added two coats of Cream Puff to create the white belly (as one wasn't opaque enough). The eyes were a simple dot of Blackpool and the beak/feet were made using Tinsel Toast mixed with the Yellow Pigment from the CND Additives.

On Gemma's other fingers, she opted for an alternative french manicure using Negligee mixed with a white iridescent glitter that I have and the same glittery black in the penguins, as the tips.

I'd love to try this out with the new Azure Wish when it's released!

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 - Vexed Violette

Well I've dug deep into the nail art archives to find this glittery loveliness that I forgot about... November this was taken if my memory serves me correct!

Of course , I'm sure you've guessed it's Stacey by now. This was her experimentation stage in trying out all the new Autumn CND Shellac colours. After her Peacock mani here where she'd sampled the Midnight Swim, Pretty Poison and Sugared Spice she felt it was about time to move onto some purple in the form of Vexed Violette.

This is two coats of Vexed Violette followed by a sprinkling of Gosh Nail Glitter in Topaz Lavender. On the ring finger I placed some silver star glequins (from the Born Pretty Store I think) before adding top coat.

Perfect 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 - Glittery Peacocks

Get a load of this glittery gorgeous-ness! These were one of my favourite designs to date for Stacey but so bloomin' difficult to photograph - trust me they looked way better in real life!

Inspiration came in the form of an instagram photo from @hairandnailfashion (but I can't now find the original photo). Anyway, Stacey wanted a play around with some of the new Autumn 2012 Shellac colours, so that's exactly what we did.

It started of as a base colour of two coats of Midnight Swim. Then in a palette I mixed some of Pretty Poison with my Gosh Nail Glitter in Jade Green and painted the green feather strokes from the bottom outer corner of each nail up to the top inner corner, with a striping brush. I added some further strokes like this but with Sugared Spice. To make the 'eye' of the peacock feather I started with a mixture of Tinsel Toast and the CND Additive pigment in Yellow in a palette and using a detailer brush painted the slightly oval shape over the feather strokes. I then mixed some of the CND Additive pigment effect in Cerulean Blue with Midnight Swim and added a smaller oval that overlapped the edge of the gold one. I used Midnight Swim on its own, to create one last small oval, again overlapping at the edge of the other two and finished the whole look off with top coat.

Phew! That was a lot of steps! But the end result was pretty darn good if I do say so myself :)

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 - Rock Royalty, Skulls and Glitter Fade

This is another one from a while back... October off the top of my head... and Gemma's friend Becky. Becky has an affinity for skulls so out came the stamping plates and the Konad polish.

She loved Rock Royalty on my swatches so we vamped it up a little with a purple glitter fade using the Gosh Nail Glitter in Amethyst Purple (I think I mixed it with CND Shellac Mother of Pearl for the glitter paste). Before adding the top coat and without removing the sticky layer, I stamped a skull and crossbones onto Becky's ring fingers and thumbs. I used the design from the M28 plate using the Konad Special Polish in White.

It's a shame that the glitter fade didn't photograph so well, it gave a really subtle purple shimmer, but I've included a flash and no flash photo above so you hopefully get the gist.

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 - Gold Studded Granite

Remember Gemma? You met her first for her Christmas mix'n'match nail art but she's been having Shellac since September last year. You'll probably be seeing a bit more of her on here, she likes to experiment nail-wise.

She had seen my Asphalt 'granite' look I did way back here and wanted the same but with a little extra something-something. So I suggested some gold square studs from the Born Pretty Store (2mm ones from memory) which we put on the ring finger as an accent.

For details on how I made the 'granite' look (essentially Asphalt and a grey glitter swash) see my post from early 2012.

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 - Autumn Rust in Glitter

 

Ah, good ole Stacey... this was her seasonal choice for Autumn last year following her Super Chevrons.

She was feeling the rusty tones of Fall and was keen to try out some of the other new colours I'd bought that month. So in steps Masquerade and some burnt orange glequins from the Born Pretty Store.

This one was simple - base coat and two coats of colour in the normal Shellac fashion - then a glitter fade using Gosh Nail Glitter in Ruby Red (available from Superdrug stores) and some orange/rust coloured glequins. Topped off with top coat and ta-dah... Autumnal nails.

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 - Glitter Fade Mermaid Style

Aaahh, now this was one of my favourite manicures I've done since I started doing Shellac. This is of course Fudge, you met here back here when she had her WAH inspired nails, and she likes to test my abilities with requests for new and challenging nail designs.

She can make Shellac hold on her talons for up to 4 weeks (God knows how!) so the practicalities behind this one were that nail growth had to be less obvious. She also missed the glitter from her old acrylic days, so this incorporated both. Now, before you question me, these are her REAL nails, I promise! No tips were used in the making of this manicure...

She opted for CND Shellac in Negligee as a base colour (two coats) and a glitter fade using CND Shellac in Mother of Pearl and Gosh Nail Glitters in Blue Sapphire and Amethyst Purple (available from Superdrug in store). To add some extra sparkle I mixed into the glitter fade, some glequins from the Born Pretty Store in a pale pink, blue and turquoise. I painted the fade on in two coats to make sure I got a solid looking glitter tip and I also placed some extra glequins onto the top layer before curing it. I finished off with top coat and there you have it, nails a mermaid would be proud of.

This has inspired me to look for a navy blue glitter as Fudge would have preferred this slightly darker if we had a deeper blue. But overall she was very happy... and I was very proud :)

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 :)

New Year Eve Nails - Chanel Glitterfied

And a Happy 2013 to you all :)

Just a quick one to show you my NYE manicure.... and yes, for once it's not Shellac!

I had a real hankering to try out a free Collection polish that I got on a trip to Superdrug. It's part of their Bedazzled Nail Effects range and I opted for the shade Razzle Dazzle. It's made up of fine silver glitter and silver/gold/blue hexagonal glitters suspended in a clear polish. The best way to show off this glitzy number was to layer it over a nice dark colour and what better polish to choose than Chanel's Le Vernis in 219 Black Satin. I used my classic Seche Base then two coats of Chanel Black Satin followed by two coats of Collection Razzle Dazzle in a glitter fade, topping it all off with a generous coat of Jessica Brilliance top coat.

 Et Voila, Happy New Year Nails!

Disclaimer - I have not been compensated/sponsored in anyway by this post. I just fancied a bit of normal polish nail art. The Chanel Le Vernis was purchased on a whim at a Chanel counter and the Collection Bedazzled was a free gift with any other Collection purchase in Superdrug stores..

CND Shellac - Limited Edition Christmas 2012 Colours

Without flash

With flash

Well it wouldn't be Christmas without showing you some swatches of CND's Limited Edition Holiday 2012 colours. Do you remember this post from the Autumn when I told you about the exciting new release? Well, you know me, I got my hands on a set as soon as I possibly could and this Christmas I've lost count of the number of manicures I've done using the festive shades.

Ruby Ritz is essentially a red glitter and Tinsel Toast is a gold glitter. The top two photos show off the colours with and without flash. The lovely Tyra wearing Ruby Ritz with Tinsel Toast as an accent nail.

I ended up doing a lot of glitter manicures this season, and I found that it was best to layer two coats of Ruby Ritz over one coat of Red Baroness to get a more intense, solid, glittery look. Tinsel Toast is hard to intensify by layering over another colour as there are none quite the same shade of gold, so instead I used three coats to make sure there was a full coat of gold glitter.

I felt a little sorry for Tinsel Toast as it was neglected in favour of the red by most people, so that's what I opted for as my own Christmas manicure - pictured below.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and here's to a very Happy New Year :)

Disclaimer - Stock photo of limited edition colours is not my own, it is courtesy of the Sweet Squared Facebook page here. 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 :)