Desolation of Smaug - Hobbit Nail Art

Happy Hobbit weekend!! In honour of the newest instalment of the Hobbit franchise, I recycled my nails from last year which I absolutely loved. On my left hand I have "one ring to rule them all" in elvish and on the right I have fire over gold to symbolise Smaug's fire. 

So here is how I did them after applying the initial base coat:- 

The One Ring

1. one or two coats of gold paint (LA Colors) 
2. once this coat has dried you can go about painting the elvish script, using a very thin home-made detail tool, its best to work quickly and with new varnish so if you make any mistake they will lift off rather than having to re paint the whole nail ( I selected the first part of the elvish script that reads "one ring to rule them all"
3. once you are happy with your design finish off with a top coat to protect your design

The Fires of Smaug

1. one or two coats of gold
2. then using these colours, black, red, orange, maybe yellow or gold too use a thin detail brush to build up thin almost fork tongue like flames, you can also add some glittery colours to make the fire more "magical" 
3. once you have built up the flames you'll want to fill in the tip of your nail with a mixture of the same colours so they look like the heart of the flames. 
4. once happy top coat the design with clear to protect the design

Hope you like these designs and enjoy the Hobbit film. Thank you for reading.

The name's Bond, James Bond Nail Art!

This weeks nails are inspired none other than 007 himself. I addapted these from my Harry Potter nails from a couple of months back.

They are really simple even the thumb was quite easy, sorry the photo doesnt show the thumb's detail very well.

Tuxedos

1 - base coat to protect your natural nails once this is dry apply a coat or two of black varnish and allow it to dry

2 - using a thin brush or white nail art pen create a V shape at the tip of the nail, then you can add the detail for the lapels of the jacket, if you dont have a steady enough hand the design looks okay without the lapels

3- using a dotting tool, or as I did a sharpened pencil dipped in black varnish create two or three buttons on the shirt and then add a bow tie, just make an X at the top of the white tip and fill in either side

Gunbarrel Shot

This iconic shot from the opening credits can be quite simply recreated

1 - like with the above design one of two coats of black varnish

2 - using a thin brush or white nail art pen create a circle in the middle and fill it in white

3 - either continuing using white like I did or use silver with a thin brush draw the curved lines to give the effect if the gun barrel, it may be best to work from a photo off the internet to add more detail or add your own artistic flare as mine doesnt look amazing

4 - optionally you can add your own little Bond to the centre of the circle, he doesnt have to be a feat of amazing artistic prowess just a basic image, I used the sharpened end of a pencil dipped in varnish as it made my work a little more accurate

5 - using my tips from the blood drops in previous blogs add the last element of the blood dripping down from your nail bed

Shakened not stirred

Though I havent provided a picture on the other thumb I painted a very simple martini glass outline (with a thin brush) with two olives in (using a dotting tool), which is just an idea for another bond related nail art idea.

Thank you for reading this, hope you enjoyed it and it gave you some idea of what to paint. Feel free to comment or suggest designs I could do :)

Happy Halloween all! Halloween Nail Art

Happy Halloween to you all. I entered into the halloween spirit this year with these sets of nails.
They were all so simple to do and I hope they prove useful in your weekend halloween celebrations.

Skull

1 - One or two coats of white nail varnish (I used L.A. Colors which I can get really cheap in London)
2 - Using either a thin brush dipped in black, a black nail art pen or the special bottles of fast drying decorative nail varnish create the outlines of the cheekbones and fill in the corners of your tip in black
3 - Then using a dotting tool dipped in black or your thin brush if you arent ham fisted like me, create the 2 dots for the eyes and the slits for the nose, then finally the very simple mouth

Spider Web

Very easy but requires a steady hand, I think this decoration looks best against a bare nail but it can be used on top of any halloween design

1- Starting in one of the bottom or top corners of the nail paint using a thin brush black lines radiating out, I think it looks best if they get paler towards the ends of each line
2- Join the lines with slightly curved shorter lines inbetween

Blood drops

I love this design, I do it often when I dress as a corpse bride for fancy dress or fright night themed events.

1- tip the nail with a nice blood colour (I used Mavala Tobago shade which has a lovely shade to it, its quite expensive for the quantity you get but a brilliant brand, lasts forever) it doesn't matter if the tip is messy as blood doesn't run neatly
2- using a dotting tool create 2 or 3 dots of "blood" at varying distances from the tip, across the nail then join the dots to the tip making them look like running dots of blood

On my right hand as I am awful with detail when painting with my left hand, i simply painted the nail black and added a red black widow marking on top.

Pumpkin

1 - 1 or 2 coats of orange nail varnish (if like me you don't have orange nail varnish, its not a colour I would usually wear then just do some primary school art and combine red and yellow until you have the desired shade)
2 - once that's dry add the green leaves to the top messily as the leaves don't have to be perfect
3 - then add the face, you can vary faces between nails which looks really good if you do the design across each nail (I used L.A. Colors Art Deco lacquer brush for the designs)

Frankenstein 

Don't really need to explain this one its simple, green nail then the black stitch marks across it, but if you want Frankenstein nails across all you fingers you can add a silver bolt to the little finger and thumb, maybe messy black hair line on the middle finger, or even very simplified faces on them.

Once all your designs are done finish the design with a top coat to protect them.

Remember, while nail varnish that is reaaaaalllllly artistic looks lovely, if like me you haven't got an artistic bone in your body, these simplified designs can work just as well and are just as effective.

Thanks for reading hope you liked the designs, feel free to comments or suggest designs in the comment box.

Happy belated star wars weekend! Han Solo and Chewbacca nail art

As many of you know the 4th May is better known as May the 4th be with you day. So all in all a very Star War-sy bank holiday was in order. I celebrated by designing a set of Han Solo and Chewbacca inspired nails, as with most of my designs they are simple yet effective, (well I think so anyway).

Sorry as per usual about the quality of the photos I am working on getting better quality shots. 

Now on to how they are done, obviously you don't have to do one design per hand I just liked the duo together! 

Colours 

• LA Colors Brown 
• LA Colors Silver 
• LA Colors Black 
• LA Colors White 
• Off-white, skin tone (or a mixture of yellow and white)

Chewbacca nails

1- base coat to protect your natural nail

2- layer of brown nail varnish - I chose a slightly glittery varnish so the lighter tones in it would mimic Chewy's fur, you could use 2 shades of brown flecked together to create a fur effect too

3-  once dry use a detail brush dipped in grey or silver to create his 'sash', you want to paint this from the left to the right of the nail as that's how he wears it. All you need to create is two lines of dashes 

4- again once this is dry apply a top coat to protect the design

Han Solo nails

1- base coat 

2- layer or two of white varnish for the shirt, I added a touch of yellow to my white to create the off white shade that best resembles his shirt, though its not very clear in this picture

3-  using a black detail brush and black varnish create and fill in the outline of his waistcoat on top of the white shirt, the waistcoat curves a little at the top and always looks closer at the top than at the bottom so I angled my lines as best as I could to mimic this

4-  you could leave the design there or add the 'V' neck line of the shirt in a skin tone using a detail brush. I personally think the 'V' set off the design and made it a lot more recognisable. 

5-  top coat to protect the design and you are finished!

Hope you liked my designs Thanks for reading :)

The Deathly Hallows! Harry Potter Nail Art

Anyone that knows me knows I am a huge Harry Potter fan! I was inspired by my visit to Levesden Studio tour to do some simple HP nail art! Sorry again about the poor quality of photos.

Colours 

• Black 
• White 
• Red 
• Green 
• Blue 
• Yellow 

Method 

Deathly Hallows symbol - 

Paint your thumb completely white, when this is dry use a narrow detail brush  to create the triangle, circle and line of the symbol. If, like me, you aren't very good at drawing circles it helps to do it in sections. The good thing about this design is if you make a mistake its simple enough to just start again.

Robes -
Again a base coat of white, doesn't have to be perfect as not much will be seen. In the 4 colours of the Hogwarts houses, red, green, blue and yellow paint a little triangle in the middle of the tip of the nail and a line running down the nail for the tie. Then using black, might want to use a detail brush to outline the edge to prevent mistakes, leave a gap between the tie and the robes and paint the rest of the nail black for the robes, and there you have it, black robes, white school shirt and the house tie.

Hope you liked this design!  :)

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope. Star wars nail art!

Hi everyone, this is my second attempt at star wars nails, changed it up a bit and did my favourite droids, who else but R2D2 and C3P0! (sorry about the poor quality picture). C3P0 didn't come out quite how I wanted him because I worked on my right hand and am never as good at detail with my left. But the idea is still there.

Colours - 

• Gold
• White
• Black
• Blue
• Silver 
• Red

Method

R2D2 - 2 coats white, tipped with silver or grey ( you can create this tip, when the white is completely dry stick a small piece of tape on your nail to cover the white you want to keep this will give you your line, remove tape carefully when finished tipping) using various thin brushes or dotting dots, even pins are useful, create a simplified R2D2 design, use a picture if needed.  Then top coat him and you are done.

C3PO - first start with 2 coats of a matt gold, I added a clear coat of glittery gold over the top for an added sparkle. Next you need a very pale yellow for the eyes, I achieved this by mixing a drop of yellow in some white. Using a dotting tool make 2 circles on each nail once dry add a black dot to the middle. Then using a very narrow detail brush or pin create a small curved nose, rectangle mouth and 2 curved lines meeting in the middle for his forehead. Top coat and you are done, if you are really good use a photo of him to add more details but this simple way is quite effective.

Thanks for reading and I  hope you like

Thunderbirds are go! Thunderbirds nail art

This weeks nails were suggested by a friend, surprisingly when I looked on the Internet for inspiration no one appears to have published any versions of Thunderbirds nail. So I got down to designing my own. I drew them out first on paper templates so I could work out how to best represent each of the Thunderbirds. I'm still working on 5 so I painted my pinky finger pink and silver for the FAB1 car.

Colours - 

• Pink (I mixed red and white)
• LA Color Silver 
• Red 
• Blue 
• Yellow
• Green
• Black 

Method - 

Thumb -  use tape to separate your nail, and paint the third of your nail nearest the nail bed light blue, remove the tape and add a silver strip and finally a red tip to the nail, then add a white 1 on top of the blue section using a detail brush

Index Finger -  green base I couldn't find the right shade of green in my local shop so I mixed LA Colors Blue and Yellow to get the closest match.  Yellow stripe near the base of your nail, and a white 2 (use a really fine detail brush to get some accuracy if you aren't very good at writing on your nails)

Middle finger - red base, thick black stripe across the centre and a narrow silver stripe near the top, then place a white 3 under the black stripe

Ring finger - yellow base, 2 narrow red stripes near the tip and a black 4 near the base

Little finger -  light pink coat, match as closely to the car's colour as possible ( I mixed a tiny drop of red with white)

Remember to seal in your designs with a top coat of clear varnish! Thank you for reading!

Nom nom nom! Pac man Nail Art!

Feeling geeky? Why not try these nails. (sorry about the poor quality photo) I have seen similar versions on-line, and none of them had ever looked much good, I think people try and make them too complicated. I am aware that mine aren't perfect but I will attempt to improve them. 

Colours - 

• LA Colors Black 
• LA Colors Yellow
• LA Colors Blue 
• LA Colors Pink

Method - 

1. Base coat of nail hardener, this week I had to completely cut my nails right down, because week on week of painting them had weakened them despite using hardener ( I suggest that you leave a couple of days between your designs to let your nails "breath")
2. A coat or two of black varnish (LA Colors)
3. When this has dried using a detail brush dipped in a darkish blue to create the walls of the maze. Its useful to work looking at a screenshot of game.
4. The detail doesn't take long to dry so you can add more pretty quickly you need to know what you want to put on them I chose 2 ghosts and a pacman, you could also do cherries and other elements in the game. 
5. Ghost - mine are pink and blue, one you get the outline use both ends of a pin to do the eyes, the big end for the whites and the tip for the pupils, obviously if you don't have steady hands you don't have to do the detail
6. Pac man - I suggest outline the shape to get the angle of the mouth right first then filling it in gradually with yellow (LA Colors)
7. feel free to add whatever detail you want, I did little yellow dots but you could also do the other ghosts or nom nom nom written across the nails

Thanks for reading, I hope this was helpful. Good Luck with your nail designs :)

Hobbits and Lord of the Rings Nail Art!

These have to be some of my favourite nails that I have painted and I will definitely be doing them again. I am a big fan of Lord of the Rings and these simple nails are perfect for a geeky fan. Mine more of less said "one ring to rule them all" being the first line of the rhyme inscribed on the "Ring". There are loads of photos of the text on the internet and the books tend to have a print of it too. There are some apps that allow you to translate your name and phrases into elvish script if you want a more personalised design.

Colours - 

• LA Colors Gold 
• LA Colors Black

Method - 

1. Base coat as always to protect your natural nails 
2. Coat of gold paint, I went for a matt gold rather than a glittery gold (LA Colors) as it seemed to resemble the ring more 
3. Once this coat has dried you can go about painting the elvish script, I selected the parts of text I wanted to copy and carefully using a very thin home-made detail brush (that's the good thing about home-made nail art tools its easier to vary the size of them) its best to work quickly and with new varnish so if you make any mistake they will lift off rather than having to re paint the whole nail
4. Once you are happy with your design finish off with a top coat to protect your design 

Hope you found this interesting and useful, feel free to ask me questions. Thanks for reading :)

Mario Nail Art!

I know this is late but happy new year to everyone! These are my first nail art nails of 2013, I had been planning them for ages but finally got round to them. For those of you who don't know what they are supposed to be, they are inspired by the mushrooms in Mario. Quite simple to do and very effective.

Colours - 

• orange
• red
• blue
• green
• yellow
• I don't have all of the colours as originals so mixed the orange and green plus I lightened the yellow with a touch of white.

Method - 

1. Base coat to protect your natural nails, this is particularly important if you paint them regularly or you use nail gel - they seem them do a lot of damage especially if you pick it off 
2. Coat or two of colour, leave it to dry fully or the final product takes FOREVER!!!!!
3. Using white (LA Colors) I tipped the nails with white, slightly curving it rather than going edge to edge to create the mushroom stalk, if you don't have a steadyish hand you may want to outline the stalk with a white striper first and fill it in after
4. Using a dotting tool (or a couple of varying sizes) created the dots on the mushrooms, make sure the varnish isn't too thick or they will not dry very well
5. Once the detail has dried you have the option to add little eyes to your mushrooms using a detail brush dipped in black or you could just leave them as blank mushrooms
6. Finally top coat to protect your lovely designs 

Hope this has helped, thanks for reading  :)