Nearly But Not Quite #3 - Nail Art Attempts

It's been *checks notes*.... five years since the last Nearly But Not Quite post. Where the fuck does time even go. Anyway, here are some fails I've been saving in a folder from the past few years.

1 - Boo Nails

I can see why I didn't bother uploading these. Not scary, not cute, the white is patchy and it looks more like spilt milk than a Halloween look. The base was also starting peel and lift so that didn't help either.

2 - Lipgloss Nails

Remember that time when Hailey Beiber invented lip gloss and everyone went crazy making everything "glazed"? Yeah, I tried doing the 'lip gloss' nail trend without gel polish and this was the result. I genuinely have no idea how I managed to make them satin when I was trying my best to get them to be plumpy and glossy. That must be a skill.

3 - Spooky Glaze

Another look meant for Halloween (I think...the folder was called 'Spooky Glaze'). I think I was going for pearlescent slime? I have no idea at this point but it looks like bad Christmas pudding now. I do love the base colour but what was I thinking pairing it with a patchy, pearlescent white?

4 - Peach Stripes

Probably the best of the lot. I'm not mad at this look, the Essie base colour is beautiful matte and glossy. Ironically I might have achieved Lipgloss nails on the index and pinkie. I'm not sure I like the mixture of matte and gloss finishes and those white stripes are a crime. I do think my hand-painted peach is pretty cute though.

5 - Quartz Fail

I'm forever on the quest for the perfect quartz look but dear god. I'm offended just looking at this photo. I jumpscared myself when opening this folder for the first time in years. This must've been during that time I experimented with square nails....*eurgh*. That shape looks lovely on others but my nail fold is just too rounded to get away with some square, blunt ends. Also, the quartz effect looks like it was painted on by a two year old.

6 - Love Is Not In The Air

I think this would've been cute if the stamps were clear. You can tell this was done during the time I was obsessed with negative space nails. The anti-valentines plate though is still one of my favourites, it's such a shame that MoYou don't do stamping plates anymore. I hate those gel strips they do now.
 

Tropical Terracotta // Tropical Leaves with Nude Background

This look was inspired by a painted plant pot I saw on pinterest! I was swatching some new Barry M shades I got and I thought Honeysuckle would make the perfect background for the dark blue and white and I was right! It's just neutral and soft enough to provide the perfect contrast.

I started off with Honeysuckle as the base then stamped on the designs from one my favourite paradise plates. Followed by some gold dots and topped off with a matte top coat.

Polishes/Tools Used:

Base:

- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Honeysuckle (terracotta)

Stamping:

- MoYou London // Midnight Madness (dark blue)

- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white)

- L'Oreal Color Riche // L'Or (gold)

- MoYou London // Paradise 01 Stamping Plate

Top:

- Barry M // Matte Top Coat

 

Ambers Nails /// ALL The Summer Nail Art Designs

So a while ago I did nails for my friend and this was the first time doing nail art on someone else's nails. It was a very strange experience; I'm so used to my own nails.

Well neither of us could decide on a nail art design so we went with everything 😂. The majority of the designs were done with some new Beetles gel polish but the stamping was normal polish with a gel base and top.

I can see the appeal of working with gel; it's just so much easier to manipulate than regular polish. But you can't take away my stamping tools from me. Amber told me that the look lasted a long time without chipping so I guess I'll continue to use OPI for the top coat. That was a weird one though; it smells like cooked chicken.

Unfortuantely I don't have a full polishes used list for this look because I lost count but I can say I used Cuccio prep + fuse for the base. Then did all the designs and applied the OPI gel top coat. I was happy that the stamping polishes didn't wrinkle when curing; it happens quite a lot and it annoys me to no end.

Nautical Tips // Nautical Style French Tips Design

I'm not sure what to make of this look. I originally wasn't going to post it but not every mani can be flawlessly executed. I've been buying up lots of gel polishes lately to practice freehand painting with and straight lines are hard. I also had difficulty figuring out the centre of my nail lol.

I also wanted to do something that was actually nautical from last months challenge as mermaid nails aren't strictly nautical.

For this quick look I started out with 2 layers of Thirsty Nails then painted the tips with SC01 (white gel). Using a fine liner brush I attempted some lines with 619. They're not completely awful if viewed from several feet away lol. I will say I love the shade; it's super vivid and wonderful to paint with. I felt like the look was lacking something so I added the gold (856) to hide where the blue and white meet.

This was super fast thanks to the gel because I can just cure it for 60 seconds and away you go. I used these on top of my usual peel off basecoat and it was amazing to not have to wait for drying or worry about the polish drying out whilst painting.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Nails Inc // Thirsty Nails (sheer pink)

- Nicole Diary Soak Off Colour Gel // SC01 (white)

- Beetles Gel Polish // 619 (blue), 859 (gold glitter)

NailNerdChallenge July 2021 // Fruit Nails

It's time for another set of challenge nails! This weeks prompt is "Fruit" and I've had this design on a false nail for ages but I just never got round to actually creating it in full on my nails but this was the perfect prompt!

It's summery, fresh and definitely fruity! Plus not one stamping polish in sight; I'm starting to get good at reverse stamping now. For this look I did two coats of Sweet As Pinkie Pie, then picked up the pineapple stamps using My Showcase Pink and then filled them in on the stamper with Honolulu Blues and Yellow (great name Barry M lol). I topped it off with a glossy topcoat. 

This one took a while to do due to the reverse stamping. You need to make sure it's dry before you stamp or will smudge but then your base has also dried so you either need to apply a sticky basecoat or a layer of topcoat and stamp just before it loses it's stickiness but won't smudge the polish underneath. I need to get at least 5 stampers so I can just do one after the other and fill them all in at the same time.

Polishes/Tools Used:

Nails:
- China Glaze // Sweet As Pinkie Pie (pink)

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

Stamping:

- Kure Bazaar // My Showcase Pink (fuschia)

- Barry M Nail Paint // 134 Yellow

- Beau Nail Polish // Honolulu Blues (blue)

- Maniology Stamping Plate // M051

Leaf Me In Paradise // Matte Green Glitter & Palm Leaf Tropical Look

Now this is the type of nail design that I could wear all day every day; it combines all my favourite things. Tropical, matte glitter and leaves. I think this is one of my favourite designs I've done in a while.

I'm glad I did them on false nails so I can keep them forever like the weirdo I am.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

Nails:

- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Cotton (white)

- Zoya Pixiedust // Chita (green glitter)

- H&M // Witching Hour (dark green)

Stamping:

- Twinkled T // Liquid Gold (gold)

- OPI Infinite Shine // Teal Me More (dark green), I'm On A Sushi Roll (green)

- MoYou London Stamping Polish // Scandi Sun (light green)

- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Paradise 05 (leaves & text), Tropical 37 (line pattern) 

The gold nail decorations were from a random wheel I bought off eBay.

Ice cream Candy // Brown & Pink Ice Cream Drip Nails

The days are getting brighter and warmer so that means one thing; ice cream drip nails!! It's been a while since I've done some nail art. I was feeling burnt out by everything and I don't think the winter weather helps but today I sat down and spent 3 hours on these nails.

They are a recreation of these amazing nails by @NailFashionByJenny. I saw this video on pinterest and I just had to give it a go as I love the colours and I recently just bought false nails in this exact shape.

How I did it:-
- Started off with 2 layers of Cuir Chocolat (brown), 5 coats of Spring In My Step (pink) and 3 coats of Pack Lightly (nude beige). After all that had dried I applied a matte top coat to all except the thumb.

- For the drips I used Flashdance on the brown nail, Cuir Chocolat on the pink nail and Pink Voltage (neon pink) on the nude nail. To do the drips, I painted on solid colour at the edges about 1cm up. Then used a liner brush to draw thin lines coming down from that. Using the brush I used extra polish to join the lines up so it was more rounded. I then used a large dotting tool to place balls at the end, then used the liner brush to connect it to the line and remove harsh edges.

- For the milkshake nail, I covered the bottom half of the nail with 1 coat of Spring in my Step, then used a liner brush with Cuir Chocolat, Pink Voltage and Blanc de Lune (white). For the 3D effect of the milkshake, I used a large dotting tool and 3D painting gel in After the Snow. I would pick up a large amount on the end of the dotter and place it on the nail; curing after every few dots. I then used Pink Voltage, Flashdance, Honolulu Blues (blue) and Jaune Citron (yellow) as sprinkles on the milkshake and the drips on the other nails.

- I then took some gems from a wheel of assorted nail gems bought from Primark and placed them near the top of the nail.

- For the thumb, I used the striping brush with Blanc de Lune and Pink Voltage to create the lines.

My striping skills leave something to be desired but practice makes perfect! I also used normal polishes for this and I've found striping with gel is so much easier.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
-L'Oreal Paris Color Riche // B25 Cuir Chocolat (brown), B07 Jaune Citron (yellow), 112 Blanc de Lune (white)
- China Glaze // Spring In My Step (pink), Pink Voltage (neon pink), Pack Lightly (nude beige)
- Beau Nail Polish // Honolulu Blues (blue)
- Maniology // Flashdance (peach pink)
- Born Pretty 3D Painting Gel // BP-PG02 After The Snow (white)
- Essence // Double-ended dotting tool
- Nail Magic // Brush on glue
- Primark // Assorted Nail Gems
- Barry M // Matte Top Coat

- Cuccio // Mini LED Nail Lamp

Off The Grid // Tropical Black & White Marble Nail Art Design

More looks using the collab plate from MoYou London! I really wanted to do something similar to the cover sleeve and originally had this:

But I felt it was missing something. I also wanted to cover up some of the patchy black lines...one day I will be able to paint straight black lines and I'll never have to stamp again. I looked through my stash and found some tropical water decals and decided to stick them on top:

I think it turned out well! These water decals are much better than others I've used. I found that they didn't have that annoying white cut out around them that some do and it didn't immediately try to fold onto itself when sliding it off the paper. I think they were £2 for a pack of 50 assorted designs? I'll have to try and find the listing on eBay again to get some more as there were only 2 small sheets of the tropical designs.

I wore this with a peel off base coat but it managed to last a day an half before one of the nails slid off. I could't stop staring at my hand; I really loved this design. I think the pop of green really made it. The marble background was done by smooshing the dark grey shade with white and then stamping it on top of a white background.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Ciaté // White Heat (white)
- Twinkled T // Ghosted (dark grey), Vibin' (black)
- STZ Water Decals // STZ-828 Tropical Decals
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Collab 03
- Barry M // Matte Top Coat

I Pink I Must Leaf Now // Banana Leaf & Pink Nail Art Design

The weather has been amazing this month and so it's time for non-stop pink leaf mani's. It's been a while since I've used this pink shade as well; it's one of my favourites and Avon have released in a new formula that I'm tempted to buy as you can never have too much nail polish.

I'm currently waiting on some new stamping plates to arrive as well that have some fantastic leaf, feather and mandala prints on them for some proper summer designs. I've been after these plates for a while but they were a bit expensive for a random eBay brand and but I finally managed to get hold of them for £1.50 each with free postage and packaging. So I'm having to make do with the limited number of plates I brought with me for quarantine.

I think I did pretty well though. I wanted to keep this look simple so just did a basic double stamp with a pink and green polish. I wish there was more distinction between the white and pink polishes; they ended up looking a bit too similar.

Polishes/Tools Used:
- Avon Mark. Gel Shine // I Pink I Can (pale pink)
- H&M // Ice Cold Milk (sheer  off white)
- MoYou London // Candy Floss (pink), Turquoise Mint (green)
- Twinkled T // Liquid Gold (gold)
- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Tropical 28 (leaves), #SummerVibes (triangles)
- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

PeacherMarble // Peach Watermarble Nail Art Design

More peach nails! I originally wanted to do this will 4 shades; the nails inc plus the DND duo however, the DND shades would just not spread in the water properly. I tried bottled water, warm water, cold water, hot water, ad infinitum...this look took a while. I want to know the secrets of watermarbling successfully. 99% of the time it just seems to be "pray and hope for the best". 

This look isn't awful though and I quite enjoyed wearing it to work for the day. It reminds me the orange chupa chup lollies. I hate how dry my nails and skin are starting to look. I'm moisturising more than usual and applying nail oil every 5 seconds but it's just not enough.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Essence Shine Last & Go // Wild White Ways (white)

- Nails Inc // Peach Tease (light peach), Hot Fuzz (dark peach)

- Revlon Colorstay Envy // Diamond Top Coat

Winter Sunrise // Peach & Lilac Ombre with Forests Nail Art

Ahhhhh how cute is this look! I actually did it with a standard base coat but it still peeled off the next day anyway :( The one and only time I wanted to wear a look longer than 6 hours. I'm super happy with how this turned out though as it was one of those where I had no idea where it was going; I just wanted to paint my nails whilst watching Markiplier.

This look was inspired by a recent morning drive to work. I live in the country side now and my drive is just back roads through rolling fields and trees in the distance all around. I glimpsed in my rear view mirror and saw this fantastic gradient sky that went from lilac to pink and then peach at the top. Then in front of me was the biggest, brightest full moon I have ever seen. I've honestly never seen the moon like that when the sun is rising as well. It was truly beautiful and I wish it was safe to pull over and take a photo but the roads are tiny and people get super pissed off if you stop on one because it's hard to overtake.

This was also my first time using one of the new Noel plates from MoYou London's Christmas collection. I told myself in December I couldn't buy them (of course I wanted them all) and by some Christmas miracle I didn't buy them....But then their Boxing day sale happened and they were 50% off so I bought the remaining ones that hadn't sold out. This is the 06 plate and it features overlapping mountains, fir trees and tree trunks as well as deer and wolves. It's one of the best plates they've ever done and there's a mountain design I really want to do with them.

To make it a bit more winter-y I toyed with adding some snow but didn't want to ruin it. I also wanted to add a matte top coat but holo...I ended up applying a layer of the trusty ol' Diamond Glitter from Barry M and it's perfect.

How I did it:-

I started off with a layer of Well, Well, Well which I won't do again because I forgot how long those Sally Hansen Argan oil polishes take to dry. I then sponged on a few layers of Peach Melba, Strawberry Icecream and Berry Icecream. I used Ghosted with the large fir trees which are the light grey ones and Smokey with the smaller fir trees in the front. I topped it off with a glossy top coat and then added Fairy Dust for some 'snow'.

Polishes/Tools Used:

- Sally Hansen Color Therapy // 110 Well, Well, Well (off white)
- Barry M Nail Paint // Berry Icecream (lilac), Strawberry Icecream (pink), Peach Melba (peach)
- Twinkled T // Smokey (dark grey), Ghosted (light grey)
- Revlon Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat
- Barry M // Diamond Glitter (scattered holo)
- MoYou London // Noel Collection 06