Part-Time Seashell // Clairestelle8 August 2019 Challenge

I legit can't stop staring at my nails. It's like that scene in Family Guy when Peter gets beautiful and he can't stop staring at himself in the rear view mirror and crashes his car. This is me but with my nails. I should go get in my car with my Starbucks cup and take a photo to flex....show off my sick 14 year old Hyundai; that'll show the haters.

I also feel like another scene in Family Guy with these seashell decorations on:

For once I feel like I've had my nails done by an actual nail tech. I'm not sure what that feels like though because I've never had my nails done by someone else. They're just so shiny and glisten-y and duochrome-y. I got inspiration for this mani from Pinterest where I discovered a very talented nail artist called @nailartist_motico. 

The decorations were super cheap and easy to use; the same cannot be said about the glue. I kinda wished I had filmed this because it was actual disaster at one point with those stupid squirty nail tubes. They were just oozing out glue and then I had a big brain moment and tried to wipe it off with cotton wool...then cotton wool got stuck to everything and it was going all over my nails and not on the seashells. It was a stressful 5 minutes. I then managed to find my brush on glue which was so much easier. Nail hack: ignore glue in tubes and get brush on glue.

How I did it:-

OK so, the ring finger and pinkie are 2 layers of Pretty in Putty followed by a dusting of some iridescent powder from Born Pretty. I wish I could tell you which but it has no identification on it. It was a pale greenish looking one though that shine blue/pink. I then stuck two starfish on them.

The other fingers had two coats of Part-Time Mermaid and Dance Party 'Teal dawn sponged on. The sponge was mainly Part-Time Mermaid with the teal shade blotted around to give some depth in places. I them stamped on some sea foam using Pretty in Putty and the Nicole Diary L09 plate and dabbed on a little of risky business. It's such a great glitter and kind of looks like bubbles with all the different size glitter chunks. I applied a layer of top coat before the decorations; brushed on some glue and then stuck them on.

You can't do anything with these things on, especially if it's to do with your hair because it just gets caught. I'm so glad I'm wearing a peel off basecoat because these would seriously start to annoy me after a few hours. I love how it looks but it's so impractical. Good thing I like doing my nails everyday.

Polishes/Tools Used:

- Ciaté // Pretty in Putty (off-white beige), Part-Time Mermaid (blue/green shimmer), Risky Business (blue/purple glitter)
- OPI // Dance Party 'Teal Dawn (teal)

- Random eBay seller // Sea themed nail decorations
- Nicole Diary // L09 Plate
- Barry M Hi-Shine // Plumpy Top Coat

Heatwave // Look Fantastic August 2019 Nails

Not the greatest box art I've ever done but still way better than last months Look Fantastic offering. I was completely inspired by the red sand/orange sunset combo and set about to recreate that. The sea foam on my middle and ring fingers are actually from the Nicole Diary marble plate and I placed it strategically to look like waves as I don't actually have a stamp like that...over 100 plates and only a few with waves on them. Looks like I need to buy more.

I was also very happy to finally do the ombre of H&M colours that I wanted to do when I first got them and mentioned here when I swatched them. They blend so beautifully together and the dark burnt orange stamps really well on light colours. I'll have to use that in a future design.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Cuccio // Flirt (white)
- H&M // Cantaloupe (mustard), The Heat is on (orange), Sun on Clay (burnt orange), 
- A-England // Camelot (black)
- Avon Gel Shine // Top Coat

- Harunouta //L080 Plate
- Nicole Diary // 076 Plate

Under The Basic Sea // Mint & Pink Mermaid Nails

I told you I couldn't resist putting a load of stamping designs on it! I tried to do some reverse stamping as well and ruined my pinkie and the middle finger *le sigh*. I just received one of the new Born Pretty Sea World plates that I ordered early last month and I had to do something with it. I think mermaid nails are some of my favourite designs to do but I may invest in one of the new MoYou London plates which have them coloured in already for you because clearly I need more practice.

How I did it:-

The ombre was done in this post, but basically it was a 1 layer Crush in Lake Como followed by 4 sponged layers of Crush & Lake. I then used the BP-109 plate for the scale pattern and coloured some scales in using Golden Hour and Stop, Shop & Roll. The other designs came from the Sea World S001 plate with the same two shades. When reverse stamping, you might need to apply a layer of top coat on your nail before you stamp as you could end up ruining it (like I did on the pinkie...urgh).

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Cuccio Colour // Crush In Lake Como (sheer pink creme)

- Zoya // Lake (sheer mint creme)
- Ciaté Gelology // Golden Hour (metallic rose gold)
- Morgan Taylor // Shop, Stop & Roll (teal multi-shift shimmer)

- Revlon // Quick Dry Top Coat

- Barry M // Plumpy Top Coat
- Born Pretty Stamping Plate // BP-109
- Born Pretty Stamping Plate // Sea World S001