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.

Quick Designs // Christmas In September Plaid

Christmas in September anyone? I didn't mean for these to turn out so Christmassy but here we are. In other news, I've started seeing advent calendars and other Christmas related things in the supermarket. Eurgh.

This look was supposed to be "autumnal" but whatever. Also, if you think I'm hiding my thumb because I didn't do it then you are correct 🙈. So this atually started out with a base of Red Sea and then I stamped on the white stripes. The white is too overpowering though; I should've chosen a non-stamping polish. From afar it looks ok though.

Polishes/Tools used:

- Barry M Green Origin // Red Sea (red), Night Sky (blue), Evergreen (green)

- Barry M Liquid Chrome // Bright Lights (gold)

- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white)

Quick Designs // Holo Monstera

A quick look today! I bought an amazing Lina stamping plate during What's Up Black Friday sale last year (where does the time go) and I was playing around with it and came up with this quick look! I only did the index finger as I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I think I'll have to do the entire hand now.

I love A-England polishes but they take so long to dry. For this effect I applied them to a silicone mat first, swirled them round together a bit then picked up the polish using a flat brush and applied it to the nail to achieve that drag marble effect. I'm no Sveta Sanders (she makes it look so easy) but I'm getting there. You need polishes that take a while to dry though for it to work well so A-England is the way to go but sitting there waiting for your nails to dry before you can stamp is painful.

When the sun hits this design though the leaves come alive. This is why I love negative stamping designs because stamping polishes that look like that would cost an absolute fortune. It's still a beautiful look even without the sun though:

Polishes/Tools Used:-

Base:

- A-England // Puck A Fairy (blue), Dragon (dark green), Fotheringhay Castle (olive green)

Stamping:

- What's Up Nails // Blanc My Mind (white)

- Lina // 4 Seasons - Summer 04 Stamping Plate

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)

SWATCHES: OPI // Bubble Bath, Barre My Soul, Suzi Nails New Orleans & Meet A Boy Cute As Can Be

I'm trying to get proper swatch photos of all the polishes in my collection so I'm now going through some polishes I got a while ago but never swatched. 

Bubble Bath // soft baby pink creme

Collection: Infinite Shine Iconic Collection

Release: September 2016

Coats: 3

I finally got my hands on a Bubble Bath shade. I've been wanting this for a long time but it's such an "in-demand" shade it's either out of stock or eBay wants £15 for it. I managed to snag an infinite shine version for £6 thanks to the auction format. First of all I love the shade once it's been built up through 3 coats but it's not what I was expecting. This polish is used a lot in rose quartz nails but the Infinite Shine version is to opaque to be used with layering. it's also really streaky. You need to apply this in 3 strokes or less to prevent dragging.

Looking at other swatches though I have a feeling this bottle is from a bad batch or it's gone thick as this is definitely not sheer and it should be. I can't even see my tips after only 2 coats and that's why the streaks annoy me so much. Streaky cremes are awful. I stopped at 3 coats but I'm kinda disappointed. I guess I'm still on the lookout for the perfect rose quartz shade.

Barre My Soul // sheer nude creme

Collection: New York City Ballet

Release: April 2012

Coats: 3

Photos of this online make it look way more pink than it actually is. In person it's more of a soft sheer beige with a pink undertone. If this was more pink it would be great for quartz nails but alas, it's more nude and very streaky; far streakier than Bubble Bath. I wouldn't call this a jelly formula due to the streaking and brush strokes, it's more like a tinted base coat. Layering would work though but the streaks become more noticeable with each layer.

The entire collection is a weird one though. All very sheer polishes that practically look the same apart from the grey one which makes your nails look dead.

Suzi Nails New Orleans // barbie pink creme

Collection: New Orleans

Release: February 2016

Coats: 3

Another streaky shade. I stopped at three coats on this barbie/flamingo pink shade but it definitely needs a top coat to level things out. It's a shame because I like quite a few other polishes from this collection but a few sites note how patchy and difficult they are to work with.

Meet A Boy As Cute As Can Be // pastel yellow creme

Collection: Grease Infinite Shine

Release: July 2018

Coats: 3

Another streaky one but the formula is easier to work with but urgh. Look at those streaks on 3 coats! The shade saves it for me though as I love shades like this. It reminds me heavily of one of my all-time favourites; Lemon Sugar from Avon. I'd say the Avon one is a tad more yellow. Pastel yellow is just so fresh and fun; you can't go wrong with it.