John Lewis Christmas Advert 2016 Nails

So the John Lewis advert is here! For those outside the UK, John Lewis is a british department store and when their advert is released is is commonly thought of as the start of Christmas for the year.

Last year, it was Man on the Moon, personally I like both adverts but neither beat Monty the Penguin in 2014.

 

ManOnTheMoon Nails from last year (I can't find a better photo sorry!)

 This year the advert is about wildlife and humour. #BusterTheBoxer watches jealously as hedgehogs and foxes bounce on a trampoline. The following morning he gets his moment!

My nails have taken each of the characters from the advert. I started with one of my favourite polishes (Supermauva by Leighton Denny) and a white french tips. I drew on the shapes of the characters with a tiny nail art brush (toothpicks are a good alternative too) and some white polish before filling in the colours.

I hope you like them and I hope everyone is enjoying the lead up to the holidays!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

I love spiderwebs for halloween nails, and I think they look quite elegant on longer black nails.

Spiderweb Nails
- To do this I used a clear base coat and painted my nails black (using my favourite black polish: Leighton Denny 'Maneater').
- I covered this with a light glitter polish.
- Once dry, I took a nail art brush and white polish and drew the centre curves of the web, then aligned the peaks of the curves before joining them together with the straight lines.

Gradient Nails
- Using my black polish and light and dark orange polishes I took a makeup sponge and sponged on my gradient for my ring finger and thumb.
- I then took a nail art brush (and more black polish) and drew the ground and gravestone silhouette on my ring finger.
- I find it easier to use a toothpick for writing on my nails, so taking some more white polish, I wrote the 'RIP' and 'Happy Halloween'.

I liked the idea of these nails with either a glossy or matt top coat. I hope you like this design and have a happy halloween!

Pokemon Go Nails

So the pokemon craze/addiction has taken over the world so I needed to create a nail design to go with it! I've got a pokeball on my ring finger, the pokemon font for the logo on my thumb and for the other nails I created the games colour scheme of the grass and sky using a sponge to blend the colours. Hope you like this design and good luck catching them all!

Comic Book Nails/Dotted Nails

 

I did these comic book themed nails a while back (apologies for the blurry picture). For this I started by choosing my base colours for me nails, once this had dried I picked up a dotting tool (although toothpicks work perfectly for this) and covered my nails in small dots.

I actually think this step alone looks quite effective as a design on its own once covered by a top coat. I then picked up my smallest nail brush (although again toothpicks work) and used white polish to form the different shaped comic bubbles on my nails. Once happy with the size and shape I filled the bubbles in and left to dry. After a few minutes I picked up my brush and with black polish wrote the words and symbols and outlined the bubbles to emphasise the comic book look. I then sealed in the design with a top coat and my nails are complete!

I hope you like this simple but effective design!

Gradient Pattern Nails

So for this design I started by doing a white base coat in order to make the colours of the gradient stand out. For doing a gradient design I paint my chosen colours onto a makeup sponge and dab carefully on the nail. I do between 2-4 coats to ensure my nails are completely covered. It is important to ensure the nails are completely dry before starting the next step (I'd wait at least an hour minimum). I then used thin nail tape placed over the nail in the patterns I've chosen.

Once happy with the placement of the tape I covered with black and white nail polish. I personally find it best to wait a couple of minutes before pulling the tape off, that way it will still be wet enough to come off smoothly but less likely for the nail polish to bleed across. Once the black/white coat has dried, cover with a top coat and you are left with a really simple but effective looking design!

Teddy Bears' Picnic Nails

I picked up some really adorable animal and cake themed decorations and have been wondering what to try. This is cute simple design, using a thin brush to create the trees and table cloth, then using some clear polish to secure the decorations! I hope you like it!

Im back!

I know its been a whole year ... sorry? :P But Im going to be starting Uni in a couple of weeks and thought I should get back into a routine. I have a number of designs that I have done and I will post them in time and new ones to create! I hope you enjoy them and try some out if you like them :)