Galaxy Nails 'How To' (Picture Heavy!)

Hello!

So I've been very conservative with my nail polish buying this week and had no nail mail (Boo!) Instead I present you with this!!!

Today I have a post of EPIC proportions for you!! Galaxy Nails is something I've always wanted to try but felt a bit intimidated at how amazing everyone else's looked. But, with Star Wars on the way (Yes this post is very late) I used the Force and am so super proud with how these turned out. Hence why I couldn't resist taking pictures of them at every turn and this post could be made into a moving picture animation! I hope you love these as much as I do!

For my base I used Foxy Paws Polish 'Black Hole Sun'. A gorgeous black holographic. This was just two easy coats and no top coat!

My next step on the road to my nails resembling a galaxy was the sponging stage. I cut up some make up sponges and started with a white sponged line diagonally across my nail. I alternated the direction of this for each nail as I went along. I used my BK Matte White Polish from the Born Pretty Store but any white with good opacity would have been fine. I used tweezers to hold the tiny bits of sponge so I could get a smaller surface area of sponge to work with. And you don't want sponge messing up your other hand nails!  

I then added the sponged colours one at a time. I sponged them along the same direction as the white either side of the line. I used Virtuous Polish 'Passover' (the bright purple), 'Temperance' (the dark blue)' and 'Deborah' (the light blue).

I then went over any bits with the sponge and colour needed that I felt needed to pop more. It all dried super quick as the sponged layer is very thin. 

After this I then used my white polish again to add stars to my pointer and ring finger. I used a generic thin nail art brush to do the lines. 

I then added the small dots using my white polish with a dotting tool to create more twinkly far away stars.

I then added some hex glitter. I put a silver hex glitter in the middle of my big stars. I got these out of my Cirque Colors '1999' but any generic silver hex glitter would do. I then added a couple of hex glitters in a navy and purply maroon out of Rimmel 'Bedazzle' glitter top coat. I thought these went well with my colour scheme and added a bit of extra sparkle.

I then added ILNP 'My Private Rainbow (X)' as a top coat to make it holo. Because galaxies need holo.

It was all topped off with HK Girl Top Coat to protect the Galaxy as the ILNP 'My Private Rainbow (X)' was super glossy anyway.

I would also like to take a minute to praise my Uber Mat. Look at that mess. It made it so much easier knowing I could just leave sponge pieces and mess lying around and not be dreading the desk cleaning later!

Phew! That was long. I loved these nails and was very sad to take them off. I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any 'How To' questions let me know in the comments! 

As always thanks for visiting and congratulations for making it all the way to the end!

May the Force be with you,

Have a lovely day,

Helen xx

Firework Nails

Hello!

Today I've got some Firework Nails to show you that I did to celebrate Bonfire night here in the UK. I really love this time of year. I went to a Firework display on Sunday and was inspired to create these nails. All the pictures were taken indoors with flash as the sun doesn't want to come out and play very much at the moment!

I used ILNP 'Missed Calls' for my base. This is a black Ultraholo and is so sparkly! I only needed two easy coats. 

For the stamping I used MoYou London Festive plate 05 and Hehe stamping plate 049. Both are really good quality and I didn't have any problems with them. I used various firework patterns from each plate to make the mani a bit more random and interesting.

For the stamping I used all of the Models Own Colour Chrome collection. These polishes are so great for stamping as they are super opaque. They dry fairly fast so that's the only thing to keep in mind. I didn't find I had to rush though.

I also used various Virtuous polish polishes from their Women of Valor and Paradise collection for the second layer of stamping. Again these are super opaque and really great for stamping. They are now discontinued but I think Rainbow Connection UK may still have a few left in the sale! I love the bright colours.

I used my Creative shop stamper as usual and added a coat of HK Girl top coat to add gloss.

I really like how these turned out. I was also very happy with how well all the polishes stamped as I really didn't have any problems with the whole process which is rare for me while doing a full stamping mani. Progress!

Here's a macro of my thumbs, I think these are my favourite out of the whole mani.

I really like my pointer on this hand as well.

These are a couple of pictures from the display I went to at the weekend!

Do you enjoy this time of year or are you already missing the sunshine?

Thanks for visiting,

Have a lovely day and a safe Bonfire night!

Helen xx

China Glaze 'Meet Me in the Mirage' Stamping

Hello!

Today's post is a bit delayed. I've been crazy busy this week and finally managed to do my nails Friday evening. 

                                Daylight                                  

I planned these nails earlier in the week so I knew what I wanted to do at least! 

Planned at least!

These nails were a test run for my holiday coming up in a few weeks, I'm going pink or blue so hopefully I'll post the blue alternatives up next week. I'm also all about those rose gold accessories so I tried to incorporate that too with my latest purchase on my quest for the perfect rose gold polish.

I used China Glaze 'Meet me in the Mirage' from their Desert Escape Summer 2015 collection. The whole collection is lovely but I was good and got three out of six. I think this Rose Gold is my favourite on my quest so far. It was two easy coats; though you could probably get away with one, and dried quickly. It's a bit more rosey than my Orly 'Rage' and I think it's more of a true rose gold.

Indoor lighting

For my pinkie and pointer I used Models Own 'Sun hat' which is a really bright neon pink from their Polish for Tans collection. This was two coats.

Daylight

For the stamping I used sugar bubbles 016 plate with Virtuous Polish 'Miriam' as a stamping polish. Virtuous polish make lovely matte polishes that are awesome as stamping polishes. Unfortunately they recently closed the business which may or may not come back. You can still get them from some distributors but you'll have to be quick! I used my creative shop stamper to stamp with.

Floral accompaniment

 I topped it off with HK Girl Glisten and Glow top coat.

Rainbow Connection 'Zap'

I used 'Zap' from Rainbow Connection UK for easy clean up. It's a latex based liquid that you put around or on your nails for easy clean up or nail art. It dries to a rubbery consistency and once your done making a mess you just grab one end with your tweezers and it comes right off leaving a much smaller mess to clean up! I've put a video up on my Instagram if you'd like to see it in action! It's so easy to use and saves so much time and acetone!

Daylight 

I hope you like these as much as I do. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks for visiting,

Have a lovely day,

Helen xx