Nail Art Tutorial | Fuzzy Sweater Nails 3D

Earlier this week I posted a picture of the manicure I was wearing featuring a sweater nail accent on my ring finger and many of you asked for a tutorial, and well, here it is! 

The effect is best achieved with gel polish and here I will be using the Orly GelFX system. Here is what you will need:

- Gel base coat

- Gel colour (I am using Orly GelFX Artificial Sweetener)

- Gel top coat

- Gel Cleanser

- Buffer

- Stainless steel cuticle pusher or spatula

- Small-sized dotting tool or size 0 nail art brush

- Piece of aluminium foil

- Clear or coloured embossing powder

- Lint-free wipes

- UV/LED lamp

- Nail brush

1. Prep your nails according to the instructions with your gel polish system, buff the surface of the nail and apply the base coat. Cure for the appropriate time.

2. Apply the first coat of the coloured polish and cure.

3. Apply a second coat if desired and cure again.

4. Apply top coat and cure.

5. Cleanse the nail to remove the tacky layer from the top coat and prepare it for nail art.

6. Put a few drops of gel polish on a small piece of aluminium foil and using a small dotting tool, start drawing a cable knit pattern on the nail. Make sure to apply the gel thickly and leave little gaps between the motifs so that the design remains clearly distinguishable. Cure when satisfied with the design.

7. Go over the design once more with the gel colour. Do not cure.

8. Using a spatula or stainless steel cuticle pusher, apply some clear embossing powder over all of the nail, taking special attention to cover the whole design. I prefer to use clear embossing powder because it takes up the base colour and goes with everything. The embossing powder will give the design a textured look and feel.

9. Tap the excess powder off the nail and cure in the UV lamp.

10. Remove any excess embossing powder from the nail with a nail brush and follow with a little cleanser on a lint-free wipe.

11. Your sweater nails are ready to rock!

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and do let me know if you re-create the design yourselves by posting pictures on my Facebook page :)

NOTW | Pink Flowers for the Birthday Girl

Hey all :) I am posting this week's nail art tutorial quite late because I was working all day today. So tomorrow is my birthday and I wanted a special manicure that totally agrees with my personality. I chose to have a deep French manicure (always elegant) and I opted for a combination of pink (very girly) and black (timeless and goes with everything). It took me some time to complete but in the end, the results were well worth it for I really like how it turned out and I got a lot of compliments for it.

 

Here is the step-by-step tutorial!

 

1. Prep nails with a base coat and proceed to apply a deep welled French tip with black polish. I used Orly Gel FX Liquid Vinyl so I had to cure it under UV light. The French tip should cover up to half of your nail tip.

 

2. When dry, apply a light pink polish to the clear part of the tip so that your French manicure looks like the ones in the photos. I used Orly Gel FX Catch The Bouquet.

 

3. Subsequently, apply an iridescent glitter polish over the pink part. I used Essence Colour and Go 105 Party Princess.

 

4. Define the pink-black borders with a pink crème polish such as China Glaze Second Hand Silk and apply a pink rhinestone in the spot where the borders intersect.

 

5. With the same pink crème polish, paint little flower petals around the rhinestone on the ring fingers on the black part only.

 

6. Apply top coat to seal in your design and you're done :)

 

 

NOTW | Feather Manicure

I have finally jumped on the feather manicure bandwagon thanks to bornprettystore.com. I had bought a 5 feather pack off their website a couple months back and I have finally found the time to try them. I chose a natural colour to see how I liked the manicure and I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out to be. I used colour gels for this manicure so I had to prep my nails accordingly.

 

 

1. Prep your nails the usual way and apply two coats of a nail polish of your choice on the ring and middle fingers of both hands. I used Systeme Unique Colour Gel in Pewter.

 

2. Leave to dry (or in my case cure under UV light). Proceed by applying two coats of the same colour in a French tip fashion on the rest of your nails. Leave to dry (or cure).

 

3. Apply a third thin coat of the same colour on the ring and middle fingers. Do NOT cure.

 

4. Using a dotting tool, randomly place dots of another colour on the nails and using a small dotting tool, swirl the colours together to create a marbled effect. The contrasting colour I used is Systeme Unique Colour Gel in Metal Bronze. Cure under UV light and repeat for the other nails on the French tip area. If you are using nail polish, it is best to create the marbled effect one nail at a time.

 

5. Now for the feathers! Apply a coat of clear top coat on one of the ring fingers and snip off the tail of the feather you chose. Gently lower the feather on the still wet top coat, lick the ring finger of the opposite hand and apply gentle pressure to adhere the feather to your nail. Wait for a few seconds for the polish to dry and proceed by applying another layer of top coat over the feather. Here you want to make sure to apply top coat on the excess feather hanging over the free edge to make it easier to cut later on. Leave to dry.

 

6. Trim the excess feather off and file down any bits remaining closer to your nail. Finish off with a glossy top coat to complete your design. I used the Orly Gel FX Topcoat so I had to cure it and wipe off the tacky layer with the Orly Gel FX Cleanser.
 

 

 

And that's it! Anyone else tried the feather manicure?  

Monthly Favourites | May

End of May, means it's monthly favourites time again! This month I have been super busy with clients and I am really excited to have introduced Orly Gel FX to them. I have already had a few clients booked in for such a service and I am now waiting for their feedback so that I can then write a full review on the whole system etc. For my Maltese followers, do not hesitate to check out my facebook page here.

 

As for the typical monthly favourites, this month I was favouring the no-make up look over full on makeup. To create a perfect base, I was using Wjcon Primer Corrective Anti-Redness and NYX Concealer in a Jar CJ12 Green. What I really like about this primer is that the green tinge sort of melts into your skin to counteract the redness and you can skip foundation altogether if you so desire. It helps makeup lasts longer and skin looks matte for hours.

 

With regards foundation, I have been reaching for the Rimmel Lasing Finish Minerals Mineral Foundation 100 Ivory on days when I didn't need much coverage and on days when I just felt like putting on something to look more fresh-faced, I opted for the E.L.F. Mineral Blemish Kit to cover up and treat blemishes and finish with the E.L.F. Mineral Booster Sheer.

 

My two favourite blushes that are very much suited for this time of year, have been Essence Marble Mania Trend Edition Blush in 01 Swirlpool and E.L.F. Studio Blush Candid Coral. 

 

 

Since I have been using mineral foundation, I have re-discovered a favourite brush, the E.L.F. Studio Powder Brush which is certainly well know in the beauty blogsphere. On the other hand, I have only recently tried a beauty blender dupe to apply liquid foundation with and I can say I am pretty pleased with the airbrushed look it gives.

 

 

Lastly, eye and lip products. I am going to start with the only lip product I have, namely the E.L.F. Studio Glossy Gloss Berry Blush. I like the pigmentation with these glosses and the fact that they are not sticky and since I have been leaning towards more natural makeup this month, this is the perfect companion to any look! As for mascara, I really enjoyed using Essence Multi Action Mascara Blackest Black and Catrice Lashes to Kill Waterproof Mascara paired with a few Eylure Individual Lashes to added impact to otherwise neutral eyes.  The E.L.F. Studio Cream Eyeliner in Black and Catrice Long Lasting Eyeliner Pen Stay On 080 I Like Blue Mondays have once again made it to my monthly favourites!



 

What were your favourites this month ladies?