Fall Out Boy Tour Nails

I went to see Fall Out Boy perform in Leeds last weekend. They were absolutely amazing live and I loved every second! Of course I had to create a nail art design for the occasion so I painted my nails using the artwork from their latest album (American Beauty American Psycho) as my theme.

The base colour I used was Alpine Snow by OPI and the design was drawn on using a Wah London black nail art pen.

If you recreate this design make sure you dab the top coat on rather than dragging the brush across the nail because the black lines will smudge very easily on a white background.

Alternatively, this design would have looked great with a black base polish and the design drawn on with a white nail art pen. If anyone tries it out with a black background make sure you send me a pic @KathleenEmilyy on Twitter and Instagram, I would love to see your designs!

I previously did another Fall Out Boy nail art design using some of their older album covers as inspiration. You can see the blog post about it here.

Nail HQ Hydrating Primer Review

I have been trying out another Nail HQ product this week. This time I tried their 'Hydrating Primer' which you apply on your nail before any colour or base coat. The primer cleanses the nail ready for the polish application and it also contains ingredients which are nourishing for the nails to keep them hydrated and healthy.

Using a primer before your base coat ensures that the nail is clean, this means that the polish will bond to your nail more effectively to prevent peeling and flaking. The primer also helps to hydrate the nail before you apply your polish which means your nails won't feel as dry and damaged when you take your polish off.

I have just been using this primer with regular nail polish but it is also suitable for use with artificial nails. I would definitely recommend using a primer like this before applying artificial nails because these are more likely to cause damage. Using this primer would prepare your nails nicely and leave a nourishing layer to protect your natural nails from whatever you apply on top of them.

This product retails at around £6.99 which is a great price for a good quality primer that you can use for every manicure. The bottle will last you ages so it is definitely worth it and from now on I shall be including it as an essential step in my manicure routine as preparing and nourishing the nail before a manicure is very important!

I love all of Nail HQs treatments and I would also really recommend their top coat! You can check out their other products here: http://www.nailhq.co.uk

Have you tried any Nail HQ products yet? Let me know @KathleenEmilyy on Twitter and Instagram and +Nail Art by KathleenEmilyy on Google+.

Fuse Gelnamel Starter Kit Review

Fuse Gelnamel is a one step gel nail polish which combines the convenience of regular nail polish and the quick drying, chip free effects of gel polish. The starter kit includes one bottle of nail polish, a mini LED lamp, cleanser, lint free wipes, a cuticle stick and a buffer. They have managed to fit a lot of useful kit into a tiny box so I think this would make a cute little gift for anyone who enjoys painting their nails! 

  

To use the kit you must prepare your nails by pushing back your cuticles, buffing the surface of your nail and then using the cleanser and a lint free wipe to clean the nail. After preparing the nail, all you have to do is apply a thin coat of Fuse Gelnamel to the nail and cure under the LED lamp for 30 seconds and repeat this on all 10 fingers.

This polish does not require a gel base or top coat and claims that you only need one coat of polish which makes application a lot faster than a full gel manicure. I did find that the glitter polish that came in my starter set did require more than one coat to fully cover the nail. You must cure the nail under the LED lamp between each coat and you have to apply the polish in very thin layers. After the first coat it left a sheer coating of glitter, the second coat was acceptable, however I prefer full glitter coverage so I applied three coats just to be sure.

The application process was fairly quick but because the lamp is so tiny you have to complete all steps on one nail and then cure before moving onto the next. However, I found it easy enough to start preparing the next nail while the last nail is curing inside the lamp so it wasn't much of an inconvenience for me.

The colour of the actual polish is lovely, it has a combination of silver glitter with bigger pieces of pink glitter so overall it gives a soft pastel pink look. I thought that the polish would leave a rough surface on my nail as there was no top coat to smooth over the glitter but my nails actually feel very smooth and glossy so you really don't need a top coat!

Overall, I do really like this product and I will definitely use it again when I need a quick gel manicure. If you buy this product expecting the results of a salon gel manicure then you will probably be dissappointed because without a base and top coat you won't get the full strength for chip free resistance. However the Gelnamel polish is certainly stronger than regular nail polish so if you want something that lasts a bit longer but can't afford a salon manicure this would definitely suit you. I also love that the LED lamp is so small because that means you could fit it in any bag which makes it great for travelling and taking on holiday.

You can buy the Fuse Gelnamel starter kit from Boots by clicking here.

Have you tried the Fuse Gelnamel kit yet? Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @KathleenEmilyy and let me know what you think!

Red Leopard Print

This red leopard print design was painted on a clients nails yesterday. The red base polish I used for this design is 'Love My Team' by Wah London. It is a lovely bold shade of red and the polish gives great coverage.

To draw the leopard print design I used a black nail art pen by Wah London. If you don't have a nail art pen you can use any black polish with a fine nail art brush to paint on the leopard spots.

This design works well on short nails as it is a simple pattern to draw but also looks great on longer nails too. You can choose any colour you like for the base polish and if desired you can use a second colour to fill the middle of the leopard spots.

As always, be careful when you apply the top coat so you don't smudge the black design - it is best to dab the brush on to the nail rather than drag the brush across.

Lilac Crystals

I've been trying out some more nail art designs with gel polish so this week I'm sharing one of my crystal gel nails designs. The pastel lilac gel polish is a beautiful colour for spring and summer and looks great with both silver and purple coloured crystals. The silver crystals I used are Swarovski crystals and the purple crystals I used are generic plastic crystals which you can get from any nail art supplier. The Swarovski crystals are a lot more sparkly and shiny than the cheaper crystals so I would definitely recommend getting some if it's within your price range. I always keep my Swarovski crystals when I soak off my manicure as you can re-use them again!

Using crystals to create nail art designs is a very simple technique but offers a wide range of potential styles. You can place a single crystal on each nail for a subtle and elegant look or you can cover your whole nail in crystals for a glam sparkly look. I decided to create a pattern on my ring finger with different colours and sizes of crystals for a super sparkly manicure great for a party or special occasion. When applying crystals to your nails with gel polish I find it is best to secure them in place within two layers of top coat. I apply the crystals on to the first layer of top coat when it is still wet and then cure under the lamp to set them in place. I then apply another layer of top coat over the whole nail and over the crystals before curing it under the lamp again. Some people prefer to skip the second layer of top coat to keep the crystals more sparkly but they will start falling off much sooner and the amount of shine that they lose with the top coat is not noticeable enough to worry about.

I'd love to see some other people's crystal nail designs so send me your manicure pics @KathleenEmilyy on Twitter and Instagram!

Giraffe Nails

This evening I painted a giraffe design on my clients nails. It was inspired by a design she found online where the giraffes neck is stretched across all of the nails with the face on the thumb. There are a few variations on this design that other nail artists have created so you could look on google for similar ideas if you like this design! It is a fairly simple design to paint as all you need is a blue base polish and yellow, brown and black nail art pens. If you don't have nail art pens in those colours you can just use normal nail polish with a nail art brush. The blue polish I used was Can't Find My Czechbook by OPI, the yellow and black were nail art pens from Wah London and I used a brown polish by Barry M with a nail art brush to draw the giraffe print.

If you live in Beverley and want to book a manicure with me you can see my price list here.

If you like my work you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @KathleenEmilyy

Strawberries and Cream

Wimbledon started this week and everyone eats strawberries and cream when they go to watch the tennis competition so I decided to paint strawberries on my nails. The women's final is on Saturday 11th of July and the men's final is on Sunday 12th of July so hopefully I can last a couple of weeks without chipping my polish!

If you're not into the Wimbledon theme and you just like the strawberries you can do this design without the splashes of cream for a cute nail design - the strawberry design also looks good on your toes if you want a fancy summer pedicure design.

(Strawberries & Cream glass bowl is from Emma Bridgewater)

How to get this look:

Start by applying a base coat and then two coats of red nail polish.

Using a nail art brush and green polish paint the strawberry leaves at the base of your nails next to your cuticles.

Next paint the splashes of cream using a white polish. I did this using the normal brush from your white polish by smoothly moving across the nail to create drippy shapes and then going back and doing a second coat to make the white polish opaque. If you don't have a steady hand you can use a nail art pen or a thin brush to draw a wavy line across the nail and then fill in the tip with white polish.

Finish off the strawberries by using a yellow nail art pen or a fine nail art brush to draw rows of seeds across the nails.

Apply top coat by dabbing the brush onto the nail. Don't drag the brush across your nail or the red polish will smudge onto the white tips.




Let me know if you like this design or have any design requests by messaging me @KathleenEmilyy on Twitter and Instagram.