Pink Hearts

I created this design using striping tape and a nail art stamp for the hearts. The stamping plate and rubber stamper I used were from MoYou. Their stamping sets are good quality and easy to use so I would recommend this brand if you have never used a nail art stamp before. Also, if you are not familiar with striping tape it is very thin tape that you put on your nails as a guide to create bold straight lines - it can be bought from any nail art supplier.

(I apologise for my random short thumb nail in the first photo... I had an accident last week and broke it, oops!)

How to get this look:

Start by applying a base coat and allow this to dry.

Place two pieces of string tape on your nail starting at the nail bed and moving inwards towards the middle of your nail to create a triangle shape. Repeat this on every nail.

Paint two coats of white polish inside the striping tape - don't worry if you paint over the tape as you will be removing the tape later.

Using pink polish paint onto your heart stamping plate, remove the excess polish with the scraper and then pick up the design with the rubber stamper and apply this to your nail over the white triangle. Repeat the stamping process on every nail.

Next, paint two coats of the pink polish from the striping tape to the ends of your nails.

Use tweezers to peel the striping tape off every nail.

Using a pink glitter polish and a fine nail art brush, paint a line of glitter where the striping tape was so your triangles are outlined with glitter.

Finish by applying a top coat.


If you try out this design send me a pic @KathleenEmilyy on Twitter and Instagram.

Pastel Galaxy

I love nail art designs where different colours are faded and blended together using a makeup sponge. I was really bad at using the makeup sponge technique the first time I tried it so I have been practicing it a lot recently to try and perfect it. One of my favourite designs that you can create with a makeup sponge is Galaxy nails that look like the starry night sky. I have seen loads of people try this design so I decided to try it out myself but using pastel colours. The main three colours I used were all from Wah London:- the pastel blue is called An Even Bigger Splash, the lilac is called Mating Surfaces and the pink is called No Nails No Life. The purple glitter polish I used is called Moon Walking from Rimmel Londons space dust collection.

How to get this look:

Apply a base coat and two coats of white nail polish.

Apply a dot of blue nail polish onto a makeup sponge and dab it on the nail leaving a few patches of blue with spaces of white in between where the other colours will go. 

Repeat this step with lilac and then pink nail polish so that the white base is fully covered.

Go back with just the blue and the lilac and apply another layer of these colours with the sponge to give better colour coverage. Dab the sponge lightly where the different colours meet so that they are blended evenly and fade into each other.

Apply a dot of purple glitter polish onto the makeup sponge and dab this onto your nail where you applied the lilac polish.

Use a white nail art pen to draw stars and dots on your nails and make sure they are in different positions on each nail.

Finish by applying a top coat.

If you try out this design send me a photo @KathleenEmilyy on Twitter and Instagram.

Nail Wheel

Now I have passed my driving test I am working as a mobile nail technician in the Beverley area of East Yorkshire. I have painted some of my favourite designs on to a nail wheel to help my clients choose how they want their nails doing. 

I wanted to share my nail wheel in a blog post so you can see more of my work. Let me know which design you like the best and if you want me to do a tutorial for any of these designs. You can comment on the post or find me on Twitter and Instagram @KathleenEmilyy 

Ombré Nails

I like doing ombré nails as it is a really quick and easy nail art design. All you need is two different nail polish colours and a makeup sponge. The base colour I used was Strawberry Margarita by OPI and to create the ombré colour fade I used an orangey/coral coloured polish. You can use any two colours to create a colour fade as long as they aren't too similar or it won't show up very well. Use two bright colours like the pink and orange in my design for a subtle colour fade or use a bright colour and a pastel colour together to create a more startling ombré effect.

How to get this look:

Apply a base coat

Apply two coats of your chosen base colour (I usually use the darker of the two colours as the base - I used pink as my base here)

Allow your nails to dry for a few minutes

Apply a dot of your second nail polish colour onto a makeup sponge and then dab the sponge on to the tip of your nail moving up to the middle of the nail leaving less colour as you get closer to the middle to create a fading effect. Keep applying more polish to the sponge when it stops leaving colour on the nail.

Using your sponge go back and dab another layer of polish on to the tips so your second colour is fully covering the tip and then gradually fades out towards the middle of the nail.

Finish by applying a top coat


If you try out ombré nails yourself tag me in your pics @KathleenEmilyy on Twitter and Instagram - I would love to see the different colour combinations you can come up with!

Poppy Nails

This is a design I painted today with poppy flowers. The base colour I used was My Boyfriend Scales Walls by OPI which is an off white and the red polish for the poppies was Love My Team from Wah London.

How to get this look:

Apply a base coat and then two coats of white polish.

Draw the poppies with a nail art brush by painting four V shapes in a circle with the point of the V's at the centre. This creates your four petals - fill in each V with red polish so you have a full poppy flower.

Using a lighter shade of red polish apply a dot of polish to a sponge and then dab on the centre of each poppy to give it a two tone effect.

Using a black nail art pen or dotting tool draw lots of small black dots in the middle of each poppy.

With green nail polish and a nail art brush draw wavy lines coming out from each poppy.

Finish by applying a top coat.

Nail HQ Review

I have been trying out some nail products from Nail HQ - a British nail care brand. The products I am trying out are: Protect and Repair treatment, Hardener and Gel Top Coat. 

Gel Top Coat

I have tried so many top coats over the years and nothing ever compares to high end brands like OPI but with this top coat I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. It feels very smooth when you apply it and always coats the nail evenly. It's important that I keep my nail art chip free for as long as possible so to really test the strength of the top coat I put some Swarovski crystals on my nails which were held in place only by the top coat - no nail glue! I was amazed to find that my nails lasted 5 days before I lost a crystal or got any chips in the polish. I would definitely recommend using this top coat as it is very strong and looks really nice and glossy when it is dry.

Hardener

The hardener is designed to strengthen thin and weak nails and should prevent brittle and splitting nails. I have been using the hardener as a base under my coloured polish to improve the strength of my nails and also to help my coloured polish last longer. I feel like the hardener has improved the strength of my nails because my nails usually split very easily at the tips and I have not noticed this happen as much recently. Because I am constantly wearing nail polish it is really important for me to use treatments like this to improve the condition of my nails and I will definitely be using this one again.

Protect & Repair

This is a treatment designed to hydrate, moisturise and condition nails and is recommended for use after wearing acrylic or gel nails. I gave this treatment to my mum to try out as her nails are quite weak and could do with a conditioning treatment. You apply the treatment every day for five days like a regular nail polish and then remove it with nail polish remover and start the process again. She really liked the product and said it made her nails feel healthier and in better condition. She liked how quickly it dried and it looks like you are wearing clear nail polish so it gives your nails a nice shiny but natural look. The only bad point she noticed is that when doing things like washing dishes the treatment chipped off on the tips but if you wear rubber gloves when cleaning you shouldn't have this problem.

There are lots more Nail HQ treatments for different nail problems which I would love to try in the future. Their products are available at Tesco and Amazon - let me know if you try any of them out!

The Deep

Todays nail art inspiration came from my trip to The Deep - an aquarium in Hull. I have been meaning to visit since they opened their new Gentoo penguin exhibition so today we went for a trip. I had a great time espescially as we got to see the Penguins diving and swimming underwater. It's a great day out and a must see place if you are visiting the Hull or East Yorkshire area.

On my nails I have featured a diving penguin, jellyfish, a clownfish and a star fish. I used two shades of blue to create the base colour for this design. I painted two coats of the darker shade onto my nails and then used a sponge to dab on the lighter polish to create a gradient effect. The rest of my design was painted using nail art brushes and using nail art pens from Wah London.

Here's a couple of photos I took today of the clownfish and the jellyfish!