Mermaid Scale Nail Art - Born Pretty Store Review

*This product was sent to me for review, all opinions are my own

Hi everyone! This is my last post for the products I was recently sent from Born Pretty Store. Today's post is all about some mermaid/fish scale, I won't call them vinyls exactly, more like stickers/stencils I think. So let's get started! 

I tried out these nail stickers which essentially are the same as all the nail vinyls and stencils that are really popular in the nail art world, so they work the same way. I completely forgot to take progress shots throughout this mani so apologies for that but I'll explain how I used them anyway!

I started with a base colour and applied a quick drying top coat over it so I could use the stencils sooner than if I didn't apply one. As they were stuck down on a plastic sheeting and were quite thin and sticky I was really worried that once I pulled the stencil off my nail, it'd pull all the polish up with it. Thankfully it didn't, but I still stuck the sticker flat on my hand to remove some of the stickiness before applying it to my nail. I think it helped a little bit.

Once the sticker was applied I then sponged on the four polishes I'd chosen to use which were: Berry Blue, Corsican Rose, Violet Rumble all by Ulta3, and Darling, You Are Fabulous! By Maybelline, which was the gold polish. I'm not a huge gold polish fan because I don't think it suits me, but this one is growing on me a bit!

Once I had done two quick coats of the sponged polish, I then carefully peeled the sticker off and up until this point I'd had huge doubts as to whether it'd work that well. But it turned out amazingly and I love it. Made me wish I'd done all the nails instead of just an accent. 

I know that the photo below is super blurry, but since I'd forgotten to take progress shots I wanted to showcase the stencils themselves and didn't realise how blurry this photo was until after I'd removed the design, so oops! But look how gorgeous the stickers are! I love just looking at them.

I enjoy how they turned out because I've wanted to try this kind of design for a while but can't justify spending so much on other brands of nail vinyls because shipping isn't cheap to Australia from indie brands, so I'm glad I found these!

There are just one design of the many stencils/vinyls that Born Pretty Store has on offer and they're incredibly affordable if you wish to give them a go to see what all the fuss about these kind of stencils are! And don't forget you can use my code MEPUK31 for 10% off at checkout!

Thanks for reading.

Simple Splatter Nail Art

As you should all know by now, splatter nails are one of my favourite designs to do. Whenever I'm lacking in inspiration I always do some splatter nails to help out and I always feel happy with the outcome of them.

This time around though I did things a little differently. Instead of using straws like I always do I decided to use a bobby pin; specifically the bit where it curves at the end. Now I cannot for the life of me remember where I first saw this idea, but I know it was in a video and it was only mentioned in passing. I've tried searching Instagram and YouTube for where I think it might've come from but I can't find whatever video it was that I first heard it in so I don't know where this idea came from originally. 

But anyway! Using a bobby pin for splatter designs has it pros and cons. It definitely made the design much neater because it doesn't result in huge blobs ending up on part of the nail and kind of ruining the whole thing. But on the downside it took foreverrrr. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't and a lot of the time I couldn't get the positioning right so it ended up on the paper and nowhere near my nails. In the end though it was worth it because it's such a simple design. There are no big blobs, all the colours can be seen and it looks awesome!

I used the following polishes: Sapphire Siren by Maybelline Color Show, Secret Story, and Shake Your $$ Maker, both by Essie.

I'm definitely going to be using this method for future splatter designs because I really do love the outcome of it!

Thanks for reading.

- Melissa.

Splatter Nail Art

Today I have some new splatter nail art to share with you; it's one of the easiest designs to do and despite it being a bit messy it's still a lot of fun. I started with a base of Maybelline Color Show's Audacious Asphalt and used Babe It's Blue also by Maybelline and Corsican Rose and Party Shoes by Ulta3.

I have a feeling I've done a splatter with similar colours to this but I can't be bothered double checking. I tend to do either white or gray bases when it comes to splatter designs so it's probably something I've done before.

I really like this one though because the colours are all spread out and aren't too thick or bold. It worked out well!

My First Blogiversary!

Hello there lovelies! Today's post is very special; as you can tell from the title it's been one year since my first post on this blog. I wanted to take the time today to post about my nail blogging and personal life experience over the past year (please note that I will be getting quite personal), talk about my future blog plans and just say a big thank you to everyone. And of course, I'm recreating the first mani I ever blogged about.

This past year has been a bit of a whirlwind experience for me both online and in real life. Before I started blogging about it I really loved nail art. Every week I would check out various blogs like ChalkboardNails, MyAwesomeBeauty, ThePolishAholic, and a lot more. Everyone in the nail art community inspired me to want to try to do my own nail art, to recreate theirs and to want to show it off. My friends and family were also an influence as well because I loved having new nail designs to show them whenever I saw them; they were very supportive of me and inspired me to start a blog and study to become a Nail Technician. So I thank them for always supporting me, especially my mum who has to deal with me running up to her whenever she comes home to show her the nail art I've done that day. A big thank you goes to both my mum and my dad as well for putting up with the nail polish and acetone smell over the past year. I know it annoys them even if they don't say it haha.

A lot of good and bad things have happened in my personal life this past year and sometimes they've affected my blogging. About two weeks before I started my blog I had spent the night in hospital due to a kidney stone and dehydration. It was the worst I've ever physically felt in my life, I was exhausted and in pain and wasn't allowed to eat or drink in case I needed surgery, but something that stuck with me was two of the nurses commented on my nails and told me how much they loved the colour and that they looked like gel polish. As tired and drained as I was, it made me happy that they liked them. About a week after my stay in hospital that I was also diagnosed with PolyCystic Ovaries Syndrome (PCOS) and that was a real kick to the gut. But eventually I took it in my stride and realised I just needed to deal with it and I should consider myself lucky because I don't have such severe symptoms like other sufferers do. However, it was a lot to take in within such a short amount of time so naturally I did feel quite down about both those illnesses. I was also unemployed for nine months last year which, to put it lightly, really sucked. It was horrible but I made it work and knew something would come along eventually. And it did! I started working in October at a local medical clinic and I couldn't be happier about it. I really lucked out in getting to work in such a great environment for and with such lovely people.

So life started to pick up after I found a great job and was earning my own money. There were a few days and weeks where I would be quite down due to my depression and therefore didn't blog as much as I normally would be, and you all know how much I've apologised for those times. I wanted to do nothing more than blog regularly, but I found it hard when I could barely get myself out of bed for the day. But I soldiered on and hopefully I made up for it okay. The only time I've found myself genuinely not wanting to blog was when my dog passed away. It was such an awful week of trips to the vet, not being able to sleep, trying to give her medication and watching her get slightly better and then much worse. That week made me realise what parents go through when their children are sick. I cried on and off for about nine hours the day we put her down. It was one of the most devastating things I've ever had to go through and honestly, I'm still not over it. But I eventually came back with some of my favourite nails I've ever done. They were simple and lovely and were a little dedication to Maggie.

I know I'm talking a lot about personal stuff, but before I'm a blogger, I'm an actual person with a real life and sometimes it gets in the way of this blog, which I'm sure other bloggers can understand. I'm also not afraid to share some stuff that happens to me, I'd rather be personal than an anonymous unknown person. And just so you know, I'm currently in quite good health and it's improving each week.

Everything in the past year has gotten me to where I am today though and that leads me onto my future plans as a blogger. As you all know, I've started making YouTube tutorials and I'm very happy I made that decision. I love it, despite the technical problems I sometimes have. But it's very rewarding to get positive feedback on them and watch the views of them go up. My aim now is to post at least one video a week, whether that happens straight away or in a few weeks is up to how many ideas I have. So expect a tutorial at least once a week. I also have future plans to post more about beauty. I already do my monthly favourites (I skipped July for those playing at home, sorry about that) which includes things other than nail related products. I would love to get into doing lipstick swatches and reviews but that won't happen until after September when the 31 Day Challenge ends (spoiler alert, I'm doing that challenge again). But I will post about all of that before any of it actually happens.

I decided for this post, that I'd recreate the first mani I ever did for this blog, a splatter and water marble combination. I wasn't happy with it when I posted it, but it's now nice to look back on it and see how much I've improved, especially with water marbling.

I used three of the new Maybellie Color Show polishes I posted about a few days ago, Pink Boom, Babe It's Blue and Cool Touch. I think I've come quite a long way since that first post.

I'm so extremely happy I started this blog, I don't know what I would be doing with my spare time if I hadn't. Who knows where I'd be without this blog and nail art. I love it all, I really do. So thank you to all those who take the time to read my blog posts. Thank you to everyone who follows me here, and on Bloglovin, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. I am forever grateful that people enjoy reading my posts and looking at my nails. I never knew a simple hobby could become something like this, something that gives me a purpose and motivates me to try new things and step out of my creative comfort zone. 

Special shout outs go to my mum for letting me ramble about the new polishes I've bought and putting up with my constant talk of nail art, to my sister for messaging me whenever there's a nail polish sale on and for being the first to inspire me to study the course, to my best friend Tay for allowing me to always talk about how my nails match my outfit for the night and for supporting my decision to make tutorials, to my other best friend Tree who puts up with my constant frustrated messages about my nails and letting me ramble about them and to Renee for recognising me by my nails that one night (she knows what I mean).

Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every person that's ever read my blog. You all mean the world to me and I'm happy to share my nail art with you. I look forward to another good nail art year! Thank you for reading.

Love, 
Melissa.

Neon Splatter Nails + Tutorial

Hellooo! I'm on a roll this week in regards to nail art and it feels really good! I've been blogging for almost a year now and I finally feel like I've gotten the hang of it. There was a point where it felt like more of a chore than a hobby and there have always been a few absent weeks for me like when I lost my dog or had to work a lot more than normal but lately it feels amazing to be doing what I'm doing. And since I started making tutorials two weeks ago I've felt even more passionate about nail art. I also reached 500 followers on Instagram this week so I'm just feeling very appreciative of what the nail art community has done for me and how lovely it feels to be involved within it.

Anyway, onto the post. As you all know by now, I absolutely love splatter nails. I think they'll always be my favourite nail art design. So of course I had to film a tutorial for them. Splatter nails are quite an easy, albeit messy, design to do. All you need basically need is straw and polish. It's also handy to tape around your nails for an easier clean up. I can guarantee it'll be messy and a bit tedious to clean up, but the tape makes it a bit quicker regardless.

Sometimes I find that the polish can sort of plop onto the nail which causes a blob to form, whenever that happens I always gently dab at the area to lightly remove extra polish and make it look neater. I think this occurs because of the extra polish that collects around the outside of the straw, so occasionally I'll wipe the excess polish off on the bottle so it doesn't build up.

It's always very, very important (and probably obvious) that you don't inhale through the straw because you'll breathe in the polish fumes very strongly and that's definitely something you don't want to do!

Polishes used:
Nail Envy - OPI
White On - Sally Hansen
Fruit Tingle - Ulta3
Tahiti - Ulta3
Jelly - Ulta3
Citrus - Ulta3
Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat - Sally Hansen




Thanks for reading/watching!


PS I would absolutely love it if you checked out my best friend's food blog! I thought I would give her a little shout out just in case any of you are interested in some easy recipes for various types of yummy food!

Bright Splatter Nails!

Good morning everybody! 

If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I love doing splatter nails. I've done at least five different variations of them on my blog and I'm going to keep doing them forever. I'm not sure if I've ever said this before, but splatter was the first ever design I tried and it's what really started my love for all things nail art. So I am forever in love with doing them and seeing how they all turn out, because it might be the same method, but if you use the right colour combos and change it up each time, you'll always get a fresh new and fun mani that's different from other splatter designs you've done. 

Plus it's a super easy method, just get some straws and lightly dip them into your polish (or drip some onto your paper and dip into the polish there, but that's never worked for me) and then blow through the straw onto your nail! Some extra tips are to tape your fingers, which makes for easy clean up and obviously use different straws for the different colours. I find a white base is always good to start with, just because the colours pop even more, but you can use whatever base goes with your colour combo! That's the best part of doing splatter nails, it's very versatile.

These are seriously such amazing colours together!
Jelly - Ulta3 (green)
E-Nuf is E-Nuf - Essie (pink)
Avenue Maintain - Essie (blue)
Manic Panic - Australis (purple)

There was a massive mess when I had finished these but it's totally worth it and if you use the proper stuff, it's an easy clean! Make sure to top coat it with a thick fast trying top coat as it smooths it all out and keeps the bumps to a minimum.

Let me know what you think and I'll be back again soon with some more nail art!

Inspired By... #4

Hello lovelies! Today's post may cause flashbacks to September last year when I was inspired by Jackson Pollock's artwork, because that's exactly what these nails were inspired by as well, just a different painting of his, albeit the same style. Check out last year's post here.

This time around I was inspired by his piece titled Silver On Black. It's a lot darker than previous splatter designs I've done but my aim was to focus on the black and dark teal colours more than the others. 

These nails didn't photograph quite as well as I had hoped. The teal looks more black than it should which is very annoying because it was such a good part of the design and one of the main reasons I chose the particular painting that I did. But they still look pretty good (even though they look a lot better in real life).

I found this photo here. 

And a bonus photo before I mattified my nails because the shine annoyed me. But you can see the other colours (dark pink, creamy yellow, and gray) much better in this picture.

I used quite a few polishes for this and since I'm not as my desk, I'm too lazy to name them all. But if you'd like o know a particular colour, let me know! 

I hope everyone has had a lovely Easter, sorry I never do holiday themed nails, I just know that if I do them I won't be happy with them. I have plans for another post towards the end of the week so look out for that. I'm trying really hard to get two posts out a week, but don't be disappointed if I don't always achieve that goal, just know that I'm trying! 

Have a good week!

Splatter Nails

The splatter design is my go-to nail art when I can't think of anything else to do or if I'm feeling uninspired. Over the past week and a bit I've realised I can't do nail art that doesn't begin with a white base, with the exception of the cling wrap mani though and maybe some dotticures. I always need a fresh white base to begin with, no matter what I attempt to do. I tried branching out and starting with different bases, but I just couldn't come up with anything decent or I couldn't replicate a design I liked. So expect to see a lot of white based nail art in the coming weeks!

For this design I used MBSW - O.P.I as the base, which everyone should know by now is my favourite white polish. I then used three colours: Vanellope - Lilypad Lacquer (from the August What's In-die Box?), Cosmic - Savvy by DB and UFO - Savvy by DB. Vanellope is a holographic polish, and I chose the other two because they had a holographic aspect to them, they both have tiny flecks of other colours amongst the polish and sometimes look sparkly.

This design is always fun and easy to do and it doesn't take too long! That's why I always enjoy doing it.

Instagram

31 Day Challenge: Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork

I wasn't too sure what I would do today but then I came across Jackson Pollock artwork and it seemed so obvious that I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before. I based these splatter nails on a particular piece, it's not exact of course but it's similar colours. I wanted to stay away from bright nails and even though these do have orange and yellow in them, the grey and black pulls it all together to lessen the pops of colour a bit. I wondered if I had overdone them a bit, because I kept going back and redoing some of the colours to make them all even-ish. But I don't think you can really over do nails inspired by Jackson Pollock artwork, because his work is so full of colours and layers.

I used colours I've mentioned before, but I list them anyway:
White: My Boyfriend Scales Walls - O.P.I
Black: Blackmail - Australis
Grey: Moody Grey - Models Own
Yellow: Frangipani - Ulta3 
Orange: Sun Kissed - Sally Hansen

(Ahh that hand pose is so awkward but I can't get my thumb in any other position that shows it off.)

This is the particular piece that I based my design on. I do like these nails, I think I like the thumb nail the best because the colours aren't so big on it, compared to the middle fingernail anyway.

Not sure what's coming the next few days, because I only have one of them planned but who knows what I might come up with. Have a lovely weekend, I'll be back tomorrow.

Splatter and Watermarble

Welcome to my first post!

It's not the best but everybody's got to start somewhere.

I'm unhappy with how the watermarbling turned out, considering I know I can do it better, but I made the mistake of not properly checking how the polishes worked together before committing to the colours on the splatter. 

The colours I used were:
Purple: Grapetini - Savvy by DB
Red/Orange: Big Hair, Big Nails - OPI
Yellow: Unicorn - Sinful Colors


It's basic and simple, but I'm happy with the splatter, so that makes up for poor watermarbling I was too frustrated to fix.

Over the next few days I'll be posting a few photos of designs I've done in the past before I decided to start a blog, just to get going and to give me time to plan future posts!