Stripes and a Feather from Brit Nails

Allie from Brit Nails is bringing you today's nail art. Allie has some of the most beautifully manicured nail beds I've ever seen and I just can't get enough of her amazing photos. As an appreciator of minimalist design, I jump for joy when one of Allie's nail art posts shows up on my dash. If you're one for amazingly detailed swatches and understated nail art, make sure you go and follow Allie's blog!

Where to find Brit Nails
Blog - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram
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Hi! I'm really happy to be doing a guest post on The Nailasaurus as it's one of the blogs that has inspired me from the start, so it's quite exciting! I knew I wanted to do something using shades of blue, so I just sat at my desk and this is what I came up with.

I started with a base of Illamasqua Caress. I added a stripe of Illamasqua Cameo over half of my nail, and then a stripe of Barry M Turquoise down the middle. I used a small striping brush to paint the dividing lines on, using Barry M Cyan Blue and piCture pOlish Ocean. 

I didn't want to do a whole manicure of stripes, so I decided to bust open my packet of craft feathers! I started with a base of Barry M Cyan Blue. I added some top coat and then stuck the feather down and trimmed the edges to fit using a cuticle trimmer. There is a great tutorial for using feathers right here on The Nailasaurus! 

Thank you Sammy for asking me to do a post! I hope everyone likes it! - Allie x

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Tutorial: Colour Block Tips

Finally, I am delving into tutorials. I did do one ages ago but it's rubbish so I'm blanking it from my mind and starting again! Let me know what you think!

Click the jump for the tutorial:

I've decided to start with an easy colour blocking tutorial using Illamasqua polishes.

Here's what you'll need. I've listed places to buy at the bottom of the post.

1. Start by painting on your base colour (I've used Illamasqua Nomad) then apply a coat of your chosen quick-dry top coat, this will prevent the tape from damaging your base colour.

2. Cut some pieces of striping tape. Using your tweezers, place the pieces in the position shown across your nail and smooth down, making sure the tape is flat on your nail .

3. Using your second colour (I've used Illamasqua Stance) paint carefully over your taped off section, making sure not to go over the tape. 

4. Using your tweezers, remove the tape immediately and carefully. Apply another coat of quick drying top coat.

5. Take another piece of tape and tape off the next section. Paint your third colour, again making sure not to go over the tape (I've used Illamasqua Scorn) Don't worry about getting polish on your skin, you can clean that up at the end.

6. Remove the tape immediately. Clean up any polish you may have got on your skin, finish with your choice of top coat and you're done!

Tips

- Pre-cut your pieces of striping tape so you aren't fiddling about with wet nails!

- If you prefer, you can use scotch tape/sellotape instead of striping tape. I just find it easier with striping tape.

Where to buy

Tweezers can be found on eBay or Amazon, just search for "Craft Tweezers".

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri is from Superdrug or Boots

Striping tape is available from Born Pretty Store, don't forget to use code LGL91 for 10% off!

What do you think? Should I stick with this style for future tutorials?

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Illamasqua Imperfection Scarce, Speckle & Freckle

I don't know about you but the very first thing I thought when I saw the latest Illamasqua collection, Imperfection, is that they had (also) joined the indie nail polish trend. Truth be told, I was unsure about them but let's give them a closer look, shall we?

Scarce

pastel pink scattered with black glitters. 2 coats plus topcoat.

Speckle

pastel lilac scattered with black glitters. 2 coats plus topcoat.

Freckle

light taupe scattered with black glitters. 2 coats plus topcoat.

Formula was surprisingly manageable on all of these. I thought they would either be too thick or sheer but they proved to be pigmented and relatively easy to work with, true 2 coaters.

I honestly didn't think I would love this collection but once on my nails, I kind of did! The only one I'm not completely sold on is Freckle but that's a matter of skin tone and personal taste. I do need the other 2 now LOL

What do you think about these? Did you grab any already?

The Illamasqua Imperfection (limited edition) is already available on illamasqua.com and worldwide distributors.

*products provided for review*

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Light It Up Blue for Autism

I'm late in getting my post up for yesterday's World Autism Awareness Day but did do a mani for it; this is what I came up with!

Started with a base of Illamasqua Serenity.  This is one coat, no topcoat. One coat had OK coverage; I see a few thin spots but knew I would be layering it so left it as is.

Added a coat of Different Dimensions Light It Up Blue (for Autism).

Decided to add a second layer for some more sparkle interest; topped with SV.  (I had to lol at myself; I put on too much SV on the middle finger and it made my nail look like duck nails in the pix below!)

Different Dimenion Light It Up Blue (for Autism) also glows blue in the dark!

For the stamping, added images using Lilic's A01 (accent nail) and Big SdP F on the rest using royal purple Konad special polish.  I was really hoping that the puzzle pieces would show solid when I took another glow in the dark pix once it was stamped, but it looked exactly as above.  I'm going to check my glow in the dark pumpkins and see if I have one that might work that does glow blue as I think this will be cool!

Topped with SV.

Different Dimensions Light It Up Blue (for Autism) is available via Etsy here. 

April is Autism Awareness Month; I'm going to try to do my part and do a few blue mani's throughout the month in support of the cause which is near and dear to me....just in case you start seeing a lot of blue posted in the future!

Hope you're having a great week...thanks for looking!

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Random Swatch Saturday - Illamasqua Vice

Well I am pretty much snowed in again. It snowed really hard today...I'm kind of sick of it now. Lots of roads are closed. England cannot handle snow! 

This week it's Illamasqua Vice, from the 2011 Theatre of The Nameless collection, which is one of my favourite Illamasqua collections. 

Vice is a deep, vampy berry shade, with a rubber finish (It's sort of like semi-matte) some people have said they struggled with application but I had no problems, I think you just have to load the brush quite a lot so you don't drag the polish. I used two coats.

Click the jump for more pictures 

I love this colour, it's one of my all time favourites. Do you own any rubber finish polishes? 

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Pastel, Leopard, Crosses and Studs

I want the Winter and cold to go away so much that I've already started wearing pastels. Haha! Wishful thinking! This is Illamasqua Purity. A lovely peach creme that's super pigmented and opaque for a pastel. I had some trouble with the formula but it is a pastel after all!

I've also been wanting to mix patterns and ideas on my nails so I went for a mish-mash of leopard print and gold studded crosses. I used Nails Inc Big Ben for the leopard spots and the round gold studs are from the Born Pretty Store.

You can use discount code VA7J61 to get 10% off your Born Pretty Store purchases.

Thanks for reading and commenting :)

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a-england She Walks In Beauty Gradient

England is cold. So very cold. I love it though! Anyone else love the wintery weather? I've been taking my dog on super long walks and I've become addicted to crunching my feet on frozen puddles. I don't want the freeze to end!

Anyway, my a-england order arrived today! Always love getting nail mail from lovely Adina. She Walks in Beauty is a lovely champagne-gold shimmer packed with different sized rose pink glitter. I decided to try a gradient with Illamasqua Jo'Mina, but I'm not sure it's exactly a gradient...I'm not very good with blending glitter onto nails! 

I used two coats of Jo'Mina, then dabbed on She Walks In Beauty with a makeup sponge.

Not sure why Jo'Mina looks about 47 different colours in the pictures. Silly lightbox.

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Bling Tips Gradient

I definitely can't get enough of gradients, as I've said before. I put a little twist on this one with the help of some hexagonal glitter pieces.

The gradient colours are Illamasqua Nomad and Muse.

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Random Swatch Saturday - Illamasqua Poke

The amount of un-swatched polishes I have sent me into a flap earlier, so I decided to create Random Swatch Saturday. Every Saturday (unless I forget, which let's face it, is likely) I'll post a random swatch from my stash. It's not the only time I'll post swatches, but it'll allow me to go through my stash including my untried polishes regularly.

I'm starting with Illamasqua Poke. This is a gorgeous rich violet, packed with shimmer. As you can see, my picture angles etc. are changing lately, due to me messing about with my light box. I think this set are my favourite and I might stick with these angles. Opinions?

I used two coats and top coat, and the formula is gorgeous. So glad I got this when it was on sale!

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Illamasqua Nomad & Stance Cling Film Mani

Hi! I have another cling film mani today. I know it's sort of a lazy person's mani, but when you're stuck for time you can get good effects in minutes. Plus, I just had to try it using Nomad and Stance by Illamasqua, two of my favourites. They always look so good together. 

I used the same method I described in this post. 

See what I mean by how good they look together? I can't get enough of Illamasqua! Do you own any of their polishes? I think I have about 16 now. Must get swatching.

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