Week 5 - Nail Polish

Firstly, I'm going to start by asking how is it February already? I say this every year, but January always just seems to fly by and before I know it Christmas becomes a distant memory and suddenly my birthday's just around the corner (which I'm definitely not complaining about ☺️). So with it being Valentine's Day next week (eek, excited anyone?), I thought I'd make this week's post all about creating beautiful nails and I'm going do something slightly different. I'm currently training to become a nail technician, so for me, doing my nails is something I love to do and I can spend hours practising different designs.. which is why I thought I'd show you a few of my favourite nail designs and talk you through how to recreate them at home. 

My first look is very simple, just a standard rounded tip with the Maxfactor Glossfinity nail polish in the shade 'Flushed Rose'. I also use the Barry M 'base coat, top coat and nail hardener' before and after applying ALL nail polish as it really helps the look last for longer and gives an extra shiny finish. In this picture I have acrylic nails on, but if that's not something you want to have done, you can simply buy plain false nails - such as 'Elegant Touch' - and then paint them yourself. They come in a choice of a square or oval tip, and in the shade 'totally bare' which is a perfect base for applying whatever colour you like. I personally love the oval shape at the moment as I think it creates a more sophisticated look and it makes my hands look so beautiful. 

My second nail design is another simple one, especially perfect for a romantic meal out with a special somebody. For this look, I've filed my natural nails into a 'squoval' shape - square with slightly rounded edges - and painted them with Maxfactor Glossfinity nail polish again, but in the colour 'marshmallow'. I've then gone for a deeper pink from the Barry M nail paint range in the shade 'shocking pink' for the ring finger. To finish it off, I love to go over this with a coat of nail glitter from the Seventeen range as I think it really just completes the look. I'm absolutely in love with the idea of doing a different design on the ring finger to really make a bold statement.. you can go completely over the top yet it can still look elegant as it's just the one nail.

 

This last nail design is slightly more fiddly and frustrating to get right.. but once completed looks like you could've had it done in a salon. For this I've used the 'dusky rose' Maxfactor Glossfinity nail paint as the base colour and then left to 100% dry - this is always the tricky bit for me, as I'm just far too impatient!! Once completely dry, I used the shaped nail tip guides to create the gold triangle (I do buy mine from Amazon for 54p, but I believe you can find these nail tip guides in all of the drugstores, they're just slightly more expensive.) Once these are in place and they all look the same on each nail, I simply apply the Barry M gold 'foil effects' nail paint to the section at the end of the nail. On this occasion, I then added the gems which I again bought from Amazon for roughly 90p, using tweezers to place them on just afterI've applied a top coat.

Products mentioned in this blog:

-Barry M Nail Paint - £3.99 (currently 3 for £9 at boots right now)

-Maxfactor Glossfinity - £5.99 (Superdrug and Boots)

-Elegant Touch false nails - £2.99 (Savers) 
-Nail Tip Guides - 54p (Amazon)

-Nail art gems - 94p (Amazon)

Obviously these nails can be recreated with any colour and brand nail polish of your choosing, these are just my personal favourites. Barry M has always been one of my top nail products as they were the first to start all the different nail effect polishes and I've just loved them ever since. As for the Maxfactor Glossfinity.. they were actually a Christmas present which have turned out to be brilliantly long lasting so I've become a huge fan of them. What're your favourite nail polishes? I'd love to know, so leave me a message in the comment box below ☺️

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