Real Housewives

My second nails for the Sloth theme this week are inspired by the Real Housewives franchise. The prompt was to create something that was inspired by your laziness and something I do on my down time is watch a lot of TV. Recently I've been watching a lot of Real Housewives so I thought I'd do that on my nails.

If you know nothing about the Real Housewives then I'll just explain that in the title sequence, they have the wives holding an object that represents their city. I chose to do one from all cities I've seen so far. The thumb is inspired by The Real Housewives of Orange County hence the oranges. I used Barry M Matt White for the base colour on all my nails. The orange is a mixture of Models Own Tangerine Queen and Barry M Yellow with pure Barry M Yellow at the edge and Matt White in the centre. My index finger is based on The Real Housewives of Atlanta who have a peach as their symbol. I used a combination of Rimmel Tangy Tangerine and W7 Sheer Peach and a mixture of both of those and Barry M Bright Red for the outlining. The stalk is done in Barry M Mushroom, the leaf in Barry M Spring Green with Matt White as highlights. The Real Housewives of New York inspired my middle finger with the apple being done in Barry M Bright Red with the same stalk, leaf and highlighting colours as the peach. My ring finger is a diamond for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. For this I used Barry M Instant Nail Effects Foil Silver, Models Own Indian Ocean and Barry M Blue Moon and Black for some outlining. Finally, my little finger has the maple leaf for The Real Housewives of Vancouver. For this I used Barry M Bright Red and Mushroom.

I' aware that it's quite a random thing to base nail art around but I think it just shows how lazy I am if I watch that many TV shows...and more.

Have a look at what everyone else has done this week

Art by http://dahlig.deviantart.com

Sheer Blue

Sheer Blue was another one of the W7 polishes that I got in a set for £1.50 per bottle. I didn't set out looking for a colour like this but I did like the shade when I saw it in the pack and I was hoping that it would be similar to Barry M Blue Moon but more opaque. I know the name is Sheer Blue so it wouldn't make much sense in being opaque but I didn't know the name at the time.

The good thing is, it is more opaque than Blue Moon. As you can see from the photos I took of Blue Moon, Sheer Blue is slightly darker in shade and is more of a baby blue which I very much like. Although it's called a sheer polish, it's definitely not too thin as you can't see any visible nail line through two coats which is always something I like. 

The W7 polish bottles and brushes are basically a dupe for the O.P.I ones which I don't care about as the actual polish isn't trying to be O.P.I. I like that it's the same as it means that application is really easy as the wide brush covers my nail well. 

I don't know how much this polish is on it's own but I know W7 is known for being a cheap brand so even if you can't get the same set I got, if you're looking for a light baby blue sheer I'd give this one a go. In my books it's definitely better than Blue Moon but I'm sure a lot of other brands have colours similar to them both.

Gradient and Tutorial

So these nails are for the Sloth theme of the Seven Deadly Sins challenge. The prompt was to create something really easy and to do a tutorial for it as well. I wanted to do a tutorial for my gradient nails anyway so I thought this would be perfect as it's really easy to do and I really wanted to use this colour for a gradient as I thought it would look good.

I only used a base coat for these nails as I didn't have to even out the colour of my nails as the gradient was going to cover up any yellowing. The colour I used is Barry M Papaya and I just used a Barry M clear polish that I use for random things. I won't explain how I did this gradient as it is all in the tutorial below. 

Hopefully you like seeing this tutorial as last time I did this graident I got a lot of questions about how to create it. Make sure you check out what everyone else has done for the Sloth theme this week below.

Art by http://dahlig.deviantart.com

Studs Galore

So these are the second nails for the Greed theme and I have been planning these for weeks and I am so in love with them. The prompt for these were more is more and if you know me and my nails, you know I love studs and as you can tell by the title, these nails are just studs galore.

I used a base colour of W7 Sheer Pink just to even out the colour of my nails and then applied the studs  with a clear polish. The studs I used on the thumb are 2mm square gold studs, 2mm round gold studs on the index finger. The middle finger studs are 2mm silver square studs and the little finger studs are the same 2mm gold ones that I used on my index finger but I removed the gold to make them silver with acetone simply because I don't have silver studs in this size but Born Pretty Store do sell them. I then did a mixture of all four styles on my ring finger. 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these nails but I'm obsessed with any nail studs. Also if you're interested in getting any of these studs you can use my discount code GZL91 for 10% off at Born Pretty Store. 

Make sure you check out all the other Greed nails everyone else has created

Art by http://dahlig.deviantart.com

5 Favourite Spring/Summer Nail Polishes

Just posted a video on my YouTube channel about my five favourite nail polishes for Spring/Summer. Check it out below if you want.

Utopia

This colour is so unique and I knew as soon as I saw it, I wanted to get it. Models Own is not really a  brand I shop from simply because I don't like to pay £5 for a nail polish as I'm cheap but this was just such a different colour I thought it would be worth it.

At first glance Utopia looks as though it's a light grey kind of concrete colour but it has a slight lilac undertone to it. All the models own polishes I have have different consistencies so I can't say for sure whether others would be the same as this one but what I like is that even though these photos show two coats of the polish, it is opaque and good to go with one coat which is great for when I'm being lazy. 

As I mentioned before, the other Models Own polishes I have act differently to this one and as you can see from the photo above, this polish is quite shiny even without top coat. I also have Tangerine Queen which is a neon orange which dries really matt and has a rubbery look. 

Another random thing about it is that it dries really quickly which is also a plus in my books as I hate waiting around for base colours to dry. I really like this colour and it's so unique I love wearing it as it looks mysterious. I definitely don't regret paying the £5 for it as I use it fairly often and it's such a great colour I would recommend it to anyone.

Gold Zebra Flakie

So once again, I found it extremely hard to get inspiration for this weeks theme of Greed. The prompt said to use your most expensive and precious polish. I knew straight away I was going to use Nails Inc Hampstead Gardens, not my most expensive (but only by £1 or so) but definitely one that I think to be precious. I hate to use even the slightest bit of it and I thought the mustard colour would go great with the Greed artwork shown below. Anyway, I was racking my brain for days trying to think of what to create with Hampstead Gardens but I couldn't think of a single thing that was interesting and gold coloured and then I looked down and spotted my necklace and thought, why don't I just do my nails inspired by my necklace.

So as I've said, I used Nails Inc Hampstead Gardens as my base coat and I also put on Nail Pop Sequin Effect which is a flakie polish to make it a bit more fancy schmancy along with Barry M Matt White and Black. Sequin Effect shows up a yellow/gold/green which I think looks really nice on the mustard which does look more on the orange side.

Take a look at what everyone else has created for the Greed theme this week

Art by http://dahlig.deviantart.com