Nail Of The Day – Astor Fashion Studio 002 Cotton Candy & Stamping With Pueen 77 / A-Z Nail Art Challenge L – Love

Hi there! Today’s post is about my Valentine’s Day mani. Quite late, huh?

Anyhoo… for this mani I painted my nails with Astor Fashion Studio 002 Cotton Candy (2 coats).

The stamping plate I used is Pueen‘s 77 plate (which is part of Pueen‘s Buffet Leisure collection).

I decided to double-stamp, and I used 2 non-stamping polishes for this – Essence Colour & Go 140 Go Bold (gold) and NYC In A Minute 230 Penn Station (red).

I think this mani was alright. It was nothing special, but it looked cute. And I really liked the double-stamping effect!

This mani goes in the A-Z Nail Art Challenge folder. I’ll file it under L – Love! How do you like this mani? Feel free to comment. And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Halloween Nail Art Ideas / Primark PS… 18 Strobe, Boots 17 Red & Stamping With MoYou London Festive 53 / A-Z Nail Art Challenge N – Nocturnal Creatures

Hi there! Today I’ve got another Halloween nail art idea for you. 🙂

Last year I did a bats on blood mani. I really loved that mani, and I was thinking about doing the same mani again.

However, I also wanted to use one of my newest stamping plates, so I went for a cute bats on blood mani. 🙂

For this mani I painted my nails with Primark PS… 18 Strobe. This is a great white polish that I really need to stock up on!

I used Boots 17 Red and a small piece of a make-up sponge for the blood effect.

The black polish I stamped with is Rimmel 60 Seconds 820 Hot Black To Go. I used 2 stamping plates – a random unbranded plate (small bats) and MoYou London‘s brand new Festive 53 plate (big bats) which is packed with cute images.

Oh, by the way, this mani counts towards the A-Z Nail Art Challenge. This is my interpretation of the Nocturnal Creatures challenge. 🙂

If you’d like to order from MoYou, you can get 10% off if you order through this link. Oh, in case you’re wondering… yes, I did purchase this stamping plate (and the other new ones) myself!

Now… how do you like this mani? I think it’s awesome. Do you agree? Feel free to comment. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Nail Art Challenge #30 Inspired By A Tutorial

Hi there! Today’s post is about another mani I did for the 31 Days Nail Art Challenge. This mani is for challenge #30 Inspired By A Tutorial.

I was looking for cute and summery mani ideas online – and I found an easy looking tutorial for melon nails.

I tried to recreate those melon nails but, of course, I failed miserably. So I came up with a much easier melon mani (well, sort of).

For this mani I painted my nails with Astor Fashion Studio 002 Cotton Candy (pinky, ring and middle fingers, 2 coats) and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 50 In Record Lime (index fingers, thumbs, 2 coats).

I applied loose black glitter hexagons (the only black glitter I have) to my middle fingers, and I top-coated all my nails with Orly Love Each Other.

I think this mani turned out alright. I have zero (nail) art skills, I can’t even draw a straight line. However, I’m proud of myself for coming up with a simple ‘solution’. So whilst the mani didn’t turn out the way I hoped, I was inspired by a tutorial. So somehow I actually nailed this challenge! Now wait for my interpretation of kiwi nails! 😀

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Essence Aquatix 04 Under The Sea & Stamping With MoYou London Doodles 07 / Nail Art Challenge #13 Animal Print

Hi there! Today’s post is a Nail Of The Day post. And this mani is also my attempt at Animal Print nails which is challenge #13 of the 31 Days Nail Art Challenge.

For this mani I painted my nails with Essence Aquatix 04 Under The Sea. This polish is supposed to be a holographic nail polish, but the holo effect isn’t very strong. And I would describe the actual colour of this polish as steel. Or steel-y. It’s neither grey nor blue.

The cute sea life images are featured on MoYou’s Doodles 07 stamping plate. The black polish I stamped with is NYC In A Minute 001 Evil.

I realise that the person who thought up the original 31 Days Nail Art Challenge thought of Animal Print nails as zebra or leopard nails (or something similar). But I didn’t want to do another animal stripes mani so soon. And sea creatures are animals too, so I think I’m OK. 🙂

I like this mani! The holo polish could be prettier, but the images are just too cute. What do you think? Feel free to comment. And thanks for stopping by!

If you’d like to order from MoYou, you can get 10% off if you order through this link. In case you’re wondering… yes, I did purchase this stamping plate myself!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Essence Out Of Space Stories 01 Outta Space Is The Place & Stamping With Pueen 80 / Nail Art Challenge #14 Flowers

Hi there! I’ve got another short Nail Of The Day post for you today. 🙂 For this mani I painted my nails with Essence Out Of Space Stories 01 Outta Space Is The Place (two easy coats).

The stamping plate I used is Pueen’s 80 plate (which is available as part of Pueen’s Buffet Leisure collection). And the polish I used to stamp on the flowers is the one and only Revlon Colorstay 270 Stiletto.

This mani also counts towards the 31 Days Nail Art Challenge – and it’s for challenge #14 Flowers.

I think this mani turned out alright. I think the images go well with the pearlescent base. How do you like this mani? Feel free to comment. And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – P2 Color Victim 240 Joyful & Stamping / Nail Art Challenge #3 Yellow Nails

Hi there! Today’s post is about another mani that counts towards the 31 Days Nail Art Challenge (which I’m doing as a lifetime challenge). It’s mani #3 Yellow Nails.

For this mani I painted my nails with P2 Color Victim 240 Joyful (3 coats). This polish is a bright and sunny yellow with an old-fashioned frosty finish. It’s not really a favourite.

I used my unbranded Flowers 01 stamping plate and NYC In A Minute 001 Evil to stamp on the images.

I think this mani wasn’t great, but it was OK to wear it for two days. I got a few compliments, but that was only because the shiny yellow caught peoples’ eyes.

Feel free to comment if you want to. And thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Galaxy Nails / Nail Art Challenge #19 Galaxies

Hi there! The 31 Days Nail Art Challenge is challenging in many ways. I’m not good with ‘real’ nail art and I prefer stamping and foils (and I can’t draw anything).

And there are so many awesome designs I never even dared to try. Today’s mani falls into the second category, but I did it now!

And as you can see from the title of this post, this many is my attempt at Galaxy Nails (Nail Art Challenge #19).

I painted my nails with NYC In A Minute 001 Evil (black base, two coats). And then I started to apply different nail colours with (a small piece of) a make-up sponge.

I used several colours: MUA Whitewash (white), P2 Color Victim 240 Joyful (yellow), Astor Fashion Studio 085 (pink), a nameless Boots 17 mini polish (purple) and MakeUp Revolution True Blue (light blue). I then used MUA Whitewash to apply a few ‘stars’ (well, dots!).

I think this mani turned out alright for a first attempt. But I’ve also realised that there are a few things I could do better next time. First of all, if I’m sponging on polish all-over my nails, I don’t need a black base. Secondly, if I want the base colour to show, I need a smaller piece of sponge to apply the different colour polishes, and I need to be less generous with those colour polishes!

I also think I should try a glitter topper (mini glitter, not chunky glitter) and I need to use a smaller dotting tool to apply the ‘stars’. So yeah, I will definitely do galaxy nails again! 🙂 What do you think? Feel free to get in touch. And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

31 Days Nail Art Challenge – But Not In 31 Days!

Hi there! I don’t know how many nail bloggers read my blog. But I’m sure there are a few. And I’m sure everyone who has more than a passing interest in nail polish has heard of nail (art) challenges. I’ve wanted to take part in those nail challenges for years, but redoing my nails and thinking up manis (from day 11 it becomes more difficult) on a daily basis is something that has always put me off.

But you know what? I can still do a 31 days nail challenge. I just won’t do it in 31 days – I’ll allow myself a few months to do it. You could say it’s my lifetime nail challenge! 🙂 I also won’t stick to the given order, but I’ll decide what I want to do with my nails when I want to do a new mani. I hope I won’t have to skip any of the day challenges, but I might have to. In any event, I intend to do them all.

Now what’s the challenge? I know there are variations to the ‘original’ challenge, but since it was the original challenge that got me interested, that’s the one I’m going to do! 🙂 Unfortunately I don’t know who came up with the original nail (art) challenge, so I can’t credit anyone, but if you google the matter, you’ll find hundreds (maybe thousands) of bloggers who’ve done it.

OK, here it is:

1 Red Nails
2 Orange Nails
3 Yellow Nails
4 Green Nails
5 Blue Nails
6 Violet Nails
7 Black & White Nails
8 Metallic Nails
9 Rainbow Nails
10 Gradient Nails

11 Polka Dots
12 Stripes
13 Animal Print
14 Flowers
15 Delicate Print
16 Tribal Print
17 Glitter
18 Half Moons My Husband’s Polish Picks (base colour + top coat)
19 Galaxies
20 Water Marble

21 Inspired By A Color
22 Inspired By A Song
23 Inspired By A Movie
24 Inspired By A Book
25 Inspired By Fashion
26 Inspired By A Pattern
27 Inspired By Artwork
28 Inspired By A Flag
29 Inspired By The Supernatural
30 Inspired By A Tutorial

Encore:
31 Recreate A Favourite I – 5 Blue Nails
31 Recreate A Favourite II – 17 Glitter
31 Recreate A Favourite III – 19 Galaxies

I’m not entirely sure when I’m going to start with this challenge. I already have my next nail post sorted, but I think I’ll probably start within two weeks from now. And I’ll also try my best to work a few Halloween-themed manis into the challenge.

If you’re wondering about the photos in this post, they’re not part of the challenge, they’re just photos of manis I did previously. They’re here because I wanted to give you something to look at in between all those words. 🙂 Oh, and I won’t recycle these photos for the challenge. I guess this would be cheating, so I won’t do it. So instead you’ll get to see new manis!

Anyone else who’d like to do the 31 Days Nail Art Challenge as a one-off lifetime nail challenge? If so, please let me know. And as always, thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde