Hullo everyone!
Today I have a cute manicure featuring glittery red dots and hearts on a distressed pink and white background :D
"But A-maaan-daaaaaa," I hear you whine, "Valentine's Day is over, you said no more cutesy romantic stuff!" Well, you're correct. However, I was recently contacted by PR for River Island to see if I might like to enter their latest competition--the We Heart Nail Art: Blogger Challenge! The theme is Valentine's Day, and the winner will receive a £150/180€ River Island gift code to be redeemed at www.riverisland.com... plus a feature on the River Island blog with a tutorial of the design!
I could have entered any of my previous manis, but I wanted to create something new. I decided to go for a design that's cute and fun, yet easy to recreate--so if my tutorial is chosen, people will be able to get the same look without too much frustration. With that in mind, I painted all nails white (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On), let it dry, and then used a bit of wadded-up cling-wrap to dab on some bubblegum-pink (Revlon #280 Bubbly.. such a cute pink creme!) creating the distressed, splattered look. To complete the background and add some sparkle, I brushed on a coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Shine #150 Glass Slipper--a gorgeous white-glassfleck topper. This not only makes it glittery, but helps blend the background together just a tiny bit, so the pink doesn't stand out as harshly against the white.
Then for the fun part! With a small dotting tool and China Glaze Ruby Pumps (the stunning red-jelly-glitter you see above), I created a pattern of dots on all nails except for the middle one. There, I used a larger dotting tool to draw the heart shape--just dab once for the top of the heart, pull down to the middle, and repeat on the other side--and cleaned up the edges with a small brush to make it look neat.
Lastly, a generous coat of Seche Vite topcoat to protect the design and give it a glassy, glossy finish!
The design takes a bit of time, mostly because you need to wait for each layer to at least mostly dry before going on to the next one, but no steps are particularly difficult. And I think it's so cute! I like it at least as much as any of my other Valentine designs I did at the beginning of the month.. maybe even more :)
I saved the best news for last... the contest is still going on! It ends on the 24th (I heard about it a bit late myself), so if you want to enter, there's still time! Entry details are on this page, and the competition is open to bloggers in the UK, US, France, and Australia. So if you are interested, jump in! :)
Thanks for reading today! Have a lovely weekend, and I'll see you next time xoxo
Today I have a cute manicure featuring glittery red dots and hearts on a distressed pink and white background :D
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| (click to enlarge for a crisper image!) |
"But A-maaan-daaaaaa," I hear you whine, "Valentine's Day is over, you said no more cutesy romantic stuff!" Well, you're correct. However, I was recently contacted by PR for River Island to see if I might like to enter their latest competition--the We Heart Nail Art: Blogger Challenge! The theme is Valentine's Day, and the winner will receive a £150/180€ River Island gift code to be redeemed at www.riverisland.com... plus a feature on the River Island blog with a tutorial of the design!
I could have entered any of my previous manis, but I wanted to create something new. I decided to go for a design that's cute and fun, yet easy to recreate--so if my tutorial is chosen, people will be able to get the same look without too much frustration. With that in mind, I painted all nails white (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On), let it dry, and then used a bit of wadded-up cling-wrap to dab on some bubblegum-pink (Revlon #280 Bubbly.. such a cute pink creme!) creating the distressed, splattered look. To complete the background and add some sparkle, I brushed on a coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Shine #150 Glass Slipper--a gorgeous white-glassfleck topper. This not only makes it glittery, but helps blend the background together just a tiny bit, so the pink doesn't stand out as harshly against the white.
Then for the fun part! With a small dotting tool and China Glaze Ruby Pumps (the stunning red-jelly-glitter you see above), I created a pattern of dots on all nails except for the middle one. There, I used a larger dotting tool to draw the heart shape--just dab once for the top of the heart, pull down to the middle, and repeat on the other side--and cleaned up the edges with a small brush to make it look neat.
Lastly, a generous coat of Seche Vite topcoat to protect the design and give it a glassy, glossy finish!
The design takes a bit of time, mostly because you need to wait for each layer to at least mostly dry before going on to the next one, but no steps are particularly difficult. And I think it's so cute! I like it at least as much as any of my other Valentine designs I did at the beginning of the month.. maybe even more :)
 |
| Ruby Pumps is so beautiful in the sunlight! I played with the brightness and contrast filters in this shot, just for fun :) |
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| And one more--the background shows up well in this pic. |
I saved the best news for last... the contest is still going on! It ends on the 24th (I heard about it a bit late myself), so if you want to enter, there's still time! Entry details are on this page, and the competition is open to bloggers in the UK, US, France, and Australia. So if you are interested, jump in! :)
Thanks for reading today! Have a lovely weekend, and I'll see you next time xoxo
