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Kamis, 04 Agustus 2016

Barry M Lilac Roses Tutorial

Hey everyone! I'm so excited because today I managed to get my hands on tickets to go see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! I was in the 'queue' for 5 hours and when I finally got to the end I panicked and ended up booking for ages away (next October) so that I could get hold of the tickets I wanted, but it will be worth the wait. I read the script in one day at the weekend and I loved it. I know there's been some negative opinion surrounding it but I really liked it. Have you read it yet? Let me know your thoughts on it! 

So today I have a tutorial of these rose nails for you. I actually created these ages and ages ago, but I completely forgot that I'd done them somehow! I loved this design when I did them and I'm glad I'm finally sharing them with you. The full tutorial will be after the jump. 



I used Barry M - Almond as the base, then I used Barry M - Cotton and a thin brush for the swirls. Then I used Barry M - Miami for the light pink and Barry M -  Passion Fruit for the darker pink/red. The green is Barry M - Cardamom with Barry M - Key Lime. Finished with a coat of Seche Vite


Step 1: paint your nails with your base colour 
Step 2: using a thin brush and white polish draw swirls interspersed with dots across half of your nail. I normally draw "S" shapes and add extra swirls to this. You could also use the Barry M - Nail Art Pen for this. 
Step 3: using a dotting tool and pink add dots spaced apart on your nails
Step 4: using the tip of your brush, draw lines across the pink in a darker shade for the rose petals 
Step 5: using a dark green polish and your brush add a line for the leaves and then add dots to the side of this for the leaf shape
Step 6: fill in the leaves with a lighter shade. Once dry, add a topcoat to seal in your design 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice 

Selasa, 02 Agustus 2016

Taking A Break

Hello friends. This is just a short and sweet blog post by way of an overdue explanation. Due to many reasons, none of which i will go into detail about, i have decided to take a break from my blog, and from all official swatching/PR duties. I don't know for how long this will continue, but i do hope at the very least to start blogging again one day (not so sure about swatching & PR, i am enjoying not having the stress of that crushing me completely, because it is stressful and it is most certainly not easy).

In the meantime, i still paint my nails on the very regular for my own enjoyment (which was how this blog was born), you can follow me on Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/annabean1983 - if you would like to continue to get a daily dose of AnnaBean's Nails (and a fuck tonne of other stuff too!), and there is always my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Anna-Beans-Nails-145316025633555 - which is purely nailcentric (for those who don't want to see my cats/nature/wildlife photography).

Thanks for reading, and for sticking around. I'll see you again soon I hope!

Love, Anna x

P.S. Here's what's on my nails currently - Nails Inc "Eaton Terrace" :)


Minggu, 31 Juli 2016

Dotty Flowers

Hey everyone! It's the end of the weekend again, why does it always come so quick? I've had a really lovely weekend with friends and my boyfriend but I've got absolutely zero nail stuff done. Saturday is usually my nail day but I just didn't have a chance (and sometimes it's nice to have a day for me). So today I'm showing an older post that I'd not got around to posting because I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. I was sent the Winstonia - Berry Wine Brushes* to review and I've used them in most of my designs for the past couple of months but this design was the first time I played around with them. I liked the design more in person so I've debated whether or not to post them or not, but this blog should be a diary of all my designs, good and bad, so here you go. I'll do a full review on the brushes soon, but I want to get a bit better at using them first.



The base for these nails was Gelish - Don't Pansy Around* from the Botanical Awakenings Collection. Then I used acrylic paint for the flowers with these brushes. Finished with Gelish - Top It Off


What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice 

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Kamis, 28 Juli 2016

Paint All The Nails Presents Neon

Hey everyone! It's nearing the end of the month again, and that means it's time for another Paint All The Nails link up, and this month the theme is 'neon'. I wasn't actually going to join in this month because I don't own many neons at all and I didn't think I could create anything worthwhile. Just as I'd given up on the idea of participating, the new Models Own - Polish For Tans* collection dropped through my letterbox. I haven't received anything from Models Own for at least a year, if not two, so it was a nice surprise and also a strange coincidence. I felt like I had to create something using them for the prompt as it felt like fate, and so here I am! I used all 5 polishes from the collection for this nail art, and I'm still wearing them now. I'm not used to wearing something so bright so they keep catching me by surprise, but I ended up really liking them. 

I used Models Own - Barrier Reef* for the base, then I used Boat Party*, Island Hop*, Surfs Up* and Beach Fire* along with a stamper to smush the colours together. Then I used acetone and a flat brush to create the negative space. Finally I finished with a coat of Seche Vite, and then a coat of Barry M - Matte Topcoat.

Also the neons were apparently too bright for my camera because the photo above looks super strange, but the one below is a bit more accurate.


The collection is available now online, and from all Models Own UK Bottleshops for £4.99 each.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Rabu, 27 Juli 2016

Gelish A Very Nauti-cal Girl Collection Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! Happy hump day, only 2 more days until the weekend. I'm really looking forward to this weekend because I'm off to see Finding Dory, I have waited far too long for this film and I'm glad it's finally been released in the UK. I'm not sure why the gap between US and UK release dates was so huge. I also went to see the BFG last weekend (I seem to be spending a lot of time at the cinema recently!) and I would recommend it 100%, such a lovely version of a childhood classic. Now I just need them to do a new version of The Witches, the book (and the film) were always my favourite growing up and I loved to see a modern version. What's your favourite Roald Dahl book?

Anyway, today I have a review of the gorgeous Gelish - A Very Nauti-cal Girl Collection*. I was really excited when I saw sneak peaks of this collection because these kind of shades are right up my street. I've already used a couple of them for nail art, either on me or on others, and they're firm favourites in my collection. Gelish consistently impress me with their shades and colours, and I have friends coming back to me again and again to have their nails done with Gelish products. It's great to be able to use my friends as guinea pigs as I often can't wear polish for more than a few days (although my toes also get to be testers too!). There's been loads of amazing releases this year, and many more coming up, which I hope to be able to share with you too! You can see all my previous Gelish posts here.





Wish Upon A Starboard* is a lovely postbox red. I own quite a few pinks and reddish colours from Gelish but this is the first real red shade and I love it. This was 2 easy coats with one coat of Gelish -Top It Off.


Catch My Drift* is a cobalt blue that leans toward being purple/'blurple'. The camera doesn't pick it up too much but there's definitely a hint of purple in there. This was 2 easy coats shown with Top It Off.


My Yacht My Rules* is a lovely dewy off-white/very light pink shade. I'm not really sure how to describe this so I've compared it to Gelish - Arctic Freeze* (below) for comparison. This was 3 thin coats with Top It Off. I recently did a manicure for my friend using this and she loved it. 


And a macro for good measure: 



Girls Love Buoys* is a crelly fuchsia shade. I loved this so much that I ended up creating this nail art with it and wearing it for a few days. Such a great summer colour! This was 2 coats with Top It Off.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Senin, 25 Juli 2016

White Poppies Inspired by @ane_li #sharingtheloveforaneli

Hey everyone! I recently heard the awful news that @ane_li passed away earlier this month. I was very shocked to hear that she is no longer with us, she was so talented and very much respected in the community. We all wanted to pay our respects to Ane Li, and a few nail artists have come together to recreate her designs today, the day of her funeral. I hope Ane Li's family take some small comfort in knowing that we all respected her very much and are sad to see her gone.



I decided to recreate her poppy nails from last November. Most of Ane Li's nails are incredibly detailed and I just didn't feel like I had the skill to do them justice, so I chose a simple but effective design. She created so many beautiful designs, and even the most simple ones are stunning.

I used Barry M - Cotton as my base, then I used Winstonia Berry Wine brushes* for the flowers and stems which were done using MASH - Black and L'Oreal - Coraltria. Finished with a coat of Seche Vite.


I hope this is a good enough tribute to Ane Li's beautiful work

Alice

Sabtu, 23 Juli 2016

Gelish Do You Harajuku ~ Featuring Dixie Plate DP 02



Hi NaiLovelies!

I have been chomping at the bit over the past few weeks because I was desperate to get my hands on this fabulous new stamping plate from Dixie Plates.





A total of three plates were released (DP 01, DP 02 & DP 03) by this new stamping plate company and as soon as I started seeing the manicures which were created using DP-02 I just had to have it!  




As a nail technician and lover of nail art, I instantly fell for the varied images on this plate.  There are lace, floral, geometric and so many more gorgeous images to decorate your nails.  This is the perfect type of plate to pull out when I have a client who wants stamping but doesn't have a clue what design they would like.  

A plate like this is a godsend because there are a choice of designs to suit all tastes but there aren't too many images to overwhelm the client. 




I decided to use Dixie Plate DP-02 with Do You Harajuku #swatchesondarkerskin from the Gelish Hello Pretty collection.  I have been eyeing this up in my stash for a couple of weeks now, it is a beautiful vibrant pastel green with subtle shimmer.   I couldn't wait to get it on my nails as I had been wearing my MonoCHROME manicure for the past two weeks!

Unfortunately, I struggled a bit with the formula of Do You Harajuku because it shrunk away from the tips of my nails and kept wanting to creep into my cuticle line.  I am also disappointed that after 3 coats the finish is still a little patchy for my liking, although this does not show up on camera thankfully.


Do You Harajuku - Gelish
DP-02 - Dixie Plate
Ambiance - Gelish
Jade ~Two Faced Dust - Magpie Beauty
Top It Off - Gelish
Vitagel Recovery - Gelish
White Stamping Polish - Konad


On my ring finger I applied two coats of Gelish Ambiance and then patted in a thin layer of Jade Two Faced Dust from Magpie Beauty, topcoated once and then stamped the pretty floral image over the glistening iridescent base.

The images for the Dixie Plates are a good size 1.7cm by 2.1cm.  My nails are long and wide so for me 2cm by at least 2.5cm would work better.  I had to stretch the image using my Magno Nails stamper, which worked perfectly first time and did not seem to distort the image.




I purchased the DP-02 plate from a pre-order from Nail Stamping Queen.  I paid just under £10 for the plate with around £3 shipping so the total was just under £13.

Ciao 4 Now

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