Hey girls!

How are you all? I can't believe how fast the Summer is flying past..not that it's much of a Summer here in England. So I'm left to cheer myself up with pretty colours on my nails ;)

The manicure I'm going to show you in the post was inspired by Maria over at So Nailicious so if you don't already know her fabulous blog, you simply must check it out!

I wore this this easy-to-create dry brush & gold leaf nail art for this year's Scratch Stars Awards held in Tropicana Beach Club in London. I've written a whole post about the evening and who won the Best UK Nail Blogger, read the post here. 

Let's check out the nails...

As I've said, this manicure was very easy to do, Maria actually created a video tutorial, watch it here. 

For my version I've used two coats of Color Club Je T'aime, a lovely creme candy floss pink. Then I've used the dry brush technique and added blue, fuchsia and orange brushstrokes. The polishes I've used were:

• OPI Can't Find My Czechbook (I looove this one for its name!) - turquoise blue creme
• OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips - medium fuchsia creme
• OPI A Roll In The Hague - reddish orange creme

Once I was happy with the brushstrokes, I've added gold leaf pieces. Sometimes the polish underneath was still tacky so the gold leaf would stick just fine but if it wasn't sticking I just lightly brushed a bit of base coat where i wanted the gold leaf to go. Lastly, I've finished off with couple of coats of Morgan Taylor REACT Top Coat. I've also used the Morgan Taylor REACT Base Coat for longer lasting wear and as always, my manicure lasted about 10 days with this superb duo! If you haven't tried it yet, it worked great for me!

Some of you might also be wondering where i got those cute gold & turquoise stone rings. I bought them at Luna Pyxis and this is my favourite site for beautiful and affordable rings. 

What did you think of this manicure? Have you tried the dry brush technique yet? If not, I've previously created a video tutorial for this technique, give it a try, it's super easy!

Have a lovely weekend!

Lucie x

Hello lovelies,

Have you spotted the new hot trend - BRACELET NAILS yet? I did and I want to show you how you can create this nail art yourself using nail polish, string (thread) and embellishments. I love trying out new styles and I think my new nail shapes suits this one a lot!

I've recreated a natural looking bracelet nails by @nail_unistella, a fabulous Korean nail artist! By the way - this same nail artist(s) has also created the shattered glass nails look!

Here's how my nails turned out:

The original bracelet nails are done with sewing threads/strings and embellishments encapsulated in gel. This is certainly the best way to get a long wear out of this design but I know most of you (and I) don't really wear gel nails so I have tested out this trend using nail polish. I'm still wearing these nails 3 days later as I'm writing this post and apart from one small stud everything is still on.

Similar design can also be achieved by painting lines on the nails instead of applying the strings but it just doesn't look as 'real' and authentic to me. It's still pretty and nice alternative though.

Products used:

Sewing thread/string
Cuticle nippers/scissors
Tweezers
OPI Barre My Soul
Hollow triangle embellishments
Circle wreath stud
Mini triangles
OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
Seche Vite topcoat
Mini dot studs

I've prepared a video tutorial on how to create these nails so I hope you'll find it useful:

TIPS:

• Choose strings/threads that don't have 'fluf' around them. The strings should be smooth and without fibres sticking out
• Let the nail polish base dry properly or seal it with fast-drying top coat before adding strings and embellishments. This will prevent the nail polish underneath to be ruined if you have to move the strings and studs around
• Tweezers will be your best friend - make sure you have a pair handy to be able to handle the string and tiny studs and hold them down while the polish is drying
• Keep it small and simple - minimalist look seems to suit this style the best as do small studs and embellishments. Big pieces might disrupt the look (yes, I do regret using that big circle piece!)
• Use two coats of top coat and apply it well around the embellishments to secure them - this will help them to stay on longer

So what do you think of this new trend - will you be trying it? Did you find my tutorial and tips helpful? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Have a lovely day! Lucie x