Catch up...

Ok, i know i haven't posted for ages and I don't really have an excuse but i will try and post more frequently again now!! So i have done quite a few manis since I last posted on here so i will try and post most of them. Here is the colourful zebra mani that I did for z in the alphabet challenge. I was inspired by quite a few designs from google, pinterest and various places. I chose to use quite bright colours and a nude background. These were quite easy and straightforward to do. What do you think?

Ellena x

X lined nails

For the letter X i had no idea what design to do so in the end I decided to just create an X shape on my nails. This is my first ombre so I think it actually turned out ok. I really like the colours I used. What do you think??

Ellena x

W for Witch

Hey everyone! For the letter W, seeing as it is nearly halloween then i thought i would do a witch themed nail art design. I used orange and black to create stripes and then added a black cat and witch hat to make it a bit more unique. What do you think?? Ellena x

U for Union Jack

Hey everyone! I am sorry that it has been so long since i have posted! From now on instead of telling you how i did my nails i am just going to show you the steps.  For the letter U i thought i would do union jack nails. I was fairly pleased with how they turned out?? What do you think??

Please comment your thoughts

Ellena x

By the way esmithy88 was my instagram account name that's why it says that on my watermark.

T for Teenage mutant ninja turtles

Hey everyone! For the letter T there were a few things i wondered about doing on my nails but in the end i stuck with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nail art. I also thought this would tie in quite well with the new film being released here in the UK in a week or so. I am desperate to see this film! Anyway, back to the nails, they were really simple and easy to do and i am pleased with how they turned out. I made them quite sparkly and girly as i used glitter but i'm sure they would look good without. I have got quite a lot of new nail varnishes recently so i have used a few to create this design. Firstly, i painted all my nails-apart from my thumb-with  two coats of Rimmel london 60 seconds Sky High. I really like this polish and it was really opaque and smooth. Next i painted these nails with one coat of Jess-tiger lily. This is a gorgeous green glitter polish which i love, it was from poundland and is a real bargain. I then painted my thumb with two coats of miss sporty funtasy 020. This polish is a shimmery dark silver with iridescent glitters and i think it is really unique and fun! I then used four different colours to create a thick stripe across the top of each of my green nails for the masks. Little finger-flashmob, turn up the juice; ring finger-collection 2000 work the colour, sonic blue; middle finger-rimmel lasting finish pro wild orchid and pointer finger- unnamed red polish from a boots gift set. To complete these the TMNT nails then i used a large dotting tool and a white polish to create eyes on the masks and a small dotting tool with a black polish for pupils. Then i did the pizza on my thumb nail. I used george-fortune teller to create a fairly wide stripe near the top of my nail for the pizza crust. I then used miss sporty-popcorn to draw a large triangle shape from the crust to the end of my nail. I found that the easiest way to do this was to put a small dot where you want the triangle point to be and then join the edges of the line and the dot together and fill it in. Once this was dry, i used and unnamed red polish and the green polish with a medium sized dotting tool to create the pizza topping by placing random dots all over it. I finished this design with a top coat!

                                         What do you think? Hope you like. Please comment
                                                                             Ellena x

S for Sugar skull

Hey Everyone! There were quite a few things that i could think of to do for the letter S but i decided on doing sugar skulls. This design was inspired by Cutepolish. These were really simple and easy to do! To begin with i painted all my nails with two coats of flashmob white lightning. I got this polish for my birthday and i really like it, it is really opaque. Once all of my nails were dry, i used a black rio nail pen to create two large dots at the top of my nail for eyes. I then made a nose by creating an upside down heart in the centre of my nail for the nose. After this i made a straight black line near the edge of my nail for the mouth and created five vertical rectangles around the line for the teeth. I then used a toothpick and four different nail polish colours-an unnamed orange polish; rimmel lasting finish pro, wild orchid; collection 2000 work the colour, baby blue and a fuchsia primark polish to create small dots all the way around both eyes. I finished all my nails off with a topcoat. This design was really simple and easy to do!

I hope you like them. Please comment below!

Ellena x

R for rabbits

Hey everyone! For the letter R I wasn't really sure what to do! The only thing i could think of was rabbits so that is what i did. I didnt want to do all rabbits on my nails because i have already done that before so i tried to think of something a bit different. In the end i decided on doing a girl and a boy rabbit on my middle and ring finger, and flowers on the rest of my nails. Anyway, to begin with i painted all my nails with two coats of george-cloudless sky. Once this was dry i used technic pretty pastels bubblegum and an fuschia primark polish with a medium dotting tool to create flowers over most of my nail-leaving a small space near the cuticle of my nail. Once this was dry i put a small dot of the other colour in the centre of the flower. I then used a mint green accessorize polish to fill in the gaps with leaf shapes. For my middle finger nail i used collection 2000 white out to create an arch shape near the edge of my nail for the head and a dotting tool to create two long ear shapes from the head. I then used technic pretty pastels bubblegum to fill in the ears, leaving a small white gap around the edge and create a small dot for the nose at the edge of my nail. I then used a rio black nail art pen to draw in eyes and a mouth. I repeated the same steps for the outline of the bunny on my ring finger but using the opposite colours (pink for the bunny's face and ears and white for the middle of the ears). I then used a black rio nail pen to create two thin arch shapes on the bunny's face for the closed eyes. After this i used a bright pink accessorize to create a small triangle for the nose and a small flower next to the bunny's ear. Finally, i used a small dotting tool and a white polish to fill in the centre of the flower. I finished off all my nails with a topcoat.

What do you think?

Please comment!

Ellena x

Birthday Nails

Hey Everyone! First of all sorry that i haven't posted in so long! Secondly, I am sorry this is not a alphabet nail art challenge post but as it was my birthday on sunday, i wanted to do birthday themed nail art! So anyway i will continue with the alphabet nail art challenge after this post but for now i wanted to show you these birthday nails. I wasn't sure on what exactly i wanted to do so i just kind of mixed and matched some ideas i had. To begin with i painted all my nails with two coats of technic seashell. Once they had dried, i began with my little finger nail-candles. I then used a rio nail art pen to paint two pink stripes and one purple stripe vertically across my nail-for the candlesticks-leaving a small space near my cuticle. For the flame of the candle i used an orange rio nail art pen to create a small teardrop shape at the top of each candlestick. I then moved onto my ring finger-cupcake. To begin with i used miss sporty clubbing colours baby pink to create a thick stripe at the edge of my nail. I then used a bright pink rio nail striper to create thin vertical lines across the pale pink section of my nail. After this i used a rio white nail pen to create the icing on the cupcake by doing a dome shape on top of the cupcake case. I finished this nail with a small red dot for the cherry on the top, using a dotting tool and an unnamed red polish. On my middle finger and my pointer finger i created bunting-I won't explain how i did this because i've already done this in my B for bunting. Finally i did my thumbnail-balloon. I used collection 2000 work the colour in the pink to create a balloon shape at the edge of my nail- an arch with a small triangle- and then i used a white rio nail pen to outline the balloon and a black striper to make a string. I finished off this design with rimmel rock your colour glitter top coat. What do you think?? Ellena x

Q for Quilt

Hey everyone! For the letter Q i really didn't know what to do! The only thing i could think of to was quilting but i wasn't sure about doing this design on my nails. Instead i thought i would try and do patchwork quilt style nails. Although most of the designs i've seen were split into four parts but i thought this might be a bit tricky for me to do so i decided just to stick with two. I knew I wanted to do roses on one side but i wasnt sure what to do on the other side so in the end i just did polka dots. Anyway, to begin with i painted my nails with two coats of rimmel lasting finish pro wild orchid. I know i use this polish a lot but i just love the colour and it's so opaque and easy to apply- I would definitely recommend this polish because i love it! To do the roses i used a dark pink rio nail pen to create small, rough circular shapes (these will eventually turn into roses)  across the left side of each nail. I then used a pale pink accessorize nail pen to create random shapes inside each dark pink circle. To finish off the roses i used a mint green accessorize nail pen to create small leaf shapes on either side of each rose. I then used the brush end of this colour to paint the right side of my nail. Once this was dry i used a darker teal accessorize nail pen to do small dots all over the mint green section of my nails. Finally, i used a white rio nail striper to create small crosses along the join of the mint green section and the lilac section on each nail. I finished this design off with a topcoat. This was really quick and easy to do. I hope you like it. Please comment below what you think!

Ellena x

P for Pirates

Hey everyone! For the letter P i decided to do pirates as i thought it would be a fun and easy design to do. I thought about doing an anchor or stripes on some of my nails but i thought that might be too similar to my A for anchor nails so i decided to stick with pirates on all of my nails. Anyway, to begin with as i didn't think i had the right colour for the pirate's face, I mixed two colours together-Rimmel lasting finishing pro bare naked and Technic pretty pastels bubblegum. I used slightly more of the pink polish (bubblegum) and i was quite pleased with the result. I painted all of my nails with three coats of this colour. Once dry, i painted a thick red stripe across the top of each of my nails with two small lines hanging down on the left side for the pirates' bandana using an unnamed red polish from a boots gift set. I then used a white polish and medium dotting tool to create dots all over the red part of each of my nails. Afterwards, i took a black rio nail pen to add the features for the face: an arch shape and a curved line for the eyepatch; a dot for the eye, and a curved line for the mouth. I finished off the design with a topcoat.

What do you think?

Ellena x

O for Owls

Hey Everyone! For the letter O i instantly knew what design i wanted to do as I love owls. I have done a similar owl design before but only on one nail and in different colours (fuschia and gold). I decided to do this design in pale pink and blue and alter it slightly from my previous design by doing hearts for feathers  and owls on all of my nails apart from my little fingernail which i just did hearts on. Anyway, to begin with I used collection 2000 baby blue to create the owl's body on each nail. I did this by painting an arch shape that covered most of my nail apart from a small gap near the cuticle. For the ears i used the same polish and a medium dotting tool to create two small triangle shapes at the top of the owl's body. For the eyes I used a white polish and a large dotting tool to create two large dots just below the ears, then I used a smaller dotting tool and a black polish to add pupils to the centre of the eyes. For the wings and feathers i used a pale pink nail art pen from accessorize. I made the wings by creating two curved shapes at either side of the owl's body. I then created three small hearts in a triangle formation in the middle of the owl's body for his feathers, I also made hearts all over my little fingernail, once i had painted it with two coats of the blue polish. Finally, i used a rio silver nail art pen to create a small triangular shape, in between the eyes, for the beak. I finished the design with a topcoat.

N for notebook

Hey everyone! For the letter N i thought i would do lined notebook paper on my nails. As i went back to school today i thought that this would tie in nicely. However, i thought that plain lined paper on my nails might be a bit boring so i decided to mix them up a bit by adding doodles onto the paper design and doing some of my nails as the eraser end of a  pencil. They were quite easy to do and i'm fairly pleased with how they turned out. To begin with i painted my ring finger and my pointer finger with three coats of miss sporty clubbing colours, popcorn. I then painted my little finger, middle finger and thumbnail with three coats of white- I used collection 2000 mardi gras, white out. Once all my nails were dry i used a light blue rio nail striper to create thin horizontal lines across all of the white nails. After this, i used a bright pink rio nail striper to create a horizontal line near the edge of each white nail. I finished off the notebook paper nails with different doodles using a black rio nail pen: for my thumb i created a smiley face and a kiss (X); for my middle finger a small heart and for my little finger i wrote LOL on one of the lines. For the pencil nails, i used an orange rio nail striper to create thin vertical lines across all my yellow nails. I then used miss sporty clubbing colours baby pink to create a stripe at the end of each yellow nail, about two thirds of the way up each nail. Once they were dry i used rimmel 60 seconds, precious metal to create a thin silver line over the join between the pink and the yellow. I finished each nail design with a topcoat.

M for Monsters

Hey everyone! For the letter M i decided to do monsters on my nails! There were a few other designs that i thought i could do on my nails but none of them were very exciting. I wanted them to be fun, brightly coloured monsters and a different one on each nail, so this is what i came up with. I painted all my nails different colours: thumb-unnamed orange; pointer finger-george cloudless sky; middle finger-unnamed green; ring finger-unnamed red and little finger-rimmel lasting finish pro wild orchid. I did two coats of all these polishes and when they were all dry i did a range of different facial expressions on my nails. For my thumb i used a dotting tool with a white polish and a black polish to create three eyes in a triangle at the top of my nail. I then used a black nail striper to create a long thin line near the bottom of my nail for a mouth

and a white nail pen to create two triangles at each end of the line for teeth, one pointing up and one pointing down. For my pointer finger, i used a large dotting tool to create one big eye in the middle of my nail. i created a mouth in the same wayas on my thumb but on this nail i created both teeth pointing down. For my middle finger i used a white polish and a dotting tool to create ovals at the top of my nail and use a black nail art pen to put a dot at the top of one oval and the bottom of the other to create cross-eyes. I then used a black striper for the mouth and a red nail pen to create a small tongue at one end of the line. For my ring finger i created one small eye at the top left of my nail and a black cross at the top right. I then created a black line for the mouth and added three small white triangles for the teeth. For my little finger i made two small eyes at the top of my nail, a curved black line near the bottom for the mouth and a small white triangle for a tooth. I finished off all my nails with a topcoat.

L for Lace

Hey everyone! For the letter L I wanted to do a lace design on my nails but i thought most of the designs looked incredibly detailed and difficult to do. So in the end i decided to do a simpler design inspired by this design by HannahRoxNails. This design took a bit of patience but was not as difficult to do as i thought it would be. Anyway, to begin with i painted all my nails two coats of Rimmel lasting finish pro wild orchid which is a bright lilac colour which i really like. Once all my nails were dry i used a white nail striper create diagonal lines both ways across the bottom of all my nails. I then used a white rio nail pen to create two or three half flower shapes above the cross-hatched part of my nails. After this, i used the white nail striper to make arches over the flower shapes. Finally, i used the white nail pen to create a line of small dots along the arched lines. I finished the design off with a topcoat.

k for kitten

Hey everyone! For the letter K the only thing i could think of to do on my nails was kittens so that's what i did! I didn't want to do a kitten on every nail and have seen a lot of nail designs combining spots and a cat face so i decided to paint the rest of my nails with polka dots. To begin with, i painted my ring finger with a clear base coat and the rest of my nails with 3 coats of an unnamed coral polish from a boots gift set. Once my nails were dried i used a dotting tool and collection mardi gras white out to create diagonal rows of polka dots across all my nails apart from my ring finger. I then used the same white polish to make an arch shape on my ring finger nail  for the cats head and two small triangles at the top of it for ears. Once this was all dry i used an accessorize neon pink nail pen to fill in the ears. I used a black rio nail pen to create two small dots below the ears for eyes and a triangle in the middle for a nose. I then used the striper to create the cat's mouth and whiskers. I finished it off with a top coat.

Ellena x

J for Japanese cherry blossoms

Hey Everyone! I really couldn't think of anything i wanted to do on my nails beginning with the letter J. So i apologise for this nail design not really fitting under the letter J but hey-ho! I wasn't really sure of how to do a Japanese cherry blossom design on my nails so i kind of just made it up as i went along. They were really easy to do! To begin with I painted all my nails two shades of Technic seashell. Once it dried, on all of my nails except my middle finger i used a black rio nail striper to create strokes from one side of my nail to create a tree shape. I then used a bright pink nail pen to create small flower shapes along the branches and a few larger flowers at the edge of the branches. After this i used a black nail art pen to create a small dot in the centre of each flower. On my middle finger i created a few different sized flowers randomly placed across my nail. I then used a white nail pen to make a few small spots in the spaces around the flowers. I finished the design off with a top coat.

I for Ikat

Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long since i've posted i just haven't seemed to get around to it. For the letter I i thought a few designs that i could do on my nails but as recently i've seen lots of ikat nails and haven't had a go at them myself i decided to do ikat nails. They were really easy to do, especially as they don't need to be particularly neat or uniformed. To begin with, i painted all my nails two coats of collection 2000 work the colour-baby blue nail polish. Once all my nails were dry, i used a white rio nail pen to create a rough triangular shape from the tip of each nail and another one from the base of each nail. After this had dried i used a neon pink nail pen from accessorize to draw a smaller pink triangle inside each white one. Then i used a black rio nail striper to roughly outline each triangle using a series of tiny lines and create a small random shape in the middle of each triangle. I finished the design with a top coat.

H for hearts

Hey everyone! I stuck with the obvious for the letter H, hearts. I actually had another heart themed design in mind but it didn't quite go to plan so i did this one instead. I felt in a summery mood  so decided to use quite bright colours. It's a really simple and easy to do design and didn't take very long to do. Firstly, i painted all my nails two coats of rimmel lasting finish pro in the shade wild orchid. Next, i used collection work the colour polish in the shade in the pink to create two thick diagonal stripes in a V formation at the edge of each nail to create a heart. I then used collection mardi gras polish in white out and a medium dotting tool to outline each heart on all my nails. I finished this design with a top coat.

G for Galaxy

Hey everyone! For the letter G, as i couldn't think of much else to do and because i haven't done them before, i really wanted to use it as an opportunity to do galaxy nails. These are a little different than some of the galaxy nails i've seen before but i still used the same idea and technique of sponging different coloured polishes on my nails. I painted all my nails two coats of an unnamed black polish. Then i used a claire's dark purple glitter polish and a piece of makeup sponge to create an arch on all my nails. I then used rimmel cocktail colour "apple berry smoothie"; miss sporty clubbing colours "popcorn"; technic pretty pastels "looby lou"; an unnamed dark pink and collection mardi gras "white out" to sponge onto all my nails randomly. Afterwards, i painted all my nails with an unnamed silver glitter polish and miss sporty sparkle touch nail varnish. Finally, i finished the design with a top coat.

F for Fox and flowers

Hey Everyone! For the letter F i really couldn't decide whether to do foxes of flowers so i decided to do both. As most of the fox nail designs i've seen are quite autumn themed i wanted my design to be more summery so when i saw this design on hey, nice nails knew i had to recreate them. For the base coat i wanted a nudey-pale pink colour that would look subtle and pretty but look the right colour for the fox's face. However, i didn't have a nail polish that i thought would fit this description so i mixed two colours together-Rimmel lasting finishing pro bare naked and Technic pretty pastels bubblegum. I mixed fairly equal parts of both polishes and i was actually quite pleased with the end result. I then used this polish to paint all my nails with 3 coats. Once they were dry, i used an unnamed orange polish and a fine nail art brush to paint a curved line near my cuticle of my ring finger and two curved lines meeting at a point near the edge of my nail. Afterwards, i used a small dotting tool and a black polish to create two dots either side of the point for eyes and a large dot at the very edge of my nail  for a nose. On my other nails i used george- cloudless sky, an unnamed red polish and collection mardi gras-white out and a medium dotting tool to create small flowers from the tip of my nails. I used a gold rio nail art pen to create dots for the centres of all the flowers and a green one for leaves. I finished the design with a topcoat.