OWLS!

This was supposed to be my "Weekly Haul" post but I got a bit carried away!

Let me start by talking about this stunning Jess glitter polish (Poundland exclusive) called Flash Harry. It is a clear base, densely packed with tiny square silver, red, green and holographic glitter (...I think. It's hard to tell). It applies evenly, is full of glitter and looks really pretty on the nails. It looks dazzling over a dark polish.

It dries slower than the Jess creme polishes, but I've found that a lot of glitter polishes stay tacky for a while and this is no different. Here I swatched one coat of it over Rimmel Blue Vogue and it looks amazing, like a galaxy of stars. It is, however, almost impossible to photograph!

Now that I had gorgeous starry nails, I thought I'd have a go at freehanding some owls on them. My younger sister has always had an obsession with owls and now lives in France so I don't get to see her very often. I thought that sending her a picture of owl nails would make her smile.

I've never done any proper freehand nail art (aside from painting a Klingon symbol on my nails at the weekend), but I do have a degree in illustration so I thought I'd put that to good use. I used acrylic model paints to paint the owls because the paints have a smooth, thin consistency which makes them easy to paint fine detail with, but are also really opaque. I topped my nails with Konad Top Coat to protect the owls. I am lucky that my husband has acrylic paints in every shade imaginable and some really thin paint brushes because his hobby is building and painting model tanks/spaceships/soldiers/robots/monsters.

If you don't have a geeky model-making husband but want to get your hands on some acrylic paints for nail art, I recommend a brand called Vallejo (their Game Color and Model Color ranges are the ones to buy) as they are great quality, available in every shade you can think of including metallics and are about £2 for a bottle that will last for years. Most independent hobby shops (the kind of places that sell Airfix kits, tiny plastic soldiers and sometimes model trains) stock these paints or you can buy them online here. You could also use Citadel brand paints which are available from branches of Games Workshop and Hobbycraft, but are more expensive. Acrylic model paints are water soluble while wet so you just need to wash your brush in water, but once they dry they become waterproof and won't smudge with top coat.

I really enjoyed painting these nails and I will definitely be doing more freehand nail art in future now I know how much fun it is!
Twit-twoo, twit-twoo, what do you think of these nails?