Thursday, May 29, 2014

The Lacquer Legion Challenge - Garden


I love these nails! They are so happy and summery.

I used false nails again for this nail art, but my natural nails are almost back to full health after a few weeks of using nothing but cuticle oil and Sally Hansen Maximum Growth on them. I'm not sure it makes them grow any faster, but it does seem to improve the condition and prevent dryness and splitting (my main nail issues).

The prompt for this month's Lacquer Legion Challenge was "Garden". I loved this prompt and had no trouble finding inspiration as my own tiny garden is currently a riot of colourful flowers and interesting creepy crawlies.

I used a few polishes for the bases of the nails. The lime green is Constance Carroll in Neon Green, which is not really a true neon and is often available in discount stores for about 50p a bottle. The froggy green is N.Y.C High Line Green, usually available in 2 for £2.49 deals in Superdrug. Unfortunately it is one of those polishes that goes gloopy and difficult to work with after being open for six months. The blue is Cool Blue from the Maybelline Color Show range (£2.99 but often available in 3 for 2 deals at Boots).


I painted grass on some of the nails using the green polishes and a striping brush, plus Jungle Fever, a forest green from the Rimmel 60 seconds range. The clouds were done using a dotting tool and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. The beetles were done using a large dotting tool and a Miss Sporty Metal Flip polish in shade Fiery Blaze, which is a purple to olivey gold duochrome polish that I love and don't wear often enough (£3 for 2 at Superdrug). I drew the details on the beetles with a fine black waterproof indian ink art pen. I don't recommend this though as it turns out it isn't very top coat proof!

I used some matte caviar beads I bought on ebay a few months ago. This is the first time I've used them and they are great. As they don't have a metallic coating there is no way the colour can fade or bleed with top coat and they remind me of sugar sprinkles on cakes. I used L.A.Colors clear polish (shade name Voltage) and placed the caviar beads using a wooden cocktail stick dipped in a little polish. I added a fimo butterfly from my wheel of fimo butterflies from Poundland. Everything was topped with a thick coat of L.A.Colors Top Coat and left to harden overnight (thank goodness for false nails!).


What do you think? Did you do any garden themed art for the Lacquer Legion Challenge this month?

6 comments:

  1. This is amazing! It fits perfectly with the theme and is such a great idea! The caviar beads work so well as flowers and the little butterfly is so cute! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is mega awesome I love it! And the little bugs are so cute too :-) I do love those Miss Sporty metal flips!

    :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! :D
      I really need to do some more nail art with the Metal Flip polishes.

      Delete
  3. These look awesome! The colours are so nice and vibrant, the flowers look great and the beetles and butterfly are adorable! Really really cool :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello, I’ve just discovered this blog and I love your nail art creations!
    They look beautiful  Especially this one!!
    I’m looking forward to read your next post,

    ~Xx~ Julia
    Creativenails4fun

    ReplyDelete