Nail Art: Hime Gyaru

Hime Gyaru nails are a trend in japan which consists of lots of 3D nail beads, pearls, bows, cartoon characters etc. I personally only do Gyaru nails with flat back pearls and ball bearings as anything more would just be a hassle to my daily life haha!

Gyaru nails always look more effort than they actually entail, it really does consist of splodging on clear topcoat and then whatever 3D nail bit you have and is a really easy way to impress everyone. 

I used a base of Models Own Hypergel: Lilac Sheen and Barry M Gelly: Dragon Fruit and a good layer of Seche Vite on top to secure everything 

Simple Hime Gyaru nails

Hello people! Long time no post eh? :(

Uni's been a bit of a drag, and it's going to get even more saddening as I have at least 4 hand ins/deadlines/tests in March -_- 

So I haven't really been in the mood to do much nail art, but I have been doing a bit of shopping (Boots hauls coming soon!), so I will hopefully start doing swatch type posts soon too :)

So for this design, I used Essie's Lapiz Of Luxury, which I've been eyeing up for a while. It's a lovely dusty mid-blue, that's opaque in 2 coats (but I used my usual 3 coats), perfect for spring/summer. I know it's not that time of year yet, but I do love a bit of pastel ;)

I then got some 3D gems/pearls and randomly stuck on a few clusters in the corner of each nail, then topcoated with a good slather of Seche Vite. I finally succumbed to the hype and grabbed a bottle last time I was in Boots, and I have to say it's pretty darn good. It was dry by the time I (carefully) put away all my nail things, and everything's stayed on despite me getting my nails caught in my hair a good few times lol.

Sorry aboutt he state of my nails, the cold weather's been drying my cuticles and the complete riot of my room means I can't find my Lemony Flutter D:

Hopefully I'll get them back to good condition soon!

Double Post: Hime Gyaru & Ying Yang Drips

Hello m'loves, how are we surviving the freakishly wet summer of 2012? T_T

Anyhows, I have a double post for you today, since I didn't have much to say about of the designs as there wasn't much to it. Also, more apologies for my cuticles, I got fed up and went a bit snip happy with nail clippers...now I know why you're not supposed clip them -_-

The first design is a gentle step into the ever so slightly OTT world of Hime Gyaru nails from Japan.

In all honesty I kind of had another mind blank on what nail design to do, and all I decided was that I was going to use the ever so lovely Buttercup from the Revlon Colourstay range as a base. I then just blindly went into my nail decorations box and grabbed anything yellow based and ended up with this kind of thing. Normally I do my ring finger and my thumb as accent nails, however due to the unpractical use of gems and pearls and whatnot, I decided to keep my accent nail to just the ring finger. They did however last a fair amount of time before I decided to take them off (around 3 days) 

YELLOW: Revlon Colourstay - Buttercup
Gems & Pearls: Ebay

The next design I have is a Ying Yang/Drip effect design that I actually really like. If anyone watches the amazeballs Voussontbeauetbelle (i.e Becca) on youtube, you'll know that she often sports some wowza looking ying yang nails more often than not, and I just had to get involved! Me being one for accent nails and all that tosh, I decided to sport the ying yang sign on my accent nails and a drip effect on my other nails (God, I do like a good old drippy effect)

WHITE: Models Own - Snow White
BLACK: Barry M - Black

Given that my usual white is in Glasgow at the moment and I am in Edinburgh (making sure Mr Lacquerised doesn't die from starvation while his family are away in the sunny climates of Chamonix), I persuaded Mr L to purchase me a white from his place of work (Boots, however he only works in the opticians not the normal part of the store where I can easily peruse the contents for almost an hour!) and he picked up the Models Own French Mani white which I'd never actually used before. Personally, I find it a bit blah to work with...opaque-ish in 2 coats but can be a bit patchy and it has a weird consistency...maybe I'm just too used to my Ultra Pro one lol.

It was surprisingly hard/confusing for me to do the ying yang signs...I couldn't get them consistently the same shape...maybe I was overthinking it too much hehe.

Anyhows, if you don't know yet, Ive finally got round to opening my Etsy Shop, so have a quick peruse if you wish, and maybe even buy a set if you want hehe ;)

Till next time! :)