This week’s Monday mani comes courtesy of Nails Inc Bluebell, a free polish with the June UK edition of In Style magazine. The freebie also comes in Powder Pink and a very pastel Peach worth £11 each… I’m resisting. The magazine is a really good read too, so not a waste of your £3.80!
I’ve been meaning to try a nail art tool for agggges and decided to take the plunge after reading a post on dotting by the lovely Esther from FabFingerTips blog, which I’ll link at the end. The tool I used was Model’s Own newish Nail Art Pen, which I got for £6 at Boots {link}.
This clever little tool is double ended, with a fine line brush at one end for creating strokes and lines and a thin nib pen for more detailed designs. Like dots! In all honesty I can’t imagine achieving a whole lot with the long bendy brush, but the nib is a clever design… a thin wire cylinder through which the paint drips when you gently squeeze the plastic tube. If you don’t squeeze at all, you get a tiny amount; if you squeeze, you get more! Despite it being quite straightforward, it will take me some time to get used to doing my right hand… this was my first attempt.
I’m not really a blue nails kind of girl. I formerly stuck to nudes, browns, pinks & reds, though am coming around to the fact that nails are a great way to have fun with colour and who cares if it’s a little bit out there - it comes off.
Bluebell is a gorgeous lavender toned cornflower blue and very pretty for summer (she says, glancing out at the hailstones). The texture is thick and creamy - a touchy gloopy but still lovely… I smoothed out any bumps with Seche Vite topcoat, which I applied under the dots (the day before I decided to add them - but a good way to add longevity).
If you are dotting, leave plenty of drying time before applying a topcoat… you can see why in my baby nail above. I didn’t add it until after taking these pics, so probably half an hour’s drying time in total. I’m happy to be reunited with Seche Vite as 10 mins later I was able to jump in the shower and wash my hair with no smudging and my nails are still perfect now, a day later.
Bluebell with flash.
And just because I think it looks cute against my daughter’s duvet cover!
Oh, here is a link to Esther’s brilliant dotting tutorials - show her blog some love - it is one of my favourites for beautiful photographs of nail swatches & she is a real sweetie pie. There are two parts - here is the {link} to part 1. (Esther is much more uniform and perfect in her approach than me - cringe!)
Have you picked up In Style with a Nails Inc freebie?
