A Tale of Two Manis

So, today I am going right back to basics with two Manis that I have created over the Valentines weekend. They are very different in many ways, but they do have one thing in common, they are both done without the use of any nail vinyls or stencils or stamping plates - just good old fashioned freehand (albeit very basic freehand!!!)

The first mani was my Valentine effort - what better way to celebrate Valentines day than with hearts and a couple of 

Nails Inc by Victoria Beckham polishes (champagne and flowers are soooo overrated!!!)

I decided to use both of the polishes from my boxed set (a Valentine pressie to myself!!) as they complement each other so well. Judo Red with Bamboo White hearts (and the reverse on my ring finger to mix it up a bit) 

The hearts were created using my Ciate dotting tool and brush and a lot of patience!!!

I love how the mani turned out and I got a lot of positive comments over the weekend.

By Sunday evening, having been wearing it for nearly 48 hours (a record for me!!!) I was over the whole heart thing and ready for my next look.

I am part of a Facebook group called Crumpets Nail Tarts, and have joined their 52 week Pick n Mix Challenge. We do weekly challenges that involve 2 prompts - one is a technique or style and the other is a colour combo - you can choose to do either one of the prompts or combine the two. This weeks prompts were Geometric and/or Blue, Green & Yellow. I have decided to try a create a mani using both prompts. 

It's not a look I would usually rock (and it definitely won't be staying on for 48 hours) but I think it meets the brief quite well.

I used 3 BarryM polishes, 2 of which, Road Rage (shown in the photo) and Stop the Clock, were launched on Wednesday as part of the new Speedy Quick Dry range. The third was Blueberry, one of the BarryM Gelly HiShines. If you look really closely you'll see that the lines are not as sharp as if I had used nail vinyls, but the theme of my manis this weekend was freehand!!! I used the dots to make the mani a bit more interesting and to hide some of the imperfections.

All in all, a successful weekend on the nails front - see you next time!!!

Xoxo