Pastel Paint Palette Nail Art

A while back I read Lily Pebbles' post on paint palette nail art and loved it, promptly recreated it and uploaded a very low quality to instagram. Months later I am bringing what was a quite simple technique (no odd tools required) back but in pastel.

I love pastel polish year round, my nails are the only place I really wear much colour and I think it's a gentle pop amongst my primarily monochrome outfit choices. I'm not big on 'nail trends' so my colour choices are rarely influenced by season but this would be more of a summer choice for some but I'm wearing it in Autumn right now.

With a simple white base (a shade that if you're into a little bit of nail art, you need to have and I recommend buying a decent one, not just the cheapest one from the supermarket like I did) paint over the nail as many coats as required until fully opaque. I used Sally Hanses Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear polish in White On. I did this step the night before so it was fully dry but either use a quick dry top coat to shorten the process or wait an hour so the polish won't move when you paint over it.

I'd personally go with four or five shades but use what you have. I went for Essie's Go Ginza (pastel pink), Essie's Bikini So Teeny (darkest blue), Maybelline Color Show in Green With Envy (the deeper green), L'Oreal Color Riche in French Riviera (very pale blue) and Covergirl's Outlast Stay Brilliant polish in Lav-Endure (pastel purple).

Wipe the majority of polish off the brush so it's going to be slightly streaky and uneven, and gently do a small stroke over the nail. You can place this randomly or strategically depending if you want the art to be uniform on all nails or different. If the colour didn't show up as much as you'd wanted, you can easily go over it again with the same process. It's better to have less and add because you can't take any away without starting over.

Repeat this on every nail, one colour at a time to make it simpler. Because the strokes are thin they'll dry quite quickly and some of the colours don't overlap at all so you can do those at the same time. Repeat this process for all colours on all nails and finish off with a topcoat after a few hours so the colours don't blend together and you're finished!

It's a simple introduction into the nail art world and I really loved the results. Let me know in the comments if you'll be trying the paint palette look.

Speckled Nail Art

I love a bit of nail art but often it's a bit of a faff to do for something that only lasts a couple of days. That's why when I saw the L'Oreal Color Riche top coat effect in confettis I was very intrigued and alongside the low price point I bought it and gave it a try.

Being a top coat effect you of course need a base colour, I used a simple cheap white nail polish for a statement but I think a grey (Essie's Master Plan is my favourite) or even perhaps a red would work nicely. The white polish did hide the white speckles but I love monochrome contrast so that didn't matter to me. I found it was an easier adjustment into the white-out nail polish trend with the addition of speckles to break it up a little and make it look more polished.

Removal was the worst part but it was only mildly traumatic and only makes me slightly hesitant to do it again. One hand at a time wrap half a cotton pad that has been soaked in an acetone based nail polish remover around the nail. Over the top of that cover the finger in foil and leave for a few minutes before taking off the foil and wiping away the polish. This will get the majority of the speckles off but you'll need to go back to get the cling-ons. Lily Pebbles explains this process much better in her post but you get the gist.

What do you think of the speckled nail effect? Will you be tempted to try this soon?