Chic Chanel Inspired Nails

I was SUPER excited to receive my first ever Chanel polish for my birthday along with a mirror compact. The packaging was so elegant and special with the Chanel ribbon, tissue and box it inspired me to make a design based on their classic combo of black, white and gold.

The cross is made of 2 colours fading in to each other, gold in the centre as if it's glowing then white at the tips of the cross.

I used:

Black polish - Wet n Wild 'Black Creme'

White polish - China Glaze 'Frosty'

Gold and Silver Glitter - Orly 'Halo'

Topcoat - Poshe

To learn how to create the design, click HERE or on the video below!

Arcadia   xx

Indie Brand Sonnetarium - Samurai Princess, Blueberry Yogurt, & Raspberry Sorbet Swatches

I recently treated myself to some new polishes from the Independent Brand Sonnetarium and of course I HAD to make a swatch video of them!

I've been searching for my perfect black and white glitter for a while, many brands are making them but none of them were quite right....most have really big glitter in for a start and although I like large glitter, I only want to wear it now and then.  Samurai Princess from Sonnetarium has a fabulous mix of glitters and none of them are too big, as soon as I saw it I knew it was the one for me!

I also picked up 2 polishes from this Spring's Fresh Collection, Blueberry Yogurt and Raspberry Sorbet.   They're available from their site, Sonnetarium.net.

To see all 3 polishes applied and to hear my review of them, click HERE or watch the video below.

Arcadia  xx

From The Archive: Cute Cupcake Nails

Here's a tutorial from last year that I needed to re-upload this week.  I think every channel has done cupcake nails as some point, but I held back until I could figure out something a little different.

My version has a cute little face with chubby cheeks, and random candy coloured dots on the other nails.  As you can see it works really well on short nails too!

Click HERE or on the video below to watch the tutorial  :)

Pink base - Something Sweet by China Glaze
Artwork done with acrylic paints by FolkArt and DecoArt and a detail brush.

Arcadia  xx

Smiley Face Nail Art Tutorial

Here is my version of smiley face nail art, a design I've been meaning to do for AGES...

It was supposed to have some fimo smiley faces in it, however when I tried to use them they just seemed too big and were difficult to curve around my nails.  I got in a huff and just did a freehand version instead.

I have little patience for fimo slices to be honest  :/

Anyway, here are the details, and as ever, click on the video to watch how it was done..

Red Polish - SpaRitual 'Hunk of Burning Love'  3 coats
Yellow Polish - Barry M 'Lemon Ice Cream' 5 coats (which is ridonkulous!  I've ordered Lemon Fizz by China Glaze because it applies in 2 or 3 apparently)
Topcoat - Color Club, pretty much hate it but I'm using it up for tutorials.
Acrylic paints by FolkArt and DecoArt (FolkArt are way better)

Brush - Teeny tiny one from an art store with most of the bristles chopped off.

And of course if you're rubbish at doing your other hand just paint them all red with the polka dots and leave it at that!

Thanks for watching

Arcadia  xx

Holographic Polishes by Layla - Swatches and Review

One of my lovely viewers suggested that instead of focusing on new collections (which I can't really afford right now) I could instead make a swatch video whenever I buy myself some interesting polishes....so here are some holos I treated myself to last month from Layla.

I chose silver and black, and bought them from amazon.co.uk.

I love them, see what you think in the video below (where I list the pros and cons)

Thanks for watching!

Arcadia  xx

Easy Hazard Tape Effect Nails

Hello!

I've spent the last week messing around with striping tape trying to see what new ideas I could come up with, and this is what I created!  I don't know why I thought of hazard tape, no doubt it's because I was playing with the striping tape while watching CSI Vegas lol.

You can of course use regular clear tape and cut it in to strips, but be aware that 2 coats of polish over regular tape can create bleeding lines.  Two coats over striping tape works very well (if you count to ten before removing it), but sometimes you'll get blurry lines with the clear tape.  I'd recommend using a dense opaque polish that's a one coater over it if you're having trouble.

Arcadia  xx

Faded Butterflies Stamping Nail Art Tutorial

I've done some stamping this week using a beautiful butterfly image from Bundlemonster, but you could also re-create it with a flower or leaf image too.

I thought it'd be cute to paint my little finger lilac and added a butterfly rhinestone to it as a finishing touch!

Items used -

White - Sally Hansen Insta-Dry 'Whirlwind White'
Lilac - OPI 'Done Out In Deco'
Pale Green - Essie 'Maximillian Strasse Her'
Blue/Grey - Colour Club 'Shabby Drab'
Topcoat - Poshe Topcoat

Image Plate - Bundlemonster BM-205 from the 2011 set of 25 plates (available on amazon and bundlemonster's website)

I hope you like it!

Arcadia   x