Olympic Nails! #TeamGB | Scrapbook Nails

The whole world has gone olympic mad, and I'm LOVING it! Having the games in London this year has created such a buzz, the atmosphere is incredible and it makes me so proud to be British.

I went to see the Athletics today & I didn't want to leave the stadium, it was just AMAZING! I can't even put it in words. One of the best days of my life for sure.

I didn't want to have Union Jack nails for this event, so I copied Stella McCartney's design for the GB kit. I loved how my nails turned out, but I can't deny that I found it a bit tricky doing this all freehand!

I used a lot of different polishes for this nail art, so I wont list them all. But... I will do a brief 'how to' using pictures.

Nail Magic - My best kept secret | Scrapbook Nails

I have decided to stop being selfish and share with you, the miracle product that will solve all your flakey & weak nail problems (I hope - Not 100% guaranteed, so don't hate me if it doesn't work for you!).

[Image source here]

I had tried several of the nail strengthener polishes on the market, but nothing was working for me. Sally Hansen's diamond strength & OPI's Nail Envy are two of the most raved about products, but they unfortunately made no difference to the overal health/ appearance of my nails.

I discovered Nail Magic after browsing the web for hours, searching for something that would help with my horrible, weak, brittle, flakey nails. Some of the reviews I read stated that Nail Magic hurt them, or that they couldn't see any improvement in their nails at all, but with the knowledge that different products work for different people, I placed an order anyway. I read the instructions, and it does say to keep the polish away from your cuticles. I have to admit that I felt a dull ache in my nails after a few applications, but it certainly didn't hurt, and it didn't put me off using up the entire bottle. After about 3 days, the ache had gone completely, and I've not experienced any other pain/ache/uncomfortable-ness since. This beauty is now a staple product in my collection, and I wouldn't want to live without it. 

It is fairly expensive, averaging at around £10 a pop for only 7.4 ml of product. This is half of what you get in a full sized OPI bottle, for the same price. But, it is 100% worth it!!! It really works, after just one application my nails felt stronger, all my flakes had gone, and I believe that it made my nails grow quicker too.

To begin with, I applied this polish every day, to get my nails into a state I was happy with. Now, I apply one coat before a fresh mani, which is about two or three times a week, to keep them in ship-shape. I'm just finishing off my second bottle & can safely say I will be re-purchasing without a shadow of a doubt!

I hope that if you decide to purchase Nail Magic, it works just as well for you, as it does for me!

Here are a few places you can buy the product:
Amazon
John Lewis
eBay

*Note*

I'd like to point out that I am in no way affiliated with the company that produces Nail Magic, and I wasn't asked to/ paid to write this review. I just genuinely LOVE it, and thought I'd spread the word!

Abigail xo

Chameleon Pink - Easy Gradient Nails | Scrapbook Nails

Barry M's Chameleon polishes are probably the easiest polishes to work with to achieve the popular gradient look.
All you need to do is sponge on a topcoat, making sure the very tips have a heavier coverage & HEY PRESTO you've got simple, but beautiful, gradient nails.
This is probably one of my favourite manicures to date, and it was so easy to achieve.

I added coloured dots to my ring fingers, using different sized dotting tools.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the only issue with the chameleon polishes is that they don't last long. With this look though, the maintenance is minimal, so you could quickly add to the tips if you have wear and tear and wanted the mani to last a couple of extra days!

I used:
Base coat - No7, So Smooth

Base colour - Barry M, Chameleon Pink - 330
Polka Dot colours - Various, see picture below.
Top coat - China Glaze, Fast forward Top Coat

Chameleon Lilac Stripes | Scrapbook Nails

I've been saving really hard recently and sticking to a tight budget, which means I've not been buying any new polish. But a couple of days before payday I had some spare pennies, and while I was in Superdrug, I couldn't resist picking up the three new Barry M Chameleon polishes.

I love the idea of them, just add a topcoat and the colour changes. I decided to try out tips first, which I liked, buuuut I wanted to add my fave stripes too.
The only downfall is that the mani doesn't last long because you can't add a final topcoat once you've finished your nail art, without ruining it all.

I used:
Base coat - No7, So Smooth

Base colour - Barry M, Chameleon Lilac - 332
Top coat - TopShop Nails, Matte

Foil Splatter Tips | Scrapbook Nails

This was a bit of a fail :-(
I originally thought the foil I picked out looked a little peacock like, so I thought if I put it on my tips, on top of a blue base it might look like a peacock inspired mani.

Then I realised it looked nothing like a peacock...

So I decided to go for a 'tip splatter' and this is how it turned out.... it's not the best, but I think if I tried it again, with different colours for the base and foil, it would like quite pretty.

I used:
Base coat - No7, So Smooth

Base colour - Nails Inc, Hanover Square
Foil - from a RIO kit.
Top coat - the special foil one from the RIO kit, followed by TopShop Nails, Matte
(All topcoats are RUBBISH at keeping foils on the nails. You can see in the pics that the foil had already stared to come away from my tips after just one day. As matte topcoats are a little thicker then most, I thought I'd give that a whirl. In my opinion, it didn't make the foil last any longer - worth a try though, right!)

Neapolitan Dreams | Scrapbook Nails

I've named these my Neapolitan nails, although if we're talking about the ice cream, I have done the colours in the wrong order...

Still, I love the yummy texture of this manicure. I didn't use a sponge for this, I used a blunt bristled nail brush and just dabbed the colour on. I wasn't going for a gradient, more of a 3D layer type effect. I used a crackle polish for the pink, which helped to achieve the look I was going for.

Doncchha just love pink & brown together?!

I used:


Base coat - No7, So Smooth


Brown - Barry M, Mushroom 310
Pink - Barry M Crackle, Pink Fizz 314
White - Models Own, Snow White

Top coat - China Glaze, Fast Forward Top Coat

Jubilee Union Jack Nails | Scrapbook Nails

Like many Brits this week, I've been sporting Union Jack nails to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.
This is certainly not my neatest ever nail art, but from a distance(!) they looked pretty cool.

I couldn't resist snapping up these OPI polishes, not only are they pretty, sparkly, shimmery, glitters but they're limited edition too- it would have been rude not to! They're from the 'Great Britain, Great Nails' Jubilee Collection.

I'll use this as my practice round before my TeamGB Olympic nail art commences in July!

I used:

Base coat - No7, So Smooth

Blue - OPI, DS Magic (Jubilee Collection)
White -  OPI, Happy Anniversary (Jubilee Collection)
Red -
 OPI, DS Bold (Jubilee Collection)
Top coat - China Glaze, Fast Forward Top Coat