Bauble Nails

Here we have Gel II 'Bunny Hopping' which is the most lovely pastel purple colour.

I added some silver bauble water decals to complete the christmassy look and viola.

Client loved them, as did I.

I cannot recommend Gell II enough - it's fabulous to work with, really lasts and looks awesome.

The extreme shine top coat is an absolute must, as it does exactly what it says on the tin!

Fancy French - Christmas Twist

I have a client who wanted something subtle, so I went for a lovely subtle Gellux French Manicure with some gorgeous little Christmas tree water decals.

Hopefully if hew boss spots them, she will think they are far to gorgeous to be mad at her :)

Frozen Nails

Here are my Anna and Elsa nails.

I used Irrisitible glitter on top of O.P.I. Gel polish and used Gel II Extreme White with Water Decals.

A great and simple little design that looked fab!

Fairy French

My Fancy French is going down a treat. People seem to be loving the classic french with a twist.

Today I did a lady with Fairies on her fingers.

I used O.P.I. Passion and Alpine White for the french (gel) and some water decals for the fairies.

When looking for water decals - you really get what you pay for. Having said that - you don't need to pay more than a couple of quid for some really nice ones. I find mine on ebay like these. 

ALWAYS look for ones with a white card backing. Some cheap and nasty ones have brown card and they are a total arse to get off the backing card. They are stretchy and completely impractical. 

These kind come on white card and are fab! 

Cut them out, hold with tweezers in water for 15 seconds or as long as it takes to slide easily off the backing card. Place on the nail and dab with lint free cloth to get rid of the excess water and top coat a few times to seal in properly.

VIOLA!

Floral French

One of my regulars wanted a french with some flowers on.

I used Gellux for the French and water decals for the flowers. 

I think this shows perfectly that shorter nails CAN have french and decals on without looking too busy. Just make sure the smile lines are all pretty similar and don't take them too deep.

When nails ARE too short - instead of bashing on and it looking a not

French - Water Decals

I'm a bit of a fan of the old Water Decals. They are quick and easy to use, providing you get the decent ones. I've had ones that are stretchy horrible ones that are utterly useless - normally come on brown cardboard. Utterly crap.

Then there are ones that are really stiff. Just as useless, they don't fold round the nail, and just lay there flat across them and as soon as you think you've bent them round and slopped on enough topcoat to weigh it down against the nail while you cure it, 'pop' it pings back up again. Frustrating the hell out of me.

The good one normally come on White card with plastic over them. Cut the shape out, hold with tweezers into a little dappen dish of water, wait 30 secs, slide off and pop them on the nail. DONE. Simple as that. They can look really effective too . . .

Here's some Bridal nails - with some subtle hearts on the ring finger . . .