Images Nail Inspiration #1 : Louis Vuitton SS13

Marc Jacobs is a genius. I loved his Louis Vuitton SS13 show full of graphic checks and popping colour. Showcased at Paris Fashion Week in October his sixties-esque minimalist show for Louis Vuitton was fresh and exciting and I think the bold checks will translate into a hot set of finger art for summer. I'll be working on a set using the bright sunshine shade for this summer. I'll also be working on securing the sunshine yellow checked bag from the collection to go with said nails.....

Images Nude Leopard and Gold Stud Nails

What do you think of my nude leopard nails? As you can see I also received some gold studs recently, which I purchased from eBay. I love that they look fierce in an understated way due to the subtle nude shade. The flat back gold studs are easy to apply. Just simply drop onto the nail when the second coat of colour is just getting tacky and finish with a few coats of top coat to secure. I used Nails Inc 'Basil Street' for the nude and OPI 'A-Taupe the Space Needle' for the leopard spots. Tell me what you think in the comments below - I'd love to hear from you. xx

Images Nude and Red nails - V Shape

I love the combination of red and nude together, I think it makes a sophisticated high class colour combo and makes a difference to just plain polished red. I used Nails Inc Basil Street (nude) and Victoria and Albert (red). This design was easy to do if you have a steady hand and some patience. I'm also currently using this Sally Hansen Insta-Dry topcoat which I used on these nails.

It drys in 30 seconds and the brush is long making it super easy to apply. The finish is a high shine that really lasts. I'm impressed for the price, £4.99 at Superdrug.

Images New Year Nails

Gold and black french tips with a dash of confetti glitter.

Images Tiffany inspired bows

I did these nails for my friend after she had returned from a New York Breakfast at Tiffany's style trip. The Tiffany Blue nail colour is Models Own Baby Blues. After painting the nails I drew on the cute white bows with my white and black nail art pens. Don't you think they look so good with the Mulberry clutch? Love them!

Images GALAXY NAILS

These are my favourite nails so far - I love the texture and visual effects of the nails - they are definitely party nails. They are also much easier to make than they look.

For the nails I used:
Nails Inc - Christopher's Place (this was a limited edition Whistles polish)
Models Own - Aqua Violet Beetle Juice
OPI - Planks A Lot
Barry M - Pale Blue 306, Yellow 134 and Matt White 66

Start with a black consistent base coat as below. And then using a cut up sponge, sponge on the iridescent Aqua Violet Beetle Juice in a wave pattern across the nail. (I used a washing up sponge but if you want a finer texture use a make up sponge)

I then sponged on the lilac colour (OPI - Planks A Lot) following the wave pattern but not completely covering the iridescent colour.
I then used the blue colour (Barry M Pale Blue 306) and sponged patches onto to the nails leaving patches of the purple to show through.
Then finally going over the top with the yellow (Barry M - Yellow 134). This time I did over lap the blue and purple colours, allowing them to peep through at the edges, as you can see below.

Then following the curve of the waves I randomly dotted on white dots - i used my small dotting tool for this but you can get the same effect with a nail varnish brush and a steady hand.

The finishing touch was to paint on a fine clear silver glitter polish which added sparkle and gave the effect of stars, and also acted as a top coat.

Easy Peasy Galaxy Nails!

Images My Neighbor Totoro Nails

I've been a fan of the Studio Ghibli animation 'My Neighbor Tototo' for years now when I fell in love with cute Japanese character Totoro and his friends.

So I couldn't help but turn my passion for the film into a nail art design. Taking the main characters I painted each one carefully onto separate nails. I have Totoro on the thumb followed by Chibi, Catbus, Chu and the Soot Sprites on the little finger.

If you love the film hopefully you will love these nails, the people at HelloGiggles sure did.I sent in my nail design and they posted it on their website as the Nails of the Day, where I got much love for my designs.

For those who don't know HelloGiggles is female driven entertainment site co-founded by actress/musician Zooey Deschanel and two of her friends. Zooey is also star of one of my favourite shows at the moment - New Girl!

They also have their own nail-art blog page called MightyBell.com which has some really cool designs from other readers and is a great place for nail inspiration.