BURKATRON

yikes my nails have been so neglected! I love to give my paws a manicure every week but since I started decorating my new house I've not had much time for pampering! just keeping them from breaking as I'm sanding down floors is an achievement ...having a few hours free to file and paint them is a bit of a treat! this is quite a quick nail art so thought I'd share it with you guys! start off with a white base coat, I've used topshop spilled milk polish here...  take a pink and yellow polish and draw on alternate circles using the brush, space them evenly I have 3-4 circles on each nail.  once dry take a black nail art pen (mine is from models own  and I really recommend theirs) roughly outline around the circles and add a small flick in the center to suggest the petals. use a dotting tool dab on green polish to add the leaves, seal with topcoat and you're all done! I did these fairly quickly so I'm sure they would look neater if you try them yourself!  now all I ...

hello guys!  today I have some geometric nail art that I've created using some polishes from nailgirls! I also have a little giveaway for you hurrah! nailgirls kindly asked if I'd like to be their nail art blogger of the month and create a nail art for them, they've also offered some polishes for you guys to win too... (pop down to the end of the post if you want to enter!) I decided to come up with a really simple and bold design that would make the most of the two nail polishes I'd picked  canary yellow  and bright tangerine ! the formula of the polishes is really good, I've always found yellow a difficult polish and this is the best one I've tried to date, the coral formula is fantastic needing practically 1 coat for full coverage (wowza!) I added some studs and a slick of topcoat to finish off the design! so onto the fun part the GIVEAWAY!! we have two nail polishes and a nailgirls top coat up for grabs and the winner gets to choose which colours they rece...

eeeeeek, I've been so excited to share this post with you guys! I was recently contacted by an LA based company called scratch, an awesome duo of ladies whose mantra is simply to create current, fun and wearable nail wraps, sounds good huh?  when scratch asked if I'd like to design a collection for them and I said HELL YEAH and so the scratch & burkatron collaboration began...yipee!  I designed four wraps in total, the watermelon design has already sold out (on pre release) I couldn't quite believe my eyes when it was reviewed on zooey deschanels website hellogiggles and they were all snapped up! I'm super duper excited to announce that the main collection is officially launching TODAY on scratch  (happy dance) there are three designs in total and I thought I'd share them with you I know not everyone has the time or inclination to sit painting their nails so these are the perfect way to adorn your fingers when you've got a busy schedule. I've used wraps ...

if you're a neon fan or channelling the 90's vibe these nails may be for you... inspired by a WAH  version I saw on instagram I decided to give them a whirl! I have to say probably best avoid this look if you're off to a wedding but I think they're perfect for casual days... and what the hell, it's good to mix it up a little sometimes!  here's how I painted mine: as you can see it's really just a simple technique of dabbing colour and adding a few lines with my   models own  nail art pens to suggest running drips.. easy peasy! don't forget to seal with a good top coat and you're ready to rave.... back soon caroline x

wowza.. it feels like ages since I've painted my nails! I managed to break two of them in half moving furniture so I had to give all my nails the chop as they were crazily uneven *sobs* I don't really mind having shorter nails though; I think to keep them healthy you should cut them down every few months (this works for me as mine get weaker the longer they grow) my nails grow fairly quickly helped along by regular use of OPI nail envy (miracle product) and lots of TLC! I painted these quickly as I was heading out to an event but I thought I'd share them with y'all in case you wanted to try them too!  as I did these at night I didn't photograph the steps but I'll break down the basic idea for you.. I used models own  peach sherbet as the base, a really pretty spring shade; the flowers are just drawn free hand so no nail art pens needed -but you can use them if you'd like!  take a dark pink polish and draw two large circles on each nail for the flower base. n...

spring bling anyone..? I love these nails; I have to thank you girls at  wah  for the inspo! I never thought about putting gemstones with polka dots until I saw one of their manicures; I thought it was seriously cute! it's also not too tricky!  I've used one of my most loved nail polishes  models own  beth's blue which is just the most adorable pastel blue and a perfect shade for spring. the gemstones are a collection I've built up from  amazon  and  eBay ; you can buy packs for a few pound and they really do seem to last forever! the hardest part is the polka dots but they're simple if you use a nail art pen or dotting tool.  if you don't have either you can always make a DIY dotter yourself; I've resorted to using pencils dipped in polish to make dots on nails in the past aha! I hope you like them! back soon, ps. don't forget there's still time to enter my nail polish  giveaway! caroline x

time to take matters into my own hands. since the sun is refusing to arrive I'm ploughing on with my spring/summer nail art in the hope the weather will catch up.... EVENTUALLY! I love bright nails so I decided to mix up one of my favourite nail art techniques.. the good old gradient! it's a fun and easy thing to master- I did a little tutorial  here  for you guys to read if you missed it! once the base gradient dried I added a basic black and white leopard print on top. dab on white circles (I use the brush straight from the polish bottle) and outline with a black nail art pen (I use  models own )  I always paint both hands (oh boy is the right hand harder!) but I rarely get a shot of both as my camera struggles to focus on timer, luckily my mum was on hand to snap these! I tend to use a page from my blogging notebook to dab off the excess colours; I think the leftover palette's are so pretty (plus it shows you how messy I am when I'm painting.. mucky pup!) if you h...

I always get excited by new brands (hmmmm ...did someone say geek?) red carpet queen is a new brand to me so I wasn't sure what to expect; I was sent these awesome looking nail polishes by the hut  to test drive and I'm pretty impressed with them.  firstly I'll say they're far too much fun, the packaging is a brilliant novelty! (probably the closest I'll get to holding actual bullets- probably a good thing considering the amount of serial killer documentaries I watch!)  I've been wearing controversy for 4 days now- I'm beginning to see very small chips beginning on my right index finger & thumb but the others and my left hand remains chip free (I have a special skill for chipping polish so I'm always impressed by anything that lasts longer than 3-4 days!) they've been formulated with an extra high dose of nitrocellulose to keep them strong and long lasting so this is probably why! the colours of the polishes are really something...

if you're anything like me you may be partial to pimping out your nails with a little bit of glitter!  glitter polishes remain my nemesis when it comes to removal ! this type of glitter mani however is a zillion times easier to take off than a full glitter varnish.. hurrah! I have quite a few glitter top coats but sometimes I like to create my own. I was recently introduced to a new type of glitter called 'flitter' when I was sent some assorted glittler pots by viva la nails  (their website is a must see for nail art supplies!) flitter isnt in many top coats on the market and it's gorgous!! that was all the inspiration I needed to whip up a new glitter combination for my nails!  the glitters I tried were brilliant! I've used standard glitters before but these are much better due to the assorted sizes and textures! I used a combination of shapes and types on my nails including: flitter  (glitter strips) neon glitter  (really vibrant and a mixture of sizes) super ...

hello OTT nails! forgive me. sometimes I just can't resist sticking on some shiny bling.. call it magpie syndrome! I felt like trying a darker colour with some stones as I usually opt for pastels and ice cream colours! a lot of people ask me where I get my decorations from; the truth is I pick them up randomly when I see them on these  eBay  and  amazon  shops! a few pound here and there and all of a sudden you have yourself a sparkly collection just asking to be played with! once I've painted my nails I get my stones out ready and apply a coat on cleat polish to one nail and attach the stones into the wet surface (top tip; pop a tiny piece of blue-tac onto the end of a cocktail stick to pick up the tiny stones) repeat one finger at a time and seal everything with at least 2 coats of top coat to seal! there's a million and one ways to use these stones so this is just an idea for you guys! hope you like them! caroline x

I painted these mix and match nails yesterday; I thought I would share them with you to give you some ideas for your own nails!  sometimes I can't decide on just one pattern... so I guess this is a nail art cocktail of sorts! I used some of my favourite  models own  colours to create a candy coloured base to work on! I then painted on hearts, cupcakes, florals and some pop art motifs to create a fun mix & match! I hope you like them!!  back soon caroline x

hello rascals! today I'd thought I'd share a nail art tutorial with you guys! I was really excited recently when company magazine asked me to come up with a nail art feature for their weekly edit; once the initial panic over what to paint receded I came up with this tutorial (I have done this once before but I think a few of you may have missed it as it was some time back!) if you're curious you can find out more about the weekly edit  here! you'll need a base colour, a nail art pen/fine brush and an alternate colour for the bows! you don't need to use the same colours as me; this looks good in dozens of colourways!  so here are the main steps: I hope you like it! I think breaking it down into steps makes this one a lot easier, once you have a basic idea of the shapes you get more confident with it! if you have an iPhone and want to download the issue or any of the others you can have a sneaky peek  here! (I also wanted to quickly say thank you for following my litt...