Hi everyone,

Hope you've all had a good holiday break and Happy New Year! I've been working on a lot of new stuff and have more tutorials with gel polish in the pipeline so stay tuned! Today I want to share with you 3D Cable Knit Nails that I have created for Scratch magazine. I've been seeing these different easy-to-do 3D cable knit nail art from nail technicians and I couldn't resist and try it. If you would like to see some absolutely stunning knitted nails, then check out this tutorial from Hazel Dixon, an amazing British nail technician.

I've created my manicure with just three products and one tool - Bio Seaweed Gel in Snow White, Cupcake and No Sanding Base and dotting tool. This is how the nails looked:

I was very excited to have this design and tutorial featured in the December issue of Scratch Magazine, it's always such an honour!  This is how the feature looked:

I have a picture tutorial but I think video is even better so here's how to re-create these nails:

Bio Seaweed Gel availability:
Canada: http://bioseaweedgel.com/
UK: http://bioseaweedgel.co.uk
US & rest of the world: http://bioseaweedgel.com/distributors/

I hope you've enjoyed the design and tutorial. Have you done 3D cable knit/jumper nails yourself? Feel free to share them in the comments, I'd love to see them!

Have a nice day! Lucie x

Hi everyone,

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month I've decided to do a pink ribbon design and perhaps remind all of us that October is not over yet! Cancer is scary and to me the fact that breast cancer is so common is even scarier and I even find it hard and upsetting to write about it. Instead I will link to some relevant breast cancer websites where you can get information, donate or get support if you need it:

https://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/

http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/

http://www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/

http://www.cancer.org/healthy/morewaysacshelpsyoustaywell/breastcancer

And now back to the nail art ;)  I've created this design using Bio Seaweed Gel products. Lately, I've been playing with them a lot since attending the workshop and I must say I find them easy to work with and the colours are very pretty.

For this design I have used:

Bio Seaweed Gel in Snow White #101
Bio Seaweed Gel Cupcake #241
Bio Seaweed Gel Lavish Me #229
Bio Seaweed Gel Strawberry Hills #210
Bio Seaweed Gel No Sanding Base
Bio Seaweed Gel Diamond Shine Top
Nail art brushes - Nsi HD Detailer Brush and brush from an art shop

And here is a video tutorial I've prepared for you so you can have a look how this nail art was created. It could also be adapted for working with nail polish or acrylic paint. I didn't cut out large parts so it is a bit longer but I hope you'll still like it.

I will be very grateful for any feedback you can give me. I chose a different video style with subtitles rather than narrating it - which style do you prefer?

Bio Seaweed Gel polishes are available from http://bioseaweedgel.co.uk (UK) and HERE is a list of distributors for all other countries.

Have a good day! Lucie x

*This is NOT a sponsored post and all opinions are my own

Hi everyone,

I went to my cousin's wedding in April and since I was going to be away for 9 days, I've decided to do a gel polish manicure. It was the perfect opportunity to test the longevity of gel polishes as this was the first gel polish manicure that I was going to wear for more than a day!

I wanted something fun yet a bit elegant and suitable for a wedding so I have used Nsi Polish Pro in Fruit Smoothie which matched my dress. It's a pretty magenta pink with a subtle shimmer. I have used two thin coats as per the general directions and you can see it was enough for good coverage.

Of course I wasn't happy with just plain colour so I laid little gold foil pieces one by one. I've taken advantage of the sticky surface gel polishes have after being cured. That way I didn't have to use glue or topcoat to sick the foil to the nail. I also had to use two coats of Nsi Polish Pro top coat to get nice & smooth finish. The gold leaves were slightly sticking out so one coat of top coat wasn't quite enough.

And how the manicure 'performed'? Below is a picture of how it looked after 9 days of wearing. It was pretty good but the foil started to wear off in some places which bugged me quite a bit. The gel polish itself had lasted well and I didn't have any chips.

I've also prepared a picture tutorial for you, here's some (hopefully) helpful description:

1. Prepare your nail - lightly buff your nail with 240grit or higher buffer. Then clean and dehydrate the nail with dehydrator and lint free wipe. I'm using Nsi Nailpure Plus.
2. Apply thin layer of gel base coat and cap the free edge of the nail & cure it. I'm using Nsi Polish Pro Base Coat Plus and UV lamp.
3. Apply thin coat of the gel polish but don't cap the free edge & cure it. I'm using Nsi Polish Pro Fruit Smoothie.
4. Apply thin second coat of gel polish & cure it.
5. Keep the tacky residue on and start sticking small pieces of gold foil on the nail one by one. This is best done using a pair of tweezers as your nails are now sticky ;)
6. Seal the nails with two thin coats of gel top coat and cure each coat. I'm using Nsi Pro Top Coat.
7. Remove the tacky layer with appropriate cleanser. I'm using Nsi Cleanse.

And that's it!

I've removed the gel polish using the foil method and acetone and it worked very well. A thin layer of basecoat stayed behind so I put the foil back and then gently scraped the remaining base coat with orange stick.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the colour and performance of Nsi Polish Pro system. I appreciate that it didn't cause any damage to my natural nails and lasted throughout the whole vacation. I don't wear gel polish often but I wouldn't be afraid to wear it again.

Nsi Polish Pro range is available at Nsi UK and at Nsi US and at major beauty exhibitions throughout the year.

*I have NOT been compensated for this post