Hello lovelies,

It's Friday and that means ABC Challenge! This is the third week of the challenge so the letter is C! I have chosen the word CARVING to represent this week because the design is actually done by carving. I'll explain later, let's have a look at the nails...

This design is not my original, it is a recreation of Sam Biddle's rose tutorial. Sam has shown this carved out rose design on one of her live Facebook sessions and I loved it so much I had to try it too! It's done using gel polish and Be Creative (Sam Biddle's brand) pigments.

GET THE LOOK

Step 1 - Colour base - do your regular gel polish application - base coat and 1-2 coats of white gel polish. Cure but don't wipe the sticky layer. I've used Color Club Foundation + Primer and French Tip gel polish.

Step 2 - Pigment gradient - using small fluffy brush and Be Creative pigment in Pretty in Pink, dab the pigment into the centre of the nails in a circle pattern. Next, use a Heather Heaven pigment and apply it around the first circle and overlap the pigments a bit so they blend in. Then use the darkest purple pigment (Flip Flops) and cover the rest of the nail. Use a large soft brush (old makeup brushes like blending, blush brush etc. work great for this) to sweep all loose pigment off the nail.

Step 3 - Carving the design - at this point the nails have a cool circular gradient and it's time to add the rose design. Sam recommends using her nail art pen to carve out the rose but I substituted this for pointy dotting tool and it worked too (this dotting tool is a tear shaped, not completely round). I've started in the middle of the nail and carved out the rose petals just as I would draw them on paper. There's no need to use a lot of pressure, the carving is very easy.

Step 4 - Seal the design - use a gel polish topcoat to seal the whole design. Try floating the brush just like with regular topcoat to prevent any of the pigment to transfer on the topcoat brush. I've used Color Club Seal + Shine Top Coat. Wipe off the sticky residue.

Use a discount code STASH15 for 15% off for any Color Club products at Color Club UK (not affiliate)

Pretty easy and beautiful, right? I've applied Color Club Matte-ified Gel Top Coat in the end and the result was quite nice as well but I think I prefer the glossy version that reveals the subtle shimmer of pigments. This would work with other gel polish colours as well but I've used white because it makes the pigments bright and the white carving creates a nice contrast. I like this technique very much and big thanks to Sam Biddle for showing it to us in her live session. You can see the recording and Sam's tutorial HERE.

I hope you've enjoyed today's post and don't forget to check out Sam Biddle's work, she's a great nail artist and educator :) Have a lovely day! Lucie x

Check out what other challenge participants created:

Hello lovelies,

It's time for another instalment of ABC Challenge! You can read everything about the challenge in this post from Emily from Nail Polish Society, who is hosting it :) If you'd like to see my previous challenge post, check it out here.

This week's letter is B and my theme is BLUE for this beautiful Color Club gel polish. I didn't want to have just a plain colour (I'll save that for another day) so I've taken inspiration from some pretty amazing nail artists and added a white 3D lace design.

Let's have a look first..

Firstly, I've applied a thin coat of Color Club* Foundation + Primer, followed by two coats of Bright Night gel polish and Seal + Shine Top Coat. Then I've followed a tutorial from @s.surkova. The product I've used for this is a 3D nail drawing UV gel because I didn't have s.surkova's own product. This cheap gel worked great too. The white dots were done using Color Club French Tip gel polish.

If you'll be purchasing anything from Color Club UK, you can use my discount code STASH15 for 15% off.

I wanted to do this 3D lace on my nails for ages. I've already practised on a nail wheel so this is not my very first design. It does take a little bit of practise just to see how the product behaves but it not a difficult technique to learn. Would you like to see a video tutorial in the future?

You've probably noticed my beautiful new rose gold rings* - they are from Luna Pyxis, an online store that sells jewellery handmade in South Korea. I fell in love with their products straight awayso when they approached me if I'd like to try some of their rings, it was a no-brainer. Right now they have a free shipping for orders over $50 and I'm all over that, getting more jewellery!

This first ring I'm wearing is X Criss Cross Ring which is an adjustable ring with lots of crystals. The other one is Rectangle Cubic midi ring also in rose gold colour and features one big crystal. How gorgeous are they!?

I hope you've enjoyed today's post and will consider joining the ABC challenge :)

Have a lovely day! Lucie x

*PR samples