Stella McCartney Spring/Summer 2011

It's been a while since I last did some fashion-focused nails. After the Antonio Berardi v-gaps I had some rather simple (by my standards) holographic polish on my nails which was perfect for those few bright sunny days we had in London last week.

Amazing value for money: GOSH, £4.99

In the time between v-gaps and present nails I also ordered a couple of bits and pieces off of eBay including some dotting tools and a set of 100 fimo canes - all of which came to the rather bargainous total of £5.97! I've been dying to get some fimo canes as they were part of my next "designer to-do nail"..

Like everyone else I've gone a bit loopy for fruits and fruit prints so this may be the first of a few fruity nails. The inspiration for these came from a dress in Stella McCartney's Spring/Summer 2011 collection and I'm just in love with this print:

So since I had oranges and lemons and limes in my fimo set, I decided to give it a go and then try out my dotting tools to do the leaves (still have not gotten around to getting a nail art pen set yet!) I really need to practice my fimo slicing skills as I think I cut them a bit too chunky... the result was pieces that stuck out by quite a bit and felt rather rough. That'll teach me for watching "Young Rich and Househunting" (awful programme on BBC 3 featuring snotty nosed rich kids who look 20 years older than their actual age) whilst doing my nails.

Overall, I don't think it's that bad an effect. It's not lasting a day on my nails due to those thick slices of not-so-yummy fimo but I rather like the abstractness of the design and the freshness of the colours.

White: NARS Ecume
Green: some green polish that came with my Gcocl kit (which I've had for nine years and still is fine!)

Antonio Berardi V-Gaps

Ahh, Sophy Robson, how I worship at your feet! I remember seeing these nails earlier this year when Sophy blogged about them on her site. Ladies and gentlemen, here is the v-gap as seen at Antonio Berardi AW11.

Love how this look is both classic and new at the same time. Swoon!

The show nails created by Sophy were petrol blue. Unfortunately I am seriously lacking in the blue department so after some hmming and ahhing I eventually settled on a matte polish. I picked Revlon's "Ruby Ribbon" which is part of their matte suedes range although if I'm honest the colour is more red brown and the final effect reminds me more of leather than suede - definitely a handy one for Loewe leather look nails!

As you can sort of make out here there is still a slight sheen to the polish so in my opinion it's not a true matte but still gorgeous all the same.

This was definitely trickier than I had anticipated. I reckon this could have been made simpler by using a square piece of tape, placing it at a diamond angle at the bottom of the nail and then painting vertically upwards leaving that all-important gap in the middle, of course. If I were going to do this look again (and I totally would) this is how I would do it so note to self: stock up on some tape.