Nail Artistry - an evening with Boots No.7 and Jamie Nunn

My nails have never been my most attractive feature. They get to a decent length and then they split, crack and shatter at the slightest knock. They only really look good when painted but this seems to weaken them further. I envy those with almond shaped tapering nails topping long and slender digits. Mine are short and stubby and my hands are ridiculously small for the rest of me preventing me from a career as concert pianist (well that's my excuse anyway).

So a Handpicked Media event with Boots No.7 and nail artist Jamie Nunn wasn't ever really going to light my fire and I went really to show support and see our lovely beauty bloggers in action. How silly was I!

Image: The Beauty Button

The ladies at the PR agency had everything covered - and it didn't matter that my nails looked like I'd been relandscaping my garden with my bare hands because they provided us with nifty things known as 'nail-wheels' to work with. These plastic nails were the perfect place to get creative with the 20 new Staycolour polishes they have launched. The pink fizz flowed and the food replaced supper - particularly fantastic were the Lollipop cakes in the seasons colours - check out Molly Bakes cakes on Twitter @mollybakes.

Image: The Beauty Button

Jamie is a celebrity nail artist - how you get to be one of those I have no idea but boy does he know his stuff. Within minutes he had us stippling, marbling and creating beautiful suede effects. Growing in confidence we moved on to add jewels and hand-drawn designs, in my case a rather boring stripe but the others got really creative. Jamie is currently creating designs for the next Lady Gaga video - here are some of his prototypes - not particularly practical for the office but I loved all that Swarovski crystal!

Image: The Beauty Button

Here are some of the techniques as shown by Jamie for those of you who want to have a go. Obviously we were using Boots No.7 products but you can create the same with your own box of nail tricks.

Plaid effect

• Plaid

–This simple technique is striking and perfect for the more daring. It works particularly well with bright opaque colours. For a different effect try with more than two colours or change the angle of the lines.

•What you’ll need

–No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colours in Me Me Me and Crave Me

–No7 So Smooth Base Coat

–No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat

–Nail art striping brush

•Step by steps

–1. Apply a thin coat of No7 So Smooth Base Coat

–2. Once the base coat has dried, apply two coats of No7 Stay Perfect in Me Me Me! ensuring you let the first coat dry before applying the second

–3. When dry, apply a small amount of Crave Me onto the striper brush. 

–4. Using the striping brush paint diagonal stripes in the same direction across the nail from base to tip . As you get more confident with the striping brush you can decrease the space between the lines for a more intricate and detailed effect

–5.Repeat step 4 but in the opposite direction creating a 'criss cross' effect

–6. Slick on a coat of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat for a high shine finish

Antique Marble

•Antique Marble

–This simple yet effective technique gives your manicure a vintage style glamour and can be varied depending on the colour combinations used. Metallic shades work particularly well as the second colour to be applied with the sponge

•What you’ll need

–No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colours in Singing The Blues and Hot To Trot

–No7 So Smooth Base Coat

–No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat

–Clean make up sponge

• Step by steps

–1. Apply a thin coat of No7 So Smooth Base Coat

–2. Once the base coat has dried, apply two coats of No7 Stay Perfect in Sing The Blues ensuring you let the first coat dry before applying the second

–3. When dry, using a clean dry make up sponge brush a small amount of Hot To Trot onto the sponge.  Dab onto the nail going from the corner of the free edge towards the cuticle creating a marbled effect

–4. Paint a second coat of Hot To Trot to give a faded antique effect

–5. Slick on a coat of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat for a high shine finish