Born Pretty Store Review | Sparkling Flower Gems

Hello my dears! I haven't posted in nearly two weeks! I am so sorry... I have been working a lot lately, and I broke one of my nails D: it's all patched up and I have some pretty, sunny-looking nails for you today featuring these beautiful flower gemstones from Born Pretty Store!

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Click the jump to see more!

Sparkly Neon Zebra Leopard Gradient Awesomeness

Hiya!

I love these nails SO MUCH. The title of this post comes from the ridiculously long file name I gave these when saving to my computer :D

I did a variation of this on a nail wheel a long time ago, but wanted to stick with a more similar colour scheme. I am sorry to report that these photos don't do this justice at all--the neon is so bright in real life. But click the jump to see more!

Ingress Skittle Mani | Enlightened Nails

Hey hey hey! Any of you out there play Ingress? If so, you'll get today's nails... and either love or hate them ;)

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Christmas Day 2015 | Born Pretty Store Decals :)

Merry Christmas, everyone :)

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I've had this idea all month! The tips are done with a white base (OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls), red acrylic paint for the stripes, and a gold glitter striper for the frame around it. This part took ages, and the stripes aren't perfect, but considering how curved my nails are I think it came out pretty nicely. They look much better at a real-life size and normal distance :)

The stickers are from--you guessed it--Born Pretty Store! They aren't actually made of metal, as the description on the site suggests. They are, however, nice-quality stickers with pretty metallic gold accents and details. And they're the perfect size for this, even on my tiny nails! Someone with normal sized hands would have some breathing room around the cuticle ;)

This is all sealed in with Seche Vite for shine and protection.

I hope you have/had a lovely Christmas day if you celebrate it, and if not, that you've enjoyed some time off work and a lovely holiday season with family and friends.
(And of course, if you want to pick up these or any other great nail or beauty supplies at Born Pretty Store, don't forget to use my discount code CITYG10 to get 10% off your order, which ships free anywhere in the world!)

See you next time for some pretty New Years nails! :D xoxo

Rustic Gold Stripes

Halloween is nearing, and this manicure has nothing to do with it :P

I've had so much going on lately that I haven't been able to post as frequently as I used to, nor have I been able to do all the themed manis I wanted! Today's design is, instead, a rustic, gilded sort of look that reminds me of old photo frames or tarnished jewellery:

MUD Swatch & Review, Part 2

Good day! Today is the day of the wedding! By the time you read this, I'll have had: a very busy day of doing nails and getting ready, the privilege of attending my friend's ceremony, and several offerings from the open bar at the reception ;)

I have three more MUD polishes to show you today. Let's get to it!

Chinese New Year 2015 - The Year of the Goat

Hullo :) I hope you've had a nice weekend! I am thankful to say that although Cyclone Marcia caused some problems farther north, my area escaped with naught but some localised flooding. Everything I've read seems to indicate that no serious injuries or deaths were reported, so that's awesome!

I know it's a few days after the official start of the Chinese/Lunar New Year, but I did these cute nails for the occasion and decided I had to show you. Besides, I promised Allison (my super-sweet contact at Born Pretty Store) that I would, so... this one is for you! I know it isn't a sheep, but I just started painting and this cute little guy came out :)

(click for full-size... I couldn't bear to shrink this one down too much)

Valentine's Day 2015 - Gradient Glittery Tips & Bows

Hello! Today, of course, I have my Valentine nails :)

This design is heavily inspired by one of my favourite YouTube artists--her channel is now called ArcadiaNailArt, but her old channel is IndigoNova1, and this video is beautiful. I used the same idea, but in seasonal colours, plus some handpainted bows!

Love Roses | Valentine Nails

Hello darlings!

Yesterday's Valentine design was all sweet and cute, so I wanted something more classic and romantic today. What's better than deep red with roses?

I started with one coat--yes, one!--of the polish you see in the above photo. It's China Glaze Adventure Red-y, and it's fantastic. Buttery and creamy and a nice shade of deep red. I added a coat of topcoat and let that sit for an hour or so before carrying on.

The roses and the word "love" on the thumb are all done with acrylic paint and a tiny brush. I used black, white, and red to create a few shades of red with which to paint the roses. It's hard to explain the method--I jused used the dark shade first to create some petal shapes spiralling outwards, and then went lighter and lighter to create more definition, shadows and highlights, using the base colour as one of the shades in the rose. It's not the best nail photo, but here's a pic of what kind of inspired this--a Cadbury Roses box:

Anyway, after the roses, I used pure black to create some small leaves, and white to paint the word on the thumbnail. One more coat of Seche Vite, et voilà!

They're definitely more abstract roses. The "idea of" roses, as I think Robin Moses would say :) What do you think?

I'll have one more Valentine look up before Saturday--come back soon to see it, and have a great rest of your week! xoxo

Valentine Cupcake Nails

Hiya!

Let the Valentine manis commence! Today I have some girly, sweet nails for you. That last bit being on the literal side :D

Super Stylish Icicles

Hello there! Welcome to all my new readers--I see I have lots of new followers this week, yay! :)

The heat is approaching brutal levels here in Queensland! I'm sitting directly in front of the air-conditioning vent as I type this. But I know it's winter for a lot of you, and I wanted to think cool thoughts myself. Plus, it's been too long since I did a holo-polish mani! So I've created a kind of icicle-half-moon look for you today.

New Year's Eve Nails - 2014

Happy New Year everyone! It's been 2015 here for a while now, but I know some of you are still waiting for the calendar to flip :) I hope 2014 was a good year for you, and that 2015 will be even better! :D

Here are the nails I wore last night! (And my super-fierce Black Milk tiger leggings!)

My 2014 Christmas Day Nails -- Sprigs of Holly

Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas (or a terrific Thursday, if you don't celebrate it). I experienced my first Aussie Christmas, got some awesome Black Milk leggings, and discovered the magic that is Cadbury Roses. On a related note, I will need to spend some extra time in the gym soon...

I meant to get these posted before, but between Blogger having some issues and me being a bit ill (I know, great timing) I'm only just now getting them up!

Freya's Cats' (Toys)

Good day, lovely! Let the Christmas manis continue :D

I've done some baubles/garland over another one of my newest piCture pOlishes--Freya's Cats!

(And, if you've ever had cats, you know that pretty hanging Christmas decorations are there to be played with and destroyed, hence the title of this post!)

Onwards!

Peacock Tail Feather Nails

Hullo! It's December! And for the first time in my life, I'm experiencing a hot holiday season. It feels so weird to me! But December means I start doing Christmas manis, and if you think I'm going to let some 40C weather stop me from painting snowflakes all over my nails, you should think again! ;)

I'm working on my first Christmas mani as we speak, but first I have to show you one I wore last week using another of my new piCture pOlish shades: Tail Feather!

The Lacquer Legion: #LLAfterDark

Hello, boys and ghouls (oh, that never gets old)! Time for a spooky Halloween-themed mani! The Lacquer Legion prompt this month was "after dark"... and I don't know about where you live, but after dark here is when the bats come around to nom all the mosquitos. I love bats! Some people are afraid of them, but I think they're cute--and I appreciate anything that eats up all the bugs :) So I decided to do a mani representing that brief moment at night when the moon is out, the last bit of sun is disappearing, and the bats start emerging :D

Click the jump to see more!

#31DC2014 - Day 29 - Inspired by the SUPERNATURAL

Hello my beauties! Time for probably the weirdest prompt of the 31-day challenge... "inspired by the supernatural".

I had to think about this one for a while, and at first I thought I'd do something based on the video for Katy Perry's ET/Supernatural song. I did watch it, and it did inspire the basic colour scheme, but I ended up doing Alienware nails!

If I were a PC gamer (I'm a console peasant, come at me bro), I'd lust after Alienware computers more than I already do. For those of you who don't know, they're the name in gaming rigs. And the little alien face I recreated on my index finger is their logo :)

I applied three thin coats of Cult Nails Deal With It on the small finger and the thumb, then taped off a stripe near the tip and covered it with Wet 'N Wild Black Creme. This is meant to mimic the look of their gaming laptops, which are black but have a metallic neon strip of colour around the outside. I should have used matte topcoat over the black, as their machines are generally matte. Oh well.

Black Creme was the base for the other three nails, and I used white acrylic paint to create the alien face. For the galaxy nails, I sponged on the white paint as well as Deal With It and Soulstice Spa Kona, a light icy/aqua blue. I added a bit of the glitters from Orly Mermaid Tale (green holo hexes) and OPI Pirouette My Whistle (white hexes and silver microglitters). Finally, more of the white acrylic paint to add a few stars, and Seche Vite topcoat finished them all off. I'm quite happy with the finished look!

Boo, this one came out a bit blurry. But you can see the warm glowy quality of Deal With It. I love this polish.

I hope you like these! I'm not even a huge Katy Perry fan, but I've had that song stuck in my head for hours after watching the video earlier. I did this all for you, my dear reader, so you'd better appreciate it ;) hehe. See you tomorrow for more! xoxo

#31DC2014 - Day 27 - Inspired by ARTWORK

Yo, what's up? Day 27, and for my "artwork" prompt I took inspiration from street art!

Outdoors in cloudy overcasty light. I know it's spring, but I'm still not impressed, Sunshine State.

My perspective on graffiti has quite changed over the years. I used to consider it all vandalism and, while acknowledging that some of it takes talent, I just couldn't appreciate it. As an artist, I look back now and just think this perspective is silly. Some cities actually encourage it in some areas (hello, Hosier Lane!) to improve the look of plain walls or just as an attraction. Obviously, just 'tagging' does not take much thought or creativity, but well-crafted street art can be such a pleasure to see!

I don't feel like I'm very good at the style, but I had to give it a try. The base for this manicure is China Glaze Stone Cold, a dark matte-shimmer polish that looks very much like tarmac when dry. The white and black accents in this design are acrylic paint, and the colours are China Glaze Shocking Pink (Neon),  China Glaze Pool Party (the more orangey one), Sinful Colors Neon Melon (green), and Orly Glowstick (yellow). I did my initials on the middle two nails, and then some random designs on the others--and a shooting star on the thumb, because yay stars.

I first topcoated with Seche Vite, and all shiny it looked like this:

But to return Stone Cold to its original appearance, and more realistically portray this type of art, I added Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love to finish it off.

As usual, my camera had no idea how to handle these neons. In real life, these colours are eye-searingly bright and awesome :D

What do you think about street art? xoxo

#31DC2014 - Day 24 - Inspired by a BOOK

Hello! Today I am on day 24 of the 31-day challenge, and the prompt is "inspired by a book". I am somewhat ashamed to say I am not reading as much these days--I had to leave my collection behind in the move, and I don't have it here yet!--but I did know which book I wanted to use for this.

The Catcher in the Rye is a book a lot of us had to read in school, and many people at that age don't like it. I didn't hate it, but most of the meaning didn't sink in at that age. Going back over it, I see Holden Caulfield's world through the eyes of a troubled teen--dealing with the usual rebellion and cynicism of a boy his age, coupled with what some sources suggest are symptoms of PTSD. Coupled with the fact that he is a reflection of the author himself, and the book provides a lot of insight into the mind of J.D. Salinger. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you read this as a teenager and didn't like it, go back and read it again.

ANYWAY. Nails. That's why we're here!

Outdoors, no sun

As you can see, my mani was inspired by the book cover. The white polish I laid down first is Orly Pointe Blanche, and the red and black are both acrylic paint. I tried to capture the stylised horse from the cover on my middle nail, but it only sort of worked. The rest of the nails are just doodles that match. On the thumb, I looked up Salinger's signature and tried to copy it as best I could. It's actually a lot more widely-spread than this, but I didn't have room on the nail to do it proper justice. I did try to represent the shapes of the letters accurately.

I sealed it in with Orly Sec 'N Dry topcoat, and then added OPI Matte Top Coat to make it look even more like the book cover.

Indoors with flash

It hasn't been very sunny here lately. This is as bright as I could get!

I hope you like these! I enjoyed painting them and really wish I could have worn them longer. I think they're extraordinarily cool.

See you tomorrow for a fashion-inspired look! xoxo

#31DC2014 - Day 23 - Inspired by a MOVIE

Hiya! Day 23 of the challenge calls for nails inspired by a movie. I am not a big movie person, but I work with someone who really likes the minions from Despicable Me (hi Sam!), and while it's not the most original idea (I'm aware that everyone and their grandmother has done minion nails), I really wanted to paint them. So I did!

Indoors with flash

 I used Zoya Darcy (yellow) and Cover Girl Vio-last (purple) for the bodies. The denim coveralls are done with--what else?--Denim Dash by Maybelline. China Glaze Icicle is the silver for the goggles, and Layla Hologram Effect #16 Coffee Love is the brown for the eyes. (I thought this holo brown was perfect for capturing the multifaceted look of an eye, and I was right!) The rest is acrylic paint and a bit of patience ;) Topped with KBShimmer Clearly On Top, and then, for the above photo, I drew on the hair with Sharpies!

We haven't had a lot of sun lately, so these overcasty photos will have to do.

I hope you liked these! I really had fun with them, especially the derpy purple one and his wonky teeth :D See you soon for more! xoxo