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!

Zebra Stripes & Bows

Hello! The last two weeks have been insane on my end! But I found some time for nail art, and did this relatively simple design I've had on my mind :)

The base is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, topped with a coat of OPI Happy Anniversary! for some pretty shimmer. The stripes are painted on with my black Stripe Rite striper, and then the little bow is from Born Pretty Store :)

I hope you like this one! I'm really enjoying it.

Thanks for reading today! My schedule has calmed down now, so I should be able to post with a little more regularity. See you next time! xoxo

Matte Leopard + Diagonal French

Hello, lovely people!

Today I decided to tone down the crazy colours and sparkles and do something a little more subtle and chic :)

Outdoors in sun

Back to my usual post format, so please click the jump to see more!

#31DC2014 - Day 13 - ANIMAL PRINT

Howdy! Day 13 of the challenge is animal print! I thought and thought about doing something clever and unique, but I ended up falling back on my old favourite--leopard :)

Outdoors in sun

The base is Orly After Party, a fantastic navy/midnight blue shimmer. The irregular, micro-glassflecky shimmer is mostly the same shade of blue, but also has pink and silvery bits (although they didn't show up in these photos... shame, as it's really a beautiful and unique polish), so it was easy to choose the complimenting colours for the print :D I used Orly Miss Conduct (holo pink sparkle) and China Glaze Icicle (silver foil) as well as a small dotting tool to create my leopard spots.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

Kind of a bright photo, but, with the Orly bottles.

Another indoors with flash

These are interesting, because at a distance, the spots almost look like a small floral print. I think it's mostly the colour scheme that does it. I'm still wearing this on my right hand, even as I'm prepping the left for tomorrow's design :D See you soon for that one! xoxo

Leopard-chaun Nails

Hiya!

Time for me to start on some cute green designs for St. Patrick's Day! The first is one that I have had in mind for a while--at least the basic idea. I have been ill since I got back from holiday, but I didnt let that stop me from manicure time...

As you can see, it's a gradual shift from leopard to zebra, and I thought doing it all in green would be a great start to the series. Animal print is so cute on nails, isn't it?

The base colour is the bottle I'm holding--Cult Nails Deal With It. Nice limey neon shimmery green with a strong gold flash. This is one of 5 shades in the Untamed (aka Coco's Colors) collection released a couple of summers ago. Coco is the daughter of Cult Nails' creator Maria, and she was only 13 at the time she came up with these awesome polishes! I nearly went with Zoya Midori, but chose this at the last second. Midori is very similar to this, but a bit more subdued, both in hue and courseness of shimmer. I wanted bright and punchy, and Deal With It did not disappoint.

The dark green for the spots and stripes is China Glaze Glittering Garland, and the middle of the spots is China Glaze Paper Chasing. I used a dotting tool and striper brush to achieve this look.

I love how Paper Chasing has the same sort of gold flash as Deal With It. Perfect combo!

In lower light. Glittering Garland still glitters happily :D

As I was lying in bed coughing and mustering up the energy to write this post, I was thinking of how this looked like something a leprechaun would ride. "A leprechaun's pet leopard... oh my gawd, it's a leopardchaun. Is this a thing? I AM ABOUT TO MAKE IT A THING." I jumped up that second, grabbed some black and gold paints, and did an accent on the ring finger:

Black acrylic paint and Revlon #925 Gold Coin, to be exact.

How cute is that?? A "traditional" strap and buckle you might find on a leprechaun's hat.
Sealed in with two coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

I'm still giggling about this. Leopardchaun. Because if there's one thing I love more than a good pun, it's a bad pun.

Do you like this monochromatic animal print look as much as I do? Let me know in the comments! (I recently switched over to Disqus for my comment system, so I hope this makes it easier for people to chime in. I love hearing from you guys!)

Tune in next time for more St. Paddy's nails! xoxo

Glitzy Royal Leopard

G'day me lovelies!

Boy, it was a scorcher today. I am by no means insensitive to the frigid weather and flooding affecting my family and friends in the US and UK, but wow, it's been so hot and muggy. I like the warmth, but it's still taking some getting used to this Australian heat + humidity! I'll get there :)

The bright sun does have upsides: it's great for showing off glittery nails! I got the idea for a gold and purple leopard-print design the other day. "Royal," I thought, "majestic and posh and royal." The idea kicked around until this came out!

(Yes, if you noticed, I have given my nails quite a trim. The round look just wasn't doing it for me. I'm glad I gave it a try--they can look so nice!--but it just didn't work on my hands. Couldn't stand it! So I trimmed some of the length and filed them back to squares. Actually a bit more square than before. Going to try the other 'extreme' before settling back to my normal squoval shape.)

Aaaaanyway! For this look, I started with two coats of a-england Holy Grail (original formula), a rich warm champagney-yellow gold. Atop that, two coats of the polish above: Orly Lavish Bash. Such a pretty one! It's a clear base, I think. It may be very slightly gold-tinted. The glitters--which are tiny gold microglitters plus small gold holographic hexes and bars--are SO densely packed in that it's hard to tell! One coat is plenty, but I used two anyway, for good measure. Because there is no such thing as too much glitter.

The leopard spots are done with a small dotting tool and Sinful Colors Lang Lang, a lovely rich warm shimmery purple. It is definitely regal, and much more red-toned than it appears in these photos. Some shades just do not photograph well. The middle of the spots is Revlon #925 Gold Coin--my favourite gold foil polish. I wanted to fit with the colour scheme but still stand out, so this cooler-toned gold over the warm-gold base seemed just right.

The accent nail is two coats of the same purple, plus a coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire, one of the most beloved and coveted polishes I know of! I treasure my little bottle and found another while out shopping recently, so now I even have a backup! Because of that, I felt better about using a generous coat to simultaneously deepen Lang Lang and brighten it up with those famous multichromatic sparkles. The single gold square rhinestone is from a wheel I got at Born Pretty Store.

It's all topcoated with Orly Sec 'N Dry for extra shine!

In shade -- I love the way the glitter looks in this shot *_*

My usual camera just couldn't capture the beautiful purple properly, but my phone did a decent job! It's not perfect, but it's much closer. Apologies for the quality, but the colour-accuracy makes up for it:

Fantasy Fire's amazing colour-changing pigment goes from red to green to blue to EVERYTHING

So, there you have it. The fanciest leopard the world. :D

I hope you enjoyed this one! See you next time xoxo

Alphabet Challenge: Z is for... Zuza's Zebras!

Hiya!
Last day of the challenge! This has been a lot of fun! New polishes, new techniques, new silly post titles involving alliteration. Today's is no different, and of course, features the letter Z. Shazam!

Click for full-view.. this looks much clearer at normal size :)

I actually meant for this design to be a bit neater. I was going to tape off the tips, do a zebra-print stamp, and then remove the tape and add the swoop of colour. But right as I was finishing the white base (which is Ulta Snow White), the electricity went off in my house! After ~30 mins I decided it wasn't coming back on, and went out for a beer or three. Got home around 10:30pm and decided to go a quicker route to finish up.

So... I used Stripe Rite black striping polish to freehand the zebra stripes. They didn't come out too badly... It's a different look than the stamp would have given, but I still like it! Then, of course, I swiped on Zoya Zuza in a diagonal French. I used two coats, and in low light when Zuza wasn't being all sparkly and reflective, you could see the stripes through it. But I didn't want to add another coat to the tips, as this was already pretty thick. Sealed with Seche Vite topcoat.

Zuza, u so shiny :D

One more, in full sun, to really see Zuza's sparkle.

And thus concludes my Alphabet Challenge. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Join me next time as I have to start coming up with my own ideas again ;) Have a great Friday! xoxo

From the Vault #3: Two of my favourites!

Quick post today! Wanted to share a couple more from my "vault". I've got a rather simple manicure on at the moment and am still deciding if it's worth sharing, so in the meantime... Here you go.

Up first, a fun red + zebra print look:

My photo taking/cropping skills were not as good then.

I don't remember the exact polishes I used, except that the black was Konad special stamping polish, and the silver glitter was one of my Stripe Rite striping polishes. Just painted red and then taped off the tips to add the white, stamp on the stripes, then remove and add the silver glitter and topcoat. Easy and really stylish!

And another, which is actually one of the nicest I've ever come up with (IMHO):

:D

I think the gradient was made with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue It and Emerald City, and then some matching shimmery polishes put over that for extra sparkle. The green overlay was Zoya Ivanka, and the blue *might* have been Sally Hansen HD in Spectrum. Not sure. I know the stamps are Revlon #932 Copper Penny (yes, again) and the flowers are from Bundle Monster plate BM06.

Can't believe we're in December already. Finally I can pull out all the snowflake designs I've had in mind! Hope you all have a nice weekend :) xoxo

Stone Cold Leopard

Hullo me lads and lassies :D Thanks to all who've stuck with me this long! Now that the challenge train has reached it's final stop, it's time to hop aboard the Amanda Express, where few ever leave, but all are entertained!

I have no idea where the previous sentence came from.

On to the nails, and a manicure I call Stone Cold Leopard! I'll explain why in a sec. But check it out--these were inspired by a pair of my socks!

Rawr :D

Yep, these grey socks with black and hot pink leopard print is one of my favourite pairs (although I have a lot of cute socks, including other funky animal-prints... maybe I'll showcase some others one day).

I used three China Glaze polishes for this look: first, the suede-finish dark grey polish from which the mani gets its name, Stone Cold. It was released with the Hunger Games collection. It's really great--covers opaque in one coat, and dries super fast (and in case you haven't noticed a pattern by now, these are always two of my favourite qualities in a polish). I wore it alone for a day at first, because it matched this sweater perfectly:

Pretty much made for each other, see?

I then used Liquid Leather and a toothpick to make some random blobby bits and C-shapes, leaving space for the pink in the centre of some of them:

I actually may have liked it better this way, before the pink was added. So cool!

And another pic of the same thing, with more flash, because I couldn't decide which I liked better. Get over it :D

Finally, I used Shocking Pink (Neon) to fill in the centre of the circular shapes:

Those little stringy things on the small finger weren't even noticeable in real life. O_o

I didn't use topcoat, because I loved the contrast of finishes--they were all a little different. Stone Cold has that great metallic-yet-matte suedey look, Liquid Leather is glossy, and Shocking Pink (as with most neons) dried with kind of what I believe is called a "satin" finish, at least in the Scotch Tape world. Ha.

With the inspirational sock. See, you can find artistic ideas anywhere!

Have you ever taken manicure inspiration from something a little... unusual? Look around and see what you can create! xoxo

Challenge Day #13: ANIMAL PRINT

Bom dia :) Today's challenge is animal print! This seems like it would be an easy one to think of, but I really wanted to do something unique. Everybody does zebra, tiger, or leopard... I was going to try something really weird and out there, but then I remembered that I've been wanting to try out Rebecca's funky-coloured leopard print for a long time! I also wanted to do something with this base colour I used here, so...

..so, rawr, that's what. Blue leopard print action!

She does them all the time in loads of different colour-combinations. I just looked at some photos of hers and went from that, but a step-by-step tutorial can be found here.

I started with a base colour that I've been itching to try since I bought it: OPI's I Don't Give A Rotterdam! from the Holland collection. It is so pretty and I can't believe it took me this long to use it! It's a light, cool-toned periwinkle that has silver shimmer, plus just enough gold shimmer to make it look a little warmer in person. I only bought one polish from that collection--although I simply must get my hands on Vampsterdam and Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? (swatched by Scrangie); they are stunning too!--and this was it.

Anyway! I then used a dotting tool (toothpick works great for this too) to apply some dots in two colours by Soulstice Spa--first I used Monterey, which is that lovely dusty-royal blue, and then Gotham is the black. Once that was dry, I added a layer of Cult Nails Wicked Fast topcoat to seal it all in.

I love when my nails match my clothes. It's almost always an accident when this happens, but it makes me feel so sophisticated :D

Gotta go off on a tangent here for a second! All the Soulstice Spa polishes are awesome! The formula is just a dream. And they're even vegan, cruelty-free, and Big-3-free! (The Big 3 are the toxins dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde and toluene.) They apply perfectly and are not what I expected from a "hippie" polish, as I (now affectionately) call them. Totally blew me away. They're available at Nail Polish Canada, if you're interested. This brand does not get enough love, in my opinion!

(And no, they certainly did not pay me to say that or endorse them in any way. In fact, I entered a contest on their website and lost, so really I should be mad at them. But I can't, because they sell too many awesome things. *sniffle* oh, NPC, I can't stay mad at you. I love you.)

Posing with the bottle of Monterey, just because.

Anyway, holy crap, loads of links today. Hope you guys enjoyed it anyway! I didn't work fast enough on some nails and the polish was getting a bit tacky, so it dragged and left little strands in a few places. I want to revisit this technique again and be a bit neater with it, so you may see this again after the challenge is over! Until then, tchau! xoxo

Challenge Day #2: ORANGE nails

Today's challenge--orange! When I think of that colour, I can only think of one thing--especially since football season is almost upon us: the Clemson Tigers! So, I painted all nails with Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear polishes--the orange is Sun Kissed and the white is White On. I then stamped tiger stripes onto the orange with Konad Special Polish in black and MASH plate #41, and the orange tiger paw onto the white nail with NYC 112A - Times Square Tangerine Creme (a surprisingly good stamping polish!) and MASH plate #36. Oh, it doesn't look too nice here though, I know. I'm cringing at how well all my stamping fails came across in this lovely high-def photo. I was kind of in a hurry, and it shows...

A+ for idea, D for execution. Rawr?

I hope you like it anyway! The idea was fun, at least--I'm going to wear this again sometime during the season for a big game. C-L-E-M-S-OOOOOOOOO-N!

See you all next time for day 3: yellow! xoxo