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:

Blingy Tree on Crackle

Merry Christmas, everyone! (Or Christmas Eve for some of you.) My second-to-last holiday mani features a tree made of rhinestones on a sparkly-crackle background!

The base is Ulta Snow White, topped with China Glaze Luxe And Lush, a big chunky iridescent flakie from their first Hunger Games collection. I think it makes a white base look all wintery and snowy :D

Once that dried, I added a coat of OPI Red Shatter, then Seche Vite topcoat. While that topcoat was wet, I made the little tree out of green rhinestones, then added a star glitter on top and a brown square stone below for the trunk. Cute, right? :D One more topcoat sealed that off and I'm good to go.

I'm still stuffed from a big Christmas lunch. What are you doing for festivities this year?

I'll squeeze in one more holiday mani before the day is totally over, so check back soon for that one. And have a wonderful day! xoxo

#31DC2014 - Day 21 - Inspired by a COLOUR

Heeyyyyy! We're on the last portion of the 31-day challenge, and the toughest part in my opinion! Today's prompt is "inspired by a colour", and as most people do, I chose to take inspiration from a particular nail polish shade. Here we go!

Outdoors in sun

Anybody remember the Revlon Moon Candy line? A double-ended bottle with a creme on one side and a matching flakie topper on the other. I used #260 Meteor for this one! It's actually a very dark army-green, but it looks pretty much black in these photos. I applied two coats to all nails and then painted a meteor flying through space with acrylic paints :D

I added some of the flakies to the meteor trail to complete the look, and then topped with Seche Vite.

I'm pretty pleased with them! I keep all my polishes on a couple of bookshelves, and this one has been propped up in a corner. I always forget it's there, but I need to pull it out more often. Those flakies are colour-shifting and gorgeous.

See you soon for more! xoxo

Quick Shot: Glitter & Flakie Layering Combo

Hiya! As promised yesterday, here's a quick look at the mismatched right hand I wore with my grey vintage flowers. I never photograph my right hand because it never looks quite as good, plus I find it harder to pose and etc since I'm not used to it. However, this combo ended up so pretty I had to snap a few pics between World Cup games!

Please excuse the awkward poses and tip shrinkage (caused by me using an old thick bottle of Seche Vite to topcoat them) and focus on the pretty polish :)

Grey with Vintage Flowers

Hullo :)  late post today! Just got home from watching the State of Origin game--big rugby series in these parts. Going to post today's mani and then get to sleep!

Luxe Mint & Coral

hullo hullo :)

Here is a pretty mint-and-coral swirled design with a luxurious accent nail!

Indoors with flash

The base for all nails is the gorgeous Sinful Colors Mint Apple. A creamy mint polish with lovely shimmer and a wonderful formula, it's one I recommend any day of the week.

After the first coat was dry, I set to work on the accent nail! I used the flakie polish shown above--China Glaze Luxe And Lush (hence the title of this post). Big chunky iridescent pieces in a clear base--it's awesome! I painted two coats, and then used an orange stick to pick out individual pieces to fill in the gaps, as I wanted the entire nail to be fully covered in opalescent flakes.

Outdoors in sun, kinda. It was rather overcast today but I caught a few rays :)

For the rest of the nails, I placed a few small drops of Mint Apple as well as a drop or two of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet--a orangey-coral creme that picks up the peachy tone in the flakies really well. (They photographed more pink than peach, but they're closer in colour-family in real life.) I used a small striping brush to swirl these drops together gently to create a marbled look without having to do water-marbling. Learned this technique from Robin Moses!

Outdoors in shade

It's all topcoated first with Maya's Smoothing Coat for Glitter, and then Seche Vite on top for quick-drying shine.

I need to use this marbling technique more often! I actually quite enjoy water-marbling, but this is much easier and less messy. I also think I need to do an entire manicure of flakie mint nails like that--how pretty did those come out?!

Hope you enjoyed today's design. Come back soon for more! xoxo

More St. Paddy's 20-fo-teen: Mallard Tartan Tips

Hello hellooo! Time for more St. Paddy's goodness:

Wow, these look so much better in person and at normal size >.>

Right! So... my idea was to do a tartan look with the colours of the Irish flag. I kind of succeeded. The base for these tips, in my favourite french-tip/half-moon hybrid (French moon?), is the bottle shown above--piCture pOlish Mallard. Such an awesome dark green with an olive shimmer plus copper and green flakies! The tartan pattern was painted with a thin striper brush and white acrylic paint, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri #460 Snappy Sorbet (the orange), and Stripe-Rite gold glitter.

I love Mallard, but I kind of wish I'd used a lighter, brighter green. Also a more true orange rather than Snappy Sorbet, which leans a bit coral, especially over a dark base. I like this look, but it doesn't scream Irish the way the image in my head did. I attempted to rectify this with a cute little shamrock on the middle fingers, which was done with a dotting tool, detail brush, and Essie Shake Your $$ Maker. It was cute, but I thought it needed more definition around the edges, so I attempted to do a sort of outline with a green Sharpie and managed to mess that up too. Argh! They looked neater before the last step, but I couldn't get it off, so I just gave up and topcoated with Seche Vite.

Smell that? It's the aroma of FAIL

I know the end product doesn't look too bad, really--just nothing like what I had in mind. Still, I'm glad I did this design. I love the tartan look, and definitely need the practice doing straight lines. My hands are fairly steady and vertical lines are usually okay, but horizontal ones are awful! Oh well. Every manicure can't be a favourite, now can it? :)

Come back next time and I'll have something nicer for ya. Thanks for reading! See you soon xoxo

I Lily Love Cupcakes

Hullo! Today I have a festive look for you. I wanted to celebrate a week in my new place (now it's nearly two, hehe), the fact that my poor nails are finally grown out again, and my mother's birthday was the 10th... so I went with some cute cupcake fimo slices atop a matching gradient French with a new polish I got. Lookie lookie :D

Party on the tips :D

The gradient pink tips were done with two OPI polishes. First, I used And This Little Piggy. It's a lovely warm bubblegum pink, but shimmery with iridescent glassflecks :D  it's nice and sheer, too, so it was easy to create a gradient look using just the brush, working gradually up the nail in a few coats--no sponge required. Once that dried, I added a coat or two of my newest polish and the first I bought here in Australia: I Lily Love You. I meant to pick this up when I first saw it, but never got around to it with all the moving hustle and bustle. It's loads of iridescent small square glitters and flakes of all shapes and sizes in a sheer pink base. It goes perfectly with And this Little Piggy and is SO pretty!

These are so gorgeous IRL :D

For a finishing touch, I used some cupcake fimo slices I got from bornprettystore.com a long time ago. A quick glance at their website doesn't seem to show the original set of 100 full canes I got, but they do sell individual slices. Anyway, these cupcakes were so adorable and went so well with the festive pink tips that I couldn't resist!

Outside in sun. Look at that polish! Just stunning <3

I stuck the fimo slices on with my newest topcoat, KB Shimmer Clearly On Top. I have heard lots of good things about them, so I ordered two bottles before I left. And am not disappointed! It dries very fast and is super glossy. The price is also quite good, so check them out!

In shade. I love how the glitter and flakes stand out so much here. Isn't it beautiful?

And one more, because the detail in the cupcakes really showed up.

Okay, that's enough hey? Just excited to be back here and getting to take care of my nails again. I have so many ideas rolling around for what to do next, so stay tuned, and have a great start to your week! xoxo

Alphabet Challenge: J is for... James Takes Over

Hello hello :) Today's post is a bit different! I was looking over my polishes and not really feeling all that inspired with my limited J polish options. And then, perhaps because I've been reading Kayla's blog too long, I thought "hmm, my special man friend is called James, I wonder if he'd let me do his nails, for the lulz...". I asked him and we giggled and then I showed him these posts and he decided to do mine instead. It worked out well since he'd just given me some polishes as a gift, and he decided to use his favourite of them as the main colour!

I'll stop talking and let him tell you about it...

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May I first apologise to people expecting to see Amanda's wonderfully painted nail designs today. I'm posting today because I hijacked her nails for letter J :D

this is a totally relevant duck, I promise

I was given the chance to design and paint (with some guidance from Amanda) any pattern or design of my choosing. Thus I chose to use one of the polishes I had given her: Mallard by The PolishAholic (and from piCture pOlish). It's a lovely deep green reminiscent (unsurprisingly) of the Mallard duck. Mixed into the green is a golden glitter and large sparkly chunks that I don't know the nail polishing term for (editor's note: flakies!) :P Two coats in and thankfully there was more on the nails than on Amanda's fingers. Success!

With this lovely base set, I chose to walk before running and applied a simple golden streak along the center of the nail with Revlon #925 Gold Coin. This streak was applied with varying degrees of success and 100% enthusiasm. I think the green and golds work well together.

Finally, to give the nails some extra bling, I applied some copper coloured <WHATEVER THEY ARE CALLED> (editor's note: rhinestones :D Isn't he precious? Some copper ones from Cult Nails, to be precise. Pity they don't seem to sell them anymore.) to each thumb. They copper colour rather complimented the golden streak, giving it something of a rustic look.

without flash...

...and with :)

I've always enjoyed reading Amanda's blog and now that I've had a chance to create something my self, I understand why she likes writing her blog. I hope you enjoy my first attempt at some nail art, and thanks to Amanda for giving me a go :D

-J

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Well, there you have it! I just love hearing a big manly man describing nail polish. Almost as much as I love watching one get all concentratey whilst painting with it :D He did really well, didn't he? I think he was neater than even I am sometimes. Well done, babe! Thank you for my manicure!

(Also, Mallard is SO PRETTY. You couldn't see much of it on my nails since the gold was so bright it took the focus, but the bottle shots give you an idea. Beautiful forest green with golden shimmer and those copper-to-green flakies. Yummy. And I finally have some piCture pOlish!)

Thanks for stopping by--see you next time! xoxo

April Polish Days: Posh White Luxurious Nails!

Well hello, my loyal subjects ;) Time for this month's Polish Days event! The theme is the Seven Deadly Sins. In the words of "Polly Polish":

Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride. Unless you’re a saint there’s a chance you’re guilty of at least one. I’m leaving this one up to your imagination though, so however you chose to interpret the theme, it’s up to you! Afterall, who am I to judge your sins ;)

I, at first, wanted to do some sexy fishnet sort of nails to illustrate Lust... but then I remembered that 1) a lot of people will probably do that and I want to be different, and 2) I've done several fishnet designs before! I also really wanted to try this design I saw Robin Moses call Snow White Bling on YouTube (yes, "inspired by Robin Moses!") ...AND I've also had the idea to do something inspired by a new perfume I got, that comes in this lush bottle. So without further ado...

Posing with the bottle! I super love this shot! (Click for fullview) :)

How does this fit into the "seven deadly sins"? Well, I suppose it's not direct, but I am really proud of it and it is kind of showy, so it could fit into Pride, right? (Or perhaps lust or envy... because let's face it, you know you want these. Rawr.)

Base for this mani is two coats of Ulta Snow White. Atop that is a coat of Nubar 2010, a great flakie polish that gives it a subtle yet multichromatic shimmer that is a different colour with every lighting and angle situation! (It is similar to Essie Shine of the Times or Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure.)

I then dabbed on a diagonal stripe with Essie Set in Stones, the best silver glitter polish evaaaar. While that was wet, I added a bunch of small 1.5mm silver and 2mm iridescent rhinestones. Fancy! Sealed in with a careful topcoat of Seche Vite for protection and mega-shine.

I feel so posh wearing these. Darling, where is my limo?

Oh and aren't you folks lucky? I actually bothered to clean up my cuticles properly before taking photos. I can be a classy bird now and then...

The iridescence of those larger rhinestones really shows up in sunlight. :)

Hope you enjoyed this post, and that I didn't come off too Pride-ful! Just enough for it to count for the challenge ;) Make sure to check out the other participants' designs below! xoxo

Fishnets & Flowers

Hello again! I have a bit of a fancy design to show you today!

SHINY! :D

Yay! I know I always say this, but srsly u gais I loooove this mani :D

I started with two coats of the polish you see in the photo--Sally Hansen Diamond Strength #150 Glass Slipper. It's a clearish base with tiny tiny tiny silver microglitter and then those lovely white-silver flakes! Most of the polishes like this have iridescent flakies, which are also beautiful, but the pure shimmery white of these really caught my eye. It reminds me of like, angel wings :D

Anyway, after that was dry, I stamped the fishnet pattern from Konad plate m57 across the tips with black Konad special polish, and added the strip across the tip with my black Stripe Rite striper polish. I was pleased with how this looked like fishnet stockings. Racy! I used white Konad special polish to add the pretty flowers from Mash plate 43, and then put some tiny rhinestones in the centres (duh... I guess you can see that, eh?) to make them super-fabulous. Careful topcoat of Seche Vite, and, voilá!

less shiny, more.. details.

I was playing Xbox with my super sweet blue Afterglow controller and got a few fun pics with it too. I liked them, so I'm putting them here:

with flash, covering most of the blue glow

in the dark, with the blue glowing through them! I love this one xD

Well, that's all for now I suppose. Gotta go make something interesting of my Friday night--it's still young! See you all next time xoxo

Candy Cane Tips

Hello, friends :) Another quick post today--comin' at you from my friend's laptop today, so I apologise for not being able to crop/colour-correct the photos as well. No fancy editing programs here! But I wanted to show you my second-to-last Christmas manicure--candy cane French tips with "icicle pieces" :)

Festive and tasty, except not actually tasty. Ignore the smudge on my index finger >.< that was me being too impatient and changing shirts too soon after painting.

French tip was done with Ulta Snow White... Red candy-stripes were added with red acrylic paint and a small paintbrush. The gold stripe is Stripe Rite gold glitter. That wasn't quite enough--I wanted a frosty, icicley look, so I dabbed on a bit of China Glaze Luxe And Lush, mostly on the bare part, just sweeping a bit over the tips. Seche Vite topcoat sealed it all in--had to use a couple thick coats to smooth out those flakes, but totally worth it. I really like this one :)

Isn't this candy cane pen cute? The ink smells of peppermint as well :D

With flash, for maximum sparkly *_*

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend :) xoxo

Challenge Day #26: Inspired by a PATTERN

Bonjour! I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Today's prompt was "inspired by a pattern", and this was a great opportunity to try something I've been meaning to do for a while anyway--argyle nails! Observe:

I tried to colour-correct this, but it looks hopelessly yellowish. But still! :)

This look was actually pretty easy to do. I started with two coats of Essie Bikini So Teeny, a pretty light periwinkle blue with very fine, subtle silvery-blue shimmer. This was a very popular and sought-after colour in the polish world, and I can see why! It's really feminine and delicate. <3

When that was completely dry, I used squares of tape to block off the shapes at the top and bottom, and painted the exposed sides with OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys, which is actually way more of a warm and chocolatey brown than it showed up in these pics. I then used my white Stripe Rite striper polish to freehand the criss-crossing white diamond pattern, and sealed it with one of my topcoats. I forgot which one. Probably good ol' trusty Seche Vite.

The side diamonds still look black. Especially with the flash here.

In sunlight!

I wore these for a couple of days, and then instead of taking them off, I decided I wanted to add something. So I grabbed my Nubar 2010, a cool flakey polish, and added a coat of those for some visual interest. And then, because I can never wear flakies without matte-ifying them, I finished it off with a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love. The final look is as follows...

These flakes are neat and colour-shifty! Sometimes they look reddish orange...

...sometimes blue...

...and sometimes yellow and green!

Well, that's it for today's post. It's been a pretty good weekend--all the football teams I like won, and a lot of teams I dislike lost. I had pizza, lots of drinks, the weather was pretty, and I had fun argyle nails. What more does a girl need? ;)

See you next time for artwork-inspired nails. Also keep a look out for my Halloween design post coming up soon... 'tis the season! xoxo