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:

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)

Frankenpolish, Flowers, & Fimos--Oh My!

Hallo! I've been mixing up new polishes again :) today's mani is a relatively simple one with my newest frankenpolish, plus some fimo flowers for accents!

Chinese Royalty Inspired Red & Silver Nails

Hello! I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

I was browsing randomly the other day, with a vague idea for a design in mind but wanting to be inspired. I ended up looking at some beautiful images of the type of fashions worn by ancient Chinese royalty and higher-ups. Bright, rich colours with ornate and intricate details, usually in gold. I ended up using silver for my details instead, but I hope you can still see the link :)

Outdoors in indirect light. Please excuse the slight error in stamping--was hardly noticeable IRL!

The silver nails are two coats of the polish shown above--OPI This Gown Needs A Crown, from the 2013 Miss Universe collection. A beautiful silver that has a matte/satin finish, yet still manages to sparkle and gleam in the most captivating way. It looks so impossibly rich and deep. I want polishes with this finish in every colour imaginable. OPI has really outdone itself with this stunner!!

Over that, I added a row of red metallic studs from Born Pretty Store. Usually I would adhere these with topcoat, but I didn't want to mess up the finish of the silver, so I used dots of nail glue instead. I got it all over one of the studs on the middle nail and it isn't as shiny as the others, and I know nobody else would notice, but it bothers me! However, it did the job and I think it looks very refined.

Outdoors in sun. I love the little crown adornment on the bottle which can be a ring.. too cute! And look at that silver glow. It really is magnificent.

The red base on the other nails is actually one I made myself--I had an old bottle of topcoat that was about 1/4 full, and two red Petites cremes that were nearly identical and about half full each. The small reds were called Rockin' Red and Hot Sauce. I'm a Judas Priest fan. The resulting franken, therefore, was dubbed Hot Rockin'  :D  Here's a quick swatch of it:

Two easy coats, no topcoat (since it was made WITH topcoat, it doesn't need more!) I love that it's mostly a squishy plain red crelly, but has that blue shimmer at certain angles.

I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep to stamp the cascading diamond image from Bundle Monster plate BM-404. This was a plate in their "user created" plate set, and I think it's perfect for this look I was going for! These nails were topcoated with INM Out The Door.

Another in sun, along with the thumb.

My right hand was a reverse of this--the index and middle nails were red with stamping, and the other nails were silver. I didn't have enough studs, though, so I cheated and did red dots with Hot Rockin' in a line instead. I wish I could say "you could barely tell at a distance!" but that isn't true--the metallic, 3D look of the studs is very different to anything I could do with this polish. Oh well, it looked passable anyway, and still pretty.

One more, indoors with flash. I may never take this silver off...

I may be biased, since silver is one of my favourite colours to wear anyway (especially on my nails), but I think This Gown Needs A Crown is a must-have for any polish lover. It's AMAZING.

And now I shall stop gushing and let you go on with your day ;) thanks for stopping by. Have a lovely sparkly day!! xoxo

Debut of The Lacquer Legion: Reinvention

Hello my dears!

Today I have a super fun post for you :D I have joined up with many other nail bloggers for a new worldwide collaboration: The Lacquer Legion. Similar to the old Polish Days collabs, once a month we will have a theme around which we all base a manicure to share with each other and with our readers!

The first theme is Reinvention. Lots of room to explore with this one. I have a nail design which, I believe, covers the topic in many ways. Let's get to it!

Lots of new things going on here! First, let's start with my nail shape. Anyone who has visited my blog before will likely notice the difference here. I've always had square/squoval nails. However, I kind of wanted a temporary change, plus I had broken off the corners of my thumbnail and one on my middle finger. I decided to try for an almond-shape nail, and ended up with something between almond and plain oval. I haven't decided if I like it or not, but it is new for me! So that's one reinvention.

Next, the base colour for this manicure, and a true reinvention. It's a frankenpolish! I started with a slightly sheer, frosty purple polish by Jane called Shock Value. I did not get any photos of it before, but it was one my mother had given me and I never really wore it. Was just kind of "meh". I added in a frosty pink and blue, neither of which I ever really used (I think they were both Petites, though) and then--the important bit!--a no-name thin glitter mix containing silver, gold, and rose gold small glitters. The resulting colour is not far off the original, but more rich, and sparkly! I love it, but can't think of a name. Any suggestions shall be considered ;)

A swatch of my franken when it was first created, and before I filed my nails.

I then went for a sort of unique type of French tip on my newly-rounded nails, using Dollicious Polish's Scene Stealer. I used a striper and then a detail brush to create a round tip with a sort of spire, like so...

And just to be extra-classy, painted the undersides as well. It looks very silver in this next shot, but it's really a cool-toned rosy gold.

Anyway, next was to add the "gemstones". I wanted to capture the look of those swirly, coloured polished rocks. I used Ulta Snow White, CoverGirl Outlast in Vio-Last , and a toothpick to create the swirly dots. I pre-made these on a plastic bag a couple of days beforehand, because the blobs do take a while to dry, and...

So yeah. I just dabbed on a drop of the white polish, then a bit of purple, swirled them around with the toothpick (but not too much), and allowed them to dry. Then once I had my cute gold tip in place, I carefully peeled them off with tweezers and used clear polish to adhere them to the middle of the nail. Finally, I used gold microbeads to carefully frame the "stone", giving it a sort of cameo/brooch look (I hope).

with the base colour in hand :)

The topcoat I used to seal it all in is KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

And one more in lower lighting. I love this shot :) shows the richness of Scene Stealer and how it goes well with those beads!

That's all for today! I hope you enjoyed my take on the Reinvention theme, and that you'll check out the other bloggers' great manis too. Click here to check out the Facebook page and see all the other contributions, and I'll see you next time! xoxo