Sheer Black French with Silver "Dagger" Accent, and I'm a Flippin' Fashion Designer Now

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade add tequila and salt and have a party :D

When life gives you a broken corner, file that shiz into a point and roll with it.

(click to enlarge)

I kind of love that pic. Read on for more details!

Pink Holo French Tips (aka: Menchiecure!)

Hello my friends!

I got a huge smile this week! A friend I've recently met through an online game (PS, it's Ingress, the Pokémon-Go-before-Pokémon Go-was-a-thing game) told me that he met a fan of this blog! So if you're reading this, hi Sam, and yes I will totally do your nails sometime if you like--hit me up :D

This week, I'm happy to be rocking a French manicure again. I love the style, but my nails are usually too stained for me to feel OK about it, at least not without some colour-correction (hint: the purple OPI Sheer Tint polish is excellent for cancelling out yellow tones!), but due to the mini-hiatus I took recently, my nails are pretty much back to normal. So I'm going to show you the gorgeous polish I picked up a while ago--Menchie The Cat, a collab with Starrily and Simply Nailogical!

(click to enlarge! DO IT)

Rest is after the jump, because as is usual with my holo manis, I took waaaaay too many pics!

Christmas Day 2015 | Born Pretty Store Decals :)

Merry Christmas, everyone :)

(click to enlarge)

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

Chic Matte Red Tips

Hello my dears :) Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US!

I have been a bit under the weather and felt like a sort of palette-cleanser for my nails. I decided on this simple, sophisticated, matte French-tip look:

(please click to enlarge)

This one's quite easy to describe :) I used my usual base coat (Seche Retain, by the way, which is discontinued and I am struggling to replace it! Why are there always a thousand things I don't need, and the one I do gets axed??) and then two coats of OPI Lost on Lombard for the French tips. I like this deep, muted sort of red. It reminds me of autumn... and wine.

The matte topcoat I added over it all is Picture Polish G'Day Matte.

This is one of those rare times when both hands match, and I've been wearing it for quite a few days now. It feels very clean... but I think next time I'll do something dazzling and sparkly. Stay tuned for that! xoxo

Delush-ous Princess Tips

Hola! I'm heading off on another trip tomorrow! This time I'll be in the US visiting friends and family for a few weeks. I have a post or two lined up, plus I plan to buy polish while I am there, so I should be able to show you a few things while I'm away :)

My nails are starting to grow out a little! In preparation for my trip I trimmed and filed them down again, able to get rid of the patches and tip I had on. You can see that they're all short again, but after this I can (hopefully...) grow them back out with no further dramas!

Today I have a design that just sort of happened... I didn't really have an idea in mind, but in the end I think it looks very princessy. Peach would wear these nails (especially with gold instead of silver accents)!

Born Pretty Store Review | 3D Rubber Flowers

Hullo! Last mani before I take off for a week, and last review item from my latest Born Pretty Store haul :) I saw Anna review some similar 3D rubber flowers years ago, and finally got to try them myself!

Born Pretty Store Review | Diamond Glitter Placement

G'day! Almost through my newest Born Pretty Store haul :D I'm going to fast-track these last two before I head off to a conference in Sydney next week! I'll of course do some special travelling nails, as I always do... But for today, I've got a design showcasing these diamond- (okay, rhombus, you nerd) shaped glitters :D

Travelling with Bling | Black, Gold, & Gemsplosion

G'day my dears! I just got back from a spontaneous trip up north to see a friend for a few days (once I finally recovered from the awful flu-ish thing I had). Any time I travel, I like to do extra-nice nails for the occasion, since 1) it just adds to the fun, and 2) in the airports and such you're often passing money and documents around, so it gives you lots of opportunities to show off your hands :D

If you follow me on social media (check the links on the right!), you'll already have gotten a peek at these black and gold tips with a super-blingy accent nail!

Sally Hansen & the Blackhearts (BPS Stamping Plate Review)

(with apologies to Joan Jett)

Hello again!

I am sick of being sick. :P

You know what's good for that, though? Rest, hot tea, and having more Born Pretty Store goodies delivered! A few days ago, I received handful of stamping plates and a really cool colour-changing polish :D I'll show you the polish next time! I haven't been stamping as much lately, so I wanted to get my hands on the plates first, and ended up with this little mani I almost called "Garden of Hearts".

Darcy & Solange Are Totes BFFs

Hello! Back with a simple yet striking look--something I've had on my idea list for a while; a French tip look with similar colours in different finishes. I went with bright cheery yellow and reached for two Zoyas!

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!

My Take on the 2015 Colour Of The Year -- Marsala

Hello and welcome! To start off 2015 I've been giving my nails a wee bit of a break. I can't leave 'em alone for too long, but I've been trying to take extra care of them the past few days with oil and such rather than doing lots of painting.

However, I decided it was time I jumped on the Pantone Colour Of The Year bandwagon, which is something I've never paid much attention to in the past. I like exploring different nail shades and art styles without much consideration for the current trends or seasons. But the colour they have chosen for 2015 is Marsala, which I can best describe as an earthy, muted wine/taupe hybrid. It's not the type of shade I normally wear, and as such, I don't have any polishes that are an exact match. A chance to go for something outside my usual? Right on! So I went with the closest option in my stash--OPI Lost On Lombard--and did a chevron-tip look :)

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!

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 28 - Inspired by a FLAG

Hi hi! Today is day 28 of the 31-Day Challenge. Only three more to go! Today's prompt is "inspired by a flag", and I have known for a while that I wanted to honour the Australian Aboriginal Flag.

Outdoors in shade

I first saw this flag flying next to the Australian national flag (which I have also painted before) in front of a building in Melbourne, and thought it would be a nice nail design. But in order to honour and not cheapen or disrespect the meaning of the flag (as I am not from here), I did a bit of research. From the AIATSIS website,

The Aboriginal flag was designed by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man from Central Australia. It was created as a symbol of unity and national identity for Aboriginal people during the land rights movement of the early 1970s. 

It was first flown in 1971, and in 1995 it was proclaimed an official flag of Australia. As it should be. :) I like the symbolism of the colours as well--the black represents the Aboriginal people, and the red represents the earth as well as the colour of ochre, which has ceremonial significance. The yellow circle in the middle represents the sun, the protector and giver of life.

I used Soulstice Spa Buenos Aires (red, and as close a match to the official Pantone 179 as I have) and Gotham (black) for the striped tips, and Zoya Darcy for the yellow circle. Topcoated with Seche Vite.

Indoors with flash. Hello, nail staining that's totally not visible in real life at all >.>

Outdoors in the yellow circle--I mean, in sun :)

So there you have it! I know many of you will not have known any Australian flags outside of the national one, so now you can learn a little bit just as I did. :D

Check back tomorrow for day 29's nails! xoxo

Spider-Man Nails -- The Lacquer Legion Does Fandom!

G'day, boys and girls! It's time for another Lacquer Legion themed collaboration! This month, we celebrate the things in life we geek out for! TV shows, movies, sports teams, celebrities, comic books, you name it! Whatever you pay to go see, whatever you get excited about, whatever you have posters and T-shirts and collectible tributes to--put it on your nails!

I actually had to think a bit for this. I don't really watch TV, and I've already done manis celebrating my favourite sports teams, movie, book... what to do? Oh, comic books! My two favourites are Iron Man and the Amazing Spider-Man. As you cleverly ascertained from the title of this post, I went with the latter :D

Bright Neon Bows

Good day, dolls! :)

Today I wanted to do something bright and happy and fun. I've been itching to paint bows... and I have not used orange in a nail design in a while, so this happened!

There's a Scarab in my Midori! Diagonal Two-Tone French

Hello, beautiful people! It was such a pretty sunshiney day today, I was literally skipping around the back yard. And of course, taking pics of my latest nail design :D

Coffee Mug Inspiration: Black & White Floral

Hello my beauties :)

Today I have a mostly black & white design, inspired by my pretty coffee mug!

Silver Metallic Matte + Foil Tips

Hello, lovely ladies and gorgeous gentlemen!

Sorry for the delay in posts! In preparation for some renovations starting tomorrow, we've been tearing the house apart and packing things out of the way, and my poor nails had to be neglected. The good news is, I didn't break any and I'm all caught up on manis and I have posts scheduled for the 5-6 days I'll be out of the house. You won't even know I'm gone ;)

Today's design was inspired by this awesome design by More Nail Polish. I don't have any gold foil, and unlike Cathy, I prefer silver over gold--so I used that instead!