NOTD: Let's Eat Ice Cream Cake

   Hey guys! So today's NOTD is a little different to my usual style, but I grew to like it over the day I wore it :p plus, in the year that I've had claws, I haven't done an ice cream mani once! And my points would have made great ice cream cones... so et voila - ice cream nails! :p

NOTD: Drag Marble Nails

   Mornin' all! Just a quick NOTD post for today - or more like NOLW (Nails of last week) :P I posted these on my IG last week, and am only getting around to writing this blog post now *oops* 

   This is a basic drag marble mani, using 3 neon BYS colours: Anyone For Tennis?, Steal the Limelight and Baby Let's Cruise. I started with a coat of white, topped with a generous layer of each colour, then with a needle (or toothpick, or long striping brush - whichever works best for you) drag the polish from one side to the other. A coat of top coat will then smoothe everything out (: 

   I was going to top it off with something on top, but I just couldn't figure out what would go with it - water marble, tribal, dots? So I ended up leaving it as is, but I couldn't really complain, I quite like it simple like this, looked like a smooth gradient too from afar! :D

TUTORIAL: Neon Cut-Out Nails

   'Ello 'ello 'ello! How are we all today? :D So you all remember my most recent neon cut-out nails right? 

   Well today, for all my beautiful followers, I've put together a (hopefully simple to follow) picture tutorial - I have left it unfiltered so you get the joy of seeing my naked nails in all their stained glory ♥

What you'll need:

Top Coat 

White Polish/ Black Polish

2 Neon Polishes

Small Nail Art Brush

   1. Start off by marking out the cut-out design with some black polish - I used Sinful Colors Black on Black - and a small nail art brush.
   2. Again with the small brush, colour in the panels you want to be coloured later in a white polish - I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White.
   3. Alternating between your 2 neon colours of choice - mine were BYS Anyone for Tennis? and Australis #totesamaze - colour in the panels. Depending on your polish, you may need more than 1 coat - I used 2 coats of each colour.
   4. With your black polish and small brush, re-trace over the black outline making each coloured panel more defined. If you make a mistake, dipping the small brush into acetone and "rubbing out" your mistake on the nail like an eraser really helps in keeping the lines straight!
   5. Wait for the black polish to dry before painting a layer of top coat on to seal it all in! Make sure to give it all time to dry before top coating - or use a top coat you know won't smudge - so you don't smear the design.

   Et Voila! Neon cut out nails! Hopefully that was easy enough to understand, and if not, feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment, and I'll get back to you as soon as I read it!

   I'd also love to see your recreations using this tutorial if you do choose to recreate it! Just post it onto my facebook page Nails at 2am, or tag me on Instagram @xtinemayyy!

NOTD: Neon Cut-Outs

   Sick of neons yet? I hope not! 'cos I'm in a serious neon mood swing :P

Outdoors in the sun

Outdoors in the sun

   I was going to do a skittle mani... but after seeing my old cut out nails (from this post in March) I decided to recreate them instead - though this time I used a neon pink and yellow (Australis #totesamaze and BYS Anyone For Tennis) and a couple of pink neon studs from the Born Pretty Store. And as per usual, to make the colours stand out, I used two coats each, over a white base (Sinful Colors Snow Me White).

   For the black I used Sinful Colors Black on Black. For some reason I just can't work with black acrylic paint, maybe my paint's just not pigmented enough, or maybe I just suck at using it *shrugs*. And the black lines are a little thicker than I wanted, but I think that just means my brush needs replacing (I sat on it and didn't realise.. now the bristles are all frayed woops).

   Despite all my complaints, I absolutely love these :D Neons, triangles and studs, what's not to love right?!

Artificial light in a light box

Artificial light in a light box

   Sorry for the picture spam (not really :P) but I couldn't just pick 3 to show you all! 

   On another note, Nails a 2am has reached 100 followers on blogger! That's a big milestone in my opinion and, with the opening of the Nails at 2am facebook page, I think this calls for a celebration :D So stay tuned for that!

   Okay, so maybe just one more picture? :P

Artificial light in a light box   

AN Monday: Blue or Green

   Hey y'all! :D So the theme for this month's AN Mondays, is Aussie Indie Month - showing our love for all the Aussie indie brands that support our polish addiction :P My Indie collection is only at about 30 bottles and only half are Aussie, but I'll try and make do with what I have! First up is "Blue or Green".

   For someone who's a total purple junky, surprisingly, almost half my Aussie indie collection is blue! So I threw them all on the table and picked one at random :P 

   This gorgeous little number is Emily De Molly When Planets Collide. This is 2 coats layered over 1 coat of Revlon Royal. Though technically, from what I can see, it's actually a black jelly base, but it's so filled with blue glitter I classified it as blue :P !

   I also tried for some nail art using BYS Diamond Glitter Opal, Max Factor Royal Blue and some striping tape.

   Aaaaaand, I also have the last two weeks' AN Monday combined into one mani: Graveyard/ Your Choice, to finish off the October Halloween Month. Fingers crossed this month I'm on time with all my AN Mondays! :D

NOTD: Neon Aztec Print

   Hey y'all! *waves* And a Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it! :P Halloween's come and gone here in Australia, without much festivity unfortunately. So instead of rockin' a gruesomely awesome costume at a party and eating halloween-y foods and dancin' til the sun comes up, I'm here at home doing my nail thang - but that I'm complaining.. too much :P haha

   ANYWAYS. Bright. Neon. Aztec nails for you all today! Ever since I swatched Rainbow Honey Magic Cake, and did the aztec accent nail, I've been itching to make a whole mani out of it... and now I have :D *woop woop*

   I based the colour scheme on the neon glitters used in Rainbow Cake which were so fun and worked well together. I used Sinful Colors Endless Blue, W7 Fuschia and BYS Steal The Limelight for the coloured panels, and outlined everything using Sinful Colors Black on Black. 

   I loved these so much, I kept them on for 3 days :P Everyone at work thought they were stickers and that my nails were fake haha. But I do have to admit, IM PRETTY DAMN PROUD that I've kept my nails at this length for this long! *knock on wood* Last time I had long nails like this was last year, and since then they'd just kept breaking. It might be the strengthener I'm using, might be my nail care routine, might be the fact I have polish on 24/7... or I've just been lucky :P

White Tribal Over A Sponged Gradient

   Hey y'all :D Today's NOTD is a white tribal print hand painted over a sponged gradient. Fun fact: This took me about an episode of Charmed, JAG, Judging Amy, Power Rangers and Ben 10 (random tv shows that I kind of enjoyed actually :P I hardly ever watch tv). 

   The colours I used for this were recent BYS purchases from Kmart: Glowing Around, Anyone For Tennis and Baby Let's Cruise. They caught my eye because they were pastels, but screamed "bright"! So question: what do you call a polish that's obviously a pastel, but is bright like a neon, but not quite a neon...? Am I making any sense? 

   ANYWHOS, this is the gradient that's under the white tribal pattern. My mum asked me as I was painting the tribal on why I bother to do such a nice gradient only to "cover it up" and "hide" it underneath. *facepalm moment, oh how my mother makes me laugh* hahaha I agree with her to a degree, but I try to think of it as the background that shines through the tribal, making it more interesting (:

 

Weekly Round Up ft New Babies

   Hey y'all! Hope you've all been well (: I've acquired some new pretties recently so I haven't been doing any actual nail art. So instead, I have a couple of manis from the past week, showcasing my new babies :D

   First up is OPI DS Extravagance and BYS Glitter Crystal. I LOVED this mani, the OPI DS was amazing! I've seen it in pictures, but to see it in person, and watch the mani shine in the sunlight *hyperventilates* haha okay maybe I was exaggerating, but nonetheless, I was really impressed. However! I won't let the OPI overshadow the little BYS glitter! I got Butter London Fairy Cake recently and wasn't too psyched about it. But this BYS is much MUCH more glitzy, and doesn't dull down like the BL did. So overall, I give this mani an 11/10 haha It really was a shame taking it off. 

   Anddddd... as you can see, my index finger nail is broken on the side *sobs* I finished work on Thursday night and found it like that, with no recollection as to how or when it happened ): I was left with 3 choices: 1. cut them all to short squares 2. reshape the index finger and leave the rest square 3. reshape all my nails. 

   Soooo... for the sake of uniformity, and the fact that it took ages to grow my nails out, I opted for option 3. Welcome new nail shape! 

   I have been drooling (almost literally) over the swatches of Polka.com from the OPI Euro Centrale collection ever since it first came out, so I caved and bought it for $20 at hairhouse warehouse *guilty smile* But I don't regret it one bit! Absolutely in love with it! My new favourite glitter <3 This is one coat layered over black. 

   How do you all like the new nail shape? I've had claws before, that were wayyyy longer than this, but I think this time around, I'll keep them filed to around this length (:

   SO back to the Napoleon Perdis make up day, I had so much fun! I work at target in the cosmetics department, and the big bosses finally sent me to a make up training day for free, fully paid! hehe We learnt how to create a "day look" as well as a "night look" using of course, the Napoleon products. 

   A day of playing with make up and fiddling with people's faces was at first very daunting since I've never done any real make up on people, but it turned out to be a lot of fun, AND we got freebies at the end *yay* okay rant over haha, thought I'd just share that tidbit of my life :D

Christmas Craze

   First and foremost: 

I want to wish everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas!!

   Apologies for being MIA this past week, but Christmas in retail is one busy BUSY season! I was stuck at work until 6pm Christmas Eve with shoppers still wandering the store looking for VERY late minute presents! haha (I laugh now, but back then, I was ready to chase those people out of the store so I could finally leave and go home grrr)

   I have a couple of manis for you lovely people today (: First of which is a design I did for a guest post on Katy's blog: Nailed It. She has kindly obliged by allowing me to write up a guest post while she's on vacation. If you aren't already following this creative young lady, then I kindly urge you to take a peek at her nails and see for yourself. 

Guest post on Nailed It

   Second, is a festive glitter gradient I wore to work during the week. 

   I used 2 coats of China Glaze Twinkle Lights for the base, OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air and BYS Dazzling for the green gradient on top. 

   I LOVED THESE. So bright, sparkly and fun! Don't they just scream Christmas to you?!

   Finally, today's mani: something really quick and random. I'm still on the fence with these. May even take them off tonight and attempt something else :/

   Until then I hope everyone has a safe and blessed Christmas break! I promise my next post won't take as long as this did! 

   P.S. I would share with you all what I got for Christmas, but it's kind of hard when I didn't get anything. hahaha This year my brother and I spoiled my parents and younger siblings instead with gifts. Though I did buy myself a purple macaron patterned onesie from Target :P 

Blue as a half moon manicure

   Today, I have more bright, colourful nails for you all! And yes I wore them to work haha (and p.s. no, I don't know what I meant in the title either, it just sounded right :P)

   The design for this wasn't planned, all I wanted was to keep with the "blue" theme and somehow this came out. I used BYS "Blue" (a colour changing polish) for the base, Essence "Grumpy" for the blue curtains on each nail and BYS "Diamond Glitter Opal" for the half moon. 

   I didn't like these at first. I thought they made my nails look chunky and down right ugly. But somehow, while at work, they grew on me, and I ended up loving them. 

   I'm so in love with wearing such colourful and bright eye catching colours to work, so be warned, this colour streak may last a while!