AN Monday: Snowflakes

   Hey hey hey... it's Monday today! And I'm on time with my AN Monday mani this week :D So obviously, judging from the title of this post, and the fact that there are huge snowflakes on my nails, the theme was snow! (Or snowmen lol) 

   I reallllly wanted a pale pink polish that wasn't too sheer (Sally Hansen Shall We Dance is my usual soft pink go-to but this time I wanted something a little more opaque) but the closest I could get was Ulta3 Pale Dahlia. Although it's got a pearl shimmer finish to it - and I'm not fond of shimmers/ pearly polishes at all - I was going to be covering it up with a holo glitter gradient and snowflakes anyway, so it wasn't too big a deal. For the glitter gradient, I used Chi Chi Celebrity Melt Down (which I feel like I've been using a lot lately) and Essence Black is Back for the snowflakes.

   Before painting on the snowflakes, I fell in love with just the holo gradient over the pink! I was this close *motions with fingers exactly how close* to leaving it like that and just pretending it was an abstract representation of snow falling :P But I cheated last week with the scribble Christmas tree, so thought I may as well practice my free hand drawing skills this week.

   And by golly gosh are snowflakes finicky little turds! I had to practice multiple times on a piece of paper before being confident enough to try it on my nails. And whenever two spikes touched, I'd quickly go between them with acetone and redraw them straight again. 

   They're actually pretty basic compared to all the other snowflake manis I've seen floating around, but this is the best mine are going to get this year :P I have no intentions of revisiting this little monster until at least next Christmas haha

   To see all the other snowy manis by the other AN Monday girls, just click on through to the Aussie Nails Monday page of the blog (:

I Creme, You Creme, We all Creme for Ice Creme!

   And a SUNNY hello to you all from Sydney, Australia! *waves* It's technically Spring over here right now, but recently it's been nothing but 30degree heat, and plenty of sun! AND Daylight savings has also started, which basically means that last Sunday we fast forwarded our clocks an hour forward, meaning we have longer days - the sun's still up as late as 7pm! Y'all know what that means... more opportunities to do my nails and take pictures :P

   So for today's blog post, we explore the land of creme nail polish. Recently, I'm loving the look of cremes more than glitter, so I thought I'd show you a few of the cremes that I don't wear often as a full manicure. 

   First up is Face of Australia Would You Like Some Orange Sherbet from the Pretty Pastels collection. This is a gorgeous soft shade of pale orange, and looks great in the bottle. Unfortunately, the reason I've never worn it on its own (this is actually the first time I'm swatching this polish) is because it clashes with my skintone and doesn't look too flattering, I pretty much bought it on impulse *oops* It will probably remain a shade that I'll leave for nail art, or maybe pass it on to someone who will love it more than I.

Two coats Face of Australia Would You Like Some Orange Sherbet over one coat of white

   Next up is a STAPLE in any nail art addict's collection... at least every addict that loves neons! Although it clashes with my skintone, I DONT CARE! :P It's China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy - my all time favourite neon polish (I have 2 back ups)! We all know how hard it is to capture neon polishes in photos, but this is the closest I could get it to be colour accurate.

Two coats China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy over one coat of white

   Third up is Ulta3 Mojito and Ulta3 Orchid topped with Australis Rio Riot on the accent nail. This green was one of the first polishes that I fell in love with. It's a shade of green that I can just pull off, and is great for nail art too, but I'm not really digging it anymore... at least not a colour I'd wear on its own as a full manicure. 
   
   And just as a special mention, I'm loving these Australis glitter toppers that I've seen come out: Rio Riot, Carnivale Chaos, Glitter Strikes Back and Shimmy Shake just to name a few!

Three thin coats of Ulta3 Mojito over white; One coat of Ulta3 Orchid topped 

with two coats of Australis Rio Riot for the accent

   Next is a colour which matches my skintone well, is a dupe for Essie Bikini So Teeny and has a smooth buttery formula it's a squeeze to apply: Essence Forget Me Not from the Blossoms Etc... Collection. It is so damn pretty, and feminine, and soft, and all things nice :P The accent finger is Revlon Silver Screen topped with Australia Shimmy Shake. This combo is one of my faves!!

Two coats of Essence Forget Me Not over one coat of white; One coat of Revlon Silver Screen 

topped with two coats of Australis Shimmy Shake for the accent

   Next is a combo my brother picked out for me. All I said was pick a plain colour and pick a glitter, and this is what he came up with: Ulta3 Tangelo and Femme Fatale Cosmetics Eventide. His reasoning was : "it's Spring and sunny, so I'll choose something eye searing-ly bright!" Somehow, he managed to pick my all time faves! Tangelo, like Mojito, was another one of the first polishes to join my nail polish horde over a year ago now, and the first orange I fell in love with. It appears a lot more red in the photo, but in real life leans more towards a bright neon orange-red. And Eventide, my bottle is half empty ): it's the first indie polish that I'm considering reordering because I love it (and use it) so much!

Two coats of Ulta3 Tangelo over one coat of white; One coat of Orly Glitzy topped with two 

coats of Femme Fatale Cosmetics Eventide for the accent

   Last but not least is a colour combo that you absolutely can't go wrong with AND doesn't clash with my skintone: blue and purple! I used Australis Sky's the Limit for the base, and did the chevron tip + half moon using Sinful Colors Endless Blue. I was lazy (as per usual, that, and I have a love - hate relationship with striping tape) so I just free handed the tips and half moon using a trimmed down paint brush. For the accent I used Emily De Molly Warrior Princess; it's choca-block full of glitter so 2 coats was enough for complete coverage!

Two coats of Australis Sky's The Limit with Sinful Colors Endless Blue for the tips and half moon; 

Two coats of Emily De Molly Warrior Princess for the accent.

   Do any of you have colours you love but unfortunately don't match your skin tone, an if so do you wear them anyway? 

   And the mother of all polish questions (not really but :P) Do you own China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy?! And if not, do you have a polish you think everyone should own? 

   P.S. I hope you all get the title, not sure if it's just a thing in Australia growing up as a kid haha

Let's Play ...catch up.

[ PICTURE HEAVY POST ]

   But on the plus side, lots to look at. AMIRIGHT? :D

   I got my Emily De Molly order last week and went on a swatching frenzy. 

EdM Cosmic Forces

EdM Flurocious

EdM Block Party

EdM Monet's Garden

EdM Dark Depths

Next are manis that didn't make the cut for tumblr, and were just posted on IG 

Rainbow gradient skittle (too many colours to name /lazy)

Topped with simple tribal pattern

Essence Passion for Fashion topped with Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Max Factor Desert Sand is the squishiest nude evarr! Topped with simple geometric design

Butter London The Black Knight and Jack The Lad gradient

Polka dots using Chi Chi Plastic Fantastic as the base - so minty green!

Simple stripes using Max Factor Opal and Lilac Lace and Essence Passion for Fashion

   Any favourites? Or any requests? (:

Is It Too Bright? *covers eyes*

   YEP. Totally digging this. 

   *Austin Powers voice* Groovy Baby~

   Haha, sorry, I just had to. 

   It's Monday again, so to prepare for the week ahead, why not sport some bright colourful nails? (who else suffers from Monday-itis?!) 

   It's a kaleidoscope of colours: Australis Sky's The Limit, Ulta3 Honolulu and Tangelo, Essence Bloom-A-Loom and a Coral Colours that has lost its tag (the one pictured above). With a base coat of white, a thin brush and a whole load of patience, I managed to pull it off :P

   I was thinking of adding black stripes between the colours just to add a bit of extra detail... but I tried and ruined the mani. Luckily I only used black acrylic paint, so I wiped it straight off with a cotton ball and some water :P 

Pastel Leopard Print over Essence 'Sweet as Candy'

   First and foremost, I LOVE THIS ESSENCE POLISH (Sweet as Candy)! It is very sheer, and takes about 4-5 coats to even be remotely opaque, but it is so darn pretty and delicate, I can't help but love it!

   This photo's just from my mobile (regretted not taking a proper photo of it after *sigh), it looks pretty similar to the OPI Don't Burst My Bubble swatches I've been seeing lately. It felt like such a shame to cover this beauty with nail art.

   I used Essence Bloom-a-loom, Ulta3 Corsican Rose and Soft Hydrangea, and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the leopard print. For the two accent fingers, I just used 2-3 thin coats of Australis Shimmy Shake.

   Annnnnd, just because I feel the need to sulk:

   Not even 24 hours after top coating this mani, disaster struck. My index finger nail broke at work ): ...I thought this was bad, but a week passes and I'm back at work again, then BAM another break ARGHHHH

   Look at my poor poor index finger ): now I have such uneven nail lengths ): I am seriously a stickler for even nail lengths, but my right hand takes ages (and I mean AGES) to grow so I thought I'd wait it out until they're somewhat longer before I even them all out again *exasperatedsigh

Essence 'Blue Addicted'

Oops. I haven't posted in a week, and I had this in my back log for two weeks. *apologizes*

   Love. Love. Love. Essence Blue Addicted. I hear it's a pretty good dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Across The Universe but I don't own it to be able to make a comparison. But for just around $2.00 who cares? haha 

   I used L'oreal Color Riche Magic Croisette for the base colour and layered Blue Addicted on top. Once it was on, I knew I wanted to do something 'ocean' related ...look at it, doesn't it remind you of the depths of the ocean?! 

   So I went onto youtube and followed Candice's (MrCandiipants from tumblr) tutorial on koi fish using metallic colours instead of the cremes: Revlon Silver Screen, Sally Hansen Crushed and Sinful Colors Black on Black.

This was a mani done before the watercolour floral I posted last week. Since then I've had a couple of breaks ): So expect squares in the next post.

Pretty Pastels

   Hey y'all! Sooooo... here we are again, another day, another mani. Though, if you're anything like me, then that means playtime! :P With Easter right around the corner, I've had an urge to play with pastels, and since I haven't attempted a watermarble and/or gradient in a while, thought I'd mash the two together for a pretty pastel mani.

   I started off with two coats of Sinful Colors Easy Going (this is such a pretty delicate pink shade, so bummed I didn't take a shot of it on my nails *sob*). Then with Chi Chi Plastic Fantastic, BC Co. Shade 21, Essence Bloom-A-Loom and Sinful Colors Easy Going, I did a simple watermarble pattern for the accents. Using those same colours, I sponged on the gradient for the rest of the nails.

   I know that there are different methods people use to do gradients, but what works best for me is painting my base coat of colour first and letting it dry, then painting on the strips of colour directly onto the sponge and dabbing it onto the nail in sort of an up (towards the cuticle) and down (towards the free edge) motion (i am terrible at explaining, I hope that made sense).

   And just because I felt like a little sparkle :P I topped everything off with Bloom Cosmetics Aspen (sort of like an extremely fine version of CG Fairy Dust).

Though I really do like the end result, it still feels incomplete... so maybe a design on top tomorrow? We'll see :P

Dream Catcher Nails

   Yay for the return of the claw pose :D And my attempt at combining watercolour nails and dream catchers! I saw this image on google while searching for pictures of dream catchers and immediately fell in love with the design. 

 

   Of course I wasn't going to get such fine detail (not with my clumsy hands), but still I wanted to try. I first tried to imitate the watercolour background using Sinful Colors Island Coral, Sinful Colors Endless Blue and Essence Splash Refresh. Instead of acetone, I used polish thinner to create the waterclour effect.

   Then, just with regular black acrylic paint and a fine paint brush, I painted on the dream catcher. I must admit, this part took the longest because I kept erasing my dream catchers (Oh the beauty of acrylic paint! Washes away mistakes with water :P) and starting over until I was happy. But I got there in the end haha Also added some round flatback crystals to the other nails as an accent. 

   All in all, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out (: What do y'all think?