NOTD: Pretty Pink Florals

   Hey y'all! Happy Friday (yes, it's a thing!) to everyone who's living where it's already Friday! And advance happy Friday to those who aren't! :P Darn that's a lot of exclamation marks in the first few sentences haha

   Anyhows, there's not much to report today, so I've only got my recent NOTD pictures to share. First up is a pretty pink floral mani that is so pink I felt so girly prancing around the gym haha. I used Australis #totesamaze layered with Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter on the pointer and pinky nails. For the two floral accent nails, I used Australis #totesamaze and W7 Fuchsia for the roses, and Rimmel Sky High and Orly Glitzy for the leaves. I really wanted the roses to be tiny delicate flowers and the leaves to not be so ginormous haha but I guess I'll keep that in mind for next time.

   And of course, a couple days later, I switched my pink nails for something a little vampier and simple. This is 3 coats of Ulta3 Spring Break (looks like a dupe for China Glaze Creative Fantasy!) and on the accent is Face of Australia Midnight Fireworks - which is a gold glitter texture polish that is absolutely gorgeous, I'd go as far as wearing it as an entire mani one time ♥_♥

   And that's it for now, though I've got plenty more posts to come throughout the month! So stay tuned for that, there are a number of pretties to be seen :P

NOTD: Illamasqua Muse

   Hey y'all! Now, if you follow me on Instagram, you would already know that I won Kierra's giveaway on her blog Look What The Bats Dragged In and that last week I received the prize! It was the Limited Edition Illamasqua Bat Lash and Swarm Nail Polish Duo for Halloween; as well as Illamasqua Muse which was the polish that started Kierra's obsession with Illamasqua in the first place. Oooh how I was so excited to rip open the package!

   The top half are custom orders from Sophie at Femme Fatale Cosmetics - all Christmas presents unfortunately.. I'm having a hard time actually parting with them! - and the bottom half is my Illamasqua prize - gawsh just look at those lashes! Can't wait to actually try them out :P

   I decided to go with Muse first, and I was pleasantly surprised that it's a beautiful one coater! Of course I did two because I'm obsessive like that, but totally doable in one coat! 

   Just how gorgeous does it look? No wonder Kierra fell in love with it! But then came the tricky part.. finding a muse for my Muse. Not that it wasn't lovely on its owns, but I was completely stuck on what nail art to top it with. Then this is what my brain did on its own: Muse -> Art Nouveau -> Roses... And so roses it was! Though I'm not too proud of these, they look really messy: the flowers look rushed, and the leaves look dodgy haha I think I've lost my touch with florals - must practice! 

   So really, I don't think I've given justice to just how pretty this colour is. I was thinking maybe next time a black tribal print? Or have you got any other suggestions? 

NOTD: Pastel vs Neon

   Mornin' all! You should all know by now that I have quite a soft spot for neons, but occasionally, my love for for them is diverted to pastels. I just can't help myself, the colours look so pretty in their bottles! One such colour is a new found love: Essie Mint Candy Apple. I paired it with Ulta3 Lilac Bloom and Sinful Colors Black on Black to create this pastel floral design.

   Though I did like it, I felt a little underwhelmed... the colours looked a little washed out ): Also, it is almost Summer here in Australia, so I think I was just subconsciously craving for something brighter! So I pulled out Emily De Molly Flurocious, Australis Peek-a-boo and #Totesamaze and a few golden nail studs to create a much brighter floral mani, with glitter too!

   I like this much better :P but then again, I am a sucker for bright colours. Which do you prefer? Are you a pastel person, or a neon lover like me?

Floral French Tip + Tutorial

   Hey lovelies! How are we all today? :D 

   I've been feeling a little girly recently and really felt like rocking some classic french tips, but I just couldn't keep it plain... just had to add some nail art on top. 

   I REALLY loved how these turned out! Especially with my makeshift rhinestone accent piece :P I also had my dad's SLR camera this weekend so I was able to take nice lightbox pics of these babies. I've been wearing this mani for the past 4 days.. longer than most of my other manis!!

   I also squeezed in time to create a picture tutorial on these today just before work. They're actually quite quick and easy to do! A lot of blobbing and swirling :P

  So I started with 1 coat of a nude/pink jelly Essence Sweet as Candy and topped that off with 1 coat of Ulta3 xoxo. Then, using a small brush (or the brush straight from the bottle) paint on the white french tip following your smile line.

   With a purple (Beauty Attitude Grape Smoothie) and a pink (Revlon Sweet Tart), make a couple of blobs as bases for your roses. With a green (Ulta3 Tahitian Lime) and a black (Sinful Colors Black on Black) fill in the white gaps.

   With darker purples and pinks, draw the squiggly lines for your petals. Then with your original purple and pink, and a white polish, add highlights to your roses and continue swirling the colours until you're happy. Then with a gold polish, I used Orly Glitzy, add highlights onto your black leaves. 

   For the rhinestone accent, dab a bit of topcoat near the base of the nail and attach the crystal flatback rhinestone. Then add the silver caviar beads one by one around the rhinestone. That was probably the hardest part of the design! haha in my case, it was difficult to create the circle around the rhinestone *D'oh*

   A coat of top coat should seal in the design, and et voila! A floral french tip mani that I reallllllly don't want to take off.. and I might actually keep it on for a couple more days :P Though I do feel like trying some heart shaped tips! 

   I encourage you all to give it a try, and I'd love to see your recreations if you do so tag me, or give me a shoutout and ill check it out! 

xx Christine

BAM: FLORALS

   Welcome to the second instalment of my "then and now, and all the manis in between" series! And today's theme is florals! :D

   Just before we start, y'all know how the first picture in the post is what's used as the blog post thumbnail? (Unless I'm just a noob that doesn't know how to pick a thumbnail??) Well, I didn't really want my first ever floral nails to show as the thumbnail, so I'll show you a sneak peak of my most recent floral design first :P

   And here is where I started with floral nails:

We all gotta start somewhere right? I took pretty horrible photos too, 

and thought a border would make it look better! :p

   From there I just tried different representations of flower:

 

From roses to rose bushes and trees...

To more abstract floral designs.

I tried realistic looking flowers...

As well as floral patterns based off of clothes.

   More recently, I remembered one of my earlier floral designs and decided to recreate it.

Another horrible photo, but GOSH do I love this design!

   And my recreation:

Mini red roses over a blue to teal gradient, with Femme Fatale 

Cosmetics Winter Hyacinth on the index and pinky nails.

   I used Australis Aqua and Essence BBC Splash Refresh for the gradient; Butter London Pillar Box Red, Sally Hansen I Pink I Can, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Ulta3 Tahitian Lime and Frog Prince for the roses and leaves; and 2 coats of Rubi Call Me Maybe as undies  for the glitter.

   I am absolutely in love with Femme Fatale Cosmetics Winter Hyacinth, it matches the roses so well! You can purchase this from their website Femme Fatale Cosmetics or from one of their international stockists. 

   Do any of you purchase indie polishes, and if so do you have a favourite? I'm all up for finding new indies to look at and try :P

And one final photo in the sun!

   And one more thing before you go. Ever wondered where I get the studs and glitter I use in my manis? I purchase them all online (along with my brushes, thinner and other nail art knick knacks) at www.bornprettystore.com and they've now given me a discount code to share with my readers! 

   Just type in XFSQ10 at check out for 10% off your entire purchase! And that's all for now, stay tuned for the next theme: GRADIENTS!

xx Christine

Sweet Floral matched with Savvy "Razzle & Dazzle"

   Goodmorning y'all! Hope everyone's been well (: 

   Today's #NOTD are these soft pastel /floral /glitter nails. I used Revlon Lilac Pastelle for the base, Savvy Razzle & Dazzle for the glitter, and a handful of polishes for the roses and leaves (purples, pinks, blues and greens).

   I also have something to ask you all; if you've noticed, in the past few months, I've been taking pictures of my manis outdoors with just my regular phone camera. This is because I haven't had access to the DSLR or SLR or whatever special camera it is (it's not mine, it's my dad's haha), and therefore haven't been able to take shots of my mani in my light box. I was able to borrow it for my last post, but my dad's since taken it back. 

This is where y'all come in: I've tried taking shots in the light box using my Samsung galaxy S4, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know if you prefer the outdoor lighting, or don't mind the indoor shots under the lamps. 

[Edit: I forgot to mention that the two following photos are the ones taken under the lightboc]

   Thanks to everyone in advance. and I hope y'all enjoy the rest of your week! OH and I have exciting news to come.. so stay tuned for that :D

Flirty Floral Print

   SO PURRRRRTY *star struck eyes*

   Of course, these beauties are inspired by Candice from MrCandiipants. That square frame is absolutely genius! Check out her tumblr for the tutorial! :D

   So for my version, I used a deep purple base colour (A Max Factor polish that doesn't have a label.. since I may have ripped it off unknowingly :P). For the flowers I used Face of Australia Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, BC Co Shade 13, Ulta3 Honolulu, Tangelo, Tahitian Lime and Frog Prince. The studs I used were 2mm silver square studs from the BornPrettyStore. 

   In other news, I'm currently using Duri Rejuvacote to help with the splitting and peeling of my nails in hopes that my nails will finally grow out like they used to. *fingers crossed*

Flirty Floral Print Anyone? :P

   My nails feel so pretty! I was in the mood for some cute lookin' nails and this was the outcome. I was worried that adding the itty bitty blue flowers would make the mani feel too 'crowded', but they actually pair pretty nicely with the larger red roses, so MEH I'm digging it like crazy :P

   I was going to do a cute neon geometric design using China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, but used it for the roses instead. I added highlights using Bloom Tuscany, added leaves with Ulta3 Tahitian Lime, and outlined the entire rose using Sinful Colors Black on Black. For the blue flowers I used a tiny dotting tool and BC Co Shade 21, and Ulta3  Honolulu for the centre. Topped everything off with a quick dry top coat, et voila! I don't ever want to take these off :P (I say that about almost every mani haha #firstworldproblems of a nail art addict)

    This reminds me, I have a half finished nail art wheel of floral prints laying around. I may actually get around to finishing it this week. *fingers crossed* I'd love to show it to you all when it's done :D

    But until then, more picture spam! (I love it when my camera cooperates and captures the mani perfectly *cheer*)

Femme Fatale Cosmetics: Eventide inspired Floral

BAM.

BAM.

And an outdoor photo for good measure. BAM.

   Sorry (not really :P) for the dramatic opening,  but I LOVE how these turned out. I've had Femme Fatale Cosmetics' Eventide sitting on my shelf for a couple of weeks now, so thought I'd better hurry up and use it. 

   I drew inspiration from the flecks of pink glitter in the polish and created this simple floral design. I was going for a glitzy elegant look, but I couldn't resist adding studs to make it a little less girly, and a little more 'edgy' :P

Excuse the wonky studs *gasp* I did these at 4am 

(I'd been in a nailart rut so I was determined to get something done!)

   I used 3 coats of Eventide on the index and pinky, and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the rest. The flowers were done just with a regular light pink, red, and white polish; mint, green, and gold for the leaves. 

   I was contemplating whether to add Eventide onto my thumb or go with black and golden studs, but went with the same design as my ring finger instead. What do y'all think? 

   And another outdoor picture (how awesome does this gold polish look in its bottle?! *dazzled*:

Watercolour Floral

   Feeling a tad girly today, so thought I'd do some floral nail art ..that, and I haven't done a floral design in ages and I miss it! :P This design was inspired by Jenn from Jenn's Nails on tumblr. I am absolutely in love with her nails, and her nail art!

   So basically, my take on the mani is using a 'watercolour' method where I've thinned down the nail polish colours with some thinner (acetone works just as well). I used Chi Chi Plastic Fantastic (fast becoming a minty favourite!), Ulta3 Tahitian Lime and BC Co. Shade 21 for the background. It's pretty much painting the polish on in short strokes (like in an ikat design) one colour at a time until the entire nail is covered. For the flowers (I didn't water them down too much, so that they would stand out from the background) I used Sally Hansen I Pink I Can, Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Black on Black. Topped it off with a quick dry top coat to even things out, et voila!

   I was planning on doing some ikat chevron nails this week, but this sort of counts as ikat too right (short strokes)? :P Instead, if any of y'all have suggestions or requests, I'de love to hear them, and see what I can do!