NOTD: Neon and Triangles

   Hey you guys :D Now I know the past few manis from last week were all neon based.. not to worry though, this is the last of them (for now :P). 

   For this mani, I used Chi Chi OTT and OMG (Chi Chi really like their acronyms haha) and Australis Peek-a-boo, as well as a couple triangle studs from the Born Pretty Store (don't forget to use XFSQ10 at checkout to get 10% off your order!).

   Is it just me, or is there something about neons and triangles that just really work well together?! 

NOTD: Ikat Turned Tie Dye

   Hey there y'all! Hope all is well, and that everyone had an amazing weekend! This weekend was a busy one for me - a weekend I wasn't actually overrun with work, and had time to go out, have a few drinks, play some bowling, eat some waffles.. you get the gist of it :P. And to add to all the excitement, I came home last night to 10k followers on Instagram! YAYY *dances* and for those of you who follow me on Instagram (@xtinemayyy): THANKS & BIG HUGS :D

   And so, at just past 4am Monday morning, I've found some down time to write up this post. Following through with the neon swing that I seem to be on, this is my version of a bright, neon IKAT design. Though it looked much better in my head, I still kind of dig it - sort of like a tie dye effect!

NOTD: Neon Skittles

   Okay so maybe I am on a neon roll. You can't stop me nowwwww! :P

   For the past couple of days, every time I sit down to do my nails, my eyes seem to always be drawn to anything, and everything bright. So why fight it? This here is Miss Ashleigh And It Was All Yellow and Like A Sunrise and Ulta3 Fruit Tingle. 

   I've been meaning to do a cut out mani for ages, but this just doesn't hit the mark. So look forward to an all out BAM in-yo-face cut out mani in the near future - hopefully :P

NOTD: Neon Mix 'n' Match + #mynailsmysmoothie

   Hey guys! So here in Australia, we've begun our descent into Autumn: last week brought a couple of cold, rainy days, the sky looming with clouds. Perfect weather to be skipping gym, staying cozy in bed, and reading a good ol' book (Game of Thrones saga.. anyone else addicted?!). But there are also nails to be painted! And who's to say I can't bring out the neons as the weather cools? 

   For this mani, I used Chi Chi OTT which I was quite intrigued by, because unlike most highlighter yellow neon polishes, it leans slightly more towards a green than a yellow. 

   Little anecdote - with my friend at the shops: 

      Friend: It's the same colour as the one you have already!

      Me: No it's not. This one is slightly more green than the highlighter yellow polish I have at home.

      Friend: But it's similar right? So you don't need this one?

      Me: Don't be ridiculous, of course I do. 

   Anyone else had a similar experience? haha SIMILAR DOES NOT MEAN SAME.

   Okay, so back to the mani, I used 4 coats of OTT. Which is a lot I know. But I didn't use a white base, and this polish was more of a jelly-like consistency instead of a creme. For the accent nail I used 1 coat of Butter London Fairy Cake and 2 coats of Australis Shimmy Shake. The lines were painted on using my ever trusty Sinful Colors Black on Black, and a small detail brush. 

"Inspired By" NOTD: Hot Pink Aztec Cut Out Nails

   Hey hey hey y'all! So, I was on Instagram q couple of days ago when I was tagged by @hollysagemini in her nail art pic that was inspired by a mani I did a few weeks back. It was such a cool twist to my mani, that I just had to recreate her recreation! :P

My mani from a few weeks back

Holly's recreation of it

And my recreation of her recreation!

   I decided to stick with the pink theme of Holly's nails and used Chi Chi OMG for the base and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the black accents. Seriously though, cut outs are the bomb diggity :P

   And so if anyone else has been/is ever inspired by a mani of mine, let me know and share! I love seeing them :D Either tag me on Instagram @xtinemayyy - or better yet, hashtag #xtinemayyy I'm more likely to see it that way since sometimes, my feed moves too fast and I don't see all my notifications ): Or share them on the FB page www.facebook.com/NailsAtTwoAm

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   

NOTD: Neon Gradient + Watermarble

   ♫♪ I can't sleep at night, when you are on my mind ... We belong together babyyyyy~ 

   Anyone listen to old school Mariah Carey? :P I found a playlist of old school songs in a folder on my laptop and now I'm getting sidetracked and instead find myself singing along (trying to) with whatever lyrics I remember - it's a tad hard writing this post with impulses to sing every 2 seconds ♪Your lips, your smile, I love it when you kiss me baby (next track - Mesmerized Ja Rule).

   Okay. Anyways. I put the volume down, maybe that'll help - and here I thought I was good at multitasking. SO. NAILS. This neon gradient is by far my most fave! From a lime green to a medium blue to bright pink  (Tony Moly P004, Australis Sky's The Limit and #totesamaze) - it just screams Summer. I was so tempted to leave it as is, cos come on, just look at it, it's so stinkin' cute! :P 

   As for what to layer on top of the gradient, I had a couple of ideas: waterspotting, black tribal pattern, or I could have taken the lazy way out and just added a glitter topper... but I was feeling adventurous, so I gave water marbling a go. Just as an FYI, water marbling and I do not mix well: I attempt it, I fail miserably, I try another 10 times, and finally, successfully marble 1 nail - ONE nail. This little escapade wasn't any different, just my left hand took at least an hour and a half! 

   And the bubbles! Damn the bubbles! I pull my finger out of the water and there are air bubbles in my water marble - it drives me nuts! What am I doing wrong?? ): What I did to try and salvage them, without having to redo the gradient and the marble, was to pop the bubbles and paint over it with a small brush and black nail polish. You can sort of see in the photos where the black is slightly darker - that's where I painted over :P

   Buuuuuuuut... the results are just so pretty, I don't mind facing off against my arch nemesis every now and then.

   So water marbling is my love/ hate relationship, what's yours? 

   ALSO, NAIL MAIL :P Swatches of these will be up on the blog within the week ♥

NOTD: Neon Leopard Print + Tutorial

AND BAM! 

Back to neons *grin* 

   My mini breakdown over pastels and neons in my last blogpost (and a little "Who are you, and where is Christine?!" comment from Kirsty over at Nail Cake) I'm back to sporting neons. This gradient is more eye catching then I'd imagined.. I even thought it may have been a little too bright, but really, who am I kidding?! :P 

   I used Ulta3 Tangelo, W7 Fuchsia and Kleancolor Neon Amethyst for the gradient - you can just barely see the purple tips in the photo. Though I LOVED these as they were (gradients are always a good go-to when lacking inspiration) I was craving more "pop". And hence, these:

   REOWR! I used a dotting tool to add the spots and the golden rectangle accent stud is from the bornprettystore online. A slick of top coat to seal everything in and my fingers were ready to blind and amaze! :P

   I also put together a quick picture tutorial:

What you'll need:

Base Coat / Top Coat

White / Black Polish

3 Neon Polishes

Dotting Tool

Make Up Sponge

Stud (Optional)

   1. Start off with your favourite base coat, then one to two coats of white (depending on opacity). Mine is one coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Wait a few minutes until the white is at least touch dry.
   2. Sponge on your neon gradient. I used Ulta3 Tangelo, W7 Fuchsia and Kleancolor Neon Amethyst in that order. Optional - seal off with a fast drying top coat, in my opinion this makes the gradient blend better.

   3. With your dotting tool (or anything similar, a bobby pin, a toothpick), create 'spots' using alternating colours as the background - i.e. orange spots on the purple tips, pink spots on the orange half etc.

   4. Again with your dotting tool, add the black leopard accents on the spots, also adding the smaller leopard spots in the spaces in between.

   5. Seal everything off with a top coat, and et voila! ♥

   6. Optional - keep an accent nail spot free and add a golden rectangular stud. 

   Also remember you don't have to stick to the colours I used - I dare y'all to use some neon yellow, or neon blues or greens!) and if any of you do do a mani like this I'd love to see it, so tag me on Instagram (@xtinemayyy) or leave me a comment here and I'll go check it out.

   OR..

   You can share it on my facebook page! Yes I now have one - and I'll make a separate blog post to announce it later of course. Just search Nails At 2am on facebook or go to https://www.facebook.com/NailsAtTwoAm 

   And just as a little side rant... I hate the fact I had to use "TwoAm" instead of "2am"!!?!?!?! 

   Anywayssss :P I hope you'll continue to support me over on facebook as well :D

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?

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

Born Pretty Store Review: Fluorescent Studs

   Hey y'all! Hope you've all been good :D

   Today, I have some exciting news to share with you guys. The Born Pretty Store have recently contacted me to do a review for them and I happily accepted. What I have for show today are these fun and colourful fluorescent studs. They come in 6 bright colours, 2 different shapes (squares and circles) and are all organized in a handy little wheel container. I was so excited seeing these tiny pieces of goodness in front of me, I went a little stud crazy.

400pcs 2mm Round Square Fluorescent Dark Colors Stud Rhinestones Nail Art Decoration w/box

   Or was that an understatement? :P MY NAILS LOOK LIKE CANDY!! They look like little candy skittles on my nails, I love it!!

   With 6 fluorescent colours to choose from, and two different shapes... I had to pick all of them! Having such a selection means I had an awesome time mixing and matching the studs on my nails. At first I thought I may have gone a tad overboard, but I was quite liking the in-your-face over-the-top look of them, and I've been wearing them for 4 days now! Can't bear to take them off :P

   The studs look great over the colourful nail base, and work well with the crystal rhinestones too. They're about 2mm in size and are pretty flat - once pressed into the polish and after a layer of top coat, the stud isn't protruding too much off the nail.

   I used 4 BYS polishes and 1 Australis polish (all Australian brands) for the bases. From thumb to pinky: BYS Clowning Around, BYS anyone For Tennis, BYS Steal The Limelight, BYS Baby Let's Cruise and Australis #totesamaze.

   You can purchase these studs (and a bunch of other great nail art accessories - go crazy!) from the Born Pretty Store here. I also have a 10% discount code for you to use on your entire purchase: XFSQ10.

   Overall, I love these studs! They're fun, versatile, and with 400pcs, I'll definitely be using them in plenty of manicures, especially in Summer where all the bright colours come out :D    

*The item/s mentioned in this post were sent to me for my 100% honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of them. For more information, please read the Contact and Policy page of the blog*

Vibrant Green and Pink Ikat Nails

   WELCOME BACK SUN! 

   And HELLO green and pink ikats!! Eye-searing-ly bright but oh-so-fun! I haven't done an ikat in while, nor have I used any of my neons (they've been feeling quite neglected lately), so why not celebrate the return of the sun with these?! (Sounds like some ancient cult ritual haha)

   For the blinding green base colour I used Tony Moly P004, and Australis #totesamaze for the pink ikat. My mum saw these on my instagram and asked me "Why do so many people like it? It's ugly and hurts my eyes." Well, gee! thanks mum! hahahaha 

   As for me, I utterly love neons, especially when they hurt my eyes :P that just means I bought a pretty damn good neon!!

   And to take it a step further, I took a photo of these in direct sunlight... EVEN BETTER. RIGHT?!

Pink Neon Hearts

   Or are they?...

   This was my not-so-valentine-y Valentine's Day mani, sort of an abstract/ geometric heart shape mani... (tries to justify herself). I started off with the two accent fingers using Revlon Silver Screen as the base, and topped it off with Australis Shimmy Shake (I LOVE THIS GLITTER). It looked so glitzy and girly that I used China Glaze Pool Party with the full intention of creating a fun and flirty design. 

   Well that failed... hahah I ended up with a tribalesque theme. So in the end, the 'look' is kind of uncoordinated, but eh I can deal. 

   I really like the triangular shapes of the pattern though, so I may try recreate this with different colours and minus the glitter :P

Neon Geo-Shapes

   BAM.

   These did just happen.

   I'm on another neon roll, and today I have for y'all Ulta3 Citrus outlined in Ulta3 Black Satin. This design was inspired by a pair of boots I saw online that looked hella fine!

   I opted for a neon highlighter yellow as opposed to a true yellow, but loving the effect nonetheless!

   So a quick run down: first start off with 2 coats of white. This REALLY (can't emphasize this enough) helps the neon colour pop. Then a coat of Citrus, followed by Black Satin. 

  To do the outlines, just trace the outside of your entire nail to create a border, then stroke by stroke create triangular sections. For the accent nails, it's pretty similar: just paint on the triangular shapes and fill them in. Top it off with Top Coat and you get this rockin' neon mani!