Light It Up Blue #BlueNailsForAutism P2

   Apologies.

   Apologies.

   OTL

   It's been more than a week since I've posted and I apologize for such a long gap! The weather's quickly turning cold here in Australia (hello Autumn!) and I've been feeling rather sick lately, and so I've momentarily halted my #bluenailsforautism ): 

   I do however, have these 2 blue manis from last week that I pushed out before the sicky-bug found me (grabbed me, held me, and hasn't let go since).

   For this first design I used Australis Sky's The Limit, Ulta3 Blue Marlin, Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea, BC Co. Shade 12 and black acrylic paint for the geometric pattern on top.

   I was at a loss for inspiration so I painted the different blues in random shapes on my nail and topped it off with random black lines. Turned out pretty well in my opinion :P

   This second mani is simply Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea topped with Essence Prince Charming from the Snow White collection.

   It's simple but quite dazzling at the same time don't you think?

   I'm feeling a lot better today, I've had my fluids, my medicine and rested a lot (and switched from my thin summer blankets to my winter comforter ...so much warmer in bed  now!) so nail art should be back on track!

Light It Up Blue #BlueNailsForAutism

   Hey y'all! Happy April! (I know it's technically not a celebration you're supposed to greet people with and celebrate, but hey, whatever, Happy April alright! :P) 

   So a bunch of ladies from a nail facebook group I'm a part of decided to "Paint it Blue" for April Autism Awareness Month. It now has it's own separate facebook group and Instagram hashtag (#BlueNailsForAutism) for everyone to share their blue manicures in support. 

   Some ladies have decided to do just April 2nd, whilst others have decided to make it a weekly blue mani sort of thing. I have chosen to do a blue mani everyday (or every time I change my polish) for the whole month of April *crosses fingers* here's to hoping I have enough blue polish, or enough creative juices to push out 30 different manis!

   I've decided to post these 3-5 manis at a time, to avoid posting 30 seperate posts. So first up was a blue gradient  (using Rubi Dirty Dianna, BC Co Shade 21 and Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea) topped with Different Dimension Light It Up Blue (For Autism).

Next was a blue striped gradient using Sinful Colors Black on Black, Rubi Dirty Dianna, BC Co Shade 21, Australis Sky's The Limit, Coral Colours Honeydew and Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea.

Third up was a blue glitter-chevron-french tip mani using Ulta3 Blue Marlin and Julep Claire as the base colours, topped with Different Dimension Boo, You Whore (don't you just love its name?!)

And for today's NOTD I give y'all a blue floral mani using Candice's (MrCandiipants) technique of using the brush from the bottle to paint the little flowers on :D I used Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea as my base, and for the flowers I used Essence Grumpy, Australis Sky's The Limit and BC Co Shade 21.

Hope y'all don't get sick of all the blue, and if interested, join in on the #BlueNailsForAutism (: 

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*)

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 

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*:

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.

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! 

Rockin' Cut Out Nails

BAM.

   First I saw these on Tumblr/ Blogger/ Instagram (major chelseagetnailed fan):

Photo credit: Chelsea King from www.ChelseaGetNailed.com

   Then I saw these on Instagram (inspired by Chelsea King's original mani): 

Photo credit: Jessica from @jessuhhhkuh on Instagram

   Now, after seeing such awesomeness, who could resist trying to recreate it?! 

   I used Kleancolor Neon Amethyst for the purple and Australis Sky's the Limit for the blue, aaaand regular black polish to outline. Love, love, love how they turned out! Even more proud that there's little to no staining peeking through the cut outs :P

 

   I'll probably be a little hesitant taking these off tomorrow... they're just so rockin'! haha