Review: Celestial Cosmetics Swatches + Review

   Hey guys! For today's post, I've got another Aussie Indie to showcase to you all: Celestial Cosmetics! With the reopening of the store on Monday January 6, Nicki will be introducing 7 new holo polishes that will be added to the Celestial Cosmetics core range. Today, I have 3 of those to share with you :D

   First up is Sand Dunes. Named after the sands and the deserts surrounding Nicki's home - it's a dark rose gold - bronze toned linear holographic polish. It's quite a unique shade: I've seen plenty of dusty pinks, and plenty of gold holos, but this is the first bronze holo I've come across in my polishing journey. 

   Next up is T's In A Tizz. Named after a good friend of Nicki's (Theresa) - it's a super gorgeous emerald green holographic polish. I only own one other green holo - Nubar Reclaim - and it pales in comparison to how stunning T's In A Tizz is!

   Lastly, there's Ocean Mist. Named after Nicki's love for all things related to the ocean - it's a very striking beautiful blue - almost teal - holographic polish. 

   In each of the swatch pictures, I've used 3 thin coats for opacity (without top coat). With only 2 coats, there was still VNL, but after the 3rd coat, it smoothed itself out and was completely opaque. Something to mention also, is that not only are they vibrant under the sun and the camera' flash, they're also quite stunning in the bottle (and on the nail) under regular lighting! I was really impressed with how strong the holo was in each polish!

   So if I've tempted any of you into taking a second look at these beauties (and the other 4 polishes to be added to the core range) make sure to check out the Celestial Cosmetics store on Monday January 6 at Noon AEST! Nicki is also on Instagram @CelestialCosmetics if you want to follow her for more pictures and updates.

*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*

Best of 2013 from Nails at 2am

   Hey y'all! How's everyone's 2014 starting off? For today's post I thought I'd take a quick stroll down memory lane and reminisce on my favourite manis of 2013.

   I have hundreds of pictures in my NAILS folder - hundreds of nail pictures I've shared and posted this year, so I mean it when I say it was really tough narrowing it down to only 9 manis! Some honourable mentions go to the pokemon mani I did in July (GOSH I LOVED THOSE!), the turquoise stone mani using the water spotting method and hairspray (I think I wore these for a week!), and the bright green aztec design from a few weeks back (I love my claws, and I love my neons!).

   You can also see the gradual growth of my nails from short nubbins to the claws that I sport now.

   2013 was definitely a big year, and I hope 2014 is just as good if not greater! I also just want to thank you all - all my readers! - for all the encouragement and support you've shown me, and hope for your continued presence and love for the future! As a thank you, I'll be hosting a give away in a couple of weeks time!

   And as a final note, are there any suggestions or changes you wish to see from Nails at 2am, or requests you'd like to see me do in 2014?

"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: Femme Fatale Cosmetics Custom 'Runeweaver'

   *waves* Hey y'all! Hope all's been well (: With the Christmas rush dying down I've been able to do my nails a lot more frequently again. For today's NOTD post, I have another Femme Fatale Cosmetics custom polish to share with you all ^^ This time it's a deep purple holo named Runeweaver. 

Bottle shot of Runeweaver

NOTD: Femme Fatale Cosmetics Custom 'Lucky'

   Morning y'all! Hoping everyone's enjoying the holidays - mine's been filled with food comas, drinks, and fun and games (with a side dish of work, which was somewhat more pleasant than last year's Christmas rush in retail, so that's a plus). 

    Today's post will be show casing this gorgeous custom Lucky I ordered from Sophie over at Femme Fatale Cosmetics. 

Bottle Shot of Lucky

NOTD: Christmas Eve Manicure

   Hey y'all! It's been a while eh? 

   Wishing all my readers Happy Holidays and hoping everyone's Christmas was filled with fun and joy! The lead up to the big day was so darn busy, I had the same mani on for 10 days, and hence my absence also. But thankfully, the Christmas rush is almost over. I finally had time to sit down and do my nails on Christmas Eve (of all nights!). I didn't want something real festive, I wasn't in the mood for red and green glitters, candy canes or reindeers on my nails, so I went for a simple glam look, if you could call it that haha

   On my pointer and pink is Zoya Godiva - such a beautiful neutral texture; on my ring finger is a reverse glitter gradient using Revlon Stunning over a black polish; and on my middle finger is a Sally Hansen nail strip. I reallllllly wanted writing on my nails but since 1. I don't have a plate with that image on it (free handing that seemed too hard!) and 2. I suck at stamping anyway, I cheated and used strips :P 

   In other news, I also broke a nail on my right hand at work. The break was terrible and had me sulking for days ): But on the plus side, it was the nudge I needed to file down and trim my nails.

   I filed the nails down quite a bit - they sort of look like mini claws now :P plus a super nub on my middle finger hehe Overall I don't mind so much, they'll grow back, and it really is quite liberating every time I shorten my nails - no more holes in my pastry when I bake, and soooo much easier getting cream from a tub  without getting it under my nails :P

   Until my next post, wishing you all safe holidays! 

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? 

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 (:

COMPARISON: My Cherry Amour, Blaze and Extravagance

   Hey y'all! Wishing everyone a Happy Friday, and *cheers* to the weekend! :D Today I have for you a comparison between 3 polishes I thought were pretty good dupes of each other.

   So the polish that kicked this off was Nicole by OPI My Cherry Amour; I saw it at Target and immediately thought of OPI DS Extravagance, and of course, had to buy it :P 

   It's actually a textured polish - should have known by the "gumdrop" wrapping around the bottle's lid *woops* This is 2 coats over 1 coat of Chi Chi Mother In Law. 

   Unfortunately, I'm not too fond of it as a texture polish, it was too dull and the holo barely shone out. So I topped it with top coat, and et voila: shiny, glossy, holo-y nails :D I definitely like it A WHOLE LOT BETTER with top coat rather than without!

   For some reason, seeing My Cherry Amour in its bottle really reminded me of Extravagance. But looking at the bottle shots below... I was kind of off the mark! Then I remembered Zoya Blaze, and that was a much closer match to MCA!

   On my thumb is Blaze, on my index and middle finger is Extravagance, and on my ring finger and pinky is My Cherry Amour. As you can see, Blaze and MCA are almost exact dupes, just that Blaze is a shade darker and the holo particles are slightly different in each. But I was way off with Extravagance - it's much darker, and more of a plum colour.

   So all in all, although I quite like MCA with top coat, it's too similar to Blaze and the texture isn't enough to sway me, so it's probably headed to the blog sale/ swap pile!

   What are some polishes you fell in love with at first sight in their bottles, but were a little underwhelmed after putting it on?

Throwback Thursday NOTD: White and Silver

   Hey y'all! So everyone on Instagram knows what #tbt or #throwbackthursday is, so let's bring that over here and do a #tbt of our own!

   A few months ago, I did this gold and white mani which I absolutely loved. It was so clean and simple, but oh so blingy too!

   Although I already did a white and silver remake of this design last week, I wasn't too keen on it, so in the spirit of #tbt I thought I'd try another white and silver recreation, and I gotta admit, I may like this version more :P 

   I used my ever faithful Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Revlon Silver Screen, Chi Chi Celebrity Meltdown, and an assortment of loose glitters and studs from the Born Pretty Store online.

   It actually came together pretty well, and is the sort of mani I would wear on my own wedding day: clean, classy, and complete with cut outs and studs!

   I mean, I'd love to wear something fun, bright and neon but deep down I know I want that fairytale white dress to walk down the aisle in, so these would be a perfect match. Not too splashy, but not too subdued either :P