Oh My Swatch! - L.A. Colors FlashPop! (Mad Duo and Pop Artsy)

Hey guys! I've decided to do a couple of swatches for the first time ever, just because I really like these new FlashPop duos from L.A. Colors and I thought you might like them too! Both are pictured with two coats of the neon base, one coat of the glitter topper and one coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Shine top coat.

The first one I tried was Mad Duo, consisting of an neon orangey-salmon creme, and a glitter which pretty much describes itself in the picture below! The lighting in the photo isn't the best, but this was the most accurate photo I could manage to get of the colour. This was my favourite of the two duos I bought, and I really love the combination of the glitter and the creme. Somebody said these were like '80's nails!

My second purchase was Pop Artsy, and although it's not my favourite of the two, I still really liked the combination. It consists of a neon magenta base (not sure if it's technically a creme as it was less opaque than the base in the last duo) and a blue and pink glitter. 

Overall, I am so glad I bought these! I'm not sure about overseas, but in New Zealand you can buy these at The Warehouse for $5 each.

Free-hand time! - Sally Hansen Special Colour Blocking

Hey guys!

If you don't already know, I was one of the winners of Sally Hansen NZ's recent I Heart Nail Art colour blocking competition! Because of that, I won heaps of amazing Sally Hansen products, many of which you will no doubt be seeing in blog posts of mine in the future!

One of the colours I received was Kook-A-Mango, and it's just so bright and amazing that I had to do something fun with it. Here is what I came up with:

All of the polishes I used for this design are Sally Hansen products (even the base coat)!

Polishes used:
- Sally Hansen Kook-A-Mango (red base)
- Sally Hansen Gem Crush Cha-Ching! (bottle pictured)
- Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in White
- Sally Hansen Diamond Shine (top coat)

Free-hand Time! - Purple needle dragging

Hey everyone!

It's been ages but I'm back to post more nail art for your enjoyment :)

As you know, I have recently acquired a set of nail art brushes and I am currently experimenting with them. The most recent technique I have tried is needle dragging, which you can find a tutorial for here, but I used a thin paintbrush instead of a needle. I added a glittery coat on top of my design as well to make it more exciting. I didn't have a specific look I was trying to achieve, I just made random swirls and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Here is my finished look:

This was also my first time trying out one of Revlon's scented polishes, and it worked really well. Six days later and my nails still smell nice! I've actually bought three more which should arrive in the mail very soon... :D

Polishes used:

- Revlon Grape Icy (base colour, bottle pictured)

- Love and Beauty Lavender (lighter purple)

- First Glance Lasting Impressions unnamed silver glitter (glitter on top)

- OPI Top Coat

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Ooh La La - Glittery Pink with Black Tips

Where I am it is currently 4pm, so good afternoon!

The manicure I have for you today was done using a new polish I bought from Sally Hansen's Gem Crush Range named Lady Luck. I LOVE this polish! It is tiny pink glitter and medium sized silver holographic glitter in a clear base, and was pretty much opaque in two thick coats. I love the colour of it and the way it shimmers in the sun.

I decided to pair it with a simple black tip, done using the end of a plaster/band-aid as a guide.

Polishes used:

- Sally Hansen Gem Crush Lady Luck (base)

- CR Color 57 (black tips)

- OPI Top Coat

Free-hand Time! - Purple fish scale tips

Hey guys! I know I haven't posted in a really long time but I'm back now and I'm going to queue some posts over the next week to keep the blog posting even when I can't :)

So, recently I bought some nail art brushes from TradeMe and I am trying out different designs in which I can use them. The design below is inspired by this neon scales tutorial by HannahRoxNails (previously pixiepolish), but instead of covering the full nail with scales, I only did scales on the tip.

Here is my design!

They're not perfect, but I'm really happy with how they turned out and I'm sure my brush skills will improve with time!

Polishes used:

- Love & Beauty Lavender (base)

- CR Color 57 (black outlines)

- Chi Chi Boom Boom Boom (to fill in the scales)

- OPI Top Coat

GingerNails Goes 3D! - Pink half-moons and rhinestones

The other day I decided to do a half-moon manicure and I was in the mood for pink. It was only when I had finished doing my nails that I realised they reminded me of something from Madonna's music video for 'Material Girl'!

(image link)

Here are my 'Material Girl' nails :)

This was my first time using these rhinestones, and I found them to be hard-wearing and very practical - they stuck on really well even without a top coat! I love the classy look and durability of this design.

Polishes used:

- Jordana Soft Pink (lighter pink base)

- Miki 9155 (darker pink half-moons)

- Meizilan Nail Design Taiwan nail art pen in unnamed white (for the half-moon outline)

- Cutex 3 in 1 - Base coat, top coat & clear nail polish (to stick on the rhinestones)

- Stop Nail: Little Star rhinestones (I bought these at a KONAD nail art stand in a mall in Las Vegas)

- OPI Top Coat

Free-hand Time! - Pink and purple swirls

A few months ago, I bought a sparkly purple polish by Maybelline Mini Colorama called Tutti Frutti on sale at the supermarket... And I love it!!! The only difficult part about wearing it was deciding how to decorate it...

I went with a free-handed pink/purple swirl design which I think complemented Tutti Frutti really nicely.

It's simple, but I really like this design :)

Polishes used:

- Maybelline Mini Colorama Tutti Frutti (sparkly purple base)

- Meizilan Nail Design Taiwan in unnamed magenta (swirls)

- OPI Top Coat

Under the (turquoise) sea...

Hey guys! I know it's been AGES since I last posted, but I have been really busy! I'm in the process of queuing some posts for the near future so this blog can keep on going even when I don't have time to sit down and write a post :)

So, a few weeks ago I was so excited about using Mode's beautiful turquoise Party Girl (if you live in NZ, you can find this at a lot of pharmacies for around $4 - $5. Not sure about other countries, sorry.). I decided to go with a simple yet effective fishtail manicure, highlighting Party Girl with black and silver.

It took a few tries for me to accurately photograph the colour of these nails, but I did it in the end! I seriously love this turquoise and will definitely be reaching for it again in the future.

Polishes used:

- Mode Party Girl (turquoise base)

- Meizilan Nail Design Taiwan nail art pen in unnamed silver

- CR Color 57 (black)

- OPI Top Coat

ANZAC Day 2013 - Lest We Forget

Hey everyone :)

In case you didn't already know, on April 25 New Zealand and Australia celebrate ANZAC Day. For more details on what this is, read here. It is a day to remember and pay respect to the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought in Gallipoli in World War One. 

I decided to pay my respects through nail art, and created a design based on this image from the RSA website (see below).

Here is my recreation!

Polishes used:
- Love and Beauty Sky Blue (base)
- Chi Chi Va Va Va Voom (poppies)
- CR Color 57 (black dots on poppies)
- Meizilan Nail Design Taiwan nail art pen in unnamed dark green (stems of poppies) and white (lettering)
- OPI Top Coat

Apologies for picture quality, I had to take this picture under artificial light due to it already being dark outside.

GingerNails Goes 3D - Shooting Stars (fimo cane)

Hey guys! I thought I would have some fun with nail art canes again, and I decided to go with pink stars after choosing the base colour I used (L.A. Colors Power Outage) which I LOVE. I also decided with this post to take a new approach to how I photograph my nails. From now on, I will probably take all of my photos like this, apart from when my thumb has its own unique design. 

I hope you enjoy my original design! :)

Polishes used:

- L.A. Colors Power Outage

- First Glance Lasting Impressions unnamed pink (dots, applied with dotting tool)

- Jordana Clear (to stick on the stars)

- OPI Top Coat

31 Day Challenge - Day Two - Orange (KONAD Stamping)

Hey everyone! Long time no... blog post? I've been really busy lately, but I'm going to be posting more in the near future, starting now! :)

For Day 2 (Orange) of the 31 Day Challenge, I used KONAD Stamping plate m21. I love this design because it is fun and different, and I really like the way it stands out from the metallic base colour I used (see below)!

Polishes used:

- OPI A Woman's Prague-Ative (base)

- Konad Special Nail Polish in White and Black

- OPI Top Coat

Flashback Friday - Fimo Butterflies

Happy Friday! 

I want to share with you a nail art design that I did last month. This was the first time that I used fimo nail art canes and I found them to be really durable and fun. If you do not know what fimo nail art canes are just search the term on Google and you will find tons of pictures :)

Here is my original design!

The only thing with this design was that it was quite difficult to remove, but I think that is mainly based on the four coats of glitter polish I applied. I have not personally tried the foil nail polish removal technique yet, but I think that probably would have made the removal much easier. I eventually did it by just holding bits of cotton swab soaked with nail polish remover on my nails, which removed most of it after a few minutes.

Polishes used:

- OPI Last Friday Night (3-4 coats)

- Meizilan Nail Design Taiwan nail art pen in White

- Jordana Clear (to stick the butterfly to the nail)

- OPI Top Coat

I applied the butterflies, which I had cut off the cane with a craft knife, onto a blob of Jordana Clear, initially with a wet toothpick, but for some of them I just held the butterflies in between my nails while applying them. You can do whatever works for you! :)

Easter Nail Art - Part Two: SPECKLED EGGS!

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter! Mine was nice and relaxing :)

The second (and final) design in my Easter Nail Art series is Speckled Eggs. Apologies for the delay in posting these - My original bottle of nail polish remover ran out before I had the chance to get a new one and clean my nails up! I take absolutely no credit for this design, as I was following this tutorial almost exactly as it is written, just with a coat of white under the base colours, and minus the matte top coat.

Here is how my attempt turned out:

Apart from a few little things, I'm pretty happy with the way it looks. I'm still working on the best way to clean up my nails and the best way to photograph them, so these things will improve with time!

Polishes used:
- Miki No. 25 (thumb base)
- Ulta 3 Lily White (underneath all colours, index finger base and sponged on top)
- Love and Beauty Lavender (middle finger base)
- Jordana Soft Pink (ring finger base)
- Love and Beauty Sky Blue (pinky base)
- OPI A-Taupe The Space Needle (brown spots)

(And apologies again for picture quality, the editing software I use just wasn't working out for me today.)

Easter Nail Art - Part One: HOT CROSS BUNS!

Happy Easter weekend everyone!

I thought I would start my two-part Easter nail art series with one of the things I love about Easter... Hot Cross Buns!

This is an original idea of mine and I was very happy with the way it turned out :) Let me know if you want to find out how I created this look.

Polishes used:
- OPI A-Taupe The Space Needle
- OPI Honk If You Love OPI
- Meizilan Nail Design Taiwan nail art pen (White)
- OPI Top Coat

I hope you all have a safe and happy Easter weekend! Stay tuned for Part Two...

First Nail Art Post! 31 Day Challenge - Day One - Red (Comic Book)

Are you ready for my first nail art post? I thought I would start with the 31 Day Challenge (find it here), although it will be occasionally interrupted by other nail designs that I feel inspired to do.

Day 1 - Red

I decided to do Comic Book Nails as my Red nails after seeing pictures online and falling in love with the design. I take no credit for the original idea for this design, and the picture I imitated is here.

Here is my attempt!

Apologies for picture quality, I am still working out how exactly I am going to take pictures for this blog. I just love this design so much and I hope you guys like it too!

Polishes used:

- OPI You Only Live Twice

- Meizilan Nail Design Taiwan nail art pens, black and white (not sure of the exact name of these)

- OPI Top Coat

Welcome :D

Hey everyone (or not everyone... yet)

Welcome to my brand new blog :) Soon I will be posting pictures of my nail art and maybe some other nail-art related bits and pieces, so watch this space...