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

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

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