Wicked!

Just one more post of Halloween nails, ok?

I used Savvy - Black Cat, with Sally Hansen Black and White Nail Art Pens and Essence - Gel Top Coat (as the Nail Art Pens require a top coat or else they will wash off your finger-tips!)


NN

More Halloween Art

Just a couple more creations I've done.  Nothing special, and just a whole lot of fun!


Cookie Monster (well, he is a monster, right?!).


I used Sally Hansen - Pacific Blue as the base colour and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in Black and White for the details.

Ghosts, Ghouls, Skull & Crossbones & Sharp Teeth


I used Revlon - Black Star and TBN - Gaga for Glitter as the black base coats, and the Nail Art Pens again for the details.

Batty for bats.

I used OPI - Just Spotted the Lizard (which I will review properly soon) and the black
Nail Art Pen.

Splatter nails (which I will also review soon).


I used Savvy - Mint Julep as the base colour, and Rimmel in In Style Coral and Lucky Lilac along with Kleancolor - Black for the splatters.  Very messy, but very fun.

Happy Halloween to those in North America/Europe/UK!


NN

Black Cats & Cats Eyes

A little more Halloween nail art for you.

I started off by using base coats of L.A. Colours - Wavelength (yellow) and Essence - Choose Me on alternate digits.

Using a Sullivans craft punch I punched a cat shape into a strip of sellotape.  I stuck the sellotape onto my skin and removed it several times (to make it less tacky) and then applied it over my yellow nails.  Quickly, I painted a very thin layer of Kleancolor - Black into the exposed area, and removed it straight away (very carefully!).


For the Cat's Eyes (Blue/Green nails), I simply painted a black line down the centre of my nail and gently transformed the line into an oval shape.

As a finishing touch, I decided to add a top coat of CND's Effects - Emerald Shimmer to each nail.


NN

Rockin' Halloween Nail Art

OK peeps, I got a whole lotta busy yesterday.  After sifting through the eons of Halloween art photos on the interwebs and discarding the ones that were completely above my skill level, I settled on these:


At the most basic level:  Eerie Nails


Base coat:  BYS - Touch Blue Make it True
Top coat:  Jordana - Bronze Fest

Notice how the blue base is quite transparent and patchy - this was intentional to create an eerie looking mani.  I loved wearing this one - so much so I think I might wear it to work next week!  Super quick (because it's only a very thin base colour coat) and easy to do.


Intermediate skill level:  Blood Droplets


Base:  Rimmel Lycra Pro - Beige Style
Blood droplet top coats:  Clockwise L-R:  Ulta3 - Red Glitter, Orly - Sweet Tart, Rimmel 60 Seconds - Red Carpet, Orly - Scarlet, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Flirt

For this mani, I wasn't exactly sure which of my reds would be the right shade for this purpose, so I tried a few (but not all) of them.  I'm partial to Orly's Scarlet shade of red for this mani (on my little finger) because I think it's just dark enough, but not too dark.  This was a fun mani to do, too, and maybe I'll save this for the 31st???


Intermediate - Advanced skill level:  Frankensteins


Base:  BYS - Colour Change Green
Top colours:  Kleancolor - Black, Sally Hanson Hard as Nails - Blue Me Away

I rate this as an Intermediate to Advanced because I know there could be so much more to this.  Unfortunately, this one isn't such a great mani.  I mean, I've seen much better ones out there of old Frank and they make mine look, well, amateurish.  Okay, it is amateurish, but I'm gonna give myself a pat on the back since it's my first go at it, anyway.  Ha!


I think I completely chose the wrong green.  I had been hoping, that the Colour Change Green would give me much more than what it did, thereby creating a nice little effect on Frank's face.  However, it was not to be.  Prior to painting on the details, even when I ran my fingers under the cold tap, the green didn't really darken up much.  Certainly not as much as suggested by the sticker on the bottle!  It's just a pea soup coloured, wishy washy green and completely did not suit my skin tone, but perhaps that was the point?


Intermediate to Advanced:  Halloween Themed


Clockwise L-R:  Pumpkin Face (L.A. Colors - Magnetic Force), Blood drip (Rimmel - Beige Style), Eye (Savvy, Grapetini), Witch's Broomstick (L.A. Colors - Wavelength), Frank (Colour by TBN - Teal Me On), with Kleancolor - Black used for designs

Now that I'm starting to get the hang of this, it's getting easier for me to understand what I need to do to make each creation with the materials I have.  It's important to note here that I only used toothpicks, a bobby pin and blobs of nail polish for all of these designs - I don't own any "proper" nail art tools).


I don't think I have many more creations left in me, but I have seen some pretty cool cat designs online and would love to tackle those at some stage.


NN

Halloween - an excuse for nail art

Halloween, a yearly festival celebrated on 31 October, more commonly in North America, is one that hasn't completely transferred across to Australia and New Zealand.  Sure, we have seen American movies/TV shows (for quite some time now) on which children and adults alike dress up as various scary characters.  As a result (and with just a little bit of unashamed commercialism) cheap costumes and associated paraphernalia are becoming more readily available, not just to buy online, but also available in local stores.


My recent purchases of (glow in the dark) fake fingers and nails (LOL) and Glow in the Dark Lip Stick and Nail Polish are proof that the merchandise is definitely out there to be bought at this time of year, however, we just don't seem to dig it as much down under as they do "up over".

Nevertheless, putting all of that aside, surely, at the very least, it's an excuse to break out the Halloween nail art?  Good enough for me!


I think I've mentioned previously that I'm really crap at nail at.  Very very crap at it.  But as my Dad used to tell me, practice makes perfect (or was that my childhood Bullfrogs & Butterflies LP?).


Inspired by the endless Halloween nail art pictures and tutorials on line, I thought I'd try some out.  Stay tuned for the results!


NN

Getting Glitterfied

Whilst sporting BYS - Aqua Pool, I decided to sprinkle a little glitter on the situation:

Aqua Pool with Clockwise L-R:


Out the Door - Australis - Crystal Colour Top Coat, Jordana - Bronze Fest, Satin - No. 20, Out the Door - Northern Lights, Jordana - Lunar Lights

In hindsight, probably not the best base colour to choose to set off these glitters, but if you're going for subtle, then this fits the bill.

NN

Savvy - Black Martini

Just a real quick one.  Savvy - Black Martini:

Tricky to apply, as the formula is so gluggy, but once on, not much will remove it!


Because of the colour and texture, any nicks or bumps are not immediately visible.  Dried pretty quickly, too.


Not a bad choice if you're due to go out, and haven't had enough time to apply 3 coats of a normal polish.  A muted bling (if there is such a thing?).


NN

More stamping

I'm trying to practice this as much as I can, but I find that it's difficult to find creme polishes that work well for stamping.  I spend my time sifting through my colours to find one colour, a fail occurs, and then I spend even more time trying to find something else which will do the trick.

So far, metallics are definitely the best:

NN

Paws (for) Effect

I had to take one of my furry kids to the vet today.  She has a little lump on her leg which has been worrying me for a little while and I decided it was time to get it seen to, as it hasn't been getting any better.


Vet prognosis:  got to get rid of it!  That means putting her under, which I am always reluctant to do, but her health comes first.  So, I'll make an appointment for later this week and she'll get patched up.


Our little trip today inspired a bit of nail art I designed after we returned from the vet.  You likey?  I likey!


I started off with what's called "Skittles" nails (nails painted in different colours).  I like this just on its own, too.  Very summery:

Then I added a blob of black polish roughly in a triangular sort of shape using a toothpick (man, those things come in handy!).

And then I added four oval-type dots spread around the triangle (for the toes):

 

 

 

And there you have it - (doggy) paws!


Just a note if you're going to try this yourself.  When you blob on the polish, remember it will take quite a bit more time to dry than a normal mani.  In fact, if you can manage to get the shapes you want without blobbing it on (like clumsy old me), then you'll save yourself a bit of drying time.  The reason I mention this is because my lovely artwork didn't last two hours due to the fact I ended up smudging one nail because the polish hadn't dried properly, and then taking a whole paw off another because it had dried so 3D, that I was able to just slice it off.


But never mind that.  Do it!  It's cute, fun and a great tribute to our animal friends.


NN

CND Effects

I've seen these CND Effects in a bargain bin for quite a while, and so I finally decided to try them out.


I didn't buy the CND colours that you're supposed to use with them because I figured that I had enough of my own colours to try them out with.  However, this guide gives a pretty good example of what you'll get when you mix different colours and effects together.


The effect colours I purchased were (L-R):

(without flash)

(with flash)


Amethyst Sparkle, Emerald Shimmer, Scarlet Shimmer, Ice Blue Shimmer, Crimson Sparkle.


Using Revlon-Royal (a royal blue) as the base colour, these are what the various effects looked like:

Clockwise from top left:  Emerald Shimmer, Scarlet Shimmer, Ice Blue Shimmer, Crimson Sparkle, Amethyst Sparkle.


Please do excuse the streaky nails, particularly on the thumb - I only put one coat of Royal on underneath thinking it was enough - well, it was enough for playing around, anyway . . .


Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do this justice.  I liked the Royal/Crimson Sparkle combo best - as it reminded me a little bit of PUP!!


I have quite a few ideas in mind for different base colour combos - watch this space.


NN

Bug Mani?

Something different for a change.  Over the weekend I had a rendezvous with a ladybug - a greeny-blue ladybug!


Sorry for the crappy mani, which was a couple of days old and only on one hand - don't ask me why (Kleencolor - Black BTW FYI).

 

 

 

Whilst in the backyard on the weekend, Hubby pointed out "You've got a bug on you." Immediately, I freaked out and madly started brushing myself off until I saw him (he's a him I decided).  I managed to keep him walking over my hands for quarter of an hour (while taking the washing off the line, I might add!  Skills, I have 'em).





 

 

 

Then all of a sudden, he fell off my hand, and I thought that was the end of it.  Until later that night... when I saw something on the bathroom floor.  I picked it up for a closer look, and oh no, "he" was dead. 

Feeling pretty bad, I showed him to Hubby who informed me that he was just probably sleeping because they curl everything up under their shells to sleep (bless him for trying to soften the blow).  Next thing, there he was, his legs peddling away again, so I guess he really was taking a nap!

 

 

Seeing as he was so keen to get away, I decided I would do the right thing and put him back outside (and out of the way of my animals' mouths).  The end.


NN

 



BYS Colour Change #3

Yet another colour change marvel - BYS Bright Purple:


Alternate fingers:

The tips:

To my mind, Bright Purple is the most effective shade of all the colour change polishes.  It really does shift from bright purple (when cool) to pink (when warm).  An actual colour change, as opposed to the others which change their shade.  It's very pretty.


NN

The daily polish

Since I became interested in all things polish, I had friends and work colleagues asking me how I managed to change my polish (almost) daily and how I had the time and patience to wait until it dried. And why did I change it so often?


I'm not sure about the patience "thing", because I don't usually have much of that at all for anything.  And I'm quite the fidgeter - I find it difficult to stay still for long periods of time (even when I'm sleeping I'm restless).


My trick, if you will, is to paint my nails whilst I'm watching evening TV.  That is:  After preparing/making dinner.  After cleaning up and doing dishes.  After making/packing lunch for the following day.  After laying out what I'm going to wear to work the following day.  And, most important of all, after having been to the bathroom!


Right.  I know you're gonna think that last pointer was weird.  Why would she mention anything about going to the loo?!  I assure you, I'm not trying to be inappropriate, but I am trying to give you the best tips on how not to stuff up your newly polished fingers. Nihrida mentions it in her How To: Perfect Manicure guide at the end under "Useful Tips".


Believe me when I say that the secret to successful nail polish application is being prepared.  This means, not only washing and drying your hands, having your polishes (colours, base and topcoats) and polish remover all handy, but eliminating all of the elements which may cause you to ruin your fresh mani.  This is just common sense, folks.


Another thing I learned recently was that you shouldn't paint your nails just after you've showered/bathed. This is because your nails are porous and are better painted when they've dried and hardened.  See no. 2 of Beauty Top to Toe's guide.


The above guide also says to wear base and top coats.  I agree, but this is a case of do as I say, and not as I do.  Because I'm changing polish as often as I do, I skip the base/top coats as the polish isn't staying on my fingers long enough to worry about making it last longer.  Sure, having the base coat would probably leave my nails in a better condition and stop my nails being stained, but in my experience, for a period of time I did use a base coat and saw no difference in the condition of nails compared to not not using one.  Moving along, a top coat's purpose is to ensure the longevity of the polish, and again, there's no need for it if I'm taking it off the next day.


And yes, even though I paint my fingers and wait for them to dry whilst watching telly, I still stuff them up quite often and have to redo them (refer to the above where I said that I am a fidgeter).  Oh, yes.  And my cries of "oh NO! I've stuffed up my polish" are met with chuckles from my husband who retorts with "how unusual of you". Thanks for your support, hubby!  NOT HELPING!!!


I should mention, though, that sometimes, because I've gotten myself ready for the day ahead and left the polish application to the end of the night, it means I go to bed and my polish hasn't properly dried, and when I wake up the next morning, there are lovely sheet/doona marks on my polish.  My bad!


All in all, don't fret (even if you're completely organised) when you apply your polish and still ruin it.  I do it all of the time!  Just reapply or fix it as best as you can.  After all, it's only nail polish, people!


Finally, to answer the question as to why I change my polish so often.  Two reasons: 

1)  I hate manis that have chipped polish or scratching and other imperfections.  Chipping can occur for a number of reasons, but it is usually the quality of the polish that determines its "chipability".  Because most of my polishes are inexpensive . . . well, you know the rest,


2)  I get bored with the same colour.  I like my polishes to match or compliment what I'm wearing, and because I change what I'm wearing at least daily, I also change my polish daily.


NN

More (nail art) stamping

Practice makes perfect with all of this stamping business.  Sometimes I have hits, sometimes I have misses.  But it's a learning process, so, following the wise words of Dory, I  "just keep stamping, just keep stamping, just keep stamping, stamping, stamping".


This is the kit:

This is my recent attempt:

I used Savvy's Mint Julep as the base colour and Essence's Passion for Fashion. 


Whilst weaving through the interwebs, I read that for stamping you need to use a polish which is opaque in one coat in order to be able to see the stamping effect properly.  In my experience, this is indeed correct. 


Konad, the premier stamping brand, sells their own special stamping polish with their kits.  For non-Konad-ers (i.e. people like me who buy the cheaper imitation kits), it was suggested that metallic polishes (of any brand) were a good option, given that the metallics dry faster than normal polishes.  Stepping away from metallics, Essence was brand that was suggested, along with Ulta3 and Kleencolor polishes.


I've tried Essence - it's OK, but not perfect, as you can see from the photo above.  Ulta3's Lily White polish wasn't too bad (as evidenced from my earlier blog - the "celestial" photo).  I tried Rimmel's Black Out, and that was quite good (the zebra pattern from my earlier blog post), but I think the most effective polish I have used to date was Revlon's Silver Dollar. (the seahorse photo).


The reason I think the metallic worked better was not just because it dried faster, but it is a thicker, chunkier polish.  What also helped was that I used Sally Hansen's Blue Me Away as the base colour, which is a flat creme polish, so it made the seahorse design "pop".


I have a lot of polishes now, so I'll keep experimenting with them all and post the results to share what works and what doesn't.


NN

Satin

Carrying on with more polishes I acquired whilst in Brisbane, I picked up three Satin brand polishes from a pharmacy (I think it was Terry White): Shades 02, 10 and 20.


I have seen this brand of polish in Sydney (though, I can't recall where).  I didn't think they were anything special, and wondered if they were a bit dodgy as they were $2/$2.50 and the bottles looked a bit funky.


When I saw them in Brisbane, I had a closer look and found a couple of shades that threw different colours.


Shade 10:

 

 

 

Shade 02:

Shade 10 has a slight purple/pink shimmer in it, although I couldn't really capture it in the photo.  I love all blue polishes, and this is no exception.  It reminds me of a cross between Sally Hansen's shades of Pacific Blue and Blue Me Away. Opaque in 2 coats.


Shade 02 is mostly a lavender/blue fairly transparent polish.  I think I applied 3 coats for the above photo.  This shade's not to shabby, either.  A bit more subtle that Shade 10.


I haven't yet applied Shade 20, but essentially it's a clear polish with silver bars of holographic glitter.  Definitely one to apply over another colour.  And the first glitter I've found with "bars", so I'm happy I scored it for such a cheap price!


Shades 02 and 10 had a nice formula, nice lasting colour and were also easy to remove.  I am impressed and it just goes to show that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.


NN

Watermelon nail art

I'm not usually a nail art fan.  Don't get me wrong, I admire a lot of it online, with accompanying oohs and aahs, and holy crap how'd they do that's.  But I'm just not an artist myself.  Don't have the patience for it, and those genes were passed from my mother to my brothers.  Even my Dad can draw.  It skipped me :-(


The other night whilst enjoying the balmy weather Sydney has been having recently, I felt all summery and got it in my head to pain watermelons on my nails.  I didn't copy anything off the net, although there is a plethora of fruit nail art out there.  No, I had a picture in my head of how I wanted it to look.


Using Sally Hansen's Emerald City I painted the green (outer shell) base coat.  Then, using Savvy's Watermelon Crush, I painted the inner flesh:

Emerald City = 2 coats, Watermelon Crush = 1 coat.


The dark green of Emerald City turned turned the pinky/coral of Watermelon Crush a brown colour, so I added another coat after I took the above photo.


Then, seeing what I was up to, my husband (who is quite an artist himself) said "You need to do the pips."  Indeed, I did need to do them, but was unsure how to achieve this, when the husband came up with another brilliant idea:  use a toothpick.  So that's what I did!  And these are the results:

I think pretty good for a first attempt!  Maybe there's hope for me yet?!!??!!


NN

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms

I had been reading on various blogs/sites that the Nail Prisms brand of polishes were discontinued, and hadn't been available in Australia for a long time. So it is with some surprise (and excitement) that I post this blog detailing not one, not two, but three shades of Nail Prisms:  Diamond, Lavender and Cinnabar Opal!  These were picked up during my recent trip to BrisVegas.


Cinnabar Opal:

This polish is a coral/pink shimmer.  Needs quite a few coats to be opaque (the above has three coats and is still transparent as you can see).  Given that pastels are back in for the summer season 2012 in the southern hemisphere, this is a nice edition to my summer (nail polish) wardrobe.


Lavender:

This polish is also quite transparent, but not as much as Cinnabar Opal. The above has three coats, but the finish is almost mirror-like.  I enjoy how it flashes pink/lavender/milky white (I'm a sucker for a colour thrower).


Diamond:


Inside:

Outside:

This. Is. My. Favourite!  I'm also a sucker for some glitz and bling and this ticks all of those boxes.  I haven't seen anything around recently that even comes close to the holographic brilliance of this polish.  View it inside, and it looks, well, as my Mother put it, grey.  View it outside and watch it sparkle!


All three polishes take a while to dry, are a bit tacky to the touch, and are susceptible to nicks and scratches, so they need a fairly steadfast topcoat to keep them intact longer.


On the subject of their availability, it was just by chance that I walked into a pharmacy in Brisbane and found these beauties in a discounted bin (I think they were $2 each - score!).  Otherwise, I haven't seen them at all in Sydney, which is such a shame.  Not sure why Sally Hansen stopped making these.  A big mistake on their part.


On Nail Exchange's blog, she provides a comprehensive guide to most of the Nail Prisms shades she has acquired, as information is scarce on these gems.  You can view it here.


If anyone has seen any of these polishes in a local store/pharmacy in Sydney, could you please let me know?  Sincerely, Desperately Seeking Nail Prisms.


NN