Happy New Year

This is my last post for 2012 . . . and what a year it has been!


A couple of personal highlights include starting this here blog-a-rooney, the birth of my beautiful niece, Ada, and a recent trip home to New Zealand.


What does 2013 hold? Who knows! But what I do know is that my poor wee nubbins have been thrashed these last six months trying out various polishes, and now it's time to give them a rest for a couple of weeks. But before I do, I want to show you a stamping style I was playing around with yesterday - Zebra stripes!

I must admit, I haven't stamped a lot because I have found it difficult to find polishes thick enough and colour combo's that work. That said, I'm really into animal prints on nails at the moment (I love anything to do with Africa/animals), and I think this turned out pretty well. Unfortunately, the black polish just wouldn't remove itself from the skin around my nails so it looks a bit messy, but that's black for you!

 

 

Staying with the animal theme, I've recently done tiger stripes (below), Leopard/Cheetah spots, Peacock Feathers, even paws!

 

 

 

 

But now it's time to grow some strong nails and so I thought I'd try out 1000 Hour 3D Nail Wraps (purchased from my local Priceline store).

 

 

 

 

They were really easy to apply - you basically just peel them from the sheet, stick the rounded end down at your cuticle and smooth them over. You then cut the excess off with scissors and then neaten them by using a nail clipper so they accurately match your nail tips.

 

And as you can see, I've continued with the animal print theme with sparkly cow print fingers (well, that's what I'm going with anyway)! I also have some Sally Hansen giraffe nail strips to try out at some stage in the future and they also have a snake print which I might pick up if the price comes down. Are there any other animal prints I could try? Suggestions please!


Finally, I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year for 2013. I hope it's a good one for you, and if not, I hope you get through it as best you can!

NN

Christmas done/Going dotty

Well, the world didn't end, and another Christmas has gone for another year.  Phew!  I hope Santa was able to leave something nice for you!


Time now to concentrate on relaxing, post Christmas sales, and New Years Eve . . . With that in mind, I guess it's now time to start creating "party" nails.  Woo hoo!  Glitters and bright, shiny, sparkly colours (I'm so tacky!).  Oooooh, I mustn't forget my glow in the dark polishes . . .


Strangely, I discovered my dotting tool on Christmas Eve.  I've had it for a couple of months with the intent of creating I'm not sure what, but I just hadn't gotten around to using it.  As you can see from the pics below, I went a little overboard . . .

For the above pic, I used Kleancolor - Black and the following Ulta3 flouro-like colours for the dots - Purple Pumps (purple), Jelly (green), Tahiti (orange), Citrus (yellow) and Fruit Tingle (pink).

For the mani above, I used Kleancolor - Black, with Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Diamond.

For this creation, I used Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Diamond as the background, with Kleancolor - Black, and Ulta3 in Purple Pumps and Jelly for the dots!


If you don't have a dotting tool, you can pretty much use anything that has a small, round end - the pin heads of sewing pins are ideal because they come in so many sizes, and you can push the sharp end into the end of an eraser pencil so it's easier to hold whilst you're placing the dots.  Go ahead!  Try it for yourself.  You'll get addicted too!


NN

Bold and Bluetiful

Amidst all of the Christmas nail art I've been painting, there are a couple of other colours that I'm really loving at the moment.

Above:  Sally Hansen - Pacific Blue, with Sinful Colors - Hottie over top

I know that Pacific Blue has been out for a while, but I can't stop looking at it!  It would have to be in my Top 10 favourites.  And the other day, I discovered that Priceline had a stand full of Sinful Colors, so of course, I had to get a couple.  This pairing is a match made in nail heaven!  Loves it!

Above:  Australis - Blue Tiger


Staying with the cornflour blue theme, recently Australis bought out some new colours - Blue Tiger being one.  I've been checking it out for a while, wondering how close it actually was to Pacific Blue.


Here's how close:

Pacific Blue:  On little and middle fingers
Blue Tiger:  On ring and index fingers


Honestly, the only difference I can spot between these two are the finishes - Pacific Blue has more of a shiny finish, whilst Blue Tiger is more matte.


They're both so pretty - I just can't decide.  OK, I'll wear 'em both.


NN

Aztec style

Technically, what I am about to show you isn't Aztec style, but it kind of looks like it!

I used Essence - LOL as the base colour, and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in black, white, red and silver for the details.


I like LOL as a background colour for nail art - it seems to bring everything else out, and being near-neon is right on trend.


NN

My absence & Christmas Styles #6, 7 & 8

Hi there!  Apologies for my absence - I've been a wee bit busy this past month or so and just haven't had enough time to scratch myself!


But now I'm back and have some more Christmas styles to show you . . .


Candy Canes:

I think this one is my favourite design (as well as candy canes being my favourite festive lolly)!  I used OPI - Did you ear about Van Gogh as the base, and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in red, white and black to draw the candy canes.


Christmas Coloured Braids:

Using the Fishtail Braids idea from Lucy's Stash blog, I created a festive braid using Revlon - Silver Screen as the base, Orly - Scarlet and Sally Hansen - Emerald City as the alternate colours.  I'm a fan of this one too, and it's sooo easy to do!


Santa Hats:

I used OPI - Did you ear about Van Gogh as the base, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in white and red to draw the details, and then Ulta3 - Red Glitter to add the sparkle to the hat.


Right, with that done, whilst I was away, I visited Auckland and attended their "Christmas in the Park" event.  I enjoy going home every year or so and catching up with music performers in the New Zealand scene.  There was one performer I was particularly impressed by, so I'm going to share her with you - Jamie McDell!  She did a little number right at the beginning of the show which got stuck in my head the whole time I was in Auckland.  I have this need to compare her to a famous country-pop female artist out there at the moment, but I think she's much better and more natural.  Go Kiwi!


Anyway - here's her song, Life in Sunshine, particularly relevant to all those in the Southern Hemisphere who are having summery Christmases!


NN

Christmas Styles #3, 4, & 5

Hey kids!  As promised, here's some more ideas for Christmas nail art.

Candy cane stripes:

I used Ulta3 - Lily White as the base, with Ulta3 - Red Glitter as the larger stripe and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Red for the smaller stripes.


Alternate red & green:

Just a very simple idea to get with the festive vibe.  I used Orly - Scarlet and Sally Hansen - Emerald City.


Red & Green & Silver Snowflakes:

And to build on the idea above, I added Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Silver on top and drew snowflakes.  Unfortunately, the nail art pens can sometimes be a bit tricky to operate - that, coupled with the fact that my nails probably weren't properly dry made the snowflakes a bit "gluggy".  Never mind - I'm sure you get the idea!

NN