Morning blooms - Emily de Molly Whim of the Winds

This is a swatch for a nail polish that I always wanted, but somehow only got around to getting now!

[Emily de Molly Whim of the Winds]

This is Emily de Molly's Whim of the Winds. It's this soft but still vibrant cornflower hue, complete with linear holo and small flakies. I think this is the best shade of cornflower blue I have, and I love that it has these little touches that makes it extra pretty, with the holo and flakes. <3

All I Want - Lacquistry Rediculous, Kleancolor Nail to Toe Gold Dipped

I hope everyone is having lovely Christmas! Here's a silly themed manicure... which isn't even from this year, oops!

[Bottle to nail: Lacquistry Rediculous (2 coats); Striping: Kleancolor Gold Dipped]

The base is the always gorgeous Lacquistry Rediculous - the shimmery red version of the totes amazing Lacquistry Amazeballs. Gorgeous formula and amazing pigment, I used two coats for a deep, even shade.

[Base: Lacquistry Rediculous (2 coats); Striping: Kleancolor Gold Dipped]

I did a simple stripe lengthwise and crosswise over each nail with Kleancolor Nail to Toe in Gold Dipped, before adding a matching bow sticker over the top.

[Base: Lacquistry Rediculous (2 coats); Striping: Kleancolor Gold Dipped]

Add a generous layer of topcoat, and you're all set for the silly season! =)

Tree Decorations - Born Pretty V-shaped nail sequins, Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

Hello, hello, and seasons greetings! I have a little box of shinies to try out today.

So I got my hands on what I'll call iridescent V-shaped nail sequins from Born Pretty. These are interesting and you can do all sorts of things with them. You have probably seen some pretty shiny flower patterns, made out of these sequins.

I decided to try something more Christmassy in theme.

[Base: Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe
Born Pretty V-shaped nail sequins]

I started with the base of course, which was Orly's Meet Me Under The Mistletoe, a dark green colour with hints of duochrome-blue at extreme angles. Then I stuck on some of the sequins so it would have a passing resemblance to a Christmas  tree.

So, does that pass as a Christmas tree, with an additional nail rhinestone at the top to symbolise a tree topper? I wasn't sure, so I thought I would keep going.

[Base: Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe
Born Pretty V-shaped nail sequins]

More nail rhinestones to represent baubles! :D  These are just regular nail rhinestones.

Then I decided the other nails were too bare so I thought I would add little symbolic Christmas trees.

[Base: Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe
Born Pretty V-shaped nail sequins]

You'll notice in the last two photos, the V-shaped nail sequins seem to have changed colour. So in the earlier photos, the sequins have a distinctive purple to gold duochrome sheen. But in the last two photos, the sequins are of a solid rose-gold shade. Apparently, the top coat to seal in the sequins eats away the layer of duochrome on the sequins to leave a rose-gold shade. If you go without a top coat, it's not likely the sequins would stay on for longer than a day, so it's not something you can skip.

What do you think about the Christmas theme? Did I pull it off?

If you're interested, you can also check out similar items at Born Pretty and use our 10% discount code for full priced items!

World Peace - OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name

Gosh, today's polish is a mouthful!

[Bottle to nail: OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name (2 coats)]

This is OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name from the Miss Universe collection. It's a really interesting colour and had me questioning if it should go in with my pink polishes, or my purple ones!

[2 coats: OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name]

As you can see, it's a berry base shade, with lots of pink and magenta shimmer which lightens up the colour a little. It's a bit of a strange one - more of a shimmer/glass fleck polish, but still with some jelly squishiness.

[2 coats: OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name]

Application was a breeze. Nice, strong colour in 2 coats with lots of depth. This actually isn't a colour I usually wear, but I kept this on for almost two weeks! Wear was kind of amazing, which is great except when you love changing up your mani frequently!

Pink Lemonade - Born Pretty Colour Changing Thermal #025

Time for a gauge on the temperature!

[Sweet summer pink!]

This is Born Pretty's 025 from their colour changing thermal collection here. As you can see, it's a sweet peach pink when warm at normal human temperature, and a medium pink when it's cool like how it was on the tips of my nails.

[Nails to bottle: Born Pretty #025]

I was feeling a little warmer when I took the photo against the nail polish bottle here, so you can see how that affects the overall look, the tips having lightened considerably.

[Born Pretty #025]

I find polish #025 to be very sensitive to temperature which makes it an excellent mani to have when you have rather long nails. No need for cold water and warm water just to show you the colour change, which it's usually necessary what with summer being in full swing over here. Typically when it's this warm, you only see the warm colours for thermal nail polish, but #025 managed to pick up on the slight difference in temperature between the tips of my nails compared to the nail bed. When I was in the office where the air conditioning is on at full blast, the pink on the tips get even a shade darker.

All in all, I rather like this one and it makes for a very pretty work-appropriate nail polish. You can check out similar items at Born Pretty and use our 10% discount code for full priced items!

Hot Buns - Rimmel Fondant Fancy, Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Born Pretty BP-L088

I have such an adorable mani here today!

[Buns away!]

Check out them buns! Their round little heads! Tiny eyes and mouths! So adorable!!

[Bottle to nail: Rimmel Salon Pro Fondant Fancy (2 coats)]

My base from last week - Rimmel Fondant Fancy, a dusty mauve creme.

[Born Pretty BP-L088]

I was given this plate to review from Born Pretty. This is Born Pretty BP-L088 which you can find here. As usual, it comes with a pretty cardboard sleeve for storage and a blue protective film. There are so many cute animal-themed designs on here, including pandas and unicorns!

[Born Pretty BP-L088]

I almost chose the pandas, but ended up going for the bunnies instead. This is because the bunny heads are fairly large for my narrow nails and I had a bit more length going so I thought I'd take advantage of that fact.

[Base: Rimmel Fondant Fancy (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Born Pretty BP-L088]

I chose a white creme stamping polish, Hit the Bottle Snowed In, so that there would be a nice contrast with the dark base shade. Check out the fine lines, especially on the rabbit mouths!

[Base: Rimmel Fondant Fancy (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Born Pretty BP-L088]

I actually used a different stamping polish for the thumb, one of my Mundo de Unas polishes. But I was having a bit of trouble with fine detail, I think because these tend to separate quite badly when stored so I need to mix it up a bit more before use.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with the quality of the plate and the super cuteness of the patterns! If you're interested, check out Born Pretty and feel free to use our 10% off code for full-priced items. =)

Stained Glass Windows - Sally Hansen, Ulta3, Born Pretty

I unearthed these photos from when I decided to do a fancy stamping+painting mani. I'm pretty amazed at my past self's dedication, haha.

[Stained Glass Windows]

It doesn't look too shabby, does it? I was going for a stained-glass-ish look and I think it turned out pretty well.

[Born Pretty Stamping Plate BP-L052]

Here's the stamping plate I used, which is Born Pretty's BP-L052. It's one of my favourite plates, and I've used other patterns from it before. I chose two patterns to use, both which I have highlighted above.

So, let's run through the process. I started by stamping on my silicone nail art mat.

I used Australis' Jeanie in A Bottle, a navy blue nail polish, to stamp my base patterns. You can see, I was pretty messy with my stamping. :P And I was experimenting with colours. You can see where I started painting in parts of the stamped pattern.

Tada! I finished painting all the bits that I thought needed painting. Looks terrible, doesn't it?

The thing to remember is that this is the back of your mani, so you don't have to strictly paint within the lines. You can paint on top of the lines, just make sure you don't go outside of them too much. It looks pretty terrible from the back, but it'll look nice once flipped.

You also don't have to make sure everything is painted over. Remember, the base colour that you paint on your nails will be visible if you don't paint over everything, so you can use that instead to fill in the rest of the gaps. I also painted a plain gold swatch of colour on the upper left corner. You'll see what that's for later.

The nail polish colours I used:

• Sally Hansen Crush on Blue - Pastel blue creme nail polish
• Sally Hansen What In Carnation - Pastel purple creme nail polish
• Sally Hansen Barely Blue Bell - Pastel teal creme nail polish
• Sally Hansen Right Said Red - Red creme nail polish
• Ulta3 Honolulu - Canary yellow creme nail polish

I broke that streak of Sally Hansen nail polishes! What a pity!

Once everything was well and truly dried, I peeled off all the stamped patches from the silicone mat, turned them over, and tada! Homemade decals! They're looking better already, aren't they?

I usually stamp extra, as you can see here, so that I can discard the ones that didn't turn out so well. You can see a couple aren't looking too great so they'll go to the bottom of the pile.

On the top row, you can see one gold swatch and another yellow swatch. So I painted those on the mat so I could figure out which would go better as a base colour for all my stamped patterns. I decided the yellow was far too bright, yech, and the gold was a much nicer match.

[Sally Hansen Gilded Lily]

Then, I painted all my nails with the gold nail polish I tested earlier, which was Sally Hansen's Gilded Lily. I have to say that I love this nail polish and have used it a lot since I bought it. It's this soft gold colour, the microglitter just a touch bigger than normal which makes it so very shiny. Application is easy and smooth, opaque in two coats.

Nothing else to do but to apply the homemade decals!

When applied, they look matte, which to be honest, I love the matte look! It looks even more like a painting, less like nail polish. And doesn't the matte gold look divine? But I don't think the mani will last without a top coat to seal in the decals. Alas!

Topcoat goes over and there you have it, the finished product! It's still one of my top favourite manis that I have ever done.

Lady Like - Rimmel Fondant Fancy

A simple work-safe creme mani for today...

[Bottle to nail: Rimmel Fondant Fancy (2 coats)]

This is Rimmel Salon Pro Fondant Fancy, a dusty mauve creme. It's a bit darker on the nail than in the photos and in the bottle. Not quite the shade I think of when I think of fondant though!

[2 coats: Rimmel Fondant Fancy]

Definitely a nice no-fuss polish - excellent application, opaque and level in 2 coats. You could possibly get away with one thick coat on short nails.

[2 coats: Rimmel Fondant Fancy]

As I mentioned before, it's a bit darker than I expected so maybe more of a autumn/winter shade than all this warm weather we're currently having here!

Dusty Vintage - Born Pretty Matte Polish 015

I remember when matte topcoats became a thing... I was so impressed! I thought, wow, the possibilities! But years later, I still collect matte polishes....No regrets...!

[Bottle to nail: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015 (2 coats)]

So today I'm reviewing a matte polish generously provided for review from Born Pretty. You can purchase this here, and there are 9 different shades available, all in a nice dusty vintage sort of look. Also, they are currently on sale for only USD1.99, bargain!

[In the bottle: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015]

The one I have for you today is 015, a slightly pinky dusty lavender shade. The photos on the nail are more true-to-shade than the bottle pic above. This polish also comes in a cardboard box with a circular cutout so you can see the shade inside.

[2 coats: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015]

This polish has a thick creamy formula that dries quickly as most matte polishes do. The first coat tended to be uneven and needed careful application to get a level finish. The second coat will not level it out! It actually enhances any uneven finish, so make sure to get your first coat right!

[2 coats: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015]

I found the thick formula a bit harder to work with and you need to take a bit more care with application. It's probably not toooo obvious to the eye, but I'm a bit fussy about an even finish.

I really love this colour though, so if you want to check out this collection, head over to Born Pretty! This is already super discounted, but if there are other full-priced products catching your eye, our 10% off code above will help you out!

Scattered Blooms - Liquid Sky Lacquer 24 Karat Rose, Maybelline Color Show Bouquet

Again with the layering!

[Bliss]

Remember, everything is better with sparkle...

[Bottle to nail: Liquid Sky Lacquer 24 Karat Rose (2 coats)]

My base shade was my somewhat-thermal 24 Karat Rose from Liquid Sky Lacquer, a soft gold when warm shifting to a peachy pink (in my case!) when cold.

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Color Show Bouquet (1 coat);
Base: Liquid Sky Lacquer 24 Karat Rose (2 coats)]

I have had this lovely polish from the Maybelline Color Show range for ages but could not find a nice base to go with. This is called Bouquet, and is a clear base with three different sizes of hex glitter in gold foil, white matte and pink matte. Such a lovely colour combination!

[Topper: Maybelline Color Show Bouquet (1 coat);
Base: Liquid Sky Lacquer 24 Karat Rose (2 coats)]

This is one coat of Bouquet over 24 Karat Rose - I think it goes together quite well! Perhaps I should've put a matte topcoat over the top, that would make for a really nice soft finish too. =)