Burning Bright - Eclipse, WnW, Tropez, Kleancolor Nail to Toe, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen

I am back from Perth! Yay! I was there for a week to use some exceedingly fancy equipment at UWA. It is a lovely city with equally lovely weather but I'm glad to be back in Sydney, dreary as she is... I will post again soon with all the updates from last week (exciting stuff!!) but first, here's something I rushed out only today as the deadline is in under 24hrs, gosh!

Jme was kind enough to take over the Monday morning post from me so you may have seen her entry to Rebecca Likes Nails' nail art competition! This is a pretty fun one with a range of themes to pick from. I chose gradients and animal print! ROWR!

[Tiger tiger: Gradients and Animal Print]

I've done freehand leopard print nails before here, but not tiger print, so despite my current nubbin nails, I thought I'd go with that this time! What do you think? =) Read on for a b-b-b-b-b-breakdown....!!

[Base: Eclipse 414 (1 coat)]

I started with a base of Eclipse 414, an amazing vermillion creme. This is only one coat! Perfect coverage, perfectly smooth.

[Base: Eclipse 414 (1 coat)]

Eclipse is a Korean brand you can purchase at Asian cutesy stores like Morning Glory (maybe ArtBox, I haven't checked). Their shimmers and glitters are not bad, but the cremes are where they shine!

[Base: Eclipse 414 (1 coat); Sponge gradient: WnW Sunny Side Up, Tropez White Hot]

I then sponged 2/3s of the nail with a golden yolk creme (Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up) and 1/3 to the tip with Tropez White Hot, a white creme. I used the same sponge corner for both, to tint the white slightly yellow from the remaining Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up. Note the different pattern for the thumb.

[Striping: Kleancolor Nail to Toe in Garden of KC, Gold Dipped, Wedding Gown White]

With my trusty Kleancolor Nail to Toe nail art polishes, I striped on some green (Garden of KC), gold (Gold Dipped) and white (Wedding Gown White). Again, the thumb was striped a bit differently.

[Close up: Thumbnail design]

Wave your magic wand around (by which I mean Kleancolor Tuxedo Black and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black), and voila! There's a kitty stalking through the grass!

An extra tip for using the Sally Hansen nail art pens. Wait wait wait till your base layers are dry! I was in such a rush because I didn't have much time that it was even slower going trying not to dent the polish. Oh well, I'm glad I managed to squeeze this one in! =)

[Tiger tiger: Gradient and Animal Print)

And the final manicure again! I don't have more pics because this mani only really works arranged this way and all my photos were pretty repetitive.

My inspiration for this was actually a stone I bought for my sister from a crystal store at Fremantle Markets - it's called a zebra stone and is an orange-to-white stone with rust red stripes running through it! I thought it looked quite tiger-like rather than a zebra!

Look out  for another post from me soon! PHEW! I've been so stressed the last three weeks or so that it'll be great to wind down for a bit...