Geometric Sunrise - Essence Here's My Number, LA Colors Spat!, Tips & Toes 07

Fun with striping tape, yay!

[Top: Essence Here's My Number
Base orange: LA Colors Spat!
Base yellow: Tips & Toes 07]

The base is a gradient mani, a neon orange to neon yellow. I used striping tape to tape off the geometric diamond shape you see above, and then I painted over the tape with Essence Here's My Number. Here's My Number is a 'Sparkle Sand Effect' polish, which I think is supposed to be similar to the OPI Liquid Sand collection. However, it's definitely not as rough or sandy as OPI's. I've added a glossy top coat so you can't really see the shiny sand effect anyway, but maybe I'll do a proper swatch another day.

As for the base...

[Orange: LA Colors Spat!
Yellow: Tips & Toes 07]

The gradient was done over a white polish, to bring out the neon better. The neon orange is LA Colors Spat! while the neon yellow is Tips & Toes 07, and I used the sponge method to create this gradient.

Overall, I loved the bright gradient and it suits the summer weather so well. Adding the geometric design over it meant I got a longer wear out of the gradient (since it was starting to chip after a couple days) and I thought it looked pretty funky!

Glint and Glimmer - LA Colors NP392 Amethyst

I was looking through my old photos and I found these photos, but I couldn't figure out what nail polish this was. I was convinced it was a Revlon and looked through my stash, but I couldn't find a match until after a lot of digging.

[LA Colors NP392 Amethyst]

As the title obviously gave away already, it's LA Colors nail polish, NP392 Amethyst. I had to swatch it again to match it for sure. :)  It's a rather lovely plum-ish jelly polish with tiny blue and purple flakes, and I'm quite happy to rediscover it!

SquaRED - Nail Art + Born Pretty Square Nail Studs (2mm) Review

I've been experimenting a bit with nail art lately - mostly with the aim of seeing what I can get away with SUPER QUICK while still being a bit fancy. =)

[Shiny Studly Goodness...]

The Plisherrific girls were recently provided with a sample product from Born Pretty to test out and we picked out some 2mm silver square studs to play around with.

[In the bag: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Studs]

They arrived super quick, in about 10 days to Australia. The studs were packaged in a tough ziplock bag and you get a fair amount in each bag! It may not look like much at first, but remember, they're tiny and tend to bunch up. I reckon there's upwards of 200 studs (maybe even 300?) per bag.

[Up close: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Studs]

They are super shiny on the top, and a duller concave bottom. I think the 2mm size is the most versatile, especially with narrower nails like mine. In addition, the larger the nail stud, the more likely it is to stick out off curved nails and drop off.

So... here's what I did with them! =)

[Bottle to nail: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat)]

I started with a base of Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia. This one's a fairly old bottle, made in Australia but the colour is still vibrant and creamy. This was just one coat! +1 to speedy nail art~ =)

[1 coat: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

I wouldn't really call this fuchsia? It's more of a dusty berry shade to me, but hey, who knows what we're flashbacking too...

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout;
Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

After the base was dry, I painted a stripe of black just slightly off-centre using LA Girl Blackout, my go-to black creme one-coater. While this was fresh, I used a skewer and gently placed three studs in a row down the wet black polish. They stuck really well too!

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout;
Studs: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

I then repeated this with all nails and briefly contemplated leaving it the way it was... but decided, a bit more pizzazz was required!

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout, LA Colors 24K Glitter;
Studs: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

So I broke out the nail art striping polish in 24K Glitter by LA Colors Art Deco and painted some gold stripes overlapping the black and red.

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout, LA Colors 24K Glitter;
Studs: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

I didn't even bother with topcoat initially and the studs stayed on fairly well as they are small enough to lay close to the nail surface and the edges are slightly rounded off so they don't catch on things as much. It also helps to press them firmly into wet polish so they are slightly embedded in the polish layer for extra grip.

I did end up testing what topcoat would do the the shiny studs and am happy to report that they still remain as shiny (unlike diamantes which lose facets and thus sparkle - curses!).

[GO FORTH AND SHOP... LIKE A BOSS]

These studs were provided to Plisherrific for review by Born Pretty and if you like the look of them, head over there and check them out (they are the 2mm silver square studs)! Born Pretty also stocks tons of nail art supplies and offers free shipping.

In addition, just stick in the code above to get 10% off your purchases! =) BARGAIN!

Hope you enjoyed my mini review + nail art tutorial! I'm hoping to have plenty more coming up in the next month. =)

New Year Heat - Orly, LA Colors, Dong Dong

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! May the year be filled with a variety of innovative and exciting new polish! :D

I decided to keep it simple this new year. And to be honest, I only remembered to photograph this after a few days, so it does show some wear.

Base: Dong Dong 21
Middle: LA Colors Gold Nugget over Dong Dong 21
Tips: LA Colors Gold Nugget over Orly Luxe

By now, you already know I love gradient manis. I achieved this one with the usual sponging method, but I had to use Orly Luxe nearer to the tips since LA Colors Gold Nugget wasn't dense enough to fully cover the red foil base (Dong Dong 21). Yes, the name of that nail polish is still amusing. :P  With two coats of Gold Nugget (bright orange-gold) over Luxe (pale gold foil), I got the bright, rich gold colour I wanted. Voila! The things I do when I can't find just the exact shade of nail polish I want...

Rather than jelly nail polishes, I think foil nail polishes might be better for gradients, just because they look cooler!

Completely Batty - Halloween Challenge #11: Recreate your favourite!

Time to recreate my favourite! More Nail Polish's take on the Bats challenge was amazing! It looked so bright and perfectly fitting for Halloween.

[Base: LA Colors Gold Nugget
Tips: Ulta3 Black Satin
Tiny speckles: LA Girl Glitter Addict Uninhibited
Bats: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen Black/Noir]

I used LA Colors Gold Nugget for the base, which is an orange-gold foil.Then, I sponged on Ulta3 Black Satin at the tips before adding a little of LA Girl Glitter Addict Uninhibited. I drew in the bats using Sally Hansen Black/Noir since I didn't have the same stamping plates. Tada!

I think Cathy's Bats challenge was definitely a lot nicer. But I gave it a shot anyway!

[Base: LA Colors Gold Nugget
Tips: Ulta3 Black Satin
Tiny speckles: LA Girl Glitter Addict Uninhibited
Bats: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen Black/Noir]

The blurry picture is just to show you how shiny LA Colors Gold Nugget is. I honestly did not remember it being this pretty.

Suede Sweater - OPI Russian Navy Suede, Nails Inc Chelsea Embankment, LA Colors 24K Glitter

Here's some simple nail art for Monday. It's unfortunately not a very long-lasting one on account of the OPI suede polish, but the glitter and suede combo makes for an interesting contrast!

[Base: OPI Russian Navy Suede; Accent: LA Colors 24K Glitter; Tips: Nails Inc Chelsea Embankment]

I started with a base of OPI Russian Navy in their Suede finish. I think this was two coats but you can get away with one careful coat depending on your nail length. I love using mattes when I'm in a hurry because they dry superfast! Too bad about the (lack of) longevity though...

[Base: OPI Russian Navy Suede; Accent: LA Colors 24K Glitter; Tips: Nails Inc Chelsea Embankment]

On the ring finger, I did a crosshatch pattern freehand with LA Colors 24K glitter which is part of their nail art Art Deco range. This is a fine yellow-gold glitter in a clear base.

The last step was freehanding some french tips with Nails Inc Chelsea Embankment. For all intents and purposes, Chelsea Embankment is just any other pale gold glitter in a clear base but for some reason, I really like it! It has a very pure gold shine to it and seems very refined while glittery, possibly due to the fine glitter size.

[Base: OPI Russian Navy Suede; Accent: LA Colors 24K Glitter; Tips: Nails Inc Chelsea Embankment]

I did end up topcoating the accent finger to see what it would look like. The shimmer in the OPI Suedes really comes to life when you add topcoat but as I mentioned earlier, I quite like how it looks with the matte suede and glitter combination without topcoat!

Completely Dotty - Mode, Bys, Ulta3, LA Colors

This is my nail art entry to Concrete and Nail Polish's Nail Art Contest. The theme is a nail art that we think she'll like. I have noticed a trend on April's blog towards blue and pink manis, as well as freehand nail art. I thought dotticure nail art would be something she might find interesting then!

Nail polish used here:

Blue - Mode Hook Me Up

Pink - Bys Colour Change Bright Pink

Black - Ulta3 Black Satin

White - LA Colors French White

The mani started as the following:

This is obviously an indoors picture, because I do most of my nail art at night. I did half of these with tape, and the other half freehand. It's a little bit shakier freehand, but not too noticeable and I'm really just too impatient to wait for the polish to fully dry before I can use tape, even with the use of fast dry topcoats.

After that, I just went wild with the dots.

I dropped a blob of nail polish on a plastic 'palette' - or anything plastic, really - and went crazy with my dotting tool. I need steadier hands, and I really should get an extra dotting tool because I'm trying to make smaller dots with a tool that isn't catered for dots that small.

I don't plan a pattern, but I try one out on one nail first and then, I just replicate it to the others. They look similar, but they're not exactly the same because the size of my nails vary too much. I thought it would be interesting to leave the accent nail a little different.

My thumbnail was something different, because it was waaaay too wide compared to the rest of my narrow nails.

I need more practice with dots!

Success and Failures - LA Colors French White, Orly Orange Punch, Bys Bright Pink

I totally forgot about my Thursday post until pretty late, so let's make this a quickie!

I read about dry water marbling from Cathy at More Nail Polish, and I just had to try it out!

[Base: LA Colors French White
Dry Water Marble: LA Colors French White, Orly Orange Punch, Bys Bright Pink]

So this is my first attempt at dry water marbling! The thing is...I haven't tried water marbling before, because it seemed like such a mess, so that's why I was willing to give the dry version a shot. This is a random mix of patterns, because I still haven't mastered the ability to create even patterns before the nail polish dries in a complete clump.

[Base: LA Colors French White
Dry Water Marble: LA Colors French White, Orly Orange Punch, Bys Bright Pink] 

I won't go into the method since far more skilled people have covered those. But I will mention some mistakes I did. When tearing off the plastic, bits of nail polish had come off and one big piece stuck to the nail on my ring finger. You can see the random orange piece there. It just would not come off, oh dear. So I think I should have tried harder to be neat about the whole thing.

I still have a long way to go when it comes to dry water marbling, because here's my second attempt at it.

[LA Colors French White, Mode Glamazon, Essence Viva La Green]

How is my second attempt so much worse than my first attempt? Sad, sad, sad. For one thing, the pattern was way too big. The second thing was that the layer of polish was too thin. It chipped so badly at the edges when I removed the plastic, and then bubbled weirdly after that. The third, unexpected problem was that purple polish ran when I applied a top coat. I had to share this sad failure, though looking at the picture does make me cringe!

So have you guys tried dry water marbling? Do you have any tips to stop the layer of nail polish chipping at the edges when the plastic is being peeled off or how to add lots of colours into the water and still be able to make a pattern before the mix of polish dry up?

Oh, A Delicate Flower - English Rose, LA Colors French White

Ev gave me heaps of manicure-related fun things for my birthday, and I have been playing with foils! While I had a number of good results, they are rather hard to photograph. The slightest imperfection just leaps out at me when I use macro. This is the least problematic of my latest attempts!

[Base: LA Colors French White
Top: English Rose foil from Dollarnailart]

Hullo, hullo! Very eye-catching, and I received heaps of questions on how I did it. This resulted in me giving impromptu 'What are foils?' speeches when I wore this.

Sadly, I forgot to clean up the topcoat around the nails, and I accidentally used the same pattern for my pinky finger and my ring finger, oops. O_O  Most of the flower patterns are very large, and cover my entire nail, but I preferred the whites to be more visible, so I cut accordingly of course.

[Base: LA Colors French White
Top: English Rose foil from Dollarnailart]

The English Rose foil is very slightly grey-ish and not entirely opaque on its own. I tried using a very pale grey as the base once, but it made the mani look too faded instead. When applied, the foil also has the faintest white-blue shimmer, which is interesting to see from up-close (right-up-to-your-nose-close is what I'm talking about).

Overall, I loved how this one looked, and I think it's easier to apply than most of the other foils. I'm craving a blue version of this, and will hold out hope that Dollarnailart will read my mind on this matter.

By luck, I found out that the clear topcoat from Blush-amour can be used over foils without causing the usual wrinkling. All my other base coats and topcoats, even the non-quick dry ones, caused some measure of wrinkling.

Oooh, and here's a sweet piece of news! Iroshi gave us a Butterfly Award for our blog! :D  Thanks, Iroshi! It's an honour, and terribly flattering too!

Well, this entry seems so sparse of photos today, so I'll just include a random photo I took...

[A slice of Sydney at dawn]

This is very much a 'G'morning, Sydney' photo. So I'll use it to say: G'MORNING, EVERYONE! And how is your day going? :)

Gradient-licious Candy - Revlon, Zoya, LA Colors

I'm loving all the challenges and competitions being hosted lately, because they inspire all these interesting ideas! This is my entry for Rebecca's nail art competition here. I picked the theme/technique of Gradient and Dots.

[Colours used: Revlon Watermelon Fizz, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz,
Revlon Glimmer Gloss Cherry Fizz, Zoya Tiffany, LA Colors French White]

I have been meaning to try a horizontal gradient, rather than the more commonly seen vertical gradient. I haven't seen an example of this before, so I wasn't sure how it would look, especially on my fairly narrow nails. My original inspiration is actually those colourful Rock Candy that is so popular in Sydney and Melbourne.

[Colours used: Revlon Watermelon Fizz, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz,
Revlon Glimmer Gloss Cherry Fizz, Zoya Tiffany, LA Colors French White]

Doesn't this look like candy? It's so shiny, espeically with the little flakies, and the colours were so bright, I wanted to nom my nails for awhile there! It didn't help that they smelled delicious since most of these were scented polish.

I don't know if it's obvious, but there are actually two different gradients going on here. The top and bottom strips are red to yellow, while the middle strip is pink to red.

[Colours used: Revlon Watermelon Fizz, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz,
Revlon Glimmer Gloss Cherry Fizz, Zoya Tiffany, LA Colors French White]

Let's get into the method. There really is no fancy technique here, but there is a lot of laziness (this seems to be an ongoing theme with my manis).

These are the directions for the index finger:

1. Tape off section B. Paint a strip of Watermelon Fizz on the rightmost side, a strip of Orange Fizz down the middle, and a strip of Pineapple Fizz on the leftmost side. You will need to overlap them a little, and you might have to go over once or twice more with some of these colours to get a smoother gradient. 
2. Peel off the tape as soon as you're done. Paint a quick dry top coat over the lot. Go watch half an episode of House, or a full episode of How I Met Your Mother. :D
3. Tape off section A and C. Paint a strip of Tiffany on the right most side, a strip of Cherry Fizz down the middle, a strip of Watermelon Fizz on the leftmost side. Again, overlap the colours and use your discretion to touch up with the same colours.
4. Remove tapes at superspeed and layer some dry fast top coat over everything!

Since I wanted the colours to change in gradient from nail to nail as well, I alternated the direction of the gradient on each nail.

[Colours used: Revlon Watermelon Fizz, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz,
Revlon Glimmer Gloss Cherry Fizz, Zoya Tiffany, LA Colors French White]

So, what do you think? Does the horizontal gradient work?

The next time I try this, I'll use stronger, contrasting shades for the middle strip so it looks more obvious.

[Colours used: Revlon Watermelon Fizz, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz,
Revlon Glimmer Gloss Cherry Fizz, Zoya Tiffany, LA Colors French White]

I wanted to use another technique off Rebecca's list so I added the dots. This is the first time I have tried doing structured dots, rather than the occasional, random dots on my nail art. I definitely need more practice. :(

The dots obscure the gradient of the middle strip a little bit, but I think it does add a nice delineation between the different gradients.

I think it will be harder to use the sponging method to create a horizontal gradient, but that's mostly due to my narrow nails. There just isn't that much space. In any case, I do prefer using jelly polishes and painting to create gradients.

Thanks to Rebecca for organising this competition! :D

Ev's Past Plischtures - Another Catch-up Post

I actually have quite a few pics to get through, but these are some I've edited so far. Usually these manis are older ones where we don't have enough pics, tipwear is horrific or the photos are of low quality so Jme and I feel like they don't deserve their own post all to themselves. I hope you all enjoy them anyway!

Mani #1 - Base: China Glaze Hi-Tek + French tips: LA Colors Black Velvet + Stamping: Ulta3 Waterlily +  two different sizes of clear rhinestones. This is one of my favourite stamping pattern from my Konad plates.
 

Mani #2 - Base: Color Club Pretty in Platinum + French tips: Milani One Coat Glitter Red Sparkle + Stamping: OPI Color So Hot It Berns. A supposedly romantic mani somehow looks like skulls and crossbones instead...

Mani #3 - Base: China Glaze Gr8 + Funky French: Milani One Coat Glitter Silver Dazzle and Gold Glitz. This is what I call my CommBank manicure... =p

Mani #4 - Base: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in Pink Rose + Stamping: ??? (I don't remember!) + Clear rhinestones. What a terrible manicure... at least the holo is pretty to look at.

Mani #5 - Base: Milani Just Peachy (I think) + French tips: LA Colors Black Velvet + Ribbon nail sticker. I really love this colour combo, and this Milani orange is an absolutely stunning glass fleck.

Well, that's it for this lot. I guess I'll have to go edit more for the next catch-up post... there are so many cool new interesting manis I want to post about first though! Need more time...

Pretty Prickles - LA Colors Color Craze 2011 Cactus

Hello! I'm still posting old photos as I'm all tiiiiired.

[LA Colors Color Craze 2011 Cactus]

A swatch of Cactus from the LA Colors Color Craze 2011 collection! It is such a pretty colour! If you click on the photo for a larger version, you can see all the gorgeous different greens and browns microglitter.

[LA Colors Color Craze 2011 Cactus]

The funny thing about my taste is that this polish does seem to be a rather autumn-ish colour, but I was wearing this in summer because I couldn't resist it. Seasons mean little to me in terms of nail polish!

[Base: LA Colors Cactus
Top/Tips: The Face Shop GL111]

I was trying an odd, triangular French manicure, and did this free hand. Not bad, I think, but I'll probably use tape next time.

Alright, that's about it this week. Sleeeeeeeeep!