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. =)

Fruity Sunset - Maybelline Lux Lobster, Rimmel Peaches & Cream, Australis Bless Thy Socks, pa AA38, Born Pretty BPL-023

Ah! After last week's gradient on my long-ish nails... I totally broke a nail! So I chopped them all back down, phew~

[Pining for apples]

And stuck a stamp over the top! Cutting my nails down also conveniently solved the tipwear issue, hehe...

[Cuticle to tip: Maybelline Lux Lobster, Rimmel Peaches & Cream,
Australis Bless Thy Socks; Topcoat: pa AA38]

Quick recap, here's my base which was a sponge gradient manicure using Maybelline Lux Lobster, Rimmel Peaches & Cream and Australis Bless Thy Socks, with pa AA38 flakie polish over the top.

[Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night; Born Pretty BPL-023]

Using a plain black stamping polish (Hit the Bottle As Black As Night) I used the pineapple stamping design from Born Pretty plate BPL-023.

I think this may be the first time I've used a stamp where the base polish is in the negative space! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to get a nice coverage over the base polish. You can see a bit of the orange base peeking through but it's not particularly visible to the eye.

[Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night; Born Pretty BPL-023]

I quite like the look of a stamped-over gradient, however I'm not sure how clear it is that these are pineapples! As you can see, I didn't quite manage to pick up the fine hatching on the pineapple itself. I know what they are meant to be so it seems obvious to me, but I asked someone and they had some trouble at first.. I think it would be more in-your-face if this design was stamped in black, and then leadlighted in green and yellow - just a thought for next time!

Juicy Jubes - Maybelline Lux Lobster, Rimmel Peaches & Cream, Australis Bless Thy Socks, pa AA38

Once in a while, my nails get long and I feel like I should probably do something to take advantage of it. 

[Sparkles for spring..]

Which in this case, means gradient time! I decided to go for some juicy fresh shades as the weather is just starting to warm up here in Sydney.

Here are the polishes I used - from left to right, Maybelline Color Show 60 Seconds in Lux Lobster, Rimmel Brit Manicure in Peaches & Cream and Australis Bless Thy Socks. I applied a base layer of Lux Lobster, and then painted stripes of all three onto a little cut-up square of (dishwashing!) sponge and sponged over the base to create a gradient from the darkest to lightest shade.

I then coated the gradient with a layer of that polish there on the right - pa AA38, a polish I picked up in Japan. This ones a translucent orange base with a generous helping of orangey-gold flakies all throughout. The flakies do settle, as you can see in the photo, but are very easy to resuspend. 

[Cuticle to tip: Maybelline Lux Lobster, Rimmel Peaches & Cream,
Australis Bless Thy Socks; Topcoat: pa AA48]

I think the jump from Lux Lobster to Bless Thy Socks was a bit much actually! Maybe just the first two shades would've been enough for a gradient. I know my nails don't seem all that long in these photos, but trust me, when I cut them down, they are totally nubbins!

Bugs Life - Maybelline Show Time Pink, Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Hehe 089

I was so nerdily pleased with this manicure!

[Contamination!]

Bugs bugs bugs! A most appropriate stamping plate gifted to me by Jme! My doctorate was in microbiology and although I don't work in the exact field anymore, it's still a favourite.

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Color Show Show Time Pink (2 coats)]

My base from last week is Maybelline Color Show in Show Time Pink, a nice basic pink creme.

[Hehe plate 089]

Here's the plate - Hehe plate 089. Isn't it super adorable! I used the design on the left, but the ones on the right are also awesome. I can't wait to try them out as well.

[Base: Maybelline Show Time Pink; Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Hehe 089]

Using a black creme stamping polish (Hit the Bottle As Black As Night), I stamped over the pink with different parts of the design, then topped off with a nice glossy layer of topcoat.

[Base: Maybelline Show Time Pink; Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Hehe 089]

I think my favourite part is the bacilli chains - so good! I should totally look for more science-themed stamping designs!

On Wednesdays - Maybelline Show Time Pink

Whenever I lack inspiration, I always seem to go back to polishes like this - deep bright pink cremes!

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Color Show Show Time Pink (2 coats)]

This one is Maybelline Show Time Pink from the Color Show range. I have so many similar polishes, it's a bit silly! Just can't go past it...

[2 coats: Maybelline Color Show Show Time Pink]

These photos are a teensy bit warmer than it actually looks. It's a pretty basic shade, formula was excellent - I used two coats and topped off with topcoat.

[2 coats: Maybelline Color Show Show Time Pink]

...and there we go! Quick and easy... and terribly unimaginative! It worked though, I'm slowly getting back into it..

Glass Leaves - MdU Black, Born Pretty BP-L003, Missha HBR01, The Face Shop GL111, Orly Here Comes Trouble, Maybelline Beaming Blue, LA Girl Groupie

Let's do a combination of things on a silicone nail art mat!

[Glass Leaves]

So first, I painted twenty patches of clear nail polish on the silicone nail art mat. I think having a clear base polish helps with lifting the patches of nail polish off the mat later.

[20 nail patches on silicone nail art mat]

Then I did a hack job creating a gradient mani on twenty patches. I used:

• Missha's HBR01 - Copper polish with holo microglitter
• The Face Shop's GL111 - A pale gold foil 
• Orly's Here Comes Trouble - A gorgeous bright green glitter
• Maybelline's Beaming Blue - Blue glitter with a gold shimmer
• LA Girl Groupie - Purple jelly with microglitter

And I played around with the direction of the gradient so they're not consistent.

[Born Pretty's stamping plate BP-L003]

Then I used the pattern I highlighted above from Born Pretty's stamping plate BP-L003 and stamped over those nail patches using MdU's Black stamping polish.

[Stamping: MdU Black, Born Pretty BP-L003
Gradient base: Missha's HBR01, The Face Shop's GL111, Orly's Here Comes Trouble
Maybelline's Beaming Blue, LA Girl Groupie]

Voila! How does it look? I had to double stamp for the bigger patches, which you will see the use for later.

The above are how the nail patches look once peeled off the silicone nail art mat. Not bad, not bad...

When applied on nails, here's what I get:

[Stamping: MdU Black, Born Pretty BP-L003
Gradient base: Missha's HBR01, The Face Shop's GL111, Orly's Here Comes Trouble
Maybelline's Beaming Blue, LA Girl Groupie]

The gradient hack job isn't so bad under the stamping, hey?

I took the photos below using my phone and under brighter artificial lighting, so that you can see how shiny the mani looks.

[Stamping: MdU Black, Born Pretty BP-L003
Gradient base: Missha's HBR01, The Face Shop's GL111, Orly's Here Comes Trouble
Maybelline's Beaming Blue, LA Girl Groupie]

 Overall, I'm very pleased with the result!

And you probably noticed the 20 nail patches, instead of the usual 10. I decided I wanted something more funky on my toe nails as well! I have a bit of a hang up over how my toes look so I dithered quite a bit over whether I should post this photo or not, but decided what the hell. Go easy on my tiny toe nails and stubby toes please.

[Stamping: MdU Black, Born Pretty BP-L003
Gradient base: Missha's HBR01, The Face Shop's GL111, Orly's Here Comes Trouble
Maybelline's Beaming Blue, LA Girl Groupie]

So that's another fun use I found for the silicone nail art mat. Usually, the most exciting thing I might do with my toenails is paint them with funky colours. But with a silicone nail art mat, I can actually do more exciting things like create gradient nail polish and stamped manis for my toenails now. I have done a few toenails mani like this since.

Naturally, it was funner to do during summer, when my feet and toes can often be free from shoes and socks. Not so with this weather on us right now!

Melting Moments - Maybelline Lavender Love, Hit the Bottle Purple Reign, Born Pretty BP-L029

So I followed up my mediocre mani last week with some stamping to try to get my stamping mojo back. Did it work?

[Drip drop Dali]

Weeeellll, you may notice above that I ran into some other troubles! I'll explain as we go along...

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Color Show Lavender Love (2 coats)]

My base was Maybelline Color Show Lavender Love, a lavender creme polish.

[Bottle to nail: Hit the Bottle Purple Reign (stamping); Plate: Born Pretty BP-L029;
Base: Maybelline Color Show Lavender Love (2 coats)]

I stamped over that with Hit the Bottle Purple Reign, a super gorgeous rich purple shimmer stamping polish. The pattern was from Born Pretty plate BP-L029 - another floral-themed stamping plate (boy, do I have a lot of those!).

[Base: Maybelline Color Show Lavender Love (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Purple Reign, Born Pretty BP-L029]

Anyway, everything was going great...! Until... I'd evidently been very generous with floating a thick layer of topcoat over my stamping, and then not been so careful and had my hands pointed downwards and the polish, base and all went slip sliding down towards the end of my nails! Lesson learned, not so much topcoat, and keep em level as it dries! Phew~

Hum-drum - Maybelline Lavender Love

Today's photos are a bit meh, but let's roll with it...

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Color Show Lavender Love (2 coats)]

This was done a month or so ago and I just made myself do a simple mani to get myself back to it... I picked a nice creme polish to ease myself into it. This one is Maybelline Color Show in Lavender Love.

[2 coats: Maybelline Color Show Lavender Love]

It's a nice medium lavender, slightly dusty but still nicely pigmented. I used two coats of polish and it dried quickly, nice and glossy. My nails were pretty terrible then so you can sort of see it in the photos, apologies!

[2 coats: Maybelline Color Show Lavender Love]

I don't really have too much to say about this really, it's a pretty basic shade! But that's always good for... you guessed it, stamping over!

Silver Sunnies - Maybelline Mirror Image, Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L022

It's summer! It's (too) hot, and (too) bright! So I've combined the two and did this stamping manicure to express my feelings... =p

[Slip, slop, slap]

I was thinking my polish from last week was a bit blinding so when I was looking for something to stamp over it... why not a cutesy sunglasses print!

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Mirror Image (step 2 + base)]

Quick recap: Maybelline Mirror Image - a super-reflective silver chrome. It's really cool watching it dry after application and get more and more mirror-like...

[Base: Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 + 2 (1 coat each);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L022]

The sunglasses print is from Born Pretty plate BP-L022 and I stamped in a black stamping polish (Hit the Bottle As Black As Night). As I mentioned in my last post, tipwear is pretty horrendous with mirror polishes so I free-handed (badly!) a thin french over the worn tips.

[Base: Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 + 2 (1 coat each);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L022]

Still pretty cute! From afar, you can't quite see the fine outline of the sunnies, and it kinda looks like a dotticure!

Chrome Dome - Maybelline Mirror Image

Haha, looks like Jme and I are into our silver manis this past week!

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Mirror Image Step 2 (1 coat + base)]

Highly reflective chrome seems to be in at the moment (again!) so I dug out one of my vintage treasures to have a go at it myself! This is Maybelline Mirror Image, a two-step polish set consisting of a base, and then a silver polish (above) that dries to an amazing finish.

[Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 & 2 (1 coat each)]

This is one coat of base, followed by one coat of the silver. I didn't use topcoat over the top in case it dulled the finish, so wear wasn't great which I think is pretty common with these mirror-finish polishes. These photos were taken after one day of wear and you can already see the tips chipping slightly. Also, all these super-reflective chromes do show up every ridge and nick on your nail! Eeek!

[Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 & 2 (1 coat each)]

Still a great quick fix to get a high-impact eye-catching manicure! Jme has previously done a great comparison to Layla Metal Chrome, another mirror-finish polish, so check it out here!

Basic Bling - Gold's Night Out

Not too much to say today! As the title says, it's pretty basic bling we've got here! =p

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Gold's Night Out (2 coats)]

This is Gold's Night Out from the Maybelline Color Show Sequins range.

[2 coats: Maybelline Gold's Night Out]

As you can tell, it's a dense gold glitter polish with generous splashes of holo gold hexes.

[2 coats: Maybelline Gold's Night Out]

A pretty decent formula with good opacity - these were two coats, pretty gritty due to the large amounts of glitter even with two layers of topcoat. Definitely maximum sparkle!

[2 coats: Maybelline Gold's Night Out]

However, the grittiness really tempted me to pick this polish off, so it didn't last very long on me! Maybe if you could resist, it could go for longer~! =)

Circling the Issue - Maybelline Color Show Denims Denim Dash, Hit the Bottle Chromeo, Born Pretty BP-L004

It's definitely not a surprise that I'm stamping over any and all base polished if I can manage it!

[Circles upon circles]

Here's my attempt this week, a nice bright contrasting metallic against the creme base.

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Color Show Denim Dash (2 coats, with topcoat)]

My base from last week's post is Maybelline Color Show Denim Dash, a medium blue creme with lots of fine silver sparkles. This polish dries semi-matte and also looks amazing glossy.

[Bottle to nail: Hit the Bottle Chromeo (stamping); Base: Maybelline Denim Dash (2 coats)]

To go with the silver specks in the base polish, I decided to stamp in silver as well. This is Hit the Bottle Chromeo, an absolutely flawless silver stamping polish.

[Stamping plate: Born Pretty BP-L004]

The design I chose was this overlapping circles pattern from Born Pretty plate BP-L004. Yes! I'm still working on testing out all the designs from this plate!

[Base: Maybelline Denim Dash (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Chromeo, Born Pretty BP-L004]

I'm pretty happy with the color combination, but I think I was rushing the stamping a little and it's not as perfect as I'd like.

[Base: Maybelline Denim Dash (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Chromeo, Born Pretty BP-L004]

Still looked great as long as you're not too picky about all the little details!