Rainbow Wings and Petals - Born Pretty Nail Art DIY Stamping Mat, Australis, Revlon, China Glaze, Mode, Essence, Color Club

It was Mardi Gras around here, with lots of partying on the streets, so I decided to go for rainbow colours on my nails, achieved through dry marbling on the silicone nail art mat!

[Dragon wings on one hand...]

[...flowers on the other.]

When it comes to dry marbling, I don't mean that I did water marbling with nail polish on the surface of a pool of water and then transferred onto a plastic surface to be applied later. In this case, I directly applied nail polish on the silicone nail art mat, and used a toothpick to quickly draw through the streaks of colour to create the effects you usually get from water marbling.

You can see the result of my dry marbling in the picture below. There are two tiny flowers I did for experimentation too.

[Born Pretty Nail Art DIY Stamping Mat]

Here are some tips for dry marbling on a mat:

1. Experiment, experiment, experiment!
2. Apply two to three thick coats of nail polish on the silicone mat.
3. Don't use thin coats or quickdry nail polish or old nail polish that is naturally drying out. You need the nail polish thick and wet enough to work with.
4. The watery nail polish worked best for me but required more layers.
5. If you want an effect that closely resembles water marbling, curve the nail polish streaks you're painting down. If you look on the left of the mat, most of the streaks are straight. But towards the right of the mat, you can see that I have started curving my nail polish streaks. It's to create the familiar water marbling flower look.
6. Leave your nail polish to dry on your silicone nail art mat for a couple hours at least. At first, the nail polish will look very thick on the mat. But as it dries out, the nail polish flattens to the silicone mat. It also becomes very easy to peel off the mat.
7. Paint your base coat before applying the newly made dry marbling patterns onto your nails. If you press firmly on the edges of your nail bed, you can peel off the excess nail polish easily.

That's all I can think of for the moment!

[Dry marbling: Australis Mexican Madness, Revlon Mad About Mango,
China Glaze Yell-O-Neil, Mode Hook Me UP, Essence Choose Me!, Color Club Eternal Beauty]

Let's run through the nail polishes I used to get this colourful effects. The nail polishes are:

1. Australis Mexican Madness - Pink creme
2. Revlon Mad About Mango - Salmon pink creme
3. China Glaze Yell-O-Neil - Yellow creme with gold shimmer
4. Mode Hook Me Up - Light blue creme 
5. Essence Choose Me! - Blue-green-gold shimmer
6. Color Club Eternal Beauty - Purple holo

The same nail polishes were used on both hands, except the marbling is different, that's all.

[Dry marbling: Australis Mexican Madness, Revlon Mad About Mango,
China Glaze Yell-O-Neil, Mode Hook Me UP, Essence Choose Me!, Color Club Eternal Beauty]

I noticed that the marbling is a lot smaller compared to actual water marbling. That probably just depends on the individual doing the dry marbling and how far apart you want the lines on your pattern.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the results. I always thought water marbling was too messy for me after I tried it out a couple of times. But doing this on a silicone mat? Thumbs up from me! I don't think I need to go into detail about techniques since there are so many videos of water marbling. The same-ish theory applies, only you don't use a bowl of water.

I'm pretty delighted with what can be done with a silicone mat and I'm looking forward to trying it out even more.

Picnic Blankets - Essie Private Weekend, Australis Mexican Madness, Mode Hook Me Up, Born Pretty's Y019 plate

Oh dear, what do we have here...

[Cheerful!]

So this is my attempt at combining stamping and dotticure. The base is Essie's Private Weekend, which is a white polish with the faintest of pale microglitter. I stamped over it with Australis' Mexican Madness, a mid-pink creme nail polish, and using a pattern from Born Pretty's Y019 plate.

[Born Pretty's Y019 stamping plate]

The pattern I used is the first one from the left on the first row.

Then I used a dotting tool to add blue dots with Mode's Hook Me Up, a blue creme. Tada!

[Base: Essie's Private Weekend
Stamping: Australis' Mexican Madness
Dotticure: Mode's Hook Me Up]

As you would have known by now, I've been using Australis' streak-free high shine nail polishes for stamping, even though they're not officially stamping nail polishes. I quite like them because there are also so many shades to choose from, and I can use them interchangeably as a base or as a stamping polish. It's also nice to support Made in Australia nail polishes (Mode is also Made in Australia)!

I've also said before that the only issue with using them as stamping nail polishes is that they often aren't as a opaque and thick as the usual stamping polishes. This usually isn't a problem when you're stamping with Australis' darker colours. Sometimes, it's also nice to have thinner stamping polishes, to produce a faded look.

In this case, I think Mexican Madness was too thinly stamped on and I overdid it with my quick dry nail polish. After I applied the quick dry, the stamped on Mexican Madness colour seemed to split. It kept the pattern, but as you can see, it resulted in this patchy look. It looks like old flaking paint, which isn't too bad to me. I was more annoyed by my own inability to dot regular dots, to be honest.

This mani actually got the most comments in awhile now. Everyone seemed convinced that I had purposefully created that faded flaking look and kept asking how I did everything, from the dots to the lines.

Double Rainbow - Orly, China Glaze, Elianto, Mode, Fing'rs

It's time for a rainbow parttttyyyyyyyyy~

[Orange: Orly Orange Punch
Yellow: China Glaze Yell-O-Neil
Green: Elianto S02
Blue: Mode Hook Me Up
Purple: Fing'rs Edge Ombre's second lightest purple]

I used the sponge technique for this one, where you paint all the colours in stripes on a sponge and then sponge it on. The colours I used are as listed above.

I love gradients and I love having a rainbow gradient. Easy, fun and pretty! I got heaps of compliments on this. :)

Happy Happy Joy Joy - Mode Vicious Venom, Color Club Wish List Red, Glam Polish Big Bang Theory

HAPPY HOLIDAY-OF-YOUR-CHOICE!! =) Here's a Christmas tree inspired manicure that I slapped together for the silly season.

[Bottle to nail: Glam Polish Big Bang Theory over Mode Vicious Venom, Color Club Wish List Red]

I won't say too much about it, but basically it's a base of 2 coats of Mode Vicious Venom (previously used here) and then Color Club Wish List Red (reviewed here) striped over the top using the tape method.
 

[Base: Mode Vicious Venom (2 coats); Stripes: Color Club Wish List Red (1 coat);
Ring finger: Glam Polish Big Bang Theory (1 coat)]

I then edged the red with LA (previously used here) before topping off the ring finger with a coat of Glam Polish Big Bang Theory! I thought the assortment of round glitters in BBT would look awesome as baubles on the "tree"!

[Base: Mode Vicious Venom (2 coats); Stripes: Color Club Wish List Red (1 coat);
Ring finger: Glam Polish Big Bang Theory (1 coat)]

Hope y'all are having a great time and filling up on yummy food and catch-up time with family and friends! Mwaahhh~!

Patriotic Skies - Mode Hook Me Up, Missha Dazzling

Today is a day for nail polishes you can buy for cheapies in Sydney!

[Top: One coat of Missha The Style Lucid Nail Polish Dazzling No 1
Base: Two coats of Mode Hook Me Up]

The base polish is Mode's Hook Me Up. It's a beautiful sky blue and it's been one of my favourites from very early on. Hook Me Up is a creme polish that never bubbles no matter what. On top of Hook Me Up is Missha The Style Lucid Nail Polish Dazzling No 1. I have no idea if that's the real name, but it's the only thing I can find on its label. This polish has a clear base coat, and hex and bar glitter in varying sizes, in light blue, medium blue and red.

[Four coats of Missha The Style Lucid Nail Polish Dazzling No 1[

Here's the glitter on its own with a clear base coat. I rather like it on its own because you can really see the assorted glitter like this. I'll do a full mani of this one day. :D

[Top coat: Missha The Style Lucid Nail Polish Dazzling No
Base: Orly Au Champagne]

Here it is over white, coming across as rather American. Or rather, very patriotic for any country that has white, blue and red on their flags. :)

So you can find Mode polishes in random pharmacies. They usually go for AUD2 to 3. You can find Missha at QVB and their polishes go from AUD3 to 7, depending on the range. I bought this bottle for around AUD2.50 if I recall right because it was on sale.

Jaffa Goodness - Mode Euro Trip, Femme Fatale Cosmetics Incendius

We've just tipped over into winter but I'm sneaking in an autumn-y combination today!

[Bottle to nail: Femme Fatale Incendius over Mode Euro Trip]

This is Mode Euro Trip with a layer of Femme Fatale Cosmetics Incendius over the top.

[Bottle to nail: Femme Fatale Incendius over Mode Euro Trip]

Euro Trip is a gorgeous brown creme with heavy gold shimmer that looks slightly green-ish at certain angles. It applied well, reaching opacity in two coats.

[Base: Mode Euro Trip (2 coats); Glitter: Femme Fatale Cosmetics Incendius]

I always love the glitter mixes in Femme Fatale Cosmetics glitter polishes. The glitter mixes are always interesting combinations and Incendius is definitely a stunning one, combining orange, gold and a hint of navy blue.

[Base: Mode Euro Trip (2 coats); Glitter: Femme Fatale Cosmetics Incendius]

All the glitters laid flat in this polish and a layer of topcoat gave everything a smooth shiny finish!

Greeny Gradient - BB Couture Studio 54, LA Girl Purge, ORLY Here Comes Trouble, Mode Vicious Venom, Nubar Meadow Sparkle

Hello hello, today I have five lovely greens to show you today! I combined them together a while ago to make a gradient/ombre skittle manicure~ =)

[Greeny Glitter Gradient Galore]

I've been obsessed with finding the perfect green for a long time (I may just have found it, but that's a post for another day!). So one day when I saw how many bottle I had of just green glitter, I decided to pick a couple to make a gradient...

[The Lineup]

Here's my pick... from left to right: BB Couture Studio 54 for my base colour, LA Girl Glitter Addict in Purge, ORLY Here Comes Trouble, Mode Vicious Venom and Nubar Meadow Sparkle.

[Bottle to nail: BB Couture Studio 54 (2 coats)]

Here's my base colour - BB Couture Studio 54. This is a gorgeous green shimmer in a slightly blued base - a bit of a muted pine green. Not super bright. Formula was good and this was two coats iirc.

[Gradient Skittles (L-R): Nubar Meadow Sparkle, Mode Vicious Venom,
ORLY Here Comes Trouble, LA Girl Purge]

I then popped on varying amounts of glitter polishes on each nail.
Pinky: Nubar Meadow Sparkle. This is a fairly fine pale green. Very neutral shade.
Ring: Mode Vicious Venom. This is a gorgeous green glitter, leaning a bit warmer than my photo suggests. Great coverage.
Middle: ORLY Here Comes Trouble. This one is very similar to Mode Vicious Venom but there are also larger green hexes in the mix so the effect is a whole lot bling-ier. Great colour and coverage.
Index: LA Girl Purge. A mix of large and small kelly green hexes. Love this one too. It's more like a topper so I had to use 2-3 coats to achieve full coverage.

[L-R: LA Girl Purge over LA Girl Blackout, LA Girl Purge over BB Couture Studio 54,
ORLY Here Comes Trouble over BB Couture Studio 54]

I didn't have a darker green glitter so for my thumb, I used a black base coat instead so it would show through a layer of LA Girl Purge (left), giving it a darker shade than the index. =)

[Pinky to index: Nubar Meadow Sparkle, Mode Vicious Venom,
ORLY Here Comes Trouble, LA Girl Purge]

... and here are both hands together! LOL... I took this photo by propping my camera up on the back of my chair and pressing the shutter button.... WITH MY CHIN. =D

Shifty Shade - Mode Arsonist, Lynderella Happy HoloDaze

I posted a while ago about getting glitter bleed in my bottle of Lynderella Happy HoloDaze here. So since I had it on my desk then, I swiped it over my mani at the time.

[Not quite Christmas!]

While not as Christmas-sy as originally intended, I still think it's a pretty cool combination!

[Bottle to nail: Mode Arsonist (2 coats)]

I started with a base of Mode Arsonist. I spotted this beauty in the local pharmacy but kept putting it back in the Mode bin because... I have so many red polishes! So many red polishes with gold shimmer, even! But I'm so so glad I finally caved and picked this gorgeous polish up! In the bottle, the shimmer looks slightly green at extreme angles, but this isn't visible on the nail.

[2 coats: Mode Arsonist]

The base is a deep warm red, almost jelly-like and the shimmer is really obvious even on the nail. Opaque in one careful coat, but I used two to deepen the colour. Vampy without being too far on the black side! Also... I thought that was an awesome name...

[Glitter bleed: Lynderella Happy HoloDaze]

So, here's my bottle of Happy HoloDaze... You can see how the green hexes are pretty much teal now. The clear base has gone a rather unattractive limey hue. The square glitter is still green though!

[Base: Mode Arsonist (2 coats); Glitter: Lynderella Happy HoloDaze (1 coat)]

Dabbled on a coat of Happy HoloDaze on each nail... still gorgeous! Just different~ =)

Halloween Loot - Halloween Challenge #10: Trick or Treat

Unfortunately, I was rather uninspired for this challenge and to be honest...I was rather keen to try on my new polishes rather than do nail art, haha! Anyway, here's my weak attempt at Trick or Treat.

So it's treats all the way! I do apologise for inflicting this terrible nail art on your eyes. :(  I'm much better at eating sweets than drawing them. This was done freehand, but I do wish I had used something else instead of Sally Hansen Black/Noir to draw them because the lines are so thick!

The colours used for the sweets are: Revlon Modern Grace (lavender), Mode Hook Me Up (blue), Mode Glamazon (purple), Mode Sweet Harmony (pink), Orly Heartbreaker (red), Essence Viva La Green (green), and Revlon LilyChrome (silver). I put on a coat of unnamed Borghese polish that consists of multi-coloured glitter for a sprinkling of sweet shininess. The star on my pinky finger was an attempt at another glitter which didn't quite work out...

As for the base:

[Base: Orly Orange Punch
Glitter: Amy's Nail Boutique Pink Lemonade]

I actually wanted to post just the base for Trick or Treat, because I think the base actually looks like delicious hard candy. It's a combo of Orly Orange Punch, which is a bright, bright orange, and two coats of Amy's Nail Boutique Pink Lemonade on top. Pink Lemonade consists of yellow and pink matte glitter. The result looks delicious to me!

Stardust - Mode Gothic Crown

A simple swatch today - I think I've mentioned before, but I've been pretty impressed with some of Mode's offerings. Mode can be found in selected pharmacies for AUD2.45 and they have an impressive colour range. I picked up a couple of glitters and heavy shimmers which have so far not disappointed!

Here's Mode Gothic Crown, a black jelly base absolutely jam-packed with silver glitter.

[Bottle to nail: Mode Gothic Crown (2 coats)]

I am so impressed with this polish - the black does not drown out the sparkle at all and the density of the glitter is amazing. I think this was two coats... Perfect formula, dried fast and SMOOTH!

[2 coats: Mode Gothic Crown]

The interesting thing is the glitter isn't really round or hex - I can't quite make it out but it looks somewhat rectangular? But more irregular-like... It could be what angle you view it at though!

[2 coats: Mode Gothic Crown]

Highly recommend picking this up, along with Mode's Vicious Venom (green glitter, again jam-packed) and Rock Me Sweet (magenta and silver glitter in magenta jelly base)! Also... how sexy is that name! Gothic Crown, mmmm! =D

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?