Neon Orange and Textured Teal Nails

I Bought This

Is it Summer yet??? I wanted to share these screaming hot neon orange and textured teal nails with you, even though it's totally not seasonally appropriate ;) I'm sooooo ready for the beach!

The polishes I used are China Glaze Seahorsin' Around and ORLY Tropical Pop. 2 coats of Seahorsin' Around with no top coat and 2 coats of Tropical Pop over a coat of white (to really make it "pop"!) plus top coat. I did the dots with a dotting tool and I'm loving the effect! The contrast between the texture and the smooth creme polish is to die for.

I hope you like this look, even if it's not quite beach weather in many places yet.

Black, White and Silver Bling Nails for New Years

I haven't been in much of a holiday mood when it comes to my nails, but New Year's is a theme I can definitely get down with. Blingy and dramatic are what I think of when NYE rolls around and this black, white and silver combo will add that extra pop to a dressy outfit. I had seen a manicure in one of my facebook nail polish groups which had these pretty white 3D bows and I decided I had to incorporate them somehow into my NYE nails. Working around the bows, I arrived at this extra sparkly look.

I used a few different polishes to achieve this, the black is China Glaze Liquid Leather, the white is China Glaze White on White, the silver holo is Orly Mirrorball (my favourite silver polish to date!) and the glitter is OPI I Snow You Love Me, which I fished out and placed on the nail. CG Liquid Leather and ORLY Mirrorball have to be two of the best polishes I've used lately.The are both gorgeous and go on beautifully. The bows I got in a Secret Santa swap. but you can easily find them on ebay. They are so cute, I want AAALLL the colours. I usually use super glue to put them on, as nail glue doesn't quite cut it for staying power, whereas super glue usually stays on well until I remove them with acetone.

I'm in love with my nails right now! They are the perfect mix of elegant B&W and sparkle. The Mirrorball + I Snow You Love Me glitters are so ridiculously blingy that I catch myself just staring at them all the time. This is a simple design, but I think it works really well. Other than the black and white theme, the little rhinestone in the bow complements the silver sparkly nails perfectly.

I don't have any big plans for NYE, we'll probably just watch the countdown on tv and have some drinks, but I can still get festive with my nails! What are your plans/nails looking like for NYE?

Bold Lashes, Pink and a bit of Glam: Photoshoot Makeup and Nails.

Wow, it feels like forever since I've blogged... Between 3 web design jobs, a kidney stone, 3 kids and just life in general, I haven't had time to edit photos or write at all. I haven't even been wearing makeup or doing my nails =_= Not that I have any nails to do at the moment, with the whole kidney stone ordeal (going to the hospital with excruciating back pain, being laid up in bed, taking care of the kids) I started biting my nails again and I currently only have 4 nails that aren't little nubby remnants. Luckily I received some imPRESS press on nails that I'll be trying later in the week (stay tuned!).

This past weekend I went over to help out the lovely Amber of Angel's Boutique with product photos for her new website. Amber makes beautiful jewelry and does decoden phone cases, pill boxes, contact cases and LOTS of other things. You might remember my post on her cases a while ago, she is super talented!

I had lots of fun being her model and wanted to show you my makeup and nails for the day.

Amber wanted pink and girly, with some dramatic lashes and a cat eye. I'm not so great at doing dramatic cat eyeliner, but I tried..... It's a mini cat eye. The lashes were a little more dramatic than I was expecting, but they look pretty good! They are Ardell 105 Black lashes and felt very soft and natural. I kept the rest of my makeup fairly light and neutral so as not to clash with the bright pink lips. The lipstick is a Kat Von D one that Amber had (she is a huge Kat Von D fan, although she insists she is not a stalker :p). I can't remember the name, but it's a creamy, opaque shade that I love! I may have to pick up some of her makeup. I'm also wearing my Macaron Brown circle lenses.

For my nails, I layered a sheer sparkly mother of pearl shade from Sinful Colors over ORLY Choreographed Chaos and placed a rhinestone at the top of the nail. On my ring finger I used China Glaze Glistening Snow and placed rhinestones in a flower design (ridiculously easy, but looks pretty). Because I had been biting my nails, the ones on my right hand are fake ones that I painted. My nails matched perfectly with this beautiful flower ring that Amber made!

Here's one of her cases, she actually took this to go and meet Kat Von D and showed her the case (which Kat loved!). I told you she was a big fan lol :)

I love the intricacy of her designs and all the little details she adds. Anyone can do decoden, but I think it takes talent to make really pretty designs and to make it all look clean and cohesive. They are super sturdy too :)

I had lots of fun hanging out with Amber, we have a shared love of Hello Kitty, Decoden and K-Dramas! Sorry I've been a little MIA, you can follow me on instagram or twitter for daily updates and I'll be doing a post with the rest of the photos from the photoshoot soon.

Screaming Summer Nails: Coral Pink, Gold Glitter and Cheetah Print

I Bought This

If these don't scream Summer, then I don't know what does. Actually a whole lot of things scream summer more than these nails, but I think they're pretty summery.

Wet n Wild Tropicalia is a fun, juicy coral which makes me think of fruit and stuff. Summery things. China Glaze Angel Wings is a perfect beachy gold, like shimmery grains of sand. I did 2 coats of each polish and n my accent nail, did a freehand cheetah print with a pink Kiss nail art polish.

The weather has been beautiful here lately, sunny and windy and perfect. I'm kind of apprehensive about how hot it'll be in the full bloom of Summer though. That'll be when I live at the beach. We're planning to go to Vegas at the end of July and I am excited! I've never been there, so for an Aussie girl like myself it's just the stuff of movies to me. Anyone have any recommendations as to what we should do and see while we're there? My husband has been before, but I don't know if I should trust the sightseeing to him lol.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Polish Days: The Number 5.

This Polish Days theme is the Number 5, and it's completely and utterly perfect for me.

This month is my 5th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's already been 5 years since my husband and I were married :) It's been ups and downs, difficulties and lots of precious moments and I wouldn't change the last 5 years for anything.

To commemorate this happy occasion, I decided to put a few things together in a manicure that mean a lot to me.

1.The beautiful rose shade with pink shimmer is OPI We Met On The Internet; a polish I just had to have as soon as I heard the name. My husband and I met way back in 04 on a website called Gaia Online, a community forum for anime geeks like us. We then reluctantly (since we were both against internet relationships) fell in love.
2. The Kleancolor moon glitter polish was part of my anniversary gift from my husband, he said it reminded him of Sailor Moon - one of my lifetime obsessions.
3. The moons and roses are a tribute to Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's love! The best love story ever, my husband is my very own Tuxedo Mask :p

The manicure is two coats of OPI We Met On The Internet, with one dabbed coat of Kleancolor Pinky Moon except on the ring finger. The ring finger is two coats of China Glaze Glistening Snow with freehanded roses done in We Met On The Internet, WnW Black Creme for the swirls and Sinful Colors Open Seas for the leaves.

I hope you like my interpretation of the 5 theme! :)

Holographic Hearts Tape Manicure

It's February! The shortest month of the year and also the month of my favourite holiday. Ah, Valentine's Day. I love hearts, pink, chocolate and giving/receiving gifts, and V-Day is all that rolled into one! My husband isn't as much of a Valentine's Day enthusiast, I think he needs to take a crash course in date planning or something. Last year he actually got me a gift (after I complained about me being the only one to buy gifts the year before ), but I planned everything, dinner, babysitter etc etc. I would love for him to just surprise me with a completely planned date one of these days, but I think he's afraid that he'll do it and then I'll complain because I don't like what he's planned lolol. Anyway, in order to once again psych myself up for my favourite holiday, I'm going to be doing a series of V-Day themed nail art! Today I have for you this ridiculously blingy, in your face with glitter tape manicure.

My camera freaked out completely trying to capture the dazzling gloriousness of holographic glitter, so it's hard to see but the red polish (Zoya Kimmy) has a gold shimmer and is actually quite sparkly. 

For this manicure I used painter's tape instead of scotch tape and I feel like it gave a cleaner line.

• First I did 3 coats of China Glaze Glistening Snow.
• Then 1 coat of quick dry top coat so they would be fully dry when I stuck the tape on
• Then cut out the heart shapes in the painter's tape.
• For the index finger, I made a heart shaped cut out in a piece of tape, stuck the tape over my nail and then did one coat of Zoya Kimmy.
• For the ring finger, I cut out a piece of tape shaped like a heart and then stuck it on my nail and painted over with one coat of Zoya Kimmy.
• I then did another coat of top coat.

CG Glistening Snow is a lot thicker and gloopier than Zoya Kimmy, so it was easier to use Kimmy on top of GS instead of the other way around.

Look out for more Valentine's Day manicures from me, as well as a couple of makeup looks :) I'm going to be trying to do a couple of videos as well!

Neon Pink and Gold Glitter-tastic nails

I went to Sally Beauty Supply for a new top coat and of course, I walked out with more than just a top coat... I picked up China Glaze Angel Wings and Glistening Snow from the recent Holiday Joy 2012 collection. They were in the clearance section for $3.29 each! These were the only ones I really wanted from the collection (as well as Champagne Kisses)... can you tell I love these kind of glitters??

I wanted to wear one of them straight away and I'd been meaning to do a neon pink and gold glitter look for a while, so I decided to try these two together:

Wet n Wild Tropicalia and China Glaze Angel Wings.

I feel like my nail shape is always changing =_= I tried to do the oval shape, but one nail ended up breaking and this square shape is easier to maintain. That's 2 coats of Tropicalia and 3 coats of Angel Wings. I absolutely LOVE these two together and I love them each individually as well. My camera could not capture the absolute glory of holographicness this glitter is, it sparkles with every colour of the rainbow, even in low lighting. Tropicalia is pulling a little more orange than it is in real life, it's a tiny bit more pink than it looks here. It is such a loud pink! I anticipate doing a lot of nail art with this one.

I can't wait to use Glistening Snow next. I think I'm going to have to hunt down Champagne Kisses as well, I am just obsessed with the fine holo glitters. Did you pick up any of the polishes from the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection?

Melty Ice Cream nail art: China Glaze It's a Trap-eze & Something Sweet

So, my ridiculously lovely and generous friend Malisa saw my wishlist post and for my birthday got me China Glaze It's A Trap-eze from the Cirque du Soleil collection! Thank you, thank you, thank you Malisa!

I desperately wanted this polish because it's a gorgeous milky, colourful glitter and also because of the name. I'm a meme lover.

Well, it's even more awesome than I expected it to be and I had to put it on straight away. I had been dying to try out a nail art look I saw on Chalkboard Nails, so I used It's A Trap-eze and China Glaze Something Sweet and had at it. Hers is absolutely gorgeous, mine is but a humble homage to her greatness :)

Lookit all that yummy glitter *drool* °_°

I did three coats of Something Sweet on my index and pinky, then two coats of It's A Trap-eze on my middle and ring fingers. It was opaque in just two coats, PERFECTTTT. Then I got a dotting tool and did dots of Something Sweet over It's A Trap-eze as the ends of the drips, then used a thin nail art brush to connect the drips to the line at the top. It's really pretty easy, since you don't have to be super precise. Then I did two coats of top coat to even out the texture and give it a nice glossy shine.

This look reminded me of melting ice cream cake, which then resulted in me getting this ridiculous song stuck in my head....

Ice cream, ice cream, i-i-ice cream paint job...

Close up of an accent nail.

I'm so in love with this look and with It's A Trap-eze in general! A gorgeous milky glitter that's opaque in 2 coats, what more could a girl want? Maybe an ice cream cake? I really want more of these milky glitters, they look so pretty.

Does anyone know of other polishes that have the same effect? I think the Japanese brand pa makes some. Have you picked up any of the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil polishes?

Polish Days - Sentimental Polka Dot Nail Art.

It's time for Polish Days again!

For this month's Polish Days the theme is sentimental. I decided to use two of the very first polishes I ever bought after becoming interested in nail blogs and blogging. Essie Turquoise & Caicos is a beautiful blue-green, almost minty colour. It is one of my favourite shades and is so soft and pretty. China Glaze Something Sweet is a lilac pink pastel, the very first pink I went out looking for. I love pink and this is just the epitome of feminine!

I decided to play on the soft, feminine theme and do a half moon mani with pretty polka dots :) The gold is a Kiss nail art polish. I hope you like it!

Check out the other Polish Days posts!

Polish Days: Polish Olympics! What the Olympics mean to me.

Honestly, I'm not the most sports crazy person. Usually I couldn't give a darn about sport and really, at the moment I still don't. But there's something about the Olympics that stirs something in even the most lackadaisical and at the very least I like to check on the Australian medal tally and watch some of the swimming events.

So when I heard the next Polish Days theme was Olympics, I had to pay homage to the only things I really care about in the Games. The Aussies and the swimming! Check it out:

Too many polishes to list, but I do remember using Wet n Wild French White Creme, Spoiled by WnW Designated Driver, China Glaze Fairy Dust, Nubar 2010, Zoya Jules, OPI Simply Smashing and some Color Club polishes among others. 

Index finger is a gradient which represents water/swimming, my favourite event! The swimming events are always huge in Australia, probably since we usually do pretty well. The middle finger is my take on the Olympic rings, the ring finger is a gold medal and the pinky is the flame from the Olympic torch. The thumb is my homage to Australia, a gradient of our green and gold sports colours and my attempt at a Southern Cross. See below for a close up!

Side view of the mani, check out the lovely glitter on my water gradient, and the flakies on my pinky flame!

A close up of the pinky. The flakies in Nubar 2010 really give it more of a flaming look.

I hope you enjoyed my take on the Polish Olympics! Thanks to Hannah from Polly Polish for organizing Polish Days.

Check out my previous Polish Days post here: A Delectable Jelly Sandwich!

And check out the other bloggers' posts on the Polish Olymics theme :) (List will be updated with more links and thumbnails shortly).

A Lacquered Affair Alexis – Glitter Tips Chiro – Nail of this Week Cuti-CLUE-les Hannah – Polly Polish Heidi: Pretty Painted Nails Inky – Inky Polisholicious Ishah – Ishah X Beauty Jen:The Nail Polish Project Jenny – Beauty by Jenny Jessica:Sparkles&Shine JoannaTheTreasureChest Kat – Hooked on Polish Kate – Polish CART Keisha:Refined &Polished Maria – So Marvellous Melissa:The Crimson Petal Mihaela – Lacquer Buzz Nail Tart Nicole – Nearly Nailed Pris – Pris Nails Sabine – My Polish Stash Samantha – Polished Art Sammy – The Nailasaurus Sophia – Unhas a Trois Sincerely Stephanie Wendy’s Delights