Monday Nail Stuff: Pastel manicure!

Pin It Now!

Today’s nail look is inspired by pastel jewellery. I love the trend right now of mixing pastel with gold. Fashion accessory chain Lovisa does this style extremely well. I don’t quite understand why pastel and skulls work so well together…probably one of those mysteries of the universe!

This look is extremely easy to do. The only problem may be to give sufficient time for the layers to dry.

You’ll need:

• Base coat: I’m  using OPI Base Coat
• Pastel base colour: I’m using a slightly minty grey, Essie “Da Bush”
• Gold tip colour: I don’t own a foily gold, so I’m using China Glaze “Cowardly Lyin’”, applied in several layers
• Top coat: I’m using Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

After applying the top coat, apply the pastel base colour. If it’s a light colour, you’ll need at least two coats. If you are applying multiple coats, make sure to let this dry completely before applying the tip colour.

It might look tricky to paint the tip, but it couldn’t be easier! The key is to paint in quick strokes without going over it too much. If you mess up, you can always fix the mistake with some base colour.

Have fun creating your pastel manicure!

Studded nails–Easy instant rock chic!

Pin It Now!

Recently, everything’s become studded, bags, shoes, tights… so then the natural progression is of course, studded nails!

 

(Givenchy; Miu Miu; Christian Louboutin; House of Dereon)

 

I created this look with Dior Vernis in 905 ‘Black Sequins’ and my trusty Seche Vite dry fast top coat. I decided against silver studs, and used black studs instead, so it somewhat blended in with the nail colour. I love nail looks that are both understated and totally unique at the same time.

Seche Vite top coat is so great for firmly sticking on nail decorations. I just paint a thick coat over the nail polish and then apply the studs before the polish dries.

Don’t forget to enter my Beauty’s in the bag Giveaway! So many prizes to be won!!

Monday nail stuff: Iridescent spring flower nails!

Pin It Now!

While it’s well into Autumn here in Australia, I feel it’s so easy pretend it’s spring, when the rest of the world is enjoying the warmer seasons. Nothing says spring to me more than pink Sakura blossoms. This week I decided to sport a simple spring flower nail design, with flower Fimo slices haphazardly placed as if they had floated there in the breeze…ah…I wish it were spring!!

I used Orly nail lacquer in Berry Blast, and pink flower Fimo slices from http://pinksakura.com.au/! Pink Sakura also sent me super cute strawberry and teddy bear slices! Fimo slices fascinate me the same way as pulled rock candy. How in the world do they get those tiny intricate designs in there? Especially the strawberries!

Pink Sakura is a new Australian based Asian cosmetics retailer on the scene, specialising in GEO Medical contact lenses – stock including the popular Bambi Princess Mimi series – yay – and Asian cosmetics, with mostly Korean brands like Etude House, Tony Moly and Holika Holika! They also sell nail art supplies and Kawaii Items!

 

Don’t forget to enter my Beauty’s in the bag Giveaway! So many prizes to be won!!

Monday nails stuff: Lolipop nails

Pin It Now!

I am totally addicted to candy themed nail art! This week’s nail art is inspired by rainbow coloured boiled lollipops, you know, the ones at the lolly shop counter that your parents would never buy for you because ‘there’s no way you could eat it all by yourself’.

This one of the more intricate designs I’ve done so far *phew*, but it’s surprisingly easy, just a matter of painting lots and lots of multi-coloured stripes!

I used:

• Orly ‘Snow cone’
• China glaze ‘Tree hugger’
• China glaze ‘Happy go lucky’
• OPI ‘Red my fortune cookie’
• OPI ‘Hot & Spicy’
• OPI ‘Alpine Snow’
• LA Colours ‘Circuits’

Even though I own a drawer full of nail colours, I still struggle to find the colours I need when I’m trying to do a design. For this design I really needed vibrant saturated colours, but I had to make do with some creams.

How many nail polishes do you own?

Monday Nail Stuff: Peppermint Candy nails!

Pin It Now!

Continuing with my theme of food inspired nail art, this Monday Nail Stuff is fun and delectable Peppermint Candy nails!

Ironically, when I was young I hated peppermint and they’re still not my first choice for sweets, but man are they adorable! These pretty much epitomize ‘candy’ in my mind.

It took a few tries to master the right swirl design, but once I did, it was super easy!

I used:

• OPI Alpine Snow for the base colour
• OPI Red My Fortune Cookie
• OPI Hot & Spicy
• OPI I’m Not Really a Waitress

 

Speaking of colourful cute things, don’t forget to enter my contact lens giveaway if you haven’t yet! Enter now!

Monday Nail Stuff–Fast and fun kitty emote nails!

Pin It Now!

This Monday Nail Stuff I wanted to create an easy-peasy fun design that anyone could whip up in about 10 minutes! I give you: ‘kitty emote nails’!

You just need:

• Any cute base colour. I’m using OPI ‘I’m not really a waitress’
• One white colour. I’m using OPI ‘Alpine Snow’
• One black colour. I’m using L.A. Colours ‘Circuits’
• One super thin paint brush (on ebay for about $1)

The process is easy:

Step 1: Paint on the base colour

Step 2: Using the thin paint brush, paint brackets in the white colour.

Step 3: On top of the brackets, draw the ears.

Step 4: Fill in the cat face.

Step 5: Paint a black border around the cat face.

Step 6: Paint in the face, any case you want!

Repeat with other nails, different expressions for best results!

Have fun!

Monday nail stuff! Cherry Blossom inspired nail art

Pin It Now!

It’s just going into autumn here in Australia, but at about this time three years ago, I was in Okayama in Japan, strolling under the shade of hundreds of Sakura trees, with their petals covering the ground like fuzzy pink carpet! So today I’ve decided to create Cherry Blossom inspired nail art!

For this look, I started with a blue base, for the blue sky, using Orly “Snowcone”. Then I used a black polish for the branches, using L.A. Colours “Circuits”.

Petals proved to be very difficult to draw on such a small surface! They should generally be the shape, in example below.

 

 

How I did my rainbow manicure

Pin It Now!

After I posted about my rainbow manicure two Monday Nail Stuff posts ago, lots of people asked me how I managed to get the stripes so straight. I was trying to impress on everyone how easy it was, but I don’t think I got the message across, so I thought I might do a short tutorial post. I’m hoping to convince you nonbelivers who think you have no time for nail art, that it can be quick and easy, and you’ll be delighted with the results!

So first, the tools. You’ll need 6 colours, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Any shade will do, as long as they are bright. I used:

• OPI Pamploma Purple (In my original rainbow manicure post I used Essie Tri-Becca)
• OPI “Suzi Says Fung Shui”
• China Glaze “Jolly Holly”
• China Glaze “Happy go lucky”
• OPI “Hot & Spicy”
• OPI “Red my fortune cookie”

First, paint your nail with the purple as a base as normal, making sure that the base is neat and clean. Wait for this layer to mostly dry before going on to the next step.

Now, paint the first blue strive, holding the brush HORIZONTALLY. Draw the brush in one smooth motion from left to right (or the other way if you are left handed). Make sure it’s one quick stroke, so that the edges of the stripe is as straight as possible. It might also help to turn you finger as you go to help guide the brush.

Give the blue stripe a few seconds to dry a little, then apply the green, overlapping the blue stripe.

Rinse and repeat!

See – so easy!!

 

Happy nail rainbow nail art-ing guys!