Pink Wednesday: Hound's Ears

Hello wonderful people! Sorry for the delay on this Pink Wednesday post, but those of you following on Twitter or Facebook know that I've been having some issues with my blog host =(. For the last couple of days it has just not wanted to let me upload any pics! Anyway, I can now, so onwards! This mani is OPI I'm All Ears with BYS Black Satin stamped on top.

To quote a bestie of mine, I "love me some houndstooth"! I've used this stamp a few times now, and it's definitely up the top of my fav design pile. It never really called out to me, but once I tried it... Hooked!

These pics are a little out of focus because a) I had a crappy lighting source that upset my camera and b) I wanted you to see the insane shimmer in I'm All Ears. I've ranted and raved before about this polish so I won't go on too much, but just look at that shimmer!! IRL there was so much depth to this (3 coats of) polish that the stamp looked like it was floating on top. 

Sorry again for the delay, sweets, but it looks like we're all back up and running now. I've got a couple of new arrivals that I can't wait to share with you, so check in soon! =D

Spot the Dots

Hiya lovelies! Another one 'from the vault' for you today! I wore this mani just over a week ago after I'd gone through the entries for Marta's 'Dots of Fun' competition and had a spark of inspiration! See if you can spot the one that inspired this dotty mani! My base colours are China Glaze Pelican Gray and OPI No Room For The Blues. Two coats of each started me off.

Aside from my two base colours, I also used BYS Black Satin, Sky's The Limit, and Revlon Indigo Night. I'm glad I took this photo because I never would've remembered what polishes I used =P

Then I got dotting! Using a relatively small dotting tool, I started with Black Satin first and dotted a dot in the middle of each nail. Well, that was the intent anyway. On my index and pinky nails, I missed... I followed the 'centre' dot back down to make a triangle. Then going from the darkest blue to the lightest, I followed the triangle back. On my index + pinky nails, you can see I put the blue outside the black because the design didn't come far enough down the nail for my liking. I don't know if I like it or not, but it's done =P.

You can see I added the grey in where it would be silly to dot in the same colour as my base coat. I'm working on getting my dots more uniform... so far not so good... Not as neat as I would've liked but the overall effect is pretty nifty.

So there you have my inspired dotti-cure. What nail blogs spark your inspiration most often? What's the most random thing that's inspired a mani for you? Thanks for stopping by! =D

Moody Marbled Blues

Well as it's Monday, it felt somewhat appropriate to post a blue, blue, blue mani for you today. It is a bit of a fail - though the overall effect is pretty nifty, it's not where near my usual OCD standards, and I didn't wear it for longer than it took to take the pics. Here's a relatively crap water marble. Enjoy!

OPI I Vant To Be A-Lone Star, OPI No Room For The Blues (my current obsession), and China Glaze First Mate. Because IVTBALS is so sheer and shimmery, I started with two coats for a base colour so that it would show up at all when marbled. Always good if you want to use a colour that doesn't necessarily show up on its own very often.

Then the horror began. Believe it or not, my middle finger was the one I did twice, and this is the better result! I wasn't feeling it, I guess, and you can tell that there isn't much love in this mani =(.

Though I did kinda like how my thumb turned out... I tried for a swirl for once. Ya like?

Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. It just wasn't workin' for me, I tells ya!

Then I started playing around with my camera... Heh heh...

Technique aside, as it was not my best day and I couldn't be bothered fixing all the bloopers, what do you think of the colour combo? Do you like one colour marbles (like this one) or are you a fan of the ones that use different colours? What was your best / worst colour combo? I'd love to hear from you lovely people!! Hope your week's off to a better start than mine ;-). 

Radiant Gradient

Happy Saturday, lovely people! Today's mani is 'from the vault' - one I did a couple of weeks ago and photographed, but didn't post at the time. It's a simple 2 colour gradient (using this tutorial as always!) with OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips and China Glaze Papaya Punch. Enjoy!

If you look closely, on my pinky you can see a massive chunk of missing polish that I ended up filling in with the polish brush afterwards. That nail was just not cooperating with my sponging and I was pulling more and more polish off with every attempt to add to it. This happens if the bottom layer(s) of polish are still too wet when trying to add more over top... I'm really really good at being too impatient, and more often than not my impatience ruins the whole mani! Patience is a virtue...

It's my right hand! It's been so long since I posted a snap of my camera-shy hand. I was happier with how it turned out on this side so I wanted to show you how it was meant to look on both hands =P.

There's something a bit sunset-ish about this colour combo. I'd just picked up the bottles and thought the colours would look stunning together, and settled on a gradient to give them equal nail-space. The camera didn't really pick up how insanely BRIGHT these two shades are, but if you know the polishes, you can understand that this was a rather overwhelming combination when completed!

I didn't wear it for long, but I'm still pretty happy that the colour combination worked as well as it did. These are two deliciously yummy Summery colours - can't wait to use them more when it heats up a bit more! Thanks for stopping by =D

Simple Saturday

Good afternoon, wonderful people! I have a bit of a plain post for you today. I bought this polish yesterday and fell so madly in love with it once it was applied that I haven't dared to do anything with it! Here is the crisp and delicious OPI Big Apple Red.

Okay, I'll admit, I have quite a few similar reds in my polish stash, but I'm sure some of you understand the constant search for the perfect red, right? I fear I may have finally found it in this one. This shade is older than I am (it was one of the first shades released by OPI in 1989) which to me says it's stood the test of time, particularly because OPI's quite keen on discontinuing polishes that aren't consistently jumping off the shelves. This red has me gazing lovingly at it while I'm typing this - always a good sign!

This red is very close to Revlon Red Carpet (maybe I should do a comparison?) though the OPI is a bit... I don't know what... Crisper? Bolder? It somehow seems to glow from the inside, giving the impression that it's sheer while being seriously opaque. Oh, while I remember, this was an incredible one-coater! While that's not necessarily rare in the commonly-highly-saturated red nail polish world, the application of this baby was just so smooth and buttery and delicious. All polishes should apply like this!

I thought I'd found my go-to red when I bought Revlon Red Carpet, but there is some seriously intense competition here. It might just be inside my head, but there's something just a bit nicer about OPI nail polishes. They're more... grown up? Indulgent? Maybe they're just created with more love? Yeah, I know I sound crazy, but someone's gotta know what I mean by that, surely? If you know the word I'm trying to get at, let me know =D

My beautiful new baby. Well, one of them ;-). For those of you local to me, I picked this one up at Life Pharmacy in Westfield Queensgate - they're doing a 'buy 2 get one free' on OPI at the moment. Go check it out! I can tell you I am one happy chickie for finally giving in and getting this delicious red. What am I gonna do now that I've found my perfect red?? Thanks for stopping by, lovely peoples =D 

Pink Wednesday: Girly Glitter

Hiya lovely people! On Wednesdays We Wear Pink, and today's Pink Wednesday post is all about the girly glitter! I went overboard playing with deep, dark, bright and bold colours during the run of Hairspray (which is closed now *sniff*) so today's mani is a bit of a palette cleanser! Check it out: 

I started with two coats of OPI Barre My Soul from the New York City Ballet collection - this is my automatic go-to nude pink, it's just sooo creamy and yummy and just does exactly what I want it to do! Don't you just love those reliable polishes you can always count on to do their job? Over top of that I sponged on some OPI Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry collection. I can't believe I haven't used this polish for a Pink Wednesday yet - I keep meaning to, so I finally gave in. I still hate taking off glitter polish, but it's kinda worth it...

Mega uber massive macro shot to show you the stunning glitter in this baby! If you're not familiar with it already, Teenage Dream is chocka-packed full of pink and sliver shimmer,  with hexagonal glitter suspended in a sheer pink jelly base. Yum yum yum! Do you ever come across those nail polishes you could just stare at for hours on end? This is definitely one of those for me! 

My camera had a little bit of a tough time dealing with all that glitter, as you can see, but I'm really loving the effect of the nudie glitter over the nudie creme base. Are you a fan of the nude-based gradient mani, or do you like colours with your glitter? What's the polish that's calling out to be used but you just haven't got around to using for ages? Enjoy your Wednesdays, you lovely people, and smile lots - it's almost the weekend! =D

Pink Wednesday: Inspired!

Happy Wednesday, fellow polish addicts! Today's Pink Wednesday post was inspired by one of the costumes in the show I'm currently in - Hairspray! For those of you who don't know the show / haven't seen the movie, there's a scene in which Tracy (the 'pleasantly plump' heroine) is trying to convince her previously housebound mother to come out and embrace the 60's! If you've seen it, see it again here, or if you haven't, watch it and love it! In the stage show there are three 'Pinky's girls' that come out of 'Mr Pinky's Hefty Hideaway' (a plus sized clothing store) and welcome Tracy and her mom to the world of 60's fashion. When I saw their costumes in the dress rehearsals, I knew I had to make a mani out of them! They're so gorgeous! Check it out:

I used two coats of BYS French White as my base colour for the white nails, and the pink is China Glaze Something Sweet which seemed perfect for the theme! (Tracy and her mom are rather fond of sweet things...). I used a dotting tool for the dots and used an unnumbered fauxnad stamp for the bow using French White. I did have some necklaces stamped on my thumbs but they came out so badly that I didn't bother to photograph them... 

 Cutest little bow!

Here's a glimpse of the costume that inspired the mani. I'm a somewhat enthusiastic photographer so when we started dress rehearsals I knew I had to capture the incredibleness! The costumes and the set are all directly from the Melbourne production that toured Australia, and they're simply mind-blowing. So much colour and gorgeousness!!

So I went for the pink, white, dots and bow. So cute! Whaddaya reckon, did I nail it? (tee hee...) What was the last random thing that inspired a mani for you? Do you ever do your nails to match your outfit? Thanks for checking in, babes! Enjoy the rest of your week, not long to go now! =D

Triple Threat

Look who's back, back again... Hey hey hey lovely people! Sooo it's been a wee while since my last post (yes, I'm ridiculously slack) but in my defence I've been a tad ill + it was production week last week for Hairspray here in Wellington NZ, which means the show is OPEN! Well, we close this coming Saturday =( but tonight is one of the two nights we have off, so I thought I'd better bloomin' post something! As the queen of indecisiveness, naturally I couldn't choose what to share with you. Instead of sifting through my reserve piccys (yes, I've been taking pics without posting them, naughty!) I decided to do something fresh and new for you. Well, lots of fresh and new, really. I did three different manis using the same colours in different tones (ie blue on blue, purple on purple...) then added a matte top coat over each completed design to create six snazzy lookin' manis. Wanna see??

Click on the pic for a bigger image. Cute, no? I really haven't decided which look I like the best - I think it's tying between the purple and the blue... Hmmm... Let's break it down =D

I popped into the local Cosmetics Plus in the mall to have a look for some cheap dark jewellery for the show (booth singers [which is what I am] have to wear black as we sit in the orchestra pit in front of the stage, so we can be seen but we're not meant to be!) and in the corner I spotted a Miki mini's stand packed full of goodies! With 2 for $3 pick'n'mix, naturally I pounced on the cute mini nail polishes and even bagged myself a quad-colour eye shadow compact. Score! This Miki mini polish is one of the ones I picked up - Miki No. 21. It's a little sad that they don't name their colours, but they're such yummy shades that I'll get over it ;-). 

A delicious buttery two-coater. This pale lilac-y purple sits just perfectly between a couple of other purples I have, and I'm more than happy to have spent the $1.50 to add this little cutie to my stash! Stamped over it is Bundle Monster plate BM317 in BYS Reign Supreme. This purple refuses to photograph its true shade, but rather prefers to lean toward a navy blue. I swear it's purple!!

The completed look with a coat of Seche Vite. I stamped my middle and ring fingers first, then realised how matchy-matchy the stamp was looking, so tried to mix it up a bit on the others. I'm just going to take a second to say how much I FRICKIN' LOVE THESE BUNDLE MONSTER PLATES!!!! Everyone I know who's got them is absolutely in love with them - they are the easiest stamps I've ever used, and the customer service at Bundle Monster has me itching to go back just because they are so lovely to deal with! I may have mentioned before my massive blonde moment in ordering these plates? I clicked the wrong ones... The lovely people at the site fixed it all for me complete with smiley faces =D. One happy girly right here, I can tells ya!

This is the same look (duh) with a coat of Rimmel Lycra Pro Matte Finish over top of the Seche Vite. I'm still impressed with the ability of this matte top coat to cut through the intense shine of SV every time =P. Going matte is such an easy way to change up a mani just a bit and make it something less everyday-ish... I think so anyway!

Okie dokie, next up we have the blues! The base colour for this mani is a polish I came across in a local Dollar Store. I'd never really looked at this brand because I assumed (like a snobby little girl) that a nail polish that's $3 and stocked next to packets of imitation... everything... with poorly translated Chinese descriptions on the packets maybe wouldn't have such a good formula. However, after (more time than I'll admit) surfing through online auction sites looking for polish, this brand kept popping up over and over in the $10-$15 range. They had some colours I've been hunting for, and I knew they sold them cheaply in the Dollar Store so I took the plunge and bought a couple to check them out. 


I'm in love.

The base colour is Kleancolor Sea Ice - a perfect creamy two coater! I nervously did a swatch immediately after purchasing it and was majorly impressed! Such a great find - this brand is dangerously plentiful in the cheapy shops... The stamp is from Bundle Monster plate BM322 in China Glaze First Mate. The more I look at it, the more I think this is my favourite mani of the 3 (6..) in this post. 

There's something a little bit mod about this one, and as each performance of Hairspray transports everyone back to 1962, I think everyone in the show has been in a bit of a mod mood lately! 

With the matte top coat. I definitely like this one better matte. Whadda ya think?

And finally, go go green! 

The base for this mani is Revlon Posh, a polish I haven't used before today. Farmers (department store) had Revlon polishes for $11 each for about a week (they usually retail around $20-$25 here) so of course I pounced. I was getting a teensy bit tired of painting my nails by this point (I know, blasphemy on a nail blog!) so my strokes were a bit off, meaning I ended up doing three coats when I ordinarily would've needed two. Lazy bum. This polish is aaaaaall shine, even before my beloved Seche Vite was applied.

I stamped in China Glaze Holly Day with Bundle Monster plate BM319. I'm really glad the design shows up in the photos because the contrast was so slim when I first stamped it. I did consider trying to double-stamp, but my aim is so bad that I knew it wasn't worth it! 

Yummy Matte-y goodness... Love this mani in the matte version! With a gloss finish, I honestly don't think I'd wear this mani out, but with the magic matte top coat, it's right up my alley. Funny how the littlest last minute additions can make all the difference, huh?

Do you agree with me, or are ya lovin' the shiney shines? Maybe I'm just obsessed with matte at the moment and it's making me biased =P. 

Phew! That was a long post! I might be making up for missed time... =P 


So what are your favourites? Are you all about the shine or are you crossing over to the matte side? Talk to me, beautiful darlings, I love to hear your feedback! Check in again soon - I have my Pink Wednesday all sorted ;-).