Obligatory Christmassy Stuff

Well Ho Ho Ho to y'all! I did some Christmas nail art in the few moments I had to myself in the raucous Christmas season! Yeah okay so I'm posting on Boxing Day, but I know a lot of you are still celebrating the Big Day, so I wanted to share. Hope you're ready for a whole lotta green, red and gold!

More after the jump......

I'm Alive!!! Muahahaha....

Well hello, strangers! Bet y'all thought I'd fallen off the edge of the universe, huh? Well you're kinda right, I disappeared into the void of a brand spankin' new job (which has entirely taken over my life for the better!!) but I missed you guys too much, so I'm back. I'm gonna cheat a little bit and use up a bunch of my old un-posted photos, mostly because they deserve to be shared, but also because I still don't really have time to do cool stuff yet. Let's crack on, shall we? 

Triumphant (lolz) return starts with a post I had saved in my Drafts here on Blogger - it's a recreation of an oooold mani with a couple of tweaks. Please enjoy China Glaze Dance Baby with special guest appearance from some BornPrettyStore glequins!

I Lied Again...

Hiya, yeah, so, I kinda lied a little bit. You know how I said I had some awesome glittery nails to share last Friday? I'm sort of still editing the photos... I took a LOT of photos 'cause I loved them so hard. Because I don't have the time / patience to edit it them at the moment, "here's one I prepared earlier!". You can consider this a 'from the vault' because it is a few weeks old. I'm sorry I haven't got the glittery goodness ready for you yet! In the mean time, here's some stud-y matte-y nails for you to enjoy.

Glittery Buttons of Luxury

Hi hi hi! Super quickie for you tonight - I was just going through the ridiculous backlog of manis that I've got waiting to be posted and thought it was time to shuffle some out into the world. It's already after midnight so I'm not going to be very chatty tonight (woohoo!!) so you can sit back and enjoy the glittery goodness!

It's So Fluffy!

Happy Thursday, y'all! I recently invested in a UV nail lamp and some gel polishes because I have a horrible habit of chipping my nail polish while I'm at work. This means I'm not going to be changing my polish as often (it was a serious challenge choosing shades I thought I could wear for over a week without getting bored!) so I've created a huge backlog of mani photos to share with you! I spent a few days creating different designs and playing with some wonderful polishes so that I'll have a decent arsenal while I'm all gelled up XD. Having said that, it means I have an abundance of choice in what to post - for a Libran who can't make decisions to save her life, this is a tricky task for me! For today I've chosen to share a completely different kind of mani - my first 'flocking powder' experience! It's definitely a novelty having fuzzy nails... I loved it!

Click on through for the details =)

Pink Wednesday: Nail Vinyls

Happy Wednesday, lovely people! I haven't done a Pink Wednesday post in forever, so I thought it was about time to reinstate the tradition! I have a couple of manis for you today with similar themes: obviously they're both pink, but they both utilise Nail Vinyls as well. Nail Vinyls are the genius brainchild of @teismom and they are absolutely brilliant. I'll explain a bit more about them further on, but first, enjoy some pics!

New Beginnings

~~Happy New Year!!!~~

I hope you've all had a blast over the course of 2013 and are looking forward to 2014 as much as I am!! 2013 was a bit of a rough one for me, so I'm looking forward to slightly smoother sailing throughout this coming year. In the spirit of new stuff, I've decided to flake out of the ABC challenge (lol, I'm so slack...) and just post whatever I'm inspired by! I found toward the end there that I was resenting *having* to stick to a specific letter when I had so many gorgeous polishes and interesting ideas floating around! Having said that, today's post (first in '14! Woo!) was going to be my 'T' post (obviously...) but I loved it so much that I figured I'd just skip 'S' (which has been in the draft folder for two weeks -.-) and jump ahead with what I really wanted to share. Behold, OPI Tiffany Case and Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau.

ABC Challenge: O

Hello there! I know, slack blogger is still slack, but I've had SO many new beautiful new babies to play with lately (ordered online, and also my local Farmers (NZ equivalent of Target) has just started stocking Essie polishes - previously unavailable in stores here!!) so I haven't been concentrating on getting blog posts ready - sorry! >.< I'd like to say I'll get better but in all honesty, there's a strong likelihood that I'll stay as slack as ever especially as we get into the crazy holiday retail season! Anywho, today I have a nice bold PINK to share with you for 'O'. Presenting Sinful Colors Oasis.

ABC Challenge: N

Hidey ho there, reader! I finally got a day off so I thought it was about time I post somethin' new! We're up to the letter 'N', and I (finally) settled on OPI No Room For The Blues. More over the jump!

ABC Challenge: I

Hello! Yes, I've been slack again, my bad! We suddenly lost two full-timers at work so I've been covering a LOT of hours (yay more money for polish!!) so I just haven't had the time to polish / post! I've got a few posts lined up now so we should be good for a wee while =P.

Right - we're up to 'I', and I chose OPI In The Cable Car-Pool Lane from the San Francisco collection. This is definitely a Fall / Winter colour, but I'm rocking it in Spring, 'cause I can XD click through to see how I made it more Spring-friendly ^_^

ABC Challenge: G and H

Heya lovelies. Sorry for being a bit MIA the last few days. A good family friend passed away and I haven't really been in the polishing / blogging mood. Because of this, today's post is super pic-heavy but really quite boring - I haven't done any nail art with the featured polishes, and I'm being extra lazy and cramming two letters into one post. Two letters, five polishes. Today we've got Sinful Colors Gorgeous, Essie Good As Gold, Maybelline Gold's Night Out, China Glaze Highlight Of My Summer and Born Pretty Store Holo #1. Phew! Click on through to the scrolling extravaganza. 

ALL The Colours!!

Well hello there, friends! I have something bright and colourful to share with you today to get back into the swing of blogging. I've been MIA from here for a couple of reasons - 1) my nails took a serious beating when I was working on a construction site a few weeks ago, and I've been waiting for them to grow into something paintable, and 2) I got lazy and decided to post everything straight to Instagram instead of writing it up here - sorry! Last night I did the first properly nail-arty mani I've done in ages, and I knew it was time to share. I give you: ALL the colours!!

This one's pretty pic heavy so click through to see more ^_^

Quickie for Nickie

Hiya!! Hope your Mondays are off to a nice easy start! I've got a super quick post dedicated to one of the most wonderful ladies I've met in the nail-blogging community - Nicole of Young Wild and Polished. She is insanely talented, amazingly sweet and tears-in-your-eyes, rolling-on-the-ground-clutching-your-sides funny! On top of all of that, she's one of the most supportive and understanding ladies I've ever talked to, and she's dealt with more crap than anyone should have to and has come out smiling! 

Nic (and Dot) - this one's for you! ♥

Watermarbling is Nicole's self-confessed "gateway nail art", so I used OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips and Black Onyx for a double nail marbled accent à la Nic. I used the same colours on my pinky and index fingers to re-create a design that she's been playing with since she got her Born Pretty Store nail striping tape. Honestly, doll, I dunno how you do it so neatly - that tape was not cooperating with me!! A coat of Seche Vite topped it all off.

These flowers are absolutely 100% what I associate with Nicole! They are so trademark Young, Wild and Polished that if I ever see them re-created anywhere (not just stolen like on Instagram, grrrr...) I automatically think of her! She's got a quick and easy-to-follow tutorial to let you borrow some of her talent ^_^. I used the same polishes again, and added some light dots throughout in China Glaze Something Sweet. I stole this directly from one of her Instagram photos (obviously I highly recommend following her). 

So there ya go! Go check out Young, Wild and Polished for some gorgeous nail art and some serious lols, or follow her on Twitter and Instagram! Thanks for reading, babes! 

Pink Wednesday: Simple Sparkles

Happy Wednesday, wonderful people! On Wednesdays We Wear Pink and today's Pink Wednesday mani is a little bit simple, a little bit sparkly and a whole lotta pink. 

I used two coats of Essie Flawless for my pink polish, and applied two coats of China Glaze Icicle to my accent nails. I love how silver goes with everything! On Icicle I dotted on three pink rhinestones from the BornPrettyStore - the ultimate online store for all things nail art (and they ship internationally for free!!). A coat of Seche Vite on all nails keeps everything secure.

My camera can't even handle all that sparkle!

So there's today's quick, simple and PINK mani! What are your favourite colours to pair with a glittery silver? Do you wear rhinestones on your nails or think they get in the way? Happy Wednesdays, loves! 2 days to the weekend, woo! 

MOAR BLUE!!!

Okay, okay, this will be my last blue post in a while. Maybe. I know I've been going overboard with my blue polishes lately, so after today I'll try to give you guys a break =P. Today's mani is pretty simple - Revlon Indigo Night with blue nail tape from the BornPrettyStore for the accent nails.

This is two coats of Indigo Night though one probably would've done - the Revlon Colorstay polishes are massively saturated, love it! I thought about using silver nail tape for the accent nail but decided it would stand out too much, so I went for a matchy-matchy look instead. From a distance / without looking too hard, the accent nail wasn't particularly noticeable apart from it being a little bit shinier than the other nails. I like that - subtle fanciness!

I Seche Vite'd my nails after I painted them before starting to tape. I know from experience that the teeny tiny little stripes of tape don't always fall exactly where you were aiming for, so a seriously dry base is a must. Another coat of the magic Seche Vite over the stripes helped to smooth everything out and helps the tape wear longer.

When I showed this mani to my Mum, she said "They look like blue bottle flies bums!". Thanks, Mum. I see what she meant though - the colour and shimmery-ness of the tape has the same effect as those little guys when they're buzzing in the sunlight. 

Whaddaya think? Do you like an obvious accent nail or are you sweet as with the subtleness? What was the weirdest comment someone's made about one of your manis? Hope you're having lovely weekends, lovely people, and happy long weekend to you State-side peeps!

Quick 'n Cute

Hiya lovelies! A real quickie today! Today's mani is three coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls with stamps from fauxnad plates m76 and m78 in China Glaze Urban-Night. The pearl accents are from the Born Pretty Store. Enjoy!

Ciao, darlings! =)

Pink Wednesday: Black Roses Pink

Hiya! It's Wednesday again, and as you know On Wednesdays We Wear Pink so today I have a yummy pink jelly mani using OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y?. Let's just jump in, shall we?

I started with three coats of Do You Think I'm Tex-y, then stamped it with BPS [Born Pretty Store] stamp m65 in my go-to black BYS Black Satin. 

I added some nail tape in silver to the tip just to give it a little something more, and I think it helps it to look 'finished'. It's a little bit more special than just a straight stamp, don'tcha think?

I absolutely lo-o-o-ove Do You Think I'm Tex-y? -it's such a yummy true jelly polish. No creme in sight here! Depending on the light, it does tend to lean more toward red than any other colour, but in daylight it is a deep dark delicious pink. Here in NZ we have these ice creams called 'Jelly Tips', and the finish on this polish is exactly what the frozen tip of jelly is like! Mmm I just love this polish! 

Spot the great big chunk of missing polish on my middle finger? When all was said and done last night, my Seche Vite top coat was all but dry, and Dog was snoozing on my computer chair. I went to stroke him and he jumped up, banging my finger on the corner of my desk. Bye-bye perfect polish finish. That's what I get for showing a little love!

A close up of the gorgeous stamp design. I had a heck of a time trying to get the tape to stay down at the edges! I top-coated the *bleep* out of my nails, and a few of them still peeled up at the corners over night! I ended up applying new pieces of tape to some of my nails right before I took the photos, and even then they just didn't want to stay down. There must be a knack to it - I'll figure it out some day!

THIS STUFF!! Oh my goodness, this stuff. Lemon Flutter cuticle butter by Lush. Since our local Lush store opened up before Christmas last year (my gosh they were busy!) I have been itching to get my paws on some of this most delicious cuticle butter. I had recently resolved to stop putting it off and grab a tub on my next pay day, and lo and behold my incredible Mum came home with it today, along with a couple of other tubs of pure deliciousness! This stuff is just magic for your fingers, and I know I look crazy sniffing my cuticles but I don't care! If you could smell this stuff, you wouldn't stop sniffing either! 

Thanks for stopping by, lovely people! =D 

No Nails Just Stuff

Hello lovely people! Today's post is a bit different. Instead of a mani, I wanted to show you some of my nail stuff. First up is my very first delivery from the Born Pretty Store - the first of many I'm sure! I was so excited when it arrived - it got here so much faster than I was expecting. The wonderful people at the BPS got everything perfect, and even threw in some discounts for next time! I'll definitely be going back!

A peek into the packet.  

I managed to restrain myself a LOT for my first order. There was so much I wanted on the site but as I'm of limited funds I decided to be smart about it and only get the stuff that a) I really really really wanted, and b) I can't get locally. I settled on the complete set of stamp plates, a set of three nail striping brushes, and some pearly half-rhinestones.

These are gonna be sooo gorgeous when I figure out what I wanna do with them! I'm so excited to start playing with all my new stuff! Now, the rest of the post is about stuff that I am beginning to use regularly to keep my tips and cuticles happy and healthy. The first is something I read about on a blog (can't remember which one, I get around...) as a must-have for anyone posting photos of their nails. It's a brush on, wash off cuticle remover. I've only used it once but it really cleaned up my nail beds and made them look cared for. 

This is just from my local pharmacy. You should know by now that for me if it works, it works, and I'm not gonna be too fussy about the brand! Having said that, the hand lotion I use is O.P.I. Avojuice. Okay, so I'm just a little bit contradictory... But I use this lotion because it does work, and unlike so many other moisturisers and hand lotions I've tried over the years, Avojuice doesn't leave a greasy residue, and my skin just drinks it up in a second. Instant happy cuticles. 

When I was working in a jewellery store I wouldn't start my shift until I had some of this magic potion absorbed into my skin. It feels so delicious and just makes everything look so healthy. My last piece of 'I must remember to use this more regularly' is cuticle oil. The one I have is one I've used for years, and you can see in the pic that I've barely used any. You only need half a drop on each nail, which means it pretty much lasts forever.

I know other bloggers / lovely ladies swear by particular brands, but this is the one I've got, and it works, so neh! This came in a set with a buffing block, nail file, hand and body lotion, and this cuticle oil. Half a drop massaged into the cuticle whenever needed - my cuticles are never happier than just after I've finished applying this oil. Have a read around of other beauty / nail blogs if you're trying to find a good affordable cuticle oil. Like I said, this is just the one I've got and it works for me, but do your research and find out what brands do what, and what you need to keep your cuticles happy. 


That's all from me today. Sorry it's (so slightly) off topic, but I just wanted to share this stuff with you! Tell me about the products you swear by. I'd love to know what you're using, what you love, what didn't work, all that jazz. Thanks for checking in, loves, enjoy the rest of your weekend! 


- Ally xx