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 ^_^

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! 

Double Trouble

Hello hello, beautiful people! I put up a sneaky peak of the first of today's manis on Instagram and promised clearer pics on today's blog post, but when I got around to editing pics to make them post worthy, I realised how terrible my cuticles were in the photos - very dry, really torn up and obviously recently bleeding in a couple of places! So instead of a) editing til the wee hours to make them presentable or b) subjecting you to the horror that was my un-cared-for cuticles, I touched up a couple of pics (badly, hurriedly) and thought I'd give you two manis instead of one to make up for it =D. First up we have OPI Do You Lilac It?!

I started with Cult Nails Get It On base coat, then applied two coats of OPI Do You Lilac It?. When that was dry, I added accent nails of China Glaze Prism from the (seriously stunning) Prismatic collection, because I needed a bit of glitter in my life =). On my non-accent nails I stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM319 using China Glaze Icicle. I'm reasonably happy with this silver for stamping, but I'm still keeping an eye out for a more opaque silver!

A close up of the shimmery sparkle! Prism has a light purple jelly-ish base with every colour of glitter you could ever want packed into it. The Prismatic collection is packed full of gorgeous glittery bits, but it starts out reasonably sheer and builds to unimaginable glittery goodness! This is one coat of Prism and you can see plenty of Do You Lilac It? peeking through. Gorgeous or what?

The second mani I have for you is one I posted on Instagram yonks ago (yes, I said 'yonks'), but I'm still totally digging it and have had to convince myself out of recreating it many times since I took it off! Presenting a gradient mani in China Glaze Aquadelic and OPI No Room For The Blues!

As always, I used this magical tutorial from the ever brilliant Sammy of The Nailasaurus to create the gradient. When it was dry (and I did a lot of waiting because the stamping doesn't adhere to the quick dry top coats I have #firstworldproblems) I stamped in BYS French White using Bundle Monster plate BM318. 

I did this mani at the start of Spring, though looking at it now it's more of a Summer mani. It reminds me of cool drinks on hot days, sunshine, blue skies, clean water... Yep, okay, I'm keen for Summer now!

Again, my cuticles weren't in the best condition, but the mani kinda makes up for it, no? Aquadelic stained the [expletive] out of my nails and cuticles, partly because gradient manis can get kinda messy but also because I didn't have a base coat yet. Oh, that reminds me, I probably used one layer of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu under the gradient because it was pre-base coat =).

Do you have a favourite opaque silver polish for stamping? How do you look after your cuticles? Thank you SO much for reading, gorgeous! Stop in again soon =D

Stamping The Night Away

Hiya most wonderful peeps!! So I've been a tad MIA in terms of my blogging, and I am sorry for that, but I've just been lacking inspiration lately - you know how it is... I've still been posting on Twitter and Instagram, but I thought it must be time to do a proper post since I haven't blogged since last month! I have a sweet and simple stamped mani for you today =) Enjoy! (And excuse my poor dry cuticles...)

Nothing goes together like pink and blue, so I decided to use OPI I Think In Pink and BYS Sky's The Limit for a pale but clean + bright mani. As you might know I've been using OPI Don't Touch My Tutu as a base coat until I could get my hands on a real one (which I did today, in some VERY exciting circumstances - more in a later post ;-) ), and since I knew how sheer I Think In Pink can be, I doubled up on the white base coat for those nails. This meant I only needed 2 coats of both ITIP and Sky's The Limit for opacity and no VNL (visible nail line). The wonders of white 'underwear'!  

When my yummy yummy base colours were dry, I stamped with BYS French White using Bundle Monster plate BM321. While stamping I managed to bump my middle finger, mostly because I'm yet to do a mani during which nothing goes wrong ;-) but I tidied it up best I could, and apart from a gap in one of the flowers, it wasn't particularly noticeable. My stamping still needs some work, but if I'm careful I can usually get a result I don't hate =P. Guess what's coming next... Go on, you know what it is... 

Matte top coat! Yes, I am still obsessed with all (nail) things matte. It just gives such a nice finish in most cases, though I will admit I've come across a couple of polishes that IMO should NOT be worn anyway but glossy-glossy! For this mani, it definitely worked, don'tcha think? I used Rimmel Lycra Pro Matte Finish Top Coat =). 

The big ol' bump on my middle nail makes an appearance ;-). This pink is just so yummy matte! To be honest I really wasn't madly in love with I Think In Pink when I first tried it on - with a shiny finish it does not work with my skin tone at all, and I was so sadly sure I'd never use it for anything more than nail art-y stuff. Made it matte and BAM! Pure deliciousness! It's amazing what a different finish can do! =)

And a close up, because close ups are great =P. I'm sorry I was away from here for so long, lovelies - I promise to try harder to blog more often! You're all so good to me, you deserve some new content every once in a while ;-).

Do you like pink and blue together or are you totally over the combo? Are you giving the matte finish some lovin' or is that another fad you can't wait to see disappear into the abyss into which Shatter polish has fallen? Thank you SO SO SO much for stopping by, you wonderful peoples! Enjoy your fab Fridays ;-).

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: Pink Panic!

Yay! It's Wednesday! And you know that On Wednesdays We Wear Pink so today's mani features another polish salvaged from the 'to go' bag: BYS Pink Panic. This shade is SO bright and clean that I wanted to pair it with something equally as in-your-face - enter China Glaze Happy Go Lucky. Both stamped in BYS Black Satin to take a liiiiittle bit of the edge off, but both these polishes are so intense, nothing really takes the edge off! The designs are from fauxnad plates m60 and m64.

I don't know why but I've always loved pink and yellow together. Maybe it's because I'm a 90's kid and didn't have to put up with the pairing through the 80's?

Do you think it works? I'm so proud of my stamping on this mani - it truly feels like I really am improving! Apart from my impatience to top coat and the resulted smearing, all of my stamps were pretty darn perfect this time! It's a little bit satisfying =P.

I spotted this little guy peaking out around a leaf on our Swan plants along the driveway. Over the late Summer we looked after / 'raised' Monarch butterflies from egg through to adulthood. It is now definitely Winter but the Monarchs were so late in their cycle that we still have 5 chrysalises waiting to emerge! They haven't been getting enough sun or warmth to actually come out, but they still look like they might any day. As for this guy, his egg must have been laid really late in the season and he's only just grown big enough for us to see him. He's nom nom nomming away and I hope it's not in vain, because the temperature's definitely dropping every day and he won't have long to spin his little cocoon! Maybe I'll move him inside...

He's so cute!! I love little Monarch caterpillars - I've learnt so much about them over the last Summer. We had heaps of them, and they turn into such stunning butterflies! It must be so confusing to be a caterpillar, waking up one day to discover body parts you've never had before, like a tongue! How weird would it be to wake up and suddenly have a tongue? Anyway, I think he's cute and I'll be keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't ice over anytime soon!


What do you think about pink and yellow together? Love it / hate it / think it should just not happen? Thanks for stopping by, lovelies! =D

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 

Beth's Birthday Nails

Happy Saturday!! Extra extra quick post today - I'm running so late. I have a close friend's 21st party tonight, I thought it was at 7 but it's at 5 (in 3 hours) and I haven't got anything except my nails sorted!! Typical ;-) Here they are...

This is two coats of BYS Reign Supreme on index, middle and little finger with a design from plate m73 in China Glaze Icicle stamped over top. Got a new stamping silver, and it's perfect, yay! Thumbs and ring fingers are 2 coats of Icicle with flowers from plate m60 stamped in Reign Supreme with rhinestone accents. Topped off as always with Seche Vite. Click the pics to see them up close!

 

This is just something a little bit special to celebrate my wonderful friend Bethany's birthday.

That's all for now. Enjoy your weekend, babes!


- Ally xx

A Flowery Fail Friday

It's the end of the week, wa-hay! And it's a long weekend here in NZ as we celebrate the Queen's Birthday. This weekend is no where near Her Majesty's actual birthday, but that's beside the point. I plan to have a holiday-themed mani on Monday, but today I thought I'd share a nail-fail with you. This was the first mani I did after filing my nails down to nubbins and I was going to put it up instead of yesterday's plain mani but I thought 'Fail Friday' sounded cool, so you get it today! There is a good chance 'Fail Friday' may become a regular thing on this blog, because I have plenty of nail-fails to share! Onwards!

Don't get excited, this isn't the fail-y bit, though the photography's a bit shoddy. I mentioned yesterday that I got new BYS polishes, yeah? The dark purple (that looks like a blue... yep, fail...) is the second of the two that I bought. It's called Reign Supreme and IRL is the deepest purple-y purple creme ever. I completely forgot about the holiday this weekend while purchasing this so the name is a complete coincidence. While thinking about my holi-mani for Monday, I decided what my accent nails would be, but then couldn't think of what colour to do my other nails... Duh! Royal purple, anyone? I'm the slowest of the slow, sometimes... The accent nail is ORLY You're Blushing.

This is almost the colour that it really is, but still too blue. I took and edited these photos before I decided that it would be to showcase a fail, so I tried to make 'em look all non-fail-y. This, sadly, is the best nail I did. Still far from perfect. Underneath the white flower you can just make out another one - I tried to stamp in You're Blushing but it didn't really contrast enough with Reign Supreme to be noticeable, so I went over it with BYS French White. This stamp is from one of my new plates, m60. My plates are not Konad, but seem to have the same designs on the same numbered plates. I can't afford Konad plates (they are available online here for minimum NZ$11 per plate, plus postage!!), so I go for whatever I can find.

Ahhh, here we have the complete fail in all its glory. Failed stamps, smudges, ill-aligned stamping, peeling, and colour that is no where near true to life. I managed to clean this pic up a bit, but the flowers on my middle finger were severely top-coat-dragged. The stamp on my ring finger (plate m69) came off the stamp like that. Sadly, this wasn't my first time stamping, though you're forgiven for thinking so. This is just all kinds of... well, you can see. This mani was removed after being poorly photographed. Maybe that's why I left yesterday's red plain? I may have lost faith in my stamping ability. Sigh. What a perfect excuse to practice!!

What was your worst nail-fail? Have you ever nail-failed so badly it completely put you off trying that mani again? I'd love to hear your horror stories =D Thanks for checking in, lovely people! Happy weekend!

- Ally xx

You're Blushing!

Happy Saturday, lovely people! Hope your weekend is off to a lovely relaxing start :). Today I have a mani using one of my Mommy's most recent purchases: ORLY You're Blushing. I was interested to see how different this was from OPI Steady As She Rose because in the bottle they look quite similar.

                           

I don't really do swatches and I'm not likely to do many in the future because I'm in New Zealand, and we tend to get all the colours a lot later than all you American / Canadian bloggers, so you beat me to it! You incredible ladies do it better anyway ;-).

For this mani I did two coats of ORLY You're Blushing on my thumb, index, middle and pinky fingers, and two coats of OPI Alpine Snow on my ring fingers. I dotted some daisies on my ring fingers in You're Blushing with accents in OPI Glitzerland.

On my thumb I dotted some daisies in OPI Alpine Snow. I think these are super cute!

I did this mani last night and took the photos this afternoon, and you can already see some tip chips :(. I use Seche Vite over all my manis and it tends to make the polish shrink which doesn't do much to prevent tip chipping. According to my most wonderful Mum, one coat of this over the OPI Ridge Filler is chip-proof and long wearing. I'll have to take her word for that because my two thicker coats were very satisfying to peel off!

 And a close up of the dotty daisies. This polish is very different from Steady As She Rose out of the bottle. The formula on You're Blushing is a lot more saturated and reaches full opacity faster, while smoothing itself out to a perfect creme finish on the first coat. SASR can be a bit streaky on the first coat, only smoothing out on the second. The colours are hugely different as well, with SASR having a much stronger light grey tone. If any of you know OPI Tickle My France-y (the most perfect polish in existence), You're Blushing is very much a purple-tinted version of that. 


Thoughts? Comments? Any tips on keeping my polish from shrinking under Seche Vite? As always, thanks for stopping by =).


- Ally xx