Painted Plait

Hiya! Today's mani is one I'm actually still wearing - shock horror! It's my first try at a 'fishtail braid' mani, and I only did the design on one finger to make sure it was really special =D. For the plait I used Miki No. 21, China Glaze Aquadelic and Icicle. Somewhat of a successful first attempt, I think...?

Credit where credit is due: This wicked mani idea came from here - I came across it while googling,so I went back and found it again to make sure this extremely talented young lady gets all the credit she deserves! Take a few minutes / hours / days and go through her stuff... Incredible or what??

For my other nine fingers I used 2 coats of OPI My Very First Knockwurst from the Germany collection. The Germany collection was released here in NZ about two and a half weeks before it was released in USA/Canada... Weird. I suspect one of our local stockists (won't say who...) got the shipment and maybe didn't read the info pack that came with it saying when to release them? Whatever it was, they were doing a 'buy two get one free' deal at the time too so naturally my Mum (who matches me for polish obsession) came home with three shades from the collection - My Very First Knockwurst, Don't Pretzel My Buttons and Berlin There, Done That. MVFK is my ultimate nude shade now! I could wear nothing else and be totally happy... For about four days, maybe... ;-)

On one of my many googling-for-inspiration binges, I came across something that looked like this. Only better. I had to figure out how she'd done it, but once I realised it was a straight forward plait, I had to try it! I reckon it's up the top of those 'simple yet effective' manis.

Okay so some of my lines are a bit average. I've already got ideas floating around in my tiny brain for other colour combos and how to improve my technique, so stay tuned! 

Where do you get most of your manispiration from? Have you got a favourite (or two or six...) from the new OPI Germany collection? Thanks for stopping by =D 

Brit Bits

Hello lovely people, and a happy Monday to you! Here in NZ, the first weekend of June is Queen's Birthday Weekend so we get a day off work / school to celebrate, and this year it coincides with our Queen's Diamond Jubilee - she was crowned on the 2nd of June, 1952. This is only the second Diamond Jubilee in British history! So I've got a bit of Brit on my nails for the occasion. But first, I wanted to show you the cupcakes I baked for my friend Beth's birthday on Saturday (when I was running crazy late...). I consider myself a decent baker, and cupcakes are definitely one of my specialties. Aren't they pretty?

Now, onto the nails! I saw this post on Sunday afternoon and knew there was absolutely no way mine would possibly compare as Sammy is such an incredible nail artist! So I thought I'd keep mine sweet and simple with just enough British flavour for the day. In the Friday Fail post I said I'd decided to use BYS Reign Supreme as my non-accented nail colour. Well, I lied. I went with BYS Glamourpuss instead, mostly because I'm obsessed with it, but also because the deep cherry red somehow seemed more British than the purple. I started with two coast of Glamourpuss on my index, middle and pinky fingers, and two coats of BYS Drop In The Ocean on my thumbs and ring fingers. The blue is the background for my Union Flags.

Public Notice: On my nails I have a Union FLAG. It is only called a Union JACK if it is flown at sea!!! 

Sorry to get all bold and stuff, but it's a pet peeve of mine that sooooo many people call it a 'Union Jack' at all times. No! Just, NO! </rant> =)

Over the lovely clear blue I taped off the central cross pattern and painted it in Revlon Red Hot. That was the easy part. My goodness, I should have spent more time thinking about the easiest way to do this. Over the red cross I used a dotting tool to outline it in BYS French White. Then with my dotting tool I added in the smaller 'background' lines in red, and outlined them too. They ended up a lot messier than I'd hoped, but from a distance it's very effective, and I'm happy with it. I thought doing my left hand was hard... Then I did my right hand... Never again!!!

I suppose they're not as bad as they could've been, and I did spend a loooong time 'touching it up' to get it to this stage, but they are obviously far from perfect. Again, from a distance, not too shabby... Like the flash pic coming out of the dark? Rawr!

Close up of my left hand in direct sunlight. Red Hot is usually a lot lighter and brighter and more orange-based than Glamourpuss, but because it's over Drop In The Ocean, it actually came out looking quite a similar shade which is what I was hoping for! I had my morning cup of tea outside in the sunshine today and had to snap a couple of shots with my new tea cup. Apart from being a really pretty cup, tea + British nails? Had to be done!

Everything topped off with Seche Vite - two coats over the Union Flags. I hope Her Majesty had a lovely Jubilee on Saturday, and that all you lovely people had a wonderful weekend, whether it's still going or not! Thanks for popping in =)

- Ally xx

More Room for the Blues

Hiya again, and happy Saturday! To continue on from yesterday's blue-ness, today I've got some blue butterfly nails for you. It's a sponge gradient underneath some (very very badly done, sorry) free-hand lines, topped off with white dots for effect. I've previously done this design in orange/red and am not sure which I prefer. We've been raising and looking after some Monarch butterflies here over the Summer, and they're so late in season this year that 2 weeks out from Winter we still have chrysalises! I love the colour in their beautiful delicate wings, and when I stumbled upon this tutorial, I had to try it! So today's manicure is a variation on that. Will post the orange/red version at the bottom so you guys can see which you prefer. Onto the photos!

Sorry again about the really terrible free-handed lines. Watch the tutorial for a MUCH better version! From a bit further away the effect isn't so bad. 

These are the same polishes I used yesterday: OPI I Vant To Be A-Lone Star, the mini Miki polish No. 24 for lack of a better name, and BYS Drop In The Ocean. I painted on the lightest blue as my base colour, 3 coats, then using a cheap make-up sponge wedge sponged the medium blue over it about two thirds up the nail, let that dry and sponged the darker blue on just the last third of my nail. The black lines are in BYS Black Satin, and the white dots (of which there are meant to be bigger and smaller ones) in OPI Alpine Snow - my favourite go-to white for everything from dots to french tips. Everything finished off with a coat of Seche Vite, my brand new quick-drying top coat! I know so many bloggers and nail artists who swear by it, and it definitely lives up to the hype! Such a quick dry.

I left my right hand clear of the lines, mostly because it was late-ish and I knew they weren't going to go well. I am not ambidextrous. Actually don't mind them plain at all, but if I was going to keep them I'd add a blue glitter like OPI Last Friday Night over top to smooth everything out.

You can see little clumps of the sponge on my ring finger that I forgot to take off before top coating. Oops!

 Close up shot of the least drunken looking lines. 

And here's the promised shot of the orange/red original. This was before I bought myself a brush, so I did all the lines with a dotting tool! Rather time consuming, especially with my non-dominant hand! Also added a pink shimmer over the gradient that's absent in the new blue one. This shot was taken inside at night so my hand is leaning towards The Simpsons in hue, but you get an idea of the mani. 

And a comparison. What do you guys think? Blue or orange work out better? 

And that's it from me for today! Gonna go take my wings off and pick a mani for tomorrow... Hmmm...

Thanks for stopping by! =D

- Ally xx