Holidays!

Hey everyone

I'll be away for the next week or so while I'm in Adelaide... I'm giving my nails a break over the holidays so they're naked at the moment *gasp*. 

Will talk to you all when I'm back. Hope you've had a great Christmas and New Year!

Em xx

Custom Polish–Toxic Slime

I’ve been looking for an excuse to use more of the colour morphing pigments I bought from Cathy. I decided Christmas was a good enough excuse, so I made a Christmas-inspired polish.

 

This is Toxic Slime:

Three coats and a slight visible nail line. It’s very sheer! But a gorgeous green and the red pops in the light.

 

Here’s a blurry shot to show the gorgeous sparkle:

 

And another one, just to show the gorgeous red on the nails and in the bottle:

 

I didn’t want to cover this polish too much, so I just stamped a simple bow on each thumb:

I used Konad image plate M59. Cute Notice how in full sunlight the polish throws off more of a yellowy green colour shift. Strange! But gorgeous!

 

Hope you’re enjoying your holiday season!

Em

piCture pOlish Christmas Nails

I’ve been doing Christmassy nails this week and here are my favourites of the bunch:

This is two coats of piCture pOlish French White as a base and then I sponged every second finger with essie Going Incognito, a gorgeous dark green, and the other fingers with China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I was a bit disappointed with how Ruby Pumps turned out, because it was very pink when sponged over white.

Then I stamped some Chrissie trees and candy canes using Konad image plate M12. I added a rhinestone to the centre of the candy cane on my left hand and a star to the top of the Christmas tree on my right hand.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! Hope you had a great day

Em

Custom Polish–Grass Roots

I made this custom polish the other day and I’m so pleased with it. Once again I was trying to make a dark green holo but didn’t quite get there because this colour captivated me.

 

This is “Grass Roots”

Two coats. Gorgeous, huh? I stamped “Merry Christmas” using Konad image plate M12 and the presents are Bundle Monster plate BM-205. That’s right, I managed to stamp using a Bundle Monster plate without screwing it up

 

Here’s another shot:

 

And another:

 

Ahhh pretty. I love how the blue of the rainbow pops!

 

Love it

 

Em

BYS Matte Royal Blue with OPI Last Friday Night

I was stumped as to how to paint my nails today. I chopped them all down so they were even length and eventually settled on BYS Matte Royal Blue.


Two coats. This was a great formula. Quite sheer, but covered pretty well in two coats. I would have done three if I haven’t layered something else on top of it. It’s such a pretty colour. I think I’m going to have to wear this one on its own some time, with a top coat, of course. BYS’ Matte formula is different to the matte velvets like what OPI and Zoya make. It reminds me of the Illamasqua rubbery finish.

I was originally going to do some nail stamping in white, but then a certain pretty I’d been lusting after for a long time caught my eye: OPI’s Last Friday Night from the Katy Perry collection.
This is one of the first OPIs that caught my eye back when I only had a few nail polishes. Way back before I started reading blogs and before I became obsessed with all things nails.

I layered two coats on top of Matte Royal Blue:

So, so pretty. I couldn’t believe how much glitter came out onto the nail in just one coat. I did another one just for extra bling
I really love this combo. I have Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry collection and I’m definitely going to be layering that one sometime soon, possibly over a dark pink.

I love glittery nubbins

Em

piCture pOlish–Jade

ANOTHER piCture pOlish, you ask? Yes, yes indeed.

This is Jade:

A stunning pastel green with a subtle microshimmer through it. I love it! This is two coats and quite possibly the easiest polish I have ever applied. Honestly, it was a dream. I had barely any clean up to do.

I usually stamp over plain colours but I didn’t want to cover this beauty. <3 A new favourite!

Em

Zoya–Lisa

Zoya Lisa is a gorgeous red shimmer which absolutely glows on the nail.

 

Stunning, right? This is two coats. Amazing formula!

If you’re wondering about why I only have one nail stamped, it’s because I forgot to take a photo of this polish until I’d stamped this one nail and then I stamped the rest of my nails and went a little crazy with diamontes. It ended up looking HIDEOUS. It was way over the top and garish.

So I ended up taking it all off. So I can’t comment on durability of this polish because I wore it for all of five minutes

Em

Model’s Own Beetlejuice–Violet Blue

I’m so feeling the duochromes lately. And what better duochrome to try then one of the Model’s Own Beetlejuice collection, Violet Blue.

 

This is a stunning polish. I’ll let the photos do the talking:

Two coats. I was worried it would be really sheer but two coats covered well.

 

I did some cute Konad-ing with the m27 plate on my thumbs:

Cute lil shark and seahorse. I did some bubbles in silver with a cheap Japanese image plate I got off eBay.

 

Blue and purple flashes in the sunlight:

 

Purple dominates the nails in some light:

 

More colour shifting:

 

And again, half-half blue and purple nails:

 

Love this blue:

 

Gorgeous

Em

Liebster Blog Award!

I've been nominated for the Liebster Award!
 
Thank you so much to the amazing lady at Rainbowify Me for nominating me.
 

 
"Liebster" is a German word which means dearest or beloved, but it can also mean favourite. The idea of the Liebster award is that it is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers, all in the spirit of fostering new connections and to bring attention to these brilliant blogs!

The rules are :

• Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you
  
• Reveal the five blogs you have chosen and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
  
• Copy and paste the award onto your blog
  
• Request that people you have sent the award to forward it on to their favourite bloggers

I nominate: 
Kelly's Kolors
Polished Pony
Making up 4 my age
The Khromazone
Rainbowify Me (I know she nominated me but her blog is great!!)

 

Miki–Ocean Spray

This is a bit of a meh mani. In my head it turned out a lot better than this. I think the problem is that I don’t actually like the base colour that much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty, but it’s nothing special.

 

This is an unnamed Miki polish which I have dubbed “Ocean Spray”:

Two coats. See what I mean? Meh! Nothing special. I tried to perk it up a bit with some silver dotties using Sally Hansen’s Celeb City, but it didn’t work!

 

Had any fail manis lately?

Em

piCture pOlish–Coral Reef

How I love piCture pOlishes. I know, I know, I’ve said it so many times before. But honestly, what’s not to love?! Great formulas, awesome colours, cute packaging, AUSSIE!!!

 

This is Coral Reef:

Two coats. Beautiful formula, so creamy.

I wasn’t sure this colour would suit me but I absolutely loved it! It was so bright and summery. You can’t help but feel happy when you look at such a lovely shade.

 

Do you ever feel like there are so many amazing polishes out there and so little time/fingernails?!

 

Em

Color Club–Lumin-icecent

It took me a while to get around to trying another of these Color Club Foiled polishes. I’ve been so wrapped up in creating my own polishes lately that I’ve barely worn any of the polishes I bought! I’ve only got, oh, 150 untrieds to get through

 

Anyway, this is Color Club Lumin-icecent from the Foiled Collection.

Just ONE coat!! Amazing, huh? This is a stunning ice blue. I love it! I do not love how much glitter it spreads over my fingers, though!!!

It wore fabulously with no chips over two days.

 

Which Foiled should I try next?!

 

Em

Ulta3–Orchid

This is the lone shimmer in the Ulta3 Summer Siren collection. The rest are beautiful cremes!

 

This is a pretty colour, but it didn’t really grab me as unique or special:

Orchid, ONE coat. Could not believe that I was satisfied with one coat of this polish!! Usually I do two just to be “on the safe side” but I didn’t need to with Orchid!!

 

Shortly after this, I smudged pretty much all my nails and ruined my mani Hate it when that happens!

 

What do you think of this colour?

Em

Custom Polish-One Small Step for Man

This is the last of the custom polishes I made last weekend. I’ve loved wearing them all week and love each and every one of them for different reasons.

 

This is One Small Step for Man:

This was the ONLY photo I managed to get outside in the sunlight. All the rest I had to use my lightbox for because it’s been so overcast and gloomy every time I manage to make it outside to take photos!

Anyway, this is just ONE coat! Truly awesome. I love it. It looks so space-y, which is why I called it One Small Step for Man.

 

This is it in artificial light:

Still gorgeous

 

 

I’m just going to spam you all with loads of photos of this polish now:

 

 

I thought the bottle looked amazing in this photo!

 

 

And that’s the last of the custom polishes from last weekend. But don’t worry, I’m sure to make some more soon

Em

Custom Polish–Sparkly Vampire

Another attempt at the perfect red holo. Wow, it’s a hard one to create.

Here it is:

It looks a tad on the pink side. Gerrr. Why is it so hard to make a good red holo!? Probably because the silver in the Spectraflair lightens it.

Anyway, this is two coats. I used the Beauty World untinted lacquer base and their two red tints. It’s not as holo as much others, but still pretty gorgeous!

 

Here’s another shot:

I love this photo of the bottle with the holo “border” on it!

 

Then I tried out another of the images on my Red Angel image plates:

These image plates are gold!!! Clean, crisp images every time. Love

 

Tomorrow I’ll have the last of my new holos for you, the black one, which is as yet unnamed. Stay tuned!

Em

Custom Polish–Mad Scientist

This polish is relatively unobtrusive in the shade. It’s not a bad shade of green:

Two coats of my new custom polish, Mad Scientist.

 

It’s when you step out into the sunlight that it really screams out at you:

RAINBOWS! I SEE RAINBOWWWWWWWS!

I love it. I actually love it. I’m not sure that I’ve actually seen a green holo quite this shade. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong! It’s bright without being too in-your-face. Although, like any holo could be too in-your-face.

 

And one more for luck:

This was two coats, by the way. I was going for a darker green but stopped at this colour because I liked it so much.

 

I am just obsessed with creating my own holo polishes. It is just so easy!

 

Are you cracking out the Spectraflair and creating your own holos?

Em