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Friday, 22 November 2013

Catching Fire

Hello lovelies!

Today I decided to be topical. I also wanted a bit of a break from detailed work like my last polar enterprise, though this ended up being more of a hard case than I anticipated.

Sorry about the smudging! Topcoat can be a real bitch when it wants to, hey?

My aquatic mani from a long time ago was very popular so I thought that, with the new Hunger Games movie coming out today, it might be nice to try it with fire. It was sort of a bad idea? I mean, it all got smudged and the white unders are peeking out and bah! BAH.

Anyway. I started with two coats of Don't Pretzel My Buttons, followed by painting on the fire shapes with French White. I then painted on the fire bits with the rest of the colours, going from yellow to red.

Polishes used:

OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?

Nina Ultra Pro - French White

Revlon - Electric

Essence - Fortune Cookie

American Apparel - Lopez Canyon

Inglot - 724

Layla - Fire It Up (Softouch Effect 08)

Sally Hansen - Cinna-snap

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

Next up, Outrageous Ville. I'm thinking of something Effie Trinket inspired... makes sense, goes with the theme, might be impossible, you know. The whole shebang.

xo,

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Waistcoat Wednesday!

Hello lovelies!

I have a friend, Laurent, who wears a waistcoat to work every Wednesday. They are what he has christened Waistcoat Wednesdays. I appreciate the concept (I'm a Fancy Friday kind of gal), and I came across these little bows in an Essence nail art kit, so I thought I'd give the idea a whirl. :)

I did this by first painting a base of Grey-t to Be Here (I may be obsessed!), followed by the little heads in Fashion Safari. The white is all acrylic paint, as white nail polish got too gloopy. The vests are Vertigo (accent Grey-t to Be Here), Nero (accent JS03), Big Smoke, and Dominate (accent Temperance). I mattified everything before affixing the little bow ties.

The index is my favourite. :) I like the brown plaid + green.

On my thumb, I painted two lovely coats of Builder's Tea, which went on fantastically and is so beautiful I couldn't ever capture it on camera properly, but here is a close up just in case:

Polishes used:

Essence - Grey-t to Be Here

NYColor - Fashion Safari

Revlon Brilliant Strength - Dominate

Elevation Polish - Temperance (limited edition, get it now before it's gone!)

butter LONDON - Big Smoke

GOSH - Nero

Nfu Oh - JS03

Chanel - Vertigo

Tough as Nail Lacquer - Builder's Tea

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

Essie - Matte About You

black & white acrylic paint

tiny bows from a random Essence nail art kit

I love dressing in full business wear on occasion, it brings out my androgynous side for sure. :) You? Worth it or too much hassle?

Monday, 25 March 2013

Sunbeams!

Hello! Today we have sun (though it is still cold), and to celebrate the sun after about a week of snowy dreariness, I did up a cloud mani in which the tips are actually clouds:

This manicure refused to photograph properly in the lightbox, so I don't have my usual picspam for you. (Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you!) To do this, I began with a base of Grey-t to Be Here. Once dry, I used my striping tape to mark off the lines you see, and painted in the beams with a variety of jellies. Once all the tape was removed, I painted the sun (it's actually 4 separate colours, of which you can see all of 2 in the pictures, weep) and then cloud tips, followed lastly by the little birds.

I despise flash photos, makes my fingers look all shiny, but this way you can see the shimmer in the base colour peeking through the jellies. This was more noticeable in person and very pretty!

Lastly, a close-up of Grey-t to Be Here, so you can see the flake shimmer more clearly. It's predominantly pink, but technically duochrome, going golden at acute angles. Because the shimmer is small-particle, however, that shift is pretty well imperceptible on the nail.