31 day challenge - animal print

I mixed things up from my usual stamping by using some water decals today. I got them some months ago from Born Pretty Store and have been saving them specifically for this prompt. Peacocks! 

The decals are very colourful and were easy to use - unlike some other decals I've used, these ones were pretty tough and stood up to being shifted around on the nail. The only downside was that the pattern, annoyingly, is not coordinated across the nails. And that offset peacock in the middle? Far too subtle on the nail IMO because it gets lost on the side of your nail.. I like how this mani turned out but I feel that the decal design could be better. Still, I'm happy with them.

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31 day challenge - stripes

Stripes! I didn't have much time so I did some quick stamping with Bundle Monster's BM-XL201 plate, which I recently got in the mail. I love nail mail!

31 day challenge - gradient

I got the order of the day's messed up again (again! Ugh) so I'm posting two today. This year, for the gradient prompt, I was determined to do the "sunset African animals" look. Classic? Cliche? Either way, I I love the warm colours. I think my gradient has improved from last year, and using liquid latex really helped with the clean up.

Polishes:

Revlon Electric

Face of Australia Some Like It Hot

Sephora Private Boudoir

Ciate Hopscotch

Plates:

Born Pretty 16

Bundle Monster BM-XL204

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31 day challenge - polka dots

I went with some Tour de France themed nail art - polka dots for the King of the Mountain! I used OPI's I Just Can't Cope-acabana and Celestial Cosmetic's Snow Clouds, stamped with Mundo de Unas Red and black using plates Born Pretty's BPL-006 for the dots, MJ's JR-29 for the text and Uber Chic's Hipster-01 for the bikes.

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31 day challenge - rainbow

Rainbow nails! I LOVE this look. A rainbow nail foil from Born Pretty over Ulta3's Glamourpuss, which is one of my favourite silver polishes. I used a mix of PVA glue and water as a glue for the foil, which I let dry to clear before applying the foil. I worked fairly well, although I really should grab some actual foil glue at some point. I topped with Picture Polish's glitter base coat/foil top coat combo and the foil stayed beautifully shiny. I top coated with my usual quick dry over the Picture Polish and it still looked great. Wore well for the one day I had before the challenge moved on.

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31 day challenge - metallic

#31dc2016 - today's #nailart prompt is Metallic, so I painted my nails with Revlon's Metallic - perfect name match! Stamped with plate BC-10.

I also took this photo showing off the top with the name. Bit of fun composition!

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31 day challenge - black&white

Black and white - featuring my right hand! After trying to use the clear jelly stamper on my left hand, and not getting a good transfer, I tried to do a decal - as usual, it wound up getting some little air bubbles. Might try reverse stamping at some point this month. Anyway I finished off the mani by using my normal Messy Mansion stamper on the right hand and it turned out so much better! But so awkward to pose the right hand haha.

I used Chrome Girl nail polishes for this - they're themed for the Pittsburgh Penguins! ❤️ The white is 'Just add ice' and the black is 'Drop it!'. The black is great, nice and opaque and very easy to use. The white however was a bit too runny. This is three coats, which I finished with a matte topcoat. I used another place off eBay, which is completely unnamed.

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31 day. Challenge - violet

I did some stamping for this but decided I liked the plain colours better with the contrast in texture. Kleancolor's My My Sapphire for the middle two fingers, and Ciate's cream polish in Talent Scout for the index and little fingers.

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31 day challenge - blue

WYI though about doing water themed nails but decided to take to the skies instead! I stamped with Messy Mansion plate 35 over Sally Hansen Water Color using white Mundo de Unas polish and a clear jelly stamped from Born Pretty Store. I have a love/hate relationship with the stamper - so much harder to use than the silicon ones, but when it works the precision is fantastic. Last time I tried to stamp this cross-nail design it just didn't come out right. As an aside, I love the fluffy clouds on this plate!

(I'm having technical difficulties with the i links sorry, hopefully I'll fix it tomorrow.)

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31 day challenge - green

Today's prompt is actually green, and I went with a plant theme. Powder Perfect's Party in the Park, a dark green holo, stamped with Mundo de Unas polishes and Moyou London's Tropical 05 plate. I added some flowers too from a Born Pretty plate.

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31 Day Challenge - yellow

#31DC2016 - yellow nails! Couldn't resist posing with a random lemon, lol. Yellow Mundo de Unas polish over Rimmel's Midnight Rendezvous. Stamped using Born Pretty's BP-L 006.

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31 day challenge - orange

For some reason, I misread the prompt list and thought today's challenge was Green nails. Alas! It's orange. So, having done a green mani, I had to quickly do an orange one. I grabbed a polish that's been in my Unused Stash for a while - OPI's Rising Star. I then stamped over it using Mundo de Unas blue stamping polish and the same BC-04 plate from yesterday.

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31 Day Challenge - Red

I wanted to try something different, so instead of painting my nails red, I used some really cool red accent crystals which I got from Daiso.

Unfortunately, I have a new camera... and I haven't quite got the white balance sorted on it. So the red doesn't show up properly. You'll have to take my word for it, I'm afraid. :( Apart from that, I really liked this manicure! I painted my nails white, then stamped in gold using Mundo de Unas stamping polish and a random plate I got off eBay called BC-04. I affixed the red accent crystals over the top.

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Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day, so I've done a themed manicure using poppy water decals from Born Pretty Store. 

Lest We Forget.

Spring nails

Springtime! I was out in the garden planting tomatos today, now that all risk of frost has passed and I've finally got my act together. Very satisfying.

I've got a seasonal mani to match - literally, because it's themed around Spring. I got a plate from Bundle Monster with "spring" written on it, and I couldn't resist! Still, since it is already November, I knew I had to get my skates on.

I painted my nails white with Face of Australia's Miss Congeniality, then stamping using some Mu do de Unas stamping polishes. I used Bundle Monster BM-710 for the Spring logo, and Born Pretty plates BPL-024 and BP-L001 for the flowers and leaves.

Melbourne Cup nails

Today was the Melbourne Cup, Australia's biggest horse race. I did some nail art to celebrate!

A while back, I ordered some horse themed nail decals from Born Pretty Store, which inexplicably also feature a bunch of Eiffel Tower images. ??? It was so long ago, in fact, that they have now sold out.

I painted my nails white (Face of Australia's Miss Congeniality) and applied the decals to my middle and ring fingers. I was tossing up some ideas for my index and little fingers, and then my Mum suggested doing some yellow roses, since yellow roses are the flower of the Melbourne Cup. I used Born Pretty Store's plate BP25 and stamped two roses using Mundo de Unas's yellow. Finally on my thumb nails I stamped some horses with their riders using Cheeky plate CH34.

The horseshoe is a chocolate my Mum sent me. How lucky am I? :) I also want to show off my great clutch bag which I accessorised with! So cute!

Halloween - Trick or Treat!

it's Halloween - time to go Trick or Treating!

I painted my nails with Ulta3's Sour Grape, then stamped on the skeleton (Winstonia 116) and the Trick or Treat text (Moyou Festive 16). I had made some stamping decals for the candy corn (UberChic Beauty Halloween), using Mundo de Unas orange for the stamping, Face of Australia Miss Congeniality for the white, and OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana for the yellow. I used the same yellow to light up the haunted house (Bundle a Monster 315).

I used two new sticky stamping heads which I got from UberChic Beauty to make the candy corn decals and I was quite impressed by them! They're a bit flatter than my other stamping heads, and their softness made the decals easy to remove. I also made a decal using their stamping mat, which didn't go as well - I couldn't stamp directly onto the mat very easily, although it's possible it just needs a proper wash first.

I posed with a little plastic jack-o-lantern filled with Halloween treats for trick or treaters - so cute!

Halloween week - It was a graveyard smash

For today I made a graveyard scene design. Really pleased with it!

I painted my nails with two coats of Ciate's Chinchilla, a light grey, and then sponged the ground on using Ulta3's Midnight. Midnight is a very dark navy and I really enjoy using it.

I then stamped on the graveyard images. The owl on the branch, the ghost, the gravestone with "RIP" underlined, and the haunted house on my thumb are all from UberChic Beauty's Halloween plate. The gravestone next to the ghost is from Winstonia 116, and the gravestone and the cross and bats is from MoYou Festive 16.

Halloween nails - with witch

Witch nails! I painted my nails with Ghost Gutz from Peita's Polish, a fantastic green holo which I also used for my monster head mani in the 31 Day Challenge. I then stamped using UberChic Beauty's Halloween plate for the witches hats, MoYou Festive 16 for the witch herself, and Winstonia W116 for the witch's cat.

Halloween week - ghosts and skeletons

I love a good black and white mani! Today features a great grinning skeleton image and some contrasting angry ghosts from MoYou's Festive 16 plate. Quite eye-catching and I got some compliments, which is always nice. :)