For this look, I made a gradient using OPI's I Just Can't Copa-cobana, Face of Australia's Some Like It Hot, and Butter London's Pillar Box Red.
And finally, a bonus shot of where I went on holiday this weekend! :) Such lovely weather.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Gradient stars
I really wanted to try my hand (so to speak) at another gradient - really pleased with how it turned out! I did multiple coats of the gradient, sponging it three times, and got a much better result.
For this look, I made a gradient using OPI's I Just Can't Copa-cobana, Face of Australia's Some Like It Hot, and Butter London's Pillar Box Red.
I then did some stamping using Lily Allen plate 07, which I'd used in the 31 Day Challenge and loved.
Here's a shot of the gradient - a bit rough without any topcoat:
And finally, a bonus shot of where I went on holiday this weekend! :) Such lovely weather.
For this look, I made a gradient using OPI's I Just Can't Copa-cobana, Face of Australia's Some Like It Hot, and Butter London's Pillar Box Red.
And finally, a bonus shot of where I went on holiday this weekend! :) Such lovely weather.
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
DIY water nail decals for the Pittsburgh Penguins - the NHL season begins!
The National Hockey League (which is made up of Canadian and American teams... just go with it) starts up again this week, so I did my nails to celebrate the return of my NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. I painted my nails white and then applied some nail decals which I made myself by printing onto special water decal paper. I bought the paper off eBay but you may be able to find some in craft or hobby shops.
Even being careful with the application of my topcoat, they still smeared a little. Still, they're a great way of doing small intricate designs, like sports team logos, that you don't have a stamp for and can't freehand that detailed.
Even being careful with the application of my topcoat, they still smeared a little. Still, they're a great way of doing small intricate designs, like sports team logos, that you don't have a stamp for and can't freehand that detailed.
Saturday, 4 October 2014
31 Day Challenge, Day 3 - Yellow
Day 3! This wraps up the 31 Day Challenge for me, having now gone back and completely every day. I did each challenge on each day. It was tiring but also quite rewarding, and I certainly met my two goals of improving as a blogger and as a nail artist, and interacting more with other nail bloggers.
I've also decided to get an instagram, so you can now find me on instagram here. Same name! :D
For today's manicure. I was inspired by the "song" prompt from earlier (later?) in the challenge, so today's nails are brought to you by the song "Banana Phone".
So catchy! I'm a big ice hockey fan, and when I watch streamed games from the Melbourne Ice, they play this in the intermission. (I'm a fan of the CBR Brave though! And in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins - their first game of the season is on the 8th and I'm pretty excited for it.)
I started by painting my nails with BYS' Sunshine. I wanted to use a different yellow to usual, to mix things up... but I remembered why I don't often use different yellows! This is five coats. I then stamped using Cheeky plates CH42 and CH53. I like the effect, and it's quite eye-catching - three people asked to get a better look at them this afternoon.
I've also decided to get an instagram, so you can now find me on instagram here. Same name! :D
For today's manicure. I was inspired by the "song" prompt from earlier (later?) in the challenge, so today's nails are brought to you by the song "Banana Phone".
So catchy! I'm a big ice hockey fan, and when I watch streamed games from the Melbourne Ice, they play this in the intermission. (I'm a fan of the CBR Brave though! And in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins - their first game of the season is on the 8th and I'm pretty excited for it.)
I started by painting my nails with BYS' Sunshine. I wanted to use a different yellow to usual, to mix things up... but I remembered why I don't often use different yellows! This is five coats. I then stamped using Cheeky plates CH42 and CH53. I like the effect, and it's quite eye-catching - three people asked to get a better look at them this afternoon.
And that's a wrap!
Friday, 3 October 2014
31 Day Challenge, Day 2 - Orange
The penultimate day! Exciting. I did some stamping over black with my new mundo de uñas orange polish (!!), using plate Bundle Monster BM-403. I've avoided using this plate because I was worried about getting the images straight, but this is a challenge, so I forged ahead. I'm pleased with how it went.
Thursday, 2 October 2014
31 Day Challenge, Day 1 - Red
Day 1! The theme is red and I'm taking advantage of the open-ended nature of the colour prompts by doing some stamping. A while back I ordered some stamping polish from Mundo De Uñas, and it arrived on Tuesday. I also got a new stamping plate from Lily Anna, and I wanted to try it out.
The Munde de Uñas polish is amazing! So opaque! It does have a rather strong and unusual smell (apparently an enamel paint smell?), but nothing too bad. The main drawback is that, being so opaque, it's a pain to clean up off your cuticles after stamping. In the comments to my water marbling post, Nerd With Nails suggested using chapstick to help with clean up, and I wonder if that would also be worth doing with this stamping polish.
I also love the Lily Anna plate, which gave easy crisp results. After painting my nails with Ciate's Boudoir, a red jelly, I stamped with Lily Anna 07. The star pattern is lovely and I already have plans for some reverse stamping with it.
The Munde de Uñas polish is amazing! So opaque! It does have a rather strong and unusual smell (apparently an enamel paint smell?), but nothing too bad. The main drawback is that, being so opaque, it's a pain to clean up off your cuticles after stamping. In the comments to my water marbling post, Nerd With Nails suggested using chapstick to help with clean up, and I wonder if that would also be worth doing with this stamping polish.
I also love the Lily Anna plate, which gave easy crisp results. After painting my nails with Ciate's Boudoir, a red jelly, I stamped with Lily Anna 07. The star pattern is lovely and I already have plans for some reverse stamping with it.
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
31 Day Challenge, Day 31 - Honour Nails You Love
For today's challenge, I decided to recreate some nails from More Nail Polish. More Nail Polish is one of my favourite nail blogs - amazing manicures (did you see the version of Nolan's Ned Kelly art for the challenge this year? Stunning!), handy swatches and reviews, and she uses a variety of techniques. She's also Australian, which is nice - I enjoy it when bloggers talk about popping down to Bunnings for some acetone rather than, say, Wal-Mart, a store that doesn't exist in Australia. But not only that! She's a fellow Canberran. Even her references to the weather are comfortably familiar.
Back in January, she posted some a manicure titled "Bright yellow reverse stamped flowers", which I loved. Coloured in stamping? It looked great!
 |
| From More Nail Polish - http://www.morenailpolish.com/2014/01/bright-yellow-reverse-stamped-flowers.html |
To recreate this look, I used the same yellow polish, OPI's I Just Can't Cope-acabana. The white is OPI's Alpine Snow, and I used Bundle Monster's plate BM03 for the flower pattern. The nail studs are from Born Pretty.
So that's the challenge! I missed the first few days though, because I didn't know it was on, so I'll be doing days 1-3 over the next three days. I got my new Mundo de Unas polishes in the mail today (!!) and I'll definitely be using them for the Yellow day - a manicure that has also been inspired by a song. Stay tuned! ;)
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
31 Day Challenge, Day 30 - Owl Be Inspired By A Tutorial
For today I followed a tutorial by Sunshine Citizen for making owls. Super cute! This is actually a tutorial that's probably better suited to short nails, but it's still cute on longer nails.
Sunshine Citizen did a pictorial tutorial and also a video. Here's the picture:
For my base colour I chose Ciate's Iced Frappe, a warm brown-grey-mauve colour. Application was pretty good with two coats and good flow onto the nail. I then used white acrylic paint for the face and feathers, because it's so much easier to get solid white that way. (I started with white nail polish - not good.) I finished by doing the eyes/nose/outline in Kleancolor's Dark Brown.
I tried a new hand pose today... pretty satisfied with it, actually. How do you decide how to pose your hands? Do you do the same pose each time? I like to try to vary my poses a bit from post to post and keep things interesting. Also sometimes the manicure can be seen better with a different pose, particularly since my nails have a pretty deep C curve.
Sunshine Citizen did a pictorial tutorial and also a video. Here's the picture:
 |
| Tutorial by Sunshine Citizen - http://www.sunshinecitizen.com/autumn-owl-nail-art/ |
For my base colour I chose Ciate's Iced Frappe, a warm brown-grey-mauve colour. Application was pretty good with two coats and good flow onto the nail. I then used white acrylic paint for the face and feathers, because it's so much easier to get solid white that way. (I started with white nail polish - not good.) I finished by doing the eyes/nose/outline in Kleancolor's Dark Brown.
I tried a new hand pose today... pretty satisfied with it, actually. How do you decide how to pose your hands? Do you do the same pose each time? I like to try to vary my poses a bit from post to post and keep things interesting. Also sometimes the manicure can be seen better with a different pose, particularly since my nails have a pretty deep C curve.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)