Galaxy Nails!

So on Saturday night I went to the movies with my friend Haydee to see Gravity. You know? The movie with Sandra Bullock floating around in space. Well we went to see that! And it was awesome! SO AWESOME that I was inspired to finally try my hand at some galaxy nails. I had seen this style on so many other blog I had been meaning to try it, and since I had the inspiration I thought 'What the heck?'....

Now trying to do research on this nail art nearly blew my mind. Every single person has a different way to go about it, some used shimmer polish while others used glitter polish, some layered upon layer upon layer, while other were simple. Ahhhhhhh! *blown mind*

In the end I picked some 'spacey' colours and came up with this...

OK so I used a LOT of colours....this is the order in which I used them.

Purple: 17 - Royal Indigo

Pink: Cate Ruby - Meg

Light Blue: Essence - Absolutely Blue

White: 17 - Mini Skirt

Yellow: Kiko - Shade 279

Sparkle Purple - BC Co - Shade 4

Shimmer Blue: Essence - The Boy Next Door

White (stars): Sally Hansen - White On

I was so complete hung up on technique I realised that the best way to get results is to use your imagination, and you really cant get this wrong (unless you attempt a shooting start and it stuffs up and becomes a starfish shape (see ring finger)).

Hope you like it? 

Sugar Skulls

GUYS!
I know it has been a while... I have been super busy.
Over the course over the last couple of months I have been to London and back AND started a new job. But this weekend I decided to get back in the swing of things.... so here is my sugar skull nail art.

My inspiration for these actually comes from my boyfriend. He and his mate create the most interesting t-shirts designs, and their first ever one was a picture of a sugar skull... so here is my interpretation.

I decided to use some of my bf's favourite colours...

White: Sally Hansen - White On

Black: Sally Hansen - Black Out

Green: Barry M - Watermelon

Red: NYC - Boundless Berry

I know it's not the best I have done, but at least it is better than nothing!! :)

Enjoy!!







PS: Sorry about the dry cuticles! :(

Cartoon Nails!

I have seen many cartoon inspired manicures out there so I thought I would have a go at my own. :D

 I think they came out AWESOME!!!!

I started by painting each finger a different colour. Then using a thin paintbrush I painted a thin black line around the edge and using a dotting tool I created the white 'shine' marks.
To top it all off I used Rimmel - Matte Finish.

All the shades I used were from Bc&Co. You can pick these up from KMart for $2. They are pretty amazing. :)
Pink: Shade 9
Orange: Shade 13
Purple: Shade 6
Yellow: Shade 10
Green: Shade 16

White: Sally Hansen - White On
Black: Sally Hansen - Black Out

I super dooper love these! And can't wait to have another go.

What do you think??

Peach Triangles

Here is another on of my scarf inspired nail arts.

I got this really pretty scarf from Valley Girl last month and thought it would make really good inspiration for a nail design.
I used the the aztec theme and the colours to come up with my own design.

I started off with a white base and using a thin paintbrush, I painted on the peach triangles and the black stripes. I think they came out pretty good (despite the slightly blurry photos).

Peach: BYS - Pretty as a Peach

White: Sally Hansen - White On 

Black: BC&Co. - Shade 11

What do you think??

It's a BOY!

I am a huge sucker for the Royal Family... I mean, I'm pretty much an honorary member as I was there for the Royal Wedding and the Queen's Coronation and even the announcement of Kate's pregnancy (hehe).

But, in all seriousness, for the events of the Royal Family, ESPECIALLY Kate and Will, I find myself swept up in a whirlwind of emotion. And the birth of little Prince George was no different.

I was up a the crack of dawn, watching the telly, filled with so much joy and excitement it was ridiculous. And seeing him yesterday with his proud Mum and Dad was beautiful.

So I thought I would dedicate an entry to the new prince...

Blue: Essence - Absolutely Blue

White: Sally Hansen - White On

Silver: Barry M - Foil

Shimmer: Rhasdala - Sea Spray 

I was originally going to use a baby blue but seeing Kate's dress that day inspired me to go with a cornflour blue instead.

I also used a shimmer on the ring finger but it is not very noticeable in the pictures. So you guys will have to use your imagination.

Plum Nails

I have finally bought my very first Chine Glaze nail polish, I know! I know! What has taken me so long??? Well considering I am only working part time, nail polish sometimes has to come in second in the list of priorities (shocking, I know!). This means that more high end nail polish like Chine Glaze or OPI isn't that easy to come by.

But on my trip to 'Oz Nail and Beauty Supplies' in Sunshine I came across a range of high end polish as really reasonable prices. So I nearly went nuts!! I walked around picking up polish after polish, when finally I had over $60 dollars worth! :S  So I needed to set myself a budget and put a whole bunch back (will go back for them later).

It the 3 polishes I ended up picking up, I got this beautiful China Glaze - Seduce Me. 

And today, I decided to use it for a mani...

China Glaze, what an amazing polish. Glides on well, beautiful coverage, and long lasting. Defiantly the crème de la crème of polishes. 

I started off by painting my nails with this beautiful plum colour and then on my ring finger I used Chi Chi - Just Chillaxin. When they were dry I painted very thin tips to each nail using Sally Hansen - Black Out. 

My only problem with this colour I could not capture the proper colour on film. Even though this mani looks good on camera (above) it looks 10 times better in real life.... :(

So any suggestion out there on how to capture the true colour of a polish?? Need some tips and techniques? HELP!

Happy 4th of July!!!

4 years ago I was lucky enough to celebrate 4th of July in the US... and it was AWESOME!!!
So here is a little shout out to all my American friends....

HAPPY 4TH of JULY!!! 

Enjoy! 

-B xx

Some of my friends in the 4th of July spirit!

Celebrating 4th of July in 2009

Orange and Grey Squares!

Hey Everyone!
So last week someone inspired my next nail art design. She was telling me about this beautiful house that was    mostly white with grey and orange square sections. Now that got thinking... how can I transfer this to my nails. Well, after 3 attempts (yes, I said three) I finally was happy with what I had created... here they are.

I used:

White: Sally Hansen - White On

Orange: Rimmel - Hot and Spicy

Dark Grey: Maybelline - Impeccable Greys

Light Grey: Kiko - Shade 329

I started by painting my thumb, middle and ring finger in the white. On my pointer and my thumb I used label sticker to create this beautiful half moon shape in the dark grey.
Once the white had dried I used nail tape to create these long rectangular shapes and square shapes then, painted them the different colours.

Like I said before this took me 3 goes to get right. And if you look closely at my middle finger the colours have bled into the white a bit which REALLY annoys me. But sometimes you just have to let it go. hehe

Anyway I hope you liked it?

B xx

The Best... Top Coats

So yesterday I did a blog about my Base Coats and today I thought I would go to part 2; my top coats.

Top Coats are just as important as base coat. Top coats protect your manicure. No matter what nail polish you use it will help protect it from bump, scratches and all those chores we have to do throughout the day.

And these days a good top coat will also dry your manicure in less than 5 mins, so no sitting around like a loser waiting for the 'paint to dry'.
Ok here we go....

4. Seche Vite - Fast Top Coat

This is the mother load of all top coats. Before I discovered Seche Vite I was that loser sitting around with my fingers out waiting for them to dry. And especially when you are doing a few different layers it is a real pain waiting for them to dry. So along came Seche Vite and made my life a lot easier. 

Pros: It dries so fast. After you put your nail polish on you can on a layer of this stuff and wait 5 minutes and  its done! Pretty amazing. The polish it also really protected under the stuff. You can buy Seche Vita off Ebay for about $5 which is pretty cheap. 

Cons: Over time it gets quite thick and unusable. It also shrinks the polish the older it gets. I have discovered there is a certain technique to stopping Seche Vite shrinking, but I think that is a pain. You can however by a polish thinner to thin it out again and it's good as new. I have just purchased some one if so hopefully I can test that out soon. 

5. Sally Hansen - Diamond Flash Fast Dry Top Coat

I bought this because had run out of Seche Vite, but I am so happy I did. 

Pros: It is a really great product. It is quite thin which means it spreads evenly. It protects the polish so well. I have worn a nail design for over a week and there was minimal chipping, which is extremely rare with other top coats. This is def a 10/10 product. 

Cons: It is quite expensive. You are looking at about $16 from Priceline. I haven't had the top coat for very long so I don't know how it will go in the long run. 

6. Sally Hansen - Dry and Go Drops

I bought this just as an experiment. It is really good if you have a to get out the house quickly and you want your nail to dry super fast. 

Pros: Its good for last minute jobs. It is also good if you have a old top coat that is works well but doesn't dry fast. You can just pop this on top and it will dry super fast. 

Cons: It leaves a oily residue around your nails. You can wash it off, it is not permanent, but it can be a little annoying. It is also a bit expensive, about $15 from Priceline. 

The Best.. Base Coats

A lot of people have been asking lots of questions about what base and top coats I use, so considering I have many of each, I thought I would do a little blog review on the different products I own. 

So here are my many Base Coats. Base coats are really important because they sort of act like a glue between your nail and the polish, therefore helping the polish stay on longer and stops the polish staining your nails. It also smooths out the surface of your nail to make the polish glide on a little better. 

Here are the 3 I have tried and tested:

1. Revlon - Quick Dry Base Coat
Now this is the first base coat I had ever bought and I feel in love instantly.
Pros: The brush is a little wider like so there are less strokes. And it says what it does on the bottle, it dries super quick. I am an impatient person and to have the base coat dry so quickly helps a lot! I also liked how it was a little thicker so that the nail is really well protected and long lasting. It is also pretty cheap when you buy it off Ebay, I got this bottle for about about $7 including shipping. 

Cons: It does get really gunky after a while. The thickness does make it a little difficult to paint on. But in saying this, I had been using the bottle for over 5 months before I noticed a real different in consistently. It also can cost up to $15 from somewhere like Priceline. 

2. Seche Clear - Crystal Clear Base Coat
This is a Base Coat I bought by accident. I thought I was buying Seche Vite but alas, I ended up with this so I gave it a go.

Pros: Super thin and leaves your nails really shiny. I don't know how important a shiny base coat is but it was really shiny. It is thin so it spreads quite thinly so that drying time in minimal too. :) And no stainage!
Cons: I felt that this polish didn't  actually smooth out the surface of my nail as well as the others. Also the brush is quick thin so you end up doing a few strokes which are a pain. 

3. Sally Hansen - Salon Manicure Base Coat

I thought I would give Sally Hansen ago since it is so accessible at the shops around where I live. 

Pros: This product is pretty amazing. It has a large angled brush to glide over your nail easily, and usually takes one stroke. Its a little thicker so that the nail is actually protected by the polish, so no stains. It also leaves the nail smooth so your nail polish glides on perfectly. 

Cons: It is not the fastest drying base. I have only had it for a few weeks too so I don't know how the thickness will change over time. The other con this product has is the price... you are looking at about $16  at Priceline, cheaper at places like Big W or Target.

Even though these all have different pros and cons I tend to use them all at different times. Depending on the design I am doing or the time I have to do it. Or even how long I'm going to wear it. 

If you want any more info about the products above feel free to leave me a comment below. 

Tomorrow I will be doing a similar review on Top Coats.

Enjoy!

B xx

Khaki Stripes

My latest creation....

I wanted to use my lovely khaki coloured nail polish as I hadn't used it in aaaaaages. I decided to play around with some free hand work too. So all those stripes have been done free hand. Like I have said many times before, I am not very good at free hand work so I thought this would be an easy (and safe) way to practise.


I started off by painting my thumb, pointer and middle finger with the beautiful  L'Oreal - Rivegauche Green and for my pinky I used NYC - Park Ave. 

In the pictures I could really tell the difference between the two colours but out in the 'real world' the colours looked really similar and lots of people thought I had used the same colours for all 4 nails, which was a bit disappointing.

For my ring finger, I places a label sticker (those label round ones) and I painted one some stripes using the two colours from my other fingers along with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On and BC&Co. Shade 11. 


I then took the sitcker off and drew a black line to make it neater.




What do you think??

Guest Hands... My cousin Natasha!

I am extremely lucky to have a massive family and some of the GREATEST cousins a girl could ask for. When I first started this blog I didn't have any followers, and without a second thought my cousins stepped up and supported me. And have ever since.
So when one of my cousins Natasha sent me a text last week asking me to do her nails I did not hesitate to say 'YES!'.

She had a party to go to on Saturday night and wanted some fancy nail art to go with her outfit.

So I lugged all my stuff to her house and after looking at her super cute outfit I came up with this...

She had bought this beautiful multicoloured aztec inspired skirt so I took the colours from it and came up with this design. I didn't want to go too aztec-y (if that is even a word) so she could wear the nails for a few days. So I picked a base colour, the green, and did 2 feature nails.

 

On her middle, pointer and pinky fingers I used Kiko - Shade 389 once  it was dry I topped with Rimmel - Matte Finish. 

On her ring and thumb finger I started with  a base colour, Kiko - 359 and once it had dried I sponged on the two other colours; Savvy - Grapetini and Kiki - Shade 389. 

Once the colours had dried I used striping tape to create the 

anztec-y design and painted over it with a the black, Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear - Black Out.

I think that they came out great ESPECIALLY on Tasha's beautiful tanned skin (damn her)... and she got lots of complements that nights, which is the most important part.

I hope you like?

B xx

C is for Cookie!

Hello all you lovely people!
I am super excited because I have FINALLY been able to find the time to create my very own Cookie Monster inspired nails. Here is my journey (hehe)...

On Saturday I sat down in my usual spot trying to ponder my ideas of what nail art I should try today. Sifting through my colours and glitters and stamping equipment I stopped  at my Cookie Monster blue polish. Now this is not a unusual event, most weekends/week nights I stop at this colour hoping and wishing for the day I can fulfil my dream of creating my very own Cookie Monster design. When SUDDENLY I realised I had all the supplies (and the time of course).

Going into this I knew there was at least a 80% chance of my failing miserably for many reasons...I smudge it so many times I give up, the flocking* doesn't work or the fact that I suck at fine detail so my Cookie looks a bit 'off'. But I steamed forward and this is what I came up with (and I am so freakin' happy with how it came out)...

I started with my base blue colour. I got this beautiful blue polish from Barry M - Cyan Blue. 

To make Cookie Monster's face I used BC&Co. - Shade 11 and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color - White On. 
I free handed the mouth (which I think turned out really well) and I used a dotting tool for the eyes.

For the cookies I used Avon Nailwear Pro - Perfectly Flesh for the base and for the choc chips I used Rimmel Wear Maxx - Sunset Bronze. 

*For my ring and pinky fingers I chopped up my Cookie Monster soft toy to stick on my fingers.... JOKING! Hehe! I would NEVER harm any of my Cookie Monster toys.

I did, however, create my OWN flocking.

What is flocking you ask?? 
Well It is basically the fuzzy stuff you see on my nails.
I am in the process of creating a tutorial on how to make it for a fraction of the price you can buy online or in store.
So stay tuned!


Ok tell me what you think?

B xxx