Australia Day Nail Art- Swim Between the Flags

It's Australia Day! Today I wanted to portray what most of Australians like to do on a hot day and this meant I had to *gasp* free hand my nail art. I suck at free hand, never could paint or draw..so this was as good as I could manage when I attempted some free hand stuff. So, Australia is known for it's beaches and surf and we have life guards that are on duty "in between the flags" as the rips and tides can be quite dangerous.. so this is what I did! It's insanely hot at the moment, so I certainly wouldn't be out in the heat of the day. So here is my simple Beach Flag nail art :)

To create this look I used China Glaze Sydney Sand for the beach with NerdLacquer Entirely Unlike Tea glitter, I used China Glaze Bahamian Escape for the Water with Sally Hansen Hypnautical Glitter and China Glaze Sea Spray for the Sky. The flag was with China Glaze Happy go Lucky and Liquid Leather and Essence Fame Fatal.

I might have to try an Australian Flag for next year..or get more into the theme of Aussie Day, it's going to have to be with stamping plates cos my nail art suuuucks! LOL.

Sally Hansen Pool Party with Stamping and Glitter

So, yup, I had to fiddle around and made Sally Hansen Pool Party a base for a rocking mani. I also had inspiration from nail mail I received from Drama Queen Nails which included a new stamper, some neon round and square studs and the new Winstonia 2nd Generation stamping plates. Super quick delivery time can I say! So of course I wanted to play with the new studs and stamper. Here is what I came up with.

First Finger- Sally Hansen Pool Party with Sally Hansen Hynautical and CrowsToes Absolum Your Potions Master Glitter Middle Finger- Stamping with Winstonia Plates and Lilypad Lacquer Deep Blue Lagoon, Ring Finger- Top Coat of Girly Bits Hocus Pocus and Little finger- neon blue stud

Thumb has Glitter gradient use on first finger!

I did love Sally Hansen Pool Party when she was dressed up a bit more. It was a great base color for the holo topcoat of Girly Bits Hocus Pocus and went well with the glitter gradient, stamping and neon stud I accessorized with! Expect to be seeing a bit more stud action and the new designs of the Winstonia plates. I am going for an Australia Day themed mani for Monday, I have no clue what will happen, so wish me luck! :)

Sally Hansen Triple Shine Pool Party

So, I am not a massive fan of sheer polish..or frosty polish. But that didn't seem to matter when I had to buy the new Sally Hansen Triple Shine Pool Party! Pool Party is a light blue sheer polish with a blue sheen in the light and takes 3 coats for opaqueness. This is 1 more coat than I usually have time for. For anyone who knows me, I'm not the most patient person in the world. Anyways. This is 3 coats of Pool Party with top coat. The coats were quick and built up nicely :)

 Slight visible nail line, but I wasn't doing more than 3 coats!

 Slightly duskier blue and more opaque looking in the shade :)

So, do I love this polish? Nah..I do like it, but not love it. I like how the blue iridescent sheen saves this from being just another blue sheer polish. I don't look at my nails and go "this is awesome!"  It's just "nice". So I won't be wearing it as it..check back to see how I tiz this up. I purchased my Sally Hansen from Priceline on special, it was still $7 or so. Worth it...yeah, but only with a fast drying top coat that can handle 3 layers of polish AND with something else over it it! LOL.

Dance Legend Android

Hi guys! Just a quick post today of something I wore last week and forgot I took photos of. When I need a pick me up I tend to pop on a holo polish, and chase the sun around! :) Today I have for you a straight swatch of Dance Legend Android, which is something I have owned for a while but haven't used yet :) Dance Legend Android is a lovely blue leaning darker green polish which has a lovely pigment and awesome linear holographic finish. This is 2 coats of Dance Legend Android with top coat :)

Not much to say really, great polish, great application..love!

Dance Legend have some amazing nail polish and you can buy them from directly from the Russian website Dance Legend (postage is a couple of months, so do be patient! Or you can pick them up from Femme Fatale Cosmetics if you are in Australia. Hope you are have a good hump day..only 2 more days til the weekend!

Vincent turns One! Zebra Manicure :)

Vincent is my gorgeous little nephew from my only sister, and today was his One Year Old birthday party! He's a happy little man who is growing up fast and is a delightful baby who is pretty placid and happy most of the time. Apparently he takes after me in that regard, lol. Today my sister hosted his First birthday party with an animal theme, and I dressed up as a Zebra and my husband was an animal watcher on Safari.

My husband and Vincent with his puppy costume!

 So, of course I had to do the nails to go with the theme and I kinda went over the top with my Zebra manicure. For the manicure I used China Glaze Dandy Lyin Around, a coat of SnowGlobe and them stamped with Lilypad Laquer Rainbows in Space. I also did an accent nail with Lilypad Lacquer Rainbows in Space with a coat of Sparkles by Julie Sugah!

Not sure this could be ANY blingier! LOL

I stamped the Zebra stripes with Bundle Monster plates :)

Insane Rainbows on the Ring Finger!

Now I also did matching toenails..so warnings, a foot photo ahead!

Now, I know the black stamping wasn't very black and there was alot going on here. If I was doing this to look like real Zebra stripes, I would have just done a white base with Dandy Lyin Around, and stamped with a strong black. But I wanted the glittah and wanted the holo. I was greedy. I asked my husband if it was a bit over the top..he didn't think so! LOL. Anyways. I am going to keep the toes for a week or so, as bling toes always work. Unfortunately, I need work appropirate nails tomorrow, so this is coming off tonight :(

Essense Fame Fatale with Leopard Print

Ah, the weekend, why you no longer? Feeling a bit tired after a busy weekend, could do with another day off to be honest! Today I have for you nails that I wore last night that matched my dress. It was a friends birthday and we went to a fancy restaurant. So of course I had to do the matchy matchy nails. For this particular look I used a base of Essence Fame Fatale on all my nails except the ring finger where I used China Glaze I'm not a Lion. I stamped leopard print on my ring finger with black and then tried a half stamping of flowers in gold with accent glittery bits. It was a different look for me and I quite enjoyed it!

2 coats of Fame Fatale and I'm Not a Lion with topcoat

 Completely love the holo glitter!

I probably should have filled in some of the "prints" in the Leopard print?

This matched my dress which was leopard and floral..sounds weird but isn't! Promise! I don't really want to take it off, but needs must with work tomorrow. Ah well..have a great week people :)

Dance Legend Thermo 163

Hi guys! Today I have a quick swatch for you of  Dance Legend Thermo 163 which is a thermal color change polish that changes color depending on the temperature of your fingers. Thermo 163 is a pink to peach color change polish, cold it's a girly pink, warm it turns a beige/peach. Think a mood ring for polish :) Of course I really didn't think ahead that well when I swatched this polish. Today was 39 degrees Celsius....hmm, darned hot. So, indoors I had a lovely thermal color change, it took about all of 3 seconds of outdoor sunlight to change this polish to its hot thermal color change! Now, imagine me putting my hand in the refrigerator for 30 seconds, then running outside and taking photos like mad to show you the thermal color gradiation, LOL. Here is the end result.

2 coats Thermo 163 with top coat in the full sun, warm nail beds, cool tips

 Color change fully warm.

 Mid color transition

 Loving the shimmer!

So, these pics show the thermal color shift of warm to cool, despite an insanely warm ambient temperature outside! LOL. The peachy/pink color says work appropriate to me and there is a nice slight holo shimmer in the full sunlight which I like :) The bottle, as you can see, is very pink and I think that color would be stronger on the ends of the my nails in more moderate weather. I do like the beige-y pink full color shift of this polish and when I wash my hands in cold water, the pink bleeds back in...hours of entertainment really! Hope you all have a fun weekend planned...thanks for reading!

ANMonday- Dots.. on a Thursday!

Hi guys, today I have for you my ANMonday challenge, which is dots! I am a little late to the party which is nothing unusual for me, sorry 'bout that. I've had a busy week thus far with work, an unhappy cat  requiring a vet trip and trying to stick to a healthy eating plan. Food organization is not something that comes naturally for me so I have to put in a fair bit of time/effort. Bleh. Anyways, on Monday it was cloudy and cold here, when its meant to be the height of summer so I wanted a sunny looking mani. This is what I came up with!

Polishes used were, base of China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Accent nail in NerdLacquer Regeneration. Stamping  was with Pueen plate 49 KBShimmer 24 Carrot Bold and dotting done with KBShimmer 24 Carrot Bold, Sinful Colors Cloud 9 and Nails Inc Hobart Place.

 The KBShimmer 24 Carrot Bold was more vibrant in realy life, but you can see some of the brightness on the little finger!

I really enjoyed wearing this and quite a few people commented. I think it has a slightly retro feel to it because of the stamping? Anyways. I love the orange yellow combo and I seem to have a pattern of cremes with glitter accents and stamping..hmm. I should really try and stretch myself a bit more! LOL. Anyways, some nice sunny days coming up, you know what that means..holos! 

Lilypad Lacquer I'm Feeling Peachy

Hey guys! I placed an order the other night with Lilypad lacquer for a few must have colors when it comes to holographic polish and came away with, erm many. Anyways I remembered I already have a few in my stash so thought I would pull out one of the lovely holographic colors and see if I could catch some sun and rainbows. Today I have for you a straight swatch of Lilypad Lacquer I'm Feeling Peachy. This is from the Crazy for Colour Collection and is a peach coral holographic polish with blue sparkle.I picked mine up from Llarowe, but my recent order was from Lilypad Lacquer's Etsy store :) This is 2 coats of I'm Feeling Peachy with top coat.

Peach with blue and holo sparkles in the sun!

Gorgeous peach holo!

 Daylight but slightly less sun brings out the coral

 Holo and blue sparkles :)

This was 2 coats of I'm Feeling Peachy which was easy to apply. I probably should have done a 3rd as it had a slight visible nail line in these pics and real life. The holo was not dulled by a topcoat and this polish had both peach and coral depending on the light with the blue sparkle was more prominent in the daylight but not full sun. In the full sun the holo-ness was captivating! I can't wait to get my hand on some more Lilypads, but I am a bit of a holo sucker, if it has rainbows, I want it! :)

Hope you have a fun weekend planned, I have sleep, finishing my Carb detox (yay, Day 3 and final day for me!) and catching up with friends on the cards. Of course I might manage to squeeze in some polishing.

Sally Hansen Drama Sheen and Happy New Years stamping :)

Well, it's New Years day and to be honest I always want NYE to be fabulous but it turns out to be more anticlimactic than anything! I worked from midday to 9pm NYE..saving lives and then a quiet night in watching some tv and having a few adult beverages. So I did a bit of a NYE manicure, but it wasn't a total success in my books. Lemme say, I purchased Sally Hansen Tripe Shine on sale..Drama Sheen. I love the color in the bottle. I don't love the 4 coats it requires to get to opacity. I did love it when it got to opacity, but then with a top coat and a base coat....tip wear was one day and massive. Ugh! So disappointed. So when I stamped I felt like I reviving a week old mani, not one done the day before. Maybe I should have waited a bit longer in between the coats or something, but ain't nobody got time for that. Whilst I a having a sook, the bottles of the Sally Hansen Triple shine, not the best for taking pics. So be warned unco looking pics ahead, LOL!

First of all, Sally Hansen Triple Shine in Drama Sheen

 I love that this is a pretty lilac color with a pink sheen in the bottle and on the nail :)

Now for some NYE stamping and glittah.

Stamping with Bundle Monster Holiday plates with Color Club Wild at Heart and ring finger glitter gradient with Girly Bits Purple Potion. Accent glitter on first finger is China Glaze Glistening Snow.

 Color Club Wild at Heart is a lovely scattered holo and Girly Bits Purple Potion a pretty holo glittah :)

 I thought the pinky stamping with Live, Laugh and Love would be a good representation of the New Year hopefulness :)

 You can see the worst tip wear on the middle finger! I did use Seche as a top coat so might try a different one to see changes the tip wear.

So, Happy New Year! Hope you have goals and dreams to achieve, with a brand new year to make awesome things happen :) Do I have any resolutions? Nope..not really. To be happy is alls. If that means I have to eat better, sleep more, learn how to take better pics of my nails...then I'll work on those things, but not hold myself to ransom to do so. 

Ps. Day 1 of Carb detox is in progress though! lol.