China Glaze Strawberry Fields and Maybelline Bleached Neons Tropink

Erm...Hi? Not sure if anyone really missed me, but yeah..there seemed to be an interruption to the regular programming. Namely my will to be creative was taken from me with some low level antidepressants for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Did not enjoy at all. I did do my nails..but it was a struggle to be creative and motivated. I haven't joined in an AN Monday challenge despite best intentions, and my instagram has been neglected as well. Although I have learned to crochet in the meanwhile. I actually really love it and am working on presents for others at the moment :)

So, nails. Here is what I have had on for the last few days. This is a base of the Maybelline Bleached Neon Tropink on my middle 2 fingers, then I put some striping tape and did a coat of China Glaze Strawberry Fields on all fingers. I then put a coat of Dance Legend Orlando flakie coat on my first and last finger and attempted some stamping over the top. It's there but you can't really see it, but don't care because the flakie is awesome!

China Glaze Strawberry Fields and Maybelline Tropink 

 How awesome is the Flakie? So pretty!

So, I think I am back! Slightly irritable at the moment but improving daily..I bought some Lilypad Lacquer goodness as Nicole has a new collection or two out at the moment. If you want some awesome Holographic polish, glitter or Flakie, you can find it at her store here: Lilypad Lacquer

I wonder if you actually missed me? Let me know!

Catrice Call Me Princess- Texture for Untried May

Happy Monday! Today I have for you my first Catrice and one of my newest untried's in my collection courtesy of the lovely Lab Muffin who muled some polish for me from Switzerland! So cool :) She sent me this Catrice Texture polish called Call Me Princess, so when I saw Texture for May 3rd on The Amy's Untried Challenge I had to see what it was like! Now, can I just say, this is sooo glarey and in-your-face pink with gold shimmer texture and I love it because of it! For this swatch I used 2 coats of Call Me Princess and I was lucky enough to catch some sun in between the cold and miserable rain this is our weather in Australia.. can you tell I miss summer??

This is actually a really pretty pink texture and super fun for when you are feeling girly and reminds me of a pink version of OPI Jinx. The formula was really good and this was 2 coats but I think it could have done with a 3rd coat. What do you think about this? It's pretty much a love or hate polish and I do love it, LOL.

Pretty Serious The Pink One and Claris

Hi guys! I've been real life busy..had a lovely holiday in paradise (otherwise known as Fiji) and came back to some family issues, house cleaning and general de-cluttering and trying to get stuff done around the house. Back to work next week :( I've not really been doing my nails..no time, AND when I have done my nails on Thursday, the polish and the top coat just didn't set and ended up being a big fat mess, ugh. Last night I finally got around to putting on something really non work appropriate that I didn't manage to ding or smudge or completely stuff up. Today I have for you just a straight swatch of Pretty Serious The Pink One with Claris on the tips. The Pink One is an amazing pink that is so neon and bright with some lovely flashes of blue.

This is 2 coats of The Pink One, with Claris dabbed on the tips and a coat of Seche Vite :)

 Gorgeous flashes of blue :)

Well, I am going to attempt some nail art without stuffing that up as well! I don't feel out of practice but maybe my mojo is just not there at the moment. Ah well, try and try again till I am back in the swing of it. Hope you are having a great weekend!

Kmart Pink Minx Skittles- taping, studs and glitter.

Hi guys! Today I have for you Pink Minx, which I wore a little while ago and I wanted to bling this lovely neon polish with some taping, studs and of course, a glitter accent nail. I do like my glitter accent nails and my ring finger seems to be the finger of choice! lol. Now, Pink Minx is a neon pink that I bought from Kmart for a whole $3 and I do love the formula, coverage and brush. Make sure you are well ventilated as they stink like Kleencolor polishes do! For this skittles mani I used some gorgeous neon studs I bought here, at Drama Queen Nails and placed them on my pointer finger. I did a taped off diagonal tip on my middle finger. I did a gradient of glitter using Crowstoes Heartless on my ring finger and I did a mani tip with some silver striping tape on my little finger :)

Middle finger diagonal tape mani using China Glaze Something Sweet on the tip.

 I wish I had captured the true beauty of Crowstoes Heartless, it's a gorgeous hot pink holographic glitter and I really didn't manage to get the best pic of it! Next time. I think I did pretty well with my taped tip look but you can see a little bit of tip wear as I wore this at work and worked pretty darned hard that day. I wash my hands and expose them to icky chemicals alot. Most of the girls laugh at my constant handcream/cuticle oil use but if I don't they get so dry. Plus I am still using some of the Essence Apple Cinnamon hand cream that came out last June (for $2 I may have quite a few!) and I love how it smells and how quickly it sinks in at work, and for $2 I don't feel bad for using heaps at work! Hope you are having a great day..I am still on holidays..talk to you soon! 

piCture pOlish Pirouette

Hey guys! Hope you are having a great day..its Sunday here and I've just had a mid afternoon nap, and now the suns out so I have a few pics of some of one of the new piCture pOlish 'bijou' holo polishes which are super sparkly and oh so pretty. Today I have Pirouette which is a collaboration polish with Tenshi no Hana. It's a gorgeous pink with holo particles. Here is 2 coats of polish with Seche top coat :)

Is this one on your wish list? It's a great formula, super sparkly and a lovely and the holo particles are pretty in the sun :) Hope your weekend is going great!

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!

Island Girl Hula Girl

Hey guys, how was your Christmas? Mine was full of too much to eat and lots of family get togethers :) It was busy but fun. The joys of shift work have meant I am already back at work and working the weekend and New Years eve..yay for me! Anyways to cheer myself up I chose a neon eye searing color I brought back from Hawaii. The brand is Island Girl and the color is Hula Girl. It's an orange pink neon that, like most neons is hard to photograph...this is 3 coats with top coat. In real life there is a bit of a visible nail line but it wasn't too bad!

Island Girl Hula Girl

I do love a good neon and I had no problems with the formula, in the full sun the neon pink sheen can be seen and inside the orange was more prominent. I am going to sit down and think of some nail art to do with this...and try not to work too hard over the New Year period..hope you have some fun plans for New Years..what's going to be on your nails??

China Glaze FYI with P!NK dotticure and stamping

Today I have for you guys something I wore when I went to the Pink concert here in Melbourne last week :) Yes, she was amazing and I had a great time! For the manicure, I started off with China Glaze FYI as it came under the heading of "work appropriate" and then for the Pink concert I wanted to add some pink colored nail art. I went with a simple dotticure and stamping as that's what I felt like doing :) I have been a little bit nail art/polish de-inspired as I am on a no buy this month for my holiday next month. I am also doing a bit of organizing which is taking up some time for the holiday, including a holiday blog ..so my attentions have been split. This was the end result.

This is 2 coats of China Glaze FYI with dotticure using Ulta3 Pink Peony, China Glaze Something Sweet and Lilypad Lacquer Juicy Lips. Stamping with Ulta3 Pink Peony.

China Glaze FYI, 2 coats, no with topcoat- Lightbox and flash

 The holo is not super strong, but very pretty still :)

 FYI is a lovely gold/beige. The various pinks contrast well :)

Since the sun is hard to get here in Melbourne, and as I work when it's usually sunny, I managed to snap these pictures whilst at an Occupational Health and Safety refresher course. I am sure some people thought I was nuts running out on my lunch break with my polish bottle and camera..but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! FYI truly comes alive in the sun and it's a dark horse favorite for me. It applies well and just looks great with my skin tone. The Ulta3 Pink Peony is so pretty as dots, I am going to make sure I do a full manicure look with it!

Sinful Colors Scene Stealer- Pink Ombre

Hi guys, how's your week going? Mine is full of ups and downs..I think it will eventually break even by the weekend. Our work Christmas in July is this weekend so that's something to look forward to. Frocking up, socializing and good food and a beverage or two is always a good thing. I have no idea what I am going to wear ...on me or my nails..I am sure I'll think of something! Today I have for you one of the newer release Sinful Colors glitters recently released called Scene Stealer. This is a pink and gold glitter polish with holographic pink diamonds in it. I decided to incorporate this a pink ombre look that I felt like doing!

L-R, China Glaze Pink-ie Promise, China Glaze Sugar High with Sinful Colors Scene Stealer, China Glaze High Hopes, China Glaze Heli-Yum. Stamping with China Glaze Infra Red.

China Glaze Something Sweet with Sinful Colors Scene Stealer

Pink and Piratey!

 I really like Sinful Colors Scene Stealer..its a cute glitter and was easy to apply. I needed to fish a little to get the diamonds out, or would recommend shaking it up well :) I really wanted to capture this in the sun, but alas..no sun in Melbourne for the last 2 days, so lightbox photos only.I am mentally gearing up to nubbify my nails before I head overseas in September..I think it will make upkeep and travelling easier..I am also considering taking bubble wrap with me for my "souvenir" polish purchases, is that wierd?? LOL

China Glaze Pastel Blue, Green and Pink Water Marble

Sorry for the lack of posts, sometimes life gets in the way of time for lovely nails and being time poor means no time for photos. Today though, my dear friend from work Lisa requested Mint nail polish. So this post is for you Bangers :) As I have recently discovered water marbling and how lovely this looks I thought I would do a minty marble look. My base mint polish was China Glaze Re-freshmint from the Up & Away Collection (2010) and I though Bahamian Escape (Bahama Blue Collection) and Something Sweet (also from the Up & Away Collection) would go lovely for water marbly goodness :)

 L-R, China Glaze Re-freshmint, Bahamian Escape and Something Sweet

I started with Ulta3 Base coat and 1 coat of Re-freshmint, I didn't take a photo so have referenced the Swatchaholic :)

China Glaze Re-freshmint, so minty and lovely :)

I then proceeded to water marble with the 3 colors.. some nails turned out better than others!

 Left Hand water marble, loving the middle finger nail marble effect :)

Left Thumb water marble

Right Hand water marble, loving the pointer finger nail marble effect :)

Right Thumb water marble

The photos have turned very pastel color wise, which they are in certain light. In non-bright light they are more vibrant, so I have color corrected a photos to show you this, don't mind the Opmpa Loompa skin effect!

Loving this water marble effect and the mint is awesome :) Thanks Lisa for suggesting the mint polish idea in my head (I even bought Re-freshmint on Tuesday with this in mind!). I am missing the happiness different nail polish color brings at my work so much now, what to do, what to do :(

On another note, I got up today like a good nail polish slave to buy some Sonoma Nail Art polish and had some in my cart on Etsy when I realized they didn't ship to Australia. Darn it. I did manage to get a bottle of all of the Dollish Mario Collection on Friday night (didn't think I was going to purchase any initially though!). I am getting a little bit glitter indie polish saturated..not sure how everyone else out there feels, but the hype is running it's course with me. I don't want to bun fight for polish anymore. I am wanting some Zoya's and Essies though so might focus on calmly purchase some colors there!

Nostalgic Nail Lacquer Andie

Ah, Andie..you remind me of my childhood! When I think of the name Andie, 2 things come to mind Andie from Pretty in Pink (Nostaligic Nail Lacquer thinks of this one too) and also the phrase "Andie, you Goonie!' from The Goonies. I loved both movies, but Pretty in Pink is the penultimate poor girl gets rich boy and all ends well, awwwww. Duckie is my favorite character from the movie, the hair, the shoes the pining love for Andie :) Anyways Andie, Duckie and Blain from Pretty in Pink have been turned into a polish essence and stuffed in a bottle by Nostalgic Lacquers and today I am going to show you Andie :)

 Nostalgic Lacquer Andie without and with flash.

Macro Shot, it's Andie's dress from the Prom scene!

For this mani I applied a base coat, 2 coats of Ulta3 French Pink and 1 coat of Nostalgic Andie

Andie

Macro shot, you can see the hexagonal glitters curl. This is without top coat.

Andie with flash, very pale pink indeed :)

I then added a top coat of Kleancolor Madly Matte to see what Andie would do

 Kleancolor Madly Matte

 Andie with Matte topcoat, the base is almost white now.

 Andie without flash

 Andie with Flash

Macro Shot of Andie with Kleancolor topcoat, you can still see glitter curl.

Andie is such an interesting polish, but it is pale. I used a pale "undies" base so the overall result has been Pretty in (pale) Pink and even more so in Matte. It's amazing how taking the shine off the polish can give it a different edge to the end appearance. The hex glitters curling would need a few top coat layers to tame and the matte top coat didn't really have the ability to weigh down the wayward glitters which could get annoying for those who pick at edges.

I really liked Nostalgic Lacquers Andie and I do have Duckie and Blain to show you at some stage, wearing Andie again I would put a stronger set of undies to make the top layer of Andie really pop over a bright color base. Hope you liked Andie :)