Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge- Green

Today's Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge is Green. When I think of Christmas and green I immediately think of Christmas trees with blinking lights on them. Today I have for you a simple but effect green mani which I like so much..it glitters and glints in the sunlight so how can you not love it? Also..I still have nubbie fingers so was feeling a bit deflated that they didn't grow into lovely long talons overnight. Too much to expect?? LOL.

 Pretty & Polished Xmas Wreath with Ninja Polish No Peeking! over it:)

 Gorgeous Green glitter with red, blue and yellow bits floating around, just like fairy lights

Extreme close up of glittery goodness

Glitters go bling!

I know for a challenge you are meant to be all artistic and brilliant..well I was all about the  color combination. To make it as green and blingy as I could! I am also not sure my nubs would have held up to stamping over the top as well, so I kept it simple. I am going to post the bottle shots below so you can see the polishes individually..as they are fab on their own.

 Pretty & Polished Xmas Wreath and Ninja Polish No Peeking!

Ninja Polish Festive Floam

Good evening..I missed yesterdays Aussie Nails Challenge which was Summer sunset..so I thought I would do some penance with two of the next challenge which is "Green". The first green I have for you today China Glaze Refreshmint with some Ninja Polish Festive Floam. Yay for Christmas polishes :) This one is just a warm up for the real "Green" challenge tomorrow. I love Floam in all its incarnations..so this one is a nice addition to the collection. Also..we have a nubbin crisis as you will see in the pics and I am not sure nubbins and I agree with each other..especially my pinky *cries* but the polish must go on.

China Glaze Refreshmint with Festive Floam

 NinjaPolish Festive Floam

Macro Festive Floam over Refreshmint, yes the white matte glitter is as bit harder to see

 I think I like a light green Christmas!

 Oh Christmas Matte Glitter, Oh Christmas Matte Glitter..

 Hope you have grabbed your bottle of Festive Floam for this Christmas..its a very easy to Christmas up your polish day. I had no trouble with polish application although I would recommend a top coat as the finish can be a bit gritty. I quite like this combo and its a nice traditional Christmas theme. I purchased mine from Ninjapolish and will be showing you the other two I picked up for Christmas over the next few days ..

On to greener things tomorrow...tee hee :)

Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge - Pool Party!

Today I have for you as a part of the Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge... the great Aussie Pool Party. Australian Summer starts December 1st and usually by the 25th the heat is on and there are many a pool partys to be found. I remember growing up having an above ground pool and each summer it was fabulous to play and have friends around the pool. The adult version for me these days involves not so much sun, more alcoholic beverages and looking cool by the pool. My mani for today reflects some of the fun but in a more adult way!

This is Pretty & Polished Pool Party on the first 2 fingers and a gradient with stamping!

 Gradient with Ulta3 Blue Hydrangea, Bahamian Escape and Layla Ocean Rush

 Stamping was with Cheeky Summer plates

 Macro of Pretty & Party Pool Party..love the blue and bar glitter!

I had an awesome time with this mani..I got to use Pretty & Polished Pool Party for the first time! Such as awesome polish. I used 2 coats and got great coverage plus had that swimming glitter look which I love.
Do check out the other lovely participants in the challenge!

Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge- 6 White Bloomers..kinda

So todays Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge is 6 White BOOMers..which Rolf Harris sings about how Santa gets around at Christmas time instead of Reindeer in Australia. I can't do freehand nail art and there were no kangaroo stamps. So I've gone for the close-but-no-cigar version of 6 White BLOOMers hanging from a Hills Hoist which is as Aussie as you can get. I remember having a pair of bloomers for Netball which were dark blue and went over your underpants. My nail art ones are white..but are a bit confused and they look like tighty whiteys! LOL. My Hills Hoist (Clotheslines) and holding the bloomers in under festive Christmas lights

They are meant to look something like this!

This is clearly not my best effort..but hey, I gave it a go!

 Well, this one was pretty hard for me. I used Revlon Metallic as the base and whilst shiny, it sucked at drying and was hard to clean up. I used Ulta3 White and black for the actual nail art and the lights were done with China Glaze Outta Bounds, Coconut Kiss and Ruby Pumps. Hmm, I think the bloomers look like white blobs, which is how me freehanding Kangaroos would have looked as well! I'm looking forward to the next challenge..Pool Party!

Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge, Day 1- Red

Today is day 1 of the Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge put together by Lissa's Polish Addiction for Christmas in Australia. Christmas is not really much different from anywhere else..apart from the blistering heat, the blistering heat..and erm..pavlova. It's great in the heat! LOL. So today I woke up and thought "I'd really like to wear a nice holographic red nail polish today" Unfortunately I didn't have the exact kind of red holo polish I wanted, so I played with my polishes to create one. I decided the best way to create the holo red I wanted was to layer Ozotic 518 over a red.... and OPI The Spy Who Loved Me was the lucky candidate! Winning combo. Then because I couldn't leave well enough alone I tried a reverse gradient with OPI Goldeneye. So how did it turn out? Christmassy and pretty darned good I think.

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me, Ozotic 518 and Goldeneye Gradient with flash

OPI Goldeneye, Ozotic 518 and OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

Gradient mani with flash..holo bling..so Christmassy :)

Here is the challenge with the other nail days planned!

Pretty & Polished Mannequin Hands

Oh my! I love the name of this polish...and when I saw this little bottle of goodness sitting amongst Pretty & Polished's etsy store and I knew I had to have it (and I may have had to have the Holiday collection as well!). This is a bottle of light pinky/nude polish with light pink glitter and a lovely sheen. I am pretty pale..so for me this does look mannequin hand-like on me where it may not on others. Either way, it's an awesome polish. Love!

 Pretty & Polished Mannequin Hands with Flash

Pretty & Polished Mannequin Hands, so pretty!

Macro of Mannequin hands- a pinky beige, nude glitter :)

2 coats of Mannequin Hands..no undies!

 Pics in non direct sunlight. More beige-y

Trying to catch the pretty sheen!

Gratuitous bottle shot!

This is the definition of work appropriate nail polish. I love how this is a beige/pink and glitter polish all in one. It also reminds me of a girly girl nail polish without being a barbie color and I adore that too. The first coat of this polish was a bit patchy but as you can see the 2nd coat had a lovely finish. I am looking forward to stamping something fun over this polish as well...black stamping would give it a rock girl edge or pink..barbie bling! So versatile. In other news I am OUT of swatching sticks..*sigh* and I need to get some striping tape for nails art..off to ebay I go..

Happy Hands Mayonegg

Evening! It's going to be super hot tomorrow here..so I am about to take of what I had on for the last today and go blingy I think! Bring on the sun :) Today I have Happy Hands Mayonegg which I picked up from Llarowe which I was super excited to try on..it's a white base polish with yellow glitter which looks exactly like scrambled eggs in mayonnaise. I initially tried to apply in a few coats but it was a bit lumpy and hard to work with :( I then ended up using a coat of China Glaze White Out and one coat of Mayonegg. Here is the results! *Warning* I broke 2 nails on my swatching hand, so these will probably look a bit awkward and this mani is 2 days old so excuse the top wear.

Happy Hands Mayonegg

 Happy Hands Mayonegg

 Extreme close up Mayonegg

 This has 1 coat of Seche Vite, you can see it needs another to be completely smooth

I desperately wanted to love this polish. I really enjoyed it when I finally got it on. I found that it did drag and got sticky very quickly so I had to be quick to apply it otherwise I had massive bald patches. Maybe some thinner would have helped. I love how simple but sunny the overall look was so it was worth the effort.

I also made a quick stop at my nail supply store to see if the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection, but sadly and oddly they only had Def Defying. Instead I picked up a few polishes that I have been meaning to get...

 OPI- My Private Jet, Don't Pretzel My Buttons and Crown Me Already!

If you look close, the MPJ is a scattered holo version.. a win for $9.95!

Now to decided on what to wear tomorrow! Hope you are all having a great week :)

Layla Emerald Divine

Hello there! It was such a lovely sunny day today that wanted to wear something summery and holo's always scream sunny to me :) I chose Layla Emerald Divine for my mani today as it is one of my untried holos that I have sitting there waiting it's turn to charm and impress me. Emerald Divine did both. I did use the Layla mirror effects file before applying the polish as recommend otherwise you did get clumpy application.

Layla Emerald Divine in full sun

 Layla Emerald Divine artsy shot.

Macro on my Emerald rainbows :)

I then felt like a bit of stamping and specifically I thought of China Glaze Refreshmint for a contrasting but subtle look.

I used the Cheeky plates for these designs

The plates have particularly good large designs that will cover even the widest nail beds!

 Oooh, look..homemade lightbox pic. Not too bad

I really love how this mani turned out. The green was just what I wanted and the stamping turned out lovely. So blingy without clawing out ones eyes! I need to catch up on so many polishes that I have been diligently hoarding..and have ordered a few Jindie Nails polishes in the Black Friday sales going on. I just had to have Swoon and Candy Land. There are quite a few Christmas Collections going around and I have been tempted by Pretty & Polished collection. I can't wait see them in person. There are a few Girly Bits I wouldn't mind having but I am trying to be good! I want 'Ornamental my Dear Watson' just for the name :) I am being suckered more and more by clever names of polishes as long as they are great glitter/polish combos.