Monday 29 September 2014

Lost my Enchanted virginity and everyone said Congratulations

...cause this is my first Enchanted Polish ever and I am so happy to have spent my first time with Congratulations, a drop dead stupid awesome extremely fall appropriate copper duochrome with holo FOR DAYZ. Freehanded silhouette of an appropriately enchanted castle and evil/mystical vibe to boot, plus some plain swatches below.

Enchanted Polish Congratulations
 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Saturday 27 September 2014

Cirque Burlesque Fall 2014 collection

Sexy nails alert!! This is Cirque Color's new Burlesque collection, launched for Fall 2014. Spoiler alert: They are all holo, I love them, and I'm dying they are so pretty. These are of course swatches with a twist, and sticking with the Burlesque theme I freehanded some random lace-like designs over a couple nails.

Cirque Burlesque collection

Thursday 25 September 2014

Colour-shifty action with colour blocks and studs

Total random alert! And it's not even a gradient! (wtf?) I was playing around with the new right angle nail vinyls from Nailvinyls.com and got to thinkin': What design can I make out with these that I probably could have used straight vinyls to create so I just wasted those right angles for no reason? Sigh. Whatever, it is definitely easier to get straight right angles with right angle vinyls (obv, duh), and the colour shiftiness of this mani makes up for it. Colour shifting base polish is ILNP Masquerade (H) from their new fall collection which I've swatched with a twist here. The really cool also shifty rhinestone-stud thingies are from Born Pretty Store, love 'em!

ILNP Masquerade ultra chrome chameleon studs
 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Monday 22 September 2014

Neon orange starburst scaled gradient

Ever been to the edge of the sun? It might look like this: Ohhh maa gawddd ow ow ow that's some hot hot neon. A hot neon orange starburst scaled gradient indeed cause summer ain't never ending!! I also had a little ad hoc fun with this mani, check out the pics at the bottom of this post!

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Friday 19 September 2014

Neon holo jelly gradient over black and white crosshatch

Oops I did it again... couldn't help myself cause black and white is just so not colourful. Over my classic black and white crosshatch mani I filled in some of the white lines with black and then dabbed on a gradient consisting of pink, purple and blue neon holo jelly polishes from Beyond the Nail. I've reviewed and swatched them on their own and over black here.


Sorry guys, no video because this mani was the product of expermenting and not having a clue what would turn out. Kind of challenging to film and edit a video in which you keep changing your mind. If there's enough love for this design I could recreate it though!

Thursday 18 September 2014

A black tie affair: Classic B&W striping tape mani

Don't yell at me when I call this mani simple, cause I know people on Instagram already have. Let me explain: When I use the term 'simple' I don't mean simple in the execution context but rather in the end result appearance. It is simple because it is a 'cross hatch' pattern with no deviations from that pattern thoroughout, and because it is consistent across all nails, therefore making the pattern simple. The execution of this pattern, however, is somewhat (ha, I say somewhat) time consuming given that each and every white stripe you see is the product of hand placed pieces of striping tape. A striping tape massacre indeed!

This design is a reincarnation of a similar triple-lined cross hatch pattern I did in July, but this time without added the extra blocks of colour around the diamond/square intersections.

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Monday 15 September 2014

Work appropriate mani Monday: Nude holo gradient and freehand black stuff

Just slippin' in a work appropriate mani Monday post here and I'm going to pretend like I've been routinely doing these... err yup, yes I am.

A simple nude holo gradient with two beauties from Cirque Colours topped off with some freehand what appears to be leaf-like design with random swirls, cause what else do I do with freehand manis, let's be honest. Swirls or die.

I, of course, used my cuticle oil trick to yield clean, smooth lines with my sumi brush! Check out my post and video tutorial on this nail art hack here.

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Thursday 11 September 2014

Pink agate rocks using seafoam sponging technique

About a month ago I posted a turquoise agate rock like mani using the same seafoam sponging technique you see here, but truth be told I did these pink ones first, teehee. They've been in my blog header for over a month now, c'mon people where's your attention at?! In any case it is clear that I was directly inspired by the Base Coat Top Coat's pink agate rock nails, but clearly her detail is beyond my freehanding abilities. See my first freehanded failed attempt below!

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Tuesday 9 September 2014

Déjà vu? Black and holo starburst scaled gradient with blinged out accent nail

So yes, this mani definitely looks like one I've posted recently, i.e., the triple starburst holo and black scaled gradient design I did for Nailpolis' celebration mani contest (which btw I didn't win, sad face). But I actually did this mani before the triple (pics are dated Aug 10), so what you see here was my first attempt at a starburst scaled gradient! I shyed away from attempting the triple off the bat, but my order of posting makes things look really deceptive, doesn't it? Muhaha.

Starburst nail vinys are from Nailvinyls.com, and evidently I added an accent nail featuring two infamous holo glitter polishes from Painted Polish by Lexi.

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Monday 8 September 2014

Mani swap: Freehand dandelion silhouettes and a reincarnation of the very first scaled gradient

Mani swap time! The lovely Maria of Konad Nails asked me to do this with her. Maria is known for her stamping creations and while I don't have many stamping plates (never mind stamping abilities),  her stamped dandelion mani struck my fancy and so I freehanded my recreation. Maria dove deep and recreated the very first scaled gradient I ever did! A challenge well executed.


Also of note: Look at how different my nail length/condition is just 4 months later!! What the?! Magic? Sorcery? No, just proper nail care - Check out what I've done and continue to do on my Nail Care page :)

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Friday 5 September 2014

Simple right angle mani inspired by one of my fav hand creams

Hurrah for inspiration from anywhere! This time I was mostly intrigued by the colour palette of one of my fav hand creams, Bath & Body Works' True Blue Spa Shea Cashmere & Silk cream. The photos on their website seem a little off in colour compared to their packaging in real life, so just ignore that and pay more attention to my pics. Who would have thought a bright blue-nearly-turquoise creme paired so well with medium browns?!

Right angle nails - Bath and Body Works
 
VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!