Nails from the last two weeks..

Hi all

So I've been too busy doing my nails to do a post because I've had nail mail! I ordered the new set from Winstonia - go here http://www.winstonia.com/ and also google other nail blogs, a lot have been sent the plates for review and they also have a 10% off discount code.  I love the images and had trouble deciding which to use first! Here's a quick look at all the plates:

Here's my first mani:

I then decided to show my friend how to do a decal while skyping so ended up replacing my pointer finger with a.....

... pretty rainbow:)

 Turned out great, but took a while with all the different colours (I used nail art pens and painted it on my spare stamper).

I used plate W111 and La Femme Beauty in blue as a base coat & my favourite multi-use posh polish in silver as the stamping colour.

Manicure No. 2.

I used my nail art pens again - this time for dotting as well as two decals. As a base coat I used a sliverly/blue that turned out to look like pearl - S-he stylezone in Wow! Faber (from Hamer) and stamped with Konad special polish in black.

I then stamped a lace/scalloped pattern using an essence plate (also from the Netherlands).

Next I used the lace looking spirals on BM-201 for my thumbs.

Then used nail art pens to dot randomly on my thumbs and on the points on my fingers.

I did a different colour scheme for each hand cause that was the colour I'd made the decals :)

The decals were made using nail art pens and these plates.

I also gave in and ordered the Harry Potter plate from Apipila nails in Brazil (this one took longer in the post and had me checking the mail every day!). http://www.apipila.com.br the site is in Portuguese but google translate works quite well. International orders are done by email (email the plates you want (shipping is the same for up to 4 plates) and make sure you ask for a tracking number (which you can track here).

It's got so many cool designs on it - I of course started with Harry potter (and a few friends).

Manicure No. 3.

Polishes I used for base coats were Cosmiss in Red and Black, my favourite faceshop in green, posh polish (also for stamping), Colour club Miss Sporty in yellow & Konad Special polish in black (for stamping).

Manicure No. 4.

My next mani using this plate was angry birds themed and I attempted to make decals of each character. I managed to lose one up the vaccum cleaner and another got pretty squashed once on my nail (done while I was sleeping, not my fault).

I used La Femme Beauty in Emerald with Barry M 340 in Aqua Glitter for the base coat and Konad Special polish in White & Black for stamping.  I used nail art pens for the decals.

Here's the end result:

Both Thumb & Pinkie nails are the same (thumb is actually watermelons using the Winstonia Plate but looks more like scales to me).

Right hand.

Left hand.

Close up of piglet :)

That's all for now, I'm currently trying to resist ordering the latest Mash plate - it has mermaid scales! haha..

Hope you liked my nails,

Till next manicure

Nikki :o)

Nails from the last few weeks....

Hi again,

It's been a while - been busy organsining my next job and sleeping in :)

Here's my nails from the last few weeks.

I found this silver polish the other day, after being sick of having to paint on 3 plus coats of my silver glitter and having it chip after a day.  Then to make it ever better, I discovered that it stamps perfectly - yay for another stamping colour.  It's Posh Polish by beauty UK, Olympic Silver no. 2.

I then decided to paint each nail a different colour and stamp it with silver.

I used essence Miami Roller Girl in Four Wheel Drive pink, green from the faceshop (in Korea), La Femme Beauty in blue & Hot Looks in Hip Hop orange.

I used BM-322 from Bundle Monsters 2012 collection.

Orange on my thumb, Green on my middle finger.

Blue on my pointer & ring finger and Pink on my little finger.

Next up it was time for Easter nails, I used some of the same colours.

The Faceshop green, Miami Roller Girl in Pink, Miss Sporty in Yellow and Konad Special Polish in Black.

I used the Faceshop green as the base coat, Konad special polish in Black for stamping and dotted with the yellow & pink.

I used the bunny outline stamp for most nails and dotted ontop.

For my accent nails (on my ring fingers), I used the bunny and egg stamp with dots around the outside.

I used BM-302 plate.

The most recent set of nails I've done is for my leaving party, I went for sparkly and simple.

I used Nails inc. special effects in marylebone as the base coat and Konad Special Polish in Black for stamping.

 I used BM-313 for the stamp - it came out looking like dinosaur eggs, which I thought looked kinda cool :)

Hope you liked them all, 

till next manicure

Nikki :o)

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 1 Storybrook/Enchanted Forrest....

So it's been a while - almost a year to be exact since I've last posted. Things such as travel and new jobs have got in the way but now I'm attempting to start again:) It's taken a nail art challenge to give me the push I needed to start blogging again. The details of the challenge can be found here - http://tatjanag.blogspot.co.uk Created by Taya.

As soon as I saw that it was Once Upon A Time I knew I had to give it a go - I'm a wee bit addicted to that show, especially the story line of Snow and Charming :) If you haven't seen it I suggest you check it out, it's a good 45mins escape of TV show.

Today is the 1st day of the challenge and as it's my afternoon off I've manage to get it done (in between re-paints of nails, fixing chips & a broken down car - it's a long story).

Anyway the topic today was Storybrook/Enchanted Forrest - which for those of you who watch Once Upon A Time, the enchanted forrest is in the opening montage every episode.  I was aiming for the look above - so gradient blue, black silhouette trees and once upon a time worked in there somehow too.  Unfortunately, due to lack of a sponge and clashing colours it didn't go exactly to plan but I'm still pretty pleased with the result.


The polishes I used were Rimmel London 198 Azure (from Boots), La Femme Beauty blue (from Kradvat), Essence Nail Colour 3 01 Midnight date (also from Kradvat), Konad special polish in Black and baby blue.

First up started off with using Rimmel London in 198 Azure as my base coat.

(fingerless gloves due to coldness of my room, gotta love old English houses in Winter).

Then added my second colour, the La Femme Beauty Blue.

Then the final colour on the tips, Essence Nail Colour 3 01 Midnight date.

After waiting a REALLY long time for that to dry (usually gradients are done using sponges, but didn't have any to hand so just layered up the polish, ending up with 3 layers on the tips, hence the drying time) moved onto the stamping.

I used tree image from plate BM-225.

I mentioned that there was a long story behind my nails and today - here it is:

1. I added a tree in black and decided that you couldn't see it clear enough.

2. Tried tree again, this time two tone, black on base with blue on top.

3. Felt it needed more so added Once Upon a Time across all my nails using Konad letter stamps in Gold.

4. Decided it was too busy so removed nails, re-did gradient and stamped tree again.

5. Drove to a friends and chipped a nail on the steering wheel.

6. Cursed the Car.

7. Car got it's own back, as on the way home engine died and had to wait 15 mins in the cold minus one glove till it would go again.

8. Made it home and did some retouches.

9. Finally finished and took some pics (didn't have the energy/enthusiasm to fix the edges).

Anyway here is the finished product.

I put the baby blue konad across the top of the stamp and black across the bottom then one quick swipe and I had a two toned tree that showed up great :)

And here is the first attempt - as you can see the letters came out but looked like a bit of a mangled mess :P

The next mani in the challenge is Favourite Villan from Once Upon a Time and pretty sure I've got a character in mind - just gotta work out a mani:)

Till Tuesday

Nikki x

Black & White, Tropical & Royal Purple...

The Gelish is still going strong and it even lasted through a couple of weeks so I had long nails for my brothers wedding :)

Anyway enough about the gelish here are my nails over the last few weeks.

I had a hen's party to go to and the theme was black and white.  My first thought was for my nails, naturally, not my dress.

I went with black base coat  - a NZ$10 cheapy from a pharmacy when I needed black for Halloween one year.

And used Konad special Polish in White on stamp Konad M71.

I chose the lacey pattern in the upper right for all nails except two, which I used the bow in the lower left on to create feature nails just to keep it interesting :D

And the finished result.

 I was pretty pleased with these & got a few comments at the hen's party (and true to my nail addiction I ended up taking my nails with me to the party & doing a few nails :)

Then I was on holiday for two weeks.  As you can see below I took my nail polishes with me & in between sunbathing & drinking did mine & my friends nails.

My next design was inspired by another nail blogger (can't remember what blog but idea wasn't mine to start with).  

My base coat was one of my new revlon polishes I recieved the other day (gave in and ordered 8 online from a sale site, only took 2 months to be delivered but they were only $8 each so a steal).  And I used the Bundle Monster plate, BM-210 and the pattern in the top right, stamped in Konad Special Polish in White.  I then coloured in the middle of the pattern with Sally Hansen nail art pen in Blue.

Final look.

Kinda tropical I thought :) Didn't really wear that well though, rubbed off rather quickly.

For my last manicure I went back to using the gelish as my base again (so purple) and cause it had grown out so far I had to cover up the regrowth at the bottom.  I decided on a kind of reverse french manicure, with the tips at the base.  Sure there is a technical name for it but I never remember these things.

I used another of my new revlon polishes as the 'cover up' colour at the bottom, Endless possiblities.  Although it looks purple in this picture, its more like a peach/nude colour.

I stamped in Konad special polish in purple and used Bundle Monster plate BM17 as well as BM08 to add a little 'royality' to the look :)

And the end result.

Another 2 weeks of nails to come... going on holiday doesn't work with nail blogging so well :)

Till next week

Nikki

:o)