Christmas Day Nails 2014

I waited forever for my snowflake plate from MoYou London and it arrived just in time for me to have snowflake nails on Christmas Day, to remind me of the cold freezing cold Christmas's in the UK.

Sunlight

On to my mani then one coat of Ulta3 Seeing Red a sheer red to give my nails a pinkish hue. I then did freehand french tips using Ulta3 Lily White followed by one coat of Ozotic Beam 907 to add shimmer and sparkle and hide any imperfections in my french tips. And then the piece de resistance three snowflakes on each nail from MoYou London Festive Collection 02 using Cult Nails Lethal, Mundo de Unas white and #5 Turquoise. Topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. I thought my thumb nail was the best one though!
 

Merry Christmas Everyone x

Red Letter Day Means Red Carpet Treatment!

Yes our red letter day, well weekend actually, was my daughter and her family spending the weekend with us so that we could have Christmas celebrations with the grandchildren. Father Christmas visited and my mani matched his coat, although the grandchildren did not get to see the perfect match. Unfortunately the time went by all too quick and they were gone leaving us both suffering from colds which the grandchildren were kind enough to share with us!

These photos don't seem to be showing the true sparkle that is Pretty Serious Red Carpet Treatment which is part of the Rooftop Soiree collection. This was three coats although two would have been more than enough. I was going for some serious bling here!

I would also like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year

Moments Til Midnight!

I haven't worn glitter mani's for so long now, I've almost forgotten how striking they can be! After my Pretty Serious Golden Ticket mani I couldn't wait to try some more glitter polishes from the Pretty Serious Rooftop Soiree collection. So the first one out of the box is Moments Til Midnight which looks like being the Cinderella of the collection as I have not seen as many reviews of it and yet it is my favourite! I just love blue polish and this one is no exception. It's a wonderful navy blue jelly jam packed with different sized gold holographic hexes and is seriously gorgeous!

As you can see the sunlight has bled out all the rich colour from my photo but it doesn't do this in real life. (Might have to fiddle around with my camera settings grrr) So on to my mani then, two coats of Pretty Serious Moments Til Midnight followed by two coats of Seche Vite to make my mani glassy smooth.

OMG! A Golden Ticket!!

Pretty Serious Cosmetics recently held a pre-sale event for their Rooftop Soiree Collection,  which has six gorgeous glitter shades perfect for the forthcoming party season with each sure to match or enhance your party outfit. Oh Glitter! be still my beating heart. And if that wasn't enough Pretty Serious also released a Limited Edition of just 100 Evie's First Christmas a beautiful vibrant red with red and gold shimmer it looks just stunning in the bottle and I can't wait to wear it. But even more rare was the Limited Edition Golden Ticket randomly put into just 15 packages and guess what I was lucky enough to get one! I was super excited when I realized what it was and my work colleagues were also very interested to find out what all the fuss was about!
 

And I had the perfect occasion to wear it at our works Christmas Luncheon held at a stunning waterside location in Sydney. It was a perfect day. On to my mani then, two coats of Pretty Serious Golden Ticket followed by a Seche Vite top coat.

A Bit Of A Do!

Yes it's that time of year again when I'm wined and dined by my employer for a job well done along with everyone else! I'm afraid I wasn't really up to it this year but I tagged along and this is my mani I wore to match my turquoise lace dress. So two coats of Dior Diorific Lady stamped with MoYou London Gothic Collection 04 using Mundo De Unas Turquoise #5

And I'm Back With Enchanted Polish!

Well we've moved, we are nearly tidy with just a few stray boxes left and my nails have grown a bit so all is good. Femme Fatale had a grab your Enchanted Polish wish list type sale on just recently and I naturally had to take part! Amongst the colours I got was this beautiful holographic gold called The Good Life and there you have my tenuous link for this post!
 

Adventures in Stamping a facebook page had been awash with white and gold mani's. I could not believe how beautiful they all looked so I jumped on the bandwagon with Enchanted Polish The Good Life stamped with MoYou London's Gothic Collection 04 using Mundo De Unas White

What With Moving And Nubs -

Well we have finally moved and I'm afraid a couple of nails didn't make it! Neither did the TV but that is a whole other story! So no nail polish for the week of moving mainly because I couldn't locate everything followed by a week of so short nails leaves me searching through the archives to find my birthday nails from last month!
 

They had to be blue of course my favourite colour so I chose Cirque Midsummer Night stamped with MoYou London Zodiac Collection 08 Virgo using Cult Nails Lethal my go to silver stamping polish.

Roll On Summer!

After days of sunshine I thought Summer must surely be here soon so I decided to do a really firey sunshiney mani! The minute I had it on my mitts the weather turned grey for a couple of days. But we are now back on track so all is good.

Seeing quite a few mani's with different but connected designs, I thought I would have a go too. And I must say I'm quite pleased at how these turned out. 

On to my mani then two coats of Barry M Blueberry for the bright Summer blue skies I'm expecting with an accent nail in Barry M Mango. I then stamped with MoYou London Zodiac Collection 07 the Leo plate using Mundo De Unas #11 Yellow and #53 Geranium. And to give this mani extra sparkle a quick coat of Northan Lights Hologram top coat gold before finishing with Seche Vite.

Something Simple!

Having seen a lot of mani's that are just a neutral nail plus stamping in white aka the famous bridal nails which are in fact stickers I thought I would do the same but in colour and not the same image! Plus I had just bought a new gorgeous top with these beautiful spring colours so... 

On to my mani then, just my regular base coat I use Trind Nail Repair Stamped with Barry M Blackberry a dark teal blue and Barry M Key Lime (the name speaks for itself) which I found didn't really show up as much as Barry M Blackberry so I stamped over the top of that with Barry M Kiwi using MoYou London Bridal Collection 07. And then top coated with Seche Vite I seriously cannot live without that stuff! And I must just say that Barry M polishes are divine and the Hi Shine's stamp beautifully. 

Water Marbling Success!

Well success of a sort! I don't know how I did it with regards to water temperature other than it was tepid i.e. not cold straight from the tap because I put some warm water in it too. I tried making a pretty pattern too, but that wasn't as easy as it looks on all the tutorials. And I didn't like some of the patterns on my nails so I just covered those up with stamping!

 
On to my mani then, two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White followed by Seche Vite. Then my water marble using Jade Safire Dream the blue with turquoise micro glitter, Jade Fascinto Violeta a holographic Violet and Jade Over the Rainbow a holographic reddish pink. Next having seen some nails didn't look very water marbly(!) I stamped over the top using MoYou London Explorer Collection 22 my most favourite plate with Kleancolor Metallic Fuschia, top coated with Seche Vite and called it a day!

Citrine Seduction!

Just how cool is that name? Jade Citrine Seduction! I just love orange nails (who'd have thought it? Certainly not me all those years ago). Citrine Seduction is just bursting with orange micro glitter which dries matte so doesn't show its true beauty until you've used an ultra glossy top coat. Below is a shade picture which shows that in more detail.

On to my mani then, two coats of Jade Citrine Seduction one would have sufficed but I did two just in case. And because its a matte polish and ultra quick drying I didn't top coat before the stamping! So that is in fact Sinful Colors Snow Me White! Which turned a very pale orange the minute I top coated with Seche Vite. I actually loved this although the contrast was not as much as I originally intended. The plates I used were MoYou London Explorer Collection 27 on my fingers and the same larger image on my thumbs from MoYou London Explorer Collection 26.

Barry M Pink Punch

This was another Barry M polish that my husband chose for me called Pink Punch. It is a bright Barbie pink and I'm afraid once it was on my nails I thought it was too pink! I am so not a pink person. So I immediately covered it up with lace from the MoYou London Bridal Collection 07 using Sinful Colors Snow Me White. And in real life you do not notice those incredibly huge voids in the fine lines of stamping. Whilst this is pretty I am not exactly that enamoured with this mani.

Barry M Blood Orange, A Beautiful Gift!

Well my Hubby returned from overseas bearing the one gift that I craved and is so hard to find as to be almost non-existent in Australia, Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paints by Barry M and yes they really do need their full title! They are gorgeous and so so shiny! I am so pleased with the colours he has chosen and can't thank him enough for getting them for me. Whilst they are not jellies in the strictest sense of the word they are beautifully pigmented and you could almost get away with one coat. I however have used two.
 

And a shade picture, this was two coats of Barry M Gelly Blood Orange which is more scarlet or a true red than orange stamped with MoYou London Fashionista Collection 08 and the same image but the larger version on MoYou London Fashionista Collection 07 on my thumb (which I neglected to take a photo of) using Kleancolor Metallic Black. Followed by the obligatory top coat of Seche Vite.

OPI How Great Is Your Dane?

OPI How Great Is Your Dane (a cool toned brown) is part of OPI's Nordic Collection which is their fall release for the rest of the World who are rapidly tumbling into Autumn now! In Australia its a whole different ball game, we are in the last throe's of Winter with non-stop rain, but as you can see I did happen on a patch of sunlight!

In order to brighten up my mani and myself I decided to try some stamping with Jade Mirage a beautiful emerald green. The results are very subtle as you can see! Still they looked nice in the sun that managed to shine for all of ten minutes. On to my mani then three coats of OPI How Great Is Your Dane? Stamped with Jade Mirage using MoYou London Explorer 26 for the smaller images on my ring and pinkie fingers and MoYou London Explorer 27 for the larger image on my middle finger.

Cirque Colors Kontiki Collection

I was so in love with Cirque Color Kontiki Collection that I just had to get them, and I was not disappointed either when they arrived, they are even prettier in person! Cirque Color Thicker Than Water is a bright turquoise jelly with gold to green colour-shifting shimmers and holo micro glitters. Dear Dahlia is a hot fuchsia jelly with green to blue colour shifting shimmers and holo micro glitters. Whilst Midsummer Night is a dark cobalt blue jelly with coppery red to green colour-shifting shimmers and holo micro glitters. 
And there was only one mani that I could think of to do using these gorgeous colours and that was a sunset.
 

On to my mani then, I sponged on a gradient using all three colours to give a sunset like effect and then stamped MoYou London Explorer Collection 23 using Kleancolor Metallic Black. By this time my fingers were a complete mess and I really didn't think I could keep this mani on. However one top coat of Seche Vite followed by a long laborious clean up process later, I am actually quite pleased how this mani turned out. And I am still wearing it a week later!

Perfection!!

Perfection? I hear you all ask. No, not my nails and no not my stamping technique, which is basic to say the least. Perfection is MoYou London Explorer Collection 22. This plate is just so gorgeous and perfect, it is a must, MUST have in anybodies collection its that good! Not only that I ordered this plate when it was released on Friday and it was in Sydney in my hot sticky little hands by Monday!
  

On to my mani then, three coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff and then stamped with Kleancolor Metallic Fuschia using various parts of the the most perfect of plates MoYou London Explorer Collection 22. Followed of course by a top coat of Seche Vite.

Toffee Apples!

Strange title I know, but my nails remind me of the colour of toffee apples that I loved as a child and still do. I really looked forward to October, November when they were a treat mmmm that red toffee so yummy.

 

Anyway a picture of toffee apples courtesy of google.
 

On to my mani then three coats of Ulta3 Red Velvet a vibrant cherry red which is one of Ulta3's new Autumn/Winter releases with one coat of Nubar 2010. Nubar 2010 was one of the first polishes that I saw on someones blog and had to get all those years ago. I recently purchased another bottle because that old one is over half used. That's how much I use it. Nubar 2010 is just jam packed with orange gold flakies that can turn green as well (my camera never picks up that shift though grrr). Followed by one coat of Seche Vite.
 

I have been trying to do more with my camera and you get to see those results... so here is a close up shot so you can see that the flakies are spread so evenly across the nail.

MoYou London Tropical!

Well I just couldn't help myself, I got the entire Tropical set from MoYou London which was launched just recently. In fact I ordered on the Friday that they were released and they were in my hot sticky little mitts in Sydney the very next Friday! The designs are just beautiful, my execution not so much.

I was going to do a dark base and then decided at the last minute to go with a nude base Ulta3 Creme Brulee mainly because I couldn't be bothered to go and hunt out the colour I had originally chosen and instead used the one closest to hand. And that's the part I am not particularly enamoured with. Anyhoo moving swiftly on I then stamped MoYou London Tropical Collection 02 on my pinkie, ring and index and Tropical Collection 04 on my middle and thumb with a Mundo De Unas #52 Lemon Tree a lime green. I then stamped various images from Tropical 05 using Mundo De Unas #15 Mexican Pink, #32 Reddish and #54 Iris.

More Stripes!

I wanted something simple to wear so chose zebra stripes! And I just love how dramatic they looked. I also preferred my left hand ending in the black stripe too! Sorry for the awkward camera pose but I had to show you how much better it looked.
 

Moving swiftly on, this was Sinful Colors Snow Me White, my go to white for everything, stamped with MoYou London Pro Collection XL 04 using Kleancolor Metallic Black.

Be Still My Beating Heart!

Yes be still my beating heart, Picture Polish have brought out a new collaboration shade that will knock your socks off! I just love, Love, LOVE Picture Polish Eerie! The other Picture Polish that I adore above all others, Wisteria a lavender cream, has a serious contender and I have to say Eerie just wins out as it also has holo shimmer along with silver, blue, green and pink irregular sized shimmer! 
 

On to my mani then, two coats of Picture Polish Eerie which applied flawlessly, I then stamped delicate flowers from MoYou London Pro Collection XL 11 using Sinful Colors Snow Me White, all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. I loved this particular mani so much that I wore it for longer than a week, this particular mani looked so ethereal!

Bad Romance?

  
Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance is a beautiful blackened purple with multi-sized fuchsia pink hexs in it. Would I have called it Bad Romance? Not really I would have gone for something to do with black cherries because that's the sort of colour it is!

So on to my mani then, three coats of Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance over two coats of Skin Food's version of glitter off. (A cheap eBay find that works perfectly and even better than some others I have tried!) And then accent nails stamped using Mundo De Unas #15 Mexican Pink with MoYou London Pro Collection XL 11, the cherry blossom image and that's your tenuous link for today. All topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Mermaid Bling!

Yes I've ventured into the world of bling! As if my mani's weren't out there enough I've now gone down the road of further embellishment! I picked up more than a few bags of glass crystals and assorted pearls for about $10 along with a wax pencil for picking up the small blighters from eBay. This was my first attempt and I've only done one accent nail on each hand. 

On to my mani then, Ulta3 Block It Out, stamped with my favourite silver Cult Nails Lethal using MoYou London Sailor Collection 05 to give a lovely mermaid scale effect. I then used an ordinary slow drying top coat on my accent nail and carefully placed my crystals and pearls in haphazard random order! I then top coated everything with Seche Vite. This took some of the beauty away form the pearls but didn't effect the glass crystals at all. I'm still wearing this mani now and am loathe to take it off, its just so much fun.
The most outrageous comment I have received thus far is "I bet you don't do any housework with those nails"?! I mean come on its a mani it doesn't stop me doing anything! lol
What has been your most outrageous comment concerning your mani?

Tyger! Tyger! Burning Bright

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright. 

In the forests of the night, 

what immortal hand or eye, 

could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The opening verse to my favourite poet William Blake's poem, it is also the first poem I learnt off by heart at junior school for an English Speaking Certificate which I still have (along with the rest of the certificates I have accumulated along the way to do with History and English).

Anyway moving right along...

 

On to my mani two coats of Ulta3 Creme Brulee, a slightly greyed beige nude, extremely flattering to most skin tones, with a stripe of Kleancolor Metallic Orange down the centre of each nail. I probably should have sponged this on to make the demarcation lines softer, but I didn't. I then used MoYou London Pro Collection XL 04 to stamp on the tiger stripes with Kleancolor Metallic Black. All topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I absolutely adored my tiger nails, and I probably would wear this all the time, but others would get bored! On a side note the family came to stay and the grandchildren loved my tiger nails too, so by the end of the first day we all had beautiful tiger stripes.

MoYou London Mother Nature 10

Mmmm I'm afraid I couldn't really think of a title for this, and to be quite fair I'm not loving this mani either. I can't even pinpoint why this is not working for me, perhaps its to do with my love for order and symmetry! And yet I have seen so many similar mani's on the Internet that look so pretty, that I was eager to do my own. Anyway I will leave it for another day or two to see if this mani grows on me!

On to my mani then, three coats of one of Ulta3's new colours for the Australian Autumn Blackberry Tart a gorgeous berry coloured jelly. I just love the squishiness of  jelly polishes and I must get some more of them. Stamped with Sinful Colors Snow Me White using MoYou London Mother Nature 10. And I was so excited to be using the OPI sheer tints in I'm Never Amberrassed (yellow), Be Magentale With Me (pink), Don't Violet Me Down (amethyst) and I Can Teal You Like Me (blue). Although there didn't seem to be much difference between the pink and amethyst colours, I do love the sheer tints and will definitely be using them again.