China Glaze - DV8

I love me a good holo and while the China Glaze OMG collection are not the best holos available, they sure are pretty!

Today I have DV8 to show you.

It is described as a sea green/blue.  A teal.  Gorgeous.

This is two coats topped with SV.  I find that the holo effect is not dulled by the addition of top coat, so that's awesome, as top coat usually means prolonged wear.  Though this manicure chipped quite quickly, a down-point to holos.

In other news, I have finally joined the helmer owners group and feel like a REAL nail polish enthusiast now that I own one.

I wish I'd ordered two, as unfortunately the helmer has been discontinued in Adelaide and Perth.  Bummer!

x

Aussie Nails Monday - Green

Today's theme for Aussie Nails Monday is GREEN.

Funnily enough I have been fairly fond of green nails lately and my last few manicures have been green.  It's blue week all over again!

I decided on doing something really simple today.  So I present to you my first half moon manicure.

Again, they are far from perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

I started with a base of Orly Fresh then once they were dry (I painted the Orly Fresh the day before... just to be sure) and then used hole reinforcers to tape off the half moon. I then painted on CG Exotic Encounters and topped that with Cult Nails Hypnotise Me.  I love the glittery goodness of Hypnotise Me.

I struggled a bit with the polish drying and starting to pull when I removed the hole reinforcer, maybe if I just did the China Glaze, it wouldn't have been a problem, but oh well, I handled it, lol.

I topped everything off with two coats of SV.  I did two coats because I wanted it smooth and didn't want to feel the ridge where the CG and Cult Nails was painted on.

Next week's theme is BLING BLING.  Soooooo many possibilities!

Please check out the other awesome nails from the rest of the ANM crew:

Ten Little Nubs -

Nail Gun XS -

Marie’s Manicure Madhouse -

Shatter Me Claire -

A Polished Prance -

Shades of Phoenix -

The Epitome of Superficiality -

Lacquer Dreams -

NananaisNails -

Enamoured With Enamel -

Adelle1985 -

Kelly's Kolors -

Polished Peripherals -

Every Little Polish -

Mel My Issta -

Walk In My Eyeshadow -

JennLojko -

Erinzi’s Nails -

Lovessweetas -

Jas’ Blingtastic Nails -

Mckfresh -

Maedaynails -

Lili_Bete -

The Reluctant Femme -

Lacquer and Leather -

Messy Mansion -

Nailovelogy -

adnoronda -

It's All About The

Polish -

Pretty Polish Please -

polished_off -

jennersx -

thepolishedclaw -

Julzperrinails -

Caylah -

Tash -

Nails In Oz -

Nailed By Jasmine -

lilyandjinks -

Eternal Dreamer -

Oh My Gosh Polish -

staceymeldrum -

radjecca -

shannen_arrowsmith -

Lily Loves Louise -

Tracy -

Kate

Cirque - Hellebore

A quick one today.

This polish left me absolutely floored.  It was gorgeous.

Hellebore is a mix of light green, pink and fuchsia glitter.  It was fully opaque in three coats.

This glitter was THIRSTY!  I ended up using FOUR - yep, FOUR - coats of SV to make it glassy smooth. In hindsight I should have used a coat of Essence Gel Look Top Coat before the SV, but I didn't...

Cirque sure do make a gorgeous polish!

x

Contrary Polish - The Way I Am

Today I am showing you a polish that I had high hopes for.  It was number one on my list of Contrary Polish must haves.

I don't know if it is just my skin tone, but I was left kind of disappointed.

The Way I Am is from the Love Lyrics collection and is described as a pale avocado green with fuschia shimmer/microglitter.

The swatches I saw of this left me drooling.  I wanted it.

But as I mentioned above, I felt it looked a bit blah on me.

I applied three coats for full opacity.  It applied beautifully.  I topped it off with a layer of Posche.  I think I may have solved my top coat shrinkage problems.  I stopped using SV and Posche due to tip shrinkage. But now I have master wrapping my tips, I find it's not a problem anymore.  Sweet!

Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely colour, just maybe not for me.  It is still super pretty to look at in the bottle though!

Contrary Polish is easily available to us Aussie girls through Femme Fatale Cosmetics for $10.90 a bottle.

Accidental Christmas Nails

After the semi-fail of yesterday's floral nails, I decided to delve into my untrieds basket and with the intent to practice my dotting I decided on red and gold.

Yep.  That's right.  Red AND gold.  Together.

I seriously don't know what I was thinking.  First I thought of red and black, then quickly scrapped that due to the potential ladybug references.  Then I was thinking red and white, but then decided the white wouldn't go too well with the shade of red I had chosen.  I saw my still untried bottle of Essence As Gold As It Gets and with the intent of incorporating it somehow into my manicure, I then landed on the decision of gold.  My bottle of OPI Goldeneye was also still in my untrieds basket.  Sweet.  Three untrieds in one manicure!

Here is the result.  I also ended up layering CG Golden Enchantment over the Essence to make it more sparkly.

My dotting could use some work, but I'm still pretty impressed by how easy it is.  I think next time I will try smaller dots.

The red I used was OPI Danke Shiny Red, a gorgeous shimmery red from the 2012 Germany Collection.  OPI cops a lot of flack for the endless number of reds it spits out each year, but they sure do know how to make a good red polish.  I am yet to be disappointed by an OPI red.

So there you have it.  My accidental Christmas nails...

x

Aussie Nails Monday - Floral

Today's ANM theme is Floral.  As I mentioned last week, I already had something in mind, but unfortunately it did not pan out exactly how I had envisioned.

Oh well.  Here they are:

I started with a base of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook.  By now you have probably guessed that I really like this blue.  I have worn it quite a few times in the past couple of weeks.

I then applied a thick layer of top coat and using my tweezers applied two dried flowers that I bought from Born Pretty Store.  I then applied another couple of layers of top coat to try to get it smooth.  On my other fingers - because I find it very difficult to keep them plain, lol - I applied one coat of Loony Lacquer Pearl Morpho.

After I had finished this manicure I ummed and ahhed for a while trying to decide if I like it.  I decided that I did.  For a first attempt with dried flowers, I thought I'd done pretty good.  Unfortunately, two hours later the top coat under my quick dry top coat was still not quite dry and I started to accidentally dint my nails.

I would have kept this manicure on if I knew I would have time tomorrow to remove it and do new nails.  Unfortunately, every Monday for the rest of term will be epic for me, with me not getting home from work until after 8pm.  And I can safely assume that I will not be in the mood to do my nails!

So off it went.  I wish I could say my next manicure was super awesome, but unfortunately my colour choice leans towards a Christmassy theme...  I'll show you guys what I mean tomorrow!

Next week's theme is Green.  I'm not too sure what I'll do with that...  I have heaps of green polishes, but I'm not sure exactly what I'll do...

Please take a look at the awesome floral nails of my fellow ANM members.  The ones I have already seen are pretty freakin' amazing.

Ten Little Nubs -

Nail Gun XS -

Marie’s Manicure Madhouse -

Shatter Me Claire -

A Polished Prance -

Shades of Phoenix -

The Epitome of Superficiality -

Lacquer Dreams -

NananaisNails -

Enamoured With Enamel -

Adelle1985 -

Kelly's Kolors -

Polished Peripherals -

Every Little Polish -

Mel My Issta -

Walk In My Eyeshadow -

JennLojko -

Erinzi’s Nails -

Lovessweetas -

Jas’ Blingtastic Nails -

Mckfresh -

Maedaynails -

Lili_Bete -

The Reluctant Femme -

Lacquer and Leather -

Messy Mansion -

Nailovelogy -

adnoronda -

It's All About The Polish -

Pretty Polish Please -

polished_off -

jennersx -

thepolishedclaw -

Julzperrinails -

Caylah -

Tash -

Nails In Oz -

Nailed By Jasmine -

lilyandjinks -

Eternal Dreamer -

Oh My Gosh Polish -

staceymeldrum -

radjecca -

shannen_arrowsmith -

Lily Loves Louise -

Tracy -

Kate

Pahlish - Still Alive

Holy dooly, I think I may just have a new favourite polish.

Pahlish Still Alive is a gorgeous teal jelly with a mix of iridescent glitter, gold shimmer and gold microflakes.  In the bottle it is absolutely stunning, and on the nail it was even better!

I found it so incredibly difficult to capture the true beauty of this polish.  Maybe I really need to seriously consider investing in a lightbox...

I layered this lovely over Revlon Emerald City - another equally gorgeous green polish that I have found myself reaching for quite often in the past few weeks.

I know I say this every time, but I was seriously mesmerised by this polish.  I was at a PD the day after I put this on and I spent the majority of the time staring at my nails at different angles!

Yep, I think it's fair to say that this polish has made it in to my top 5 Faves.

x

Alanna Renee - Mardi

Now, I admit that I am pretty late to the Alanna Renee party.  And I am kicking myself for not getting some of her gorgeous polishes sooner.

Alanna Renee is another fantastic Aussie indie brand that launched in January this year.  For a fairly new indie brand, her success is going gangbusters and her polish is already being sold through international stockists.  Yay for awesome Aussie indies!

Over the Easter long weekend, I bought four gorgeous polishes from Alanna Renee and the first one I tried was Mardi.

Mardi is a mix of pink hex glitter and small gold glitter in a pink base.  Simply stunning.

I decided to do an accent of OPI A Woman's Prague-ative an orange copper with gold shimmer.  I felt the gold shimmer matched the small gold glitter in Mardi quite well.

I loved this manicure so much!  While my craptastic photo doesn't capture the gold shimmer in Mardi on my nail, you can see it quite well in the bottle (and it does show very well on the nail too, just not in this pic!).

Mardi applied like a dream and only required 2-3 coats for full opacity.

Alanna Renee is available to us Aussie gals through her website for $7.99 a bottle.  For international gals, her polishes are available through Shoppe Eclectico and Color4Nails (facebook).

Alanna Renee has just released a brand new collection - Magical World - inspired by Harry Potter.  Now, I've only ever watched one Harry Potter movie and have read NONE of the books, but I NEED nearly all of the polishes in that collection!  I am on a no/low-buy right now, but come May and I will be back on her site buying those gorgeous polishes!

Until next time...

x

Aussie Nails Monday - Polka Dots

Quick one today.  This week's ANM theme was Polka Dots.  Other than the sprinkles on my cupcakes last week, I haven't used my dotting tools properly until today.

I was too chicken to do the typical 'dotticure' as I was concerned that I would struggle to keep it straight, lol.  So I did some googling and decided on this simple and very forgiving design.

I used a base colour of Cult Nails Let Me Fly, a dusty turquoise shimmer.  Then dotted on the following polishes in various sized dots:

Essie - Pretty Edgy
Essie - Mojito Madness
China Glaze - For Audrey
Revlon - Emerald City

Today I also used a paint palette for the first time.  I picked it up from Officeworks for about $3.  Now I need to work out how to clean it without destroying the plastic...

Dotting was surprisingly easy.  You need a steady hand, but it is a great and easy introduction to nail art.  I think I might actually try dotting again very soon with ambitions of attempting the typical dotticure.

Next week's theme is floral and I already know what I'm going to do (or try to do) and I'm pretty excited!

Please check out the other lovely ladies who participate in ANM - they are a talented bunch!

Ten Little Nubs -

Nail Gun XS -

Marie’s Manicure Madhouse -

Shatter Me Claire -

A Polished Prance -

Shades of Phoenix -

The Epitome of Superficiality -

Lacquer Dreams -

NananaisNails -

Enamoured With Enamel -

Adelle1985 -

Kelly's Kolors -

Polished Peripherals -

Every Little Polish -

Mel My Issta -

Walk In My Eyeshadow -

JennLojko -

Erinzi’s Nails -

Lovessweetas -

Jas’ Blingtastic Nails -

Mckfresh -

Maedaynails -

Lili_Bete -

The Reluctant Femme -

Lacquer and Leather -

Messy Mansion -

Nailovelogy -

adnoronda -

It's All About The Polish -

Pretty Polish Please -

polished_off -

jennersx -

thepolishedclaw -

Julzperrinails -

Caylah -

Tash -

Nails In Oz -

Nailed By Jasmine -

lilyandjinks -

Eternal Dreamer -

Oh My Gosh Polish -

staceymeldrum -

radjecca -

shannen_arrowsmith -

Lily Loves Louise -

Tracy -

Kate

My Nail Space

Last week I finally bit the bullet and mail ordered my very first IKEA Helmer.  My polish collection is quickly multiplying and I was running out of room.  My untrieds basket is literally overflowing and the plastic stackable drawers I use to store my nail polish are starting to buckle under the weight of all of the pretties.

I've been contemplating my nail space for a while now.  Dreaming up improvements and alterations to make it a really workable, but inviting space.

I love getting a sticky beak at other nail enthusiasts spaces - whether it be a whole room, a corner, a bookshelf or a floor set-up.  So I thought I would share with you my current space.

I took quite a few pictures, so for the first time, I will be trying the 'jump break'.  If you want to see more of my nail space, please continue reading after the break.

Nomination for Best Blog Award!

The gorgeous Sarah at Lily Loves Louise has nominated me for a Best Blog Award.  My first blog award/tag.  Yay!

The rules for this award are to answer the questions asked of you by the blog that nominated you, then you need to nominated up to 20 other blogs with less than 200 followers and ask 11 questions of them.

Questions:

1. If you were trapped on a desert island, what would be the one beauty product you couldn't live without?

Ummm...  gee... a beauty item.  Well, since it's a desert island, I would probably have to go for a good foundation with a decent SPF (I burn very easily).

2.  What nail polish is your single favourite, above all others?  

I have to pick just ONE?!  That's a tough one...  I guess if I had to choose one it would have to be OPI Absolutely Alice.  I spent three days absolutely hypnotised by it.

3.  What is your favourite least-known beauty tip?

I'm not really in the know with unknown beauty tips.  I pretty much only know the 'known' beauty tips, lol.  I'd say probably apply your concealer/illuminator AFTER you apply your foundation.  I used to apply it first, but have read it should go on after.

4.  How many siblings do you have?

I have two siblings.  A little sister (3 years younger) and a little brother (6 years younger).  They're awesome.

5.  What inspired you to start blogging?  Another blog, a life experience?

I actually started blogging a little over a year ago to chronicle my journey with weight loss as well as discuss some of the other stuff that was going on in my life - in particular food.  As my infatuation with polish increased, it started to appear more frequently on my blog and at the beginning of this year, I officially made the transition and now don't really blog about my weight or food at all.

6.  What is your favourite colour?

Again, another hard one!  I guess I would say blue.

7.  Have you ever felt disheartened in your blogging experience?

Yep.  Towards the end of last year I contemplated closing my blog.  I only had two followers (my sister and friend) and I was uninspired and wasn't cooking as much.  When I made the transition to the focus on nails, I still didn't (and often still don't) think I'm good enough and I have less than 20 followers.  But the thing that keeps me going is watching my progress and even if no-one else reads my blog, I am enjoying having an outlet for my journey.

8.  Who is your secret (or not so secret) girl crush?

I reckon Emma Stone is pretty cool.

9.  How old were you when you fell in love for the first time?

To be perfectly honest, I have never been in love.  I'm pretty guarded when it comes to my emotions and feelings.  I have been in lust a few times though.

10.  What is your most lusted after beauty product at the moment?

I am on the lookout for the perfect tubing, non-clumping mascara.

11.  If you were going to share one secret with your readers that no-one else knew about you, what would it be?

My guilty-pleasure music is Garth Brooks.  I'm not really into country music, but I love Garth Brooks, lol.


Now, I am supposed to choose 20 blogs to nominate.  Many of the blogs that I would choose have already recently been nominated, so I'm going to invite anyone who wants to, to have a go!

x

Paint It Blue - OPI Can't Find My Czechbook

Today I have another one of my Paint It Blue manicures to show you.

I am loving my OPI Euro Centrale polishes, and they have some gorgeous blues, so it only makes sense to use them for a special blue manicure.

I got inspiration for this manicure from another blogger.  She made it look so stunning that I just HAD to try it for myself.

Can't Find My Czechbook is a dusty aqua-blue creme.  It applied beautifully and was opaque in 2 coats.

I then layered a thin coat of Oy-Another Polish Joke over the top.  This was the tricky part.  I assumed Oy-Another Polish Joke would be quite sheer, but it was surprisingly not.  I actually had to redo one of my nails as the one coat had too much gold and you couldn't see the blue beneath it very well.  I ended up trying to remove as much polish as possible from the brush before applying, but then this of course left some brush stroke marks.  The layering of the gold also turned the blue polish into a sort of light green colour - I guess that makes perfect sense as yellow + blue = green...

Oy-Another Polish Joke is of course, a golden shimmer.  Simply gorgeous in the bottle and much nicer on the nail.

While I had some execution issues, I still quite liked how this manicure looked.

Again, I ask that you please check out the Paint It Blue auction site.  The one-of-a-kind polishes that have been revealed so far are amazing and the money goes to a fantastic cause.

x

Paint It Blue - Cirque Ophelia

Today I bring you my second 'official' blue manicure for Paint It Blue.  As I mentioned last week, the Paint It Blue initiative aims to raise awareness for Autism.

The first manicure I want to show you is my current manicure.  I am loving this combo.  While it may be a bit subtle, I still love it.

Yesterday I received my very first Cirque polishes.  I have been coveting Cirque for quite a few months and I was psyched to finally have some of my very own.

Ophelia contains gorgeous periwinkle blue glitters in various sizes in a clear base.  Ophelia was a last minute decision, but as I pulled it out of the box, I knew it would be the very first Cirque I would wear.

I decided to layer Ophelia over another one of my newly acquired untrieds - Orly Boho Bonnet.  Boho Bonnet is a gorgeously soft blue-grey creme.

I think next time I might layer Ophelia over a white or a darker blue, as the glitters are very similar to the colour of the Orly, but I love how it is nice and subtle.

Cirque polishes are available to us Aussie gals through Femme Fatale cosmetics for $13 a bottle.  Unfortunately, Ophelia is currently out of stock, but hopefully it will be back soon.

I was lucky and bought the Orly through OzSale for the awesome price of $9 a bottle.

To also raise money for ASPECT Australia - a not for profit organisation committed to helping people on the Autism Spectrum - a too awesome for words auction has been organised.  A stack of Aussie and overseas indie polish creators have donated one of a kind polishes to a silent auction.  Check the link in the badge below for more info and swatches of these stunning polishes.