Mini Rant

While I love all my followers and appreciate the comments I get, PLEASE, don't spam my blog with links, unless there is valid reason too.

My First Franken!

Help Sam reach 100 giveaway!

the lovely sam from Legiolinde is having a giveaway and trying to reach 100 followers at the same time! help her out and the prize is a doozy- any Ozotic polish of your choice!

details here ;Sam's blog!

Some custom orders!

I make and sell acrylic sets, via etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/LacquerDreams) and these are a few of the orders i've done this week

31 Day Challenge Day 23- Inspired by a movie

Sleepy Hollow

One of my all time favourite movies! I am a huge Tim Burton/Johnny Depp fan, so I always knew I was going to do one of their movies...

Sleepy Hollow is such a haunting movie, but my nails don't really show that! I decided to base my nails on the bird/cage twirly thing (i have no idea what its called!) that Mr Depps character, Ichabod Crane, was given by his mother. I've always been fascinated by it. I love optical illusions...

 

I used Ulta3's Jelly Bean for the base (which is divine and I will have a separate post for it shortly!), and for the details i used NYC Colours Chili, Ulta3's Lily White and Ulta3's Black Satin.

31 Day challenge Day 22- Inspired by a song

So heres where you all find out about my secret love for death metal :D these nails were inspired by the song 5 Nails Through The Neck by Cannibal Corpse.

The base is OPI William Tell Me About OPI, and i used Ulta3 Allure for the ‘neck’, Ulta3 Black Satin and NYC Colours Casper for the other details

31 Day Challenge Day 21- Inspired by a colour

umm. ok. For this one, i used one of my favourite shades of my favourite colour. This is 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy

31 Day Challenge Day 20 - Water marble

This was a struggle… I have actually had to recycle an old marble I did, because it has just been too hot here lately and the polish wouldn’t co-operate in the heat >_< So I not only struggled to get ANY results, but I’m also a day behind >_<

so yeah.. here’s an old marble, using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With envy, OPI Do You Lilac It? and OPI In My Back Pocket

a-england Tristam

OH MY GOD. This polish is ah-MAZING! And, ONE COAT! I honestly never want to take it off… I just cannot give this gem enough praise, it totally blew all expectations i had of it out of the water…

 Tristam is a navy/dark blue with lots of gorgeous holographic micro-glitter throughout. The application was a dream, and as I mentioned before, only needed one coat!! It dried quite quickly too, but I was that giddy I used Essence’s Nail Art Express Dry Drops to help speed up the process.

 Honestly, BUY THIS POLISH! You will not be disappointed…

(Obligatory close up blurry pic to show off the holo!)

31 Day Challenge Day 19- Galaxy Nails

H aven’t tried galaxies before, so I’m pretty happy with the results!

31 Day Challenge Day 18- Half Moons

I’ve only tried half moons twice now! I’m not a huge fan, they look good when done well, but I don’t really do them well! :p


Both colours I used were from NYC Colours, Tin Roof for the moons, and Chilli for the base. Would you believe thats only one coat of Chili?! LOVE it!

Also, Emma from Manicurity, Julia from Julialovesnails, Kirsten from thegeekyowl and Linda from nailpolishenthusiast are doing the challenge too, so check them out!

31 day challenge Day 17- GLITTER :D

I LOVE GLITTER! Not keen on the removal though lol…
Anyhoo, I decided to mash my two newest glitters together, and attempt a ruffian design at the same time. I used 3 coats of China Glaze Atlantis, and the ruffian stripe is Orly Fowl Play.

Also, I have nubs :( I found out yesterday that my nail tech course requires me to have short nails, so nubs until June for me :(

31 Day Challenge Day 16- Tribal Print

Everyone does Aztec Tribal for this, and I honestly am not a fan. So, I decided to do Maori Tribal Print, based off the Ta Moko tattooing style. It’s very common over here in australia, as the New Zealanders are just a stones throw away.

I used Orly Space Cadet for the base, and used Ulta3 Silver Grey for the detailing.

an example of the tattooing

and my attempt!

31 day challenge day 15- Delicate Print.

Oh. My. God. This one stumped me. Tis a bit vague really, delicate? I figure lace is delicate, so i did a lace type mani…

The base is Butter London Yummy Mummy (2 coats) and the lace detail was done with Ulta3 Pearly Grape and I chucked on some rhinestones for good measure.

Also, Emma from Manicurity, Julia from Julialovesnails, Kirsten from thegeekyowl and Linda from nailpolishenthusiast are doing the challenge too, so check them out!

31 Day challenge Day 14- Flowers

Meh. Another one i’m not keen on lol. It’s a nice sunny day so I though a nice bright mani to match would be nice! I used BYS Scented Bright Yellow (which isn’t scented) for the base, used a dotting tool and Ulta3’s Spring Break for the flowers, and BYS Blue Bang for the dots and inside of the flowers

I just got an acceptance letter into a course to become a qualified nail tech!

31 Day Challenge Day 13- Animal print

I wanted to do something besides leopard or zebra prints, so I decided to paint my nails the pattern on my cats back! Pepper is a tabby manx, so shes grey with black stripes in an unusual pattern.

I used Ulta3s Silver Grey for the base, sponged on a line of black, then used OPIs Black Shatter to do horizontal stripes over the black. And to top it off i sponged a bit of silver grey over the black. Silver grey is much lighter than my kitty but i wanted the black to stand out!

 and my little fluffball herself!

My nails on others fingers!

I had a few friends ask me to do their nails, one yesterday and one today. And I LOOOOOOVE how they both turned out!

First up, Tahlia. She saw this in another pic and loved it so she asked me to recreate it for her on some acrylics.

And then today, Cienna. Again, she wanted these and I did it on acrylics. I'm quite proud of these ones, they took 2 hours and I used 490 (yep, seriously!) rhinestones...

31 Day Challenge Day12- Stripes

Again, not a big fan of stripes. But i love these! I used Revlons Powder Puff (3 coats) as a base and China Glazes Senorita Bonita for the stripes. i used some rhinestones for an accent nail cos all stripes would have been boring.

31 Day challenge Day 11- Polka Dots

I’m not a fan of polka dots, to be honest with you. so I tried to funk it up in a way i’d enjoy, and i succeeded! i love these! I used Ulta3s black satin, topped it with China Glazes Matte Magic and used a dotting tool and Mode Cosmetics PartyCrasher for the dots.

Also, Emma from Manicurity, Julia from Julialovesnails, Kirsten from thegeekyowl and Linda from nailpolishenthusiast are doing the challenge too, so check them out!

An AMAZING giveaway!

http://xoxovalentinekissesxoxo.blogspot.com.au is holding a MASSIVE Valentines Day Giveaway!

http://xoxovalentinekissesxoxo.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/valentine-kisses-january-2012-mega.html

Check it out! and, GOOD LUCK

31 Day Challenge Day 10- Gradients

I’m still mastering gradients so forgive me if this is not so good! I used Zoya Mitzi for the base, sponged on some NYC Colours Night and topped it off with China Galzes Matte Magic

China Glaze Atlantis

Isn’t it divine?! I have been wanting this baby for MONTHS, found it two weeks ago and have spent the last fortnight being very impatient!

Atlantis is a sheer teal jelly packed with holographic glitter. It came out as part of the China Glaze ‘Specialty Collection’ that came out in 2009, so it is a bit hard to find, but let me tell you, it is worth every cent! I am in LOVE! Two very easy to apply coats, and I get opacity, which is a bonus. Clean up around my fingers was easier than most other glitters I have too, so no complaints there!

The only downside is that it’s kind of hard to photograph… I included a blurry shot, just to show off more of the holographic sparkle, but its even more intense in person!

31 Day Challenge Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

I’ve been wanting to try Nyan Cat nails for ages now, and I figured this would be the best time to do it! If you don’t know who Nyan Cat is, its a little half poptart, half cat who flies through space pooping rainbows. Yeah… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4&feature=g-hist&context=G20289c1AHTwmeEgAPAA

When i do this challenge, i only paint one hand, and i am glad i did this time around! this is all handpainted with a brush, and it took almost TWO HOURS! but i am SOOO happy with the results!

31 Day Challenge Day 8- Metallic Nails.

I know theres a day for gradients, but I need to practice them so I thought I’d give it a try! I used NYC Colours Tin Roof and Ulta3’s Orchid
Also, Emma from Manicurity, Julia from Julialovesnails, Kirsten from thegeekyowl and Linda from nailpolishenthusiast are doing the challenge too, so check them out!

Sally Hansen and Zoya Comparison!

I've been working on a nail wheel today and noticed that Zoya's Mitzi and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy are very similar. Mind you, mitzi is a matte polish, though.

So, I swatched them on my fingers and took some photos!

in natural sunlight

in artifical light with flash

 

annnnd, a bottle shot!

 

 For these photos, I used one coat of the Sally Hansen and two coats of the Zoya. They definitely are similar, the real difference being the Zoya is a little more yellow toned. And matte.

I'm not fussed though, I love this shade in general! What do you think? And which do you prefer?

31 Day Challenge Day 7; Black and White.

I wanted to try something new for this one, so I decided to try my hand at needle marbling. What i did was paint a thin base coat (i used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On), let it dry, then applied a THICK second coat. While thats still wet, i used a dotting tool to put two dots of NYC Colours Night on the nail and used a sewing needle to make the designs. This technique takes at LEAST 10 mins to dry, so wait a while to put a top coat on!

31 Day Challenge Day 6- Purple Nails

I know it originally says violet but i dont have any real violets yet… and this arrived yesterday so i wanted to play with it!

This is Orly’s Fowl Play. A gorgeous purple jelly that was a part of the Birds Of A Feather collection that came out last year.

Fowl Play, as i mentioned, is a dark purple jelly packed with blue micro glitter and orangey-bronze flakies. Its like nothing I’ve ever seen before and.is opaque in 2 coats. A real winner in my books

31 Day Challenge Day 5- Blue Nails

Another nice simple one for today, featuring my all time favourite blue, Towel Boy Toy By China Glaze. It’s a pretty blue with a veeeeeeeery fine purple shimmer (i mean, you have to look hard to see it) and is a neon, which dries matte. I used 2 coats here, and got bottle colour.

I though the blue alone, while being fricken gorgeous, was a bit boring, so I  topped it off with some sideways strokes of OPI’s Silver Shatter. And needless to say, I love it!

31 Day challenge Day 4- Green Nails

Nothing fancy today, just a nice, dark green in the form of Kermit by Colour by T.B.N!

Also, Emma from Manicurity, Julia from Julialovesnails and Linda from nailpolishenthusiast are doing the challenge too, so check them out!

31 Day Challenge Day 3 - Yellow Nails

I’m not the biggest fan of yellow, it doesn’t suit my skin tone that well lol. But I knew from the start which polishes I would use for this one. I started with 2 coats of Ulta3’s Citrus and topped it with two coats of China Glaze’s Sunshine.

Sunshine is SUCH an under-rated polish in my opinion, a bright yellow packed with glitter. It does smell a bit funky, i painted these about 12 hours ago and it still smells!

31 Day Challenge Day 2 - Orange Nails

It has been hot as all hell here in South Australia lately (3 days OVER 40 d egrees Celsius) so I decided some nice summery nails would suit today’s theme perfectly!

I used 3 coats of Mode Cosmetics Rave’n ( it is SO bright!) and used a dotting tool and Mode Cosmetics Partycrasher for a cute dotted French mani!

Also, Emma from Manicurity, Julia from Julialovesnails and Linda from nailpolishenthusiast have just started the challenge too, so check them out!

Day 1- Red nails.

I love red nails. It’s such a sultry nail colour. So with this one, i didn’t want to do an over-the-top look.

I chose a simple design based on another obsession of mine, corsets. I have a fair few and even one that pulls my waist in a good 12 inches!


I used Ulta3 Sizzling Red, Ulta3 Silver Grey and NYC Colours Night for this look. 2 coats of red, then once it was almost dry, i used a dotting tool and the silver for the ‘eyelets’ and used a striping brush for the ‘lacing’.

31 day Challenge!

I shall be starting this later today!