Another Gradient with Glitter!

I loved yesterdays so much that I had to do another one! I thought about the layering glitters I have and Gloss n' Sparkle Cotinga was screaming at me.So I pulled out two of my favourite China Glazes, Turned Up Turquoise and Towel Boy Toy.

I painted my nails with 2 coats of Towel Boy Toy, let it dry, and then sponged on both colours twice. I only used one coat of Cotinga over the gradient and added some Seche Vite. Then I thought, both of the colours in the gradient dry matte, so why not matte it? So I did...

I much prefer it matte. The gradient is very subtle andthe matte version shows off the gradient a little more. And Cotinga looks divine matte! Why have I not tried this before?!

I have a few more gradient/glitter layering combos in mind, so don't get bored of them yet!

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec

Neon Gradient + Glitter!

Today was HOT. So I got up at 6am so I could do my nails before the heat kicked in, dedicated or what? I've been loving neons and glitter lately, so I wanted to mix the 2.

This is Ulta3 Lilly White (base), and Jelly (green) and Citrus (yellow) for the gradient. I painted a stripe of each colour onto my sponge and dabbed straight onto the white. This is 2 'coats.' And I topped it off white my favourite glitter at the moment, 365 Days Of Color Old Time Movie. It has 2 coats of Seche Vite, to smooth out the glitter.

I LOVE this. It's probably the best gradient I've done. The Ulta3 neons are so, so bright I find myself staring at my nails a lot lol!

I have some more neon nails to show you, so watch out!

Until Next Time

<3 Bec

Iceburg Lotus and Flowers!

The Nicole by OPI Australia facebook page recently had a contest to name a shade, and the 3 comments with the most 'likes' won that polish. I had been hardcore lemming Iceburg Lotus for a long time, so I asked my fellow Aussie Nails girls to help me, and I won it! :D I never win things, so I was stoked!

Iceburg Lotus is a gorgeous, cool teal-y green with shimmer, and glass flecks that actually have a light duochrome effect. It's beautiful. Like, omg. I love it when lemmings blow your expectations.

I had gotten some bullion beads (the beads used for 'caviar' manis) the day before this arrived that matched perfectly, so I had to pair them. I used China Glaze Recycle as an accent nail, 3 coats of each polish, and then one by one, arranged the beads to form flowers! It was all sealed with a coat of Seche Vite, and the beads stuck nicely.

Look at that shimmer in Iceburg Lotus! It GLOWS. Seriously, so amazing.

Now that I can cross this one off my wishlist, my next goal is OPI DS Glamour!

Until Next time,

<3 Bec

Aussie Nails Monday! Weather

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Aussie Nails Monday! Today's theme is Weather, and with the crazy heat we've been having lately, I haven't really been wanting to polish much! This was also a tricky theme, and I was stumped for an idea, and I really think my mani is kinda lame, but here it is...

A happy sun and cloud! It's so childish, but I kinda like it! The base is 2 coats of China Glaze For Audrey, the sun is China Glaze Lemon Fizz and Peachy Keen, and the black and white are my trusty 2-way nail art pens, and it's all finished with SV.

Check out the other ANM girls for their weather themed manis!

Nail Gun XS - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse - Tales From The Makeup Bag - Shatter Me Claire - A Polished Prance - Tee Bee’s Nails - The Epitome of Superficiality - Lacquer Dreams - NananaisNails - Enamoured With Enamel - Pretty Polish Please - Adelle1985 - Kelly's Kolors - Polished Peripherals - Nicki - Every Little Polish - Mel My Issta - Walk In My Eyeshadow - JennLojko - The Polish Haven - Nails In The Desert - Erinzi

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec

Ink-y Techno Gradient!

Happy Sunday! Today's mani is me copying myself haha! I did some acrylics on a client for her wedding last week, and loved the polish combination she chose so much I had to do it on my own nails!

I used 2 coats of OPI Ink for the base, and then sponged on China Glaze Techno, and as always, topped it with Seche Vite. I love this combination, it's sparkly as hell and makes my newly nubbed nails look better ;D

What do you think of this combo? I'll be back tomorrow for another installment of Aussie Nails Monday!

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec

Gloss n Sparkle Swatch Spam!

Good afternoon my lovelies! It's getting to that time of year here where it's just too hot to do anything, but it's also perfect glitter polish weather! And what better than one of my favourite Indies, Gloss n' Sparkle?!

I've already shown you Unicorn Droppings, Goblins Grave, Royal Flash and Cotinga, and today I have three more for you!

First up, Purpetual Darkness. Black jelly base with purple and silver hex glitter, some smaller purple glitter and a sprinkling of holo glitter tucked in there! I love this, it's classy, vampy, and yet still fun and glittery!

Next, is Optimus. Optimus is the softest grey base, with blue, red and silver hex glitters. It's a perfect Transformer style polish! And I think I'll be wearing next time I go to a baby shower for a baby boy! It was a little tricky to place the glitter, but nothing hugely troubling.

And finally, a limited edition polish for Halloween, Witches Britches. This polish just SCREAMS Halloween! It's easily moved it's way up to one of my all time favourite polishes! It has a light purple jellyish base and is packed with orange, black and green glitters, big and small.

All of the swatches was 3 coats, with no base colour. And all of them were smooth with one coat of Seche Vite, no hungry glitters here! Gloss n Sparkle is available on Shoppe Ecclectico, and soon, Llarowe for the international girls, and etsy for Australian girls!

What do you think? Will you be getting any Gloss n Sparkles?

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec

Born Pretty 2mm Stud Review

I was recently contacted by the awesome folks at Born Pretty Store to see if I wanted to review a product for them, and of course I said yes! The product I chose was these 2mm Silver Studs, as I have been wanting to get some studs for a while now! So, I wanted to do a mani that not only suits the studs, but that suits me as well! So this is what I came up with!

What I used for each finger:
Pointer: 2 coats of Australis Sin City, stamped with BM305 and Orly Dazzle
Middle: 2 coats Borghese Red, 1 coat Ozotic 518
Ring: 2 coats Australis Sin City, and I hand placed each stud
Pinky: 2 coats Borghese Red, gradient of BYS Black Satin
And all of it is topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

I found these studs so easy to use. They lay flat, even on my overly-curved nails. They were easy to pick up (I use a tiny dotting tool to do this kind of placement) and I had no trouble placing them on the nail. And they feel awesome! I can't stop touching my finger haha!

Now, some good news for you, my readers! Born Pretty have kindly supplied me with a 10% discount code for all of you to use!

Just enter the code before finalising the order! I was also sent this ring, which I have been wearing as a toe ring, but my feet are in no shape to show off right now!

I really love this mani, and it suits me perfectly! What do you think?

Until Next Time

<3 Bec

*the studs in this post were provided to me for review. this in no way affected my honest opinion*

Flakie layering inspired by jewelry!

I've had my navel pierced for about a year and a half now, and this jewelry for almost as long, but only the other night did I realise "hey, this would make an AWESOME mani!" So, I attempted it, and LOVE it!

First off, the jewelry in question. It's made by a company called Le Roi, and it is gorgeous! I had to take my own photo though, because it is impossible to find one on google!

Please note, that it's dark indoors so it looks duller than it actually is. It matches my nails pretty closely!

I used 2 coats of China glaze I'm With The Lifeguard for the base, then layered one coat of Nubar 2010, and then Nfu-Oh 40 and finished it with Essie Matte About You. It matches the jewelry perfectly and I am so happy with how it looks! What do you think?

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec

Aussie Nails Monday- GLITTAH!

Happy Monday! My day, to put it nicely was awful. But, it was made better by not one, but two packages from the lovely Angela with a bunch of nails and a polish and she chucked in some surprise glitters! And a LOT of glitter!

Today's ANM theme is glitter, and before I got these packages I was stumped for an idea! But I came up with this...

 In the sun

Shade

I used two coats of OPI Ink, and used a slow drying top coat and placed the stars on one by one, which didn't take too long at all! I topped them off with Seche Vite, and used two coats on the accent nail. I did the pointer finger as the accent for a change, because its something that I've never tried before. 

I love this mani, it's a different take on a glitter mani! Check out the rest of the Aussie Nails girls!

Nail Gun XS - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse - Tales From The Makeup Bag - Shatter Me Claire - A Polished Prance - Tee Bee’s Nails - The Epitome of Superficiality - Lacquer Dreams - NananaisNails - Enamoured With Enamel - Pretty Polish Please - Adelle1985 - Kelly's Kolors - Polished Peripherals - Nicki - Every Little Polish - Mel My Issta - Walk In My Eyeshadow - JennLojko - The Polish Haven - Nails In The Desert - Erinzi

Until Next Time!

<3 Bec 

Blue Nails for World Diabetes Day!

Good evening my lovelies! I have an amazing polish to share with you today and for a good cause, World Diabetes Day. Last year, I spent some time working with people with Diabetes, and some of the stories I heard were heartbreaking... It really affects people in some horrible ways. So for any readers with Diabetes, I feel your pain xoxo

The polish I have today is one that is not actually available for sale, it was custom made for some of the lovely Aussie Nails girls by Hayley from Emily De Molly. It is intended to be a dupe of a polish I will not name, but I like this one more than I could ever like the other one. It's called Blue Moon, and it looks like this!

This is one coat of Blue Moon over 2 coats of Revlon Royal. It applied so easily, and is really dense, those two things shouldn't go together, but they do and it is AMAZING. No curling glitter, and smooth with one coat of Seche Vite!

Good news for my international readers too, Emily De Molly is about to be stocked at Shoppe Eclecticco! And even better news, so will Gloss n' Sparkle! They launch in a few hours, so please show Australian indie makers some love and treat yourself to some amazing polishes!

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec

French Manicures, yay or nay?

I've hd a few job interviews lately and I usually just wear a plain nude, so for todays I wanted to do something different, a plain french mani. I've done them in the past, in my nail course, but never on myself. Well, not the traditional way anyway...

I used two of the 'French' colours I got with my nail course kits, B Cosmetics French Natural and French White. I did 2 coats of Natural, freehanded the white tips, and topped it off with another coat of the Natural and some Seche Vite. One thing I did not know about these polishes is that they are SO smooth and shiny without SV! I honestly kept stroking my nails lol!

Not a huge fan of the French mani, it looked great (well, I think so!) but I found it soooooooooooo boring haha! I was incredibly tempted to add rhinestones or stamping, or something, but I held back and behaved :p

What do you think of the french mani? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec

Aussie Nails Monday! Birthday

Hi and welcome to the very first installment of Aussie Nails Monday! Every monday, an awesome group of Australian bloggers have a set theme and we do nail art to match!

So, todays theme, is birthdays! It's very fitting I think. I had the idea for my mani, but I think I failed in execution...

Candles! Can you tell what they are? I used one coat of BYS Black Satin as a base, a slow drying top coat from Longer Nails to stick the rhinestones on, the 'flames' were done with Nicole by OPI Fresh Squeezed and I topped it off with Seche Vite.

Now, please, go check out the rest of the Aussie girls who are participating!

Lissa’s Polish Addiction - Nail Gun XS - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse
Tales From The Makeup Bag - Shatter Me Claire - A Polished Prance - Tee Bee’s NailsThe Epitome of Superficiality - Lacquer Dreams - NananaisNails - Enamoured With Enamel
Pretty Polish Please - Adelle1985 - Kelly's Kolors - Nicki - Every Little Polish - All Things Charmed
Mel My Issta - Walk In My Eyeshadow - JennLojko - The Polish Haven - Nails In The Desert - Erinzi

Until Next Time,

 

<3 Bec

Neon Acid Wash!

Happy Sunday! It was bright and hot outside today, so I needed something neon to match!

I used 2 coats each for the bases of China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard and OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte, waited for them to dry and then added a thick coat of the alternating colours on top. After letting that dry, I took my shortest striper brush and dipped it in acetone and removed some of the top colours. I should have used a shorter brush, I'm not 100% happy with the final result. I topped it off with my trusty Seche Vite, although it could have used a second coat, it's still a little bumpy.

But, it's bright, and fun, which is what I wanted! Stay tuned for something awesome that is starting up tomorrow!

Until Next Time

<3 Bec

Essie 2011 Resort Collection Swatches

I know I'm a liiiiittle late with this one, but an aussie website recently had 2 Essie mini sets for $5. $5 for 4 mini Essies is an AMAZING price in Australia, one full size Essie is about $18.95! So obviously, I grabbed both. And today, I have the first one for you, the Resort collection.

Lion Around. Terrible pun, undecided on the polish. Loved the colour, but the application was a bit dodgy. Thankfully, you can't see it, but this is 3 coats and there were still visible bald spots in person. Streaky and bleh. It has a lovely, subtle shimmer in it too, which refused to be captured on camera (of course!).

Fair Game. This did not and would not photograph right for me. It's a metallic-ish, frosty, blue-ish, grey-ish colour that reminds me of steel. Application and formula were much better in this one, this is 2 coats, but it barely needed the second.

Your Hut Or Mine? A pinkish coral with an amazing shimmer that again, did not show up in pictures. I do think this one looks a bit funny with my skin tone though, but it is pretty. Again, this had good formula and only needed 2 coats.

And saving my favourite for last, Da Bush. Hate the name, LOVE the colour! It's a muted, khaki-ish green that verges on being a pastel. I really loved this one, even though it needed 3 coats. It's the only non shimmer in the collection too.

All of these swatches have no base coat and one coat of Seche Vite top coat. I plan to swatch the other collection over the weekend and post them soon. These photos were taken not long after I cut all my nails down, so I apologise for how bad they look!

Until Next Time!

<3 Bec

NO H8 Purple Spam

I know I don't usually post twice in one day, but this is an important post for me. Lately, there has been a fair bit of bullying and nastiness within the blogging community and I for one do not and will not stand for it. I had to deal with a fair bit of bullying growing up, so I know first hand how crappy it can make someone feel. And especially on the internet, where anyone can say anything anonymously and not feel any remorse or guilt. It's one of the reasons my blog has been set to have all comments approved before I post them!

There has been a blog/movement started for all of us who are against this childish behaviour, if you would like to join, it's here. I also have the NOH8 badge on my blog. Now, today, November 8th, is marked as the day to eradicate hate. And so, all of us awesome people are showing off some purple manis (purple being the colour chosen). I didn't have time to do one especially for this, so enjoy some purple spam!

 OPI Planks A Lot

 Ozotic 513

 China Glaze LOL

 piCture pOlish Cackle

 piCture pOlish Bliss

 China Glaze Light As Air

 Color Club Alias

 Max Factor Fantasy Fire over Petites Zodiac

OPI DS Original

 

"Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay.

Most of us are, thankfully, residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish blogging community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color...even to our polish application techniques. To marginalize anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog.

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement. Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community."

 Until Next Time

 <3 Bec 

Indian Ocean Layering!

Hey hey! Another layering combo today, but I'm undecided on whether or not I like this one yet. I bought Model's Own Indian Ocean recently and while it is GORGEOUS, it's SOOOO sheer! So I decided to layer it over a colour I haven't seen it layered over before, China Glaze Light As Air, a very pale purple.

The combo shows off the colour shift well, but I think I washed out the purple a bit too much! I used 2 coats of each and Seche Vite top coat.

What do you think, yay or nay?

Until Next Time,

<3 Bec