Tropical Flowers

Pretty, colourful tropical flowers on a pastel base - that's what's on my nails today!

Holo Squares

Its a lovely sunny day today - perfect for some holographic nail polish!

 

Blue Flowers on a Pink Holo Base

Keeping with the sunny spring theme, here's a manicure today which uses a dazzling holo base with blue flowers on top. Here it is in sunlight ...

Diagonal Dotted French Tips

I did this manicure with my March Nail Art Challenge in mind, the prompt for which was a 'Dotticure'. I don't think I do French tip manicures often enough - I am not a big fan of the plain white tips but I do love a more fun and colourful take on it, like this one ...

The Ocean and a Mermaid!

The Manicure today uses another Born Pretty Stamping plate - BP-23. This is an Ocean themed plate with some pretty images which would be good for a summery beach manicure too. I have used a mermaid and some waves images for my nails today.

Tropical Flowers Nail Art - GOT Polish

I have some catching up to do with my GOT Polish challenge. And one of the prompts I missed was for something tropical! I did, in fact, do the manicure earlier - just did not get a chance to post it. So here it is, at last.

Blue, Green, Purple Stamped Gradient - Tri Polish Tuesday

The colours for Tri Polish Tuesday for March are Blue, Green and Purple. I thought this combination would be good for a gradient. I also stamped a pretty pattern on top to add to it.

I painted the nails with Klean Color Metallic Aqua. I then sponged on the gradient with Klean Color Metallic Aqua, Green and Purple. I stamped an image from the MoYou London plate 05 from the Sailor Collection with Color Club Harp On It. The stamping is subtle so it keeps the focus on the vibrant colours of the gradient.

Tri Polish Tuesday - Dotted Half Moons

I think it is a bit of a challenge to incorporate both grey and brown in a manicure at the same time - the pink helps though! Since one manicure in the month needs to use all three colours at once, here is my attempt with grey, brown and pink for the February part of the challenge ...

I started with a base of Color Club Silver Lake, a light grey polish. I used paper hole re-inforcers to mark out the half moons and painted the rest of the nail with OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips. Then I used a double ended dotting tool to add the dots with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Coco a-go-go.

Tri-Polish Tuesday - Pink Hearts & Lace

The colours for the Tri-Polish Challenge for February are Grey, Brown and Pink. My stamping manicure today uses two of these colours. And since its getting close to Valentine's Day, I thought I would go for an image with lace and hearts!

The grey base polish is Color Club Silver Lake - its a very light, almost white grey - although there is really no silver in it, as the name might suggest. It does look grey in the bottle, although it appears almost white when you apply it - its a good base for nail art, if you don't want a stark white. The stamped image is from Pueen 27 and the stamping polish is China Glaze Holographic Infra Red. The Infra Red is more fuchsia than red and stamps pink - it does not have a strong holo but its good for stamping.

Japanese Landscape

MoYou London has some beautiful Japanese images on their plates in the Suki Collection. The manicure today uses one such plate to create a Japanese Landscape.

I used a base of Color Club Silver Lake from the Girl About Town Collection. I stamped with the polishes, Konad Black, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Quick Brick and Rimmel 60 Seconds 830 Camoflouge. The images are from the MoYou London Plate 02 from the Suki Collection.

I liked how the colours go together to create a restful scene. It made me think of a pleasant, quiet morning with a Samurai practicing his moves under a tree!

Top Ten Polishes!

My favourite polishes change all the time and its really quite hard to pick just ten individuals bottles. So I am going to share with you, with some new manicures and some old, my top ten favourite categories of polish, whether based on brand or colour, in no particular order.

1. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Polishes: Not only are the insta dri polishes good to wear on their own, they are also great stamping polishes. They come in a variety of shades and finishes. They are mostly one-coaters, they are quick dry and they stamp very well.

Stamped with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Jumpin Jade

2. Essie Metallics: I love the Essie Metallics for stamping and use them very frequently. The ones I use are Essie No Place Like Chrome (Silver), Essie Penny Talk (Copper) and Essie Good as Gold (Gold).

OPI Get Your Number stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome

Stamped with Essie Good as Gold

3. Nude/Near Nude: A nude or near natural nail colour is a must have in every girl's polish drawer. Not only are they good to wear on their own, they make an excellent base for nail art.

OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

4. Pastels: I really like pastels for a pop of colour. These shades really make me happy and are a great pick me up.

Starting from the thumb, Sinful Colors Mint Apple, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Revlon Cupid, Barry M Gelly Guava and Essence Off to Miami.

5. Barry M Gellys: Not only are the Barry M Gellys great to wear on their own - they are one-coaters, quick dry and glossy! They also stamp really well.

Starting from the thumb, Barry M Gelly Blackberry, Pomegranate, Watermelon, Blood Orange and Plum.

6. Black!: You always need a good creme black - like a nude, its great to wear on its own and great as a base for nail art.

Boots No 7 Just Black

7. Textured: Textured nail polishes are a new favourite. I didn't think I would like them since I do like a glossy finish but I was surprised at how much I loved these. I love how they have a matte finish but there is still a lovely sparkle to them.

OPI Get Your Number

8. OPIs: As I have started using a wide variety of nail polishes, I have come to love my OPIs. The formulas are good and they have a huge range of colours and finishes.

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

9. Color Club Holo Hues: Everyone likes a Holographic nail polish! I only have a couple of the Holo Hues. And although I do like wearing them on their own, I love stamping with them.

Color Club Cosmic Fate

Stamping with Color Club Harp on It.

10. Top Coats, Base Coat/Nail Strengthener: When you think of favourite polishes, base and top coats may not immediately come to mind, but they are very important parts of a good manicure.
I am a loyal user of the OPI Nail Envy. It has really helped my nails to strengthen and get into better shape and I use it all the time as a base coat.
I have recently started using the Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat and I think its a great top coat to use, specially as an intermediate layer when doing nail art.
And I guess I don't have to say much for Seche Vite - the quick dry, super glossy top coat which has such a huge fan following!

What are some of your favourites? I'd love to know!

Guest Post at "Penguins Left Green Polish"

If you missed me yesterday, I am over at the lovely Nada's blog with a guest post. She's got a great blog with the cutest name! Thank you Nada, for the opportunity to share the post with your readers!
Here's a preview ...

Peacock Feather Nails - Holo on glitter!

I loved my last peacock feather manicure and I wanted to recreate that look but with a MoYou London image plate. And this is how it looks ...

This picture above is in natural light.

I used the same polishes as the last time. I used Barry M Navy as the base and then added the glitter polish, Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Mermaid's Tale on top. I stamped the peacock feathers with the holographic polish, Color Club Harp on It. The image plate is MoYou London Plate 03 from the Pro Collection. The images on their non-XL plates just about fit my nails and I had to double stamp it on my thumb.

This photo is with indoor lighting...

The way the holographic polish shimmered in the light is simple stunning. The last time I stamped with a silver polish and although I love that polish I stamped with, plain silver just does not have the shimmer of multiple colours like real peacock feathers. But the holo really brings this stamped image to life!

I even managed to get these last couple of pics in the sun. But this was on the second day, so you may see slight tip wear.

Diwali NOTD: Peacock Nails!

I have a lovely, shimmery peacock adorning my nails, this Diwali Day!
For my peacock stamping nail art, I started with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Blue Streak. I sponged on some green and purple polish - Rimmel 60 Seconds Camouflage and Essence prom-berry. This is how the base looked before stamping ...

The green I used is quite dark but it appears as quite a subtle tint on the nails. I could have worn these nails on their own because the gradient looked very pretty - I really like these colours.
I then used Color Club Holo Hues Harp on it and the MoYou London Suki 01 to stamp the peacock on my finger nails and some peacock feathers on the thumb. The stamping is more subtle than striking but very pretty with the shimmer of the Color Club holo!

Stamping over a holographic base

For my Sunday stamping manicure today, I chose China Glaze Holographic Astro Hot. I stamped with images from the MoYou London XL Plate 10 from the Pro Collection, using Color Club Revvvolution.

I know, another pink manicure - but it seemed an appropriate choice for floral nails!
These China Glaze Holos don't have a very strong holographic effect to begin with but I also did not get the chance to photograph my nails in the sun to bring out the holo effect. It seems to happen to me quite frequently - its fairly sunny when I think of trying out a holo nail polish but the moment I do my manicure, the sun invariably disappears! I think I need to stop with the holos to get some sun!

Stripes, stripes, stripes ...

I really like the MoYou London Image plates - they have brought out some unique and unusual images on their plates, but even their more straightforward images, like stripes and dots stamp really beautifully. This manicure uses one such plate, which has stripes, dots and other geometric patterns. These images are lovely to use on their own or to use as a base for double stamping, if you are so inclined.

For these nails, I used Color Club Alter Ego and stamped with Konad Black using MoYou London XL Plate 01 from the Pro Collection. I really like the sparkly polish between the plain black stripes. Here's another look ...

Pink Nails for Breast Cancer Awareness Month - October 2013

October is Breast Cancer Awareness  Month. Its a good opportunity to brush up on the information you need on the subject and to be aware of any changes to your body.  You can celebrate Pink Fridays this month to raise awareness and also register at the site to donate money to this good cause. I will be painting my nails pink on Fridays this month to show my support.

For my pink nails, I painted three nails with Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Frutti Petutie. I added the rhinestones to the nails while the polish was still wet. I painted the two accent nails with Boots 17 Style Slave. I then marked off the silver stripe with tape and painted on either side - the pink is Sally Hansen Frutti Petutie and the blue is Color Club Williamsburg.

Here's some other bloggers who are doing pink manicures today for this cause (inlinkz code kindly set up by Dimpal). Wishing you all good health!

31DC2013: Day Thirty - Inspired by a Tutorial

There are so many wonderful tutorials available to help with various nail art techniques today. Some of these have really helped me so much. I really appreciate all the wonderful bloggers who have shared their experience and expertise with  us. I have used a few tutorials to do some of my challenge manicures. I used various tutorials to do my water marble and galaxy nails, although I didn't follow one tutorial for them - it was more a mix of what I learnt by watching various video tutorials. I also used tutorials to do my Flowers, polka dots and animal print manicures.

My nails today are inspired by a dry needle marble tutorial. These nails are not hard to do and are quite unusual, unstructured and fun.
I used two colours for my nails - Essence My Fortune Cookie and Color Club Ulterior Motive. I painted one thick stripe with the gold, then one stripe with the glittery pink and again a third stripe with the gold. I used a needle to zig zag lines across the nails. I then added topcoat and the rhinestones.

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Six - Inspired by a Pattern

For this part of the challenge, I knew I had to go with a sari pattern! There is such a large variety of patterns to choose from and the colours are so vibrant and gorgeous. I chose this beautiful silk sari -

And here are the nails, inspired by the pattern ...

For this manicure, I applied base coat and once dry, I taped off the ends with the french manicure guides. Then I painted the top part of the nail with Color Club Secret Agent. I stamped the paisley image from the plate QA59 with Essie Penny Talk. I painted the tips with Essence My Fortune Cookie and added the hex glitter.

This is my first Essence Polish. Its a glittery, yellow gold, which was exactly what I wanted. I got it on a recent trip to Belgium since I had heard about this brand but never tried it. Right after I got it though, I found out that Essence is coming to Wilkinson's in the UK soon. I believe its already available in selected stores. Check out the Essence Facebook page for details, if you are interested and live in the UK.