Neon Pink Flowers & Butterflies

Still with the spring summer theme here, even though the weather hasn't been able to quite make up its mind in the last couple of weeks! I still managed to photograph these nails in the sun ...

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 ...

Love is in the air!

I have one more Valentine's Day manicure for you today. Just a little scene set at dusk with two people in love, meeting at the end of the day for an evening together.

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.

Coralicious Leopard Print for Golden Oldie Thursday

The prompt for the day is a Coral. I chose a very bright coral for my manicure today. And I thought it would be fun to add a leopard print to go with the bright nails!

It looks a bit red in the photos but the coral I have on here is Rimmel 60 Seconds 430 Coralicious. I love that name too! And this is the perfect summer polish - so bright and cheerful!

Roses and Pearls Spring Manicure - GOT Polish Challenge

I have another Spring Manicure on the blog today! The colours I have used in this manicure are just perfect for spring, in my opinion. And when you think of Spring, you have to have some flowers so I did some roses on my accent nail. And to top it off, I thought I would add some pearl studs.

Starting from the thumb, the nail polishes used are Revlon Cupid, Barry M Gelly Greenberry, Rimmel 311 Spring Yellow, Barry M Matt White and Barry M Gelly Blueberry. On the accent nails I did freehand roses with the colours on the other nails and the leaves with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Emerald Express.

Skittle Nails with glitter French Tips - GOT Polish Challenge

The prompt for the GOT Polish Challenge is a Skittle Manicure - where each nail is painted a different colour, inspired by the sweets with the same name. The colours I used for my Skittle nails are Rimmel Riviera Red, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Brisk Blue, OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips, Revlon Emerald and Barry M Gelly in Plum.

I used striping tape to mark two sections on the nail tips and painted this with Barry M (Textured Nail Effect) nail polish Lady. Now this in not really one of my old polishes but since its only for the nail art, I think I can get away with it - what do you think?!

Tri-Polish Tuesday - A City at Sunset - Gradient Manicure

The combination of yellow, orange and red just calls out for a sunset gradient manicure - so that's just what I have on my nails today for Tri Polish Tuesday.

I painted my nails with a base of Rimmel Spring Yellow. Once this was dry, I sponged on a gradient with  Rimmel Spring Yellow, Barry M Gelly Mango and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Rapid Red. I recently got the Bundle Monster Create Your Own Set. I stamped on the Cityscape image from the plate BM-414 from this set, in Konad Black.

Tri-Polish Tuesday - One Stroke Floral Nail Art

For my Tri Polish Tuesday manicure today, I have some one stroke flowers on my nails.
The red base polish is Rimmel Riviera Red. The freehand floral nail art is done with NYC Lexington Yellow, Barry M Mango, Key Lime and Matt White. I used a flat nail art brush for the flowers, a fine detailing brush for the leaves and a fine dotting tool.

There are a lot of great tutorials on the internet for these one stroke flowers. I saw a few of these tutorials on youtube for inspiration although I didn't follow anyone exactly.
The tutorials that I saw for these flowers use acrylic paints for the nail art. I used nail polish for mine but I can see how it would probably be easier to use acrylics. I guess the best way to describe it is that acrylic paints would glide on easier - nail polish gets a bit sticky, specially when its been sitting on your palette for a few minutes and it can smear your base polish a little. Also, acrylic paints can be washed off with water if you make a mistake and want to start over without messing up your base polish. I was just too lazy to go dig out my acrylic paints - but I might have to try that the next time!

Tri-Polish Tuesday - Fishtail Braid Manicure

For the Tri-Polish Challenge, I need to use three colours for a manicure, so what better time to try out the lovely Fishtail manicure? I tried it first here - 31DC2013: Day Thirty-One. I absolutely love this look. It does not need any special equipment other than three colours of nail polish and is relatively easy to do and looks great. What's not to like?!

I used NYC Lexington Yellow, Barry M Gelly in Mango and Rimmel Riviera Red for these nails. The rhinestones are from Cheeky. I began by painting three nails yellow - other than my middle and little fingers. Then I painted the fishtail pattern on the two nails with alternating, overlapping, diagonal criss-crossing stripes! Its good to wait a minute or two between each stripe to let it dry a bit, specially when you cross a dark colour (like red) with a light one (like yellow) - that can smear if very wet. I finished with top coat. It was sunny today and this is just the look for a day like that - it would be a great summer manicure!

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!

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!

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Eight - Inspired by a Flag

My Manicure for day twenty-eight of the challenge is inspired by the racing flag.

For this manicure, I used Rimmel Riviera Red, Barry M Black and Matt White. The chequered flag on the middle finger is stamped with Konad Black from the image plate Konad M93. The champagne bubbles on the ring finger are stamped with Essie Penny Talk from the messy mansion image plate MM02. The silver rhinestones on the red nails represent the chrome fittings on a shiny, new red car!

31DC2013: Day Twenty-Two - Inspired by a Song

The days are getting shorter and colder - its almost autumn. That and this lovely song by Ed Sheeran inspired this manicure - Autumn Leaves - it just seemed so appropriate for this time of the year!

I used NYC Pure Air as the base. Then I sponged on some 2True Shade 9, a glittery bronze, on the tips. I stamped one nail with the music notes and bird image from  the plate Pueen47. The stamping is with Essie Penny Talk and Konad Black. The stars stamping is from the image plate QA15. I free handed the different coloured leaves with a fine nail art brush, using Rimmel Camouflage, Konad Yellow and Essie Penny Talk. I definitely need to improve on my free hand leaves but its a start ...!

31DC2013: Day Twenty - Water Marble

For these nails, I used Sally Hansen White Tip and Rimmel Pro My Denim. I added the hex glitter to some of the nails. There are many good tutorials on the internet on how to water marble nails.

Although, I have to say that in spite of the tutorials I watched for this - and some of them are really good, I had a hard time with the water marble. After many attempts I did manage to learn how to place my nails at such an angle in the water that I get some sort of a pattern on them - and believe me, that's harder than it looks! But I also noticed that some of the nail polishes disperse very differently than others in the water. The glittery/frosty ones don't seem to do very well but even the regular creme/glossy ones don't all behave the same. I did use filtered water so I don't know what the difference was. I would appreciate any tips from anyone out there who's good at water marble. Though it will be a while before I try this technique again!

But the good news is, we are two-thirds of the way through the challenge. On to the next one!

31DC2013: Day Eighteen - Half Moons

Half Moons for Day eighteen of the 31 Day Challenge. For this manicure I used Rimmel Purple Reign as the base polish. After my nails were dry, I used hole reinforcers (like the ones in the link) to tape off the half moons at the base of the nails. Then I sponged on a gradient with the purple and Max Factor Ivory.

Lastly, I added the hexagonal nail glitter to outline each half moon with a toothpick. You can use a little clear polish to pick up the glitter on to the toothpick. Then lay it on the still tacky nail (painted with a coat of clear polish in this case) where you want to place it. Finished off with a coat of top coat.
I really like these nails - they look so festive. They are definitely good for special occasions or the festival season!

31DC2013: Day Fifteen - Delicate Print

For this manicure, I painted my nails with Sally Hansen Green Tea. Then I sponged it very lightly with Rimmel 830 Camoflouge, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Chartreuse Chase & NYC Lexington Yellow. I wanted to create a lightly dappled yellow-green effect. It turned out quite subtle and I don't think the photos managed to capture it really but I quite liked it! I then stamped with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Jumpin Jade and the Gals Fairy GA31 image plate. Here's another look ...

31DC2013: Day Nine - Rainbow Nails

I did two manicures for Rainbow Nails. First I did a water marble.

This was my first attempt at a water marble and I found placing the design properly on the nail a bit tricky. For this look, I used all these polishes - Sally Hansen Hard As Nails White Tip, Avon Decadence, Barry M Gelly in Blackberry, Key Lime, Mango, Rimmel Riviera Red.
Hopefully when I do the water marble again for this Challenge, this experience will come in handy!

I decided to give the rainbow nails another try and came up with this.

For this, I used Barry M Gelly in Blackberry, Guava, Key Lime, Mango, Barry M Matt White, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Grape Escape, Konad Yellow, Rimmel Pro Riviera Red
I painted a line with each colour and finished it all off with Rimmel Rock Your Colour Glitter Topcoat.

At the end, I thought that even though the water marble wasn't as successful as I had hoped for, it still looks kind of artistic and quite pleasing. I am definitely looking forward to trying out this technique again!

Denim and Lace

For this manicure, I used:
Base Polish: Rimmel Pro 925 My Denim
Stamping Polish: Konad White
Image Plates: Pueen 27 and Konad M57

Love the blue and white and the denim and lace combos!

Happy Indian Independence Day!

This manicure is to wish all my Indian Friends a very Happy Independence Day on the 15th of August 2013!

I used the the tricolour - the Indian Flag on three nails and a peacock feather and the lotus flower on a nail each as they are the National Bird and National Flower of India. 

For this manicure, I used: 

Base and Top Coat - OPI Nail Envy and Seche Vite

Base Polish - Essie Bonds Beige, Cutex Orange Spritz, Rimmel 60 Seconds 830 Camouflage

Stamping Polish - Konad Black and Essie Penny Talk

Plates used - Konad M55, M66 and Nailz Craze NC01

For the nails with the flags, I painted the entire nail first with Essie Bonds Beige and then used nail striping tape to mark it into three sections before painting with the orange and green. 

I wasn't too happy with the Essie Bonds Beige - its a very thin formula - takes at least three coats to get some colour on to your nail and then takes forever to dry - even after going over the top with the Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat. I had to do one of the nails three times because the Essie Bonds Beige wasn't as dry as I thought and got messed up when I put the striping tape on!!

Thanks for reading!