Tiger nails

another attempt at the gradient nail effect.

Ok, Ok, I know I've tried it a lot of times now...

I got a bit bored of just having plain gradient nails, so decided to spice it up a little with some tiger stripes.

FUN!

Grunge nails

So another nail trend I've recently discovered is "grunge nails"

I found this great blog called fuckyeahnailart

which has epic nail art pictures - go on check them out

through them I found these nails 

Ok- not a fan on the pointyness but the colours look cool

and the tutorial here

and these nails

Which are super pretty and look sort of like sunset.

with a tutorial here

So I decided to try "grunge nails" out for myself. 

My first attempt was a little off - I think I used too many colours and layers (so it went a bit lumpy and gooey)

I used:

1) Bling Bright Blue

2) Australis Blackmail

3) Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

4) OPI A Roll in the Hague

5) Sally Hansen Fuchsia Bling Bling

6) Revlon No Shrinking Violet

after applying all six layers I dipped a paint brush in nail polish remover and swirled it around the nail.

It was much harder than the tutorial's made it sound - it took a while before I saw any new colours and I ended up with a lot of gooey nail polish piled up around the coloured spot. 

See this picture

The effect was cool - and if they had all turned out looking like this nail (most of them turned into brown gooey mess) I may have kept the polish on. 

but I decided to remove all the polish and 

Try Again

and this time - It worked!

well - it was much better than before

I used:

1) Sally Hansen Fuchsia Bling Bling

2) Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

3) OPI A Roll in the Hague

I then found a more-bristly brush and followed the same steps.  

admittedly afterwards I did dab a tiny bit of pink back onto the nail - as I got a bit too excited with the remover and had bits of NailSkin showing.

I like the finished look

Ombré blue

So as seen before I have found Ombré nails.

This is take two

For this beautiful creation I used: 

OPI: Nail Envy weak and peeling as base coat

Bling: Bright Blue (as my base colour)

Revlon: midnight affair (as a dark in-between blue)

Australis: Blackmail (as the dark tip colour)

Revlon: colorstay topcoat

First: I painted the base coat and base colour (all of my nail bright blue)

DRY TIME! (make sure the polish is dry to touch - or it comes off on the sponge)

Then: I painted three stripes (of my blue shades) on to a sponge.

The colours overlapped slightly

Then: I "stamped" the sponge on to each finger and gave a little wiggle - to get a really smudgy look

Finally I actually took the black polish and painted the very tips of my nails so it's really dark

then: topcoated it.

just after I topcoated I bumped my nail - so I didn't have a super smooth finish! 

I was going to apply another layer of topcoat, but instead decided to apply a layer of shimmer.

This is Revlon: Colada Fizz over the top

Love these nails this time!! 

the colours are perfect.

next time I think I'll try an orange and white.

Ombré nails

I first saw Ombré Nails while cruising the Internet looking at funky nail art. 

I then came across this blog which had some explanation on how to achieve this look.

I tried following their directions (and it didn't work!)

in the end up did it like this.

First: I painted my nails with my usual OPI nail envy base coat

then painted my nails with Revlon pure pearl (my base colour)

(sorry no photo here)

Then: I found an old clear file sheet (any plasticy sheet will work)and poured a few drops of Revlon electric pink on to the plastic

I used a make-up sponge to dab the nail polish (in really light layers) onto the nail.

Then: I did about a zillion layers (they were really sheer) doing more layers as I got closer to the tip of my nail.

after this my entire finger-tips were a mess.

I just used a nail-polish remover soaked cotton bud to remove the excess polish around my nails.

The nails looked pretty average and fuzzy (from the sponge)

Finally: after a generous layer of Revlon colorstay topcoat they looked amazing!

(I used a "generous" amount so I could avoid smudging the colours too much)

This is the final result. 

I like.

I'm not entirely sure on the colour choice though - I think it'd be fun with a variety of different colours.

Also: after my improvised process I found this really useful directional:

Think I'll try this way out next time - and maybe a different sponge

Colorfully abstract

So I've been having some more fun with my nail polishes.

I decided to go for a bright and abstract manicure! 

As for the nail polish I used this time:

Left to Right

Art Deco: Black

Maybelline: Marshmallow

Art Deco: Intense Pink

Art Deco: Quirky Turquoise

Art Deco: Hi-Lite

Mrs. Nailed It

I wanted to draw your attention to a blogger I love.

Mrs. Nailed It does such fantastic different designs - and she sounds pretty obsessed with nail polish (sometimes painting her nails more than once a day!) 

totally loved this cute picture of her's (which I just had to share)

You can all go and check out her blog here

Spotty fun.

Check out my lovely nails for today.

I recently bought some new nail art polish (they have a really thin brush) from the Warehouse.

This was the easiest way to test them out...

Enjoy

Left to Right

Art Deco: Quirky Turquoise

Art Deco: Mint Green

Base Colour: Mabeline Marshmallow (Silvery - (which when I bought I thought was white,) they look really nice with silver underneath - except now I have 2 silvers haha)

Art Deco: Intense Pink

Art Deco: Baby Pink

Neutral and abstract

My super cute nails of the day.

I decided to try out a design of nails I saw a while ago on instagram.

(by the way- I am on instagram, search #agirlwithsomeclothes under tags or usernames)

I was in the mood for pretty understated neutral colours so that is how I arrived at this.

Pale brown, pale pink and dark brown.

I really like the simplicity of the colours with the excitement of the design.

Having it on only two nails keeps it even more simple.

Pale Brown: Revlon Creme Brulee 

Pale Pink: Revlon Peach Petal

Dark Brown: Revlon Totally Toffee

Top Coat: Revlon colorstay topcoat

Sticks and Stones - I love thee!

Today I came home to hear my mother utter those five beautiful words....

"agirlwithsomeclothes you have a package."

and boy was I excited!!! 

I ripped it open...

to reveal...

This

Sticks and Stones by cover brands lacquers

This is a nail polish that is based (heavily based) on the lovely "connect the dots" by Lynnderella.

(she does heaps of cool nail polish!)

after reading many reviews here on both, I decided that sticks and stones is probably more me anyway

(it is also much cheaper on eBay (not originally priced) this is due to the now high demand for connect the dots)

(by the sounds of it connect the dots has more of a sheen as the main polish, while sticks and stones is a clear polish)

sticks and stones is a clear nail polish with bits of black and white glitter.

The glitter is in a variety of shapes and sizes: hexagons, circles and lines.

So my sticks and stones journey began...

First I applied my base colours.

(random and colourful - I wanted to see what it looked like on different colours)

Left: Revlon Electric Pink (3 coats)

Middle: Australis rub-a-dub-dub (2 coats)

Right: Revlon Plum Seduction (3 coats)

then, after waiting an excruciating long time for them to dry,

I applied my sticks and stones...

and I am in love! 

I think this nail polish looks amazing.

I love it over the pink's however on yellow the white glitter didn't show up as much (so probably won't do it over this colour again)

This is with one coat - using the dabbing effect not brushing (instead of brushing the nail polish on like usual you push the brush onto the nail and dab the glitter in the places you want it.)

and Revlon colourstay top coat

Enjoy some close ups

Red Nails...

Brighten up any mood...

or any cold weather!!!

I felt super colourful while sitting at my computer 

(I spent all day doing assignments)

Pink Scarf

Purple Gloves

and 

Red Nails

lovely.

Scarf: Postie

Gloves: The Warehouse

Nail Polish: Valentine by Revlon

Misbehaved nails

So my Foil Nails are gone...

Peeled them off as they were starting to annoy me, the ends weren't quite smooth (I think due to the shortness of a few of my bitten nails - terrible of me I know!)

I since decided to put on some more of my Sally Hansen salon effects.

I like them! 

And they stick on to the nail so easily and they look super smooth and tidy afterwards! (unlike my first attempt at foil nails)

These are Misbehaved 

-but they do behave - unlike some ::cough cough::

(a fishnet style pattern with gold undertone)

Sorry about the creepy hand - I don't know what I was thinking...

Also, In all fairness I will be giving the foil nails another try once my nails a just a tad bit longer.

New foil nails

Today I went to the women's expo.

It was filled with numerous stalls with things focused at women!!

I found a stall selling nail foils!!!

And I went a little crazy....

(7 in total!)

I had actually been looking at these on the Internet lately, and have been trying to find somewhere that sold them in New Zealand. eBay was looking like my only option....

So I was very happy when I saw these in my own home town!!!!

So excited that I put some on tonight!

And to be honest....

They look AMAZING! But they took ALOT of effort to get on.

I think that was partly due to the fact that I had cut my nails so short just yesterday (a little bit too short)

I will definitely give these nail foils another try once I grown my nails a bit longer...

So keep piste for more reviews.

Oh, and I got a Yummy apple too!!!

Toffee Apple!!! 

om nom nom 

Lavender leopard print...

Super cute pale nails.

This is a funky and feminine manicure!

I love it because it's pale enough to go with pretty much any outfit, but up-close it has heaps of detail. 

Purple base colour: OPI lucky lucky lavender

White Konad leopard print

Revlon colour stay topcoat

You can purchase Konad and OPI from Candy Girl

For a great Konad Tutorial check out the link on the right side of this page. 

Check it out of the blue...

Today I was removing my Check it out nails
(just like you would with normal nail polish)

(yes, already time for a change!)
and decided to see what they'd look like with a bit of colour to them.

I put Mint Fizz (quite a sheer blue - only one coat) over the top and I think they look rather good.

I was hard to keep them streak free though, so you have to do a dab and spread it quickly.

what do you think?

Check It Out nails.

Today I thought I'd make use of my 

Sally Hansen: Salon Effects

I haven't worn these in such a long time I thought I could have a little fun with some eye grabbing nail polish! 

240: Check it out

These are super easy to apply

you just peel off backing and stick to the nail (just like a sticker)

I like to give it a really good rub with my fingers to make it nice and warm and sticky before applying to nail.

Then a really good rub once it is on my nail. 

and, they don't stick to skin so it's really easy to get off if I get some around my nail.

It says you don't need to - but I like to apply a top coat

Revlon: 999 Colourstay Top Coat

This is the result.

You like?

a missing iPhone and a lacy mani.

So I haven't got my iPhone at the moment.

Don't worry it's not lost  it's just not currently in my possession. 

I'm pretty sure I just left it at MyLove's house...

which is all the way across town...

and I'm too lazy...

so, instead of driving all the way across town

I decided to stay at home and 

paint my nails! 

check out my new (experimental) manicure

I used Revlon Endlesss Possibilities as the base colour (Three coats - because I  didn't want it sheer) and then white konad lace design along the top. 

The nails look different because I couldn't decided which way I wanted to stamp the lace pattern, I think next time I might only use half the design - Under a white French tip.

What do you think?

P.s. I totally had to use my webcam to take this photo (not the usual iPhone.) so sorry if the quality is not as great. 

my favourite Konad shopping site.

So I thought I would share with you another website that I love.

Candy Girl is a New Zealand site that sells one of my favourite products.

Konad. 

I have mentioned Konad to you before

but I thought I would show you my number one Konad shopping site.

This site is amazing! 

They have pretty much every image plate possible! 

And every Konad special nail polish colour that every existed! 

along with many other Konad tools (like the stamper and scraper)

Candy Girl also sells every OPI and China Glaze nail polish at reasonable prices too :) 

What's not to love really!?