Naturally marbled

I thought I could give marble nails another go.

This time I did two feature nails on each hand.

I definitely think my left hand is better! 

Natural Base Colour: Revlon Grey Suede 

Red Marbled: Revlon Raven Red

Y'ellow... Spot ya later

I wanted to try something bright today! 

So yellow with Orange and Pink spots it is! 

(sorry about the not quite straight/even spots - I'm still learning)

Yellow: Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

Orange spots: OPI A Roll in the Hague

Pink spots: Kleancolour Neon Pink

Fluro and shattered

So as you remember I recently got a lot of new nail polish.
I am finally testing some of the new colours out.

Super bright Green and Orangey Fluro!

these are Miki Unnamed nail polishes.

They are actually a really nice smooth formula and quite an opaque colour and reasonably priced!

Miki Green (2 coats)

Miki Orange (3 coats)

I then decided to spice the manicure up (and try out my new shatters)

To be honest I don't really love this look on my nails (well especially not for work!)

but the black over the bright colours was rather effective and had a very punk-rocker grunge look.

OPI Black Shatter

OPI Silver Shatter

Green gradient

Today I asked MyLove what colours I should use, and he suggested two green tones.

So Gradient nails here I come.

I used my usual technique of painting a bright green base coat, and using an eye-shadow sponge to dab on dark green polish.

Bright Green: Miki neon green

Dark Green: Australis Here today gone tomorrow

Top coat: Sally Hansen Mega shine

I love my frankie polish!

So I decided to put on my Frankie nail polish again,

because I felt like something understated and different,

and I love it! 

It's so fantastic! It actually dries matte which gives it a really unique finish and I added a little bit more purple glitter so it has a cute subtle shine to it.

This is the matte look (without top-coat)

This is with two layers of top-coat

And this was my Manicure for the day

Cute or what!?

Colour: Frankie My personal Franken (2 coats)

Glitter: Kleancolour Diamond Purple (1 coat on top of Frankie)

Top-Coat: Sally Hansen Mega Shine (2 coats - the shine sunk into the frankie colour a bit)

Electric and sparkly!

So again I felt like another simple manicure.

I also bought two new glitter polishes recently which I've been wanting to try.

I decided to do a sort of Ombre glitter look (with two feature nails)

I'm not so sure I like the look - I think I'll stick with one glitter per manicure.

Index: Kleancolour Diamond Purple (2 coats)

Middle: Kleancolour Diamond Purple (2 coats)

Ring: Kleancolour Diamond Purple (1 coat) and Kleancolour Chunky Holo Poppy (1 coat)

Pinky: Kleancolour Chunky Holo Poppy (2 coats)

Base Colour: Revlon Electric Pink (3 thin coats)

A rainbow gradient manicure

I tried a new manicure today.

and it took a long time.

I did a gradient rainbow! 

do you like it?

First I painted my nails white (to make sure the colours were really vibrant!)

I then used an eye-shadow sponge to dab the colours on to my nails.

I began with yellow (because it was the lightest) and worked up and down from there

after all my dabbing efforts my nails looked like this.

I then used nail polish remove on a cotton bud to remove polish off my fingers.

I did try using a lighter and darker blue (but they didn't show up well) so ended up just using one blue.

Red: Revlon Revlon Red

Orange: OPI A Roll in the Hague

Yellow: Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

Green: L.A. Colours Quirky Turquoise

Blue: Revlon Mint Fizz

Purple: Revlon Plum Seduction 

A re-vamped manicure..

You may remember Sunday I had a Red Sticks and Stones manicure.

well today instead of doing something completely new, and wasting a perfectly good manicure I decided to just re-vamp it a little. 

I removed my slightly chipped index and thumb polish and

created two new feature nails (which actually show up sticks and stones better than I thought) 

What do you think of my "new" manicure?

Red: Sally Hansen Red Carpet (2 coats)

Silver: Revlon Pure Pearl (3 coats)

Top: Cover Brand Lacquers Sticks and Stones (dabbed on) 

A few new...

So I actually have quite a few new nail polishes I need to use.

yay! 

I bought the bright pink of the left last week (after using a similar pink at a friends house) 

The pink next to it my mother bought back from England

The Revlon and OPI were on an epic sale at the warehouse (and who was I to say no?) 

and the MIKI on the right were gifted to me from MyLove's mother (as I've been wanting some brights for ages)

Left: OPI Silver Shatter

Right: OPI Black Shatter

Left: Revlon Powder Puff

Middle: Revlon Catty

Right: Revlon Midnight Haze

(Unnamed colours - I will name them myself)

Left: MIKI Bright Coral

Right: MIKI Bright Lime 

Left: Kleancolour Neon Pink

Right: Ciate Jelly Bean

Hopefully soon you'll be seeing some posts using these colours.

For now I'm reducing my nail painting per week as I don't have as much time 

(due to end of uni holidays - and start of real work)

Reddy sparkly sticks and stones

today I felt like doing something simple but that looked really cool.

Here we have it.

Red: Sally Hansen Red Carpet

Top Coat: Cover Brand Lacquers Sticks and Stones

Another attempt at Marble nails

Today wasn't quite a good as last time,

But I still quite like them.

I've had a few people asking how to do marble nails.

So stay tuned for a tutorial!

An icy manicure

Today I am going Ice Skating with MyLove and his sisters.

I decided to do an Icy manicure in tribute to this - however, I have no pale blue.

so being a quick thinking person I decided to whip one up! 

I mixed Mabeline Marshmallow (silvery)

Australis Sky's the Limit

and 

Revlon Colada Fizz

but this colour ended up being far too sheer

so I added 

Sally Hansen Naturel White

and more Australis Sky's the limit

and created this beautiful number.

I name her Cinderella

I didn't want a super plain manicure so decide to spice it up a little with some dots.

(this picture is without topcoat)

Pale Blue: My Franken Cinderella

Dark Blue: Australis Sky's the limit

White (dots): Sally Hansen Naturel White

Finally to finish the look off I added a sparkly top coat in the form of Revlon Colada Fizz

Black Friday!

So I'm not superstitious or anything,

but I decided since today is Friday 13th (Black Friday) I may as well embrace it!

I'm not sure if you can see, but this is a spotty manicure

Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy (2 coats because I like to have a thick base when I use dark colours)

Black: Australis Blackmail (2 coats)

Matte/Matte dots: Elf Matte top coat

Shiny/Shiny dots: Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat

New navy blue...

So I have been envying the people who get to own and wear Butter London nail polish.

my favourite colour has always been Royal Navy

I found this image at Stuff I (s)watched

so, here in New Zealand this stuff retails at about $30 (which is quite a lot for nail polish)...

so sometimes I just go in to Farmers and stand by the Butter London counter and dream...

well today, after my Butter London Dreaming, I wandered into some other stores, one of them being a cheapo shop

and guess what I found!? 

A navy blue nail polish 

- I decided since it was only $3 I could buy it and risk it looking terrible and never being used....

when I got home I put some on and I was amazed! 

it looks so similar to the Royal Navy Butter London polish and only 1/10th the price! 

I am so happy!!! 

I was actually quite surprised at the smooth formula and opaque colour of such a cheap brand.

I will definitely be shopping here again.

I did this funky manicure...

Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy (super good!)

Blue: Kleancolour Neon Sapphire (2 coats) - but it even looked good after one coat!

Ring/Index finger: Revlon Sheer Rose (3 coats)

Let me just say I am one happy customer and in all my nail polish snobbery I think I may now be introducing a few more Kleancolour's into my collection.

Bright Pink Gradient!

 these are some more gradient (ombre) nails I did using my franken polish and a bright pink while I was at a friends house. 

I really like how these turned out, I think the neutral colour really makes the pink pop out.

 

Ombre vs. Gradient - I got it wrong!?

So apparently all this time what I (and most of the world) have been calling ombre nails have in actual fact been gradient nails.

The Swatchaholic informed me of the error of my ways. 

You may notice I have gone through a lot of my posts and changed my mistake.

 Pretty much,

Ombre nails are where one nail is painted a different solid colour - that goes gradually from lighter to darker.

for example

and gradient nails are where each nail changes gradually between two colours.

For Example

 

hopefully that clears a few things up, and I now realize I've been labeling a lot of posts wrong, however since everyone seems to get the two confused I think I will still use Ombre when labeling my gradient nail posts.

Sunset Gradient nails

So after playing around with some different Nail Polishes I decided to try some more gradient nails...

I love these sunset colours...

These were painted at a friends house and I don't remember the colours sorry.

Bright green and stone cold frankens....

so today I went to visit MyLove's family and he has four younger sisters 

(yay! I had always wanted a younger sister!)

well why I was there I began talking to MyLove's sisters about frankening polish and we decided to make some!

Here are two of our final products...

Shimmer Green and Stoney Grey (called Medusa)

and here are some cool colours made by TheYoungestSister.

Nude glittery franken

So in my first franken polish attempt I wished I didn't put in silver glitter,

So I made some more this time just a nice plain nude with coloured glitter flecks. 

I used Revlon Sheer Petal and Mabeline Marshmallow 

then crushed some face foundation powder and mixed that in.

Finally, I added in Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink (to get the colourful glitter)

These look so much better in person

(this photo is two-coats and Sally Hansen Mega Shine topcoat)

This is two coats without a top-coat

My "boyfriend" franken...

So after trying my first franken polish 

I decided to make another (as I had one other almost empty bottle)

MyLove suggested I do a blue glittery polish (as his favourite colour is blue)

So that is what I did, and in honour of his suggestion I will name this polish "Boyfriend"

Firstly I cleaned the bottle.

Pour Nail Polish remover into the bottle and Shake hard 

(Acetone Formula's work best)

then Empty contents into a small bowl or container (that is thick plastic) 

you can now save the metal mixing balls (instead of throwing them away) 

Dispose of the nail polish removed in a safe way (eg. not down the sink or anywhere where it could damage something)

Repeat until the bottle is clean

I used an old glitter polish bottle - so took a little white to fully clean out.

This Franken is made with:

- Bling bright Blue

- Revlon Mint Fizz

- Revlon Midnight Affair (only a few drops)

- Round Blue Glitter Pieces (I made sure not to do too much like in my first franken)

-and, Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the S-kylie.

This is my "boyfriend" Franken with one coat

This is two coats

(I love the shimmer and the great smooth and opaque formula)

And this is with Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat

Totally Love It!

If you try making any franken polishes let me know how you go.

Colorful cloudy nails...

Another manicure from the Grazia Magazine nail art ideas...

This one is Cloudy Nails... I looks a bit better in the magazine that my final attempt...

You begin with a solid base colour (I used pale yellow) then using eye-make up applicator sponges dab different pale shades of nail polish all over. 

Final Result

(Also this doesn't have top coat on)

Yellow: Australis Rub-a-dub-dub

Pale Green: Australis Sweetpea

Dark Green: Elf Bright Turquoise

Purple: OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender