Pink checkers

Thought I'd give the masking tape checkers look a try...

It was relatively easy to do (however, as you can see, my pink smudged a little) 

If I did this again I think I would use different colours - I think the pale colour was a bit too close to skin colour so didn't look as good on checkered nails) 

Overall I like the look. 

next time - new colours

Scaly nails

The name sounds horrible...

The finished result is actually rather cool.

See for yourself!

To get this look:

you simply paint a base colour (in this case Ocean Breeze by Revlon) you then use a dotting tool and about 4 different nail polishes to put spots over-lapping onto the nail) 

End result- Scaly looking nails

Sugar spun nails

Thought I'd give sugar spun nails a try...
I think I'll use less colours next time. 

Two new franken

Excuse the mess - I was in a rush (and excited to show you the colours)

a bit of a nail polish remove and a hand wash will clean these right up.

These are two new colours. 

The purple I made for a friend's Birthday - The purple and shimmer made me think happy thoughts of her.

The blue - I was just really wanting a shiny bright(ish) blue

Purple: Franken Lisa

Blue: Franken Bluebell

A franken pink and some sticks and stones...

I was getting pretty bored! 

I decided to paint my nails both a franken pink and a new pink I hadn't tried before. 

Then I got really bored and added some sticks and stones and stripes. 

Pink index and middle: Ciate Jelly Bean

Pink ring, pinky and thumb:  Franken Jessica

Top: Cover Brands Sticks and Stones

This is the Franken colour I made.

It shall be called Jessica

Ocean nails...

Having some more fun with my gradient nails...

I've decided these look a little like the ocean.

They turned out really well, I am definitely improving! 

(I used an eye-shadow applicator sponge)

Blues are:

Revlon Ocean Breeze 

Revlon Mint Fizz

Revlon Midnight Affair 

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

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

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.

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

Bright halo nails...

Again following on from the trying all the nail ides from Grazia Magazine...

today I did Halo Nails.

I did these pretty easily, I painted the nail a nudey brown shade and then used a nail art pen to draw my outline. 

The magazine suggests painting your nails the bright colour and then painting only the centre with a nude colour (I would suggest painting the centre white and then the nude colour to make sure it really shows up on top of the bright base)

This is my attempt... 

Next time I might try with Orange or Green!

Green geometric nails.

As promised here is my Green geometric manicure...

This manicure was super easy to do! 

Firstly I painted the pale green as a base, then once dry I used a nail art pen to paint the bright green and then darker green.

no masking tape ripping off nail polish and sharp crisp lines! woohoo! 

I hope you like.

Pale Green: Australis Sweetpea

Bright Green: L.A. Colours Art Deco Mint Green

Dark Green: L.A. Colours Art Deco Quirky Turquoise

Geometric nails!

I was flicking through Grazia magazine and came across these cool nail ideas!

so I decided to try them all!

firstly Geometric nails!

I couldn't choose just one colour...

and I did them using different methods.

Firstly the purple I did using masking tape...

I painted my entire nail white then used a sheer pink to do the pale pink colour (this only really shows up well over white)

I then taped over sections of the pale pink and painted with the light purple.

but this was a mistake!

The masking tape pulled off bits of the pale pink (probably didn't leave enough dry time)

I then masking taped over the pale pink and purple to do the dark purple streaks, and again when I pulled off the masking tape it pulled off heaps of colour! 

so I ended up carefully going over each coloured section again with nail polish (that is why the lines aren't so crisp.

but still I think it looks quite nice.

White (under colour): Sally Hansen Sheer Romance Naturel White

Pale Pink: Revlon Pink Orchid

Pale Purple: OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender 

Dark Purple: Elf Dark Purple Shimmer

Tomorrow I'll post how I did the green...

Fourth of July nails!

So I have some nice American family friends and decided to embrace their celebration!

I hope you like.

Red: Sally Hansen Honeymoon Red

Blue: Revlon Mint Fizz

White Stars: Konad special white polish

White stripes: Art Deco white