Pastel Squared

Hey guys!

I swear I'm going to run out of names for these tribal inspired posts...please comment any suggestions - all are welcome ;)

Anywho, these are the nails I wore on the first part of my summer holiday. I used a peel of base coat so I wouldn't need to lug acetone as well as other stuff in my suitcase. It lasted a surprisingly long time, considering it's made to come of easily...

These were done using my Face of Australia pastels again, and I love the way they looked. Clean and simple.

What I used:

Aside from the FoA pastels, I used

ulta3 'blue heaven', 'eighties fuchsia', 'banana split', 'lily white'

essence 'wake up!', 'viva la green', 'black is back'

Thanks for dropping in!

xNai

Black and Gold

Hey guys!

So this is how we know for certain I'm behind the times with my posts, because I'm only just showing you OPIs 'Just Spotted the Lizard'.

This is one of the polishes from the spiderman collection, released mid last year. I only got my hands on it late last year, so tried it out when I got the chance.

Pics after the jump.

That girl is on fire

Hello again!
So apparently I'm like the worst blogger known to mankind, what with all my unscheduled leaves of absence - life kind of takes over periodically, and my scheduled posts only last so long!
My apologies, dear readers.

Anywho!

Aztec Love

Hey guys.

Today I have for you another foray into the Face of Australia pastels I bought a while back. This time I wanted them to be a little bit more punchy, and so did this tribal design with them.

It's quite simple, but really a striking look. What do you think? Something you'd recreate?

What I used:

ulta3 'lily white'

essence 'black is back'

Face of Australia 'boys 'n' berries', 'after dinner mint' and 'easy peasy lemon squeezy'

Thanks for dropping in,

xNai

Fly away Peter, fly away Paul.

Hey guys!

Today I have for you the glorious Cotinga by Gloss 'n Sparkle (which I named, for the stunning turquoise cotinga bird).

Cotinga inspired this splotchy laser stripes mani, and it came out beautifully. 

Unfortunately I can't remember the polishes used for the splotches, but I can tell you that that gorgeous accent glitter is Cotinga, and let me tell you, it looks just as spectacular on light blues, purples, and even silvers as it does on black.
This is two very light coats of Cotinga, with no dabbing or placement required. Truly a delight to use!

As always, thanks for stopping by!
xNai

Chunks of blacky goodness

Hey, you! Yes you. Right there...reading this! How are you?

Today I have a fairly pic heavy post, showing off a lemming of mine that was finally crushed a little while back.

I am, of course, talking about Kleancolor's 'Chunky Holo Black'.

And oh my, did it live up to my hopes and expectations.

Anyway, on with the show!

Indirect light with an AWESOME backdrop.
NAME IT.

Look at the range of colours in this glitter. All the way from a dark cherry red through orange, yellow, bright greens, and on some angles, into a deep blue.

In the shade

Mattified, in shade

Mattified in artificial light.

All I can say about this polish, is how happy I was to finally be wearing it. You all know how strange it is for me to be wearing one solid colour, let alone a glitter, and I wore this one for nearly a week!

Thanks for stopping by,

xNai

New and Improved Zebra

Hey there!

Today we have some simple black and silver designs with a holo twist for Ilana.

Had to leave the ring in the frame - so prettiful!

Just some basic graphic black stripes, with simplified accents.

Intentionally slightly blurred to show the holographic goodness

And the beauty of it shimmers in the sun! Can you see the holo on the middle finger? Subtle but gorgeous.

What I used:

Revlon 'Metallic'

Gloss 'n Sparkle Spectraflair top coat.

No name black striper

Thanks for stopping by!

xNai

Rorschach Fun

Hello there lovelies!

So today I have for you what I've been calling splotchy ombre stripes. Really awful name, I know, so please, if you can come up with something better, tell me!!

These I did for Orit, as she was going to Lady Gaga that night. The pink you can see is UV reactive polish, in case there were black lights, and I coated the whole thing in glow in the dark top coat, under the black, so the stripes would glow!

Orit loved them, and to show how rockin' she thought they were, she even did the following pose for my pics:

Then we went for coffee with some friends, and Ilana saw them, and decided she wanted them as well! Back to my house we went, and I did these on top of her purple shellac. I love Ilana's nails - such long beautiful nail beds! They make me so jealous...

What I used:

BYS 'Bright Purple N288', 'Blue N283' (both colour change polishes),

'02 UV Tension Rising' and their Glow in the Dark top coat.

OPI 'Black Onyx'

Lucky you, there's a tutorial for these babies!
I shall post it probably tomorrow, or the day after, sorry for the delay...:(

Hope you love these as much as I did!
xNai

Strippy Strappy Stripes

Hello there again lovelies.

Firstly, I just want to apologise for my absence recently. I had a lot of work I needed to do, and have finally finished! 

Thank you for sticking around, it really means so much.

Now I'm preparing for my summer holidays, gotta pack and sort my stuff out, etc. Super excited! But this also means that I'll be posting less in general. I'm gonna schedule a bunch of posts for while I'm away, but probably not as many as usual, cos who can be bothered sitting at the comp for HOURS editing and composing?! I'll do my best though.

Anywho, today I have for you a really arduous technique, but it looks so lovely when complete.

This is step one - horizontal gradients across all the nails. It goes pink-red-purple-blue-green-pink. 

I wanted to use yellow on the end there, but this was another entry into the 5 colour comp. I rather like the ring and pinky in the end anyway - the combo of lime and pink almost looks like a sunset.

After the difficulty of ombreing that much, we then had to clean up, and proceed onto the next step.
That's right - this isn't even the whole shebang!


 Ta daaa!!

I am SUCH a fan of these. I love how subdued they are (which suits Nicole to a T), while still being poppingly bright.

I wish I could tell you the colours I used, but alas, my memory fails me..:(
I know I used some essence, and the black is OPI Black Onyx, but beyond that, sorry!
Also, the striping tape is the same I've used previously - little rolls off ebay, super cheap.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did making them.
Thanks for stopping by,
xNai

The best wiz and witchard o' their age!

Hello there lovelies!

So, as I have previously mentioned, I'm just a little bit of a PotterHead...Just a touch of the mania..:)

So for today's nails, as it is the 26th of October, and the day for witches in the This Is Halloween Challenge, I decided to recreate one of my very favourite Potter manis: The Final Battle.

The Final Battle

These nails depict the last and intense battle between Voldemort (that's right, I'm a badass. Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself...) and Harry. It's a movie reference rather than a book reference, because I don't believe this is what JK would have been picturing, and nor is it what I picture...ANYWAY.

I first saw these nails on @trincess on Instagram, and instantly fell in love with them. OMFG, they're glorious!

Granted mine aren't quite as insanely cool, but I think I did a decent job considering I'm not actually an artist...:)

On the thumb I did the Deathly Hallows:

Deathly Hallows

And on the other hand, I did the house colours and stylised crest again. This is the first halloween mani I've done for both hands, and how could I not? It's Harry!

House Colours and Crest

What I used (prepare for a long list...):

For the Final Battle:

essence 'black is back', 'LIME UP!', 'fateful desire', and 'fame fatal'.

ulta3 'frog prince', 'banana split', 'lemon', and 'mango mayhem'.

For the Deathly Hallows and Right Hand:

essence 'black is back', 'fame fatal'

ulta3 'banana split'

Revlon 'Metallic', 'Emerald', 'Royal'.

Chi Chi 'Glamourama', and 'Bronze Ambition'

Anywho, I hope you enjoy these as much as I genuinely did making them!
As always, thanks for stopping by!
xNai

                                           

Here are the other challengers, add your link if you are joining in!

1. Ehmkay Nails	2. Not Too Polished	3. Nai's Nails	4. Polish Rainbow
5. Baroque fool	6. A Polished Prance	7. Froggy Ferny Cabbage - Plisherrific	8. Marie's mani madhouse
9. Nail-to-Nail Interpretations	10. Lacquer Dreams	11. PRIS Nails	12. osiris and loki paint their nails
13. Lacquer Or Leave Her!	14. Lacquer Or Leave Her! V2.0	15. Jaztee	16. More Nail Polish
17. Lissa's Polish Addiction	18. Never Mind Suzi	19. Pink and Polished Nails	20. Glitter Me This
21. play polish :)	22. Nikki NeverWithoutPolish	23. Tes Did It Nails	24. Manicura de fantasía
25. Overpolished	26. a girl and her chicken named betty	27. Adorablypathetic	28. LacquerNinja Halloween Witches
29. Life, Times and Lacquers of Lilmoon	30. Follow the Yellow Polish Road	31. Nailified Witches	32. Amoki's Corner
33. The Girlie Tomboy	34. Kelly's Kolors!	35. Miss Holly Berries	36. Pretty Purple Polish - Witches
37. Nail Gun XS	38. MauiMami	39. Phoenix Nails	40. Hand-y Feats and Other Treats
41. Panda loves polish	42. NonLacquerDaisical	43. Carrie

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

There's a light...over at the Frankenstein place

Hello again lovelies!

Today is October 19, and as such I have some bats for you!

I didn't want to be too literal with the bats thing, so I decided to take it to a vampirey castle, in the dead of night, with some bats flying up and away into the distance.

In this next pic, I decided to mattify half of the mani, to see what it would look like, and to give a stone-like effect to the castle. I think it turned out rather well!

And then on the thumb, what better than some Batman?
My fingers don't meet up nicely to make those joined up images, especially not my thumb (I swear I'm missing a joint there...), so I decided to chuck in some random Batmaniness. Cuz I can!

What I used:

For the blue I layered Essie 'Aruba Blue' over Ulta3 'Midnight Fever' - such a gorgeous, rich blue. I did the mani by itself afterwards, and I don't wear plain manis often.

Essence 'Black is Back'

Ulta3 'Banana Split'

Rimmel 'Matte Finish' top coat

As always, thanks for dropping by!
xNai

PS, you all totally have some Rocky Horror in your heads now, don't you? Moo hahaha :)


                                          

Here are the other challengers, add your link if you are joining in!

1. Pretty Purple Polish	2. Nail Gun XS	3. PRIS Nails	4. A Polished Prance
5. LacquerDreams	6. Nai's Nails	7. Silly Bats - Plisherrific	8. Polish Rainbow - Bats
9. Lissa's Polish Addiction	10. Nail-to-Nail Interpretations	11. NonLacquerDaisical	12. More Nail Polish
13. Never Mind Suzi	14. Lacquer Or Leave Her!	15. osiris and loki paint their nails	16. Baroque fool
17. Glitter Me This	18. Pink and Polished Nails	19. LacquerNinja Halloween Bats	20. Manicura de fantasía
21. a girl and her chicken named betty	22. Phoenix Nails	23. Carrie	24. Nikki NeverWithoutPolish
25. Juliana at Nail Polish Addiction	26. Nailified: Bats	27. The Girlie Tomboy	28. Plastered Polish
29. Ehmkay Nails	30. Not Too Polished	31. Miss Holly Berries	32. The Polished Mommy
33. Polish and Repeat	34. Jibber Jabber	35. Hand-y Feats and Other Treats	36. Marie's Mani Madhouse Bats
37. Delainie	38. Amoki's Corner	39. It's Just a Hobby! - Bats & Gradient	40. Lovin Nailz
41. MauiMami	42. Follow the Yellow Polish Road	43. Tes Did It Nails

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Braaaiiins...

Hello lovelies!

So today we have one of the This is Halloween Challenge manis that I'm rather proud of - zombies!

Today's mani was inspired by an artist I've been following on Instagram for a while now. Her handle there is @spooksieboo - go check her out.
She has an Etsy shop I believe, where you can go and order paintings of you and your loved ones zombified! I'll link it once I've found it, as right now the link isn't on her profile.
Edit: This is the link to her easy shop where you can purchase prints of some of her more popular designs, and sometimes even order customs pics...CLICK ME!

Anywho, on with the show!

I've always loved the eyes on her paintings, so I decided to replicate those here, with the trademark green of slowly decaying zombie skin, and of course some barely healing gashes, poorly stitched up.
And of course, a matte finish on these, because I felt it just more fitting.

What I used:

Essie 'Navigate Her' and 'Mojito Madness'

Essence 'Black is Back' and 'Fateful Desire'

Ulta3 'Lily White'

Rimmel 'Matte Finish'

What do you think? Did I do the challenge, and Spooksieboo's paintings justice?

As always, thanks for stopping by!
xNai

                                               

Here are the other challengers, add your link if you are joining in!

1. RantingBlogger	2. Nai's Nails - Zombies	3. Walking Dead - Plisherrific	4. A Polished Prance
5. Lissa's Polish Addiction	6. Zombie nails by Marie's mani madhouse	7. Nail-to-Nail Interpretations	8. Nail Gun XS
9. LacquerDreams	10. The Silverinator	11. osiris and loki paint their nails	12. Lacquer Or Leave Her!
13. Lacquer Or Leave Her! V2.0	14. Never Mind Suzi	15. More Nail Polish	16. Polish Rainbow - Zombies
17. Glitter Me This	18. Shatter me Claire	19. Pretty Purple Polish - Zombies	20. Pink and Polished Nails
21. Baroque fool	22. Overpolished	23. Delainie	24. Dema Pixie
25. Ehmkay Nails	26. Manicura de fantasía	27. a girl and her chicken named betty	28. Nikki NeverWithoutPolish
29. Follow the Yellow Polish Road	30. Amoki's Corner	31. melmyissta	32. Tes Did It Nails
33. Not Too Polished	34. Kelly's Kolors! - Zombies!	35. Juliana at Nail Polish Addiction	36. Nailified: Zombies
37. play polish :)	38. Miss Holly Berries	39. PRIS Nails	40. The Polished Mommy
41. Life, Times and Lacquers of Lilmoon	42. NonLacquerDaisical	43. LacquerNinja Halloween Zombies	44. Hand-y Feats and Other Treats
45. Zombie Nails - Jibber Jabber	46. Polish & Pandas	47. Jas's Blingtastic Nails	48. Lovin Nailz
49. MauiMami	50. Phoenix Nails	51. Fe's Nails

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick

Today is October 12, and you know what that means!

Jack O'Lanterns!

For these nails I decided to keep it super simple, and just create the basic ideas of jack O'lanterns. (should all those be capitalised? hmm..)

You can see the detailing in the actual pumpkin background better in this pic and the next one - I used two different shades of orange (essence 'Wake Up!' and Ulta3 'Mango Mayhem') to create the shading, and then just a black (essence 'Black is Back) with a teeny tiny paintbrush, and LOTS of patience for the faces.

I wanted to give you a range of faces, so we have two nice/benign, and two seriously evil looking' mofos.

Hope you've enjoyed these, and don't forget to check out some of the other incredible entries!
If you're on instagram, check out the #thisishalloweenchallenge tag - I and a number of others have been uploading there as well, and there are some seriously incredible entries; @strawbrie never fails to impress.

Thanks for dropping by
xNai

                                          

Here are the other challengers, add your link if you are joining in!

1.	Nail Gun XS - Jack-O-Lanterns	22.	Kelly's Kolors! - Ghosts	43.	Follow the Yellow Polish Road	64.	Delainie
2.	Nail Gun XS - Ghosts	23.	Juliana at Nail Polish Addiction	44.	NonLacquerDaisical	65.	Delainie
3.	A Polished Prance	24.	Polish Rainbow - Ghosts	45.	Lacquer Dreams - Ghosts!	66.	Polish Rainbow - Jack-O-Lanterns
4.	osiris and loki paint their nails	25.	Michelle at Ehmkay Nails	46.	Melmyissta- ghosts	67.	Never Mind Suzi - Jack-o-lantern
5.	Plisherrific	26.	Pink and Polished Nails	47.	The Girlie Tomboy	68.	play polish :)
6.	Nai's Nails - Ghosts	27.	LacquerNinja Halloween Ghosts!	48.	Tes Did It Nails	69.	Ehmkay Nails: Jack O Lanterns!
7.	Jaztee - Ghosts	28.	Amoki's Corner	49.	Just Another Polish Addiction	70.	a girl and her chicken named betty
8.	Ghost nails - Jibber Jabber	29.	The Life, Times and Lacquers of Lilmoon	50.	datyorkLOVES	71.	LacquerNinja Halloween Jack'o'Lanterns!
9.	Ghosts set1- mani madhouse	30.	Nikki NeverWithoutPolish	51.	Jack O Lanterns - Jibber Jabber	72.	Overpolished - Jack O'Lanterns
10.	Nail-to-Nail-Interpretations	31.	a girl and her chicken named betty	52.	It's Just a Hobby! - Jack O'Lanterns	73.	Amoki's Corner
11.	The Silverinator	32.	Glitter Me This	53.	Shatter me Claire	74.	Juliana at Nail Polish Addiction
12.	Hand-y Feats and Other Treats	33.	Sophie	54.	melmyissta- Jack-o-lanterns	75.	Nail-to-Nail Interpretations
13.	Patricia. Manicura de Fantasía	34.	Baroque fool	55.	Lissa's Polish Addiction - Jack o Lanterns	76.	Nikki NeverWithoutPolish
14.	Lacquer Or Leave Her!	35.	Sonoma Nail Art	56.	PRIS Nails	77.	LTandL of Lilmoon - Jack-O-Lanterns
15.	More Nail Polish - Ghosts	36.	Nailified	57.	Pretty Purple Polish - Jack-O-Lanterns	78.	Just Another Polish Addiction
16.	Never Mind Suzi - Ghosts	37.	Dema Pixie	58.	More Nail Polish - Jack-o-lanterns	79.	Nailified Jack-o-lanterns
17.	Pretty Purple Polish - Ghosts	38.	Not Too Polished	59.	Lacquer Or Leave Her!	80.	The Daily Lacquerista
18.	Jas's Blingtastic Nails	39.	Tales from the Makeup Bag - Ghosts	60.	Hand-y Feats and Other Treats	81.	A Polished Prance
19.	Carrie	40.	It's Just a Hobby - Ghosts	61.	Baroque fool - jack o lanterns	82.	Jas's Blingtastic Nails
20.	Overpolished - Ghosts	41.	PRIS Nails	62.	Pink and polished nails jack-o-lanterns	83.	Miss Holly Berries
21.	RantingBlogger	42.	Within-My-Eyes- Ghosts	63.	Carrie- Sassy Nails

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

String theory

Well hello.

Fancy meeting you here!

I have some pretty dots and threading stripes for you this time.

To create the dots I used three different sized dotting tools, one of which was a toothpick.
That's just how I roll.
The stripy accent finger was created using this technique which I like to refer to as 'stringing' or 'threading'. You can see why...

Sadly I can't tell you the colours used, as they are my friend's, thus I do not have them here!

Anywho, hope you liked this!
xNai