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

Once in a pink moon

Hello again there fellow nailies!

So sorry for my absence these past days, but I'm back!

Today I have for you some bright pink and white nails.

Sally wanted these to match a dress she was wearing to a 21st, so we did some pretty and simple half moons with a glitter placement twist.

On the ring finger I put OPI's 'I Lily Love You' for a little extra blang blang...

I'll be posting a tutorial for this design tomorrow.

What I used:

Essie 'Off the Shoulder'

ulta3 'Lily White'

OPI 'I Lily Love You'

Thanks for stopping by!

xNai

Double Dutch

Hello again DarlingHearts.

Today we have some more ombré, but with a twist!

I was inspired to do these by a graphic design @mpnails posted on Instagram (note: don't open the link if feet creep you out..), and just had to work it out.

To achieve this look, I did the background gradient first, and once that was completely dry with the aid of a top coat, I taped off the triangles, and did that gradient.

Love the way these look, and how completely vibrant they are! I chose contrasting colours to really add an element of oomph.

What I used:

Revlon 'Rock' and 'Siren'

Essence 'A Lovely Secret' and 'Raspberry Swirl'

Thanks for stopping by!

xNai

Crown Jewels

Hello again darling hearts!

Today I have for you some BYS Colour Change polish and glitter placement in a Nailside inspired design.

The purple used here is BYS 'Bright Purple (N288)'. This is a colour change polish that when cold is this first deep shimmery purple, and when warm, turns into a bright fuchsia.

This next image shows what each colour is like - I dipped my index and ring fingers in cold water, and then tried to get a pic of them all showing the diff colours.

I think I managed okay!

The base of this design is Revlon 'Cotton Candy', and for the triangles in the centre I used a base of Revlon 'Metallic' and NOPI 'Make U Smile' for the glitter placement. I used Metallic as a base, because I knew that the glitter placement would never cover ever corner, and I wanted the silver to really make an impact!

As always, thanks for stopping by!
Hope the new year is treating you well, and your resolutions are still standing. I know I don't even bother anymore - my commitment to the cause is pathetic! ;)
xNai

I'm nekkid!

Hello darling hearts!

Today we have some nude and neons.

I had been seeing the nude and neon combo a lot recently, as it has been summer in the northern hemisphere (thank god we're finally there ourselves - I hate winter. HATE), and this is a nice subtle way to do the neon trend.

And yes, I'm aware that wasn't the right shade of nude for my winter fingers, but I bought it cos I know when I'm tanned, that should be about spot on. In the mean time, I could dream...:)

Then for a competition, I decided to add on some glitter, like so:

I had to fish through multiple coloured glitters, just to find the necessary colours, and let me tell you, the blue and the pink? NOT an easy task!!

What I used:

essence 'nude it!', 'wake up!' 'let's get lost'

Revlon 'Bubble'

Sally Hansen 'Mellow Yellow'

China Glaze 'Electric Pineapple'

And for the glitters:

Blue - Milani Jewel FX 'Teal'

Gold - essence 'make it golden'

Orange and Green  - Lush Lacquer 'dipping dots' (buy it and others here. Do it. Trust me.)

Pink - Wet n Wild 'Party of Five Glitters'

For all the glitters I used the glitter placement technique - paint it onto some foil, then use a toothpick to pull the indiv glitters out. Then I tried to put as much back in the bottle as possible, as I didn't want to waste too much.

Thanks for stopping by!

xNai

Stitched up heart

Hello there again!

Today is the wedding, and I am probably very excited! (I say probably, because I'm writing this a full 2 weeks before, so I have to assume...;) )

I'm probably also very excited that it will soon be over, and life can go back to normal...XD

Alas, today is another one picture post, but with this one comes a tutorial as well! Rejoice!

I refer to these as my patchwork heart nails.

Patchwork Heart Nails

I especially love the glitter on the ring finger - it's essence 'blue addicted' which is a stunning royal blue jelly with medium and tiny blue hexes in it. Sadly it's not part of their new line, so I'm glad I stocked up! This was probably the first glitter I've actually really liked. I'm not much of a glitter girl, but this was the beginning of my conversion...:)

What I used:

essence 'you belong to me', 'walk on air', 'let's get lost!'

ulta3 'lily white'

Striping tape from ebay

Stick around for a tutorial a bit later!

xNai

The lady is a vamp

Hello there!

As of today, I am in Cape Town for my friend's wedding, and probably (hopefully) basking in the sun on one of the stunning beaches - if I'm not helping the bride with wedding stuff.

Today I have a quick and dirty post for you.

Incidentally, these were for Danya, for a wedding she was going to herself. They matched her stunning maroon suede heels.

Vampy V

This effect is really very simple to achieve.
I painted the base colour (Revlon 'Cotton Candy'), allowed it to dry completely (this is really important. Alternatively, you could use a fast drying top coat to ensure dry time), placed a square of masking tape down on an angle, then painted the top colour (ulta3 'black plum') and peeled off the tape.
Voila, you're left with a gorgeous deep V effect on the nails.

The shimmer in the ulta3 is really just gorgeous. Such a great deep red, with glass flecks in it.

As always, thanks for stopping by!
xNai


ps: kudos if you can get the title reference.

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

Stripes, pipes and kites.

Hello lovelies!

Maybe ignore the 'kites' part of the title...I like that it sorta rhymes and that's about where its relevance stops...:)

What I have for you today is a makeshift tape mani.

I love the look of these nails, possibly because the design itself is so simple, letting these über vibrant colours just do all the work.

To achieve this look, I cut some masking tape into little, almost equal strips, and just placed them randomly and overlapping on top of the base colour, i.e. the green, and then painted the black on top, quickly peeling off the tape to create the crisp lines where the colours shine through.

After the jump is a (dodgy) pic of my right hand, with the varying patterns.

What I used:

ulta3 'frog prince' and 'spring break'

Rimmel 'Sky High'

Revlon 'Bubble'

Australis 'Rich Red'

xNai