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

Pastel Chagall

Hello...I've been expecting you...*strokes pure white cat with creepy look on face* (yeah, alright, so I'm weird...what were you expecting?)

ANYway...

This mani was inspired by the brand new (at the time) pastel collection put out by Face of Australia. It came at a 'FINALLY' kind of moment for me, because I had been scouring shops for pastels since about August, waiting for spring/summer because thats when all the pretty bright colours are released.

Everyone was raving about this collection, and I can see why. Have a look for yourselves:

These polishes are pastels, but so bright and punchy in their colour - just perfect for summer/spring!

I only have 5 of the 7 in the range, as the others (a dusty lavender/grey and a pretty pink) didn't really appeal to me.

Application for most of the colours was just amazing, considering their pastel nature. The purple, yellow and orange applied nicely to full opacity in 2 coats. The blue took three thin coats, but was easy to apply, whereas the green took 3 as well, but was a bit more temperamental - patchy at times. I've since been using Revlon 'Jaded' instead - almost a dupe in colour, and much nicer application.

What I used:

ulta3 'lily white'

Face of Australia 'boys 'n' berries' (purple), 'once in a blue moon' (blue), 'after dinner mint' (green), 'easy peasy lemon squeezy' (yellow), 'would you like some orange sherbet?' (orange)

While the names are adorbs, espesh the yellow and orange, they're a pita* to write or even talk about!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

xNai

*pain in the ass

French is overrated...

Hello again my darlings!

Today I have a quick and dirty mani for you.

I did this one Saturday morning when I was in a bit of a rush to go out, and had naked nails.

Since I started this whole adventure into nail art, I've become known for it among my friends and peers, and I knew I couldn't go out with nothing on my nails, even if it was as simple as these.

I decided to go for a sort of French mani with this nude and blue gradient, which didn't work as nicely as hoped (note the ring and middle fingers).

This picture also alerted me to my terrible habit of not filing my ring finger to the same shape as all the others! What the?!

Then I gave up on that time consumingness, and just did an actual french tip on the other hand.

I didn't want the blue to actually be the size of my free edge, as I thought that might end up being too much, so I just did a very thin tip, as you can see.

Clearly my frenching skills are in dire need of some improvement! eek!

What I used:

essence 'nude it!'

ulta3 'blue bird'

Anywho,
Thanks for stopping by, you gorgeous thangs you!
xNai

Ziggy's Gift

Hey guys!

Today I've got some chevrons and gradients for you, on Danya's nails. Maybe one day you'll even get to see these girls' faces! 

All the rage at the moment, and so I decided to give it a bash, and put my own twist to it.

These are really bright in real life, with the blues positively popping off the nails.
I used more colours in the chevrons than in the ombré, to get the same fading effect. In future, I would probably use a different colour than 'Fly' for the second to last row, as it's a bit too green.

What I used:

(In order from darkest to lightest)

mode 'tatt-tastic'

essence 'walk on air'

Sinful Colors 'why not'

OPI 'Fly'

China Glaze 'For Audrey'

essence 'you belong to me'

As always, thanks for stopping by!

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

With ya head in the clouds

Hey guys!

Today we have some simple clouds.
I had just received OPI 'Fly' and wanted to try it out. I love this blue, and think it works nicely with my skin tone, but didn't want to leave it too plain, and here we are!

The green at the tips is actually a glow in the dark polish, which sadly I couldn't get a decent image of, but had a lot of fun with in bed :)

What I used:

OPI 'Fly', and 'Zom-Body to Love' from the 2011 Halloween collex

An unnamed L.A. Colors green

Thanks for stopping by!

xNai

Argyle Dotticure

Hey guys!

As promised, here's the argyle dotticure tute. It's actually really very simple, and you can take this basic design and turn it into many different styles.

 What you'll need:

Two contrasting colours. Here I have Revlon 'Rock' and China Glaze 'For Audrey'.

Two different sized dotting tools

Paint your base coat and colour.

Using your large dotting tool, and place a column of dots down the centre of the nail.

On either side of the first column, place more dots, staggered from the first, as shown.

Using the smallest dotting tool, connect the large dots diagonally on one side, making sure to continue the little dots all the way to the edges of the nail.

Continue joining the large dots, and when done, top coat to seal in your design, and enjoy your super simple dotticure!

You can try matte top coats, glitter, and a myriad of other options!

Let me know how this goes for you, if you try it out.

xNai

Too hot for a sweater

Well hello there!

Today I have an argyle dotticure for you in both matte and gloss.

Argyle Dotticure - Gloss

Argyle Dotticure - Matte

What I used:

China Glaze 'For Audrey'

Revlon 'Rock' and 'Fierce'

Rimmel's Mattifying Top Coat

I'll be posting a tutorial for this mani soon, so keep your eyes peeled like an emperor's grape.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

xNai

She's a brick...

Well hello there!

Today is the 29th, and that means graveyard nails, and a fairly pic heavy post.

I decided to give you step by step images of what happened to my nails for this challenge!

Blue Gradient

I started with a blues gradient for this mani, and I used 5, count 'em, FIVE blues to achieve this look.
I also didn't use top coat yet, as obviously, this is only step one!
The blues are (lightest to darkest): ulta3 'bluebird', 'blue heaven', Sinful Colors 'why not', essence 'Walk on Air', and ulta3 'midnight fever'
Also, this is probably the fakest my nails have ever looked to me. So strange - they look like stick on nails, eh?

Blues Gradient

This is me trying out a new hand angle. Thoughts?

Then, because I loved the gradient so much, I did it on both hands, and on my right hand, I chucked a bunch of different top coats, to see how it would look.

L-R we have Seche Vite, a Spectra Flair top coat from Gloss 'n Sparkle's Etsy store, my Rimmel Matte top coat, and two essences - 'glitter top coat', and 'space queen'.

Slightly blurred to show the holo, and the glitter sparkles.

For step two, I did a bit of a watermarble. I used ulta3 'lily white' and Revlon 'just tinted top coat', to create the alternating marble, so the blues would show through.

Any clues yet as to my design?

I had real trouble finding the right polishes to achieve the alternation in the marble. Obviously I couldn't use a fast drying top coat, and the Just Tinted spread so nicely on its own, but was a pain in the backside when it came to spreading in the white. Oh well, managed it eventually!

Tada! Completed graveyard mani!
I decided I wanted to do something a little bit out of the ordinary for this, not your typical skull and crossbones, cemetery at midnight mani, which I know I could never do justice to anyway, so I was thinking laterally, and came up with this: a watery death/grave!

The idea is someone's drowning, and that's their hand sticking up out of the waves, calling for help that will never come...Macabre, right? :)

For the hand I used 2 essence nudes, 'nude it!' and 'toffee to go', and painted it onto a plastic ziplock bag first, allowed it to dry for a couple hours, then stuck it straight onto my nail like a decal! Applied some topcoat, and was good to go!

I am really SO happy with this mani, thought it looked magnificent from beginning to end.
What do you guys reckon? Too morbid, or just right?

As always, thanks for stopping by!
xNai


ps: Points if you can recognise the reference in the title...;)