N.A.I.L. - December - New Year's Eve

Hi all!

This is what I'm wearing for New Year's Eve! Having less time with my new job, I painted my nails with my base on Monday evening... but of course I lost the polish on my index fingernail by the time I got home from work on Tuesday. With lost I mean it lifts and just pops off. This always happens with my index nails. This usually happens after 1-2 days, which is highly annoying. It's probably my base coat's fault. I normally use Glisten&Glow's Stuck on Blu! base coat, but this time I'm wearing NYC Strip me off base coat. So, index accent nails it is.

The polishes:

• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Why is There A "G" in Night
• OPI - NL G30 Push and Shove
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward (top coat)
• Nail foil

And I used Vivid Lacquer's VL015 stamping plate as well.

On all nails except my index fingernails I'm wearing two coats of Why Is There a "G" in Night. This is a black jelly with holo glitters. On my index fingernails I'm wearing two coats of Push and Shove. I have wanted to do something with nail foil for a long time. Nail foils are one of those things I wanted but just never bought. I have some nail foil now, which I won in a giveaway, but no special foil glue. A while ago I came across a technique where you "stamp" with foils on Lacquer or Leave Her's blog. She in turn was inspired by this youtube video. As always I used my cinderella hand as my guinea pig. First discovery: not all stamping polishes work and will have the foil stick to them. I ended up using this old black polish I got from my sis-in-law (she was clearing out stuff and I got the polishes she would have chucked away, it is stinky and unsuitable for normal use). I think it worked because it is not a fast drying polish. So I stamped with the stinky black, pressed my nail foil on top and removed it to see foil fireworks. I did top coat everything with Elemental Ward, because I did this last night and needed it to last. And yes, it did dull it a bit.

Also, fewer photos because of time constraints and crappy photos taken by moi.

I do like how this turned out and do want to play with stamping and foils more! Have you used nail foil in a mani before? Let me know!

I wish you all a great evening and all the best for 2015! *hugs*

Love, Brethil


More New Year's Eve mani's below!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Dots - (Patterned) Circles

Hi all!

Evenings go by too fast! Today I've got this month's third NCC mani for you that I wore past weekend. Finally some time for nail art! Gotta love long weekends! I ended up doing two slightly different looks on both my hands, so you'll get to see the cinderella hand as well today!

The polishes:

• OPI - NL926 Stir-Fried Eggplant
• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Glisten & Glow - HK Girl top coat

 

I'm wearing two coats of Stir-Fried Eggplant on my thumb, index and little finger. Also, two coats of Snow Me White on the others. With my thinned out nail art brush I painted on circles (which are hollow dots... just go with the flow) in random sizes, overlapping until I was happy with them. Everything was top coated to seal it in of course.

The thumb close up reveals my circles are not perfect, but I love them anyway. I think it's pretty okay for hand drawn circles using polish.

I loved the look on my left hand a lot. In fact, I did my cinderella hand with a different pattern first, but loved the look of the empty circles better. So instead of filling them like I did on my right hand, I added more empty circles on the left. The pattern on the right hand grew on me though.

In the end, I'm happy with both. Which hand is your favourite? Let me know!

More dots down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Dots & N.A.I.L. - December - Snowflakes

Hi all!

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! We did, and today we'll be visiting my brother's family, so I have to keep it short. Today will be the first appearance of my shorter nails, so quite a change. I had to combine two challenges as well, I just don't have the time to keep up otherwise. Dots combined with Snowflakes makes for dotted snowflakes. I hope you like them.

Today's polishes:

• I Love Nail Polish - Indie Go
• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Glisten&Glow - HK Girl top coat

Base: 2 coats of Indie Go, a lovely blue holo. Using my dotting tools (different sizes) I added some dotted snowflakes. Then I topcoated. The End.

There's not much else to say, other than that I love snowflakes, even dotted ones *winks*.

More dots down here



More snowflakes below!

52WPNMC - Distressed & Grey + The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Dots

Hi all!

The last mani before the nail breaks and one I absolutely adored! I actually chose these colours because of a top I own. It just works together. And grey... you know how I love mani's with grey.

Today's polishes:

• Catrice - 810 ACid DC
• NYC - 003 Prey of Grey
• China Glaze -  625 For Audrey
• Sally Hansen - 420 Pacific Blue (old version)
• L.A. Colors - NP136 Black Velvet
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

The bases are 2 coats. I used the distressed technique for my index and middle finger only. Distressed is so easy and quick, but because I wanted a mix I added dots to the other nails. ACid DC is still one of my favourite greens, which is the main reason I chose it for my accent colour. The dotting took a bit longer than the distressed nails, mostly from changing the polishes and wiping my dotting tool. I ended with Elemental Ward, which is becoming a favourite for me. It's on par with HK Girl, although I haven't done a proper comparison yet.

I love the bubbly dots, so whimsical.

I hope you like these as much as I do!

More distressed and grey down here!

Swatch: Lucky 13 Lacquer - I See Better From a Distance

Hi all!

I'm still around! Haven't worn nail polish for a week (yeah, I know!), had to trim both my thumb nails short as they had multiple tears on the sides. I did have some photos lurking on my pc from before the bad nail break(s). I also have next week's 52WPNMC mani to show you and then I'll be out of old photographed mani's sadly.

I wore this Lucky 13 Lacquer beauty a few weeks ago, with no nail art due to lack of time. This is from the Avengers Assemble collection and has been discontinued already. I think it's a gorgeous vampy colour though. This eggplant coloured polish, although I think the word aubergine is so nicer than eggplant, is inspired by Hawkeye.

I'm wearing 3 coats and top coat (Elemental Ward by L13L) and I'm loving those flecks! The jelly base does give this some depth (and is also the reason 3 coats are needed).

Even though you can't grab this polish anymore, Lucky 13 Lacquer does have lots of other polishes to buy. Be aware Kyoti is on a holiday break at the moment.

Right, I think it is time to polish my nails now I feel like doing them *chuckles*

Love, Brethil

Born Pretty Store Review - Round studs

*Press Sample*

Hi all!

This morning I went to nubbins after I broke my index fingernail. I am going to take a short break to let it grow a bit (you don't want to see my hyponychium, trust me). I don't have a huge vault, but I do have a post for you today. I received this nail art wheel with round studs in gold and silver that I'd like to show you today. You can never have enough studs *winks*.

The polish, the pen and the studs:

• I Love Nail Polish - Birefringence
• Barry M - Nail Art Pen Silver
• Born Pretty Store - Round stud wheel item 17227 * Provided for review

It had been a while since I last wore Birefringence, but it was lovely to wear it again. This is two coats, no undies (except for basecoat). I put the round studs in wet top coat and sealed them in with a layer of top coat as well. I really like the smallest size, they are so adorable! On my middle finger and thumb nail I added some chevrons with the nail art pen. Why I didn't freehand them with a striping brush I don't know...

Birefringence still makes me stare at my own nails, I love the colour shifts. The tiny round studs are my favourite, just because they are so small and cute. You can get this stud wheel #17227 here. They are reusable if you're careful and don't lose any.

Born Pretty Store kindly gave me a discount code to share with you all! If you use code BBL91 you get 10% off your purchase! You can find their nail art products here! And they offer worldwide free shipping!

Love, Brethil

52WPNMC - Chevron

Hi all!

I'll keep it short today, because I should really get an early night. This week's prompts were Chevron and Red & Gold. Seeing as gold is not a colour I wear much, it's just chevrons for this week's mani.

The polishes:

• Polish Alcoholic - Luctor Et Emergo
• KIKO - 343 Spring Green

My base is the lovely Polish Alcoholic's Luctor Et Emergo that I bought quite a while ago. I'm wearing two coats and top coat.

I'm a sucker for purple and I think combining this with the green is cute.

To match Luctor Et Emergo, I chose to use Spring Green. I added some cheap chevron stickers (that don't stick too well) to cover Luctor and add "crisp" chevrons. I did have to go over them twice with Spring Green to cover the purple well enough. I ended with a generous coat of top coat (I think HK Girl top coat).

I do think these colours go nicely together and the chevrons are a simple way to add nail art to a gorgeous indie polish.

Don't forget about the others this week!