The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Fashion - Oscar de la Renta

Hi all!

Those of you following the other NCC ladies might have seen this mani by Katee from A Girl and Her Polish. I really loved it and the inspiration. It does feel like spring! So when I was browsing the internet to get inspiration for my last fashion mani and saw this image I had to use it. It's like Katee's inspiration from the Spring 2015 collection by Oscar de la Renta.

The polishes:

• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Catrice - LE Hip Trip - C03 The Salmon Dance
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

I also used a Bundle Monster stamping plate, plate BM-618 from the 2014 Create Your Own collection.

All nails except my ring fingernail has 3 coats of The Salmon Dance, and it still wasn't completely opaque as you can see. It wasn't that noticeable in real life though. The ringfinger has 2 coats of Snow Me White as a base. On my white nail I added stripes with a striping brush. One benefit of the Salmon polish being sheerish is that layering brought in the darker toned intersections easily. I used Snow Me White to stamp the flowery lace pattern on my thumb, middle and little finger. Clearly I'm not the best stamper... the blurriness is from my lack of skill. I ended with a coat of Elemental Ward.

Proof that the image plate itself is perfect and just my stamping skills leave me sometimes. Also, my nails are now getting slightly too long for the Bundle Monster images...don't mind the cat hair either.

Bonus: Cinderella hand! More proof that the image plate is etched well and sometimes I can stamp... I don't wear pink that often, but I did enjoy this mani, it must be because of spring and my need to wear soft pastel colours on my nails now...

More fashion down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Fashion - Finders Keepers & 52WPNMC - Mosaic + Pink & Orange

Hi all!

Today's mani is for two challenges, I'm trying to get into them more, time permitting of course. Inspiration comes from this dress here. It's by an Australian label called Finders Keepers. It's a mosaicy dress, very geometric. And loving the colours! This week's 52 Week Pick N Mix Challenge just fits perfectly!

From left to right:

• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Maybelline - Bleached Neons - 241 Sun Flare
• Maybelline - Bleached Neons - 242 Coral Heat
• China Glaze - 1148 Tart-y For The Party
• NYC - 325 Raindrop
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

I started out with a white base on all nails. After it dried I applied red striping tape on some nails and filled out the geometric shapes with the polishes. I diluted both Sun Flare and Coral Heat with white to create a more pastel shade to compliment it. When I removed the striping tape some colour left behind, which annoys me so much. I have banished the red striping tape *nods*.
I applied two coats of Sun Flare on my little fingernail and a diluted version of Sun Flare on my index fingernail (I mixed it with white and applied it with a flat nail art brush). I ended with a coat of Elemental Ward.

More evidence that I used red striping tape... so annoying.

I did love wearing this despite the striping tape residue. The colours are just perfect for spring!

More Fashion



More mosaic/pink/orange

N.A.I.L. - March - Chevron

Hi all!

A couple of weeks ago my Kickstarter order for the Out of this World collection from Lucky 13 Lacquer arrived. I spent some of my birthday money on it back in January. The Kickstarter project did not close until the end of January, so I knew I had a bit of waiting to do. Kyoti, creative mind behind L13L, could not order the ingredients until after it ended. I wore this 3 weeks ago... and I didn't edit the photos until today. Editing photos is not my favourite thing and I often don't feel like doing it *winks*. But I got it done!

From left to right:

• L.A. Girl - 3D Effects - GNL306 Brilliant Blue
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Dark Matter
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Gamma Burst
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

On my thumb and ring finger I'm wearing two coats of Brilliant Blue. All the other nails have a single (yes, only one!) coat of Dark Matter. I'm very pleased with this one coat black! On top of the black I added a coat of Gamma Burst, which is a blue and sea green flakie topper. Using some You Polish chevron french tip nail vinyls I added my chevrons. Of course I forgot to photograph the sheet...

Because the nail vinyls are meant to be used as french tips, they are a bit wide. They stick down very well though and were easy enough to remove leaving staight lines.

And of course a close up of Gamma Burst... isn't it gorgeous? Just a shame of my ink stained finger... (I write with a purple ink in my Lamy Safari and I nearly always get some on my hands after refilling it...)

I'm not too convinced about the combination with Brilliant Blue, but I do love Gamma Burst!

More chevrons down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Fashion - Prada

Hi all!

Inspiration came from this dress by Prada worn by Ruth Wilson at the last Golden Globes. Stripes again... I know. I really like how the dress has fringed edges and dark stitching.

The polishes:

• OPI - NL N34 You Are So Outta Lime!
• China Glaze - 625 For Audrey
• Essence - 128 Let's get lost
• L.A. Colors - NP136 Black Velvet
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

 

My base is You Are So Outta Lime!, but I can't remember if it is 2 or 3 coats... sorry. The stripes are freehanded with different sized brushes. The blue is a mix between For Audrey and Let's Get Lost because I did not have the perfect colour for this.

I really like the brightness of this mani, but it did not last long, it chipped within a day. Always my luck...

More fashion inspired nails down here!

N.A.I.L. - March - St. Patrick's Day

Hi all!

It's been a while since I joined the Nail Art Ideas Linkup! As today is Saint Patrick's Day, I've got a nice green mani for you!

The greens:

• Catrice - 10 I'm Not A Greenager
• China Glaze - 1198 Running in circles
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

My base is two coats of Greenager, although it could do with a third coat as you can see with my index fingernail. There's just a tiny bit of visible nail line. Because running in circles is not very opaque, I layered it on top of Greenager on my thumb, middle and ring finger. Using a dotting tool and a small nail art brush I added some shamrocks  to most nails. Everything was sealed in with Elemental Ward.

I'm in love with Running in circles. It's just about the most perfect green polish around... so sparkly!

Needless to say, I'm happy with my green nails. I do need more green clothing items to have an excuse to wear more green nail polish though... *winks*

More St Patrick's Day mani's down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Fashion - Victoria Beckham

Hi all!

This month's NCC is all about fashion. My first mani was inspired by this pin here, a dress by Victoria Beckham. Quite simple, yet very striking.

From left to right:

• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• L.A. Colors - NP136 Black Velvet
• Rimmel - 711 Rain Rain Go Away
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

I started with a white base (2 coats of Snow Me White). I chose to do the stripes freehand, which means it's not as perfect as it would have been had I gone with striping tape. I used different striping and flat brushes to apply my stripes. Black Velvet was not opaque with one stroke, so I had to go over them twice. When it was dry I added a coat of Elemental Ward to seal it in.

As you can see I did the design in two different 'sizes' for effect. I figured doing them all like my middle and ring finger would be a bit too loud.

I really like the simplicity of the design... and I may have something with striped fashion (even if I barely have any striped clothing items myself)... my second mani has stripes as well....

More fashion down here!

Born Pretty Store Review - Road map water decals

*Press sample*

Hi all!

This mani has been sitting in a folder for over a month... Anyway, Born Pretty Store sent me a big sheet with different "stamp edged" road map water decals. It has 11 different ones in one big sheet, pretty good deal if you ask me. I put a different one than I actually used next to the bottles to show the size of each "stamp". For my mani I used about half of one of them.

From left to right:

• Catrice - 56 Minter Wonderland
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward
• Born Pretty Store - Road map water decals item 17415 *press sample*

My base is two coats of Minter Wonderland. After it dried I cut up pieces of the water decals and let them soak in some water for 15-20 seconds. Using tweezers I placed them on my nails, dabbed a tissue to remove any water and sealed them in with Elemental Ward.

Having  very curved nails, full nail water decal usage is more difficult, I did get a few minor creases near the sides, although it's not that obvious in the photo.

Bonus cinderella hand photo! Water decals are easy to use on both hands. I really enjoyed wearing this as well.

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

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Animals - Robins

Hi all!

I still have one February NCC mani to share with you... I had it done in time, but I only edited my photos today....
My final Animal mani involves another pattern recreation. This time I chose this image by Tracie Andrews.
 

Today's polishes:

• Catrice - 56 Minter Wonderland
• Catrice - LE Candy Shock - C04 Vanilla Love
• Sinful Colors - 947 Mint Apple
• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Essence - 114 Fame Fatal
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

I used two coats of Minter Wonderland as my base. Then I added some random stripes with a striping brush and Mint Apple. I mixed some Snow Me White and Vanilla Love for the star like doodly things. I did the outline of the bird and the branches with Vanilla Love. With Fame Fatal I added berries and finished the birds. When everything was dry I added a coat of Elemental Ward.

Close up shot of my middle fingernail, because my thumb nail bird looked odd. This one's much better. Just ignore the miniature cuticle oil droplets... *whistles*

I'm really happy with how this mani turned out! It's my favourite of "this" month!

And as always, visit the other NCC ladies down here!