The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: 3rd Anniversary recreations - Tribal

*Press Sample*

Hi all!

For my last mani during this anniversary month, I've used this mani by Doctor Crafty as my inspiration. I'll keep this post short, I'm going to London tomorrow morning and I have to get up rather early.

The polishes:

• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Lucky 13 Lacquers - Dark Matter
• Lucky 13 Lacquers - Elemental Ward

And I also used a Born Pretty Store brush, item 18513. Below you can see it with the other BPS brush I reviewed a while ago and some brushes I bought on eBay, as is and cut to a few bristles. Brush 18513 is slightly "fluffier" than 18519, when it arrived the bristles stood apart, but they cling together nicely with some polish on them. The handle is simple wood, but because it's a bit wider at the base it has a nice feel in your hands. It's a nice brush and capable of fine work as you can see below. It doesn't look as fancy as 18519 though *winks*.

My base is one thick coat of Dark Matter. When it dried I used Snow Me White and brush 18513 to add the tribal lines. The brush was nice to work with, just like her fancy sister. I ended with one coat of Elemental Ward.

As always, I love geometric patterns, and a tribal is sort of geometric, right?

Another mani I really like, and another nice brush for my collection!

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

More recreations down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: 3rd Anniversary recreations - cat prints

Hi all!

My third mani for this month's 3rd anniversary member tribute (because it is in a way) is inspired by this adorable mani by May contain Traces of Polish. Also, keeping this short, I just edited 4 mani's (this one was done the 15th... I tend to postpone editing photos...) and I need some relax time as well tonight.

From left to right:

• Dance Legend - Gel Effect 882
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Dark Matter
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

Simple but cute mani. Base is 2 coats of 882 (silly no name polishes...). Using doting tools and Dark Matter I added the little cat prints. I ended with a coat of Elemental Ward.

The cat lady in me loves anything cat related, so this mani is a big win!

More recreations down here!

52WPNMC - Neon indie

Hi all!

The mani you see today is one I actually did quite a while ago, I just never got round to posting it. And it does fit with the Neon + Indie theme for this week's 52WPNMC too!

From left to right:

• Dance Legend - Gel Effect 882
• Krucial Cosmetics - Kandi
• W7 - 28 Black
• Essence - Gel nails at home - Clear peal off gel

I also used Bundle Monster's BM-608 from their 2014 Create Your Own set.

My base is an attempt at using gel polish... the Essence gel system (with LED lamp) works in a way that you can layer normal polish in between two layers of clear gel polish. Of course in this case I did not use Essence polish in between the gel, but a Dance Legend "nude" shade. I probably did not wait long enough for the Dance Legend to dry, because the gel topcoat wrinkled. I had to cover this up... obviously. What better way than neon matte glitters and stamping?

You can vaguely see the wrinkles underneath the stamping, and the lovely glitters. That's one coat of Kandi, a lovely neon glitter topper, I adore the tiny sprinkles of neon!

Despite starting out with a bit of a nail fail, I think I recovered it nicely, don't you agree?

More neon or indie mani's from the other Nail Tarts down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: 3rd Anniversary recreations - Geometric

*Press Sample*

Hi all!

It helps if I actually write this blog post instead of letting it linger as a draft... anyways, my second mani for this anniversary month! Inspiration from Hey, Darling Polish!. Marisa did this mani for NCC's September 2014 Geometric month.

All indies today:

• I Love Nail Polish - 1st And 15th
• I Love Nail Polish - Princess Diaries
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Dark Matter
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

I started with one coat of Princess Diaries and then sponged on my gradient of both holos. After this dried I added the striped triangles with a nail art brush sent to me for review. The brush I used is a Born Pretty Store brush, item 18519.

In the picture down below I've compared the brush I used today with a few others. Up top is the brush I used, it has a lovely pink handle and cap, so you can store it without getting the bristles damaged. The handle is filled with "crystals" that give a nice effect. In comparison with the brush I normally use (like the bottom one, which is the same as the one directly above it, only cut down to a few bristles) brush 18519 is slightly longer, but not as long as a striping brush. This is a good thing, because I often find striping brushes too long to use for anything other than long stripes. It's also smaller without having too few bristles that can't hold any polish. Be aware that I haven't used acrylic paints at all (do not own them), so my experiences with brushes is always using them with nail polish. I'm pretty happy with this brush and I foresee it being my go to brush for now. The second BPS brush you see is one I'll review soon as well!

And lastly, some holo sparkles!

I really loved wearing this mani, geometric designs rock!

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

More recreations down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: 3rd Anniversary recreations - Spring Meadow

Hi all!

This month is the 3rd year anniversary of the Nail Challenge Collaborative! I only joined in the last year, but this group has been going strong! This month's theme is to recreate a member mani. There are so many to choose from! My first recreation mani is this one by FingerFood. She did this for NCC's July 2013 Flowers month.

A long row of pretties:

• NYC - 035 Cupcakes and Latte
• NYC - 038 Blue.Lita
• NYC - 011 Power of Elements
• Catrice - 740 King of Greens
• Catrice - 800 Heavy Metallilac
• Catrice - 05 Earnie & Birdy
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Gamma Burst
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Elemental Ward

I also used a Born Pretty Store stamping plate, plate BP-L001, second image from the right on the top row.

My base is either two coats of Blue.Lita or Cupcakes and Latte and a coat of Gamma Burst (blue and green flakies). I wore it plain for a few days before I added the stamping. I wanted to stamp with multiple colours, but my stamping mojo left me. It looked like a mess when I was done. I added the yellow dots with a dotting tool and that rescued the mani. I topped it all with Elemental Ward.

Good thing the pretty flakies distract from the less than perfect stamping. And the yellow does wonders!

Lastly a photo of Gamma Burst on top of Cupcakes and Latte. Gamma Burst consists of tiny flakies in green and blue, so pretty! I really enjoyed wearing it "plain" first, because flakies are definitely not plain!

More recreations down here!

N.A.I.L. - April - Easter

Hi all!

It's been a while since I last wore a textured polish, but I still like them. So today something simple for Easter with just two textured polishes.

The two textureds:

• KIKO - Sugar Mat - 639 Golden Mandarin
• Sally Hansen - Sugar Coat - 800 Lick-O-Rich

My base is two coats of Orange Mandarin. I wore this alone for two days before I added the nail art, hence the slight wear on my index fingernail. It's gorgeous on it's own, just a little sparkle to make them look chique. With a thin nail art brush I added Lick-O-Rich in typical easter egg patterns, so waves, dots, lines and zigzags. I decided to use the black textured polish to keep the texture, I thought using ordinary black would smooth it too much. Obviously no top coat today!

Isn't the sparkle pretty? Even if the hubby now calls me "little easter egg" *rolls her eyes*

I hope you'll have a lovely Easter (or weekend if you don't celebrate it)!

More Easter inspired nails down here!