Happy Easter!

Whatever you were doing today, I hope you guys had a good break. Personally, I spent my day trying to come up with an Easter mani that didn't look too bad. 

Enjoy!

I used three coats of Face of Australia in After Dinner Mint and followed the leather technique to give it texture. Not that you can really make out what the motif is, but I used the bunny on an Easter egg  from the BM-302 stamping plate. I used Essie's Penny Talk, which dried extremely quickly on the stamper and had to attempt this a few times.

Till next time, 

Laura

Doticure and a New Born Baby

Yesterday was a day of waiting and as we all know, painting one's nail is a very good pastime, especially when you consider drying time. I'm still trying to keep my nail art simple to avoid frustration and, while trying to think what I could paint on my nails, the thought that I hadn't done a dot manicure ever jumped at me.

I started with four coats of Mirenesse's Forever pearl, a pinky nude that has a good formula  but it can be a tad streaky. 

I used a toothpick to apply the dots with China Glaze's Sweet Hook. So far so good, but there wasn't a lot of contrast between the two colours.

Lastly, I added some dots with with American Apparel's Office, trying to fill in the spaces between the purple dots.

So here it is, my first ever doticure.

As soon as I finished putting the last dot on my pinky (see the giant blob of green?), my family got a call from my brother-in-law saying my sister had gone into labour and that they were at the hospital. I didn't really bother to fix my nails and quickly snapped up one picture of the mani, as I would be needing the camera and memory card for new baby photos. 

This is my sister's first born, which in turn makes me a first time aunt. I've never wanted kids and babies made me uncomfortable, but this little one is the most adorable thing in the world. No, I'm not getting clucky. It's just really good to see my sister and her husband have a baby that was very much wanted and, it seems, will be very loved.

Till next time, 

Laura

DIY Leather Nails

Back at the beginning of December last year, I came across the Nails inc Leather Effect polishes and a new lemming was created instantly. I looked high and low but the prices were absolutely ridculous, e.g., an ebay bottle of the black version would have set me back $46!!! No thanks. I could keep wishing...

Last night, when I was trying to do some tiger nails (which were a complete fail), I ended up sponging on too much colour and, in a fit of frustration, I dabbed the whole sponge on my finger. When I looked down at my nail, I saw what resembled the leather effect. Could I satisfy my lemming with my existing polishes?

After putting my trustworthy Ulta3 Black Satin and Rimmel Pro Matte Finish polishes to the test, this was the result:

I don't own the Nails Inc Leather Effect polish so it's pretty hard to do a comparison but you can check some swatches here, here and here. I'd like to think I'm pretty close. What do you guys reckon?

Since, I actually came up with this all by myself, I wanna show you guys a mini-tutorial after the break.

Enjoy!

Welcome To The Jungle

For a small period of time, I was trying to do really hard nail art. Frustration started to set in because it did not look good, which made me come to the conclusion that I didn't have a lot of practice and that maybe I should start with simple nail art.

I present to you, my second attempt at leopard spots on an accent nail, first attempt was a little too even. I started with two coats of essence's Gorgeous Bling Bling, dotted the gold on my ring finger using a Sportsgirl nail art pen and completed the leopard print with a Topshop black nail art pen. I finished it all off with a coat of Rimmel Pro Matte Finish.

Tasha did an awesome version when this blog first started, you can see it here, and I always thought this print would be hard to achieve. I'm so glad to be wrong.

This is the shiny version. Call me boring, predictable or anything else that may come to mind, but I always like the matted version of my manicures better. I feel the lack of shine brings out the colour and effect of the polish better. For example, you can see the flakies a lot better in the matted version as it's not competing with the shine for my attention. One thing at the time for me.

Anyway, I might try some tiger stripes for my next mani. Or zebra, since they're practically the same, just with different colours.

Til next time, 

Laura

Ciate's Beach Melba

When I first heard about the brand Ciate, it was back when they were trying to tell bloggers to stop posting photos of the caviar manicure as they would soon copyright it but hadn't yet done it. I came across it in a few blogs and in this case, bad publicity was really bad publicity. I didn't see any Ciate products in Aussie shops until I went into Mecca Cosmetica some time before Christmas ans saw the $20 price tag for a 13.5 ml bottle and $30 for their velvet/caviar kits. I could so pass up the opportunity to acquire this brand. For $20, I can get myself 5 Limited Edition essences, 4 Sinful Colours, 3 China Glazes online, 10 Ulta3's, not that I would but you get the gist.

The reason I'm presenting this to you is that I found the brand for about AU$10 a bottle at BeautyBay.com back in November. I wanted to try just because I heard so much about it on the internet and let's face it, that pretty bow calls out girly, and good marketing. I've put it on few times since then but I didn't fall in love with it but after a week and a half of failed nail art, I decided I might as well post some of the polishes I haven't shown in here.

So here it is, Ciate's Beach Melba. The swatch below was done with four coats and no top coat. 

What do I think about it? The good? The formula is great, it stays where you apply it and it dries super shiny without any top coat. The bad? Well, it is a pale nude (my bad choice), it takes forever to dry (I had to dip my fingers in icy cold water to speed up the process; otherwise, with my impatience, this post wouldn't have happened) and it is so sheer that even with four coats there is plenty of VNL. 

For a person that doesn't like nudes and has patience only for one-coaters, this polish wasn't the best choice. I love the glossy finish but my liking stops there. I mean, if you're looking for a work appropriate polish, go for it, if you can find it for cheap.

Another reason why I'm not very likely to buy this brand again is that, at the time of posting, BeautyBay.com was no longer shipping nail polish outside the UK. I don't want to pay $20 for a bottle of polish, especially if I can get myself 5 Limited Edition essences, 4 Sinful Colours, 3 China Glazes online, 10 Ulta3's...

The colour was a little too pale for my skin and didn't look right. I wanted to keep it nude-ish and pretty so I added a coat of Space Queen by essence. I got this polish a while ago, as you can see from me holding the 5 ml bottle. I'm not sure if it still stocked in the new range.

*Sigh* Glitter does make everything look better.

Bottle shot for show.

I might use this as a base for glitter sandwiches and nail art but I'm not really a fan. :( Have you ever tried a new brand for the hype of it and then didn't like it?

Til next time, 

Laura