Space Jam Zig Zags

Australis Space Jam, OPI DS Extravagance, OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries, OPI Simmer & Shimmer, China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic

I bought this amazing looking Australis polish a few weeks ago, and after lurking in the bottom of my handbag for ages I finally added it to the stash and gave it a test run! It's super pretty, but man it was a pain to apply. I added some thinner, which helped it out but it was still quite thick and gluggy, which made the application difficult. It works fabulously with just one coat over a dark polish. I've settled in a quite a solid chevron phase ever since the purchase of the Ikea Scissors from Heaven and couldn't resist adding some colour matching zig zag feature nails to the mani.

Goodbye Summer Stripes

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, OPI The 'It Color', OPI Dating A Royal, OPI Mermaid's Tears, China Glaze Kinetic Candy, China Glaze Electric Beat

I was in the mood for one last summery hurrah before we settle into brisk Autumn weather, and these stripes were what I ended up with.I usually love the crisp lines you get with tape manis, but this time I painted the stripes freehand with a nail art brush. It's so much easier than waiting for a million coats of polish to dry enough to be able to put tape on!

The next day I was in the mood for something a bit more edgy, so I added some Orly Liquid Vinyl, which has become my holy grail black nail polish. This was one coat people! One! 

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, OPI The 'It Color', OPI Dating A Royal, OPI Mermaid's Tears, China Glaze Kinetic Candy, China Glaze Electric Beat, Orly Liquid Vinyl

Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

Orly Androgynie, piCture pOlish Heavy Metal, Spectraflair Topcoat

Finally, day 23! Posted 242 days after day one, but let's not dwell on how long this thing is taking me (to be honest, I kind of forgot about it for a while). Fingers crossed I'll get all 31 days done within a year! 

Day 23 is Inspired by a Movie. Saturday was May the 4th, also known as Star Wars Day. I originally attempted a mani with a Stormtrooper, R2-D2 and C-3PO, but it was a giant fail and I gave up half way through. I settled for painting my nails with Orly's Androgynie, which is the most space/galaxy looking polish I own, and then later in the day I added some piCture pOlish Heavy Metal and spectraflair sparkles! 

I'm back! And Ikea scissors have changed my nail life!

Orly Fowl Play, Orly Glitz, Ozotic 513

Hello everyone! Sorry I've not been around for the past little while, it's the usual hectic life excuse. My housemate and I moved house (not so conveniently timed to occur at the same time as our insane period at work) and my poor nails were not given the attention they deserved and I didn't want to put them out in the internet world when they weren't looking their best. And, to top things off I ran out of top coat. It was a disaster. 

I had to become the queen of the 5+ day manicure, but now, most of the boxes are unpacked so I can paint my nails whenever I want!  

During this little hiatus of sorts, on one of my trips to Ikea, I spontaneously bought a pair of pinking shears. Quite some time ago I saw this post on how to make your own "nail sticker" type things. I bought a cheap set of fancy scissors off eBay and eagerly tried the tutorial. It was quite the fail. The scissors weren't sharp enough to cut cleanly through the nail polish and paper so I gave up after only one mildly successful manicure.

Sharper scissors were the key, but dressmaking pinking shears are around $30, and really, did I need to pay $30 just to have some cool zigzags on my nails a few times? No, I did not.

Until I saw them at Ikea for $10! I've been in chevron heaven ever since! 

(On another note, can you believe that these are the only nail art type manis I've had in the past month. Sadly, they were only captured on the iPhone, not the real camera.)

Freestyle Flowers

OPI Skull & Glossbones, Essie Lapis of Luxury, OPI Dating A Royal, China Glaze Peachy Keen, China Glaze Electric Beat

After my foray into floral/abstract nails the other day with my Inspired by a Book mani I thought I'd give the style another go. Usually I like my manis to be quite geometric and structured. A grid of polka dots, evenly spaced lines; that's my kind of nail art. I had such fun blobbing on random spots of polish and squiggling lines around that I just had to do it again. They don't even really look that much like flowers, but I've discovered that that is the genius of this kind of manicure. It's very forgiving. 

This mani stayed on my nails for an epic five days! That's almost unheard of for me.

       

Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, OPI Dutch Tulips, OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, Essie Coral Reef, China Glaze For Audrey, Seed Lemon

I'm being naughty and skipping over Day 23, which is inspired by a movie to jump right into Day 24, inspired by a book.

I've only really started caring about make up in the past two years. Before that, I just wore mascara, some tinted moisturiser and kind of hoped for the best. My housemate swears by Zoë Foster's Amazing Face and I've been reading it recently. Zoë is one hilarious lass and her make up and skincare tips are fabulous! 

Amazing Face was sitting on my desk while I was painting my nails the other day and I thought the colours and patterns would be perfect for nail art! The mani ended up looking nothing like the cover but it did alert me to the fact that I need more deep reddish purple nail polish. 

Spotted Fail Stripes

OPI Sparrow Me The Drama, OPI Green-wich Village, China Glaze First Mate, Orly Liquid Vinyl

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, nail art is an epic failure. This manicure was originally going to be a "spotted" mani based off Chelsea's great looking tutorial. I painted my base colours, blobbed on the extra colours on the nails I was going to add the spots to and filled my nail art cup with water to get spotting. That's when the failure began. Chelsea suggests using body spray to create the spots but I didn't have any. I figured any kind of spray should do the job but I was wrong. I tried anti-static spray, environmentally friendly shower cleaner, a water/detergent solution we use to keep the bugs off our herbs, perfume and even acetone. Basically anything in the apartment that sprayed in a mist was sprayed on the nail polish. Those little cute spots just would not appear. 

My sad best attempt.

After a lot of Liquid Vinyl ended up on the end of an orange stick I decided to save this look for another day when I've obtained some body spray and just add some black stripes to my accent nails. I'm actually quite pleased with how they turned out so I guess the fail was a good thing in the end.