Glitter Gradient Stars (for New Year's Eve)

Hi guys, happy new year's eve! This year has just blasted by, I'm definitely not the only one to think that. I had a really good year this year and I can't wait for next year. I have so many nail art ideas I can't wait :) I haven't really thought about a new year's design cause I've been absorbed in Christmas (and I was happily absorbed). I've thought about this design and thought it would be appropriate for new year's. But let me tell you, it wasn't easy...

After all the effort though, I'm a fan. I haven't gone into my love of stars before but I think they're fascinating and beautiful. I matted this design with the Rimmel Matte Finish topcoat. I haven't done a star design before surprisingly, I thought of this and was reminded of Chalkboard Nails's beautiful star design, her's is amazing. I knew mine would not be of that calibre but I could do a half baked attempt. She made a lovely tutorial too but I couldn't do it. I didn't have the essential equipment for the design so I searched around the house for things that could be used.
You find some crazy stuff when searching around the house, I hoping for some star stickers to make my job easier but no cigar (I've never understood that expression :/). I found quite a lot stickers (and a comb that says "I love milk" which was SO cute) and actually I found 1 tiny star sticker that wasn't going to work. But 2 days ago I was cleaning out my desk and I found star confetti, how convenient!!! My thumb has the prototype attempt, I stuck some tape to the back of the star and painted, but the star was flat and my nail is rounded so it failed a bit and I just freehanded the stars on that nail. Below is how I got the stars on my other nails.

How to achieve stenciled stars the difficult way (no pictures, maybe in the future but probably not as this design was so tedious with my method)
1. Paint your base
2. Get some sellotape and stick the confetti stars on (the more stars packed on the piece of tape the easier to cut out)
3. Cut around the star and peel the star shaped sellotape off (be careful as the tape could rip and rage ensues)
4. Stick the star piece of tape on your nail (don't press it on too hard or it will take the base off) and repeat step 3 for however many stars you want on your nails
5. Using an opaque polish (I used Rimmel - Black Pearl) paint over the nail and the tape
6. Let the polish dry a tiny bit and start peeling the tape off
7. Fix imperfections with your chosen tool
8. Have a pretty funky star design on your nails

Step 4 with pressing the tape too hard and having the base come off happened to me. I just re-patched it up late though. I think my middle finger came out best. Sorry for not cleaning up properly. I was fed up. Just use Chalkboard Nails's tutorial, it's simpler, prettier and less tedious. Peeling the tape off the confetti stars was hard -_-

This is the glitter gradient I did before the stars, I took pictures in case the stars failed so I would still have some pictures. I really like it, glitter gradients are easy.
Pink nail: Barry M - Pink Foil (base), Barry M - Amethyst, Butter LONDON - Shambolic and Barry M - Hologram Hexograms
Blue nail: Essie - Bikini So Teeny (base), Barry M - Silver Glitter, OPI - I Lily Love You and Models Own - Freak Out!
Purple: Barry M - Berry Ice Cream (base), OPI - Last Friday Night, Barry M - Aqua Glitter, Revlon - Radiant and China Glaze - Luxe and Lush
I was busting out those Barry M's, but I love those polishes. The brush for Freak Out! is so wonky, I have also realised my strong dislike for shards, the more I look at them, the more I don't like them. They don't look nice. For the stars I thought I could've done in the outlining in silver or something, but it's too late for these things now. But I think the design is very appropriate for new year's due to the glitter and the stars. I don't know what's new year's eve appropriate in all honesty, I thought a normal new year's eve is sitting at home watching tv or something. Apparently not. I didn't even realise what NYE stood for til yesterday (-_- as you can tell I'm slow).

I haven't done one of these rambly posts for a while. It's refreshing, I love to ramble. Well done if you actually read something from this post (but y'know I think you should, it's a pretty good read :P). Thank you so much for reading, I hope you have a lovely new year's eve and see you in 2013!!!! :D

Black Snowflakes

Hello there, enjoying new year's eve's eve? I probably used really bad grammar there :/ Since it's still the winter I think snowflakes are still appropriate so making them black must be appropriate too.

Yes I know they look weird. I severely disliked this design after I finished. If I wrote this post yesterday I would've stated that I severely dislike it. But it's somewhat grown on me and I don't think it's that bad, looks interesting I guess. I actually did quite a nice gradient, they're getting better (but still bad), it's much easier to do gradients with glitter.
Base: The Face Shop - PK105, OPI - Excuse Moi! and Barry M - Amethyst 
Black snowflakes: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Black snow: Rimmel - Black Pearl (gift from a friend for Christmas :)) and Topshop - Gypsy Night
Holographic glitter: Barry M - Hologram Hexogram
I have to say Hologram Hexogram made this design look much better, it ties things together. The Face Shop pink is really pretty, it's actually really bright but these pictures do not show that. Amethyst has little black particles of glitter and I really like that :)

Thank you for looking and have a lovely day!!!

Gimme Glitter: Nails Inc - Sweets Way

Hello there, hope you're all well :) I have here a polish I've been lemming for a long time, the thing is I kept convincing myself not to buy it (WHY SO CRAZY!?). But after months of indecision (I really hope that makes sense :/) I finally went and got it. And boy am I glad I did.

I love this polish, it's just so pretty. It looks so delicate and adorable too. I love how it looks so complex and the little glitter pieces are perfect. It's a milky base, with small blue, peach and silver glitter. I never realised the silver glitter was there until I put it on, and I have seen SO many swatches and I didn't even realise. It's from Nails Inc Sprinkles collection, I've seen many swatches of this collection but this was the only one that really spoke to me (I'm weird I know). I used 3 coats, but 2 thicker coats would've probably done the same job. The formula was very good, lots of glitter from every stroke, but I think thick coats are recommended. It had a kind of textured finish, top coat will easily smooth that out, it's not gritty at all. Basically it looks awesome and the colour combination is amazing. The thing I told myself not to buy it was, "It would be better if the peach glitters were more pink". D'oh!

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!!! :)

Pink + White Leopard Print

Hello there, hope you're enjoying boxing day eating your leftover food. I have been enjoying those roast potatoes (NOMNOMNOM). This manicure basically answers the question. "Does white rimming work for leopard print?", the answer = No. But you learn from these things :P

My camera loves to make every pink polish orange. It's just it's thing. I am not very fond of this and I can't write many plus points, it just looks weird with the white.
Pink base: Essie - Your Hut Or Mine?, Barry M - Pink Iridescent and Nails Inc - Glamour Glitter
Pink spots: Barry M - Pink Foil (BLE 2012 B)
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White
I don't like that iridescent glitter very much (I like it on few polishes) and it's so difficult to take off. I feel it's not worth it. By the way, my top 10 polishes of 2012 are coming soon (I am the only one excited by this) but I actually need to compile my list (I'm so darn indecisive :P).

Have a wonderful day and thank you for reading!!! :)

You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!!!

Hello there and... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Seasons greetings to all you out there. I have around 10 minutes before my Christmas festivities begin so I'll have enough time to write this post :) Christmas is always the best for me, it pretty much is the highlight of my year. I gather with my family and my friends and it's wonderful. I am that kid who goes around school (or not school) singing/saying "IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR". I didn't do that enough this year :P This is my final Christmas manicure (it's sad beans) and I had high hopes for this, but I'll into that later in the post ;)

Lil' gingerbread. I had planned to have this as my Christmas manicure, unfortunately after I had painted the gingerbread I was severely disappointed with my efforts. I expect better from myself. But those borders are magical, seriously after I added those borders I really really liked this design. It's a Christmas miracle!!!! But not really :P I am now very happy with this manicure and I think it's super cute!!!
Pale Brown: Nails Inc - Porchester Square
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black
Blue: The Face Shop - GR501
Darker Red: Nails Inc - Tate
Rainbow Jelly: Models Own - Snow White, OPI - Rainbow Connection and No7 - Snowflake
Dark Brown: w7 - Brownie
I'm impressed with the formula of Nails Inc Tate, I wasn't expecting much and boom, one coater. I even did quite a thin coat thinking I'd have to do another coat.

Aw yee, it was pretty successful on my left hand too. Gingerbread men are so cute (and I love all things cute ^_^). I'm going to be making this manicure matte and I'm set.

Thank you so so much for reading!!!! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! :D

Combo: Oh Christmas Tree

Hello there!!! Merry Christmas eve one and all!!! I had this on Christmas Day last year. OPI - Rainbow Connection was the first OPI I'd ever got. It came in the mail on Christmas Eve and I was excited. I only bought it for the name, but also because it's rainbow glitter (and you can't go wrong with that).

This isn't a picture of my nails last year, I didn't have enough insight to do that at the time. I started with 2 coats of Barry M - Mint Green and 2 coats of OPI - Rainbow Connection. It's somewhat reminiscent, I loved it last year. I think I was also excited cause it was my first OPI. Unfortunately I didn't get the greatest pictures, but I hope you can kind of get the gist of it :P

There's lots of rainbow glitters out there. But Rainbow Connection is an absolutely beautiful song, therefore justifying the purchase further :P I've been using Rainbow Connection quite a lot during this festive season, it just makes me want to bust out the rainbow glitter.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me. :) Have a wonderful Christmas eve!!

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (and friends)

Hello there. Christmas is so unbelievably close, it's exciting. I'm pushing these Christmas designs for all their worth, but I love Christmas designs. I didn't even get to do them all :/ Well there's always next year, and I still have one more Christmas design to go (which hopefully will be pretty :)).

I'm happy with how these turned out, I thought they'd be difficult, but they weren't. I thought the background would be more prominent. It wasn't, I've been itching for pink, and this kind of satisfies the need. But not enough, I need to use a bright pink soon!!!
Light Brown: Nails Inc - Porchester Square
Dark Brown: w7 - Brownie
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
Pink: Essie - Your Hut Or Mine?, Barry M - Pink Iridescent and Nails Inc - Glamour Glitter 
I put too much enough into the base for it to be covered up, but you learn from these things. I'm liking Porchester Square even though it's totally not my colour at all.

                                                  I like them, they're cute :)

Thank you very much for reading and have a lovely day!!! :)

Abstract Christmas Trees

Hello there. I wanted to do a cool Christmas tree design, I thought I was a genius when I came up with this but the sad reality of my life is that I'm not :'( But I'm ok with that :P

I've been really into jelly sandwiches after the gradient I did a couple of posts back. I love Rainbow Connection sandwiches with Green Room. It's pretty. It's nice as a background. I really like the shape of the tree as it's somewhat clever and easy to do.
Dark Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black
Red: w7 - Burnt Amber
Gold: w7 - Golden Sands
Pink: Barry M - Pink Foil (or BLE 2012 B, whatever you wish :P)
Brown: w7 - Brownie
White: Models Own - Snow White (creme) and No7 - Snowflake
Light Green: Rimmel - Misty Jade  
Green/Blue Jellies: Essie - Turquoise and Caicos and Topshop - Green Room
Rainbow Glitter: OPI - Rainbow Glitter
Other Glitter: Models Own - Freak Out!
Black: OPI - Metallic 4 Life
It very much has a jelly theme going on, as Metallic 4 Life has a black jelly base too. I thought it would be a weird accent, I quite like it.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!!! :)

Carrots and Cookies

Hello there, for me 'tis officially Christmas time (mistletoe and wine)!!!! School is over!!!! Yay beans!!! :D This is inspired by the tradition of leaving carrots and cookies for Santa. I can't say I've ever done that, but I think it's super cute idea.

I did more carrots than cookies to be healthy ;) I was doing secret Santa with my friends and my secret Santa gave me the most amazing present and she literally couldn't have given me anything better. A set from Nails Inc (my other friend told me I would like it), so I wanted to use some in this design. I was looking for a more suitable brown (kind of) for a cookie and it comes my way. Sometimes things just work in perfect symmetry ( I really hope that made sense).
Orange (and the stripes): Essie - Fear Or Desire and Paris Collection - Copper Topper
Dark Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black
Light Brown: Nails Inc - Porchester Square
Dark Brown: w7 - Brownie
Pink: Nails Inc - Notting Hill Gate
Silver: w7 - Silver Mirror and Nails Inc - Abbey Road (I'm so excited about this polish and I can't even describe)
Green: Illamasqua - Nomad
Dark Blue: Kiko - 265
Cornflower: Essie - Bikini So Teeny
I personally think it looks better in real life, my camera just wasn't feeling like capturing it properly I guess. I am SO excited about the Nails Inc polishes and I really can't wait to use them more :)

Thank you for reading and have a lovely day :)

Sea Jelly Gradient

Hello there, good to see you (kind of :/). I was meant to do a base for some nail art but it turned into an actual clever idea (rare occurrence in my brain) that I don't see floating about a lot (AH PUN :D).

I did a really pretty gradient (another rare occurrence) and I didn't want to ruin it with nail art (though it probably wouldn't of ruined it) so I thought to add some rainbow glitter for festivities. I didn't like how shiny the glitter was so I used 2 jelly polishes and bam. Some funky gradient. I really like it, it looks pretty cool.
Pale Green: China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint
Medium Green: Rimmel - Misty Jade (as base creme) and Essie - Turquoise and Caicos (as jelly) 
Darkest Green: Topshop - Green Room
Rainbow Glitter: OPI - Rainbow Connection
In real life these polishes are more green.

Thank you for reading!!! :)

Pink Nails: Barry M - Boots Xmas Limited Edition 2012 B

Hello there. Pink Foil isn't the official name of the polish, it's BLE 2012 B 242 (Boots Limited Edition 2012 B Number 242), but I thought pink foil sounded slightly better. Maybe it has a name but until I find it, it's Pink Foil.

It's part of Barry M's limited edition polishes for Christmas, which I love. I have the one from last year so I went to Boots looking (Superdrug has some too). It wasn't exactly hard to find, there's a gold one too (the bottle caps are super cute btw :P) but I've never been a gold kind of girl. There's gold flecks within this polish, it's very pretty. The formula is great, 1 coat and you're set. Literally perfect in terms of formula. I really like it, I don't have many foil polishes but the colour of this is really nice like kind of raspberryish, it's very metallic too.

Have a nice day and thank you for reading!!! :)

Gimme Glitter: Butter LONDON - Shambolic

Hello there, I have more glitter ;D It's my first Butter LONDON (hey that's the way it's spelt) polish and it's exciting business. All I can say about obtaining this polish is that. TK Maxx. Is. Amazing. I honestly don't know any other shops that even sell Butter LONDON at all. I love TK Maxx (and the prices are SO good!!! ;)).

I'm going to do my best at describing this polish (and I'm terrible at that). It has lots of purply/plumy micro glitter with silver and greeny bits poking out (still understanding?). It's on the dark side (hehe) and has large pieces of silver and dark pink glitter (I like that dark pink glitter, I want more). I put Shambolic over OPI - Plum And Get It, a nice dark purple with shimmer, which I have to say doesn't suit me but I like it. I used 1 thick coat and 1 thin coat here, you could definitely get it opaque by itself. It's from Butter LONDON's Holiday collection this year. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw this at TK Maxx, it's a pretty glitter. I've been finding myself very much liking purple glitter.

I guess I have a bonus picture, I was doing some nail art but I ended up not liking it (it wasn't even bad) but I added some more glitter and I thought I might as well take a picture cause it looked quite nice (but the picture didn't do a great job of showing that :/).

There's:
OPI - Last Friday Night
Models Own - Freak Out!
Barry M - Hologram Hexograms

Thanks for reading!!! :)

(There's a lot going on here...) Glamourous Festive Manicure?

Hello there. I wasn't sure what was in my mind when I was doing this manicure. I had an idea and it went insane. Hmmm I'm not sure how I feel about it :P

Before I added the black detail I cannot describe how much it reminded me of a giraffe, and it's leopard print :/ It's very neutral, I'm not a fan of neutral but this is not too neutral (if I make any sense whatsoever). I think I added the rainbow glitter thinking it would add fun, but it didn't really. I like the leopard (though I always like leopard). The black detailing was meant to be silhouetted holly, but they look like random blobs. Oh yeah. But in all honestly I think the half moon looks quite nice, I should do more half moons.
Gold: w7 - Golden Sands and Nails Inc - Glamour Glitter
Copper: The Face Shop - GL112
Brown: w7 - Brownie
Taupe/Brown: Chilli Pepper - Brown (no name)
Rainbow Glitter: OPI - Rainbow Connection
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Brown
But it doesn't look like complete shambles (maybe like half shambles or something).

Have a nice Sunday!!! :)

Give us some christmas pudding

Hello there. Let's just get to the nail art, I have been procrastinating all day and I have to do something at least slightly productive :P

There is a white spec on my middle finger in that picture and it's driving me insane. I didn't realise it was there when I was taking pictures. But I think this is quite cute, and very very simple.
Brown: w7 - Brownie
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black
Brownie was one coat, which was nice. The design I did last year, the icing was very drippy. I wanted a smoother icing on the pudding this year ;)

Have a nice Saturday one and all!! :)

Snowmen in a Glitter Wonderland

Hello there. How are you wonderful people? :) This is what I meant about ODing on the Christmas nail art. But I love Christmas ^_^ I have a picture of last year's snowman and I was extremely proud of that then and still am. Was some nail art that wasn't a fail.

I really like this year's, it's currently my favourite Christmas nail art of this year. I love the combo of the base, a happy accident, as always. It reminds me why I love Indigo. I also wanted to do a very different design from last year so that's basically how the base appeared.
Base: Barry M - Indigo, OPI - Last Friday Night and Models Own - Freak Out!
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
Orange: Essie - Fear Or Desire
Blue: Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream
Silver Glitter: Barry M - Hologram Hexogram
The colours are actually brighter but my camera wouldn't focus when it was bright. It tends to happen a lot :/

I had a horrendous cut that day, I'm pretty sure I had this on for over a week but during that week it never occurred to me to take a picture before my finger got cut -_- Also at that time I didn't own an orange nail polish (times have changed) so I mixed one.
Light Blue: Barry M - Blue Moon
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White and Natural Collection - White 
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Red: Random red nail polish
Orange: Mixture of random red nail polish and Rimmel - Sunshine (I was so professional)
Blue: Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream
Silver Glitter: Barry M - Silver Glitter
Chunky Glitter: Barry M - Hologram Hexogram (it's a well loved polish)

Thank you for visiting!!! Have a nice day!!! :)

P-P-Pick up a penguin

Hello there. Uhhh when you think exams are over they go and throw more tests on you -_- Anyway I have more Christmas nail art. They didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted but they're still quite cute. I've done penguins before but in crazy colours.

They just look mildly deformed :/ But they'll do. I like the way the penguins are holding their bows, I didn't intend to do that but once I realised I did, I was like "awwwww".
Black: Topshop - Gypsy Night and Lovely Me:Ex - Black (no name)
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White (no name)
Orange: Essie - Fear Or Desire
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
Eye Glitter: Barry M - Hologram Hexogram
I got Fear Or Desire in a set (TK Maxx you beast) and I was planning to give it to a friend :/ I guess I could still give it. The penguin's feet also add more cuteness than you would think. I like the penguin on my middle finger the best (no inappropriateness intended).

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!!! :)

Some Random Leopard Print

Hello there. Again this was intended to be Christmas leopard print, but I kind of lost my way. I'm not too annoyed though. 'Tis still alright. Not my favourite leopard print, since obviously I can't go for too long without leopard print :/ Maybe I'll do a more Christmasy one, this one is simply random.

Just saying that lighting is difficult after 4pm in winter (I should really sort something out). I had an urge to use I'm With The Lifeguard, it happens and I need to ride these impulses. I don't know what was going through my head when I was doing this. My second and middle fingers remind me of the Hulk, fourth finger is somewhat Christmas themed and my pinky reminds me of Trident strawberry and lime gum (it's good gum).
Teal glitter: Barry M - Aqua Glitter (my picture was too bright there, I have better pictures of this polish) with The Face Shop - BL601 underneath
Gold: w7 - Golden Sands 
Green: China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard
Purple: OPI - Plum And Get It
Dark Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black
Light Red: Essie - E-Nuff Is E-Nuff
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black (no name)
White: Models Own - Snow White
I'll be back with more Christmas stuff, I have to stop getting side-tracked :/ Also not too keen on the short nails. I never learn, but I have to play the piano :P

Have a nice day!!! :)

Winter jumper keeps you cosy

Hello there. I knew I wanted to do a winter jumper design, but I knew I would fail at coming up with one myself (I should really try harder, one of these days...). So here's a super awesome one by the Burkatron. It's literally awesome (if things can be literally awesome), so I recreated it.

Also since I've stolen my friend's white nail art pen again I thought now is the best time to utilise it!!
Blue: Essie - Bikini So Teeny (been loving it)
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White
It's actually much easier than it looks, once you do it step by step, line by line, it's really fine. It just looks super cool. I quite proud that I painted this with my non-dominent hand, I thought that my "straight" lines would be a fail, but they were surprisingly "straight".

Have a nice day!! :)

Polar Bears

Hello there. How are you this fine Sunday evening? I seem to always post on Sunday evenings, coincidence. I made a list around last month of Christmas manicures and now I'm am sticking closely by it. So here I have some polar bear nail art :)

I have a standard face to which I give to all animals or miscellaneous objects, and it's the same for my polar bears. I think they're cute, but I instead want to write about the base. I. LOVE. IT. It happened by pure chance as always, but after some random glitter and shimmer piled it, came a beautiful outcome (I didn't expect it at all). I will definitely be doing the combo again and giving it a post to itself (my pictures of it by itself didn't turn out too great. I need better lighting). Yeah so I'll probably go into more detail then (cause I'm great at giving detail :P).
Base: Essie - Bikini So Teeny, Models Own - Indian Ocean, Barry M - Silver Glitter and Barry M - Pink Iridescent 
White: Models Own - Snow White and Lovely Me: Ex - White (no name)
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black (no name)
Eye glitter: Barry M - Hologram Hexogram
Pink: Per Una - Fuchsia (no name)
I did the combo on my toes cause I love it so much.

Merry Sunday!!! :)

Pastel Polka Dots And Roses

Hello there. I am disappointed in myself :( In a moment of insanity I told myself I was in a pastel mood. I was not in a pastel mood, I was in a Christmas mood. Therefore I regret these nails, somewhat as I really like them but I would like them more if it wasn't December. I've learnt my lesson, no non-Christmas related nails in December. Seriously, the moment I finished I was unhappy because they weren't Christmasy.

I liked them better on my right hand, which I found surprising as I thought the flowers weren't too good. But once I'd finished I thought it was better than expected. I really wanted to use Nomad so I guess I fulfilled that. Cause Nomad is amazing.
Purple: Essie - Lilacism and OPI - Last Friday Night
Pale Green: Illasmasqua - Nomad
Dark Pink: Per Una - Fuchsia (no name)
Light Pink: Orly - Basket Case
White: Models Own - Snow White
Dark Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black

I guess it's quite pretty, but no more non-Christmas related manicures for me!!

Have a great Saturday!!! :)

Are These Red Stockings?

Hello there. I've been trying to do the easier Christmas nail art first, and I think this one is ok, but kind of a fail. I did this last year too, and I think I preferred the design last year. Who even knows what it is?

But last year all I used was a random red nail polish, the Barry M glitter and the Natural Collection white. It was executed better last year too, again me being clever I forgot to take picture :/ This was more test glitter on red, I did enjoy the glitter, but they definitely looked more prominent in real life. I guess it was a somewhat Christmasy design, it also makes me think of Christmas strawberries :P
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips
White: Models Own - Snow White (the gloopiness is truly beginning...)
Glitter (from thumb to pinky): OPI - Rainbow Connection, OPI - Excuse Moi!, OPI - I Lily Love You, Barry M - Silver Glitter and China Glaze - Luxe and Lush
I think Rainbow Connection and Excuse Moi! were appropriate as they were from OPI's Holiday Collection last year. My lighting couldn't show the glitter though, I got home too late to get decent pictures. You take what you get :)

Have a lovely Thursday!!!

Candy Canes

Hello there, it's mid week in case you didn't know, I don't know what I'm saying. My brain is not working in an orderly fashion right now. I did some candy cane nails which I also did last year. Thank goodness I didn't take a picture of last year's cause it was pretty bad. I feel I've improved even if it isn't as neat as I like it.

They also look cooler from afar. I struggle with candy canes, I again couldn't be bothered with tape so extreme steady freehand lines were happening. I think I was relatively successful, but I'll tell you at one point they didn't look like candy canes at all and I almost had a fail on my hands (ahh pun, unintentional. Promise :P).
White: Models Own - Snow White and Nails Inc - Glamour Glitter
Red: OPI - Dutch Tulips (what else? ;))
Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black
I tried to do an accent nail but it pretty much looked exactly the same as the other nails. The glitter is also slightly more prominent in real life. Even if they aren't that candy caneish, they are Christmasy.

Hope you all have wonderful day :)

Snowflakes keep falling on my head

Hello there, and merry December. And here forth lies my first Christmas design of this year, it was my first Christmas design last year too. I had it on during my exams, I loved them then and I still do. Ah reminiscing of last year... I've been seeing a lot of snowflakes but I like these ones that I somehow came up with myself :)

They're just cute, and I love all things cute. I was having difficulties with my photos as always with getting the white to show up, but they came out better than expected. Which is always a good thing.
Blue: Revlon - Blue Lagoon
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White (no name) and Models Own - Snow White
Shimmer White: w7 - Polar Bare
Glitter: Barry M - Hologram Hexograms
I should use Blue Lagoon more, it's a nice colour and 3 thin coats did the trick (or 2 thick coats). It has a pretty shimmer (that's hard to capture on camera). Polar Bare adds more than you would think, even if you can't see it in the pictures. It gives variation :P And I love the Hologram Hexograms, they're like a touch of holographic glitter. Which is perfect.

I was happy with my right hand too so I have a little picture, it was hard to get a good picture by the way. It still isn't that great.

I've decided to show last year's snowflake nails too. I did SO many Christmas designs last year, but me being the genius I am. FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES *facepalm* It really is a blast from the past, I was very happy with it then but it's not as neat as I would like it to be, and my cuticles are a state (but I didn't care then :P). I never pose like that and my nails have not been as short since.
Blue: Barry M - Blue Moon
White: Lovely Me:Ex - White (no name) and Natural Collection - White
Shimmer White: w7 - Polar Bare
Glitter: Barry M - Hologram Hexograms
Pretty much the same except with Blue Moon, I used that polish a lot.

I was especially proud of my thumb, still am actually. Except my cuticles were such a state that I had to edit it out. Well that was taking a delve back into the Plumeria19 vault.

After a picture heavy rambly post, I hope you are having a wonderful day! :)

Green Nails: Illamasqua - Nomad

Hello there, hope you're enjoying this fine Sunday evening. Relaxing is fun before jumping back into school and being a sad bean :/ This is a polish I have been LEMMING so bad. I was looking for a colour like it, and whabam when I saw it, it was love at first sight (in polish terms :P). I had birthday money so I went for it.

Oh my. Such a pretty polish. Truth be told, I was unhappy with Nomad in darker lighting but seriously in natural and bright lighting it comes into it's own. It's more green, my camera was like "Let's make every picture blue" :/ This is 2 coats, also ridges were bad. I blame picking off polish, I never pick nail polish off, so it serves me right. The formula was lovely too. For some reason the colour reminds me of honeydew melon, another description is a pastel(ish) jade. I don't think I can express my love for this colour. I need to use it many many more times.

This is my one and only non-Christmas related post (well maybe until the end of the month) this month, for one I had to try this polish, and I OD on the Christmas nail art. I seriously cannot wait.

Funky Tribal Nails

Hello there. I have been obsessed with tribal nails lately and I do not know why. So I have some tribal nails here that I am fond of. I used a picture I saw on Instagram as inspiration (can't find it now :/). I am terrible with coming up with tribal nail designs, it takes me ages. She did a great design so here my interpretation of it. It's not very different :/ But it's matte!!!

I should've let more glitter peak through cause those are my favourite bits!!! I'm happy with how it turned out. It wasn't actually too hard, you just have to be careful :P I was ok if my lines weren't completely straight (tape takes too much effort).
Dark Blue: Essie - Bikini So Teeny and Models Own - Freak Out!
Pink: OPI - Japanese Rose Garden
Light Blue: The Face Shop - GR501
I originally used OPI - Charged Up Cherry, but it just didn't look right so I painted over it. Tribal is awesome and it looks impressive even though it is rather simple. Oh more tribal to come (more matte to come too :P), I have seen some awesome ones and I simply cannot wait (I have to copy tribal nails, I'm terrible at coming up with them myself :/).

Have a nice day!!! :)

Combo: Blueberry Pizza

Hello there. Hope you are having a lovely Thursday. I'm dreading school frankly. But, CHRISTMAS OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! I am excited :P Well here I have a little combo made from some new polishes, I will call them birthday/exams polishes (and I really like them :)).

I started with 2 coats of Essie - Bikini So Teeny, I'm a fan. It's a periwinkle shade? Except I found my bottle to be much darker than pictures I've seen of it, but it still has the super pretty shimmer in it so I'm happy. TK Maxx is beast. Then 4 coats (to build up glitter, it will probably build better once I use it more) of Models Own - Freak Out! from the Mirrorball collection. It's very indie-esque, there's light blue shards and bar glitter, dark blue circle glitter and small circle purple glitter. It smells bad like most Models Own polishes, but it something you can get over. And finally I used a matte topcoat. Oh excitement, I love matte nails. At first I didn't really get matte nails, but one day I decided I love matte nails. It's Rimmel Pro - Matte Finish. When I first put it on I was like "Why isn't it mattifying!!???", but couple seconds later everything was alright. I was planning on investing in the essie matte topcoat, but the Rimmel one was far cheaper and I reckoned they'd pretty much be exactly the same. Oh manicures will be made matte ;)

Peachy Nails: Essie - Tart Deco

Hello there. Well first off, my exams are over!!! Hallelujah!!! Everything is happy again, well until my next set exams but who thinks about these things? This is one my of favourite polishes, sparked my love of this colour. I know I've probably raved about it before but hello more raving.

My lighting was very red-y/orange which was strange but I worked with it. I got some other good photos but I was just happiest with this one. Ain't she a beaut? It's super shiny too. 2 easy coats, almost one coat. It's just a really beautiful colour, a peachy/orange (there are many descriptions). I can't say enough good things about this polish. It was in The Art of Spring collection in 2010. Hehe today in my exam when I was bored I breathed on my nails to make them "matte". For about 2 seconds, but a great way to kill time. Looked pretty cool, coincidentally I got a matte topcoat today. The best way to celebrate the end of exams is new polish (my mother wasn't best pleased though). :P

Multi-Coloured Gradient Leopard Print (+100th post!!)

Hello there!!!! Welcome to my 100th post, it's come awful fast. I've been wanting to come up with something nice, I never intended to do more leopard print. But it happens. Especially with me. I'm in the middle of exams so I haven't been able to post as much as I've wanted. So spending less time on nail business, so I'll have more time to do revision. Now whether I've done that revision is another story :/ But anyway, to the manicure.

Since I loved the gradient leopard print I did quite recently (I don't mean to be boastful), when I was stuck I decided to do more. I really was trying to avoid leopard, but I love leopard so there's nothing I can do. But really what a better way to celebrate 100 posts, more leopard!!! And it goes without saying, but I quite like this. Surprisingly my favourite nail is the yellow one, I like the way all the colours go together, oh yeah I outlined in colour instead of black and I busted out my bobby pins. Now for the colours used :/ Leopard print dots first (lightest to darkest). I bet I used near 100 polishes.
Purple: Essie - Lilacism, Rimmel - Purple Pulse and OPI - Plum And Get It
Blue: The Face Shop - GR501, Nails Inc - Baker Street and Kiko - 265
Pink: OPI - Japanese Rose Garden, The Face Shop - PK105 and Per Una - Fuchsia (no name)
Green: China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard and OPI - Jade Is The New Black
Red: Essie - E-Nuff Is E-Nuff, OPI - Dutch Tulips and w7 - Burnt Amber
I probably love listing these off too much.

And here's the bare bones of the gradient, I'm very happy with the pink nail. Gradients are way easier to do with glitter with a tinted base. My gradients still are not good, but I've never been good at gradients. I also like how subtle the orange gradient was.
Pink: Orly - Basket Case, OPI - I Lily Love You and OPI - Excuse Moi!
Orange: Essie - Tart Deco, Bourjois - Tangerine Fatal and China Glaze - Luxe and Lush
Blue: Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream, OPI - Last Friday Night, Barry M - Aqua Glitter and Revlon - Radiant
Yellow: Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream, w7 - Golden Sands and Nails Inc - Glamour Glitter
Purple: Barry M - Berry Ice Cream, Rimmel - Purple Pulse, OPI - Plum And Get It and Topshop - Razzmatazz
Then leopard print happened and everyone was happy :P

Well there was another rambly post on Plumeria19, hope you all have a wonderful week!!! :)

Ikat Pattern Manicure

Hello there. I've been seeing this around and I thought it looked pretty cool but it was Very Emily's design that made me need to do it. I woke up not being able to wait to do my nails. Mine are no where near as amazing as Emily's but I quite like my attempt.

I unintentionally did the same configuration on both hands. I preferred it on my right hand, unintentionally made it more spiky. My lighting was very red today (:/) it was strange.
Base: One coat of Models Own - Snow White, 3 coats of Topshop - Green Room and one coat of w7 - Polar Bare. That took ages to dry -_-
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black (no name)
White: Models Own - Snow White
Orange/Peach: Essie - Tart Deco
I need more Tart Deco in my life. The last time I used it was June. How insane. Green Room never photographs right, Green Room is also extremely tedious. It's a disappointing polish. But I think the ikat pattern is great, it could become my new leopard print. Time will tell...

Oh lots more ikat to come :)

Gimme Glitter: OPI - Metallic 4 Life

Hello there. This is a polish my best friend gave me, when I saw it I quickly informed her it was from the OPI Nicki Minaj collection, she told me she didn't know that but thought it looked cool.

And cool it is. I like it, but I just don't think black is my colour. A lot of people told me they thought it looked really cool but I wasn't totally convinced. It's sliver metallic glitter (small and large) in a black jelly base. I did one coat of Nails Inc - Motcomb Street underneath (a very dark blue) and put 2 coats of Metallic 4 Life over that. You could definitely get it opaque without a base, I just like having something underneath. It's definitely an interesting polish to have. I will find ways to work it into nail art. I was waiting til my nails were long enough before I tried this out (I love/hate how quickly my nails grow).

Cupcakes In Love

Hello there. Hope you're enjoying your Sunday, I'm taking a break from "revising" (loose term) to write this post. I guess I was stuck and I just put this design together. I feel like the "turn nail into cupcake" is slightly overdone (done it myself many times) so did some cute little cupcakes. Since my nails are very narrow, cupcakes never look right, but this surprisingly worked.

Maybe it would be more suited for Valentine's Day. I don't know why I keep reaching for pale purple, it really really doesn't suit me. I never learn -_- But it helped me find a way that it does suit me. One layer of Last Friday Night and boom. Magic, I was worried it would dramatically change the colour but it didn't, all it did was make it slightly darker. I will be doing that combo a lot more as it's so girly and subtly pretty.
Base: Essie - Lilacism and OPI - Last Friday Night
Cupcake Frosting: Models Own - Snow White and Nails Inc - Glamour Glitter
Pink Casing: Orly - Basket Case and OPI - Charged Up Cherry
Blue Casing: The Face Shop - BL601 and Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream
Cherries: OPI - Dutch Tulips (red) and OPI - Plum And Get It (purple)
Heart: Essie - E-Nuff Is E-Nuff 
Eyes: Lovely Me:Ex - Black and Barry M - Hologram Hexograms
I really like the Nails Inc glitter, it's subtle but that's why I like it. It has gold micro-glitter with slightly larger gold glitter. Oh and I love Lilacism and E-Nuff Is E-Nuff together. Just saying.