Easter Dotticure

Hi guys,

Happy Easter!!!

I'm afraid this is going to be a rather chatty post so if you don't like my chattiness feel free to just look at the pictures! Anyway, onto the chat...

When I got home yesterday it was sunny so the beauty blogger in me thought it was a good opportunity to do my nails and then obviously take photos. Winter is coming and the sun is playing hide and seek behind clouds. Why do you think I decided to do a dotticure?

a) I am an expert in dotticures. 

b) I didn't want to study. 

c) I wanted to spend an inordinate amount of time doing my nails, only to ruin them. 

d) Options b and c. 

Did you guess option d? Give yourself a pat on the back because you are correct. By the time I finished my nails it was too dark for photos so I decided to take the dog for a walk (see, I really didn't want to study!). Let's just say it is a bad idea to take a dog for a walk when your nails are still drying. Then, this morning (the walk was yesterday) I decided to do a bit of a clean which only contributed to making the manicure look even more scruffy. 

You probably didn't want to know any of that so I'll move on. The polishes I used for this skittle dotticure were:

That's What I Mint from Essence (mint green). 

Apricot Nectar from Revlon (peach). 

How Do You Lilac It? from Rimmel (lilac). 

Grey Matter from Rimmel (grey, used for the dots). 

Champagne Kiss from Face of Australia (baby pink). 

Platinum from Face of Australia (matte top coat). 

I think it turned out okay considering I wasn't using my brain when I sat down and did the manicure. I love the matte effect and the combination of pastel colours. Now I need to stop procrastinating and get some study done! 

I hope you enjoy your Easter break and have a very safe Easter. 

Cheers :)

Pink and plum dotticure

I am absolutely hopeless at titles for blog posts that are not reviews, have you noticed?! As the rather bland title tells you this is a pink and plum dotticure. 

The pink polish is 'Champagne Kiss' from Face of Australia and the plum is 'Plums The Word' from Sally Hansen. 'Plums The Word' is a lovely autumn/winter polish if you are somebody who wants to wear darker polishes in the cooler months and vice versa. A very versatile plum polish with a great formula.

I love dotticures for a manicure that is a little different but still very easy to do and doesn't take too long.

Cheers :)

Flakie Nude Nails

In one of the many youtube videos I watched this week somebody mentioned (I can't remember who, maybe Fleur de Force?) that they were loving nude nails with glitter. This inspired me to dig out a flakie I hardly ever reach for, Revlon's 'Heavenly'. I love nude nails and thought this could be a cool combination...

Christmas Day Nails 2013

Hi guys, I am finally getting around to posting the nails I wore on Christmas Day. I wore 'Hot Fever' from Kit Cosmetics, which is a deep red based fuchsia, with Face of Australia's 'Studio 54' over the top. I think the polish looks slightly more red in the pictures, than it does in real life as well.

Part of me regretted not going with a more christmassy nail but oh well. The combination of 'Hot Fever' and 'Studio 54' looked great and 'Studio 54' is simply amazing. I have the same combo on my toe nails and I think 'Studio 54' will be gracing my toe nails with different combinations of colours all summer long.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and are having a relaxing break. I can't believe it's been days and days since I last posted.This time of year always seems to fly and then in a blink of an eye it's all over and back to the long hard slog that uni is. Not that I'm complaining because at the end of the day if I want to get my dream job I have to get qualified first! :) 

Cheers :)

Blogmas - Candy Cane Inspired Nail Art

Hi guys. Today I have some candy cane inspired nail art for you. Snow Me White by Sinful Colors is the white polish and Pillar Box Red by Butter London was the red polish I used.

Cheers :)

Christmas dotticure

Hi guys. This time next week I will have devoured a roast pork, gnawed on crackling, eaten some plum pudding with lots of custard, given and received nearly all of my Christmas gifts and will probably be feeling sad that Christmas day only has a handful of hours left. Until then I am going to go OTT with Christmas nail art and enjoy the Christmas spirit. 

I used my all time favourite red polish, Pillar Box Red by Butter London and The Green & The Grunge by Essence. Both polishes are outstanding, one coaters and have gorgeous formulas. 

So here is the obligatory bottle shot Essie base coat and insta-dri by Sally Hansen are pretty much included in every manicure I do. 

I love how Christmassy this dotticure is and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I was a bit impatient and I think one or two of the dots got smeared by the top coat but oh well. What can a impatient girl do?

Cheers :)

Black Matte Glitter Accent Nail - Ulta3 Outasight

I'm not a huge glitter lover, I'll be honest, probably because it can be annoying to remove and I find it wrecks my nails...but now and then I come across a glitter I cannot say no to. I have a special place in my heart for matte glitter so a few months ago when I heard that ulta3 had released a few matte glitters I knew I needed them. So for most of the year I have been searching high and low for these polishes...finally on the weekend I found them =) YAY!!!

Anyway, I'll stop rambling and introduce you to 'Outasight' by Ulta3 which I layered over a coat of Sinful Color's 'Feeling Great'.

'Outasight' is a matte black glitter combo comprised of small circular glitters  and larger hexagonal shaped glitters. It's not a very dense glitter so you do need a minimum of two coats and I found that within each coat I had to do multiple brushes, as well as wiping the brush against the side of the bottle to try to leave as much of the clear base at possible on the side of the bottle...well worth the result though!

Overall  I am pretty pleased with 'Outasight' although I do wish it was a little more dense. I think it will look great layered over a multitude of different polishes and I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting a second bottle since it took me all year to find this one...silly me :p Also, as a side note, I want to mention that these photographs show the polish with a layer of clear quick-dry top coat, because I was inpatient and wanted to get photos before the good lighting disappeared.

Cheers :)

Red and White Dotticure

Hi guys, today I have a red and white dotticure to show you. The red polish is Pillar Box Red from Butter London and the white is Snow Me White from Sinful Colors.

Unfortunately I tried out a new topcoat after doing my dots and it smeared some of my dots slightly so that was a shame but I really like this colour combo and want to re-do it using a smaller dotting tool.

Thanks for reading,
cheers

Teal Dotticure

I absolutely adore teal and I think it is pretty safe to now say it is my favourite colour! I don't think I've ever really had an absolute favourite colour. Usually, I've been on the fence and named black, blue and red. 

I decided to do a dotticure because I love dotticures and it's a type of nail-art that is usually harder to mess up. Hahaha, I can mess anything up :p 

I used one of my favourite polishes, Jungle Gem from Sally Hansen. Despite my ever-growing collection of polish I have lost count of how many times I have reached for this polish this year. It's a stunning teal colour, one-coater and has a great formula. Need I say more? Probably not! The silver polish is Icy Princess from Essence. 

I was super excited that the sun had came out the day I did this NOTD because it's been overcast, windy and cold for awhile. The fact that it gets dark pretty early too doesn't help my attempts to take semi-decent photos for the blog either! Can't wait for spring to come :)  I think this dotticure worked quite well except for the bit where I got impatient and put my topcoat on too soon, smearing my silver polish everywhere!!! 

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

Nail Art - Teal and gold stamping

Hi guys,
this weekend I finally got around to doing some actual nail art. For the past couple of months I've really only done boring old manicures and swatches and used the striping tape occasionally. With that in mind I pulled out my stamping stuff. I always feel like stamping is a "risk" because if done improperly you can completely stuff up your manicure and have to start all over again...but this time I think it worked out relatively well. Especially when you consider that I haven't stamped for a really long time!

I used a polish from Face of Australia's Barbados limited edition series called 'Let's Go Scuba Diving' which is absolutely gorgeous. Requiring two coats or three thinner coats, this is a really striking teal shimmer polish with heaps of depth. I used 'A Piece of Forever' to stamp.

And now I am finishing with a bit of a random picture (which I hope you enjoy). Whilst I was trecking around the backyard looking for good lighting I snapped this photo of a camellia bush which is about the bloom. It's all furry!!!

Thanks for reading, cheers :)

Dotticure: Dancing Nails and A Piece of Forever

Hi guys, today I have a dotticure to show you. I used one of my absolute favourite polishes, Dancing Nails by Sinful Colors which is a stunning metallic-ish rosy pink colour and A Piece of Forever by Essence which is my good old trusty gold polish. 

Please excuse my horrible dry hands and cuticles.........winter...

Have a lovely day and thanks for reading!

Autumn Dotticure

I've been thinking about it and I have decided autumn is my favourite season. Admittedly, this autumn has been amazing with days hovering around 25 degrees still as well as the chillier weather that I don't mind in moderation.

I used 'Plums The Word' by Sally Hansen which is a lovely colour for autumn/winter and then I did some dots using 'Toffee' by Maybelline. I picked these colours randomly but now looking at it on my nails it looks very autumn-y and I absolutely love the combo <3

In some lights this nail-art isn't very noticeable but then sometimes you go WOAH look at that beauty :) This next photo I took quickly with my mobile when I was out and about because the lighting was really good. Yep, I'm a crazy nail blogger...

Thanks for reading :)

Green and Blue Striping Tape Nail Art

Hi guys, 

today I have some nail-art to show you. Well I say "nail-art" but it's really just an accent nail. I don't really have the time do extravagant designs on all of my nails and I think less is more.I love nail-art but I also think simplicity is stunning so I like this compromise! What do you think?

Anyway I started with one coat of Ulta3's 'Mermaid Green' which is a fantastic one-coater polish and only costs $2, bargain! Then I used some striping tape and Ulta3's 'Blue Merlin' to create the accent nail. 

I'm pretty pleased with the accent nail and love colour combo. These polishes applied effortlessly and dried quickly. Thank you all for reading and enjoy your weekend, 

cheers.

Grey and Pink Stripes

Hi  guys!!!! I have my first ever successful striping tape adventure to show you today. It's only an accent nail because I have a very busy week ahead and didn't want to go too over the top!!!

I had a craving (can you have a craving for nail polish????) to use 'Grey Matter" by Rimmel London even though I generally don't like it's formula. But I don't know....I just wanted to use it :) But I also wanted some colour considering it is grey, overcast and raining on and off. I decided to do an accent nail using 'Oasis' by Sinful Colors. This is the most gorgeous pink, and its coming from a person who use to say she hated pink. Well I still do for most things but I've made an exception in this case. Anyway enough rambling! '

I am actually really proud of myself because normally whenever I get the striping tape out it is an absolute disaster.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day :)

Twin Guest Post: Chevron Nails

Hi guys, Laura from http://littlelauraloves.blogspot.co.uk/ invited me to do a twin guest-post and I was absolutely thrilled to be asked. Thank you very much Laura!!!!!We decided to do chevron nails. I had never done chevron nails so it actually took me four attempts! GAH! Anyway, here is Laura's post and if you want to see my first ever chevron nails check out her blog :)
Cheers and enjoy your weekend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone ,

I am Laura from littlelauraloves.blogspot.co.uk , if you like this post please check it out.

Today is a twin post where we decided we would both try and do some Chevron Nail art. I used did some Ombre red nail art and silver chevrons. I hope you like them :)

Laura

xx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How awesome are Laura's nails???!!!! I think they look awesome and I absolutely love the combo of red and gold :)

Girly Girl Challenge - Delicate and Elegant

Hi guys! I am so sorry this is two days late!!!! University is crazy at the moment and I have five major assignments due this month so I'm worked off my feet. Unfortunately that means that I don't have time to do my nails very often and when I do....it's nothing superb. Although I did find a beautiful polish in my collection that I had totally forgotten I had! The polish in question is 'Lion Around' by Essie. It is a beautiful pale pink with a pretty shimmer in it.

So the prompt for the Girly Girl challenge was "delicate and elegant" so I decided to do some stamping over Lion Around using my favourite stamper. I know, I know!!!! I am boring and this stamp features way too often on my blog but I love it! Anyway, I used 'Lilac Love' by BYS for the stamping. If you live in Australia you should definitely check out the BYS polishes. They are $4 and can be found in K-Mart and Gloss (and probably other places too!). They are great polishes, especially for the price :)

Hope you have all had a fantastic weekend,
Take Care

Nude / Gold Dotticure

Hi guys! Today I have a dotticure I wore using one of my new favourite polishes, Sinful Colors "Nirvana". I just love love love this colour as the weather is getting cooler. I'm still really bad at dotticures but love the colour combo of this one and hopefully it's not too bad. Please do let me know if you have any advice on where to place dots...yep I know, I'm totally hopeless! Hahaha

Okay, anyway. Back to the dotticure!!!! Here are some photos.

Sorry this is a short post but I have five assignments due this month and I'm quite busy!!! At the moment I am frantically trying to keep up to date with all of my readings.....

Thanks for reading and take care, 

cheers :)

Girly Girly Nail Art Challenge - Think Pink

Hi guys! I don't think many people would object to Friday's being called "good" but today it is officially "Good Friday" and a public holiday - yay!!!! - so today is a super good Friday!!!!! I hope you all enjoy your  Friday and have a brilliant weekend.

Today marks the first day of the "Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge" organised by Mani's by Moore so please check out her blog and if you want more details about the challenge it is all explained :)

Today the prompt is "Think Pink - wear your favourite pink nail polish and nail art". I'm going to be honest I'm not a very girly girl and it is only recently that I have started liking pink polish. For day #1 of this challenge I have decided to show you a dotticure. I used the seriously awesome pink polish called "Oasis" by Sinful Colours and the grey polish is "Grey Matter" by Rimmel London.

I was pretty pleased with how this turned out however I am still slightly disapointed in the dotticures I have been producing. The tools are simple enough to use but I have difficulty with knowing where to place the actual dots so that they look good.........I do love this colour combo though :)

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!

Funky French: Teal/Black

You have probably noticed that there has been an extreme lack of nail posts lately. That would be because all I seem to be doing is epic failures :( I just purchased some striping tape so I have been experimenting with that but with no luck, I still haven't been able to pull of a manicure with it that looks semi-decent. So, when I got a chip near the end of my nail with my NOTD I was exasperated. But then I had a lightbulb moment and thought FUNKY FRENCH!

The polishes I used were 'paradise valley' by MUD, a brand that I believe is exclusive to Woolworths and retails for $2. The black polish is my loyal 'Black Satin' by Ulta3.

So here I was totally thrilled with my manicure but then I took photos and my camera refused to take a single colour-accurate photo. I even snapped a few with my mobile phone camera that too refused to incorporated. So I would like to point out that this polish, 'paradise valley' is a stunningly vibrant teal.

Cheers and thanks for reading