Glitter and Leopard Print

I went to a cat themed 21st over the weekend so it was obvious that my mani for the night would be leopard print. I was originally going to do leopard print on every nail in the generic colours but once I began I hated it so instead I did the following design, chucking in a glitter nail as well. I absolutely love this, the purple is one of my fave polishes ever and I don't want to take the mani off because I enjoy it so much.

(Only one photo this week because I took them in a rush before I headed out and this was the only one that turned out decently.)

The colours I used are:
Grapetini - Savvy
White On - Sally Hansen 
Black Out - Sally Hansen
Silver Gleam - Maybelline Color Show

Once again, I need to apologise for my absence, I'm trying my best to get motivated to do my nails. But when I do nails like these that I absolutely love, I remember why I do what I do and then various people give me compliments and say they're always looking to see what I'll do next and it just makes me feel really proud of myself. So thank you to everyone who supports me, I'll try to get some more designs done in the next few weeks!

Mix 'N Match Mani

NOTE: I'm not sure what you call these types of designs, 'Mix 'N Match'? 'Skittlette'? 'Skittle'? I've seen a few variations of the name but let's go with all of them until I decide on a name I want to use in the future.

I went to two bridal expos on Sunday because my sister is getting married this year and I'm her maid of honour. I did my nails the day before just because I wanted something on them and when I finished them I sort of thought they looked very bridal shower-y or even baby shower-y. It wasn't my intention, I just wanted a nice soft themed mani. I went a bit out of my comfort zone with these, because I'm not big on everything being all different and I don't know whether I pulled it off, but I think I'd be more likely to do another skittlette in the future now that I've done at least one.

Colours used from L to R (starting at index):
Bubblegum Pink - Sally Hansen
White On - Sally Hansen
Bond With Whomever - Essie
Heart of Glass - Face of Australia
Bikini So Teeny - Essie 

I don't think I'll have another mani until the weekend because it's going to be so hot this week in Melbourne and I do my nails in my bedroom which gets way too warm and stuffy in summer so it won't be comfortable at all.

Green to Purple Gradient

I enjoy doing gradients and I think I've finally gotten the hang of doing enough coats to make it opaque. In this mani, I used a white base of White On - Sally Hansen (which I think is my new favourite white polish), Misty Jade - Rimmel, Avenue Maintain - Essie and Liberty - W7. I think I did about three coats to get it opaque enough.

Only one photo this week because my camera was acting up and I couldn't be bothered dealing with it. But at least there was one good one!

Hope everybody has a lovely weekend!

Glitter Accent

These past few weeks have been up and down but I finally did my nails and I love them. I recently bought two new nail polishes from the Maybelline Color Show Sequins Collection and I absolutely love them. I had been on the hunt for a good silver glitter polish, mostly so I could do a glitter accent mani like this one, so I picked up Silver Gleam and also Sea-Quins which is turquoise glitter (I'll try to have a swatch up in the next week).

This mani is quite girly for me because I'm not a big glitter person, but I think I've fallen in love and it feels like these two polishes were made for each other. The other polish is Essie's Bond With Whomever. Love, love, love it!

I did two coats of the Essie polish and three coats of the Maybelline glitter, I could have gotten away with two, but I wanted three just to make it that little bit more opaque.

Favourite Things of 2013

Since the year is over, I thought I would do a big post on all of my favourite things for 2013, such as polish, products, treatments, designs etc. I've been trying to finish this post for a few days and if you follow me on instagram, you'll understand why some things take me a while. But anyway, 2013 was a good nail year for me, I realised my love for nail art and decided to follow that career pathway by starting a course in Nail Technology and then I decided to create this blog. And while I haven't been the best at updating it lately, I'm trying my hardest to create things that I love and feel proud of. So thank you to everyone who reads this blog, whether you follow it or not, I appreciate you all.

All of these lists are in no particular order!

Nail Polish:

• My Boyfriend Scales Walls - OPI
• Mock Snob - Revlon
• Suzi Says Feng Shui - OPI
• Grapetini - Savvy
• Big Hair, Big Nails - OPI
• Bamboo Shoot - Sally Hansen
• Royal - Revlon
• Magic Croisette - L'Oreal
• Liberty - W7
• Metropolitan - L'Oreal

Bottom and Top Coats:

• 24/7 Nail Base - Essence
• Pro White Hardener - Essence
• Insta-Dri Anti Chip Top Coat - Sally Hansen
• Matte Top Coat - Revlon

Other Nail Products:

• Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream - this is probably my overall favourite nail product. I don't talk much about my nail care routine but I always try to use this while I'm in bed watching a movie or some TV so that it has time to soak in.
• Sally Hansen Cuticle Eraser + Balm - I recently bought this and have only used it a few times, but I loved it instantly. It smells amazing and while it's a bit thick it does everything it's supposed to. I usually apply this whenever I have enough time before painting my nails and then I use a cuticle stick to push them back and sort of scrape away some of them. I do find I have to wash my hands a few times before it feels gone, but it's no big deal for how great it makes my cuticles look.
• Acetone - it may be silly to put this in the list, but I only discovered acetone in 2013 and it's a miracle. It is really drying and tends to give me headaches but it's useful, it's great for clean up and it's great for water colour designs (which you know I love). I bought a big bottle from Big W for about $11 about four or five months ago and I've barely used half.
• Dotting Tool and Brushes - I purchased nail art tools for the first time in 2013 and I wouldn't be able to do half the stuff I do without them, so they're all definitely a favourite this year.
• Vaseline Healthy Hands + Stronger Nails Hand Cream - this hand cream is my number one, I use it every day and it lasts forever. I've had the 75ml since July and I think I've almost run out. It doesn't go on thickly or leave a slight residue, it soaks completely into your hands and they feel amazing after applying it

Designs:

This last one is a bonus because I haven't posted it yet (and I'm not sure I will, but it's still a fave).

My goals for 2014 nail wise to is to figure out lighting/editing and get that sorted, because looking at all these photos gives me anxiety because of the difference in tones in each of them. And to post more frequently/do a lot more nail art. I hope everybody has enjoyed this post and hopefully you'll be seeing something from me very soon.