Glam Polish 500 Follower Giveaway! China Glaze Colors From The Capitol (Hunger Games) Collection

Glam Polish is having a giveaway in honour of reaching 500 Followers!!

The a-freaking-mazing prize is your choice of 6 polishes from the new China Glaze Colours From The Capitol (Hunger Games) Collection

The prize from this giveaway can only be sent to an address in Australia or the mainland USA. The giveaway ends 1st March 2012. 

So to get entering click HERE!

Nail Polish Tag

I was tagged by Charlotte from Charlottes-Nails for The Nail Polish Tag . THANK YOU! I suggest you check out her blog if you aren't already following :)

Rules:

Answer the questions

Tag 5 other bloggers

Let the bloggers know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their page

Questions: 

1. How many nail polishes do you have?
Erm about 230ish? I think. But that number changes frequently O.o

2. What is your favourite brand of nail polish?
Hmm I don't really have a favourite brand - most of my stash is China Glaze, Color Club, Essie, OPI, Revlon and Maybelline

3. Do you like crackle polish or do you hate it?

I LOVE crackle nail polish. I'm a fan of wearing a nail colour for 2 days and then changing it up in some way and wearing it for another two days. Crackle nail polish is one of my favourite ways to do this.

4. What was your first nail polish brand?
The first nail polish I ever wore was Constance Carroll Diamond Gloss - a shimmery purple that matched my year 7  graduation dress! And yes, I still have the bottle O.o

5. If you are going to have a nail polish line, what are you going to name it?

I have absolutely no freaking idea! I've never thought about it.

6. What nail polish colours do not compliment you?
Reds - but that doesn't stop me from wearing them! Since I'm so fair most dark colours really stand out but that doesn't bother me since black/darks make up much of my wardrobe

7.What nail polish colours do compliment you?

Lighter colours - pretty much anything that isn't black or a very dark colour.

8. Name two of your best nail art friends?

My sister-in-law and Google :P

9. What was the best nail polish gift you ever received?

When my parents got back from visiting Hong Kong! My mum had bought me so many nail polishes that I can't easily get my hands on. My mum = THE BEST :)

10. Make a speech thanking the blogger who gave you this tag
See above!

11.What is your second favourite nail polish company?
I don't really have favourites but I suppose for quality Zoya would be my favourite and then China Glaze would be my second favourite because they make amazing nail polish that I can get my hands on for cheap :)

12. Glitter or no glitter?

Do you really need to ask? GLITTER ALL THE WAY!

13. OPI, China Glaze or Essie?

I have all three brands! Each has their own unique qualities - I can't choose, love them all :)

14. When do you change your nail polish?

I wear a colour plain for 2 days then change it up in some way and wear it for another 2. So usually I wear one colour for about 4 days.

15. What's your favourite colour on your nails?

Hmm never thought about it. I just grab whatever colour grabs my attention at the time.

16. Darks or brights?

Both - depends on what I feel like wearing. I use to always wear darks then I bought and wore Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow and decided I love bright colours too!

17. What are you wearing on your nails right this moment?

Lol! You asked for it! Right now I am wearing a skittle mani with different glitters on top so...... China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, China Glaze High Hopes, Zoya Mira, Zoya Breezi and on top of them BYS Pot of Gold, BYS Glitter Dazzling, BYS Kinky Pink, BYS Silver Moon, BYS Out of the Blue. Phew!

18. Matte nails -in or out?

In! Matte nails are gorgeous!

19. French manicure?

I like traditional French manicures but I especially like a French tip with a Konad stamped design across the bottom of it.

20. Favourite winter colour?

No favourite - just whatever is calling to me at the time.

Bloggers I tag:
http://hookedbyhollysagemini.blogspot.com/
http://labmuffin.blogspot.com/
http://nailsinthedesert.blogspot.com/
http://www.nailzilla.com/
http://nibblefiles.blogspot.com/
http://www.thenailpolishguru.com/


Check out the above blogs - they're fantastic and definitely worth a read :)

Step By Step: Glittery Blue Gradient with Geometic Design

This is my Step By Step for the glittery gradient with geometric design manicure I did yesterday.

What you will need:

• Nail Polish - dark blue - Maybelline Denim Dash
• Nail Polish - pastel blue - Maybelline Party Blue
• Nail Polish - glitter topcoat - BYS Starlette
• Nail Polish - White for stamping - Konad Special Polish White
• Top Coat - Seche Vite Dry Fast top coat
• Nail Polish Remover
• Stamper
• Scraper
• Konad Image Plate - M24
• Sponges
• Cotton Wipes

Step 1: Apply your base coat and then the pastel blue nail polish. I used two thin coats of Maybelline Party Blue.

Step 2: Once your base colour is completely dry sponge your dark blue onto the top half of each of your nails. I used Maybelline Denim Dash.

Step 3: Then when the sponged nail polish is dry stamp the geometric design up the middle of each of your nails. I used the geometric design on Konad image plate M24.

 

Unfortunately I only took photo's of my index finger and this happened to be the one where I stuffed up the design!

 

Step 4: Ensure the stamped design is dry and then apply a glitter top coat to the top 2/3 of each of your nails. I used BYS Starlette for my glitter coat.

 

Step 5: Clean up any mess you made and from the painting, sponging and stamping.

 

Step 6: Finally apply a thick top coat to your nails. I used Seche Vite Dry Fast top coat.

And there you have it, a glittery gradient with a geometric design. You can alternate the colours you choose as well as the design you stamp.

This Giveaway is TOO GOOD Not to Share!!!

There is an amazing giveaway going on at the moment! Wait for it....Dandy-Nails is having a China Glaze Prismatic Giveaway!

Just look at these pretties!

Prizes include:

•  China Glaze Liquid Crystal
•  China Glaze Full Spectrum
• China Glaze Optical Illusion

  
One VERY lucky winner will recieve all three of the above nail polishes!!!

This giveaway is international and will end at 12:0AM EST on Valentine's Day 2/14/12. Good luck and get entering HERE!!

Maybelline Party Blue Glittery Gradient with Geometic Design

So this was the final design I ended up with after using my Maybelline Party Blue manicure and the gradient that followed.

Using the simple gradient design I stamped the geometric design from Konad Image Plate M25 in Konad Special Polish White don the centre of each nail. Wanting something glittery I used BYS Starlette applied to the top 2/3 of the nail and then added a nice thick coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast top coat.


Unfortunately I only have photo's of this in artificial light.

 

  

I really love this design! I know there's a lot going on but every part of it calls to me. I love the blues, the glitter, even the geometric stamp that you can just see! If I was to do this design again I would use a three colours gradient as the base and then apply the glitter to the entire nail.

GIVEAWAY SPAM!!

Nailzilla 50 Follower Giveaway!!!

There is an amazing giveaway over at NailZilla  in honour of reaching 50 followers just check out the prizes!



The prizes are:

• OPI - Nicki Minaj minis box set Condition - NEW 
• OPI - DS Coronation Condition - USED but full
• Revlon Blue Mosaic Condition - NEW

There will be three winners and this giveaway is open internationally!! This giveaway ends on 26th March 2012 so get entering here!



Sirena Sparklestar 500 Followers Giveaway!!!

In honour of reaching 500 followers SirenaSparklstar is having a giveaway! And we all LOVE giveaways right!!!

The prizes include:

• China Glaze Attraction
• China Glaze Instant Chemistry
• China Glaze magnet with 3 designs

One lucky winner will win all the above prizes! This giveaway is open internationally and closes 17th February 2012. Click HERE to enter!

Maybelline Party Blue Gradient

This was the gradient design I did for my How To: Sponge Technique tutorial. It was a very basic gradient only using two colours.

The colours I used were:

• Maybelline Party Blue
• Maybelline Denim Dash

Since I already had Party Blue on I placed some Denim Dash onto my pad of paper and then placed my sponge into the nail polish. Then I sponged it onto the top half of my nail. Once it was dry I used Seche Vite Dry Fast top coat.
 
These photo's were taken in artificial light.

 

 

Then I took these photo's in natural light however it was late in the day and there was no direct sunlight.

 

Just a very simple design for today since I plan to do more with this but I just don't have the time at the moment. So that's it, a basic two colour gradient design.

Giveaway at Sirena Sparklestar!

There is a fantastic giveaway open at the moment over at SirenaSparklestar and so go check it out!

The items to be won are: 

Wet N Wild Believe Me, It's Real from the Ice Baby LE Collection
Wet N Wild Back Alley Deals from the Ice Baby LE Collection
Sally Hansen Black Tie from the new Diamond Strength collection
Revlon Whimsical from where the best things ever come from
Wet N Wild Cost Is No Issue from the Ice Baby LE Collection
Wet N Wild It's All In The Cut from the Ice Baby LE Collection

This giveaway is open internationally and closes at 12:01AM on 2/11/2012. 


To enter the giveaway click HERE and simply fill out the Rafflecopter form! 

Maybelline Party Blue

With all this sunshine I wanted to do a nice summery colour and I chose Maybelline Party Blue from their Mini Colorama collection. I applied one coat of Revlon Quick Dry base coat. Then I applied two thin coats of Party Blue but it probably could've used three coats. It is an especially watery nail polish and was very difficult to control. Application was quite the PITA! It's such a pity the formula is so terrible because its a beautiful colour. To maintain the intensity I used Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat. Some Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Speed Dry Drops and my manicure was ready to go in no time!

The following photo's were taken after I finished in artificial light.

 

Maybelline Party Blue in Artificial Light

 

 Maybelline Party Blue in Artificial Light

Then I took some photo's in the natural light while the sun was still shining.

  Maybelline Party Blue in Natural Light 

   Maybelline Party Blue in Natural Light

Party Blue is a gorgeous pastel blue creme with amazing vibrancy. It's that classic adorable blue colour. The bubbles present aren't from Party Blue but from the Mega Shine top coat. To me this colour screams spring, but the 38°C heat when I was taking the photo's kept me very aware it's summer!

piCture pOlish Australia Day Special

Just to let you all know piCture pOlish is having an Australia Day special!

I'll let them tell you all about it! Below is taken directly from the email from piCture pOlish. 

Please note that this offer is available for Australia only.

 Lets start 2012 with a bang!

 It's that time of year when we all celebrate living in our wonderful country! 
So we thought why not have an Australia Day special for all our Aussie friends - the deal is "buy 2+ shades and we will take 12% off your total order value" applies to all piCture pOlish and Ozotic shades starting right now until 31 January 2012!  

Redemption Code: January

(cannot be used with any other discount codes) (maximum 10 bottles per order) (Australia Only)

Maybelline Racy Red and M65

When doing my tutorial on Konad Stamping I used Maybelline Racy Red as my base colour. This was the Konadicure I did for the tutorial. I used Konad Special Polish Black and Konad image plate M65. I used the diagonal full nail pattern highlighted in the image below.

Konad Image Plate M65 from ICNA

I stamped the image in the black onto each of my nails and then removed all the excess polish I got on my fingers and around my nails. Then I finished it all up with a coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. For a few of my nails I turned my hand when I stamped the last section onto my nail so the lines aren't straight. Luckily though it still looks fine from a distance.

The following photo's were in artificial light. It's good that I photograph my right hand because the stamp on my left hand kept refusing to fully stamp so there is an area with no image. Since I already had a top coat on from my Racy Red manicure I removed the stamped image and tried stamping again, only for it to fail again in the exact same area. So I reverted to my "meh good enough" approach :)

These ones were taken in sunlight, lots of sunlight!

 

I really like this Konadicure and it was so easy to do. This stamp transfers very easily and cleanly, quite surprising for a full nail stamp. Usually with full nail stamps it can be a little trickier to get the whole stamp to transfer. I love the red and black combo, the two colours just contrast so well. I like that you can still see the actually base colour as opposed to the stamp overpowering the original base colour. I love the colours and the pattern of this design and it goes so well with my wardrobe!

The Dragon Lady For the Love of Flakies Giveaway!

Still on the giveaways band wagon, The Dragon Lady is having a For the Love of Flakies Giveaway!!!

Giveaway ends 2/29/12 at midnight (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) and is open INTERNATIONALLY unless your country doesn't accept the shipping of cosmetics!!!

I don't know about you but I find it impossible to get Finger Paints nail polishes here in Australia so I am going all out for this giveaway!

The Valentine Kisses January 2012 Mega Giveaway!

Crystal from Valentine Kisses is having a MASSIVE 2012 Giveaway with the chance to win 65 items!

Below is an image of the prizes from Valentine Kisses.

There is a complete list of all the items available in the giveaway. Head over and check it out here!

Maybelline Racy Red

I wanted to paint my nails a vibrant red and was in a bit of a hurry so I chose Maybelline Racy Red from the Express Finish Collection. To begin with I applied a coat of Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener followed by two thin coats of Racy Red. This is a great colour to grab because you only need two thin coats for it to be completely opaque. So since I was in a rush the thin coats dried really quickly and then on went a coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. Some Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Drops to help it dry - are you getting that I was in a hurry :)!

These photo's were taken in artificial light the night I painted my nails. Racy Red is actually a bit darker than these photo's but it didn't seem to want to photograph darker!

Maybelline Racy Red in Artificial Light

Maybelline Racy Red in Artificial Light

The following day I took these photo's in the bright sunshine and 36°C heat. I was actually worried I wouldn't get any photo's in the sunlight because we had thunderstorms that night. I've never been so happy to be wrong -lots and lots of sunshine! Racy Red takes on an almost orange coral colour in direct sunlight.

Maybelline Racy Red in Natural Light

Maybelline Racy Red in Natural Light
 

This is one of my favourite red cremes. The formula is almost perfect so application was an absolute breeze. Each coat of Racy Red dried very quickly. The express Express Finish collection claims the nail colour dries in 50 seconds and I was putting on my second coat about 2 minutes after my first. So that's Maybelline Racy Red, my go-to red for a quick manicure!

Water Marbling: Yellow and Green

I wanted to do another water marble manicure so I could write a tutorial for it at the same time. I decided to go with a simple design so I only used two nail colours. From watching videos and reading blogs I knew that Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail polishes usually work really well when water marbling. I used my Rimmel Green Grass manicure as my base.

So for this water marbling I chose Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Emerald City and Mellow Yellow. The first time I alternated the two colours creating 5 circles as the nail polish colours didn't disperse as well as I has hoped. Not wanting to waste the polish I did a small design, chose a spot and inserted my index finger. The second time I again alternated the same two colours but created 7 circles. This time the nail polish spread out very well, so I created a design and then inserted my other three fingers. I continued doing this for the remained of my nails.

Afterwards I peeled off my tape and then cleaned my nails. I added a top coat of Seche Vite because I didn't want to risk pulling my design. The following photo's were taken in artificial light.

 

Yellow and Green Water Pastel in Artificial Light

Yellow and Green Water Pastel in Artificial Light 

The following day I took more photo's in the sunlight.

 Yellow and Green Water Marbling in Natural Light

 Yellow and Green Water Marbling in Natural Light

I don't like the design on my index finger at all! I prefer the design that comes from creating a larger array of circles in the water such as that one my other three fingers. I still haven't gotten the hang of stopping the large air bubbles from forming and currently that's the only aspect that I hate about water marbling.

I recommend you try this technique for yourself, once you get the hang of it it's plenty of fun!
The following is a link to my How To: Water Marbling tutorial.

Rimmel Green Grass

I wanted something nice and bright so I chose to apply Rimmel I (Heart) Green Grass.

After applying my Revlon Quick Dry base coat I added two thin coats of Green Grass. The formula on this was horrible. It's very thin making it difficult to control and to make matters worse the brush is very large so it makes things even more difficult. Rimmel has the largest brushes of all the nail polish brands. Below is a photo of the brush - see how wide it is!

To seal my manicure I used one layer of Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat. The photo's below are in artificial light.

 

 Rimmel Green Grass in Artificial Light

 Rimmel Green Grass in Artificial Light

Still enjoying the summer heat I took these photo's in the sunlight.

 

Rimmel Green Grass in Natural Light

 

Rimmel Green Grass in Natural Light

Since I did such thin coats Green Grass needed a third coat to be completely opaque. Looking at my nails up close there is still a visible nail line (VNL) which I would prefer not to have.

Green grass is a gorgeous bright green, the colour of healthy looking grass in cartoons at least! It is a beautiful vibrant green, not a neon but it definitely has quite an intensity to it. I really like the yellow green colour although I would prefer the application to be easier. However, since I bought this for about $3 when it was on special I'm not that fussed. I think this would be a great base colour to create a colourful Konad design. For some reason this colour makes me want to go eat a nice green apple!

Scotch Tape Nails: Modelista On Location - Berlin with Triangle Base

I wanted to play around with scotch tape nail designs and decided to start with something simple. So using my Modelista On Location - Berlin manicure as my base colour I decided to do a triangle base mani.

Using the Scotch Tape method I cut the scotch tape into triangles like below.

 
Then I stuck the tape onto my nails and applied Revlon Silver Screen. After removing the tape I added a top coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. The final design is shown in the photo's below which were taken in artificial light.

I have a tutorial on the Scotch Tape method that can be found here: How To: Scotch Tape Nails.

I did this design very quickly and would have preferred the triangles to be more defined but I still like it. The black and silver look amazing together and although you can't see it the black base has gorgeous microglitter that shines surrounding the silver.  So that was my first Scotch Tape manicure and already my mind is filling with many other designs!