40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Orange Purple Green + Negative Space

This week I got a winning combo. I love negative space manis and the selection of hues was one of my favourites. As I read the prompt for the first time, I started recalling what exact polish I wanted to use for each colour. Orange  would be Revlon's Lady Luck, Purple would be the beautiful Plume and Green Room for er, the green, the last two from Topshop.  I know the orange looks like pink and the purple leans more towards the blue side  but I figure that this is more on the pastel side of the spectrum.

I started with no base. I know, right? What craziness is this, more on that a bit later. With some stripping tape in place, I painted on some shapes and stripes with some Max Factor's Purple Haze to give Plume a base as the latter can be a bit sheer by itself. Then painted on Green Room covering the purple with tape and finally applied Lady Luck using the same technique. Applied HK Girl Top Coat to smooth it all out and seal it in.

I managed to smudge on of the thin purple lines just after topcoating it but with the help of my trustworthy (and very frayed) striper brush I managed to fix it pretty well. It's hardly noticeable now. Can you tell which one it was? Hehe.

The photos above show my second attempt. My first mani (below) was actually freehanded but it felt too rough to put it up on the blog. I liked the fact that it had more polish and less free space but I figured it would take me forever to clean it up or do it with tape so I just enjoyed it for what it was and reattempted it. And because I was in such a hurry to get the next one done, I forgot to put base on. That's my story.

Till next time, 

Laura

It Was On A Starry Night...

You may be familiar with 'Dia de los Reyes Magos' or Day of the Three Wise Men, which is celebrated in some Latin American countries and parts of Europe on the 6th of January, as far as I know. The Wise Men would be the ones that would bring presents to kids instead of Santa Claus, however, the custom has changed, depending on who you ask and some kids get presents on Christmas and today. The adults get to eat 'rosca de reyes', a cake in the shape of a ring with crystallized/glazed fruit and whatever other food the host of the wants to serve. On the nails, I figured showing the star that guided the Three Wise Men to Baby Jesus to give them the gifts would be suitable for the occasion. I must be honest though, I intended to post this at Christmas time but never got around to writing up the words for the photos but it turned out for the better.

I  started with two coats of Butter London's Union Jack Black and saran-wrapped one coat of Max Factor's Extra Frost to create the night sky. I let that dry and used striping tape to create a thin triangle along three of my fingers to create the tail of the star... or comet, whatever you wanna call it, and used Essie's Good As Gold to colour it in. Topped it all off with one coat of Seche Vite.

I had some gold star studs but the mani would looked a bit odd with two different tones of gold so I painted the star with the Essie polish and let it dry for about half an hour. I had to bend the star a little bit so it would fit properly on the nail without snagging onto e v e r y t h i n g like some larger studs tend to do if left flat. I attached it with a drop of Seche Vite but I did it when it wasn't quite dry/tacky so I got some of the Good as Gold on the base. 

That could be considered star dust from the comet... Yeah... It could.

I had a bit of trouble photographing the prettiness of this mani so I tried it with sunlight (photos above) and in the lightbox (photo below). Oh! I also dented my index finger twice, once with a ring because I thought it would be a good idea to take off a ring while the polish was still tacky, and the second from moving my hands around normally.

I was really happy with the way this mani looked, the depth of the 'sky' and the continuity of the comet's tail did it for me. I even kept this for FOUR days. 

Hope you guys have had a good and safe holiday season. Here in this part of the world we've been having 40 degree days, which feels totally like summer.

Till next time, 

Laura.

BPS Fox Studs Reviews AKA 33 Day Challenge: Animals

I'm killing two birds with this post mostly because the timing of my latest Born Pretty Store delivery could not have been better. I may have also singularised today's prompt of the 33 Day Challenge from animals to animal... Not a big deal, right?

A few weeks ago, I asked to review these beautiful fox studs from Born Pretty Store and I knew I had to use them for this post. I was eagerly hoping they would arrived before today and they did. Phew!!! I found it a bit challenging to think of what to do with these apart from just sticking them to my coloured nail polish. I ended up coming up with this mani that I would like to call 'Night Fox' (it's fun naming manis...). 

This studs are absolutely beautiful, just look at them. They're these dainty little detailed studs, 6mm to be precise, and because they're a sort of abstract fox face there's so much you can do with them. Another wonder about this is that they don't sit flat on the nail as they are so slightly bent so there's no snagging on clothes, hair, fluff, etc.

I think they are made of an alloy metal that is used for most studs as these are really sturdy but light. There are only five in the pack, not quite enough for a whole mani, but they are great for accent fingers. Looking at the photo above, I just realised one of the studs has silver ears compared to the white ears of the others. Hey, that's more variety for me from one pack!

I stuck the stud with clear polish but I'm pretty sure nail glue would have been better. It didn't stick very well with my method and it fell off after a few hours. They can be reused so it really depends whether you are planning to reuse them or not to choose your adhesive. 

Now for the polishes used in the mani, I started with two coats of Ulta3 in Black Satin, followed by one coat of Max Factor Nailfinity in Extra Frost, which gives the black that lovely night sky look without too much effort, and sealed the base with two coats of Seche Vite. I painted the grass with a green stripper before using Layla in Metal Chrome to stamp the moon and free hand the what-I-thought-looked-like stars. I dotted the paws and tail with the same polish before I finished the mani off by creating the tip of the fox tail with a white stripper. I decided not to topcoat the mani because I wanted to keep the texture on the grass and the fox tail. Oh yeah, I stuck the stud with some clear polish right at the end.

You can get the studs by clicking here for US$3.48. Don't forget to use our code to LUCKYG10 to get 10% off full priced products of Born Pretty Store site.

I'm pretty happy with the way the mani came out and I was surprised that the free-handing that I did was fairly quick. All that behind the scenes practice might be paying off. Check out the other talented ladies' manicures for today. 

Disclosure: 
Affilliate Link. 
Fox studs were sent by Born Pretty Store for honest review. 
All other products featured were purchased by me.

Max Factor's Fantasy Fire

I'm sure we're all aware of the existence of Max Factor's Fantasy Fire. When I first saw it in real life, I fell in love with its rainbow coloured shimmer and jelly appearance. It was perfect in the bottle and I wanted the effect on my nails. 

I actually purchased this bottle a little while ago for 72 cents at Big W but had waited a loooong time as I couldn't really justify spending $5.95 for such a little bottle. 

Aren't those colours pretty? 

I've tried a few ways to use Fantasy Fire to maximise the amount of colours seen and so far, layering over Max Factor's Purple Haze has worked best. This polish has a very similar to the jelly in Fantasy Fire so there's no streaks or bald patches. I used two coats of Purple Haze and two coats of Fantasy Fire in the swatch below.

I have to admit, the polish in the bottle is amazing but it didn't blow my mind once it was on the nail. You could say I was... disappointed. Only one colour shimmer can be seen from a particular angle and to see the others, you need to move your hands around so the light hits the nail differently. Too much effort in my opinion. 

In one last effort to fall in love with it, I applied my trustworthy Rimmel Matte top coat.

Much better...

I'm sure that if my nails were cubical, all the colours of Fantasy Fire would show like they do in the bottle. Until then, I'll just have to  live with the matted version and hold that little bottle up to the the light to admire its greatness.

Do you guys own Fantasy Fire or any of the many similar polishes out there? Are you in love? How do you wear it?

Til next time, 

Laura

Cheaper manicure? Show Me

Since there's a minor achievement to celebrate, I wanted to show you a manicure with all my favourite things in a mani; gold, foil finish, bright cremes and the use of tape.

Polishes used: 
Gold: Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Ivory (isn't ivory usually off white?)
Orange: Ulta3 in Carrot Top
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

I used three coats of Ivory for full opacity but I could have gotten away with two. The Carrot Top is a fairly good one coater, if it is carefully applied. I was inspired by Nailside's tape mani, which I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with. I swear this would have to be one of the quickest manicures I've done in a while.

The best thing about this mani, however, would have to be the price. 

The bottle of the left I managed to snap up for 72 cents at Big W a few weeks back and the Ulta3 I purchased about six months ago at Coles for a whole 95 cents. The grand total for both bottles comes up to $1.67. Not too bad for Australia.

Now, if there's someone out there with cheap manis, let me know. I would love to see them.

Till next time,

Laura

essence A Piece Of Forever

This post is full of cheap goodness. Firstly, we may all know that essence is amazing at keeping up with trends at a very low price. In this occasion, essence has released a collection to coincide with the release of the latest Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn Part 2 (according to iMDb.com, the movie comes out on this Thursday, 15th of Nov. I'm not a fan so I'm not keeping up with release dates for these movies).

The collection has four polishes but the only one that really caught my attention was the yellow gold one that looked thick enough to be a one coater. To tell you the truth, I didn't even pay attention how much it cost when I first bought yesterday. However, I went to Target in the city today and bought another bottle because it's so good for stamping. I just checked my receipt and it turned out to be $3.95. Not too bad.

My other awesome purchase was a Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish from Big W for $.72. Yep, that is seventy two cents. There weren't that many colours available but I liked the blue enough. 

This was my little haul for the day.

And this is the mani I came up with:


Polishes used: 

Blue: Max Factor Mini in Candy Blue
Gold: Essence The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2 in A Piece Of Forever
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri
Plate: Bundle Monster BM-218

It seemed a little to plain to have the same pattern on all my fingers so added an accent on my ring finger with the gold polish.

I didn't like how it looked so I stamped the blue onto the gold for this result.

I think I like it but I'm not sure. I'll let it grow on me, if not, there's always good ol' nail polish remover and endless combinations of polish colours and finishes!

Just a few notes on the polishes, Max Factor's Candy Blue was a dream to apply with a non-streaky, almost one-coater formula that dried fairly quickly and it worked well for stamping. In the above photos, I have two coats on but I could have gotten away with one carefully applied coat. Love it. The only bad thing I can come up with is that Big W's sale finishes tomorrow and they weren't great at stocking up their shelves with this awesome offer. Oh well. I guess I can do without those extra bottles of polish.

Now, the gold polish. To start with, the colour seems a bit odd, and even though I'm a sucker for gold polishes, the yellow gold hue that it has put me off a little bit. Yes, it is great for stamping and that's basically why I got it... Plus it's essence. Essence = Cheap. 

The other problem I have with it is that the application on the nail is S T R E A K Y. Every single hair of the brush can be seen on the nail, even when dry. You can't see it in the photos above (or can you?). I came across this post from Spektor's Nails, which in turn borrowed the idea from Polish Art Addiction, to avoid those streaks on metallic/shimmer polishes. So I applied a first coat, which would have been enough if not for the streaks, then sponged a second coat on. You couldn't see the streaks but because I used a new makeup sponge, bits of it got stuck to my nail. :(

What do you like better, gold over blue or blue over gold? 

Till next time, 

Laura