Nail Polish Play

Category: Nail Art

Mix ‘N’ Match – Nails to match my outfit

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always do my nails first and then scrounge around in my wardrobe to find something that matches. I know it’s not entirely ideal, but I’m the jump first, look later types.

However, today was an exception. I spent a few minutes examining the blouse I’d laid out for today and then tried my hand at matching my nails.

Here’s what I used to create this look:

Diamond Strength Basecoat – Sally Hansen

Clearly On Top Quick Dry Topcoat – KBShimmer

Autumn Spice -Revlon Parfumerie (for stamping)

Never Nude – PiCture POlish

I’m crazy about piCture pOlish, they’re easily one of my favourite brands! They always have something really beautiful up their sleeve and Never Nude is no exception. It’s a collaboration shade created with Willpaintnailsforfood and the base is meant to look like OPI’s My Vampire is Buff. Except that this one comes with an ethereal lavender glass fleck and delicate mini hex glitters in teal and pale purple.

Here’s a swatch in the shade :

Browsing perfectreplica.is reveals a large collection of replicas from multiple luxury watch brands.

I know this pic doesn’t really do it justice, but this is the only one I clicked before I stamped over it!

I used Revlon Parfumerie’s Autumn Spice for stamping for two reasons – It has a similar glass fleck like Never Nude and the colour is exactly what I wanted, a sort of rusty brown with shimmery pink. Plus, there’s the added bonus of the fragrance – this one smells like pumpkin pie!

I used MoYou London’s Suki 8 and FabUrNails XL gold stamper set for stamping the swirly clouds:

This plate is so gorgeous! There’s so many designs that drew me, but I settled on the clouds.

Here is the finished look :

I’m holding my top in the background in the pictures.Here are some more pictures :

One in the shade:

The last one :

On the whole, I’m quite pleased with the result, though I don’t see myself doing this on a regular basis! It’s too nerve wracking! How others do it I have no clue!

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April 7, 2015
Fabergé Egg Inspired Easter Nails

Happy Easter! Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!

I started out with a pastel easter tribal mani in my head as I had time on my hands but it didn’t work out. So I searched around a bit for inspiration and remembered the famous Fabergé Eggs I had studied in school.

These were bejewelled Easter eggs made by Peter Carl Fabergé for the Tsar Alexander III and later his son Nicholas II. Each egg was made to carry a ‘surprise’. Out of the 50 made, only 43 remain today and quite a few of the ‘surprises’ inside are lost. Needless to say, they are exquisite (even if you’re only looking at a picture of them).

My inspiration for this look is the Tsarevich Fabergé Egg. Here is picture of it along with the surprise that’s inside:

I searched around in my stash for the perfect royal blue polish. I finally settled on using Revlon Royal for this mani.

Now, speaking of Revlon Royal, I have nothing against the colour, application, brush etc. Everything’s a breeze. What’s not, is the “fragrance” of the polish. I use the term fragrance very loosely indeed as the polish let off a smell that’s frankly very unbearable. I’ve read it described as “skunky” on other blogs, but to me it smelt like rotting marigold. I think it has something to do with the pigment they’ve used to colour the polish. Anyway, other than that, the polish is just perfect! It’s a deep indigo jelly, perfect to give that enamel finish.Thankfully, the smell fades away after you’ve put topcoat!

I used piCture pOlish Pharaoh for my accent nail as it’s the perfect white gold with that magical scattered holo effect!

Here’s the rest of the stuff I used need to create this look:

Products Used:

Diamond Strength Basecoat – Sally Hansen

Pharaoh -piCture pOlish

Royal -Revlon

Tortoise Shell (Gold side for stamping) – Revlon Shiny Matte

Black stamping polish -Konad

Clearly On Top Quick Dry Topcoat -KBShimmer

I used the MoYou London Easter Plate (Festive 24) along with the amazing stamper from Faburnails :

Here’s the finished look:

I have a thumb too!

So, what do you think?

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April 6, 2015
Nail That Technique – Pond Manicure

The past few weeks have been hectic and I have a lot of blogging to catch up with! This week’s #Nail That Technique prompt is ‘Pond Manicure’.

The idea behind a Pond manicure is quite simple. You’ve to use sheer or tinted polishes to create a pond/lake like appearance with a design sandwiched between two successive layers.The depth is achieved by layering the polish.The very first design drawn/stamped will become more blurred as successive layers of the sheer polish are added. The polish should be sheer enough to allow your design to peep through from the bottom layers. You can create any design between the layers – stamp a pattern or draw dots or flowers with a toothpick, the choices are endless.

Today I’ll be sharing two designs that I’ve done for this prompt. One of them is a throwback to January this year which is when I tried my hand at a pond manicure for the first time.

Browsing replicamagic.io provides endless options for collectors seeking both modern and vintage-inspired timepieces.

I used all Rica polishes for both manicures and bought mine from Color4nails. You may get them directly from her Etsy store too.

First Up : Pond manicure with stamped flowers:

Here’s what you’ll need:

Step 1 : Start off with one coat of a basecoat of your choice . This is to protect your nails and provide a foundation for your manicure to bond with.

Step 2 : Paint one layer of Rica Squishy Grape

Step 3 : Stamp a single flower using Rica Pink Elephant and a stamping plate of your choice. I’ve used a no brand one that I bought from Ali Express.

Step 4 : Repeat steps 2 and 3. Make sure that your design does not overlap those in the layers below too much. 6 layers is good enough to get a pond like finish.

Step 5 : Apply topcoat to seal your design and prolong it’s life! I’ve used KBShimmer’s Clearly On Top.

Here’s the result:

And, here’s a closeup :

Now for my next pond manicure, here’s what I used:

I wanted to go for an ocean inspired look and used a stamping plate from MoYou London’s Princess collection to stamp a cute Octopus!

I used the new squishy marshmallow stamper from Faburnails and it’s excellent. Doesn’t even require priming.

The steps to achieve the look below are the same as before. This one was clicked in the shade:

and here’s a closer look at all the squiggly octupi (? or octopuses ?) :

Here’s what it looks like in the sun, I’m really loving this combination!

That’s it for this post!

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April 4, 2015
Spring Flowers Feat. my DIY Black & White Glitter Topper

In this post, I’ll show you a mani I created some time ago using my DIY black & white glitter topper.

For this look, you will need :

1. Base coat – Very important to protect your nails from staining and prolonging the life of your mani.I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength.

2. A pink base -Use any pink polish you like. I used Sally Hansen “First Blush” because it’s a gorgeous spring colour!

3. A black striper. If you do not have a striper, you can use black polish with a thin brush, or acrylic paint too.

4. White polish and a dotting tool ( a toothpick works fine too).

5. A black and white topper

6. Topcoat

To start, paint all your nails pink. Then, using the black striper, draw vertical lines evenly spaced going from the base of your nail to the tip on your middle and ring fingers.

Wait for this to dry and then trace the outline of your nail on the middle and ring fingers. Once everything is dry, add flowers using white polish and the dotting tool on the vertical lines. Make sure that there’s space between the flowers.

Apply the glitter topper on your thumb, index and pinky. Topcoat once everything is dry.

What do you think?

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March 6, 2015