2014

And so another year has come to an end... A lot of people has been saying they've had a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows. That's life though...

For me, I can't really think of anything that stands out. I've met some amazing new people, won some awesome competitions, been more active on my blog, hit 800 views within 10 days of hitting 700! You people are absolutely awesome. BF being in the car accident and having it being written off. But other than that though, I'm still here and still healthy, so what more do I need?

I have been thinking of doing a post with all the Christmas gifts I got, but I just decided to show the nail related items... So first on the list is... My brand new laptop from BF. I've been doing all my posting from work or from my phone, so finally I can do it from home!! Next is an Ulta3 advent calender that I got from BF's mom.

They are all minis, but still totally cool. Also, one of my colleagues got me a Clicks voucher, for me to use on nail polish. Awesome!

Anyway, I did do a mani for NYE, it's not much and I'm not too happy with it, but BF thinks it looks nice.

At the moment I'm using the treatment that I ordered from Omega as a base, trying to save the last of my MR. I also used one of the new polishes I got from Tip Top. It's called Sparkle Queen.

It's a black jelly filled with awesome big and small holo hexagons and glitter. To me it seems like Black Forest and Rocky Road had a love affair. And this is the illegitimate child they had. It is completely awesome though. I'm wearing two coats. Over that I attempted to stamp with Armourplate. I have a new stamper and I'm still getting used to it. It's very sticky... Any advice?

I got most of the image on my index finger, properly aligned too. The rest is just all wrong, although the longer I look at it, the nicer it seems. What more do you need for NYE? It's got black and glitter and silver. Seems perfectly right to me.

Well I hope everyone is safe out there tonight and you will see me in the New Year. Have a good one.

Omega Nails South Africa winner

Omega Nails South Africa, My Manicure Madness and Do My Nails hosted a competition on their FaceBook pages for glitter pots that was sponsored by Omega Nails. As I mentioned on my facebook page, I was lucky enough to be one of the winners, as there was one winner per page.

I contacted the lovely Gael from Omega to organise delivery and while I was doing that I ordered two of the Omega treatments, Omega Labs Ultimate Growth2, one for me and one for my mother with whom I would have to share the glitter pots.

Gael was kind enough to send my mom a little something something... And she was even more kind by sending me some samples. I was also very impressed with the way everything was packaged. It was made up nicely and you could really tell that effort was put in to it. And that made it even more special.

I've said this to some people and I'll say it again. The people I've met in the nail art community are some of the kindest and most generous people I know. I mean where have you seen people randomly sending you things without even knowing who the hell you are?

I had just started following Michelle and she kept mentioning using this thing called "striping tape", I was like wtf is striping tape?? So I sent her a message on Facebook and she explained to me what it is and then offered to send me some! Like huh? Send me some? Suuuure! Obviously not gonna say no to free stuff (saying that tongue in cheek, knowing she might read this).

But that's not where it ended... It is where it started though and I completely fell in love with this community and it still manages to astound me. I just hope that one day I would be able to give some things away to somebody that just starts out. And be able to show the same amount of generosity that was shown to me. The kind part I'm not too sure about.... I'm a bitch after all :p (LoL)

Anyway, I will be posting on the treatment and see if it works for me. So keep a look out for that. Also if you want to order anything from Omega you can visit the website www.glamore.co.za or you can email Gael on gael67@telkomsa.net.

BF's accident

I wasn't planning on doing a post about this, but I feel I need to get it out of my system.

Yesterday morning at work BF calls me and tells me he was in a car accident. So naturally, I take it very well. Wanting to know the details, is he okay, where it happened, is the car in bad shape, what is he going to do now.

He assures me he's okay, but the car is banged up quite a bit. It will have to be towed and there's a hole in the drivers side door, making that it doesn't close.

So I'm still taking it quite well, I send my mother a message to let her know whats happened. But by now I've had time to think about this and I've gone rather quiet and I'm checking my phone often for any messages. My colleague noticed and asked if everything is okay, so I gave her some of the details.

Some time later I'm in my manager's office as she was telling me what happened over the weekend and my dad comes in and I totally lose it. I'm bawling my eyes out and my manager has no clue what's going on as I haven't had chance yet to tell her (actually quite funny looking back at it). So I'm explaining to my dad what happened and the reason why I'm freaking out, BF might have assured me he's okay but I haven't seen him. So I can't be sure. Anyway, so my dad calls him and asks him how he's doing and if he won't come home. Being a stubborn ass he says no (he didn't even know it was my dad!).

Anyway, my dad leaves and I go back to work. I'm trying not to think about it because everytime I do, I start tearing up again. And I hate feeling this way. My colleagues are noticing by now that something's up and they asking me wrong. Obviously I start bawling again because now I'm thinking about it. Again.

Eventually I've calmed down enough to be able to function properly and get through the day.

When I got home, my parents picked me up as I had to put their Christmas tree (ours isn't even out yet). They only took me home again after 8, so BF was home already. And was I happy to see him.

We talked about everything and he still joked (ass) if he had died I would maybe have cried a little bit and moved on. I was like, a little bit? He should have been at work this morning. And the ass laughed at me because he couldn't believe or understand why I would have been upset after he told me he was okay....

Men!

Lazy gold Christmas tree

So I've been dying to try my hand at a Christmas tree... On my nails.... Obviously. But I've kinda been stuck with my colour scheme.

I've been thinking of doing a base of Tip Top (sob) As The Beat Grows On with a tree in purple using Catrice PlumDogMillionare, but then I was thinking neon green is not really a christmassy colour. And I have done that colour scheme before.... Maybe I should rather use Tip Top (sob) Lazy Lizard or (sob) Volcanic Eruption. But then I thought again "a purple tree?", maybe I should rather use Gold Mine for a tree. And then I was like, but I wanna use a textured polish for my tree and I only have two...... Aaaand I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this rant.

So I asked BF and he gave me a completely different thing to do and I was like no. Then I asked my mother and we came to a conclusion.

I started of with 2 coats of Lazy Lizard on all my nails, after my base coat obviously. I used some striping tape and nail guides that I bought ages ago on my ring finger to make a tree. For the tree I used Gold Mine...

I did some dots on my index finger also using Gold Mine. I did a bit of a glitter placement using Tip Top Rocky Road. I put some polish on a piece of plastic and fished out the pieces I wanted to place them on my nails.

I actually had some left over and as I absolutely hate wasting I stuck them on the dots on my index finger.

Don't forget to drop me a comment to let me know what you think.

Cherries in the Snow me White

Hehehe I like using the polish names for the post names, it seems oddly appropriate at times. This is my first Christmas mani for the year and hopefully not the last, but I'll try not to kill you with it.

I started off with my usual base coat and two coats of Tip Top Cherries in the Snow on all my fingers except my index finger. On my index finger I did two coats of Tip Top Toasted Nuts.

On my index finger I used Cherries in the Snow and Sinful Colours Snow me White to paint a little hat (my colleague thought it was a cookie). I also used Tip Top Galaxy over the Snow me White to give it a bit of sparkle. On my middle finger I painted two coats of Sinful Colours Call You Later over the Cherries in the Snow, it's sooo pretty. On my ring finger I attempted to do a snowflake that I saw on Instagram done by @yagala. 

 The only problem is that I watched the video two weeks ago, so I missed (more like forgot) some of the finer details. But I still think it looks nice. What do you think of my almost fail snowflake? And my little santa hat?

**This post has been waiting to be posted for about a week and in this week Michelle did santa hats.... And hers looks way better than mine. And I don't think I like Michelle anymore. I'm so divorcing her....**

Tip Top Nail brand shutting down

It's with mixed feelings that I write this post. Utter sadness and at the other side of the scale, excitement.

Today, Tip Top Nails South Africa announced on their FaceBook page that they will be closing at the end of 2014. This is very sad news, I joined their page about 2 years ago. I fell in love instantly. And then I bought some of their products.... Miraculous Results and Cuticle Oil. And for the first time in years, I had hope. Hope that I could have "talons", the ones that you only see in nail art blogs. Then it happened and all thanks to Joan and the wonderful Tip Top Team.

I even won a prize and got third place in a nail art competition. Yes, me. Who knew?

That is also the reason for the excitement. After such a long postal strike, I finally got my prize!!

As you can see, I got a brush, some rhinestones, two 3D bows and three polishes. They are from left to right, Grape Dance, Protein base coat and Cool As A Cucumber. 

The awesome part is that I don't have any of these polishes! So WooHoo!

Now the problem is, getting me the polishes I don't have. Like Meringue Surprise and Red Rendevous (although my mother said I can have hers) and Sitting Pretty.

Now I'm just sad again, when I think of how many awesome polishes I don't have yet and time is running out...

But to Joan and the Tip Top Team, You guys were the best and I hope the next venture you tackle will only go from strength to strength.

Black Forest and As The Beat Grows On dies

I give up, seriously. I suck at water marble. I just can't get clean lines. I wasn't even going to share this, but BF liked it. I was like, whhaaat? He almost never compliments me, I have to fish for compliments, but with this he said it looks nice. So just because of that, I have to share.

I started off with my normal base and one coat of Sinful Colours Snow Me White (yay, I finally got it!! Thank you Revlon) on my index and middle fingers. For the marble I used Tip Top Black Forest and As The Beat Grows On. Over that I did one coat of Tip Top Snowflake. Snowflake is a white glitter.

I only did my index and middle fingers and was going to paint the rest a solid colour, but since I didn't like it, I was planning to take it off. But then BF came home after his work function, said it looks nice, I left it on, went to work the next day with only four fingers that has polish on, got home, went to pay the bills and actually never finished. I went to work with it like that for another day!

This is a very short post, but I don't have much to share. Does anyone have tips for a perfect water marble? If you do, please share it with me. I'm truly desperate. And I'd love to know what you think of my fail.

Snowcapped Black Forest

This is my first mani with my nails being 'stompies'. I had a chat with Michelle about a week ago, about her doing a mani with Sinful Colours Charmed, as I was considering doing something similar, I loved what she did. Now, since I'm still waiting on my BPS stamping plates, I decided to use decals.

I started with 2 coats of Tip Top Black Forest on all my nails except my ring fingers, for that I did 5 (yes 5) coats of Tip Top Snowcapped. I'm looking to get Sinful Colours Charmed, as I think Michelle only did 2 coats. So obviously 2 beats 5! The decals I got here from BPS.

Even with my nails being this short, I still managed to get a break somehow. I mean how sad is that?

I've been following Rebecca at Lane's Lacquers for some time, but I've never really gone into her blog, as for some reason our browser at work is outdated and the images never show. So I always thought what's the point of reading if I can't see what she's talking about!? I have also been following her on FaceBook, so I'm not totally clueless. I have decided to go and have a look though, and she's got this awesome page called Blogging 101. Oh I wish I had seen this sooner! She also uses Blogger and all her tips is Blogger based, which is awesome. And since I'm going crazy and changing the way things look, I love it. So there might be some more changes coming soon.

Stay tuned!

Jazzberry Blue is the Cat's Whiskers

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've changed the look of my blog a bit (more like a lot). So please let me know what you think. Drop me a comment, email or find me on FaceBook.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I cut my nails. So for the moment I have little stumps, but I did this mani last weekend and was actually wearing it when I made that horrible decision to cut.

My colleague bought me an early Christmas present. When we had discussed what we each wanted I was heavily hinting at a new purse, as my current one is growing to be a little tatty. So she surprised me early!!

And it's soooo pretty, don't you think?

Obviously I wanted to try and do a mani that looks similar... And this is what I ended up with. I started off with two coats of Tip Top Cat's Whiskers on all my nails except my ring finger. I taped my ring finger using striping tape. I painted the middle piece using Tip Top Jazzberry Blue and the remaining with Cat's Whiskers. Got some negative space going there ;)

Both these polishes have a beautiful shimmer to it. I loved wearing it even if it was only for 2 days.

What do you think? Is Jazzberry Blue really the Cat's Whiskers?

Stormy Marble

Don't you just hate it when your fabulous ideas don't work out? I wanted to do this awesome water marble mani and it didn't come out quite the way I imagined. Definitely need to practice more. People make it look so easy! I love the way it came out though.

On my pinky, ring finger and thumb I painted Tip Top Stormy Sky. And oh my does this colour not look gorgeous in the sunlight.

For the marble I used Tip Top Armourplate, Moonshine and Stormy Sky. I had such a hard time cleaning up afterwards as all these polishes has a shimmer to them, so I had shimmer all over my fingers. I didn't take my pictures immediately after, I actually waited for some of the shimmer to wash away.


In natural light

 

With flash

Normally only the left hand is used for pictures, but I'm posting both as the marble on my right hand is diffirent from my left hand.

In natural light

  

With flash

So what do you guys think? More practice right? I have chatted to somebody about water marbling, who has given me some tips. So maybe next time it will be awesome.

Dedicated to you

It feels like I've been having a very hard couple of months. Work has been a huge pain in the ass, people has become more and more impatient and rude. I mean I have had people walk away from me while I was talking to them. Like WTF?! People has thrown stuff at me. So I'm at the end of my tether.

And I'm having a bad nail week too. I had to cut all my nails as my index fingers wouldn't grow. They were peeling quite badly, so I made the difficult decision to cut them. And start over. Double up on my folic acid and MSM. Hopefully that will help.

I've also in this time realised what some people has done for me.
There's Sam, who is the amazing admin of My Manicure Madness. Sam has been such a rock. She's kept me going when I was ready to give up. And she always has a compliment ready for any kind of art I do.
Antoinette, who is the admin of Do My Nails. She's also been an inspiration and quick to compliment.
Then there's Michelle, aka Ordinary Misfit. She's been awesome.  Every time I have a question, I mail her. If I need to see what something will look like before I attempt it, I mail her. She's been an absolute star.

And the greatest of all is, that I've never met any of these ladies. We've had a strictly online relationship. So while I'm feeling pretty crap about my nails and the way people have been treating me, I feel that these ladies will always in a way brighten my day and for that I'm very grateful. Even if I do not always show it.

Thanks ladies you the best.

Blue meets Green and Armourplate

I was attempting to catch up on my blog reading the other day and I got to this post by V over at For the Love of Nailart(hope I got that right). I loved the panda, so cute, and since I'm a curious person by nature I always read the comments section. The subject of the one comment thread was teal.... So naturally I thought of Tip Top's Blue Meets Green. This is one of my favourite colours. And naturally I had to do a mani with it.

I previously did a mani with this colour for a competition Tip Top Nails South Africa was hosting. It had a bling theme... Something along the lines of what you would wear Saturday night for a party.

I wanted to recreate it, as I think I'm better at nail art than what I used to be... So this is what I came up with. Also here you can see the colour of Blue meets Green much better than in my previous art.

 

I used striping tape and Tip Top Armourplate for the line. For the stamping I also used Armourplate and BPS m79 stamping plate. The rhinestones are ones I got a while ago, so where eludes me.

I think my stamping is improving! Yay! You would think this is the only stamping plate I have, but it's not. I have 2 essence ones, but I don't like them that much. It feels like the image is too shallow, so I can't pick it up properly on the stamper, but I think I'll give it another go, just to test it. And I'm waiting (still) for more stamping plates that I ordered from BPS. Who knows when I'll get that.

Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas for me. Always willing to try something new.

And as usual here is my BPS banner again if you want to order anyhting from them.

Neon something something

Man, what a week, but it's not like the weekend is gonna be any better. I'm working this weekend and I'm 10 hours into my 12 hour shift... So I'm feeling rather fried already. Luckily I have a girls night that I'm joining on Saturday and my manager said I can leave earlier if it's not too busy. Bonus! Hopefully I won't be too sore Sunday.

Anyway, I saw this mani of Heather at Acidicice, naturally I loved it. So I knew I had to do something similar and neon.

I painted my base coat and 2 coats of Tip Top's Salsa Pop on all my fingers except my ring finger. On my ring finger I painted 3 coats of Walking on Sunshine, whoho... Yea kinda makes you wanna break out in song, doesn't it? I then stamped on my ring finger with Salsa Pop and Born Pretty's m76 stamping plate.

I added a stud to my index and ring finger. I got these studs from AliExpress, I also see now they are cheaper than what I paid for them, but I'm very happy with the purchase. I waited what felt like forever, but at least I finally have it. As you can see my stamping isn't quite there yet, but as with everything else, I need to practise. Like rolling from side to side and not from tip to cuticle. But as BF said, it looks like coral, so win!

I've actually gotten quite a few compliments for this, which is always awesome. People also ask me if I do my own nails and if it's my own nails. And I'm super chuffed to say yes to both.

As usual I'd love to hear from you guys, drop a comment or a mail.

And here's my Born Pretty Store banner again if you guys want to order any thing from them.

It's Halloween!!!

And I'm working... Again... On my off day... Seriously?! And my manager still called me to start earlier than what we discussed.

I warned her yesterday, nobody should complain about my manicure today, as I WILL be doing my nails and it will have a halloween theme, for the first time ever!

I started with Tip Top Toasted Nuts on all my nails, I think it's a perfect nude. I used Tip Top Red Rendezvous for the dripping on my ring finger. The decals I used is from Maskscara, they are Cape Town based and stock China Glaze (!) and Seche Vite (!!). I was like a little kid when I went to their store. Every one there was super friendly and helpful. Obviously I left with some things and these decals was one of those things.

For BOO I used a black I had laying around. I normally use Tip Top, but Black Forest is too sheer.
My mother came for a visit a couple of days ago and since she normally leaves these things in my hands (she doesn't know how she wants her nails), this is what I ended up doing.

I used Tip Top Orange You Fabulous and Black Forest. And some of the Maskscara decals.

Portrait of a Gold Mine

It's that time again to do a post. I really am trying very hard to post once a week, but circumstances doesn't always allow... Live happens, right?

Anyhoo, I am still waiting for my package from BPS, but it's due to the stupid postal strike and not due to them. I understand that they striking because they not getting paid or something along those lines, but it's so frustrating when you have to wait for all nail mail. Nail mail is exciting! But not when you have to wait.

Since I got Tip Top's Red-dy, Steady, Go I've been wanting to use it, but I never had any real idea what I wanted to do. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was in contact with somebody to give me some tips on water marbling. So I wanted to try that out again and I really wanted to use Cha Cha Cha and I thought gold would go nicely with these 2 colours. I also had these real nice decals I got from BPS here.

So this is what I settled for...

Clearly I need to back to the drawing board about the marbling. It's closer to what I had in mind, but not quite there yet.

I've gotten quite a bit of compliments on this, so awesome!! Some people like the frame, others like the girl. Either way, compliments just makes your day doesn't it? I'm a little sad that my index nail is so short, but at least I have some length on it.

I also, even with the postal strike, finally got my neon studs that I ordered at the beginning of August! Woohoo! But first I'm gonna do a halloween mani, before I do any studs.

Any ideas? And please share any mani's you sporting with me. I love to see what other people are doing.

Oh and always if you have any purchases you would like to make from BPS, here is my banner with code again.

Mattnifecent Navy

I just wanted to do something quick for this post, as I was pressed for time. If I had known I would end up with more time than what I expected, I might have done somthing different. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm waiting for some nail art goodies from BPS. New dotting tools, nail art brushes, decals, rhinestones, glitter, new stamping set, stamping plates and stamping plate holders, but due to this stupid postal strike everything is on hold. It's most annoying. I'm also still waiting for my prize of the Spring Bling Competition.

So my something quick for today... One coat of Tip Top In the Navy, white dots and a white feather decal from BPS. Top coated with Mattnifecent.

I had to change the colour a bit, otherwise my skin looks so washed out....

Either way you can see what a beautiful colour In the Navy is. And the feather adds something special to it. I just need to find a decent white polish. Michelle at Ordinary Misfit raves about Sinful Colours Snow me White, so I contacted Revlon to find out where I can get some, as the Clicks' stores close to me doesn't have any stock, and they where kind enough to send me one!! Something else to look forward to once this strike is over. Maybe I should strike?!

Breast Cancer Awareness and TT Competition

As you all know, it's October and it's breast cancer awareness month. And everywhere there has been some amazing nail art popping up to support this campaign. Michelle at Ordinary Misfit did this beauty as part of the #31DC2014. And I found some awesome ones here on FB. There's even a tutorial for a Pink minion! How cool is that?

Anyway, as usual, Tip Top Nails South Africa was running a nail art competition to support this campaign. The rules, use any colour pink and white and the pink ribbon needs to be on one of your nails. And you need a pretty picture to support your art.

I had such a lot of ideas, watermarble, dots, stripes and gradient. But I didn't want to do dots as I'm waiting for my dotting tool set from BPS. Which is taking forever, as we have a postal strike at the moment. Damn you, South African Post Office! Anyway, this is what I settled for.

I painted two coats of Melting Marshmallows, for my dots (yes, I know I said no dots) and ribbon I used Red-dy Steady Go. This is such a pretty colour! I've been looking for a nice rosy colour and this is it. For my gradient I used, Sexy Bikini and Pot O' Berries.

My gradient has improved... I can tell, trust me. I think my pinky came out quite nicely. My ribbons are a little wonky though, but it's all for a good cause after all. Oh and the heart.... It's my earring that I made myself. Yes, bragging a little.

I am also super proud of my mom and my colleagues, they all entered!



My mom's entry,



Margaret, my colleague,

And this is Danielle's work, also a colleague.



As I said, I'm super proud of them.

Oh and if you wanted to get something from BPS, you can use my code.

Lack of inspiration + stuff on my mind = No posts

I've been struggling to do some art lately, it's not that I don't have the inspiration, other than I'm waiting for some parcels to arrive, some nail art things from BPS and polish from Llarowe, I just don't feel like doing anything. I have been doing my nails, but nothing special, just some colour for the sake of having something.

Bf's mom moved to Australia just over 2 years ago. So he hasn't seen her for all this time and they are now finally coming for a visit. Recently my parents have started talking about what we will be doing for christmas, so I naturally mentioned that his mom will probably be here, meaning that we will probably spend the time with his mother. I mean, I see my parents all the time, we stay a 10 minute walk away from each other. And we have spent each and every single christmas together for the past 25 years.

Now, it seems that this is not good enough. I was told that I need to consider who has done more for us (being my parents or his) and where I want to spend the day, because if I choose to spend it with him and his mom, I shouldn't bother to buy my parents any gifts, as they won't accept it and it would be a waste of money. Now I find this to be very unfair.
I am expected to choose between my boyfriend of almost 8 years and my parents? This is why I wanted to leave the house in the first place. It's difficult and exhausting trying to keep two people happy.
My mother had previously confronted Bf and told him he is changing me into somebody that she does not know. Now I don't know how these things work, but isn't that what happens? People change or do they stay same? No matter what they go through or what happens in their lives, they stay the same?
While these things were being said to me, I kept quiet. I expect that if it had to happen some thime ago, I would have reacted differently, but I just thought to myself. Why have an outburst? What would be the point? It will just bring me great unhappiness and me probably walking out of my parents house. And what would have been the point of saying that they were also invited to spend the day? I don't think it would have changed a thing.

Growing up we didn't really make big deals out of holidays and birthdays. Or at least it didn't seem that way to me. You didn't always get a happy bday on your bday, nor a merry christmas or even a happy new year. But should I dare not to send a message, then its held against me.
I think I'm just gonna say that I will be spending the day by myself. I'll make myself a nice meal and not have to worry about pleasing anybody.
Like that's going to happen....
I actually find it difficult to have such conversations with my mother, as she is a very hard person. She has done and said some very hurtful things before, things I'd rather forget, but I haven't written her off. She is after all my mother and I was taught while growing up I should have respect for my elders.

Spring Bling

I'm having a love affair with Tip Top Nails South Africa's polishes. I don't have an acurate number, but I have over 50 bottles of polishes, a couple of cuticle oils and their amazing Miraculous Results. Thanks to the combination of MR and cuticle oil and wearing gloves when I do housework and being super careful at work with the crazy amount of filing, I have managed to grow and keep my nails at a lenght I love! My nails have never been the lenght it is now and I really love it. Whenever I talk about my nails I start grinning like an idiot, which I'm doing right now at my screen :D In actual fact my middle finger nail broke just before I did this mani, I knocked it a couple of times and eventually I think it had enough. I don't think the lenght lost is that noticable

Anyway they are again having a competition on their page. This one is a Spring Bling competition. So they looking for pastel colours, no art and lots of bling. Again I wasn't sure what I wanted to do,  I wanted to do another waterfall mani, but I didn't want to be predictable. I remembered seeing a mani, where there was a silver nail, with lots of glitter. And I wanted to try that, but what would the rest of my mani look like?

So I settled for this...

Here I used Tip Top Fairydust on all my fingers except my ring finger. There I did 2 coats of Armourplate with 2 coats of Snowcapped glitter over that. I then did 2 coats of Snowcapped glitter on my pinky, thumb and middle finger. I started more than halfway up my nail with the first coat and halfway into the first coat, I started the second. Hoping it would appear as a glitter gradient. On my index finger I placed a tear drop shaped gem. I looooove how this turned out. Its so sparkly and I keep catching glimpses of the glitter and then I have to admire my handiwork. In retrospect I should have maybe used Galaxy glitter, it has more of a holographic colour and would probably have shown better on the Armourplate, but again I really loved the way this turned out.

For some reason though I struggled my ass off to take a decent picture. In the previous pic I don't like the shadow behind my hand and you can see the wonky shape of my index finger very clearly. It actually seems that I ended up with polish on my cuticle, but that is not the case.

With this picture, its really not very clear. I'm actually very dissappointed with these pics. I've taken them over multiple times, but I'm just not happy with the outcome.

What do you think? What picture is your favourite? I submitted the last one.

P.S. I tied third place :) So yayness. Joan, the CEO of Tip Top, has given all of the entrants the option to email her and get the opinion of the judges. So naturally, I did just that. I wanted to know what they thought, regardless of the fact that I was a winner. So the response was:
"An excellent improvement. Lovely, pretty entry fitting the colours, spring and bling in. The towel in the picture does kind of ruin it but we thinks she did really well and listened to the advice she was given last time."
So I was like eeeeek, its not a towel, but a blanket and I use it or a red one to take my pictures on. The reason for this being that I had read somewhere that a cluttered background distracts from the actual art itself. Guess I won't be using those blankets again... But now to find a neutral background... Any suggestions?