#52weeknailchallenge: houndstooth

I can't wait for this year to come to an end. I need a break. From everything, but then, thinking of next year and I get butterflies! Next year I get to say "I do".

With this prompt I browsed Pinterest for a bit and then combined some of the looks. Let me show you what I did.

I started with three coats of Hean City Fashion 163 on my thumb and pinky. On my index and middle finger I have two coats of I love Hean 401. On my ring finger I have two coats of China Glaze meet me in the mirage.

I then stamped the houndstooth design from BP-L006 with Nicole Diary black.

I love how this turned out. Meet me in the mirage is a new favourite.

What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday Triad: Inspired by @thenailartbabe

It's that time of the month again... Each month one of us chooses a mani as inspiration and we go to town with it. This month it was my turn to choose the inspo. So I chose this mani by @thenailartbabe, I originally had something else in mind, but it was similar to another design we did recently.

Let me show you what I did. I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white, not bothering about opacity. I then did a gradient with China Glaze for Audrey at my cuticle, Hean I love Hean 401 and China Glaze emerald bae.

I then top coated as I was going to use vinyls.

I then placed the vinyls on my nails and painted a coat of Pahlish Salazar on my tips, removing the vinyls immediately. Sadly the store I got these vinyls from is no longer available. So I'm using them rather sparingly.

I am super happy with how this turned out. I got a butt load of compliments and that's always fun. What do you think? Don't forget to check out what Joyce and Michelle did... I'm suspecting someone used pink or purple.

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: gold & brown

So the Fiance and I are finally looking for wedding venues... And I'm slightly shocked at how expensive things are. I mean, I knew it was going to be expensive, but some of these place are just crazy!

Anyway, on to today's prompt. It's super easy and not much to tell. I started with two coats of Hean City Fashion 167.

I then added some decals I got in the travelling box.

And that's it!

What do you think?

Thanks for reading.

#52weeknailchallenge: country

I didn't have any set ideas when I started with this mani, because I didn't know what country to do, or do I just do 'country side', which is not quite the same. So I settled for a little of both. Let me show you what I did.

I started with a coat of essence shade of happiness, not worrying about opacity as I was going to do a gradient over. For that I used shade of happiness and Tip Top cherries in the snow.

I then stamped an image from BP-16 with Nicole Diary black.

On my thumb I have a zebra that is also from BP-16 and coloured in with Hean City Fashion white.

When I showed the Fiancé, he told me it's boring as I chose my own country... Which I obviously disagree, it might have been slightly predictable, but there is nowhere else in the world that people believe we have lions roaming the streets. Now wouldn't that be awesome. What do you think?

 Thanks for stopping by!

#52weeknailchallenge: stripes

I'm going to start by saying this was a bit of a fail and I should have used last week's prompt for this one instead... That being said let me show you what I did and you can judge.

I started with two of Hean City Fashion 200 on my thumb, index and middle finger, on my ring finger and pinky I have two coats of OPI DS pewter. Did I mention before how much I like this polish??

I then used Mundo de Unas forest to pick up an image from Moyou trend hunter 2. I then dabbed on some Essence I (heart) my golden pumps on the leaves only and left it to dry. In the meanwhile I stamped the checkered design with forest from QA95, a stamping plate I got from BPS.

Once the image on my stamper was dry and I wanted to place it on my nail, only part of the design transfered.... It was too dry! The leaves also had a checkered background. So lesson learned. Coat the nail or whole design with another coat of polish to make it tacky.

I feel this is a design I might try again... I kinda like the spot of glitter showing trough the leaves. What do you think? Complete fail or just a little one?

Thanks for stopping by.

#52weeknailchallenge: orange & black

I'm a little late with posting this, but here you go. I went looking for inspiration on Pintrest for this prompt and the most popular was Tigger nails. So I knew I wanted to use my tigress vinyls from becauseishop.co.za. I also wanted my base to look a little different. So let me show you what I did.

I started with two coats of OPI DS pewter on my ring finger and pinky. On my thumb is two coats of Ulta3 black satin. On my index and middle finger I have a coat of Hean City Fashion 178. I didn't worry about opacity as I was going to do a gradient over it.

I used CF 178 and OPI atomic orange for the gradient. I was trying to do it so that after the vinyls have been applied, you'll see the different oranges in different spots. I placed my vinyls on my miracle mat and used Ulta3 black satin to colour it in. I didn't want to place the vinyl directly on my nail in case of bleeding.

I'm also a super cheapskate as I reused the same vinyl for all my nails.... So that's 4 uses from one vinyl. Quite cost effective.

I really liked how this turned out, the orange wasn't quite where I wanted it to be, but you can still see the darker patches.

What do you think? In hindsight I should have used this for the stripes prompt... Especially since that one didn't quite work the way it was supposed to. But that you will see next week.

Until then, thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: gradient

I wanted to try a different set of colours than the ones I would normally reach for when doing a gradient. So my solution was to ask the Fiance what colours he would choose. And so he chose blue, orange and red. Then started the task of showing him multiple shades of each colour and him choosing. And we finally settled on the right shades. Then the question was in which order, but by then I had started to annoy him and he was no longer interested.... Men!

I then turned to my faithfull polish loving Polished Pretties group, hoping someone will be available to help. And they did not disappoint. But I'm dragging this story out way too long for a rather unimpressive gradient. Let me show you.

I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white. I then sponged on the gradient with City Fashion 169, 178 and 189.

And that's it. I didn't do anything fancy, just a plain ol' gradient.

I won't even mention the flaws I see, I'm hoping you don't.

What do you think? I kinda like it, and definitely not the normal colours I would choose.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

#52weeknailchallenge: white & silver

I was at a loss as to what to do for this prompt, especially since silver is so close to white. So I went onto Pinterest hoping for some inspiration. And I saw loads of marbles. So I decided to do a smoosh.

I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white, not worrying about opacity.

I then smooshed with CF white and Rimmel Rock the metal.

I really liked how this turned out. It looked especially pretty when the light would fall on the silver in between the white.

Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

#52weeknailchallnge: Easter

This post is a little late. The week before and after Easter has been so busy at work that I did not have the energy to sit down and do a post.

Let me show you what I did even if it is a little late. I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white. I then did a gradient with Essence love is in the air, LOL, Tip Top blueberry pie, fairy dust and melting marshmallows.

I then stamped images from BP 60 with Nicole Diary NS05 on my index, middle and ring finger.

I kinda like how this turned out with the gradient and the stamping over it. It just all goes. What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: blue and black

This prompt had me slightly stumped, since blue and black is not generally colours that you see together often. So after doing some thinking, matching blues and looking at decals, I finally came up with this.

I started with two coats of Ulta3 black satin on my thumb, index finger and pinky. On my middle finger I have two coats of Hean City Fashion 168. I was slightly concerned that 168 isn't "blue" enough, but it's a shade of blue so it totally counts!

I added a coat of Sinful Colors green ocean, because it looks stunning over black! And to give CF 168 a little sparkle.

I then added a minimalistic decals and done. Easy peasy.

What do you think? I love how green ocean looks. I really need to use it more often.

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: watermarble

Watermarble... One of the most hated nail art techniques, unless you're a witch or a Russian or both. I was browsing through my saved for later manicure inspirations and I came across an old favourite Instagrammer @ohmygoshpolish

I was totally inspired by this mani and I thought how difficult could it be. I mean it's only black and neon polishes.... Ha if only I knew. I tried combinations of different blacks, different neon polishes, some spread, some didn't, some were assholes. BUT! I finally came across a combo that worked! It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it worked and I was going to use it.

I started with a coat of CF white, which I've had to add thinners to so many times, on all my nails. I then got my cup with water and polishes ready.

I used Toy negro, apple smoothie and essence kiss the freaky frog. I was super excited about this!! I've almost never had a polish spread so nicely.

What do you think? I didn't even attempt to do a pattern, but I love how it came out!

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: pink & gold

Sooo this post is a little late again!. I will get to a point where my posts will be one time! Just not today...

I decided on a gradient for this prompt. I started with two coats of Hean City Fashion 150 on my thumb and index finger. On my pinky I have two coats of Hean Sugar 852. For the gradient on my middle and ring finger I used City Fashion 177, 150 and Tip Top gold mine.

I wanted to use CF 150 as it has this pretty gold sparkle, which you cannot see after top coat! You can only see it in bottle and before top coat.

What do you think? I kinda like how this turned out. The only thing that bothered me is the weird shrinkage I got at the tips with gold mine. But I suspect it's because it's a foil and doesn't want to gradient.

Thanks for reading!