#52weeknailchallenge: unicorn

I was looking forward to this prompt especially since I got a unicorn stamping plate from my Secret Santa last year. And then when I sat down to do my mani.... I completely forgot about the plate!

Let me show you what I did...

As you can see I used a lot of polishes, so let's get to explaining!! On my ring finger I have two coats of essence let's take an elfie. The unicorn (not unicorn) is from Harunouta L045 and stamped with Nicole Diary black. I coloured it in with China Glaze let your twilight sparkle.

On the rest of my nails I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white. I then randomly sponged on:

Blue - tip top blueberry pie

Green - tip top it's lime time

Orange - tip top peach soda

Purple - tip top broken soul

Yellow - essence love is in the air

Once that was dry I added a coat of tip top galaxy for some extra sparkle.

What do you think? I think it's sparkly enough... And enough colours were used. I think.

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: unused plate

Yay for my second monochrome mani... And yes I know, this one has colour too!! This was inspired by @cassis_p. I've always been super inspired by her and I've wanted to do this one for ages. When I shared my inspiration with the group of nail polish enthusiasts I'm part of, they suggested I add some colour... So let me show you what I did. I will be showing you two different finishes, I was pressed for time and wasn't too sure if I would be able to finish in time doing the on with the striping tape...

I started with two coats of Ulta3 black satin on my thumb and pinky, the rest has two coats of Hean City Fashion white.

Here I used a piece of make up sponge and randomly dabbed on some black satin. I then stamped the bamboo image from Lina Summer 2 with Mundo de Unas green. And in case you were wondering, summer 2 was my unused plate.

On Cindy I actually taped off vertical lines and then sponged on black satin removing the tape as I was finished. And then stamped the bamboo image.

I do have a side by side comparison for you, okay not so much side by side, but close enough.

The difference is not super obvious, but it is there.... My colleague noticed it immediately! So for you zoomers out there, zoom!!

I love how this turned out. I'm glad I added the green to it. What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: TV show/movie

I'm kinda glad this prompt didn't get kicked from last years challenge. I have the Studio Ghibli inspired stamping plates from HeHe and I'm trying to use them all. Even though it will take me some time. I decided on using HeHe 64 which is inspired by The Wind Rises.

It's about a Japanese engineer who designed their fighter aircraft's in WWII. During a great earthquake in 1923 he meets this girl on a train with her maid. The maid broke her leg and the engineer carried her all the way to their house and left without leaving his name. Then years later the engineer and the girl meet again, falls in love and get's engaged.. But she has TB and won't marry him until she's better. Not wanting to spoil anything if you want to watch the movie, but it's the 1900's and TB was called consumption for a reason.

Courtesy of Wiki

So looking at the posters for the movie I decided on my colours. I started with two coats of Tip Top beach babe on all my nails. I then used a piece of sponge and sponged on TT we have an agreen mint at the tips of my index, middle and ring finger. I also sponged on Hean City Fashion white to resemble some clouds.

On my middle finger I stamped the girl with Nicole Diary black stamping polish. As you can see her arm is outstretched as in the poster. On my ring finger I stamped the plane that was designed by the engineer. And on my index finger I double stamped the dandelion seeds with ND black and white stamping polishes.

What do you think? Mark says he recognized it instantly, but I did talk to him about it before, so maybe that's why... I really would recommend this movie, but be aware it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I on the other hand liked how this turned out... And so did everyone else and for once I had a story to tell when talking about my nails. For once it wasn't how did you do it, but tell me about the inspiration.

As always thanks for stopping by!!

Friday Triad: Inspired by JauntyJuli

It's that time again!! Each month Michelle, Joyce and myself pick a manicure and we try and recreate it or get inspired by it... So this month it was Michelle's turn and she chose this mani done by JauntyJuli. There is also a Youtube video that you can find here. I must be honest, I love these posts. There are times that I have no clue what to do with my nails and these posts offer inspiration, even if it's only for one mani.

I played around with a couple of grays and even black to see which would go best with the polish I would be sponging on. And even that added more polishes to the table... You know what sponged polish would go best with what base. And some people think nail art is easy... (pffft) I finally settled on Essence rock my world!, two coats for opacity.

I then sponged BarryM mediterranean at cuticle end on my index and ring finger and at the tip on my middle finger. Once that was dry, I stamped a mandala image from BP-L014 with a gold stampy polish from BPS.

I loved this mani! I wish I could capture the shift of mediterranean properly, but I have no photography skills. None. Whatsoever.

What do you think? Do head over to Michelle and Joyce's little universes and see what they did.

Thanks for reading!

#52weekchallenge: stars

I know, I know. This prompt was meant for last week, but I was feeling terrible and couldn't muster the energy to do the post. I'm kinda sick and tired of feeling sick and tired!

I was inspired by this mani done by Thea over at Madness Nails. I started with two coats of L.A Girl brilliant blue (which is supposed to be holo, but it is a very sad holo) on all my nails. Top coated and waited for that to dry.

I then used starry night vinyls from becauseishop. Arranged it randomly on my nail and used a piece of a torn up sponge and sponged on Sinful Colors snow me white.

I tried for a distressed look and I'm not quite sure if it comes across that way.

What do you think? That's stars and later this week I will post yellow, now that was a fun prompt (not).

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Triad: Inspired by...

We finally decided on a post name!! So here is the first Friday Triad of the year! It was my turn to choose, so I chose this mani done by Thea over at Madness Nails! I really hope she'll find it in herself to start blogging again one day, because I looooooove her posts. They so funny and quirky and keeps making you go back for more. I wish I had her way with words.

Anyway, so of course I started with one coat of Sinful Colors snow me white on all my nails. Then While that was drying I went one on one with a makeup sponge and tore it to pieces. Aaaand then nothing, since I had to chose the colours I was going to use and I was drawing a blank... Guess that's the downside of owning such a lot of polishes. Too spoilt for choice. BF wasn't much help as I asked him, but eventually I settled on the 5 polishes I would use.

Essence - love is in the air - yellow
Essence - beijos de brazil - green
Orly - 2hr lunch - pink
Color Club - ms socialite - purple
Sinful Colors - rise and shine - teal
Topped with Parental Advisory Polish - happy ending.

I did one colour at a time and sponged it on my nail using the pieces of sponge. Once all of that was kinda dry I used some dotting tools and snow me white to make the dots and top coated.

I wish I could have taken a better picture that shows off the flakiness of happy ending. Even with the flash it doesn't do it any justice.

What do you think? There was quite a few inspirations using this look. I was a bit meh about it, but it quickly grew on me especially with all the compliments I got!! Although it's a little awkward trying to explain to someone how to do it and people requesting to take pictures of it!!


Thanks for reading guys and I look forward to Joyce's choice for next month. Nevermind seeing what they came up with for this!

Cherry Blossom Store: Flower pattern stencil review

A couple of weeks ago Weheartnailart shared Cherry Blossom Store's profile on their Instagram account and since I loved their vinyls I decided to trust their judgement and went on over to Cherry Blossom's page. There they asked if people wanted to review their products. So I jumped at the opportunity as I have never really done a proper review and really wanted give it a try. So I mailed them and Bianca got back to me, asking me to have a look at the store and letting her know what I like.

I had to blow up the pic a bit so you can see the details.

So first, a little about them. The store has only been around for a couple of months, it started with the lack of all things nail art related in SA. They vinyls are made by Bianca herself, she and her friends test it out, the stamping plates and other nail art stuffs are from trade companies. Bianca is also looking into importing Born Pretty and Moyou products in the future. Good luck to that!! She is also open to making custom vinyls. Shipping is free over R350, otherwise it will be R55-R65 via overnight courier. You can find them at the links below.

Instagram
Store

Anyway, enough yapping, Bianca sent me a couple of goodies, which I didn't take a pic off (chop). The vinyls come in a plastic baggie with a tag that explains all things vinyls. First up is the Flower pattern stencil. I love this design, when I first saw it I immediately thought of stained glass. I started with two coats of I love Hean black on all my nails. Top coated and waited for it to dry. Once that was dry I started peeling the vinyl off the backing and oh my gosh, what a mission. I tried multiple sides, angles, but in the end I just sat picking out the little inside things.

It does say to try peeling from a different side if you having trouble, which I did. Some sides were better than others.

I then used Hean 281, 276 and 278 all from the Jungle Pop collection and tried for a radial gradient. Which didn't come out quite the way I wanted, but looks good nonetheless. The other problem that I had was that the vinyls kept lifting while I was sponging the gradient on. It's not quite obvious in these pics, but if you look at the tips you'll see where the colour bled under the vinyl. I eventually folded the vinyl under the tip of my nail to prevent it, which helped a bit. I feel that I should mention that I didn't touch the sticky part of the vinyl, tweezers were my friend.

So all in all, I really like this vinyl. People saw what I was trying to do with it, but the question is would I recommend it? To be honest, not really. It's time consuming having to pick out the insides of the vinyl and having it lift while sponging on a polish is very frustrating. And for me this is sad, as I really liked this design!!

What do you think of it? I do have more things coming your way. Hopefully it will fare a little better. I really hope it does. If you are interested in these vinyls you can find them here, they are going for R25 for 16 stencils.

Here you can sorta see the difference in the amount of thingies left behind, the result of peeling from different angles.

Thanks for stopping by and reading this long story!

#PPSAnailchallenge: Dark & Vampy

I can't believe how this month has flown by. I mean this is the second last prompt for the PPSA nail challenge.

This post was originally supposed to be my mani for the Red prompt, but I decided to use it for this prompt. I mean it seems more dark than red...

I started with two coats of Tip Top Cherries in the Snow.

 Once that was dry I started a gradient using Cherries in the Snow and SC Black on Black.

I alternated the gradient on my ring finger and stamped with Black on Black and using plate BP-L003, the second image on the top row.

I had another mani in mind for this prompt, but this one will do. I wish the gradient on my thumb blended a bit more. Anyway, what do you think?

Don't forget to have a look at the other ladies' work.

An InLinkz Link-up

#PPSAnailchallenge: Your favourite Villain

I am so happy it's almost weekend, you won't believe. I've had the crappiest week and I can't wait for it to end!

This prompt is the one I was dreading the most. I mean whoever thought of this one should actually just have their picture up. Because, You Are EVIL.

This one had me stumped. BF was even trying to be helpful and pointed at his rather annoyingly big PS3 and PS4 game collection and was like "Pick one and draw it." And I'm like, Dude, I CAN'T DRAW TO SAVE MY LIFE. So not helping.

I eventually did pick something, but it might require some explaining. Glitter.

I mean we all LOVE glitter. It's so pretty and shiny and oooooh. But man, what a SOB to take off. Even with the foil method there's always some piece that is securely stuck on and won't budge

So I'm pretty sure we shy away from wearing glitter, because I do. Therefor glitter is my favourite villain.

I had to sponge the glitter on as it wasn't very dense. From thumb to pinky, I sponged on Pot of Gold, Disco Fever, Over the Rainbow, New Years Eve and Luck of the Irish from Ulta3. This was from the advent calender BF's mom got me for Christmas last year.

Such a lot of people commented on this. It was actually quite strange.

So does my interpretation of my favourite villain makes sense? I hope it does. Maybe the other ladies' work will make more sense, so don't forget to have a look.

An InLinkz Link-up

#PPSAnailchallenge: Purple & twinsie post with Michelle

It's Twinsie post day!! And purple for the PPSA nail challenge. Michelle and I decided to double up today, because I wasn't too sure if I'd be able to manage a post for the challenge and for twinsies.

Michelle did a comparison earlier this year between Tip Top Fairy Dust, Broken Soul, Surfer Girl and Lady Lilla. And the first three made a perfect gradient. So, since then I've been dying to do a proper gradient with these three polishes.

I started with two coats of Fairy Dust and while I was waiting for that to dry, I painted Simply Peel around my nails for easy cleanup after. Look at the pretty glitter!!

Once everything was dry, I started with my gradient. On my ring finger I did it the other way round, with Surfer Girl at the edge of my nail. It's not super obvious in the pictures, but it leaves such a pretty shimmer.

Once my gradient was dry, I stamped with Tip Top Purple Reign using plate BP-L003 on all my fingers except my ring finger.

What do you think of my gradient? Can't wait to see Michelle's work. And since it's part of the challenge don't forget to check out the rest of the purple mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

I love Hean Collection: Black

Whoooo more Hean polishes!! This is one of the polishes that Gael from Glamore Cosmetics chose for me when I couldn't make up my mind. For some reason this one doesn't have a number like the others from the collection, it just says 10t. But it's clearly black, so I'll just go with Black :)

I started with two coats. Super shiny, as we have come to expect from this range.

I have a few Hean polishes already, they all dry with an awesome shine and in no time at all. They easy to work with and the only problem I have.... I want a bigger bottle!! Bigger bottle means more polish and I mean who doesn't want more polish?

The first (and last) time I browsed Pintrest, I saw this half moon glitter art that I loved, knew I wanted to try it some time, tried to "pin" it and gave up. So I can't tell you who did it or really where it came from. After Black was dry, I taped on some french manicure guides, but vertically across my nail. Then I sponged on some glitter!

The glitter I used is from the Ulta3 polishes BF's mom gave to me at Christmas. In order from my thumb to pinky is, Pot of Gold, Disco Fever, Over the Rainbow, New Years Eve and Luck of the Irish. I then top coated with Seche.

Once that was dry, I freehanded with OPI matte top coat and left the glitter shiny and the black matte.

I feel that the glitter should have had more of an arch and that I shouldn't have gotten blue glitter where it wasn't supposed to go, but other than that... It's not too bad. What do you think?