3D Baby Pikachu & Gameboy Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I really hope your week is going well so far. I'm back to work today after being off since Saturday – its been lovely to spend some time with my family and of course catch up on some painting! I've been setting myself some targets and I've accomplished them all!

Todays nail art makes me cringe. Not just a little shudder but a whole inside outwards cringe because... You'll see. I wanted to do something again with 3D. What I produced.. I can't even.

I had the idea of using fimo again and that it wouldn't be too hard to make both a square and a circle and paint them up to look like a gameboy and a pokeball. I added into the mix a baby pikachu having a fun time.

Nope. Just nope. Yet I'm still posting it... *dies on the inside*

Freehand Cat & Fish Valentine's Day Nails

Allo polish Pals!

I hope you are having a great week so far, Happy Valentine's day to you. I've got my final Valentine's day manicure today and I have stepped up the level of love on my nails. So far you've seen my anti-valentines manicure..well.. brace yourself for some cute, please!

Love comes in all shapes and sizes, big or small, tall or short..scaled or furry. Love is not limited to the confines of a fish bowl and love is blind to fishy flavoured kitty snacks... these two are complete opposites but don't they say opposites attract?

Freehand Colourful Hearts

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? Welcome to another weekend, I hope you will have an awesome one!

Today I am chilling after three heavy shifts at work, I don't think I'll get up to too much, perhaps some painting and plenty of family time. I'm mostly done with my Christmas shopping now – thank goodness. I am not one to leave everything to last minute. Are you feeling prepared? Its going to be super weird this year going to work on Boxing Day (second Christmas day depending on where you are from and what you call it.)

A lot of people seem startled that I have not posted anything festive yet but don't worry, its coming!

Today's nail art is again another one I created whilst in Holland (there can't be many left now) What I want to say in advance is... Look how round and stubby my nails look here! Baha. Yay for shaping them out a little better now.

Freehand Halloween Nail Art - Who Not To Invite Inside!

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you had a fun weekend?

On Saturday afternoon I helped my niece and nephew with pumpkin carving, considering I have never done it before I think I did pretty good, no knife injuries! My sister helped my nephew carve a creepy face and my niece and I made a pretty cool looking cat but I think they had more fun playing with the pumpkin flesh. We also realised after we had made them that my sister had no candles..

Anyway, today I have my last Halloween manicure to share with you. Ever since I created the 'sinister sisters' nail art I've wanted to out do it and create something better. I gave it a go but I'll let you guys be the judges.

Diamonds & Lesser Pretty Rocks - Freehand Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are ya doing on this wonderful Wednesday? I hope your week is going well.
I've been so busy this week already, I've done so much cleaning around the house and organising of..well.. all sorts of things!

I'm back with another design for the weekly challenge over on Tiny Canvas (Come join us, its such a lovely, friendly and fun community – the challenges are not mandatory ;) Our current theme is 'crystals, minerals and fine rocks'.

Well.. here's my rock collection!

I decided to combine some boring garden stones with some sparkling diamonds for this nail art. I sort of thought the contrast would be quite fun and stand out nicely on a black background. I some what regret my base choice because if I had done another colour I could have added shadows but its still fun none the less and man.. I was not going to try painting those diamonds again!

I began this manicure with my OPI Nail Envy base coat and once dry applied three coats of my Catrice Noir black nail polish. I again let this dry and applied a slick coat of my Pro-FX top coat which is a nice barrier to paint on top of. I used my acrylic paints and brushes to freehand the diamonds and rocks and sealed with another layer of top coat. I finally added my Barry M matte top coat which suited this manicure puuufectly!

Which stone do you like best here?! The rough, dull brown ones or the shimmery, glinting, glistening blue ones?!

Have you ever created any type of nail art based on rocks or marbling? What do you think of this design?

Have a lovely day my precious naily friends! Thank you so much for visiting. I'll be back on Saturday for some more nail art fun. Here's a shhhhneak peak!

Love,

Ithi

Irregular Colourful Crystal Rhinestone Nail Art Decorations - Born Pretty Store Review

 

*This post contains an item(s) that was provided for reviewing purposes however I will as always give my full, honest and completely unbiased opinion.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you had a fantastic end to your week. Do you have anything awesome planned this weekend?

I'm looking forward to spending more time with my Niece and Nephew – They have loved having me home! I'm still having to tell my Niece I'll be there for her birthday and I'll be there for Christmas and that I'm not going anywhere. Too cute!

Today I am showing you an interesting item from the Born Pretty Store – I wasn't too sure what to expect when I picked this to review but I am just in love with this stuff! This is 'Irregular Colourful Crystal Rhinestone Nail Art Decorations'– or I'll put it more simply... brightly coloured shell-like bits!

Just a warning.. I took this picture before sorting out my new light set up so please excuse the quality!

These beautiful bright pieces come in black pot with a clear lid and contain approximately 2g. On the website there are two colour options, the colourful (This one) or a clear version which happens to look a lot like opals I think. The pieces in this pot range from all different colours, there are pink, red, blue, yellow, green..and more. It is a good mix and fairly distributed through the spectrum for an even mix of colours.

How? I wore these by gently dropping them on top of my wet top coat. I love how these look. I feel like they give a really cute beachy look, these would look great with a beach style manicure (why am I only thinking of this now?!) Once they were on the nail I pressed them ever so gently, just to tease any sticky-up ones into laying flatter. The lines were simply swipes of acrylic paint.

Overall I really love these and I think I'll be dipping back into the pot again in no time. I like the mixture of colours and how they stay rather nicely on the nail – I would say though.. if you are expecting a long wear time on these I'd suggest finding a sturdier way to attach them then just top coat.

What do you think of the colourful shell-like pieces? Do you love or hate wearing 3D nail art pieces?

Have a super weekend guys, thank you so much for stopping by! I'll catch you again on Monday for some more nail art fun!

Love,

Ithi

Freehand 'French-Doodle' Doodle Tipped Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all do'odling today? (That'll make sense if you continue reading this post!)

I hope you are all having great mid-week feelings, there's so much to smile about!

Today's manicure comes straight from my brain and onto my nails! I didn't know if this idea existed so I wanted to give it a go. I'm calling it... ”The French-Doodle”.. or the Froodle??!

What is it, I hear you asking. Well its a typical looking French manicure transformed by the whimsical and artistic touch of doodles! Tada! Hashtag #TRENDING - Probably not but isn't it an unusual design?

For this manicure I used only my OPI Nail Envy base coat, Catrice's 'Karl Says Tres Chic' pink nail polish and my acrylic paints. This one was so fun to do, I didn't have any plans for the doodle part of the design. In hindsight I wish I had added a whole arrange of items into the doodles but hey... I can do that another time!

What do you think of the 'French-Doodle'? Have you seen doodle tips before, does this already have a name?

Have a beautiful day my friends, thank you SO much for visiting. I'll catch you again on Saturday!

Love,

Ithi

'Bling It!' Glitter Gel Nail Art With A Freehand Sapphire Heart.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you had an amazing weekend?

I didn't really get up to much, just taking care of errands and organizing things. Just a typical quiet weekend, really. How about you?

Today's nail art leaves me a little unsure.. I will just let you guys be the judges.

This weeks theme prompt for the weekly challenge over on Tiny Canvas is 'Bling it!' nails. I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to tackle this one as I've done full studded accent nails before and wanted something slightly different.. so I opted gel polish with the intention of getting a very glitzy, built up glitter look.

I'm really sorry to those of you who don't like gel nail art - Maybe we can just pretend there is no gel?! :')

I created this manicure by applying one coat of NYC's peel off base coat and once dry applied two coats of Catrice's 'Johnny Deep' from the new IconNails range. I again allowed this to dry and followed on with a thin coat of BlueSky's gel top coat; This was the sticky type of top coat.

I cured my nails under my UV lamp for a few seconds and used the tacky layer for adhering my glitter and sequins which was literally a mixture of different types of glitter, iridescent shards and sequins I mixed together. I applied my Born Pretty Store gel top coat (the no wipe, non sticky kind) and cured again. Voilà!

Obviously I didn't need the peel off base for the freehand heart nail so I regular polishes here and used acrylic paints to paint it. On top I sealed it in with my Pro-FX top coat.

What do you guys think of my blingy tips? Have you tried blinging nail art before?

Have a beautiful day my friends, thank you so much for visiting, I'll catch you again on Wednesday, Here's a sneak peak of what's coming up!

Love,

Ithi

Galaxy Laser Holo Flakes Glitter Powder Paillette - BornPrettyStore Review

*This post contains an item(s) that was provided for reviewing purposes however I will as always give my full, honest and unbiased opinion.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are having a great weekend so far. I don't know about you but the weather here is just beeeaaautiful!

I had the most lovely surprise yesterday when a dear friend and fellow blogger surprised me with a package containing healthy but delicious cookies, they were SO good!!! 

I also made a total loss of 10kg, or 1.5 st since that doctors appointment back in mid April. I'm actually pretty pleased with myself as its all been through healthy ways.

Anyway... Today I am showing you some more of those spectacular flakes from the BornPretty Store, these are 'Galaxy Laser Holo Flakes Glitter Powder Paillette' – but ya know what makes these special?...

These are H O L O! Hello, now you are awake. :)

Freehand Sesame Street's Count Von Count - Vampire Dracula

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you've got something lovely to look forward to this weekend?

I think I'm going to get some time outside in the fresh air, weather permitting! Its been so hit and miss with the weather this week. Hurry up, summer!

Today's nail art is one that comes with fond memories. I don't know about you but maths wasn't my best subject in score... I have always been hopeless with numbers – once, many moons ago when I was in school I got pulled aside as I had all my answers completely backwards. If the answer was 81 I'd written 18! The teacher thought I may have Dyscalculia which is the mathematical version of dyslexia.

Anyway.. There was one time in my life where maths could bring me joy. THANK YOU Sesame Street for making maths and numbers less scary and of course all the lovely, squishy, cuddly friends you introduced me to!

When I found out this weeks challenge over on Tiny Canvas had the theme Dracula I knew I had to pay homage for my first ever maths teacher Count Von Count! Also, the reason for this weeks theme is because Dracula day falls on the 26^th of May – Yeah.. I'm a bit early but hey :)

I'm a bit 'eeeeh' with my Count, I really wanted him to be spot on and I can see things that are just 'not right' that don't make him look identical.. but I tried.

For this manicure I used a polish besides white, BAHAHA. Can you believe it? I swear, no lies!

I used my usual OPI Nail Envy base coat and once dry applied two coats of Catrice's 'Must-Have STEELetto' – a perfect and silvery lilac. I thought this would be a great contrast against other purples. I attempted to create a swirly gradient and of course painted Count Von Count himself.

I finished it all off with my PRO-FX top coat and eventually my matte top coat.

What do you guys think of my Count Von Count? Who was your fave Sesame Street friend?

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends! Thank you so much for visiting :) I'll catch you again on Monday!

Love,

Ithi

Gold Chrome Powder & Soak Off Gel Top Coat Born Pretty Store Review

*This post contains an item(s) that was sent for reviewing purposes however I will as always give my full, honest and unbiased opinion.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you had an amazing weekend, did you do anything special?

I basically just carried on as I have been! Walking outside a lot and working out hard. I've actually really been enjoying my exercise.

Today I am excited to get some nice fresh vegetables to test out my new steamer! - That makes me feel really old and a little sad, haha. Take happiness where you can, my friends!

Today I have another item from the Born Pretty Store to share with you, this is “2Pcs/setShinning Mirror Nail Glitter Powder & 5ml Top Coat Nail ArtChrome Pigment Glitters” and I'll be showing you the gold powder...Baaaling bling!

Freehand 'Chillax' Floral & Butterfly Nail Art On Mirror Chrome

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you had a fantastic week and have lots of great things to look forward to this weekend? I've had so much time to catch up with my Niece, Nephew and my other family members. Today I am going to a big play park with them that looks like a pirate ship!

Today's nail art contains mirror chrome powder, thanks to a very dear and talented friend who sent it for me to try out! This is some what of a miracle because I just could not get it right. Then I discovered I was not supposed to use the sort of gel top coat that needs to be wiped – which is all I had. Due to using the wrong top coat I didn't achieve the full mirror effect.

I still don't have the proper top coat but somehow these came out 'ok-ish' which... with the wrong products.. how!? But OK, It'll do for now!

So I began this manicure by applying my OPI Nail Envy Base and once dry used my Catrice Black Noir Creme polish. I then applied the chrome powder and cured it under my gel lamp for around 30 seconds.

I then removed the tacky layer and created my freehand on top using my acrylic paints – while my mirror isn't perfect I do love how much of an interesting base it created for nail art! I don't think this is one of the best manicure's I've ever created but it was fun to try something new. Once I get the top coat I need I'll be trying it again!

What do you think of this mirror/freehand combination? Have you tried chrome powders yet?

Have a beautiful weekend, my friends. Thank you for visiting, I'll catch you again on Monday.

Love

Ithi

Pink Paisley Nail Art & 3D Double Nail Decorations

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope your week is full of wonderful things so far!

I'm sick again! As your reading this I am either scooting along on my bicycle to go cleaning or I am wrapped up in bed too worse for wear.

Today I have a manicure that was almost saved for Valentine's Day however it just so happens the theme prompt for the weekly Tiny Canvas challenge was paisley nail art so.. err... how convenient for me!

These nails were actually created in December (hence the length) and I kept holding them back as I wasn't sure if I liked them enough to post... But I guess the heart and diamond stud look sort of.. interesting so I'll see what you guys think!

Tip 'O The Day!  For my paisley print I used some old water decals I had left over from a previous manicure. I always keep my decal and sticker scraps because sometimes, even if its not a full set you can reuse a single decal for an accent nail that finishes a manicure off perfectly! Waste not, want not. 

For my base for the water decals I used Mezmris Nail Lacquer's 'Armor Up' base coat and followed through with Barry M's 'White' in two thin coats. I then used Mezmris Nail Lacqer's top coat, 'Armor' to seal everything in.  

For my accent nail I used two different types of studs/3Dembellishments on top of Catrice's 'Call Me Princess' from the Crushed Crystal's collection. The Heart can be found here, [my review] and the Diamond studs can be found here [my review]

Its not the typical type of manicure I enjoy but I think it has something to it, the heart and diamond combination make me think of engagements! No idea why! Studs like these I can't resist picking off soon after pictures, but I keep them and reuse them for special occasions!

What do you guys think of this girly pink manicure? How long does it take before you start picking your nail studs off?!

Have a fantastic day, my friends. Thank you for stopping by. I'll catch you again on Saturday for some more nail fun!

Love

Ithi

Freehand Icy Snowflake Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

I hope you are having a great week so far, have you been upto anything fun?
I've been catching up with family I hadn't seen yet and tomorrow I'll be off into town for a spot of lunch and browsing the shops with my mum, nice!

Today I have some meh, bleh. Urgh nail art to share with you. This is the madatory snowflake icy looking nail art I feel obligated to do.. I'm trying my best not to be a grinch about the cold but its soooooo hard. At least I was nice and warm while I painted this.

Also.. I remembered that I did snowflakes before for a 'snow queen' manicure.. its from 2012!! Id you'd like a laugh, or to see the difference between then and now you can see it here!

I created this manicure while I was still in Holland so you'll see me struggling with the 'Generation whYte' again.

For this manicure I began with my usual base coat of Mezmris Nail Lacquer, 'Armor Up'. Once dry I applied two thin (If you can call them thin..) coats of Catrice's 'Generation whYte'. Again, I allowed this to dry and added a coat of my Pro-FX top coat to create a nice smooth barrier. I then created my gradient using my shoddy bamboo brush and acrylic paints. I love doing my gradients this way even if it takes more time! I freehanded everything else using my beloved Pure Color brush in size 9. I've been using this one for everything lately! I sealed it all in with Mezmris Nail Lacquers top coat, 'Armor'... Of course I had to try it out with my Wet 'N' Wild matte top coat too!

I had really high hopes or this nail art but I think it just looks so lack lustre... still. I guess I got snowflakes out of the way! One thing I kind of like about this is how it has a sort of sheen to it, after I finished my gradient I ran my brush over my nails while it had white metallic paint on a very wet brush. Can you see it?

What do you think of this nail art? Have you done any winter themed nail art yet?

Thank you for visiting, have a beautiful day! don't forget to let me know what you think :) I'll be back on Friday for some more nail art fun!

Love

Ithi

Catrice: Must-Have STEELetto Swatch & Review ★★★★/5

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? Are you having a chilled weekend at home or are you busy out and about?

As you guys knows I arrived home in England on Friday night, I was so tired when we finally got to the house! The fun things about arriving Friday though is that I've been able to have the whole weekend with my family as everyone will be at work/school during the week.

Today everyone will be over at lunch time for one of my Mum's amazing English roast dinners.. BRING ON THE VEGETABLES! Good times! She's actually really amazing and has surprised me with so many new nail polishes, I told her she didn't have to go to any trouble for me but she said she loves seeing the surprise on my face.. She even had a brand new Barry M white waiting here for me!! I've missed her terribly, I'm going to enjoy spending time with her and I think I owe her a manicure/pamper/wine session. ♥

I thought today would be a good lazy Sunday on the blog, so I'm showing you a swatch. Incidently I think this one is a real pretty polish for the upcoming festive season! This is Catrice's 'Must-Have STEELetto'.

Colour ~ 'Must-Have STEELetto' is a beautiful soft metallic lilac/silver that has a wonderful foil look to it. I am wearing two coats in these pictures and as you can see the coverage is good but a third wouldn't do any harm. It is one of those that can leave potential brush strokes but I love how the finish of this polish looks.

Application ~ I didn't really have too much trouble with the application. It can look a little streaky on the first coat so you will probably need at least a second coat for sure. However it does dry pretty fast so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Texture ~ I would say this is more on the watery side however it means for very fluid and easy application.

★★★★/5 I personally think it looks really pretty and I think its a great sort of 'glam party' polish without resorting to solid gold or silver. It sits nicely in my collection and I think it compliments so many other colours from bright right through to dark.

Would I recommend this to a friend? Without a doubt.

What do you guys think of this silver-lilac, do you own anything like it? Would you be tempted to reach for a shade like this?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend my friends! I'll be back again on Tuesday for some more nail art fun!

Thank you for visiting, don't forget to leave your thoughts! :)

Love

Ithi

Reversed Greyscale Acrylic-Gradients & Diamonds!

Allo polish Pals!

Happy weekend to you all, I hope you are doing fantastically? How was your week? To be honest mine was kind of dull - but I needed that. I got some stuff done I really needed to do before next week when I'll be running around like a headless chicken. I feel so relieved some of the big 'to do's' have been ticked off.

I don't think I have too much planned this weekend, hopefully I may be going out today with my sister in law and on Sunday we'll be making our own pizza's (I'm not really supposed to eat pizza but shh..It's my poison!) with all different kinds of toppings, yum!

Today I have another one of my weird acrylic-gradients for you again. I had hoped to make the centers look almost 3D like I have done previously with my diamond nail art.. I don't think I really achieved it but I had fun painting this none the less.

For this manicure I began with my fave base coat, Mezmris Nail Lacquer's 'Armor Up'. Once dry I applied two thin coats of Catrice's 'Generation whYte' and allowed to dry. I then added a thin coat of Pro-FX top coat to create a nice smooth barrier. I followed on with my acrylics by creating a thin line down the center of my nails and roughly drawing where my diamonds would be. I then blended every section from black to white using my acrylic paints and my bamboo brush (really, really, really time consuming may I add.) I then used different shades of blue and a blob of Hema's 'Happy Silver' polish in the center to try and make them gleam. I finished it all off with my Pro-FX top coat but didn't really like the out come so on went the matte top coat by Wet 'N' Wild!

What do you think of my manicure? Whilst I was photographing it I noticed that through the camera it appeared almost like an optical illusion, it was rather trippy!

What do you think of my split gradient and diamond combo? Are you doing anything fun this weekend?

Thankyou for visiting! I hope you have a fabulous weekend, I'll be back again on Monday :)

Love

Ithi