3D Peach & Cream Nail Art - Say Something Nice Day

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you had a wonderful week so far. I can't say anything too interesting has happen to me so far but its been pleasant none the less.

Today's post is all about positivity. Can you ever have enough of it in our lives? Don't you think its incredible how your actions create reactions that in influence someone's day or even their mood which in turn creates new reactions in the people they come across... A little bit of kindness goes a long way as it travels down an ever winding chain.

Anyway. Did you know that June 1^st is actually 'Say something nice day'? True fact. Go and say something nice, put a smile one someone's face. Say something nice to yourself even.

My say something nice to you is.. There's only one you and you are wonderful just the way you are. The fact there is only one of you is incredible, keep rocking being you, keep loving yourself and remember not to be too hard on yourself sometimes.

3D & Freehand Sushi Nails

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you've been having a great week so far. I'm looking forward to this weekend as I worked last Saturday and bank holiday Monday meaning I missed out on all the delicious sun we were having – of course its just my luck that the weather seems to have changed.

All that said I've been having fun at work, I've had so many lovely customers and experiences.

I've been rather excited to show you today's nail art, I've been itching to post it sooner! Sushi is one of my all time favourite foods but its not so easy to get good sushi where I live...still, I found another way to enjoy it!

Freehand Toroto Nail Art & Scattered Holo

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope your week has been going well so far, not long until the weekend now! I have to say it feels really weird posting on a Thursday, I have been in my Monday, Wednesday, Friday blogging pattern for so long that changing it up has felt so bizarre.

If you didn't know I've now switched to twice a week. Content wise I am covered until the end of June (almost!) but I will be working on Sundays soon and I wanted to make things both easier and more organised for myself. Since Sunday is normally a painting day for me I have freed up a little time so I can paint on my days off without worrying about running out of things to post. Does that make any sense? I feel I am typing in circles and dribbling on!

Today the soot sprites are back! The other day My Neighbour Toroto came on TV, I'd seen it before but its just so cute! When I painted this I was really lacking ideas and motivation, I wanted to paint a freehand design without the commitment of painting all my nails so this idea gave me a little bit of both, fun painting time with an edge of laziness.

St Patrick's Day Nails

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing? I hope you had an amazing week and have something fun to look forward to this weekend, or even just enjoy it chilling.

I had some news this week, today and yesterday I went back to work at the place I had been working at in December. One of the friends I made there reached out as she is having a family issue and needs to travel to another country. She suggested I could maybe take over her role while she's away so of course I said yes because I wanted to help her. While I'll only be there temporary I did enjoy the job immensely and it'll get me out of the house while I continue looking for work.

In other news..Tomorrow is St Patrick's day so of course we need to don some greenery on our claws for the occasion!

 

Sensationail Express Gel Polish - Swatch & Review

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

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope the weekend treated you well, do you feel refreshed and ready for a new week? I feel like my weeks have been very bland since the beginning of the year, I don't know if its the weather, being unemployed or what but I lost my oompf. This week I've set myself some nice do-able goals to achieve, hopefully that will make this week more interesting!

Today I will be showing you four new shades from Sensationail's new range, Express Gels. Special thanks to Nara and Sparkle PR for letting me review these. These shades will warm us all up! 

I swear sometimes that a nice bright manicure can cheer up the dullest of moods.

ORLY Darlings Of Defiance - Fall/Winter Collection Swatch & Review

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

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you had an epic weekend. Did you do anything different or fun? I'm all ready for my first day of my new job. I got clothes and shoes at the weekend and everything is all planned out for tomrrow! I'm super excited.

Just as exciting, I have the brand new collection from ORLY to share with you today. This is Darlings of defiance, the fall/winter collection. This collection is regular nail polish and features six stunning shades. I'm seriously so in love with each of them – ask me to pick a fave, no wait, don't. Its not possible, they are all stunning.

Freehand Sleepy Little Fairy Nail Art

Allo polish Pals,

How are you all doing today? I hope you had a great weekend, did you do anything fun? We had family over for fathers day and the sun was ba-ba-beating! All in all it was a good weekend.

In case you guys may have noticed.. I sorta played around with the blog theme again. I'm honestly not too sure if it'll stick, I really like certain parts but not others. Let me know if you like it, or have any trouble with it. Your opinion is important to me :)

Today's nail art was inspired for the weekly challenge over on Tiny Canvas. This week's prompt is fairy nail art – this is not my first fairy, you can see my last two here: The Fairy Village and The Butterfly Fairy (Now I look at this and shudder!)

I'm currently like...200?+ polishes out. Acrylics are also missing from my stash.. I'll explain another time but basically during this period my painting collection is minimal.

Look at my little fairy! I think she is tired for all her fairy duties – who said being a fairy is easy work? Shall we give her a name? Nousha.. Nousha the sleepy fairy :)

I had hoped for more shades of greens in this manicure but as I mentioned I am really limited on what I actually have available right now. Still – with some acrylics comes the joys of colour mixing. I feel like with acrylic art the possibilities are endless.

The dark green polish I used is China Glaze's 'Well Trained' which was gifted to me by a very dear friend. I think it works beautifully as a forest floor. I also used my OPI Nail Envy and my PRO-fx top coat. I finished off with my Barry M Matte top coat.

What do you guys think of Nousha? Have you made any fairy nail art before, I'd love to see it!

Have a beautiful day my loves, thank you for visiting. I'll catch you again on Wednesday for some more nail art fun! 

Love,

Ithi

Freehand Ladybug & 3D Gel Polish Raindrops

Allo polish Pals!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Mine was a super chilled one.. I liked it like that!

Has anyone had a BBQ yet? I am smelling them ALL the time here in Holland, its one of my favorite summer scents! (although not like I'd like to bottle the smell and use it as a perfume!!)

Today's nail art is again inspired by the weekly challenge over on Tiny Canvas (Haven't you joined us yet?!) where this weeks prompt was to create bug nail art.

I've done a few ladybird (ladybug) nails before but I decided I wanted to try a close up version.

You can see my two previous manicures below the new one.

2017

2013

 

2015

I began this nail art by painting my thumb and pinky with a coat of NYC's 'Strip me off' peel off base coat. Once this was dry I applied three coats of the Born Pretty Store's Chameleon nail polish in #224. I allowed this to dry and used my Barry M matte top coat. I then used my Bluesky Gel polish and a dotting tool to create a raindrop look – this always looks gorgeous on matte chrome's.

On my remaining nails I applied a coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy'. I followed on with two coats of China Glaze's 'Well Trained' and applied a thin coat of Born Pretty Store's black holographic polish.

Everything else was created with my acrylic paints and brushes. I finished off by applying my Pro-FX top coat to seal in my freehand work.

What do you guys think of my ladybird manicure evolution? Have you had ladybird nails before?

Have yourself a fantastic day! Thank you so much for visiting, don't forget to come say hi in the comments :D I'll catch you again on

Wednesday!

Love,

Ithi

Mardi Gras Twin Mani with @Jodies_Nailz

Allo polish Pals,

How are you doing today? I hope you had a fab weekend, did you do anything exciting?

I just thought I'd let you know also that from now on I'll be posting Monday's, Wednesday's and Saturday's. I've always been pretty organised with my blog but posting every other day felt a bit too fast sometimes. Creating nail art and posting it, I was keeping up fine but I couldn't really get ahead of myself as much as I'd like.

Did you know that tomorrow is Mardi Gras? According to Google its also called Shrove Tuesday – Which is what I and my fellow English call it, although Mardi Gras translates to 'Fat Tuesday' in French (Yes, I always try and do my homework on time!) The 'Fat Tuesday' references the last night celebrations of eating richer and fattier foods before the ritual fasting of the Lent season. It is mostly celebrated all around the world in different ways.

Also in this post I'd love to introduce you to my dear friend, Jodie. She's an absolutely lovely lady and it was her idea to get together for our second twin manicure for Mardi Gras. Please go and check out her IG @Jodies_Nailz – She's a seriously skilled stamper with kickass manicures!

China Glaze: 'Well Trained' Swatch & Review

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are having a great week so far?

Mine feel both hectic and non-eventful at the same time. I feel like I am trying so hard to keep up with things and I'm not really liking any of the art I am creating currently.

I always get this, I'll go a good while enjoying what I've created and then all of a sudden... I'm displeased with everything and I get a bit of a block. Hopefully this passes quickly!

Today I am going to show you a polish from China Glaze, this one came from my dear sweet friend in Oregon. Just before Christmas Jodie sent me a beautiful gift box with polishes, candy, post cards and other nail art goodies and delicious treats! This is 'Well Trained'.

Please excuse how sad and dry my cuticles are looking, I am at least happy with my nail length now!

This beautiful polish is really deceptive! I applied this in the morning in a hurry before going out and the dry time was fantastic although in the bedroom light it looked like a very clear forest green however wearing it through out the day and in different lighting I'd say it is a teal crème. The colour makes me think 'mysterious!'.

I'm wearing two coats in these pictures, it was perfect for full opacity and as I mentioned I was pretty fast between coat applications yet I had no issues at all. I also didn't apply a top coat before photographing so the glossy shine is all credit to 'Well Trained' itself.

Would I recommend this polish to a friend? Certainly, its a very deep and pretty shade! Its a great addition to any collection.

Where can I get it? Nail Polish Direct (£4.95) UK and international / PrettyPolish.NL (€5.95)

For the first time in however many years I've reviewed in a slightly different format, I've taken away the star rating and trying to hit on first reactions, I hope this works for you guys?

What do you think of this deep and mysterious shade? Are you fan of China Glaze polishes?

Thank you for visiting, I hope you have a fantastic day! I'll catch you again on Sunday :)

Love

Ithi

Freehand Cherries and A Fresh Water Colour Background.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are having a fabulous Thursday! INFO

Today I have a website to share with you that was created quite some time ago. I was really unhappy with it and eventually did another version which I was then equally as unhappy with! So I'm showing you the original. Maybe its not as bad as I think, I don't know.

For this manicure I began with my OPI 'Nail Envy' and added two coats of Rimmel's 'White Love' (Not my preference at all!) Next I added a coat of Pro-FX top coat as a nice barrier and moved onto my acrylics. I wanted to create a sort of fresh and happy looking water colour effect in the backgroun and on top of that added a pair of cherries to my nails. I sealed this all in with another layer of Pro-FX top coat and finished with Catrice's ' Matt & More' to give it a subtle pinky tint and matte sheen.

In my head I still want to completely redo this manicure. I wanted a cute retro and vintage feel which I just didn't achieve. Perhaps a red accent with polka dots might have hit the spot... We'll find out one day!

If you liked this post please be kind enough to share using the share buttons below.

Have a wonderful end to your week, I'll be back on Saturday for some more nail art fun!

Love

Ithi

10ml Born Pretty Store Chameleon Nail Polish In 224 - Born Pretty Store Review

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

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are having a fabulous weekend so far! This week feels much quieter than last week but I've been keeping busy. I get a bit antsy being too idle.

This Saturday I got up fairly early, had some lovely soya milk and mixed nuts (Hey look, I'm taking better care of myself! - I'm improving my regular eating habits rather than not eating until 4pm..)

I got another review post sorted out and in the afternoon I went for lovely bike ride in the sunshine. I found an entire new route that took me to Mr Bravo's Nan's house – and found a new way back. I saw sail boats, people water skiing...Being out in the beautiful weather makes my soul sing!

Anyway... Today I have my second '10ml Chameleon Nail Polish' to share with you from The BornPretty Store.

Just as with the first Born Pretty Store duochrome I reviewed I am wearing this polish on top of black which is what the store recommends.

DO we want to see what happens when I wear them on white nail polish? LET ME KNOW! I can make it happen!

This polish is another version of the previous chrome polish I showed you recently as this one turns from a beautiful golden chartreuse green shade, through to teal and can look quite blue in low lighting. I would say this is quite a pretty

peacock type polish. As with the first polish that colour shift is quite strong as you can see from my picture, especially towards the sides of my nails where the lighting and shadows differ.

I'm going to cut straight to the point here. If you read my review on the Purple/Goldduochrome (221) from the Born Pretty Store I'm pretty delighted to tell you that they are very consistent in formula. I had very little trouble with the first nail polish and that has followed through with this second one.

They can be a little unforgiving in the sense that.. if you have any slight issues with your base colour (in this case black) then it will probably highlight it, hindering such a flawless finish. A good example of this is my middle nail where the base colour had slightly bubbled. The metallic duochrome really highlights it! The only other thing that may slightly put people off is that it can leave the nails with quite a brush-strokey look to the nails, not easy to avoid. I don't really mind or notice it too much but I know some people hate that.

All in all I really like this polish, perhaps even more than the first one. There are no real complaints in terms of application, dry time is fantastic just like her sister and.. I just love those colours!

I would recommend it if you are looking to increase your duochrome collection on a budget.

What do you think of this polish? Did you prefer this polish to the last one I showed you?

Thank you for stopping by again my friends. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, DO let me know what you've been up to! I'll catch you again on Tuesday!

Love

Ithi

Barry M: Kiwi Swatch & Review ★★★★★/5

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are having a fantastic start to the week. It's lovely being home, of course I wish Mr Bravo was here too. One thing is for sure, if my mum keeps feeding me so well I am probably going to go home a little rounder! I have seriously missed her cooking! Its also been lovely to see my niece and nephew, well...just everybody of course!

Today I have a swatch and review for you – its been ages since I've done one of these. I feel like a swatch and review is an easy way to chill a little. There will be some more freehand nail art soon, don't worry. This is Barry M's 'Kiwi'.

These are old swatches... Apologies for the thumb, I know it looks a little uneven.

Colour ~ Kiwi is a beautiful fresh light/medium jade green. Its quite bright but not in a neon type of way.

Application ~ I had a great experience with this polish, just as I tend to with all of the Gelly polishes. It applies very smoothly and dries to a lovely shiny finish. I always find these smooth themselves out and self level as they dry – speaking of drying... the dry time is also a really positive factor for this polish.

Texture ~ Its on the thick side just like most of the Gelly's – but its not a bad thing, I have so few problems with them drying or bubbling.

Recommend it to a friend? If Betty doesn't have something similar in her stash and she's a fan of greens I'd say “Betty. You need this green” - I do feel that most people would have something similar to this shade though. I could be wrong.

★★★★★/5 Another winner from the Gelly collection. I am very happy with the application and formula, I love the fun and fresh shade. There isn't really anything to fault it on because the main factors are all of a really high standard!

What do you think of this green, would you wear it? Do you find your self reaching for greens often?

Have a beautiful day, my friends! I'll see you on Saturday when the giveaway starts!

Love

Ithi

Silver Seahorse's, Acrylic Gradient & A Full Studded Accent!

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are going to have a fun weekend!

Apologies for today's post.. Its not the best thing ever.. I know.. I'm sorry and I was also supposed to be showing you Canada day nail art however I've been really stressed and short on time; I did them. Twice.. and then ruined them both in different ways :( So today I am showing you something from a while ago.. 

I have another one of my noob-stamping adventures today. I have to say, I feel like this looks like I didn't have a top coat on it... I'm sure I did though! I also don't have the best ever pictures as my camera ran out of battery.... Yeah I'm still not used to having to remember to charge it, baha, even though I've been using it since Christmas... Opps!

I started with my usual base coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy' which I swear by for long, strong, healthy nails. I began this nail art with a white base using NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. I used two coats and allowed to dry. Next I used my acrylic paints and a brush to create a blue to green gradient. I'm sure this is much more time consuming than a good old polish/sponge gradient but I just feel like it looks a little more unique... I'm not sure, I like that I can mix the colours I want :) I then proceeded to stamp (not that badly?) using my Barry M 'Silver Foil' polish and the BPL-025 plate. For my ring finger... I just stuck lots of studs and gems on – not much else I can say about that, ha!

What do you think of my vibrant seahorse nail art? Yay or nay to full stud accents?!
I'm desperately working on posts to cover my time in England. If anyone wants to guest post during the two weeks hit me an email - A less stressed Ithi would have put up an application form weeeeks ago!

Have a beautiful weekend, I'll catch ya on Monday!!

Love

Ithi

Freehand Flakie Turtle Nail Art With Acrylic-Gradients

Allo polish Pals!

Happy Friday to you all, how are you doing?! Bam, here we are at the start of another weekend! Do you have anything nice planned? I may or may not be going out with my Sister in law for dinner, there was a plan but this whole week my nightmare eye situation has flared up again – my left eye is HUGE.

Sadly because of it I feel pretty rubbish, my vision is blurry, it hurts to bend down.. Back to looking like I've been punched! I had intended to show you a Born Pretty Store review but I have totally mucked the whole thing up, luckily I have a few of the stickers left so I will try again when I can concentrate better.

So instead I'm going to show you something I did at the beginning of the week before it got so bad, If you are a member of Tiny Canvas on Facebook you may have already seen this – the weekly challenge this week was turtle nail art. I really wanted to join in after missing a couple of the other weeks (they are optional but always so much to take part in) I decided to do a turtle in black and white.

So, I didn't have a lot of ideas or planning when I began this little dude. I just knew I wanted an acrylic-gradient in there somewhere so I began with my usual base of OPI's 'Nail Envy' and once dry applied two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. I added a coat of my Pro-FX for a fast drying finish and then proceeded to create an acrylic-gradient with purple, blue and tropical green. I also added a layer of Zoya's 'Maisie' – yes I am obsessed. I then proceeded to draw/paint a freehand turtle in black and white. I added some swirls and dots (mostly because by this point I was in a lot of pain) and finished off again with my Pro-FX topcoat. I also added Catrice's 'Matte&More' because I find it fun to see how manicures will look!

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, I think he looks proper grumpy but that's ok!

You may notice my thumb acrylic-gradient isn't as well blended. I tried adding some yellow fish before quickly changing my mind!

What do you think of this turtle nail art? Are you part of a nail community where you've made some good friends?

Have a beautiful weekend, I'll catch you again on Sunday!

Love

Ithi

Nicole Diary Water Decal Review Pt. 4

*This post contains an item(s) which have been sent for reviewing purpose however I will always provide my full and honest opinion.

Allo polish Pals!

How are we all doing today? I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and start to the new week. Can you believe we one day away from being in June?! Crazy! Hopefully I can start making plans to go home and visit my family in the next month or so.

Today I have part four of my Nicole Diary water decal reviews – there will be one more final post after this. I've had a really great experience with these decals so far. I have enjoyed their wide range of patterns and styles, you have to agree they are all so different from each other!

Nicole Diary are offering IthinityBeauty readers a free gift worth upto $5 when you order from either their Amazon / Alliexpress store. Just add the code 'ITH2016' to your order notes!

First we have 'Nicole Diary 04' beautful and simple looking floral pattern. I love the colour combination of mustard yellow flowers and burgundy. I feel like these make me think of sort of... a chic look. Does that make any sense? Probably not. I just feel there's something very sweet and charming about the colour combination and pattern. I decided to pair these with an accent nail of Barry M's 'Mustard' and a 'Jodie-Bow' (Aptly named after the kind friend who sent them to me!)

This second pattern, 'Nicole Diary -13' is sooo entirely different. I personally wasn't quite sure how I wanted to wear them. One side of the decal has a dark version of the pattern and the other side is a light pattern. Mr Bravo urged me to face my dark side. These decals are very solid, I don't think you can even guess I am wearing a medium bright green underneath! I paired this manicure with an accident nail of Zoya's 'Charla', a circular sequin and added some very small Model's Own 'Artstix' golden beads. If I am honest I probably like these the least but that's just my personal preference. I can't remember the last time I had green nails that wasn't grass in a freehand manicure!

Don't forget Nicole Diary are on Instagram too, you can see how other nail artists wear their decals!

Which of these manicures/water decals did you like the most? How do you wear decals – with accents or all nails? I personally love the first set!

Have a beautiful day my friends, thank you for visiting and I'll catch you again on Thursday!

Love

Ithi

Spingy One-Stroke Flowers Over Stamping

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? Did you have a wonderful Easter? We didn't really do anything here but I did get to have a little chat with my Niece and Nephew which really brightened up my day. Did you have anything happen at the weekend to put a smile on your face?

I recently decided to try one stroke again... I've tried before and I know its a technique that really grows with practice but I was quite happy with how a couple of my flowers turned out – I started this really late at night and I could see the quality of my concentration went down hill around the middle finger to the pinky. I also outlined my flowers with their starting colour which I think detracted from the one-stroke look....but hey, its fun to try things!

For this manicure I began with one of my fave polishes, Erre Due's '#155' (I so wish I could get this brand locally!!) And once dry decided to stamp (After years of detesting stamping.. look at me go!)

using Barry M's 'Green Berry' and my gorgeous FUN16 plate from Fab Ur Nails (I won a gift certificate in a contest recently – love their brushes and plates!) I then attempted my one stroke flowers and when finished applied my Pro-FX quick dry top coat.

I am really keen to try one stroke again sometime, preferably during the day time. When I start nails past 9pm it never ends great!

What do you think of my one-stroke attempt? Have you used that technique before?

Have a beautiful day,

Love

Ithi

Shamrock Happy St. Patrick's Day Nail Art - Freehand

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? Happy St. Patrick's day to you all! Will any of you be celebrating today? I personally wont be; I wish I had Irish friends who I could join in with! Either way I love learning about holidays and how people wish to spend them! Of course there will be the abundance of green, rainbowy shamrock filled nail art and manicures all across the blogisphere and the internet, I couldn't help but join in!

Did you know... Apparently St. Patrick is not actually Irish, he was Welsh!

A quick google search also taught me that...

Every year the Irish leader hands a crystal bowl filled with shamrock to the US President. They are originally grown in Kerry and is immediately destroyed by the Secret Service after the exchange.... What the?!! Well, I certainly didn't know that..Did you?!...Is that even true?!

For this manicure I began with two coats of Barry M's 'Cardamon' for a clean base and followed through with two coats of Picture Polishes 'Phshiiit'. I then took my acrylics and began to paint a rainbow with a very fine striping brush. I added a few shamrocks on my nails and outlined them with black (why can't I just leave things alone?!) I finished off with a few gold dots and my Pro-FX top coat.

It didn't come out entirely as I had hoped but it was still fun to do!

Are you rocking any St.Patrick's inspired nails? Will you be doing anything fun to celebrate?

Have a wonderful day!

Love

Ithi