Freehand Spring Flowers & Easter Chicken

Allo polish Pals!

How are ya all doing? I hope you've had a fantastic week – are you excited for the weekend? Its Easter weekend and while I don't have a lot planned (working a short shift today) I am looking forward to a nice Sunday lunch with my family.

Also.. Tomorrow I have a job interview. Since my current employment is temporary (or is it?) I decided I'll go and see how it goes. I'd love to stay on where I am currently but I feel like I can't pin all my hopes on it after last time.

Anyway! If your celebrating Easter or not, I hope you'll have a fantastic weekend! Now lets have some spring-kissed nails!

 

Freehand Bootylicious Cupid Bear - Valentine's Day Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you today? Are you excited for Valentines Day?

I've probably mentioned it before.. I'm not exactly anti-valentines day but I don't make a huge deal out of it. Do you have any nice plans though?

Today's nail art is my effort for the Tiny Canvas weekly challenge, our prompt was 'Cupid'.

Well.. I didn't know what to think about that so my version is much more fluffy and has a butt that anyone could be jealous of. Must be all those squats.

With everything that happened in the past month I've been feeling a little underwhelmed with all my recent nail art. I don't think its awful but its just.. lacking. I feel the same with this because I can see so many little mistakes and I wish I had planned his placement better as I think its hard to tell he's holding a bow...

For this one I began with Mezmris Nail Lacquer's base coat, 'Armor Up'.

I then applied two coats of Barry M's 'White' for a nice clean starting canvas and to encourage the acrylic colours to 'pop'.

Next I used my bamboo brush (I may need to say goodbye to him soon.. he's really giving up) to create an acrylic-gradient going from bright blue to light blue and added some blue glitter to the tops of my nails.

I sealed the glitter in with an old and unimportant top coat before moving on to paint the freehand details. I'm absolutely loving my Pure Color brushes in sizes #09 #10 for things such as painting fur.

I finished it all off by applying my Pro-FX top coat and eventually moved onto Barry M's Matte top coat.

What do you think of my bootilicious cupid bear? What do you do when you feel underwhelmed with your manicures?

Have a beautiful day and an even more beautiful Valentine's day, whatever you are doing.

Love,

Ithi

Happy Christmas! Freehand Sweet Santa Claus Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

And a very Happy Christmas to you all!! I hope you will all have a fantastic day surrounded by all your loved ones. I hope Santa has treated you well (Did he bring any nail polish?) and I hope you make some beautiful memories today :)

Stuff yourself full of all your favorite things, have a merry drink, tell those you love how much they mean to you. Have fun and treat yourself well, you deserve it!

If you've time to leave a comment tell me what you are most looking forward to today

Lots and lots of love, hugs and best wishes from me to you – thank you for continuing to support and follow me! 

Merry Christmas! Ho, Ho, Ho!

  

Love,

Ithi

Freehand Snow Animal Friends

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are having an awesome Tuesday so far, is there anything cool happening for you today?

I'm doing my best to make the most of my time left at home, I'll be flying back on Sunday. I am so grateful I got to come home and see everyone before Christmas. Before Christmas though.. is my birthday, which is on Friday. I don't make a deal out of my birthday but I think we may be going out for dinner which will be nice!

Today I have a manicure inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest, which you can see here however it looks nothing like the picture, baha. For one thing.. I misjudged the amount of space I had do I had to jumble up the animals. Also I didn't add tree's in front of my furry friends, but you know I am a sucker for animals and stars.. win win.

For this manicure I began with my remaining Nail Envy base coat by OPI (I'm almost out.. of all base coat.. :'( ) I then applied two thin coats of Barry M's 'White' nail polish and allowed to dry. Next I applied a thin coat of my Pro-FX top coat to create a nice smooth barrier and again allowed time to dry (basically no more than one minute!) I then created an acrylic gradient using my rubbish Edinburgh Realism brush (Can you believe I forgot to pack the brush I make my acrylic gradients with?!) I then used my beloved Pure Color brush to paint the animals and scenery. Finally I finished by sealing everything in with another coat of my Pro-FX. I also tried my matte top coat just for shits 'n' giggles.

I am not all too happy with this manicure.. I feel like its lacking any depth.. its not 'bad' but its just... 'that's nice' in a wishy washy non impacting kind of way.. ah well! I've got more coming up in the next few posts!

What do you think of my snowy animal friends? Do you enjoy seeing winter themed nail art?

Have a beautiful day my loves, I'll catch you again on Thursday. Thank you for visiting!

Love

Ithi

Freehand Sinterklaas Nail Art - Dutch Holiday.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you today? I hope you are all snug as you read this with a nice warm beverage!

You may or may not know that today is actually a special day for children in the Netherlands, today is the day that Sinterklaas comes! Who is Sinterklaas?...

Here's a little briefing – being an English adult, I've never personally celebrated this holiday so correct me if I am wrong! Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) a Dutch character beloved by children and adults in Holland. He is a very kind soul who care a lot about the well being and happiness of children. There's a lot of history behind it so if you are interested *I suggest you visit here* - it has short but to the point information! It's rather interesting!

I decided to paint Sinterklaas on his horse, 'Sleipnir' with 'Zwarte Piet' at the front carrying the sack of goodies as they go along the roofs of the houses.

For this manicure I began with my Mezmris Nail Lacquer base coat, 'Armor Up' for happy and healthy nails. I then applied two coats of my very old and gloopy Barry M 'White' – Really.. you should have seen what a mess this was, ha! Luckily I covered it with nail art! I then created an acrylic-gradient using my bamboo brush and fave acrylic paints. I then loaded my brush up with water and swiped the entire nails so I could then tap a little glitter to the tops of my nails (not the best method, I'm still working on this!) I created all the detailing with my fave Pure Color brush in size 9. I sealed everything in with my Pro-FX top coat and eventually added a matte base because.. I couldn't resist.

Have you heard of Sinterklaas before? Or do you celebrate it? There were several parts of this nail art I was rather unhappy with but eh...

What do you guys this of this nail art? Are there any holidays that you celebrate I might not know about? - I'm interested!

Have a beautiful day, my friends. Thank you for stopping by, don't forget to say hi! :)

Love

Ithi

Freehand Cornucopia Happy Thanksgiving Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you've been having a great week so far!

Today I am bringing you some early Thanksgiving nails. I've never actually featured Thanksgiving nails on the blog before so I really wanted to do it this year. You may be wondering why I am posting this on the 23^rd instead of the 25^th.. well.. I have something planned for Friday. Opps.

So these are my early 'Happy Thanksgiving' nail art to all those of you who will be celebrating. I hope you have a wonderful time with your loved ones!

Incase you are wondering, what is Cornucopia? “The cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped wicker basket filled with various seasonal fruits and vegetables”.

Apologies for the state of my nails/skin.. Time to really slather on the hand cream for me.

For this manicure I began with my fave top coat, Mezmris Nail Lacquer (Btw, Sammi's gift sets are available for order until the 10^th December, the polishes are holotastic! It would make a great gift for any nail addict!) and once dry I applied my very sticky and old Barry M 'White' (literally on my last drops of decent white polish, ha.) On my thumb and pinky I added a little gold/copper foil to the tips by carefully scrunching it up and dabbing it on. I then sealed the foil with an old top coat. Next I moved onto my freehand design, using acrylic paints and my fave Pure Color brush in size 9.

I finished it all off with my Pro-FX top coat and eventually tried my Wet 'N' Wild matte top coat too.

What do you guys think of my Cornucopia nail art? Will you be celebrating, if you so do you have any traditions? I wish the writing looked better but in all honesty I didn't get the amount of time I would have liked to have dedicated to this manicure :(

Have a beautiful day guys, If you are celebrating tomorrow have fun and enjoy!

Thank you for visiting, I'll catch you again on Friday!

Love

Ithi

Swirly, Starry 4th July Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing on this fine Thursday?  I hope you've been having a great week. I've been busy with lots of nail art but if I am honest I'm getting a lot of epic nail fails right too - I'm still using the antibiotic eye cream and while I feel like I've got some really unique idea's up my sleeve I can not see clearly enough to do the tiny detail it requires! Still. I'm doing my best to keep the nail art coming :)

Since Monday is the 4^th July, even though I do not celebrate I thought I'd do some appropriate nail art - and I really liked the outcome!  Had I been more organized I would have loved to have done several more manicures for you guys with step by step guides... I am really going to try an start doing more stuff like this for upcoming holidays, I think it would be fun!

So rather than having my 4^th July nails on the blog on Monday when those of you who are celebrating are all off partying we'll see them now - it also means if you want to try anything from my design you've got time to play around!

I don't know about you but I'm all for the matte version over the glossy.

As always I began with my usual base coat, OPI's 'Nail Envy' and once dry began applying blue, red and white polishes to my nails. The blue is Maybelline's 'Oceanic Blue', the red is 'Alluring Red' by Catrice and the white is NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. For my thumb and ring finger I decided to try and create a one-stroke like swirl using blue and light blue acrylic paint. I added some freehand stars on top with white acrylic. For my Index and pinky I mixed different shades of red to create some really rough lines across my nail to give a slightly textured look. I added a small ruffian and a single white star to each nail. My middle finger is just a good ol' dotticure using the same red and blues, I think this nail really adds a little fun to the whole manicure. Finally to finish off I then applied my Wet 'N' Wild's matte top coat.

I really liked wearing this manicure, its not often I find myself wearing blue and red together but I rather like how I paired these together!

If you celebrate July 4^th do you match your nail art for the occasion? What do you think of these nails?

Have a beautiful day! I'll catch you again on Saturday!

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

Black Roses And Hearts

Allo polish Pals!

Happy Valentine's day to you all! I hope you have a great day even if you celebrate or not. I can't say I'm really making a big fuss out of today and I'm secretly glad the Valentine's manicures will be over with (I sound like Scrooge, huh?) I have a very simple manicure for you today featuring black rose decals from The Born Pretty Store. I do think these decals are no longer on sale, sadly.

 

For this manicure I used two coats of China Glaze's 'Something Sweet' and applied Barry M's 'Rose Quartz' on top. I then applied my decals and added a few little sequin hearts here and there. Simple, maybe too simple for my liking but I just wasn't feeling the theme!

What do you think of this sequin and decal combination? Do you love seasonal/holiday nail art?

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Love

Ithi

I Met My Valentine At Midnight

Allo polish Pals!

How are you today? Can't believe its almost the end of the week again! Today I have my first Valentines Day manicure to share with you. I'll be honest... I wanted to be fancy which didn't work out too well for me. Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day? Its not really one of my favorite 'Holidays' and the idea of keeping up with manicures for this occasion has me wanting to head butt a wall! Haha...

For this manicure I began with two coats of Fearne's 'Night Owl'. Once dry I applied OPI's matte top coat and began creating hearts using my Oumaxi acrylic paints. I also added some small dots in between using Orly's 'Rose'. I then used an old brush to apply nail glue to the center of the hearts on my index and ring finger. Once the glue was transparent I laid some pinky/gold foil on top and gently rubbed it with a Qtip. I then peeled the foil off. I personally love how my ring finger turned out... the index finger sort of cracked (I guess it adds effect..?)

What do you think of this Valentines Day Manicure? Do you prefer unusual colours or brighter, more pinky/red manicures for this occasion?

Have a great day!

Love

Ithi