Freehand Pretty Cactus Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing? I hope your week is going well? Has anything exciting been going on for you – I love it when we share things!

Today's nail art is actually one I did when I was back in Holland – yep..another on with that annoying old nail shape. I actually liked this one except the writing on my thumb. Every time I do nail art with writing I feel like it lets the entire thing down but I'll still share it with you guys. You are always less harsh about my work than I am!

Freehand 3D Gel Cookie Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

I hope you all had an awesome weekend? Did you get up to anything fun?

Today's nail art comes with a little secret. While I've been working out hard and keeping up with all the healthy lifestyle changes I made recently.. sometimes while I am painting and working on blog post creations I take a little pause for coffee and biscuit time.

Its the perfect break when I am working on a really intricate and lengthy design. You gotta enjoy some things, right?

So today I have for you some 3D cookies on an equally dotty base! Funnily enough Maryland Cookie's started following me recently over on Twitter. I wonder if they'll approve of this nail art!

Freehand Back To School Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

I hope you are all doing wonderfully today, my loves?

Monday was a bank holiday here, so everyone was off of work. We went down to Exmouth in Devon and had a beautiful sea-side day! We went on the beach, paddled in the sea. Had a lunch out, went to the amusement arcades and had ice cream. EVEN ME! I normally have to be so careful about what I eat as my stomach condition is triggered by stress but I've been so much better since I came home.. so even I had an ice cream when I'd normally miss out!

As we polish off August and head into September, what better time to crack out the 'Back to School' nail art?

The final Tiny Canvas for this month is indeed back to school.

Pencil cases replenished, back packs filled. Pencils sharpened and thinking caps on! I decided to combine a few different things for my design, of course all the basic necessities of the classroom and a healthy snack! Are any of my readers heading back to school soon? I hope you will have a fabulous term!

5g Soak Off Fur Efrfect UV Gel Polish - Born Pretty Store Review

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


Allo polish Pals!
How are you all doing? I hope you've had a great week, do you feel like lots of positive things happened?
I'm doing well. I'm generally really happy. I've slid into my pattern with a breeze. This past week I've been on my own as my parents have been away (they came back last night) and it was actually nice to have the house to myself – after the past few weeks it was like putting on the breaks. I've kept myself extremely busy with all sorts of jobs around the house, blogging, being Auntie Ithi. The highlight has been getting up at 6.30 to work out and going going to bed every night with my little black cat. Every day we've started and ended our days together this past week. Missed him so much! I'm finding the beauty in the simplest of things.


My ikea helmer came!...And then it returned. It was bent and damaged and now I don't think I want to go with a helmer as the metal seems so thin.. so the nail polish storage hunt continues. I'm limited with sizes due to built-in furniture but I'll figure something!


Today I am showing you another item from The Born Pretty Store. I've been excited to show you this one! Sadly the nail art is a little..hrrm.. but this stuff is pretty fun! This is '1 box 春の歌5g Soak Off Fur Efrfect UV Gel Polish in #10' – D'awww check out the packaging!

I was so intrigued after seeing this in the Born Pretty Store that I decided I wanted to try it! You know my gel experiences are fairly limited and really tame so I had no idea what to expect or really even how to apply it.

I absolutely love this stuff. Can I have the entire collection? If you see the picture of my nails with just the UV gel on.. I really like how it looks there. It was so shiny, so smooth. I wouldn't say it makes me think of fur right away but I love the effect it gives. Its subtle and gorgeous.

First of all my heart was captured by the packaging, I love how this isn't just a boring round pot, instead it has a sort of mock-antique look to the design which is really cute – and then the bear.. Oh isn't he adorable?! Paws up!

How did I apply it?
Upon opening I was a little surprised by the gooey contents (although what was I really expecting if not gooeyness?!) but I got to work. I applied my NYC peel off base coat because the idea of anything gel-like being stuck on my nails terrifies me! I then took an old rounded eyeshadow brush and began to gently dab/brush on the UV gloop. At this point it wasn't looking like much and I thought this would be a really embarassing review but I did a thin layer and cured it under my lamp. I repeated this twice more and did a double take. Somehow it had come together beautifully and once the colour had built up a little I was smitten. I applied a coat of Born Pretty Store's UV Gel top coat and voilà!


conclusion? I personally really like it. I don't really like a lot of fuss when having to apply a coat of colour but I wouldn't say this was too much hard work, certainly not enough to put me off. I love how glossy and smooth it looks and I would certainly buy more of these based on my experience with this one. For those of you who are not into gel perhaps its not for you – or if you worry about gels on your nails try the peel off approach as I did but I highly recommend this fun little bear pot!


Have you worn a liquid gel like this before? What do you think of my twinning bear?



Have an awesome weekend my friends, thank you for stopping by! I'll catch you again on Monday for more nail art fun!..

Love,
Ithi

Disney Glitter Nail Art - Katies Birthday Collab

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope the weekend has been an awesome one for you.

Tell me, is it finally starting too look like spring where you are? Today the sun was shining and the sky was blue, Oh it feels so good!

Today's nail art was created as part of a birthday collaboration for dear @Katiesdazzlingdigits over on Instagram. A bunch of us got together to make her some surprise nail art, our theme was 'Disney/glitter'. For some reason I decided to go for a character I'm not sure everyone is familiar with...why? Who knows! I wish I had painted Cleo the fish too!

Here's Figaro, he's the sweet little kitten from Pinoccihio that is always trying it with the goldfish! 

The polishes I used for this manicure was NYC's 'Tribeca Style' with Mezmris Nail Lacquer's 'A Christmas Cheer' glitter holo polish which as you can see, is far too pretty to sit waiting to be used only at Christmas! I sponged this on to the tips of my nails and on the top of my nails I sprinkled some loose red glitter. I sealed it all in with an old unimportant top coat (to avoid flooding my good top coat with glitter.) and created my freehand design on top.

I am 'sort of' happy with how Figaro turned out however I do wish I had done a better job with my clean up, I hadn't realised I had glitter everywhere. Oopsie!

What do you think of my Disney and glitter inspired manicure? Who is your favourite Disney animal? I can't decide, personally!

Now it's time to catch up on the latest episode of the walking dead and drink some tea!

Have a beautiful day, my friends! Thank you for stopping by. I'll catch you again on Wednesday!

Love

Ithi

Freehand Sloth/Sloffee Cup Nail Art With Water Colour!

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you have some exciting plans for this weekend? Let me know – I love to know what you are getting up to, my naily friendies!

I'm super excited as my sister is in Holland on her holiday so Mr Bravo's Sister-in-law has very kindly offered to drive up to where they are staying and to put us up for a night! I've never been to this area, I've never camped..and I get to see family, again! I am so curious to see how they like Holland :)

Today I have a manicure I wasn't too yay about. However the friends I did ask for advice about it said it was really sweet and that people might like it even if I don't so here it is. Sloffee time! Grab yourself a mug! 

For this manicure I began with my usual base of OPI's 'Nail Envy' (last bottle is getting dangerously low! :'( ) and once dry I applied my NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage' – this was made before I went home and got to stock up on Barry M's! I then used a mixture of browns and golds to create a sort of coffee stained effect using the water method technique you know I love to use. I then freehanded Mz Sloth with my favorite brushes and acrylic paints.

I kinda wish this had turned out better.. but I'll let you guys be the judge. I am never happy when my writing is on my nails. I always think my writing looks sloppy but its not exactly the easiest thing to do! Maybe next time I'll try text decals!

If you liked this post please give it a good old share using the buttons below. I'd be super beaming if you could. :)

I hope you have a fantastic weekend, may the sunshine brightly and positive things come you way!

I'll catch you again on Monday for some more nail art fun!

Love,

Ithi

Brb - The Cat Fairy Is Taking A Nap! - Freehand Nail Art.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope your week is going well so far!

I can't believe that on Sunday I'll finally be going home to see my family. I'll be gone for two weeks and after being apart from them since the beginning of January I can't wait to spend time with my Niece and Nephew..and everybody! I'll still be posting though. You know me, I've always got something floating around here!

Today's manicure is also another random idea that came from nowhere. This is... The cat fairy. He's a bit of everything, he helps keep the forest running smoothly. He'll do tax forms for mice, clean the tree stumps, dealing with general inquiries. But everyone needs a break sometimes... so here he is taking a little nap!

For this manicure I began with my usual base coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy' and once dried applied NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. I created a purpley blue acrylic gradient using my brush to blend the colours through. I then used my acrylic paints and favorite brushes to freehand my cat nail art (wow, helpful information, Ithi!) I added Wet 'N' Wilds matte top coat just because I could ~ Just a side note, a dear friend of mine recently sent me some Wet 'N' Wild polishes, they are pretty darn awesome!!

I kinda wish I had done something differently, for example the 'shadow' under his wing really bugs me. I did the best I could with the eye situation I am dealing with!I also regret adding the brb text but ah well, ain't gonna cry about it!. :)

What do you think of my cat fairy nail art? Do you like to paint scenes on your nails?

Have a gorgeous day, I'll catch you on Friday!

Love

Ithi

Black & White Vintage Mickey vs Colourful Modern Mickey - Freehand

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? I hope you have had a great weekend, do you have anything nice planned for the weekend? I'm hoping that very soon I will be able to give you an exciting announcement. That's all I'm going to say for now but I am busy planning something!

Today's nails are inspired by both the modern and classic versions of Mickey. If you didn't know, the classic version of Mickey was created by Mr Walt Disney back in 1928 so the original cartoons were in black in white. Of course as technology advanced Mickey went through several upgrades to his current state which we all know and love in colour.

I really wanted to bring both of them together on my nails. My first version had different accompanying nail art but I felt like this one shows the transition from black and white to colour better.

I began with my all time fave base coat, OPI's 'Nail Envy' and created a nice clean canvas by painting NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. For my water coloured nails I used acrylic paints and cotton buds – You can see my tutorial here. I then used my favorite Bundle Monster and Edinburgh Realism brush to bring the two Mickey's to life. I finished with a coat of my Pro-FX top coat and added a coat of 'Wet 'N' Wild's Matte top coat because it seemed very fitting for the nail art!

I'm quite pleased with how these turned out. I had 'quite a bit of trouble with the Mickey's but I feel like it didn't come out too bad! Are there any other Disney characters you'd like to see on my nails?

What do you think of my two Mickey's? Which one do you like best?

Have a beautiful day and a sweet weekend! I'll catch you on Sunday!

Love

Ithi

Freehand Butterflies & Flowers - The Garden Fence

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? I hope you are doing awesome, do you have anything nice planned for this weekend? It is of couse Father's day tomorrow so I am wondering if it is going to be a full house here. I also had great news and can hopefully get my tickets back home to England booked in the next few days – yay! Everything seems pretty good right now, I hope it is the same for you! 

I also just want to say thank you to those of you who take time to come to my blog, who follow me on social media and generally support what I do - you guys are all so awesome and while blogging is my hobby and I enjoy it, you certainly take it to higher highs. 

Today I have some fairly summery nail art for you! I am not sure about this nail art though, do you think I should have gone for more? More flowers... more butterflies? I'm not sure. I did plan to do roses but backed out.

For this manicure I began with my usual base coat, OPI's 'Nail Envy' and one dry applied two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage' for a nice starting base. I then created everything else with my fave acrylic paints and brushes. I sealed everything with my Pro-FX top coat.. and just because I was curious applied Catrice's 'Matte & More' which gave it an interesting shimmer.

Can you believe I can not just buy a regular matte top coat anywhere around here?! I like the 'Matte & More' but the shimmer doesn't suit everything :/

What do you think of this nail art? Do you think I should have added more to it?

Have a fabulous day, same time on Monday? I'll bring the tea and biscuits :)

Love

Ithi

Freehand Evening Duck Pond Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!
How are you all doing today? I hope you are all well! Is it hot hot hot where you are? My weather app predicts rain and storms all week but its just uncomfortably hot here! Thank you for all the well wishes with my eye; Unfortunately I was unable to get a doctors appointment yesterday so I'll be up early again tomorrow to try and get one - they did warn me yesterday that I might not be able to until Friday... anyhoo ~

I always think of ducks in a sweet way; So many memories going to feed the duckies when I was a little girl, and even now as an adult when I am home in England, taking a long walk with my Niece and Nephew to go feed the ducks and swans! <3 b="" nbsp="">Did you guys do things like that?

Here's a little something from a couple of weeks ago! - this is why I am so glad I keep ahead of myself, I barely feel like painting right now! Today I have a manicure I made while I wasn't feeling so well. I also had no inspiration so I decided to just paint something..'pleasant'. Its not my best ever manicure but I guess it is still something created from moods and feelings!

For this manicure I began with my usual base of OPI's Nail Envy and once dry I applied two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage' - This had become my new solution since I can't get Barry M here...and now I can't find it in the store!! Why, oh, why?!

I then added a coat of my Pro-FX top coat and allowed to dry. I then started this freehand nail art by creating a acrylic-gradient with lilac and peachy shades that I had mixed. Everything else was created with my new favorite Bundle Monster brushes and again I applied my Pro-FX top coat before finishing off with Catrice's 'Matt & More'.

While its not exactly thrilling nail art.. I think it has a kind of calm feel to it. Its not great. But its not hideous, I hope.. You guys can be the judge :)

What do you think of this nail art? Do you like to have creatures on your nails?

Have a beautiful day, hugs, and I'll catch you on Wednesday for some more Born Pretty Store reviews!

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

Freehand Fantasy Cityscape Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? I hope you all had a fantastic weekend? Tell me one thing that made you smile over the weekend, it can be anything – big or small. I didn't do much this weekend, I kept trying to create nail art but am still sort of in that weird funk. I didn't really create anything impressive.

But today I have something to show you that was created a couple weeks ago. I am really undecided about it. Maybe I should have added windows to the buildings, do you think it would have improved it?

Apologies for my messy buildings. Apparently I can not draw straight lines! 

For this manicure I began with my usual base coat, OPI's 'Nail Envy' and once dry added two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage' (Not heard that before, have you?!) I then created gradient with acrylic paints going from blue to purple. I had very little direction on where this manicure was going when I began, I had planned to paint a yellow taxi...which ended up being water. Baha. I used my fave Bundle Monster brushes, my Edinburgh Realism brush and my cruddy beloved $1 bamboo brush. I seal it all in with my Pro-FX top coat and then added Catrice's 'Matte & More' which in this case... really made the whole thing look a little..dull.

What do you think of my city-scape nail art? Have you had city nails before?

Have a beautiful day, I'll catch you on Wednesday!

Love

Ithi

Gold/Silver Sea Horse/Shell/Coconut Tree Nail Art studs - Born Pretty Stud Review

*This post features an item(s) that were provided for reviewing purpose however I will as always contain my full and honest opinion.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? I hope you are looking forward to a fantastic weekend, any nice plans? I'm not really up to much. The house will be mostly empty tomorrow so I am going to enjoy some chilled painting time. I've had a big of artist block lately so I will try and de-funk it.

Today I have a really unoriginal manicure but I am really happy with how it looks. I will be showing you 'Gold/Silver Sea Horse/Coconut tree studs' from the Born Pretty Store. I think a more appropriate name to quickly sum up this nail art wheel would be 'Beach Studs'.

I absolutely love these studs. I opted for gold as I felt it offered a more..'sun kissed' look.

Before I tell you about these studs let me own up, its confession time. I totally forgot to take pictures of the wheel before I dived in and started using them so one of the compartments is missing studs and a few of the others are missing a few – oppsie. I couldn't contain my excitement!

These studs are a perfect size, as you'll see on my nails it is easy to feature 1, 2 or even more on a single nail. This wheel contains sea horses (looove) seashells, palm trees, star fish, feathers and what I want to call.. conch? Shells. I think there are so many ways to wear these decals, you don't have to go down the ocean route like I have, you could totally mix these up with other styles. I think the feathers would look super cute for a dream catcher design. Overall I am extremely happy with these studs and will have to stop myself from using them all the time.

I started as usual with a coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy' and once dry (that's like counting up to 4, btw) I then began with two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. I then sectioned off a black section and a blue section on my nails using acrylic paint. I used browns and grey to create some rocks (I attempted to shade these!) Next I created an acrylic gradient with my water section. Once I completed that I added a sparse amount of Zoya's 'Maisie' to the water section for some pretty blue flakies. Next I sealed it all in with my Pro-FX top coat and carefully placed my studs alone the shoreline.

I'm personally really fond of this manicure. I know there are a lot of seashell stud manicures out there but I've always admired them and wanted to create one myself! This is probably one of my most loved nail art wheels in my collection.

What do you think of my finger-tip beach? How do you feel about seashell studs?

Have a beautiful weekend, sweeties! Lets start the week together on Monday? :)

Love

Ithi

Freehand Jewels On Shaded, Stamped Nails

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing on this..thrilling Thursday?! I can't say mine will be too thrilling but I'll be out the house. Do you have anything awesome going on at the moment? Most exciting news I have is.. Bike rides! Ride, ride, ride! I don't want to go anywhere any other way now, I love Doris. I'm planning on taking my original camera out one day - its a bit grey/super hot/stormy here atm and very unpredictable and then I'll try some Panoramic pictures.

Today's manicure... is... different. I wanted to try mixing acrylic and stamping together to create something interesting. I am not sure if I made a 'good interesting' or just a bad manicure!

My aim was to shade my nails, painting greys and blacks around the nails and fading into white at the center (much like a radial gradient but done with acrylics and brushes) I wanted to give the nails a sort of 3D look. You can judge for yourselves if you think I achieved that.

As always I started with my OPI 'Nail Envy' base coat. For this manicure I began with two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage' for my white base and added a coat of Pro-FX for a speedy dry time. I then took my acrylics and painted the edges of my nails various shades of grey and keeping the center's white. I then took my Born Pretty Store 'Black Stamping' polish and stamped each nail using my 'FUN16' nail stamping plate. Next I added a black border to all the nails and freehanded little diamonds to each other the nails, trying to shade them to look 3D. I also added Catrice's 'Matte & More' which gave it a really interesting pinky sheen!

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this nail art, I do feel like it has a sort of...Disney Villain look look about it? Maybe Malicicent would wear this grungey nail art?!

What do you think of this nail art experiment? Yay or nay?!

Have a wonderful day, I'll catch you on Saturday!

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

Freehand Crying Girl & Raven Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? Did you do anything awesome, do share with me? My weekend was alright so far, Yesterday morning was the birthday party of Mr Bravo and I's nephew who just turned 1. Such a cutie. Sadly I didn't do much the rest of the day. My eye has randomly decided to swell up. I really can not describe the feeling but it is relentless. There's just no relief from the pain. I really wanted to do some more freehand but I just couldn't....However..

Today I have some nail art...that I am really, really, proud of. Yes you heard me correctly, I am pleased with something! Haha. I was just having one of those 'down' days. I was not in a very positive mood (I'm ok – I get that sometimes. I just ride it out then I'm fine again) and then I created this... Maybe I need to make more sad nail art, baha.

I started this manicure as I always do, with OPI's 'Nail Envy' base coat and once dry I applied two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. I added a lick of my Pro-FX top coat and proceeded with my acrylic paints. First of all I did a very simple water colour back ground. (You can see my tutorial video here) Everything else was created freehand with my favorite brushes. I played around with the finish, I sealed it all in with another layer of Pro-FX and then added Catrice's 'Matte & More' which gave it a really interesting pinky sheen.

Does your nail art ever reflect how you are feeling? What do you think of this manicure?

Have a beautiful day, I'll catch ya on Tuesday!

Love

Ithi