Christmas-y Polar Bear And Penguins - Freehand Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you today? Can you believe its only 4 days until Christmas? Are you feeling excited?! I sure am! Today I have a freehand design for you, very appropriate for this time of year. My inspiration came from thisreally cute Pin on Pinterest. When I saw it I just knew I wanted to try and recreate it!

I also decided to enter this into the Born Pretty Store's xmas nail contest - My entry is #197 - there is currently 386 entries as I am writing this, what a turn out!

For this manicure I began with two coats of Nails Inc's 'Colville Mews' and once dry began to create a gradient using Barry M's 'Sky Blue' and HD Nails #3. I added a thin coat of Zoya's 'Maisie' (God I love this flaky so hard, I've almost killed the bottle) and applied my Catrice gel effect top coat.

Once everything was entirely dry I began to create my little friends with acrylic paint and my favorite bamboo brush. Finally I sealed them all in with a final layer of Catrice top coat and Barry M's matte top coat.

I'm ok about how this turned out. My only issue is that you can't see Mr Bears back foot so well which is a shame since it was all cute and pinky..and flooffy...

What do you think of my gift giving penguins? Are you chilled for Christmas or are you hectically trying to get everything ready?

Have a wonderful day!

Love

Ithi

Mixed Color Shiny/Matte Glitter Powder Nail Art Decoration - Born Pretty Store Review

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

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? Are you ready for the weekend? It looks like a busy one for me with little painting time but I'm excited to spend time with my family. Today I have a really interesting glitter to show you from The Born Pretty Store. It's not what I'd call a typical glitter, you'll see what I mean. This is 'Mixed Color Shiny/Matte Glitter Powder Nail Art Decoration' in colours 1311.

Get 10% off any Born Pretty Store orders by using the coupon code: DRX31

Thumb with top coat - What do you prefer? With or without topcoat?

Click to enlarge.

This glitter is so different from what I had expected, not in a bad way but it is very interesting to look at. I had expected solid pieces of shiny coloured glitter, ya know, traditional glitter but the outcome was very different. The powder pot size is approximately 10ml and is filled generously with the powder.

When I first saw this glitter I noticed it incredibly small and feels grainy like sand. It actually looks like grains of sugar as they do catch the light very nicely. I was really in love with the combination of colours going through this powder, pinks, yellows, blues. It almost makes me think of pretty cake toppers or birthday parties!
 

Freehand Mousey Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend? Did you do anything nice? Today I have some more animal nail art for you – I like my animals :) I have to warn you this is one of the manicures I created while my eye was puffy so I had very blurry vision! I know I say it a lot... But I really really really, most certainly hate this manicure. It's not even a small amount of dislike..

 

I began with my thumb, middle and ring finger by applying two coats of Nails Inc's 'Colville Mews' and created my mice with acrylic paints and my bamboo brush. On my remaining fingers I created a gradient using Catrice's 'My Yellow Fellow' and NYC's 'NY Taxi'. I then used my acrylics again to create some holey looking parts and chewed edges to hopefully look like cheese.

I do wish my whole mouse had come out a little neater looking but is he at least a tiny bit cute?

Do you like having animal inspired nails? Do you prefer animal patterns or whole pictures?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Love

Ithi

Glamour In The Nude

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today?  Today I have a really glitzy and glamorous manicure which was actually inspired by my bestie Andreea from Ditta Nail Art. Andreea created the most gorgeous purple manicure where one of the nails was accented and entirely filled with studs. I'd seen the style before but had never been a fan... Until I saw Andreea's manicure. Then I knew I had to try it out at least once!

I hate to ruin the lovely positive note but I feel like I should share this...

I really want to apologise to you guys for not commenting as I should, or used to. Things are not so great here and even my passion for painting has taken a dive – I just can not get anything right. Luckily I have at least 12 posts backed up. My Granddad back in England who is 99 is very sick - The plan was to go back to England in September for his 100^th birthday. For now I'm stuck here in Holland... There's not a lot I can do if something happens, I don't have the funds to travel back and I am pretty sick with worry. My eyes have done that weird thing where they swell up and my IBS is increased with stress. My love for painting... where is it? I thought I could at least use that to take my mind off of things.. but its not there for me. I really hope you can understand that I am not myself right now, I'll get things into order and hope I can be a better blogging friend soon.

For this manicure I began with three coats of Nails Inc's 'Colville Mews' and once completely dry I added my Barry M top coat. I began frantically adding studs with my trusty pointy tweezers to my ring finger quickly before the top coat dried. I also added a few flower shaped gems to the other nails just to tie it all together.

Do you think I did Andreea's manicure justice? How do you like this studded mani with a nude base?

Have a beautiful day!

Love

Ithi

Awesome Petal Design Stamping Plate BP-55 Born Pretty Store Review

*This item was sent to me to review but as always will contain my unbiased, full and honest opinion.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you today? I hope you'll have a fantastic weekend, whatever you plans are! I'm going to be ordering plane tickets for me and Mr Bravo to go back to see my family in May! I'm excited, sometimes it is too far in between seeing everyone. Today I have another stamping plate to show you from The Born PrettyStore, This is 'Awesome Petal Design, BP-55'.

You can get a 10% discount on ALL items when you use the coupon code: DRX31

The Plummy Pink Feather

Allo polish Pals

How are you today? I hope your excited for the weekend – will you be doing anything nice or taking the chillaxed approach? We're into our last week in England next week ~ boo. That does make me sad how quickly time goes but I'll enjoy this coming week. Thank you so much for all your kind and supportive words in my last post, you guys are amazing and it really meant a lot to me. I'm doing ok now and crying less, its still hard but I am keeping busy as possible so I don't think too much. Today I have a simple creation that I am really not fond of... Sadly with everything that has gone on I've not been able to create too much new nail art and I wasn't pleased with the out come of this but anyway...

For this manicure I used Nails Inc's 'Kensington High Street' on all my nails except my ring nail and created a gradient by adding China Glaze's 'Fly' to the tips. I finished these nails by simply adding a candy stud from The BornPretty Store. (Check to the left for a 10% discount on all their items) On my ring finger I applied two coats of 'Fly' and applied a pink feather on top.

I've worn feathers before but I am not too happy with the outcome of this... I don't think my feather placement was too good but I also think I should have used a lighter base colour – That said I don't have all my polishes to chose from so I did the best with what I could, so nerr :P

What do you guys think of this manicure? Have you worn a real feather on your nails; What is your opinion on this nail art style?

I'll be posting again as soon as I can get some time to create something half decent (Maybe I have my vacation head on because I am not creating things I am happy with at all!) I'm off to paint my sister's nails now :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Love

Ithi

Fools Gold

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing? I'm back in Holland safe and sound, we had a wonderful time. I am a little home sick at the moment so I have been keeping very busy! I am excited to be back blogging though, I missed you guys! Today I have a very simple look for you.

I have to explain the title, I remember being a kid at school and seeing 'fool's gold' which is imitation gold. I remember lots of children really thinking it was real gold nuggets! I still think that is cute and the flakes really do remind me of that!

On all fingers expect my ring finger I applied two coats of W7's Black and added a single generous coat of Nail Inc's 'Fleat Street'. On my ring finger I started with two coats of my favourite gold – Model's Own 'Gold Rush'. I then added diagonal and straight lines using tape which I then added W7's Black on the top with Models Own Pro Matte top coat. I wanted to get a good contrast between the beautiful gold and matte black!

What do you guys think of this look? Have you opted for a black and gold manicure before?

Have a great day!

Love

Ithi

Freehand Silvery-Star Abstract With Gradient

Allo polish Pals!

Have you had a good weekend? I had a fantastic time yesterday with my Partner visiting the local market. The weather was just perfect, Holland is beautiful! I really wish I had taken my camera ~ I'm so forgetful lol. Also I think Saturday was the first time in my life I've ever worn sunglasses. How crazy is that?! Today I have a freehand silvery star abstract manicure to show you.

I started with one coat of Rimmel's 'Black out' and Paris Memories '225' on my thumb, index and ring finger and added a gradient using Essence 'I'm The Boss!' and Nails Inc 'Regents Park' on the tips. I finished my thumb nail by applying one star gem and a few circle gems trailing off from it. On my middle and pinkie fingers I applied two coats of Nails Inc 'Regents Park' and drew a freehand abstract design with stars using Mash nail art pen in black. I am really happy with how striking this is, its not perfect but it does stand out very well! 

A few years back when I was art crazy (You can see my deviant gallery here which contains traditional, digital and nail art) I used to love doing flowy star abstracts. Sometimes in black and greys, sometimes with stupidly bright colours! So there's my inspiration.

I used to do alot of abstract! 

What do you guys think of this silvery abstract manicure? Have you sported any gorgeous silver's lately?

Hope you had a great weekend also! As always, I appreciate your comments and I like to see what you think about my creations, feel free to leave a comment :)

Love

Ithi

Ice Queen Nails.

Happy Sunday polish Pals!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Just a quick little post today on themed 'ice queen nails' I'm not too happy with the results as my first idea's had to be altered. I will explain :)

Ice Queen Nails

Nails Inc - Covent Garden Market Swatch & Review

Allo polish pals!

Hows this Thursday treating you? To my American polish addictee's, I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Thanks Giving. Crazy times here in my corner of England as once again we've had incredibly strong winds (for England, anyway) and none stop rain. The garden is now like 3ft under water and start of my road is flooded over.

Today I am bring you a review of a glitter polish from Nails Inc, Covent Garden Market.

The Most Baffling Glitter I've Ever Met.

I have to warn you.. This is a very mixed review. With some very unsightly pictures but that’s what reviews are for right, honest opinions!

A Sweet For My Sweet

Hi polish Pals!

Hows your weekend treating you? Do you have many plans? I am looking forward to having family over for Sunday lunch tomorrow. Today’s mani is a soft and gentle sweety look. I've wanted to do something love-related for a while however my previous attempts had stamps. So.. I finally came up with this. Its a sweet for my sweet. I am lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life.

A love that makes you feel as light as air.