ORLY Swirls

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing? Happy Hump day to you, say they say.

I sure hope you guys are doing better than me, I've done so well not to receive and colds or flu in about a year, I think. This week.. not so lucky. My niece and nephew came over for lunch on Sunday and decided to leave Auntie Ithi the awesome gift of a cold – by Sunday night it was taking hold. Besides that everything else is going well, I'm still job hunting (there just isn't much going..) but in the mean time I am working on future posts so I will have plenty to post when I can start working again.

Today's manicure is one you might not expect, sometimes I just don't feel like painting freehand – a good example of that is feeling poorly so I decided a little while ago to make myself some decals, decals are great for when you want easy nail art but are short on time as you can make them before and the application is pretty easy once you've done it a few times.

Freehand Butterfly Fibromyalgia Awareness Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? Since we're half way through the week, gimme a little update :) I love to know you are all doing well.

Today's nail art is prompted by the weekly challenge over on Tiny Canvas although its also for a really special cause, we are creating awareness nails for Fibromyagia syndrome (Also known as FMS) which is a long term condition that causes pain all over the body and suffers can also experience increased sensitivity to pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and issues with memory and mood.

I feel like its one of those syndromes that many may not have heard of but for the suffer it is a battle each and every day – in our day to day lives we don't always know or realise what others are going through so awareness is key if we want to be understanding and supportive! :)

If you would like more information on this syndrome please check out this very useful website.

 

Symbols most regularly used for Fibromyagia awareness are butterflies and purple ribbons. I decided to go for the butterflies because while they are beautiful, they are delicate – but they are also very powerful and strong insects so I felt like that was fitting. No matter the pain of the sufferer they are strong because of the challenges they must face each and everyday.

For this manicure I began with a coat of my NYC peel off base coat (ideal when using any gel related products. F.NO do I want to spend 9 hours trying to remove gel ;) Pardon me.

Once this had turned transparent I applied two coats of my Astra purple. Once this had dried I added a coat of BlueSky gel top coat which after cured has the tacky layer, I then pressed some loose glitters on top and sealed again with another layer of top coat. I then proceeded to add my freehand design and completed this manicure with my Pro-FX regular top coat and eventually tried it in matte too.

I have to say.. I am having fun playing with gel products lately, I love how deep the sparkles are when using gel, it seems to encapsulate them!

Have you aware of Fibromyagia? What do you think of my glittery butterfly manicure?

Thank you so much for visiting today, my friends. I hope you have a wonderful day.

I'll be back on Saturday with a little of this to look forward to:

Love,

Ithi

#RememberLiam - Blue & White for Liam

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? I hope you are doing great.

Today's nail art comes with a more serious backstory. Recently the lovely Dani of Tiny Canvas appealed to TC members to come forward with blue and white manicures with a blue ribbon to raise awareness and support on a cause I just couldn't ignore and many others joined in too all in the hope of shining a light on something so serious that happens far more often than it ever should.

#RememberLiam was created to remember a beautiful little boy who recently and very tragically lost his life due to a drink driver. Liam was only 15 months old and was sadly stolen from life far too soon. My heart goes out to his family and I hope this sweet boy is now in peace.

While having a drink or two is fine... making the decision to get behind a wheel is never ok, no matter how sure you are that you feel fine and in control. It's one thing to put your own life at risk but its another to put at risk everyone you cross. I hope one day it is never possible to start a car while under the influence.

While Liam's tale is so tragic it is not isolated; And its not always just children who are the victim's. My heart goes out to all those who lost their lives in the hands of those incapable of making wise decisions, for all the family and friends who had to suffer for such an unnecessary reason. Any drink driving or hit and run victims deserve to be remembered.

The awareness is AGAINST drink driving. FOR organ donation. You can show your support and learn more by finding #RememberLiam on Instagram.

For this post I wont go into product details but if you have any questions you are welcome to ask.

I decided to go for hearts because I wanted to send some love to all those suffering, I know it seems cheesy.. But it felt right for this manicure.

For those wishing to participate and put a manicure forward for the support of Liam and his family,

Please visit @fbtinycanvas on IG where you can learn more.

What do you think of this manicure? Have you done support/awareness nails before, what did you support?

Thank you for visiting, guys! I hope you have a beautiful day, I'll catch you again on Thursday.

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

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 Acrylic-Gradient Rainbow Swirls!

Allo polish Pals!

How are we all doing today? Happy Tuesday to you!  Have you been up to anything exciting so far this week? I've had some more bike adventures, finding new places and exploring more than I was able to previously. Me and Doris-Rosita are getting a long just great! I've also been playing with more Nicole Diary water decals and combining stamping with other techniques! FUN!

Today I am showing you a manicure that was created a few weeks ago, I really had fun with this, taking pictures of it in its many stages. It may look pretty simple but I can assure you a lot of hard work went into this one. I tried to get proper gradients through all the colours inside the swirls, not an easy job with such little room. There are a few places where the colours don't blend seamlessly but I'd say its a pretty fine effort considering! 

For this manicure I began with my usual base coat, OPI's 'Nail Envy' and from there applied two coats of Essence's 'Rebel At heart' and once dry I created some circles randomly along my nails with white acrylic paint. I began to fill these in with 'slices' of colour, adding red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink and purple slices to each circle. Next came the time consuming task of trying to blend each of the colours together to create a coloured wheel. I then outlined my coloured balls and added a swirl to the center of each one. I finished up by adding some random lines here and there, applying my Pro-FX top coat to seal it all in and finally.. just because I can – added a matte top coat (I desperately need a new one, argh!)

To your left you can see how this started out, step one looks kinda like pizza..or sushi, baha. I added a trianlge of each colour to the circles, in the next picture you can see I tried to blend all those colours together in a sort of 'prism' rainbowy way.


So I really like how this turned out, its.. different; I know I seem to have an obsession with rainbows lately, I'm not sure what's happened but they seem to come easy!

What do you think of my rainbow swirls? Are you a fan of rainbow nails?

Have a wonderful day, come stop by on Thursday for more nail art fun!

Love

Ithi

Happy New Years Eve From Ithinity Beauty!

Allo polish Pals!

Happy New Years Eve to you all! Do you have anything exciting plans to see in the new year?

I'd like to say thank you to those who have visited or commented on my blog in the past year, all the kind comments and support makes blogging such a treasured thing in my life. You really are a great bunch! I look forward to the next year of blogging, visiting your blogs and making new friends!
I wish that this year brings you all the things you truly wish for, that you and your families have a very happy and healthy year ahead. I am sending so much love to you all :)

This past year wasn't an especially great one for me. I found it really hard at times but I did find being here a great way to keep myself motivated and to keep my head above the water. I'm also glad with my painting improvements from the past year, there are certain manicures I was sure I just couldn't do and surprised myself with the outcome.

I can't say I have much in the way of resolutions this year. This time last year I vowed that by this New Years I'd have quit smoking. And I have.  I don't even crave or think about smoking now.  If you're thinking of quitting you'll be surprised by how much time you gain when you quit. That's one of the biggest things I noticed. This year I'll work on getting those extra pounds off so I can go back to my confident old self.  I'll also do my best to be a calmer person because I am such a worrier. Are you committing to any changes for the new year?

For my New Years manicure, I decided to go a little more subdued and grown up than last years attempt which was a glitter-bomb mess.

Have a fabulous time celebrating. If you have any traditions do let me know, I am always interested to find out how people do things!

Most importantly - stay safe and have fun and I'll see you in the new year!

Love,

Ithi

Freehand Elemental Fox Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? Did you have a fun weekend?

Some of you may of seen this nail art if you follow me on facebook, but I know some of you might like to see some freehandedness.

This manicure was actually created for a nail art contest over at Minnie's blog, NailBees. Minnie throws some really cool contests that have such fun and creative themes. The theme for this challenge was animal nail art. As you guys know, I've done quite a lot of animal nail art in the past but it is seriously one of my favourite things to paint so it made sense to join in! So I decided to do a fox, I hope he at least looks like a fox..

For this manicure I began with two coats of Catrice's 'C(h)ome, Leon' and Jacava's 'Shawfield Street'.I created everything else with my acrylic paints. I wanted it to look sort of earthy and fiery all at the same time. I think the colours are quite fitting for fall, huh? I finished it all off with a luscious lick of Catrice's gel effect top coat.

What do you think of my elemental looking fox? Have you worn any fall inspired manicures yet?

Have a great day!

Love

Ithi

I Dream Of Unicorns - Freehand Nail Art

Allo polish Pals,

How are you today? Tell me... When you hear the words unicorn and nail art together, do you get excited? I had wanted to do some unicorn for so long but I knew I wanted to freehand it. I finally got around to it! This is actually the first of two horsey nail art manicures I have done – the second one is so so much better and I am really looking forward to sharing that one with you, but for now lets have some unicorn magic! 

For this manicure I began with two coats of Barry M's 'White' and created a gradient on top using Essie's A splash of Grenadine' and Rimmel's 'Wild-er-ness'. I added a coat of Barry M's 'Crystal Glaze' for a slightly rainbowy, glassy magical look and went about my unicorn using my Oumaxi acrylic paints and my beloved bamboo brush. On my remaining nails I added a few swirls and dots.

What do you think of this insanely girly manicure? Have you had mythical creature nails before?

Have an amazing day!

Love

Ithi

Freehand Mint Leaves On Cocoa

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? Happy Tuesday to you all! I can't say I've been up to much except the usual work outs and housework, and of course painting!

Today I have a freehand design to share with you that I created while I was in England (Now are you seeing how I became so organized with my post schedules?! - I'm happy if I have at least 13 posts ready to go) These are supposed to be mint leaves!

For this manicure I began with two coats of Barry M's 'Cocoa' and one dried began creating my mint leaves with my bamboo brush and Oumaxi paints. I decided to add some light blue swirls for a really jazzy looking manicure. I finished it off by smoothing it out with Catrice's top coat. I also tried this with a matte top coat because sometimes... I just think mint looks great matte!

I'm quite happy with this manicure but I do wish my swirls had been somewhat neater.

What do you think of my minty leafy manicure? What do you think of the chocolate and mint combination for food – good or bad?!

Have a beautiful day!

Love

Ithi

Colourful Mixed 3D Nail Art Studs - Born Pretty Store Review

*This item(s) was provided for me to review but as always this post will contain my full and honest opinion

Allo polish Pals,

How are you today? I hope you are looking forward to the weekend, are you doing anything nice?

I don't know if you guys have noticed my blogging pattern but I usually post every other day...Well tomorrow I have a post that isn't a post – lets call it a surprise so be sure to stop by tomorrow!

Today I am showing you another product from The Born Pretty Store. These are 'Mixed Bowknot Nail Studs Resin Colorful 3D Nail Decoration' – Phew that was a long name. This manicure is crazy and I like that!

Don't forget you can get 10% off your order at the Born Pretty Store when you use the coupon code DRX31

Born Pretty Store states that these studs will come in sizes 1mm-10mm so there's something for everyone if your not a fan of larger studs. The picture shown on the Born Pretty Store shows a variation to the studs I received – it looks like they are really randomly selected but I absolutely loved what was in my pot. I had beautiful 3D tear drops, Tiny cute bow ties, big pearly hearts and half beads, small crystal like studs, squares and rectangles and one beautiful white moustache. There was also three big beaded hollow heart shapes (You will see this in the picture featuring the studs, click read more)