#31DC2015: Metallic aka Sugary Metal

Hi lovelies! I'm posting! Oh yeah! I'm winning! Oh yeah! I could do this all night! Oh yeah! Ok rather not because someone just picked up a pan! Oh yeah!

#31DC2015: Metallic 

Yeah, I'm going to be honest...metallic made me its biatch! I had a pretty bad ass idea for this prompt until I realized "Oh yeah, certain chrome and metallic polishes are BRUSH STROKEY AS FRAK!". So I called it a night. After work today though I was pretty psyched! I remembered I have a pretty killer silver chrome-ish polish and some colors I've been wanting to pair with silver for a while now so hence this mani was born.

This is a very basic mani. I started out with 2 coats of Tip Top Nail Addict Aluminum as my base. I then went in with Tip Top Nail Chic Peach Crisp and Tip Top Nail Chic Cha Cha Cha to make the sugar spun strings.

 

Is this metallic enough? IS THIS METAL ENOUGH?? *head bangs hair to mad guitar riff*

Lots of mad love...

Out the vault: Skulls and Roses V.2

Hi lovelies! Frak me, it is hot as Hades here at the moment but you know what?? I’m not going to complain! This summer can keep its sweet hot butt around for as long as possible. When I’m on honeymoon I want plenty of sun and sea! So no, I will embrace this sweaty goodness I am living in at the moment and day dream of ice cold pin-coladas...Hmmmm...okay, it’s not working. I need an air conditioner!

Today I’m showing off some nails that have been floating around in my vault for a while now but since my nail break on my “pretty” hand (pretty dumb if you ask me) is growing at the slowest pace EVER, I have no choice but to resort to some of my older works.

I started out by laying down a good coat of WOW Nail Polish #393 as my base. With my thin nail art brush and Sinful Colors Snow Me White I then made the shape of a skull on my ring finger and filled in the details with WOW Nail Polish #393, a dotting tool and again my thin nail art brush. The roses and leafs on all my fingers I did using Tip Top Nail Addict Secret Road, Tip Top Nail Chic Red Rendezvous, Sinful Colors Pistache and China Glaze Starboard.

I really hope you guys like this look. I really am drawn to it but I might be biased because SKULLS! Hopefully my lil nail will be grown a bit better soon and I can show some fresh material. I am DYING to do some proper nail art again.

Lots of mad love...

Stamping Decal Method Tutorial

Hi lovelies! Heck, I’ve just had one of THOSE past few days. My days in general weren’t bad! Not at all! It’s just like some people were born with a talent to completely ruin it for you with their negativity and crap attitudes. People like that, you suck! Seriously! Buuuuut I decided to not let it get to me because I had an amazing weekend! Not only did I get to hang out with 2 of my closest friends the whole long weekend but I met the most amazing ladies at the Johannesburg Bloggers Who Bless meet-up on Saturday! I truly felt blessed in every sense when I left there and I can’t wait for the next meet-up! Ladies, you ROCK!

Now, on to some nail art. Today is truly a first for my little blog because it’s going to be my very first pictorial/tutorial on Madness!! I’ve done a few for Heather at Femme Lifestyle but I decided it’s high time I do a tutorial for my own little space. I decided to go with the decal stamping method because I got quite a few requests for it after I did it in THIS post. Before we go on though, I unfortunately do not know who was the first person who came up with this technique but first my exposure to it was through Nailz Craze. I will also put up a link to her tutorial at the end of this post, just in case you could do with someone else’s perspective on this technique.

You’ll need:  
- Stamping Plate
- Stamper with rubber end
- Thin nail art brush
- Clear nail polish
- Few colors of nail polish of your choice
- Tweezer
- Top Coat
- Cleanup brush  
- Acetone

Click on Pictorial to make it larger.

Step 1 – 2: Start by picking up the image of your choice from a stamping plate and wait for it to dry. I used Bundle Monster plate BM-319.
 
Step 3:
Using nail polish colors of your choice, fill in the negative spaces with the thin nail art brush and wait for it to dry. The colors I used was China Glaze Make An Entrance and Tip Top Nail Addict Aliminium.

Step 4:
Lay down a generous layer of top coat over your filled in image and wait for it to dry properly! I like to use Essence Gel-Look Top Coat because it’s a bit thicker than your normal topcoat. I also leave it for about 2hours so I know the decal is properly set but I'm sure 30mins would be enough.

Step 5:
Using your tweezer, lift the decal slowly off of the stamper’s base.
 
Step 6:
Lay down a thin coat of top coat down over the nail you want to add the decal to. Leave it until it’s feeling slightly tacky and then lay down the decal over the nail. Using a light touch, smooth the decal down onto the nail and give it proper time to dry.

Step 7:
Using your clean up brush and some acetone, clean away the excess of the decal and lay down a coat of your favourite top coat to smooth it all out. Le viola, you are done! Side Tip: Pre-cutting your decal to the shape of your nail is an awesome idea, which is only something that dawned on me now *facepalm*. Or use small nail scissors to cut off most of the excess before you start the acetone clean up.  

Phew, long post! I do apologize for that but I hope you found this useful! This is one of my favorite techniques and it’s a great way to spice up conventional stamping. Like I said, Nail Craze is the first place where I saw this done so for her tutorial, click HERE.

Lots of mad love...

Soft Skittlette

Hi there lovelies! Heck, you know you are tired when you start a blog post with “To whom it may concern”! I don’t know if I should laugh or face palm myself. Laugh I think is the best option at the moment...I might just miss myself with the facepalm! That being said, we have a public holiday on Friday so hopefully I will catch up on the Zzzz’s that I missed out on this past weekend. But while we’re in the week, let’s enjoy the days that we have. 

Today’s mani isn’t something I do often because I’m not really the soft girly type but man, did I love the results!

I started by laying down 2 coats of Tip Top Nail Chic Meringue Surprise on my index finger and my pinky, 1 coat of Tip Top Nail Addict Aluminium  on my middle finger and 3 coats of Tip Top Nail Chic Cream Puff on my ring finger. I then stamped on my index finger and pinky with Nubar Silver Mist and Bundle Monster plate BM-423. To finish off the look, I added 1 coat of Avon Color Trend Silver Plated on my ring finger.

Can I love my own mani, even if it’s a super simple one? Because I love this! Don’t ask me why because it is completely not something I would wear every day! TOO DAMN SOFT...or pink...I'll get back to you on that one! It also made me fall in love with Tip Top Nail Addict Aluminium, which I never thought would happen since I have an immense dislike for foil finish nail polishes but heck, she took my breath away! I love it when my hobby can still surprise me!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colors you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige! 

Lots of mad love...  

 

Movember...Like a Dad Sir!

Hi there lovelies! Can you believe it? It's Wednesday! Wednesdays are always good right? It's when you realize you are halfway through the work week and that sounds pretty freaking awesome to me! Not “Friday” awesome, but awesome none the less.

Today I'm continuing with my Movember mani's saga. I know that at the moment the mani's I am posting are not making a lot of sense but I will explain on Friday why I decided on all these different mani's. For now just see it as I am having tons of fun painting moustaches on my nails and go with it! Also, remember to support your man in his Mo-journey! If you would like to find out more info regarding the cause of Movember, you can check out this LINK.

My mani that I am posting today is kind of something I wanted to do on Fathers Day but never got around to, so I decided it will go perfect with this months theme. Movember...Like a Dad sir...

I started out by laying down 2 coats of Essence Cafe Ole on all my nails. When this was dry I placed some striping tape over my pinky and index finger and layed down a thick coat of Essence Edward, making sure I peeled off the striping tape immediately after I put the polish on each finger.

On my middle finger, I made a little moustache using Tip Top Nail Addict Coffee Bean and a thin nail art brush. To finish off the mani, I layed down a coat of Essence Bella over my ring finger and thumb.

I really liked how this came out but was also curious to see what it would look like matte so I layed down a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic and I was actually not disappointed!

I love how the matte topcoat makes the nails with the glitter on look like egg shells! Glitter and matte – definitely a combo I am trying again very soon!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colors you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige! 

Lots of mad love...

#MTVnailChallenge: 3. Yellow & Animal Print

Good morning loves! Knowing you guys, you are probably all super rocking so I'm not even going to ask! So let's just get right into it, shall we?

Firstly, we have three people that have joined us in the #MTVnailChallenge! *gasp* We are taking over the world people! Kicking ass and painting nails! Yeah! So just giving a shout out and a warm fuzzie “Welcome!” to Megan from Mama Zombie Mumbles, Tyler from Polished Tickles & Beauty and Jade from Passion For Polish. Please go check these ladies out to see what they have come up with so far!

3 . Yellow & Animal Print

Nail Polishes used:

• Tip Top Nail Chic Lemon Fuel
• Tip Top Nail Chic Sun Kissed
• Tip Top Nail Addict Coffee Bean

Tools Used:

• Thin nail art brush

I kind of struggled to come up with an idea for this theme! I didn't want to do any more leopard print or tiger/zebra print for now because I've done both quite recently, even though I could've brought in some sick color combinations with leopard print and yellow (Can you say “pastel”?!) so I decided to go for a simple giraffe mani!

I started out by laying down 2 coats of Tip Top Lemon Fuel. When this was dry I just added 1 coat of Tip Top Sun Kissed over the base to make it pop nicely! I went in with Tip Top Coffee Bean and my thin nail art brush, which is dying on me by the way *sobs* and made the outline for the giraffe prints. Then I just filled them in using the same brush and Tip Top Coffee Bean. To make it look a bit neater, I just went in again with the thin nail art brush and Tip Top Sun Kissed between some of lines.

I don't mind how this came out but in my mind it could've been a whole lot better and neater! But practise makes perfect! So off to the drawing board (or nail beds) we go again!

Please go have a looksie at all the other girls attempts today! You will not be sorry, their work is always spot on and gorgeous!

For The Love Of Nail Art

Ordinary Misfit

Mama Zombie Mumbles

Polished Tickles & Beauty

Passion For Polish

If you would like me to swatch any of the colours you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige!

Lots of mad love...

Tip Top Nail Art Concept: Saran Wrap Nail Art

Hi there lovelies! Hope everyone had a great weekend! I had a pretty decent one. Was just irritated and annoyed because I'm struggling a bit with a bad skin allergy and it's really just making me feel crappy and out of it. Had to go for blood-tests today and I was TERRIFIED! But I survived...WIN! And this is my happy place so I won't let it get me down!

Before I get into today's post, I have a little bit of news. I will be taking part in a nail art challenge called the “M.T.V. Challenge” with For The Love Of Nail Art and Ordinary Misfit for the next few weeks. It's a combination of two of the categories from the “31 Day Challenge” that a lot of bloggers are attempting at the moment but it's just quite a bit shorter. If you would like more information on the challenge or would like to join us, you can read about it HERE.

Now on to le good stuff...

I've been taking part here and there where I can in the Tip Top South Africa Nail art concept for the past few weeks and it has really been a blast! I took part again this week and the concept was Saran Wrap nail art. When I saw the technique, the first thing I though was “water”. Also, I've really been missing Durban a lot lately so I decided to take the mani from there...

Nail Polishes used:

• Tip Top Nail Chic Black Forest
• Tip Top Nail Chic We Have An Agreen Mint
• Tip Top Nail Chic Blue Meets Green
• Tip Top Nail Chic Cha Cha Cha
• Tip Top Nail Chic Meringue Surprise
• Tip Top Nail Addict Cafe Cafe
• Tip Top Nail Addict Secret Road

Tools Used:

• Small thin nail art brush
  
  
  
  

  

  From Left to Right:
  We Have An Agreen Mint, Blue Meets Green, Cha Cha Cha

  
  
  
  
  Left to Right:
  Meringue Surprise, Secret Road, Cafe Cafe
  
  
  
  
  

I started out by laying down 2 coats of Tip Top Nail Chic Blue Meets Green. This next step I did finger by finger. When this was dry, I layed down a thin coat of Tip Top Nail Chic Cha Cha Cha and immediately went and pushed up and down lightly with a crumbled piece of saran wrap over it.

I went in with a thin nail art brush and drew the basic shapes of the shells and starfish with Tip Top Nail Chic Black Forest like I saw in this tutorial over at Coewless Nails. When the shapes were dry, I filled them in with the various colours and the nail art brush. To finish the shells and starfish off, I just lined them all again with the nail art brush and Tip Top Nail Chic Black Forest.

This mani made me feel so happy! Had a little bit of the sea on my nails and it definitely reminded me of summer, sun and fun!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colours you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige!

Lots of mad love...

Tip Top Nail Art Concept: Lace

Hi there lovelies! I hope everybody is feeling good and happy because I am! I have no idea why, but I am just Spongebob today! And it's a Monday! Who has ever felt happy on a freaking Monday? But I am...and I like it! I think it has to do with the fact that we are very close to my favorite time of the year. From September to about end December is probably the most awesome time of the year to me. But we'll talk about that in more detail some other time...

On to today's post...

As you probably saw last week Monday, it was the first week that I took part in Tip Top Nails South Africa's Art Concept. This weeks concept was a little bit more simple in the sense of it didn't involve freehand nail art but for some reason, I found it pretty tricky!

The concept for this week was Lace. Not “paint lace on your nails” because that I could probably do with a bit of effort and a steady hand. This was “take a piece of lace and stick it on your nails”. Easy peasy right?? Wrong! Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit. It's wasn't hard. I just made it hard for myself! The lace I chose was a little too thick, it was crumbled up when I found it so it kept on lifting when I pushed it down on the nail and with all the moving and sticking down of the lace, I pretty much ruined  the polish underneath so a few I had to redo. In the words of Sweet Brown...Ain't nobody got time for that!

Nail Polishes used:

• Tip Top French Manicure White

Tools Used:

• Tweezer
• Scissors

Other:

• Lace, pre-cut to the shape of your nails

I started off by laying down 3 coats of  Tip Top French Manicure White. When this was dry, I layed down a thin coat of top coat and placed the lace over the wet top coat. In hindsight, I should have probably waited till the top coat felt tacky before I placed the lace but hey, so you learn! When this was properly dry, I added a good amount of top coat to seal the lace.

Overall, I didn't mind how it looked! The only thing that really put me off this mani was the texture! Liquid Sand doesn't have anything on this! Once you add the topcoat, it pretty much feels horrendous when it rubs against anything else...especially bedding! And with the lace being a bit thick, a second coat did not help at all! But the look is pretty neat so I might just try it again sometime! 

Lots of mad love...

OPI Jade Is The New Black Swatch

Hi there lovelies! How are you? Sorry I have been a bit absent from my twitter feed and life in general. Doing month-end at work at the moment so I am exhausted come evening. Most of it is spent on the couch either watching TV or swearing at some new enemy I am struggling to defeat in Alice: Madness Returns (awwe, what a nice name!). Well, not really swearing but more like these funny floppy arm movements I do paired with zombie sounds. Yes, I am that tired!

Now for the reason why you are actually here...

In the beginning of July I was lucky enough to be able to make it to Twincare International's "Christmas in July" sale in Johannesburg. As most frustrated nail polish lovers in South Africa know, brands like OPI are very hard to find and when you do find them, they are freaking expensive! OPI goes for around R130.00 (approx. $13) in salons and by pure principal, I won't ever buy a nail polish if it's that expensive. But at the Twincare sale I was able to pick up a few of these beauties and some great mini packs for R50.00 each (approx. $5). WIN!

Today I'm swatching one of those beauties. I am a huge fan of greens and blues so naturally when I saw OPI Jade Is The New Black at the sale, my heart skipped a beat or twenty!

OPI Jade Is The New Black was part of OPI's 2010 Hong Kong Collection and as far as I know, it was added to their core collection. It is a beautiful soft green which I wouldn't describe as dull or dusty, but more as muted but fresh (if that makes any sense).

It was opaque in two easy coats. All the swatch photos were taken without a topcoat so, as you can see, it dries with quite a good shine. I adore this color! It is truly a unique green that I can see myself having tons of fun with in the future! And greeeeeen! *swoon* So pretty!

Of course I couldn't leave this beautiful color alone so I put down two pieces of striping tape over all my nails and layed down a coat of Catrice Hugo Moss between the spaces, pulling off the tape immediately. Then I went in with a small dotting tool and made polka dots on the one side of the line with Tip Top Nail Addict Envy. Lil side note: I can not wait to swatch Tip Top Nail Addict Envy for you! This polish is gorgeous!

OPI Jade Is The New Black is one of those polishes you need to get if you love unique colors. Good shine, decent drying time and great opacity! I am so happy I picked up this color and would recommend it to anyone if they are able to get their hands on it!

Lots of mad love