Christmas Mani...kind of...

Hi lovelies! Am I the only one who has an absolute love/hate relationship with public holidays?? I love them! They are seriously awesome but it takes me about a week to get back into the full swing of things. Like it will feel like a Tuesday today but I know it is already Wednesday. This is probably going to go on till Saturday and guess what then? There is a whole lot of public holidays coming up next week but I don't mind them! Who minds Christmas day??
I decided to finally start joining in on some Christmas manis. The mani I have today doesn't look very Christmas-esque but when I saw Ordinary Misfit do THIS gorgeous stamping over a holograpic polish it immediately reminded me of gift wrapping and I just had to give it a go!

 
This is insanely simple! I started by laying down 2 coats of China Glaze DV8. When this was dry I stamped a full nail pattern using Tip Top Nails Cha Cha Cha and BM-319 (Bundle Monster 2012 set).

This mani didn't come out exactly as I envisioned but I liked it none the less! I like how the Tip Top Cha Cha Cha looks very subtle on the holographic base. Hopefully my next Christmas manis will look a bit more like ...well, Christmas!

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...

Christmas Tag

Hi lovelies! It's Wednesday! Wait, it is Wednesday isn't it?? I don't know, I am getting really confused with my days lately but after consulting trusty calender (also known as “Mom!”) I can definitely confirm it is Wednesday!...wow, I just wrote a whole intro regarding Wednesday! They should pay money for writing nonsense! I'd be rich!!!

I wasn't really planning on doing a post today but after seeing this Christmas tag on Art Evolve (by Ash) and being a huge sucker for the holidays already, I just had to do it! The questions marked with a * is questions Ash added to the tag and I decided I wanted to do them also. Like her, I'm not going to tag anyone specific but if you are going to do this tag, leave me a comment down below with a link to the post or answer it in the comment section! Would love to see your answers. Also, I am aware that I have been tagged in a few awards over the past few month and will try and do all of them over the next few weeks!

Do you prefer a real tree or synthetic?
I think if I stayed in the States or in Europe, I would've quite liked to have a real potted tree but being here in South Africa, I'm happy with our fake tree! It's not a very big one but it get's the job done!

You’re in a coffee shop, it is December what do you pick?
Well, it's summer here at the moment so I would probably go for Caramel Fudge Slo-Jo or a granadilla fruit shake. Oh who am I kidding! Even if it was winter I would still probably go for something cool. Not the biggest fan of hot drinks, except hot chocolate and Horlicks but I have to really feel like it at that moment.

What is your favourite colour scheme to decorate the tree?
At the moment, my mom decorates our tree so it is basically a smorgasbord of different colored decorations and lights but I think when I buy my own tree one day, I will probably go for a white tree and vary the color of the decorations every year...or make decorations out of old empty nail polish bottles and decorate my tree with that!

Giving or receiving?
I love giving! Seriously! My fiance always get's peeved off with me because even if we've already bought a gift for someone, I always want to add “something small” to it and add another “something small” to it so he kind of puts a stop to my plans there...that being said, who doesn't love receiving?!

To mince pie or not to?
Not! Mince pies are made of disappointment! It says “mince” in the name people! To me as a South African, this means meat! I don't want fruit in my pies! Noooo!!!...I apologies to my vegetarian friends but I really like meat!

Christmas Day fashion?
It's probably going to be hot as Hades so the lightest clothing possible. And my swimming costume because most of my afternoon will be spent in the pool.

Favourite Christmas song?
A much as I love music, this is a really hard question! I love so many Christmas songs! One of my all time favorites though has to be Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan with “Baby, it's cold outside”. It's not your conventional Christmas song but it just makes me think of warm cuddly Christmas romance and it's jazz people! Hmmm...so many feels!

Favourite Christmas film?
Funnily enough, I don't really have a favorite Christmas movie but lately (and even though it isn't really a Christmas movie) I have been loving “Rise of the Guardians” and it really makes me feel Christmassy. The fact that it is animated has nothing to do with it!...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Presents before or after lunch?
Pshhh, evening of the 24th! Yeah, you heard me! It used to be a minute past midnight on the morning of the 25th but since my sister Ann, has had two kiddies, we've made it a bit earlier! (Yeah! WINNING!)

What are your favourite holiday treats?*
Christmas cookies! Someone in our family always ends up baking cookies (well, all the ladies except me. I'm there for moral support!) so there is a crap load of different ones. Shortbread, ginger, buttermilk, Christmas Rocky Road (oh my soul, I want to bath in that stuff!)...it's epic people!

Favourite holiday crafts?*
Don't really have any but this year I want to try the whole nail polish balls going around! They are gorgeous!

When do you celebrate Christmas?*
Prezzies are opened on the 24th but we celebrate it on the 25th with a HUGE Christmas lunch.

What do you usually eat for Christmas dinner?*
Like I said, we do lunch but it usually consists of meat balls, cold chicken, stuffed turkey, gammon, lamb roast and a whole different bunch of salads. It's something of pure beauty!

What are some of your favourite Christmas memories? 

• We didn't really celebrate Christmas with gifts and a tree for a long time in my life so when I was in Grade 9, we finally got a tree again! I probably sat most of that holiday in front of that tree, staring at all the little decorations and the presents underneath the tree. I think it was also a bit of a comfort because our family were going through a really sad time in our life's and that tree kind of symbolized hope. Will always remember that first Christmas.
• My first Christmas with Dean (my fiance). I love treating people but it felt so nice to share it with someone who I loved on a different level than I love my family! And I was so excited about the gift that I got him so when he opened it and he absolutely loved it, it just made my day!
• I love how my nieces spaz out the evening before in excitement! It's kind of contagious because a few minutes later me and one of my sisters are jumping around all over the house, spazzing out ourselves in excitement! We're big ass kids okay! We're allowed!
• Having my butt kicked in Rummy or Sergeant Major. But its okay...I know I rule in 30 Seconds! So I come back with a glorious bang!

So that is me for the Christmas Tag. Please do it also and let me know! Sharing is caring and I would love to read about all your Christmas traditions and family fun times!

Lots of mad love...

Hey...hey...HEY! Late Movember post!

Hi Lovelies! Hell, it's been a heck of a time the past week and a half! While I was busy with my Movember saga (yes, that's the last time I posted. I'm sorry!) I decided to go apply for my Learners Licence because I need to be more mobile. Made my appointment on the 28th of November for the 3rd December not realizing the 3rd is actually the next week and I was going away over the weekend! That gave me two days to study! *facepalm* So all nail art plans went out the window and I crammed like I last did when I was writing my matric exams! But I passed! Whoooo! Now just got to actually start learning how to drive but that will happen in January when my driving school has openings again. The rest of last week though I just took things a bit slowly and did a crap load of swatching and a few art pieces. It was actually quite nice! But now I'm back and I am ready for December!

The nail art I have on today is actually one of the pieces that I had ready for the Movember Saga and yes, I know November is finished but I still wanted to post this mani. Played around with a bit of color and came up with this retro-ish Movember mani.

I started by laying down 2 coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White on all my nails. I then went in with a striping brush and added vertical lines across my middle and ring finger using Tip Top Nail Chic Solar Flare (orange), Tip Top Nail Chic Jazzberry Blue (blue), Tip Top Nail Chic Sexy Bikini (pink), Tip Top Nail Chic We Have An Agreen Mint (green) and China Glaze Are you Jelly? (purple). On my pinky, index finger and thumb I made a line of dots using the same colors as mentioned above, verticaly up the nail.

To finish up the mani I added a classic moustache to my middle fnger and a handle bars moustache (also known as a 70's mo) to my ring finger.

I liked how the mani came out! For some reason I really REALLY struggled with the moustaches and had to do so many touch ups in between with the different colors but eventually I was happy with it! I just added a thick layer of Seche Vite over it and it smoothed out any bumps beautifully!

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...

Movember...Like a Sir

Hi lovelies! *sings* It's Friiiiiiday, Friday, Gotta get down on Friiiiiday! ...Is that song stuck in your head now?? You're welcome! *dodges pans* Anyhoo, before anyone decides to do permanent damage to me go have a look at my Instagram page! “Your Instagram page, Thea?” Yes, my Instagram page! Okay, you wont see anything interesting there yet but I was just looking for a way to tell you guys that I am also on Instagram now! Whooooo! So yeah, follow me. It might just get interesting...somewhere along the line!

On to nail art though...

As most you probably know, November has been dubbed “Movember” or “No-Shave November” over the past few years to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancer. I think it's a great movement and the participation from most guys is actually amazing and really awe-inspiring! Sure, I might've half fainted when my fiance said “Maybe I should go for the handlebars look this year” but luckily he changed his mind and is just sporting a regular Mo and a bit of chin foliage. I decided though that I also wanted to join in the fun so for the last week of November I am going to post a few Mo-manis of my own. I will put up some more information regarding this cause as we go along over the next week. So join me as today we celebrate Movember...Like a sir!

I started out by laying down 2 coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White on all my nails. On my middle finger I made a “Like A Sir” rage-character using WOW Nail Polish #393 and the decal method. On my ring finger I then made a face silhouette: I made the monocle using a large and extra-large dotting tool. For the moustache I used a thin nail art brush and WOW Nail Polish #393.

To finish off the mani, I added 1 coat of China Glaze Glitz 'n Pieces over the white on my pinky, index finger and thumb.

Simple as that!

I have a huge love for meme's and rage-characters so I was really chuffed with how this mani turned out. China Glaze Glitz 'n Pieces also just goes so nicely with this theme and I am absolutely in love with this simple black and silver glitter bomb!

I really hope you enjoyed this mani and will join me over the next 3 posts as I celebrate and try help create awareness for this cause!

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...

Textured Nail Art

Hi there lovelies! Gosh, It's been over a week since I last posted! Not intentionally though. The PC screen died on me last week but all is sorted now and I can continue on my quest to take over the world! Muhuhahahaha So yeah, basically I post nail art again!

Today's mani is a little creation I came up with after I've seen a few textured nail art manis floating around the blogiverse and I love them! A little honorable mention I have to give is to Painted Fingertips! This lady knows exactly how to take texture nail art to a whole new level! If you ever need any inspiration in this field, definitely go take a look at her blog! Here is my little take on this type of art...

I started out by laying down 2 coats of OPI Atomic Orange. When this was dry, I placed some Sellotape over the base color to form the geometric shapes on my nails and layed down a thick coat of Essence Here's My Number over the open areas, peeling the tape off immediately before I moved on to the next nail.

At first I wasn't insanely happy with how this came out because when I swatched Essence Here's My Number, it dried looking quite a bit more gray than it did over the orange. But it did grow on me and I quite like the pattern that I made with the tape. ...Also, my better half to be said it reminded him of Deadpool and well, that just absolutely made me love it! I will definitely be doing some more textured nail art in the future!

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...

Water Marbling Equals HAPPY TIMES!

Hi there lovelies! It's Friday so everybody must be pretty excited! I know I am because my better half only works half day on a Saterday so I get to spend some extra time with him. Score ME! (Somebody just got some brownie points! *points thumbs at self*)

On a bit more serious note, this weekend is registration weekend for the upcoming South African Presidential Elections in 2014. Basically, if your aren’t registered or you moved towns after the last elections, you can go and register this weekend to be able to vote next year. I know a lot of people have a bit of a “Meh” attitude towards the South African Elections but it is literately the least a person can do to make a change in this country! So go for it! Register and be able to say, I did my part even if it's very small! For more info on where you can register in your area, you can check this LINK.

Now on to some less serious business but damn important if you live in my world! Nails!

I might be ever so slightly obsessed with water marbling again since the #MTVnailChallenge prompted us to do water marble in our last topic. So I played around with some more polish and came up with this skittlette mani.

On my thumb, middle and ring finger I layed down 2 coats of Sinful Colours Snow Me White. A white base really helps the colors that you use in your water marble to stand out. I used China Glaze Flyin' High and China Glaze Spontaneous to make the water marble.

On my pinky and index finger I simply layed down 2 coats of China Glaze Flyin' High and with my large ended dotting tool I just made two dots on the middle of those fingers with China Glaze Spontaneous.

I really liked how this came out! Teals and purples are some of my favorite colors so combining them just took me to my happy place!

I hope you guys have a spectacular funtastical weekend and whatever you do, keep it safe!

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...

Matte Black & Simple Stamping

Hi lovelies! It's Monday...how not awesome! But we are also going into the last 2 months of the year now so just put your heads down, focus on the job at hand and before you know it you'll be eating yourselves stuffed on gammon, trifles and all other yummy goodies over Christmas! Oh, and let's not forget the prezzies! SWEEEET!

Today I don't have a very long post, just a little something that I did quite a while ago with some matte black nail polish and some chrome stamping.

Nail Polishes used:

• OPI Obscurity
• Nubar Erratic Purple

Tools Used:

• Bundle Monster Plate BM11

This is an insanely simple mani! I layed down 2 coats of OPI Obscurity and then used BM11 and Nubar Erratic Purple to stamp on the vine pattern.

 

As simple as it is, I love chrome polishes over black! It makes the chrome really stand out and gives me a chance to wear some of my “old loves” (dark polishes). Do you have any chrome's you love? I'm on the lookout to add a few to my collection so personal recommendations are always awesome!

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...

Jack-O-Lantern Water Marble

Hi lovelies. Happy Tuesday! It feels so fresh and clean here in Pretoria because we had some lovely rain last night. Going to enjoy it while it lasts and before my skin goes “Hey! Lookie! Dust! And hey! Lookie again! A hive! Or five!”. Fun times people! Fun times!

Little bit of side news. I did a guest post and a Q&A for the lovely Heather from Femme Lifestyle a few weeks ago. My first ever tutorial people! Scary stuff! But maybe worth a look? Feel free to go check it out:

• Q&A Post 
• Tutorial

Today's mani was inspired by the current festivities in the air and the fact that every time I try a water marble mani, I have to try it again. I love the technique! It's a pain in the butt to do but the results are worth it!

Nail Polishes used:

• Tip Top Nail Chic Solar Flare
• WOW Nail Polish #393

Tools Used:

• Thin nail art brush

 

 

For my base I layed down 1 coat of Tip Top Nail Chic Solar Flare. I used WOW Nail Polish #393 and  Tip Top Nail Chic Solar Flare to make the water marble on all my nails except for my middle finger. On that I added another coat of  Tip Top Nail Chic Solar Flare and with the thin nail art brush and WOW Nail Polish #393 made my Jack-O-Lantern face.

In general, I really like how this came out...except for the stained cuticles. Orange and acetone are not friends people! They will team up and turn against you. Luckily it didn't bother me too much and I always enjoy playing around with the marbling! Worth the stains! 

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...