Nubar Rockin' the Garden & Essence Miss Universe

Here is Nubar Rockin' the Garden on the index, middle and pinky and Essence Miss Universe on ring finger. I sponged on Sally Hansen Celeb City before sponging Essence Miss Universe on the non-accent fingers and drew on flowers with acrylic paint (I think my brush was too thin so it looks rather feathery? -_-"). Lastly added a square stud surrounded by blue rhinestones on accent.

Please click read more for more pics.

Orly Plum Pixel with Innisfree 101 and 102

Simple sparkly mani here: Base is 2 coats of Orly Plum Pixel, a dense taupe glitter (tiny and larger hexes). Added Innisfree 102 2/3 of the nail and Innisfree 101 on the tips. I did add top coat over this but below is without:

Thanks for viewing!

Essence Ice Ice Baby + More than Words and Color Club Miss Bliss

I liked the combi of Essence Ice Ice Baby and Essence More than Words from my previous mani hence decided to do a full set with them this time. Also, had an urge to use the holo polishes from Color Club Halo Hues (which I have neglected after the first usages, oops), so sponged on Miss Bliss on the tips. Love the final look and makes me wanna bring out my holo polishes out again :)

Pls click read more for other pics.

Rainbow gradient with Orly, Essence, BYS topped with OPI Lights of Emerald City & Pirouette My Whistle

Happy Easter Sunday! Thought I would do a colorful mani for the occasion and hence the lengthy title :p

Used the following polishes, from left: Orly Prelude to a Kiss, Essence Peaches from Marble Mania, Essence Destination Sunshine from Ready for Boarding, Orly Jealous Much?, Essence Sure Azure and BYS Scented Pastel Purple

Below shows 2 coats before applying the gradients and glitter top coats.

Sure Azure is a light sky blue creme, Jealous Much a minty green creme, Destination Sunshine a pastel yellow creme (that doesn't clash with my skintone! :D), Peaches a pale orange jelly and Prelude to a Kiss a slightly peachy pink pastel. Destination Sunshine and Peaches will be better with 3 coats and Prelude to a Kiss probably as well since I found it quite streaky.

After apply the gradients with sponge, I put a coat of OPI Pirouette my Whistle. The glitter added to the mani but the hexes were not distinct enough for my liking hence I added OPI Lights of Emerald City after that. This time I turned the bottle upside down and shook it furiously before trying to fish for the white squares :p I must say I like it very much over the pastel gradient, especially with the iridescent squares.

Think I will keep this on for a couple of days ;)

Thanks for viewing!

Orly Miss Conduct with Innisfree nail polish 102 gradient tips

Colors used:
Base - Orly Miss Conduct
Tips and ring finger - Innisfree nail polish 102

Orly Miss Conduct is a beautiful polish, medium raspberry pink with scattered holographic shimmer. I had to get it once I saw its swatches :p Above is 2 coats.

Innisfree nail polish 102 appears pinker in the bottle (see bottle shot here) but looks plain silver on my nails, which is a disappointment :( But it is very dense and 2 coats were enough for full coverage. It has bigger pieces of pink glitter mixed with the fine glitter and this gives it a nice textured look :)

Above shows my final design with the cross and the stud on the ring finger under fluorescent lighting and below shows it in the sun but with the plainer ring finger. Do you prefer it plain or with the cross?

Thanks for viewing!

Snowy blue white gradient with Essence Hard to resist and stamped with BM323

Colors used:
Blue - Essence Hard to Resist
White - Golden Rose white
Glitter - Essence Prince Charming
Stamping polish - Konad White
Plate - BM323, BM318, BM213 and BM319

After using plate BM323, which stamped well in previous mani, I wanted to do a snowy look with it and I was really happy with the result :) Think I wore it for 5 days which is a record :p

This was near Christmas last year, so I guess I should be catching up to my current manis soon! haha...

Thanks for looking!

Essence Enchanted Fairy and You Belong to Me gradient stamped with BM308

Colours used:
Pink - Essence Enchanted Fairy
Blue - Essence You belong to me
Glitter - Essence Space Queen
Stamping polish - Konad white
Plate - BM308

Enchanted Fairy is a cool pink creme while You belong to me is a light aqua, though it looks a little darker here. Can't really see Space Queen in this pic but it is a fine multi colored glitter. The color combi ended up reminding me a little of Little Twin Stars, haha...

Thanks for looking!

Gradient with Max Factor Fantasy Fire and stamped with BM309

I was lucky and found Fantasy Fire during my Australia trip. There were only 2 left on the rack and I was tempted to get both as the bottle was tiny and this was afterall the highly raved Fantasy Fire! :p But I resisted and decided to let another lucky soul find it :)

Colours used:

Blues in base - Miki polishes

On top of blues - Max Factor Fantasy Fire (1 coat)

Stamping polish - Konad

Plate - BM309

Glitter - Essence Prince Charming

Sorry, but the pictures are totally not giving credit to Fantasy Fire and Prince Charming! :(

Fantasy Fire is really beautiful over the blue and I actually wore it plain for 2 days before getting itchy fingers and adding the stamping. Prince Charming was great with its tiny holographic glitter and larger blue hexes, very sparkly and overall, I was quite happy how this turned out :)

Thanks for looking!

Metallic pink gold gradient - Sally Hansen Pink Satin and Golden-I

Colours used:
Pink - Sally Hansen Pink Satin
Gold - Sally Hansen Golden-I
Glitter - Essence Make it Golden

Pink Satin is an opaque cool pink metallic and only required 1 coat. It works well as a stamping polish, which will be shown in later posts :) Golden-I is a shimmery light gold which is quite sheer, had to sponge a couple of times to get it to show up more clearly. Make it Golden is pretty dense with fine gold glitter and hexes and this is 1 coat with no fishing of hexes required.

Guess I really should buff my nails before applying metallic polishes (>_<) but I always wondered, what is the limit to buffing? Kinda afraid it will make my nails too thin or brittle.....

Essence Cafe Ole with silver gradient tips and square studs

I got another pack of studs from Born Pretty Store, this time square, silver and larger, though I probably should have bought gold ones since they will become silver after you remove them (which I would reuse :p). But I guess at least the silver goes quite well with the nude.

Colours used:
Base - Essence Cafe Ole
Gradient - Sally Hansen Celeb City

Cafe Ole applied well and only 2 coats were needed. The square studs were more prone to falling off than the gold round ones I had used previously as they were larger and more raised, but they still lasted a couple of days. Think studs are an easy way to dress up your nails and a good addition to your nail art arsenal, provided you don't have the tendency to pick them off your nails :p

Pink blue gradient nails with topped with OPI Pirouette My Whistle

Here is my first go at gradient nails with 3 colours.