This week I’ve been in planning mode, at the end of the month we’re going to be visiting Queensland for work/a short holiday and there’s so much to schedule in! Sometimes it seems like even holidays are a lot of work XD
The lack of craft tutorials lately has been because I’ve been using my nights to paint… or you know, sleep like a normal person. I have a scheduled craft day this Thursday so hopefully I can start some new projects!
Yay! Today I’ll show you how to do the long awaited Lady Rainicorn nailart :D
I did these last year for Halloween to go with my Princess Bubblegum costume.
Here is a video tutorial tutorial and there’s a downloadable version at the bottom too!
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Today’s Morning Make Up is simple and good for every day looks. It’s basically my go to style which involves minimal effort. I love looking good but I’m so lazy in the mornings XD
It’s still Winter in my mind so here’s another very basic nail video featuring some snowflakes!
Wigs, Hair Extensions and Ponytails Oh My! December Vlogs Day 17
Morning Make Up Live! December Vlogs day 18
Making Billy Idol Day Cards With Lottie! December vlogs day
Why Do We Suck At Shopping This Year? December vlogs day 20
Blow Dry Bar, Packages and Gongcha Opening! December Vlogs Day 21!
The Longest Line Ever- December Vlogs Day 22
Hope you all had a good weekend! ^_^
Here’s an OOTD which was filmed back when it was cold, the ocean makes it look so nice and summery but it was SOOOOO cold! I really like this outfit though so it was worth the cold haha!
In something a little more actual-summerish here’s a very simple daisy manicure. I’ve been filming things I’ve been doing with my nails while growing them out, while they’re not complete step by step tutorials I figured seeing it done couldn’t hurt!
And Lottie, I’m glad I’m actually doing these regularly now. She looks so different since these were shot though, it’s crazy how fast she’s grown!
Hope you all had a good weekend! ^_^
You know the whole point of growing out my nails was to do more nail art, but being so busy has meant that it was very easy to grow them out because I didn’t notice I had nails… but it also meant that I haven’t done nearly as much nail art as I was expecting to >_< I usually am in such a rush I don’t even wait for polish to dry ugh.
This is totally simple nail art for Summer or Spring… or to remind you of those warmer months. No nail art skills required!
So it’s been just over 2 months since I started growing out my nails and has there been any progress? There has!
Here are some progress shots along the way!
Honestly this time has been a lot easier than it was last time. I think last time I focused on the growing part and obsessed about it. As a result I had really nice nails but it seemed like it took forever to get them to a decent length and I was doing a different nail art designe very few days so it took up a lot of time.
Round up time!
First up my favorite video of all time because it features Miss Lottie!
This tutorial has been requested for aaaages and honestly I’m not sure why I didn’t do it earlier, it’s so easy XD So here’s my all time favorite hairstyle, the big curly one sided thing… it really needs a catchier name -_-’
This week I played with the first set of Kiss Nail Stickers which were given to me by the lovely Sefie! I preferred these to the other vinyl ones I’ve tried which had a tendency to peel off and the designs are very blingy :D
Following on form Zombies last week, here is the behind the scenes video! It’s pretty funny, well the dancing is XD This is what usually happens on our photo shoots haha!
Hope you all had a good weekend! ^_^
Still growing out my nails! I haven’t written about it as much I meant to because of the fluffy little dog who’s sleeping in my lap at the moment. Lottie can be a very distracting puppy with all of her adorableness… also her love of standing on my keyboard doesn’t really help either XD
Aaaanyway today I wanted to share my manicure routine and show you guys an easy way to do retro styled moon manicures.
Once every couple of years I go through a nail growing kick. If I don’t have acrylics I always have short nails. Partially because I have naturally weak nails, partially because I am terrible with fidgeting/biting them and partially because I hate the idea that when one of them breaks I have to get rid of all of them.
Ok the real reason is that I have no self control. Like at all. None. Not even a little bit.
But I really want to grow them out again. I thought maybe if I make myself accountable to all of you guys I might actually do it!! In fact if any of you guys want to grow out your nails too we could all be accountable to each other. We can share tips, blog about it and measure our progress etc :D
So who’s with me?!
Leave me a comment if you want to join in and maybe we can do a weekly progress check. I can link any posts you make about it and do a heap of nail art too.
I’m going to grow them out starting right now, I’m feeling inspired!
As some more inspiration, here are some photos of nail art from the last time I grew out my nails. I was actually pretty successful so here’s hoping we can all do it this time!
Phew it’s been a while since I did nail art. I’m hoping to be able to do it more often soon. At the moment we’re kind of distracted by all of the puppy planning :D I had a craft day last week though and I’ve managed to cross off some reader requests coming up this week! I visited Daiso this week too so now I feel like I have a bit more inspiration for the Home Sweet Home project. recently I’ve been flailing about a bit with a lack of inspiration and motivation but now I have lots of plans!
This nail art look was inspired by Bornite aka Peacock stone. It’s really pretty so make sure you google some photos of it!
This tutorial is in one long image because it was made originally for Tumblr/Pinterest/Deviantart feel free to add me on there or share it around! You can also download it by right clicking and saving as :D
Hope you enjoyed :D
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I started cleaning out my craft area today and found a stash old my old nails :D I know not all of you have been around here for years so I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my older nail art styles!
The super awesome Clara H invited me to come have my nails done again over the weekend!
This time I wanted something a bit simpler than last time, I gave her the ideas of pastel, leopard print and girly.
Here’s what she came up with :D
Looove them :D Exactly what I wanted! Clara is so wonderfully creative and she knows my taste so well.
Following on from my post about Tsumiki Design on the weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited back by their nail artist Clara H for a full set of crazy 3D acrylics. As if I could possibly say no to that, you guys know how much I love nail art! :D
I’m editing a full video on the process but I just couldn’t wait to post up the finished nail photos because they were so awesome!
Before I arrived I didn’t really have an idea of what kind of design I wanted but James made the suggestion of something Bergamot themed… YES PLEASE! I feel like I’ve been abusing the capslock button lately but I’m just so excited about things that I can’t really help it XD
Clara came up with the rest of the design based on my tastes and style. I played at guessing the design the whole time and was absolutely thrilled with the end product.
I bet you’re sick of me talking and just want to see them already?
I feel a bit weird posting things about stuff I have but a lot of people have asked to see my polish collection and as I was clearing it out I figured it was as good a time as any to catalogue them.
Currently I’m storing them on a small plastic set of shelves in my cupboard so nothing very interesting but once I sort it out with the nail art stuff I’ll show you the whole set out.
When your nail polish collection gets to this stage you know you have a problem.
I know after seeing my monogrammed nails last week quite a few of you were waiting for this review so here it is :D
I think it’s pretty obvious that I love nail art and when Eileen from Inspired Nails contacted me to get some feedback on her new products I was all for being guinea pig :D When that sentence included “custom designed with your logo” I almost had a heart attack with excitement! Stamp something else I own with my monogram? YES PLEASE! We chatted ideas for a while and eventually we came up with some designs together. Did I mention that Eileen is actually a long time reader here so everyone say hello!
This post is a mishmash of reviews, tutorials and discount codes so please enjoy ^_^
She even included chocolates (not pictured because I ate them mwahahaha) and some little flowers from her craft stash! So let’s break this review up into the different products: Custom full cover false nails, black/white decals and colour decals.
Inspired Nails offers a bunch of very pretty designs on their site but what’s more exciting to me is the option to design your own nails and have them specially printed for just US$12. Considering that most regular decent quality sets will set you back at least $15 here I think the price is really good because you can get anything you want printed and it’s cheap enough that you could just get them done for a special event. Some of the suggestions on the site are for corporate logos, photos and pets but I think the best use would be custom matching blog nails for events! I’m a bit biased though haha ;)
So what you get is 20 nails in 10 sizes, the design is printed directly on to the nails and top coated before being sent off. You apply like any other false nail, give it another top coat and you’re good to go.
I received 3 set of nails: pink leopard print with my logo and two of my custom logo design at difference opacities. I submitted my design and she printed several test sets to make sure that the opacity and colours were right which I thought was a really nice touch.
I know with most printers if you submit something and it doesn’t work out first time the response is “sucks to be you” so I was really impressed that she took the time to work with me until we were both 100% happy with the results. I think that’s the difference with working with someone who clearly has a real passion for what they do!
Quality wise the nails are on the thicker side but still flexible. I found them easy to file and cut to shape (they only come in square tips at the moment) but they didn’t splinter or shatter like cheap nails. Very close up you can see the individual ink spots from the printer but unless you’re looking at it 3cm infront of your eyes I don’t think anyone is ever going to notice.
One think I would watch out for in application is that because they are printed on a white base when you file or cut the ends you need to be very careful the angle you do it on otherwise the white base can show up on the tips. If that happens just paint over the tips with a matching polish colour.
In case you were wondering how I apply my nails here is a short video ^_^
I love these, they were hands down my favorite thing in the package. These are not those thick vinylish decals that I’ve reviewed before, think of these as like temporary tattoos but for your nails. That’s the best way I can think to describe them!
To apply them you cut out the one you want, dip in water till it’s soaked, slide off the decal and press it onto the nail. Smooth it and add a top coat and that’s it. I love these because #1 they look fantastic when you use the right polish underneath but #2 you don’t need to be a genius to apply them.
These are FANTASTIC for girls who want extra pop on their nails but don’t have the time or patience to sit and paint something themselves. These black and white sets range between $3-10 and the full cover sets come with 24 while the smaller ones like the comic book designs come with 82 in various sizes. For me I think that’s awesome value too because you can again get completely custom designs.
These are the nails that I used my custom monogram ones on for the Adelaide Beauty Conference, so cute! I gave the girls a quick run down on using these while I was there too XD
With these I would really suggest using them over a medium to light base colour and over the top of glitters they just look AMAZING. Glitter leopard print for the win and the fact that you can change up the base colour for different designs makes them very versatile. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about these and I know I’m going to be ordering a whole lot of other designs too.
And in case you were wondering, here is a quick tutorial I made on how to apply them :D
The Inspired Nails website also has a bunch of tutorials and tips on application so if you get stuck check that out.
Ok last but not least Eileen sent me a second package with her newly arrived full colour decals and I tested them out last night. These ones are a new product and I found them a little bit more tricky to get the hang of than the b/w ones.
I was sent cupcake ones, Alice in Wonderland ones and also some more of my monogram but in colour. I tried out the monograms and the full cover cupcakes and these were my results.
Eileen gave me some tips on the application because while these ones are still thin they are a bit thicker than the b/w versions.
One quick tip with the color decals because the film is slightly different. Let them dry for a few seconds on a paper towel after you separate them from the backing. Place a drop or two of ordinary rubbing alcohol on your nail and then apply the decal. The alcohol will adhere the decal to your nail and allow you to smooth it out and press it in place before you apply the topcoat. It also makes the decal a little flexible so you won’t have any tearing when you apply the topcoat. However, you can’t “slide” the decal around on your nail if you use the alcohol method. Rubbing alcohol is also called surgical spirit, isopropyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol. Our new packaging will include an alcohol soaked pad with the decals.
This is the monogram on a plain white nail base:
So I gave them a try, once with and once without the alcohol and I would definitely suggest using it to soften them up, without it they go on the nail fine but they like to spring back against the curve of the nail and so while drying mine tore a little bit. With the alcohol I found them to work like a dream and they applied almost as easily and the b/w version.
Full cover cupcake on a pink base:
One more thing to keep in mind is that these ones are opaque all over if you don’t top coat them so a white background can be seen if you don’t use a topcoat (which you really should be doing anyway). The photo below has half topcoated and half not so you can see what I mean:
Still the possibilities with these really excite me because I am imagining using them as a base while adding some diamantes and points of interest over the top. Much quicker than hand painting!
The end result here after top coating was really slick and pretty.
There wasn’t anything in the package that I wouldn’t recommend. The custom full cover nails are good quality and a really cool accessory to have. The designs up there that they’ve done themselves look really beautiful (go check out the Van Gough Starry Night nails and the pink leopard print French tips with diamantes especially!) and there is a good variety of both designs and products to choose from.
The colour decals are pretty awesome too and I can see them as being a great way for people with not much time/skill to have awesome show stopping nails. They are a bit more complex to use but I still think that a beginner could manage it and there are enough extras included in a pack that even if you make a few mistakes you’re not going to run out!
The show stopper, in my opinion, of the group had to be the black and white decals though. Perfect texture, perfect finish, great usability and I think I could put them on in my sleep and still get a great result. They are very forgiving to mistakes so perfect for beginners and are so versatile that I can’t see myself getting bored with them any time in the foreseeable future. The prices are very reasonable considering the volumes and still much cheaper than other places I’ve seen.
DO WANT.
Being a reader herself, Eileen was kind enough to extend an awesome offer to you guys a great discount ^_^
Just type in VIOLET15 when you check out to get 15% off your entire purchase, excluding shipping costs. One use per customer. Expires December 31, 2011
I know a couple of the girls I spoke to were concerned about the shipping costs between the USA and here so here’s a word on that too, they use real-time shipping calculator so there’s no minimum charge rubbish, it’s actually worked out along the way so according to Eileen 1 set of nails to Aus is around US$5 and my whole box of stuff (including lots of chocolate) was under US$7. So even with that added on it still makes it worth it in my opinion.
Hope you enjoyed the review/tutorials/photos/discount code, I can’t want to think up more ways to use my monogram decals :D
When the ever awesome You’ve Got Nail mentioned she had a present for me I didn’t think it would be a whole collection of Zoya polishes *_* I had mentioned wanting to try them because the brand is so highly regarded and she gave me the whole Flash collection! I was in heaven XD
Let the review begin!
Brand: Zoya, Flash collection.
From: The lovely You’ve Got Nail gifted these to me! You can get them here. Extra props for the Zoya website because they have so much extra information on the polishes like the finish, the colour intensity on a scale of 1-5 and you can order spoon samples. I very much like companies that go the extra mile like that.
Price: $8 each or $36 for the set
Volume: 15ml
Bottle: Squareish, thinner at the bottom, rounded corners, flared black top. Easy to store and stack, looks very nice, no complaints here.
Brush: Average size, and very flexible. Very smooth bristles.
Drying Time: Roughly the same for all of them. Reasonably quick drying time.
Colour Name: Jolene.
Description: Nice bright slightly blue toned pink.
So remember that leopard print nail art I was talking about when I reviewed Molten Metalics from Face of Australia? I actually got around to doing it! No, it’s not particularly original and I’ve done the same pattern a bajillion times but it’s still hard to not look at in the sunlight!
I’ve previously done a video tutorial on leopard print but some people have trouble following videos so here’s a nice easy quick photo tutorial of the steps.
What you need:
Following on from yesterday’s post on Face of Australia’s cosmetics, here are my swatches of the polishes I was sent. I’ve done the new collection Molten Metalics and a couple from Luxe which is the previous collection.
Brand: Face of Australia
From: Priceline, Big W, Kmart (I think they are currently looking for a place to sell online too)
Price: Around the $5 mark from Priceline.
Volume: 13ml
Bottle: Square with a tall, shiny, thin, black lid. Easy to store and stack, no complaints here.
Brush: Average size, maybe a little thicker and very flexible. Some of the brushes had loose/long bristles which I had to trim before attempting to use them which was a bit annoying.
Drying Time: Roughly the same for all of them. Nice and quick drying time.
Colour Name: Beauty Queen
Description: Good old fashioned Barbie pink.
Colour Name: Private Jet
Description: Matte dark purple.
Thoughts: I do love matte purples, I have quite a few of them, when I swatched this one I just wasn’t particularly excited by it. It’s not that there’s anything particularly wrong with it, I just think it’s too similar to other polishes I’ve got. Still, looking at it by itself it’s got a nice smooth finish to it.
Good for: -Dark midnight themed designs -Might make interesting konads as it’s pretty opaque and matte konad=win.
Bad for: – Shininess XD Obviously this could be fixed with a top coat though!! -Being the same colour as in the bottle, obviously because it’s a matte shade it comes out a lot darker when it dries.
Colour Name: Summer Spice
Description: Super bright orangey red.
Thoughts: Oh my god this shade required sunglasses to look at for long periods of time!! It’s a nice matte finish the same as Private Jet but I found this one a much more interesting colour. It really smacks you in the face with it’s awesome brightness!
Good for: -Spring/Summerish manicures designed to stand out
Bad for: - Subtlety
Colour Name: Bronze
Description: A redish bronze with gold shimmer.
Thoughts: I really liked this one, I could totally see it being used in some awesomely shiny leopard print designs. It’s a very reddish bronze which I think makes it nice and versatile.
Good for: -Jazzed up leopard print or other animal print designs -Probably good for konad because of the high concentrate of shimmer
Bad for: – Rushed one coat manicures, really needs a second coat.
Colour Name: Verdigris
Description: Greenish gold.
Thoughts: I think this is the weirdest colour I own, it’s not quite gold but it’s not quite green but in other light it’s not quite whatever colour is reflecting off it. I honestly didn’t really like this colour, something about it just didn’t sit right, on my hands it just looked a little sickly. It might look nicer on someone with a more olive complexion? The colour change between the different coats was quite interesting too.
Good for: -Swirly 1970′s themed manicures
Bad for: – My skin tone -Consistant colour
Colour Name: Titanium
Description: Silver with a silver shimmer.
Thoughts: This one is a really intense silver packed with shimmer. Only needs one coat and shines like hell in the sun. No complaints about this one at all, goes on smooth and and is so versatile.
Good for: -Probably konad as it’s super shimmery and opaque -Adding a little bling to a standard design -Awesomely shiny french tips
Bad for: – Natural looks. Seriously it’s not a subtle finish at all.
Colour Name: Iron Ore
Description: Black with a beautiful silver shimmer.
Thoughts: This is probably my favorite of the whole collection. The silver shimmer really gives it an extra edge and the finish is kind of satin-ish. When I applied a top coat it was like looking into the far reaches of the galaxy XD It has a really nice depth to it and while not completely opaque in 1 coat it is still enough that I would wear it with one coat just for a change.
Good for: -A nice twist on gothic themed manicures -Maybe good for konad as it’s pretty opaque
Bad for: – Light girly themed manicures, though if paired with the Beauty Queen pink that could be a really interesting combination!
Colour Name: White Gold
Description: A nice light gold with silver shimmer.
Thoughts: Now pair this with the Bronze and you’ve got yourself a fairly impressive leopard print! By itself though, the colour didn’t thrill me. I’m not one for tans or neutral colours so I think there are other girls that could rock this look way better than me! The finish was really nice though, true to its name it really did look like white gold.
My bad for loosing the photo with the main swatch but you can pretty much see the finish from the bottle. It really does look exactly the same.
Good for: -Natural work friendly manicures with a little punch -Probably another one which is good for konad because it’s nice and opaque which hell of a shimmer
Bad for: -Standing out in a crowd
Colour Name: Gold
Description: Bronzey base with a LOT of gold shimmer.
Thoughts: This is the third colour I would use in my awesomely shiny leopard print of doom ;) The bottle really doesn’t do justice to how this looks on, once it dries it’s *really* shiny. In the bottle the tan/bronzey base looks like it’s in main colour but once it’s on the nail the gold shimmer works its magic and it’s like looking at foolsgold/pyrite. Opaque in one coat, what more do you need?
Good for: -Natural work friendly manicures with extra bling (I’m noticing that’s a theme with the this collection) -Using as a little accent to cute girly manicures
Bad for: – Probably wouldn’t look good with some skin tones as it’s very yellow.
Colour Name: Amethyst
Description: Deep pinkish purple with a silver shimmer.
Thoughts: Another of my favorites from the collection. I do love a good pink/purple and the shimmer just makes it really versatile. It needs two coats to be opaque and it a tiny bit streaky but I still love it because it has a lot of depth.
Good for: -Darker gothic designs -Add a little silver accent and you’ve got something cute and girly too
Bad for: – Probably bad for konad as it’s not very opaque first go.
Colour Name: Flaming Lava
Description: Red with a deep red shimmer.
Thoughts: LOVE this one too. It’s another one that I could spend hours staring at because of the depth of colour. The shimmer really amps up the colour so in the light it’s a little hypnotic. Opaque in one coat is really nice for a red this pretty too.
Good for: -Nice twist on really sexy traditional red manicures -Probably good for konad as it’s nice and opaque
Bad for: – Super sweet designs, this one is just plain sexy.
So overall? A lot of the colours I loved, some were ok but not for me. I probably wouldn’t buy the whole collection but I would definitely buy my favorites individually. At $4.95 each you can’t really go wrong with some of them. Molten Metallics is definitely an interesting collection so I can’t wait to see where Face of Australia go next!
I’ve have a bit of a nautical obsession lately :) These were my nails for the week before I cut them. Apologies for the poor quality of this video, I’m still working out the best settings and lighting for shooting theses that doesn’t end with a gigantic file size.
What are your favorite patterns at the moment?
This tutorial has been waiting for a very long time XD I first did this design when we moved here to Melbourne to celebrate going to a chocolate party and it was a big hit then so I’ve done it several times since! As you can see I went a little crazy with the nail art tutorials while I had long natural nails hahaha.
Hope that was helpful and let me know if any of you try it :D
Houndstooth is one of my favorite patterns so making nail art in it is a fairly logical next step XD The pattern itself is very basic if not a little time consuming to make. Your finish will really only depend on how steady your hand is and how thin your brush is, in this tutorial my brush is looking a bit ratty so the result is a little wobbly around the edges. That said when you’re more than 10cm away you really can’t tell haha!
Again no sound, sorry! Vimeo has been really unreliable lately so I’m gradually moving completely over to Youtube. Feel free to go look at my channel there now :D
Hope you enjoyed and let me know if you give it a try!
Following on in the series of nail art tutorials, here is the way I do basic Zebra print pattern on my nails ^_^
Hope you guys liked it! If you have any requests just let me know, I want to film lots of these while my natural nails are actually long enough XD
Basic tutorial on striping nails made for my blog. It is a very basic technique and requires a long thin nail art brush.
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Music: Garageband
I’ve been enjoying making nail art videos now that I’ve grown out my natural nails so I hope you enjoy this one I did for Valentines :) This one has 3 different designs to alternate on the nails.
Silly thing is I didn’t even end up wearing them today, I went with nautical nails in the end XD Hope you all found the video useful and whether you celebrate the holiday or not I hope you all have a great day!
This is a really basic nail art tutorial for nice even diagonal stripes :D Again no sound, hoping to fix that with the next batch of videos.
This is the basic technique that I used for these nails:
So to get the full effect of those nails you would need to do the following:
Once you master this technique it’s really versatile and can be used in any number of styles. I hope you guys found this useful :)
This post has been on the back burner for a while. Originally I filmed it and had no time to edit then when I finally went to edit I decided to re-film now that my natural nails are long enough. So hopefully it lives up to expectations! Also there’s no music on this video due to some technical problems, I might update it later :)
To be honest using an orange stick is my second choice for doing this. Normally I just use my finger but it was very difficult to see what I was doing with a finger blocking the camera XD If you would like to see another way to achieve a similar look check out Mini Nail Blog’s post in which she uses loose glitter.
Let me know if you have any questions :)
These were my nails for the week, I went to the Illamasqua counter launch on Thursday so I wanted them to be extra pretty :D Lots of photos of that to come, I had a gothic make up transformation!
Reposting this because I had a major database problem and lost 3 days worth of posts >_< If you commented during that time it also unfortunately was lost :( Feel free to comment again and sorry for the inconvenience!
Today is the last part of my Ulta 3 polish reviews ^_^
To recap:
Brand: Ulta3
From: Local chemists, don’t think you can get it online but I could be wrong. Generally sold in large discount bins.
Price: $2-3
Volume: 13.5ml
Bottle: Generic round bottle with a white top. Fairly cheap looking but who cares for $2 XD Only real problem I’ve found is that the glue holding the brush to the lid is a bit crap so often the lid comes off minus the brush. Easily fixed by removing any dried polish around the top of the bottle and closing/opening it again.
Brush: Average size, flexible.
Drying Time: Roughly the same for all of them. Fairly quick but nothing to write home about.
Colour Name: Bon Bon
Description: Pearly pink with a silver shimmer.
So pretty. This is the perfect sweet base colour. It’s nice and natural but when it hits the light it’s really pretty and shiny.
Good for: -Natural work friendly manicures -Sweet cutesy designs, perfect for Hime and Lolita
Bad for: – Probably bad for konad as it’s not very opaque in one go.
Colour Name: Gold Digger
Description: Gold glitter in a clear base.
Thoughts: Stock standard gold glitter. Nothing special or ground breaking but it does what it promises and it’s good at it so it should be a staple of any polish collection. Much easier to work with than loose glitter too!
Good for: -Adding interest to a plain manicure. -Making more interesting french tips
Bad for: -Opacity (duh) -Getting a completely even coating of glitter as you would need a billion coats -Konad.
Colour Name: Precious
Description: Goldish brown polish with a silver shimmer.
Thoughts: Interesting colour combination, gold and silver in one polish makes it quite versatile. I don’t particularly like it as a base colour but it looks good as accents.
Good for: -Leopard/animal print nail art -Probably good for konad as it is nice and shiny while being opaque
Bad for: -Being subtle, it’s super shiny in the sun.
Colour Name: Silver Glitter
Description: Silver glitter in a clear base.
Thoughts: This is the sister colour to Gold Digger, though they were a little less creative with the naming here XD Again very basic but works very well and another staple of my collection.
Good for: (same as Gold Digger) -Adding interest to a plain manicure. -Making more interesting french tips
Bad for: -Opacity (duh) -Getting a completely even coating of glitter as you would need a billion coats -Konad.
Colour Name: Spring Blossom
Description: Milky pastel yellow.
Thoughts: I wasn’t sure on this one when I first bought it but the colour slowly grew on me after I saw how shiny and pretty the finish is. It’s a really Springish base colour (as the same obviously suggests) and it’s opaque enough for nail art too.
Good for: -Light fun spring manicures -Nature/flower themed manicures
Bad for: -Some skin tones as it’s a little odd shade of yellow.
Colour Name: Snazzle
Description: Intense silver polish with silver shimmer.
Thoughts: This is one of my all time favorite Ulta3 colours hands down. It is a shimmer silver that really smacks you in the face, super opaque and one of the most versatile polishes I own. Unfortunately I think it’s been discontinued because I can’t find it anywhere now and my bottle is almost finished ;_; As it turns out you can buy it online here: http://www.pulsepharmacy.com.au/Product/Ulta3-Nail-Colour-Snazzle.aspx Thanks to Sabrina for letting me know! Also BGDinosent me two bottles she found in Sydney :D Double thank you!!
Good for: -Adding bling to designs -Konad, works super well.
Bad for: -Umm. I can’t really fault this one! Maybe bad for not being blinding in the sun XD
And there you have it! That officially ends my Ulta 3 polish collection review… that is, until I get the bug again and see a bucket of it at a chemist again XD
Today is the next part of my Ulta 3 polish reviews ^_^
To recap:
Brand: Ulta3
From: Local chemists, don’t think you can get it online but I could be wrong. Generally sold in large discount bins.
Price: $2-3
Volume: 13.5ml
Bottle: Generic round bottle with a white top. Fairly cheap looking but who cares for $2 XD Only real problem I’ve found is that the glue holding the brush to the lid is a bit crap so often the lid comes off minus the brush. Easily fixed by removing any dried polish around the top of the bottle and closing/opening it again.
Brush: Average size, flexible.
Drying Time: Roughly the same for all of them. Fairly quick but nothing to write home about.
Colour Name: Sweet Violet
Description: Grey-ish lilac with a silver shimmer.
Bad for: -Interesting manicures hahaha! Eye catching designs XD
Colour Name: Charmed
Description: Tiny green various sized glitter in a clear base.
Thoughts: This to me should be renamed “Green Tea” because that’s what it looks like on nails: really bright powdered matcha! I think the colour of the glitter is really pretty and bright and the different sizes of the tiny glitter make for a really interesting finish.
Good for: -Spring manicures -Layering over other colours -Layering over itself to make a really intese glitter.
Bad for: -One coat and you’re finished manicures. -Clean neat finishes, it kind of looks like you’ve been in the garden from a distance XD
Colour Name: Burgundy
Description: Dark burgundy. Nuff said.
Thoughts: This one looks a lot deeper in the bottle than on the nail. In the bottle the shimmer gives it a really interesting tone but on the nail it just looks like a straight up burgundy. Nice but nothing overly special.
Good for: -Dark vampy or vintage themed base colours. -One coat opaque, quick manicures. -Maybe good for konad as it’s very opaque.
Bad for: -Light fluffy designs
Colour Name: Spring Break
Description: Completely matt dark purple.
Thoughts:
Goes on like a dream and is a really interesting colour. It dries a lot darker than the bottle which is both good and bad. Definitely needs two coats for an even finish but looks fantastic when it’s done.
Good for: -Probably good for Konad because it’s quite opaque. -Looks great in manicures mixed with clear polished areas.
Bad for: – Glossy designs (unless you want to add a top coat then it’s awesome)
That’s all for now, tune in to the next nail polish post for the last of my Ulta3 collection ^_^
Time for some serious nail polish swatching! Today is my favorite brand of all time :D
Brand:
Ulta3
From:
Local chemists, don’t think you can get it online but I could be wrong. Generally sold in large discount bins.
Price:
$2-3
Volume:
13.5ml
Bottle:
Generic round bottle with a white top. Fairly cheap looking but who cares for $2 XD Only real problem I’ve found is that the glue holding the brush to the lid is a bit crap so often the lid comes off minus the brush. Easily fixed by removing any dried polish around the top of the bottle and closing/opening it again.
Brush:
Average size, flexible.
Drying Time:
Roughly the same for all of them. Fairly quick but nothing to write home about.
Colour Name:
Freesia
Description:
Dark pink with silver shimmer.
Long week so what’s better to look at on a Friday afternoon than a bunch of nail art?
These are a whole lot of sets that I made to stock Visage and Vice, a local goth store here. If you’re interested in buying any of them just email me at violet AT violetlebeaux.com otherwise they will probably be up in the shop sometime in the new year. Discounts if you want them now though ;)
I’ve been working with smaller sets lately which makes things much quicker and more cost effective. Of course I still do the full sets of 20 on request ^_^
You’ll have to excuse the glare, they are all already all packed up in plastic and ready for their new homes so it was a bit hard to get the photos!
Silver glitter stripes:
Yesterday was the Melbourne Beauty Blogger’s Christmas party so I decided to do my nails^_^ Lots of party pictures to come!
I went with a snowflake design because I miss Winter already XD
Stockings- Myer, previously white but my washing machine turned them pink XD
Cardigan- Ice, on sale at Harbour Town 3 for $10 :D
Shoes- Can’t remember, I added the shoe clips
Necklace/Bracelet- Gift from the lovely Casey!
Brooch- Amaranth Opulent
Bonus photo:
Look at the epically huge rice crispy square I made XD It was actually several smaller squares but it melted in the container into one massive one!
Just a quick post to show you some nails and deco that I did a little while ago.
Hurray finally online ^_^
I love doing tutorials like this, I want to lots more of them :D
So there you go, what do you all think?
I hope you all found that helpful. Flowers like this are really easy to paint once you get the basic concept. Let me know if any of you try it out, I would love to see!
Yesterday was the Melbourne Beauty Bloggers Event which deserves a whole post in it’s own but I couldn’t wait to show you my current nails… well my current nails until this morning that is!
I took the opportunity to go all out with the nail art and practice my acrylic skills again. This is my first set of nails using nail guides rather than plastic tips and I am quite happy with them!
They are also the longest nails I’ve ever had :D
Now back to doing nails for other people!
Another nail polish swatching adventure today! If you read nail polish blogs you’ve probably seen the new Eyeko polishes everywhere. I figured this was as good a time as any to review and show you all of the Eyeko polishes in my collection.
Mostly I just wanted a little down time and swatching polishes is nice and relaxing!
Brand: Eyeko
From: Their website
Price: £8.50 per polish *EDIT* Sorry everyone! I miss-read the website, it’s actually £8.50 for a set of 3 or £3.50 each. My bad! */EDIT*
I’ve been playing with the 3D acrylic again and I wanted something to match my dress for Manifest on Friday. This is what came out…
If you read a lot of nail polish blogs you will know that Australian polish brand Chimera has had problems in the past, bloggers that I respect and consider to be friends were affected and I do not in any way condone what went on. Since then, Chimera have apparently made a lot of internal changes and I believe in second chances so when they asked me to review these polishes I said yes. I will only be commenting on my opinions and experiences with the actual polishes. The polishes were provided by Chimera and all opinions are 100% honest and mine.’Nuff said.
*EDIT* Ok so it has come to my attention that the problems mentioned above have not stopped. As Chimera continues to engage in behavior like this I cannot recommend their polishes. I do not condone spam. I do not condone underhanded blogging tactics. I believe in second chances but I also believe that those chances need to be used well not squandered. My opinions on the polish stand but I do not support the brand AT ALL. */EDIT*
So let’s talk nail polish!
I’ve been thinking about posting swatches of my nail polishes for quite a while now. Seeing as I’ve collected so many it seemed a shame to just have them sitting there already swatched and not post them! And I finally convinced James to take all the photos for me… even better!
So first up is this awesome glittery pink from Missha. It’s currently my faaavorite!
This one was a nice casual outfit for a lunch out.
Shoes- Payless modified by me
This one was a bit more dressy, I can’t remember what we were doing that way but I think maybe it was something glamorous like grocery shopping? XD
Dress- Angelic Pretty
Cardigan- Myer (I think?)
Stockings- Myer
Shoes- Wittner, modified by me
Scarf- Hand knitted by me
As per usual my favorite thing about the outfit is my nails :D
It’s just a simple 3 colour gradient but I love it! I’ve had requests for a tutorial on this too.
I like them because they are quite understated usually but when they get in the sun they are crazy shiny!
I’ve been experimenting with new hair styles too :D This is my favorite so far…
I think it looks quite complicated but it’s really easy to do, I’m going to take photos for a tutorial on this tomorrow :D
I think I want to make a whole more of these rose pins too, time for a trip to a craft store for more outfits :D
The first wave of products has been uploaded and they are ready for sale! I’ve been working on this for quite some time so I really hope you enjoy it all. I’m still tweaking a couple of things and updating all of my links so please do let me know if you find any problems!
For now I will be selling just nail art but eventually I will be adding deco’d items and prints of my art work! I will be taking commissions too so if there is something you would like me to make you please just let me know ^_^
Now let me introduce you to the nails I’ve been working on… These are just small snap shots to give you a taste, to see the full set just click the picture!
Thanks everyone for sending in so many questions I hope this is helpful to you all ^_^
How long do acrylics last?
How long do stick ons last?
What are the options for attaching stick on nails?
If you still don’t know what all the fuss is about check the original post here!
So this week in honor of Sneaker Sunday Valerie and I wanted to talk about foot care. When you’re on your feet all day running around and being busy it’s easy to forget about the little things that are carrying you. We so readily will give ourselves cute manicures and nailart but pedicures are much more rare, so this week I present…
Longest title ever.
Get in your most comfortable pajamas and make sure your feet are clean.
Over here in Aus the range of Sally Hansen has up until now been rather scarce. Even though they’re stocked by a billion major chains the range usually only consist of a few nail treatments and maybe 2 of the light pink polishes. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Priceline to a whole new display of them *_*
There was a whole shelf of the Insta-dri’s in some pretty weird colours. They didn’t have the fluros which lovely Brooke sent me from the US but if these ones are anything like them I would definitely grab some if I had the money.
More interestingly they had some really pretty looking HD colours…
I’ve been quite busy over the weekend and fixed a lot of the issues we were talking about last post, there is still more to come so when I’m finished (probably in the next few days) I’ll do a round up post of what has changed. Please keep in mind that I’ll be tinkering so if something doesn’t work, don’t stress just wait a little bit and try again :)
So it would seem that my heart shaped measuring bowls and spoons are a bit of a hit! I was inundated with emails and comments asking where you could all get one. So here are two websites that apparently sell them or very similar to them. These sites both stock the spoons and other cute things as well.
Hear Mum Roar found this site: http://www.littlebetsybaker.com.au/store/pc/Heart-Shaped-Bowl-143p962.htm
My Mother found this one which is definitely the same: http://www.chalet.net.au/home
Because I’m going to be spending the day making a heap of sets of nail art for my Etsy store I though I’d treat you to some eye candy ;) I know a lot of you have only just started reading my blog recently so I wanted to show you some nail art I did quite a while ago, most likely before you all started reading ^_^ If you’ve been reading for over a year feel free to skip this one :P Apologies for the size of the photos, these were all edited back when my blog was even tinier on blogspot.
These ones are all done with a Konad stamper for a competition, there are non-konad ones at the end.
A few months ago my Mum went on holiday to the Gold Coast and discovered a shop called “Del Sol” which makes products that change colour in the sun. Very 1990′s right? Well that was my attitude until she mentioned that they made nail polished that change colour in the sun! :D
She brought me home 4 of their polishes to try out. I was a bit skeptical at first but they actually change surprisingly well!
These are the colours in normal inside light: Red with silver glitter Blue with a pearly finish Clear with silver glitter Pink with a pearly finish
So back to the nail art story, I’ve been wanting to do some Alice in Wonderland themed nail art for years now but I’ve never been able to think of a design that would do it justice. Now that everyone is talking about Alice again I thought it was high time to try it out and the first thing that came to mind was colour change. You can’t get more Alice than that!
This is them inside:
This was also my first attempt at doing 3D acrylic. To be honest I’m not really happy with how these turned out, the idea was so much cooler in my head. Also I think that if I had spent more time practicing my skills I would like the end result better. I’m all out of the acrylic liquid now but I’m going to get some more and try again! Practice, practice, practice! The 3D parts are the Heart and Club card suits, the playing card and the White Rabbit on the thumb. I didn’t have coloured acrylic so I used clear and painted them after.
And outside:
I really loved the idea of the colour change polish but I don’t think I used as well as I could have. It works great on the index nail that says “Alice” because it looks plain until it’s in the sun but the other little details like the Cheshire Cat turning red-purple weren’t as obvious.
Another problem I had when taking the photos
Comparison between the two:
A close up of the hat and rabbit on the thumbs. The hat band changes from red-purple but because it was over the black it’s hard to see. The background of the rabbit also goes from silver glitter-red :( I am really proud of my White Rabbit though! My first 3D thing that actually looks like it’s supposed to :D
So conclusions: -I currently suck at 3D acrylics but I will practice and get much better! -These Alice nails weren’t great but I now have ideas for even more spectacular ones. -Colour change polish is completely pointless but also very cool.
Also on a side note the adorable Momoberi gave me a mention on her blog too and I didn’t find out until I’d already written that last post! She was inspired by one of my hair tutorials ^_^
Have a great weekend everyone! And I’d love to see some photos if you’ve done any Alice in Wonderland Nail Art!
This is all going up on the Etsy store soon but I want my blog readers to have first preference. I’ve also made a few of those bow and heart rings that you all loved so much on Twitter. All the information on ordering is down the bottom, I hope you enjoy!
I’ve been getting a lot of nail polish related requests lately so here is a gigantic post to take care of some of them!
Firstly a lot of people have been asking how many nail polishes I have… the answer is 87. That sounds like a lot… and well it is a lot but I’ve collected those over the last 4 years aaaaand a lot of them were gifts and the ones I bought were all like $2 so it’s not actually the gigantic money pit it sounds like!
Question 2: how do I store them? Well if I’m going to be making a lot of nail art to sell at once then I set them all up on a table organized by colour. Other than that they all live in a draw organized by whatever I shoved in there first.
The application was quite good it was a nice consistency and very shiny after application. It was opaque/the colour in the bottle after 2 coats. This next photo is a really good representation of the colour, it’s nice and soft and reminds me a lot of OPI “Do you lilac it?”. I didn’t find the smell of the polish over powering either which was nice.
The packaging is super cute too which is a plus!
The bottle is quite small at 8.5ml for £3 but for a boutique company that seems to be fairly standard. So the verdict = good! Everything they have is themed on a very cute manga which they update on the site every week, here’s some of the cute info they sent through:
Now back to the tutorial! After the first coat is dry write the name and colour of the polish on the other end of the stick!
Just like this :D
Now time for the second coat, this time you should only paint the top 2/3rds of the nail.
Then leave that to dry. Once it’s dry you should paint one final coat on the top 1/3rd of the nail.
So you should have something like this, the numbers represent the number of coats. This doesn’t mean much for a polish as opaque as this one but when you have a more sheer polish it’s much more useful to know how many coats you’ll need for the finish you want. Now you can see at a glance without having to trial and error it every time.
This is an example of some polishes where the differences are a little more obvious, especially the orange.
So there you have it! Now it’s time for a nail art tutorial :D Today we’re going to make a pretty but easy lace finish on a base of the Eyeko Lilac Polish. Video is below!
<div-id= “lilac”>
Hope you enjoyed the double tutorial post! And please let me know if you have any other nail art related questions <3
Let me know what you think of it all especially the lilac lace nail art, I want to do more tutorials ^_^
These are some of the outfits I wore while we were in Melbourne! Because were weren’t sure of the weather (which is famously unpredictable) I focused a lot on layering. With each outfit I’ll give you some tips for dressing well while traveling ^_^
Before we get into the outfits though… I totally want to show you my nails!
These nails are very much my favorites of all of the sets I’ve ever done!
Basically they are alternating light blue and pink with silver glitter, then white stripes over the top. They have then been decorated with a mix of diamantes, stars, tiny gold/silver balls, and gigantic 3D pearls (look on the blue thumb, gigantic right?). You can’t see a lot of the details here but these babies were spectacular in the light! Doing them reminded me that bigger is definitely better and inspired me to do more insanely big nail art :D Funnily enough because everything was rounded they were one of the least annoying sets I’ve worn because they didn’t catch on anything!
Skirt: Angelic Pretty Singlet: Some cheap store Cardigan: Ally Shoes: Bodyline Stockings: Myer Necklace: Little Waltz Hair Bow: Uncaring Kitty Other Jewelery: Random places
This outfit was for a day that started with a chill in the air and ended being very very hot! This was the day that we flew back to Brisbane so I picked an outfit that was cute but still comfortable enough for the plane. While the skirt is big, it’s not so big that you can’t move easily through the plane’s aisles and the cardigan sits flat so if needed I can add a thin jacket over the top for extra warmth
With outfits like this, its really all about the accessories! If you took the bows and jewelery away you would have something quite plain but adding the bling makes everything stand out more :D When I travel I will always scrimp on the actual clothes and take a lot more accessories. Something always gets lost or ruined on holiday so I would rather have enough accessories that if I have to re-wear an outfit I can make it look completely different with the accessories!
Picking pieces that can coordinate with pretty much any outfit is good too, for example, this bow on my hair is a white/cream so I can wear it with any colour dress because it doesn’t have a strong colour.
Dress: Target Cardigan: Present from my Mum Blue bow: Angelic Pretty Scarf: Some shop in Bugis in Singapore Beret: Portmans with a bow taken off a Bodyline dress Stockings: Myer Shoes: Bodyline
This outfit is a good example of one that can handle several different temperatures each day. The cardigan has an open weave patten so it breathes in the heat BUT it still provides warmth against a breeze. The scarf is so thin that when worn loose like this you can barely feel it but if it gets chilly you can wrap it several times and stay warm. The beret gives you a chance to rest your hair from all the spray/teasing and keeps you nice and warm, if you get too warm… take it off!
Skirt: Vintage from Blue Velvet Vintage Shirt: I think it was from Temp or some store, its just a v-neck t-shirt with a small puff sleeve Cardigan: Myer (I think… it was a gift) Hair accessories: Bows are from a Bodyline dress and the roses were made by me! Blue Bow: Angelic Pretty Stockings: Myer Shoes: Bodyline
This outfit was another example when we didn’t know what the weather would be like, the shirt is pretty enough that if it got too warm I could just lose the cardigan. This was my Chinese New Years/Valentines Day outfit :D
Dress: Bodyline Cardigan: Op shop Stockings: Swimmer Jewelery: Little Waltz and some randoms Bow: Uncaring Kitty
Ok let’s talk about shoes… I took 3 pairs down for the week and the whole time I only ended up wearing these ones. The other two I took were both high heels, what’s the difference? This pair has a platform base on the front so if you actually measure the *real* height difference from your toes to your heals it’s only a few centimeters… this means that I can walk ALL day in them without getting horrible blisters but they still look awesome! I picked them in white because as well as lengthening the look of my legs (with the white stockings) they go with pretty much anything at all :D
Taking several pairs of different stockings is another way to change your co-ordinates easily without taking up valuable suitcase space. Pattern stocks are awesome for any occasion as long as you pick the pattern carefully. I’m wearing cupcakes for out tea party :D
So what’s there to take away from this? Small objects can make a big difference to an outfit!
P.S This is on a completely different note but I am looking for a new hairdresser! If you can recommend anyone in Brisbane (or even Melbourne so I can add to the list of reasons to move) then please let me know. They need to be awesome with colour and possibly extensions because I’m interested in that too. If you’re a hair dresser in Brisbane/Melbourne either leave a comment or contact me at [email protected] <3 <3 <3
Hope you enjoyed the outfits!
When we decided to take a trip to Melbourne, the one thing I *really* wanted to do was have a big meet up where I could catch up with all of my blogging friends and everyone else we knew in Melbourne ^_^
SuperKawaiiMama was completely awesome about the idea and organised a tea party for us at the new Cristina Re flagship store. I had only heard of Cristina Re in the sense that she makes the beautiful scrap-booking supplies and stationary and I had no idea that there was a beautiful little cafe attached!
The cafe was decorated with beautiful butterflies:
We had a great turn out! From left to right below:
Thanks so much to everyone who came to have tea with us at the Cristina Re store! <3 <3 <3
This was my outfit for James’ brother’s birthday. I love this dress because it’s so versatile!
Shoes- Modified by me
Cameo on necklace- Little Waltz
Cardigan- From an op-shop
Jacket (seen below)- Peter Alexander
Other jewelery/hair stuff- Random places/made by me
I wish it was winter again so I could wear this more! It’s so nice and soft :D
Balloons make such pretty photos, I want to get like 1000 of them one day and just take photos… or more realistically make James take photos :D
And these were my nails for the day. I didn’t have time to finish them but not bad for a rush job none the less :D
Right now back to work on some special projects for you guys! What are you all working on this week? What’s your favorite outfit at the moment?
I’ve been wanting to do a proper update for a while but I just haven’t had the time >_< So I present you, the last couple of months in photos!
I made my Mum some Christmas themed nails for her work party:
I like the nails that look like presents!
Today I’m happy to announce the grand opening of my nail art for sale section ^_^
Scroll down to see some of the false nails I’ve got for sale or scroll to the bottom to see how to order!
Apologies for the crappy film quality, originally I wasn’t planning on making this into a tutorial so I wasn’t very careful when I filmed it. I have new software which I’m now learning to use so this is the last of my badly edited/made videos ^_^ So the quality is not great this time but hopefully you can at least get a good idea of the techniques and try it out yourself.
Make sure you let me know if you give it a try, I’d love to start a “Readers Photos” section! Anyway I hope this has helped a bit!
Today James took the photos of the first batch of cool nail art that I’m going to sell so expect a post about it very soon :D I’m so excited about this!
I’ve been a bit sick today so I’m off to bed. Night night and hope you enjoyed the leopard print nail art tutorial :)
I think that’s probably because I’ve been so crazy busy with moving house and everything else I just haven’t had time to do anything fun and time consuming like that. Now that we’re all settled in I’ve finally had a chance to have a little relax and do something for myself ^_^
Yep leopard print! I’ve been a little bit obsessed with leopard print lately!
I put so much time and effort into this outfit that I think it deserves it’s own post if only for my records heeheee!
I was so torn on what dress design to go with. I wanted something Hime Gyaru obviously but I wanted it to also feel like I was wearing a million dollars rather than something I’d made. Originally I wanted to buy a dress but I couldn’t find anything I liked so I improvised.
This is how it all started out:
I cut one of my basic patterns out of a stretch cream satin for lining.
Anyway these were $40 marked down from around $170. Before decoration…
After decoration… Notice the pleated ribbon again ;)
Detail shot: Yep I’m so detailed obsessed that I glued diamantes to the buckles ^_^
Now this is how the shoes I actually wore started out… On sale for $30 originally like $150ish.
After the Violet treatment…
They are so pretty but holy bajeebus are they painful! Seriously I think I hobbled around for half the night but it was totally worth it XD
Detail shot:
Interestingly enough these shoes tested by deco abilities. I couldn’t use plain old epoxy glue because it was too brittle, every time I put on the shoes a bunch of jewels cracked off. So I came up with the solution of glueing with epoxy first and then doing 3 top coats of plain old craft tacky glue. This gave it the flexibility to move with my feet :D Totally interesting right?
I didn’t get too many detail shots of my nails because I completely forgot about them ^_^ The are a pink base with a touch of glitter, white lace with ceramic flowers in pink and white on the very tips. The white lace even has little roses on it!
Funny story- I ran out of nail glue so I had to rush and get some for the flowers. They didn’t have my usual brand so I just grabbed one marked “Professional”. Turns out what they meant by “proffessional” was actually “rubbish and doesn’t stick to anything”. This lead to all kind of shenanigans with little roses flying off and having to dig around under heavy cabinets to get them back before the night. Lesson: Once you find a good nail glue stick with it!
Thought I’d show you my other nails for the trip while I’m here :) These are blue and blue glitter stripes with silver tips and blue/silver diamantes.
Some of the small diamantes are heart shaped.
My choker, brooch and one of my bracelets were all custom made by the beautiful Celeste from Little Waltz. I commissioned Celestewith a jumble of ideas even before I had a dress and she made the most beautiful pieces for me!
This was the package that arrived from Little Waltz. Everything was packed super well.
The choker is pink pearls with a silver crown backing and a large flower over the top. There is a little chain with more pearls hanging down. The brooch has Swarofsky crystals dangling down in a vintage metal base and a beautiful pink cameo. She also included 2 absolutely beautiful bracelets with diamantes and little bells which jingle whenever I move. When I wear them I feel like a fairy!
I would absolutely recommend Little Waltzfor anyone needing custom or off the shelf jewelery, the designs are wonderful and the craftsmanship is just beautiful. Celeste handled all my panicky emails wonderfully and couldn’t have been easier to work with! The craftsmanship on the jewelery is immaculate and the prices were really reasonable, I’d give it all a 10/10!
I decided to keep my make up fairly simple for the night with some false lashes and a hint of pink eye shadow. Lip gloss was of course a must too! 1000 Hoursent me some lashes to test out so I decided it was the perfect night to take one of the sets for a test run.
Of course here are some shots of them in action…
I found the application of these to be very easy, they held their shape quite well so it wasn’t a pain to reuse them next time. They were very easy to clean with warm water and with the help of my heated curler they were the perfect shape. I think if you wanted them more or less curled it would be quite easy to achieve. 1000 Hour sent me a couple of other products so I’ll be reviewing them soon for you all too!
Shot to see the length…
Well that’s a wrap everyone! I’ll be back to blogging as normal now that most of the move is out of the way :D
Hope to see you all at the next Nuffnang Awards next year!
If these photos just aren’t enough, I’ve uploaded a large selection of everything we took over at my Flickr account. Hey it’s not everyday that someone flies you to Singapore for free so I took a lot of photos!
So starting on Thursday night, our flight was at like 11:45pm so James’ Dad drove us to the airport and we chatted before going through security and customs and doing a little shopping. We were keeping an eye out for Erica from Girl With a Satchel who was the only other blogger coming from Brisbane. We travel in style baby!
This is a kind of silly inside joke but ever since we started going out like 2 and 1/2 years ago James has been promising to buy me a mood ring and he finally did! Hahaha guess what I’m feeling!
There are some days when absolutely nothing seems to work the way it should. Work explodes into a hot sticky mess, your hair won’t sit right no matter how much hair spray you use, there is nothing but spam in your inbox and you have a migraine the size of China. I am having one of those weeks!
If you’re anything like me you’re not very good at relaxing. I am the kind of person that needs t do like 10 things at once or I’ll get bored and feel unproductive. So this is my guide to relaxing.
Life can be very tiring! 
We’re doing this style today: 
But first… remember the post I made about the Nuffnang Coles/Myer gift card competition? Well I won! I couldn’t believe it, I never win anything so this is awesome! They are sending out my $100 gift voucher so I’ll be sure to let you all know how I spend it ^_^
Don’t forget that Nuffnang is also holding the first annual blogger awards so if you enjoy reading what I write feel free to nominate me ^_^ and cross all your fingers and toes for me! I want to go to Singapore!
She actually made this mani inspired by me, how cool is that?! I’ve done one to go on her blog too, I’ll post the link when it’s up :D
Lisa- “First of all i am extremely proud to be a guest here – at the Violets blog. She is the most wonderful creature i ever met in the internet, and i just admire her beauty and creativity. I am a huge fan and regular reader of this blog, and i also want to thank Violet for sharing her wonderful world with the rest of us. When i was thinking about manicure for Violet, i knew from second one – violet is a right color. I also wanted to make something super sweet and girlish, but also add a touch of my own nail-art style on it. So it is not really like a manicure for Violet, but instead a manicure devoted to Violet.”
How sweet is that? I am completely beyond flattered at this. I have to say that I love it! It’s so cute and girly, I love the little flowers and glitter. I would totally wear this myself :D
Have a great weekend guys and make sure to check out Lisa’s nail art!
Firstly I want to say thank you for the overwhelming response to my last post! You are all very sweet and your lovely comments really made my week! You guys all rock!
But down to business… I bet you were all wondering what kind of design I had on my nails in those pictures…
Well here they are in all their glory!
Evening all! Excuse if this post is a little all over the place, my brain is fried from looking at code for the last 3 days. Yes I know today is supposed to be ACEO Friday but I’m so behind on posting I thought I’d scrap it this week and show you some photos from last weekend.
James and I went to Greazefest!
What’s Greazefest? Well it’s a Kustom Kulture expo, basically full of classic cars, Rockabilly/Psychobilly music and 50-60′s culture! We go every year and it’s fantastic. These are the type of cars that you can expect to see at a Kustom Kulture expo:
I spent a lot of the day posing for photos with the “normal” people, very funny as I was wearing Hime Gyaru fashion not Rockabilly ^_^ Ah they are a bit similar so everyone assumes.
Well I’ve had quite a few questions about what inspires me to do the things I do and clothes I wear. I’ve been asked what blogs I read too so I thought I’d use today’s post to give a bit of a shout out to people I admire and my favorite things! This is going to be a pretty long post because I have a lot of wonderful people to talk about, at the end there are random facts about me you didn’t know so keep reading!
All I’ve got at the moment are crappy cell phone pics because I was sick all weekend *again*
I was aiming for Ageha caramel blonde. It looks a lot lighter than this in the light…
Unfortunately after bleaching for an hour and a half the black tips were so strong that they are still dark brown, it looks like cool gradation though… so hmm… I totally cant decide whether
I like it or if I want to just dye it back to red again. So I’ve created a poll for you to vote on in my left side bar :D
Today I’m getting back to my roots and showing you the nail art I was talking about last post. Very Hime-style and very over the top :D Exactly my style.
It’s been ages since I’ve done something this 3-d but I just couldn’t resist using these pretty flowers that I ordered a while ago.
The OC Nail Art Konad competition is ooover! I had so much fun doing it though, I ended up making like 13 or so entries. These are my latest ones…
Tiger stripes and Kanji. I can’t get enough of the sparkly orange base! It’s got tiny specs of gold in there which catch the sun really well.
Hearts! I love hearts! 
We did a presentation at Neis all about websites and how they can be good for your business. I decided to get some subtle advertising in by painting Blue Crane Design on my nails XD Here is the ring I ordered from Pretty Paris too!
And the last one… purple chains!
When I saw this tiny little delicate chain unlike a normal girl who thinks “Wouldn’t that make a prety necklace?” I thought “I wonder how many top coats I would have to use to stick that to my nails?”. 
And that’s all she wrote for now. I’m much too busy watching these silly people going over budget on their ridiculous house on “Grand Designs” to blog :P I want my own house, I hope Australia’s property market goes bust soon! Then again, from my time working at a bank I have learned that they aren’t exactly happy to give a mortgage to two 22yr olds even if they are incredibly responsible and could pay it easily. Sucks because our rent is as much as a mortgage would be anyway *_*
Hope you all enjoyed the nail art!
As some of you might know I’m trying to win a competition for the most creative design using a Konad Stamping B kit. It’s over at OC Nailart, they are awesome if you ever need any Konad supplies check them out!
…well here are some of my entries, what do you guys think? I know, I know, I’ve gone pretty crazy! I want to win this so badly though!
Cutesy umbrellas, go away rain!
Some of you have been asking about my eye make up so here are a couple of quick shots to show you what I’ve been doing lately!
Good old green eyes. Green graduated to white with black eye liner and mascara. I LOVE liquid eyeliner.
Now this one should look better than this but it was taken with the old camera who’s flash is weird. It’s black faded to pink faded to white, there is black eyeliner (which came out white because of the flash) and diamantes.
I tell you what I would have worn those lashes everyday if I didn’t end up allergic to the glue :( The last time I wore them they gave me such horrible chemical burns that my eyes were puffy for weeks :( It looked like I was wearing red eye liner.
PATCH TEST PEOPLE! Also if you guys know of a good hypo-allergenic eyelash glue send me a link please!
On a completely different note a while ago I was asked to write for SEEK’s new volunteer finder website. I volunteered in a bunch of theaters when I was younger and it was fantastic. Anyway the website is up now so if you’re interested go have a look here: http://www.volunteer.com.au My story is under the Arts/Entertainment category.
And in equally important news I’ve been Konad-ing my butt off this weekend and having a blast! Thanks so Brooke for pointing me towards the Konad competition, I’ve done so many entries that I really hope I win. Wish me luck! I’ll post all the photos later this week :D
What are your favorite green eye make up looks?
Welcome to my holiday extravaganza! Well as some of you know I was away for a week, this is pretty much what I did… Beware… there are a lot of photos and this is the cut down version!!
We have quite a few clients up on the Sunshine Coast so James surprised me with a working holiday! Much hilarity ensued. Also, don’t expect Hime/Lolita here it doesn’t really work so well on the beach!
So here we are at the half way truck stop thing, we were eating lunch when James pulled out his camera to take a photo of his burger and the one of me above. Then the two guys approached us and started chatting to James about what a great hobby it was. They were also photographers and complimented me on my hair saying that they loved the 60′s and we chatted for a while. It ended turning into a mini-photo shoot! Everyone in the truck stop was staring, it was hilarious!
Hello everyone! I have some big news this post… I’m Nuffnang’s featured blogger of the month :D
Come and check it out here: http://www.nuffnang.com.au/featured-blogger/bg-2009-apr
I’m very excited about the whole thing, I really love Nuffnang and I’m having a blast meeting other bloggers with them!
Now for the real purpose of this post… I GOT MY KONAD! Really this post is in homage to Brooke and her blog “Getcha Nails Did”. She is the one who convinced me to actually get it and I’m so happy! If you don’t know what a Konad is click here: http://www.konadusa.com/
Konad nail art pics ahoy!
This was my first try so it kind of sucks… but I practiced a whole lot!
I’ve been playing all weekend… expect photos soon.
Thanks for the recommendation Brooke, it’s AWESOME!
These don’t look as great close up but I think they’re freaking awesome! I made them a long time ago and finally got to wear the this week! Music has always been a passion of mine so this was natural!
I’ve played piano since I was 11, I used to be pretty good but I’m so out of practice!
Now here’s a treat, me being bored while James takes my nail art photos ;)
Life can be fun sometimes. I tried out gel nails for the first time last night and let me tell you, they SUCKED. I am not a fan at all.
I followed the directions exactly and what I was left with was an icky ridgy mess of nails that looked ridiculous. After finishing the height of the gel didn’t even reach the tips so there was a terrible ridge line across the nail where they meet.
Hmm, maybe I didn’t do it right. Clearly many people love gel nails, maybe I should get them done professionally. I want to do a nail course so I can learn all the tips and tricks!
For now though, I think I’m going to stick with my good old fashioned acrylics.
Goodbye gel nails.
I apologize in advance for my crappy camera work on this, it’s hard to hold a cell phone camera in one hand while doing acrylic nails with the other *_*
I am really not very good at writing tutorials but people are always asking about how I do my nails so I thought I’d give it another go. Please note that this really is just a rough guide, it’s not comprehensive, it’s just what I do!
Onwards to the acrylic nail tutorial.
Firstly you should get all of your materials together. I get all of my things together on a tray table so I can do it on the couch and be nice and comfy.
Here’s this month’s nail art style. It’s quite girly and blingy.
I love these nails, they’re my favorites so far! They have a pink base with black tips. The large jewels were put on first then the multi-coloured jewels and little balls to fill in the gaps. The last stage was the gold argyle pattern on the pink bits. Very sparkly and very attention grabbing!
I love this kind of nail art, super bling for the win!
Today I bought a little pink portable nail polish dryer. It’s quite adorable but as it only cost $10 it’s not the most well make piece of craftsmanship in the universe. It wasn’t exactly made in the alps by blind virgin monks in solid gold castles.
So after taking it out of the box I noticed an annoying knocking sound when the fan turned.
This week’s nail art style is nautical.I love this style so much! Credit where it’s due I copied the idea it from these nails. She has such fantastic ideas and style! If I wore stick on nails I would have ordered from her several times over by now!
Apologies for the small photo.
I’ve always been in love with pirates and nautical themes so this seemed perfect for me. The thumbs have anchors, the middle have wheels and the pinkies have compass points. I tell you what, putting that many tiny balls on there was a pain but they are so cute!
Doing fun nail art designs like this makes me want to order some more supplies so I can do fancy designs more often.
Here is my nail art for this week.It’s a simple pink cute princess style with lots of glitter and shine.
This is one of my favorite nail art styles so far. I love how elegant it is while still being completely over the top. You can’t get much more girly than 2 shades of pink with glitter, pearls and diamantes!
These ones took quite a long time to do because each layer had to completely dry before I could start the next one. The pink polish was a present from James and while I LOVE the colour, it takes quite a long time to dry so I managed to mess it up a few times and had to start again. Also I accidentally fell asleep at one point so surprisingly I had to redo that coat XD
I’m slowly progressing in nail art and while it’s probably going to be a long journey, I think it will be worth it!
It was the first time I had ever tried doing my own acrylic nails and I loved it! The design is a plain red with pink diamante hearts and tears on either side so it kind of looks a bit like CLAMP style wings. I’ve been pretty obsessed with nails for a long time now but I’ve only had acrylics once before and they were done at a salon. They are really short compared to a lot of people’s nails but I’m still getting used to the idea of longer nails so I thought this was a good length to start with.
Here is some other nail art I’ve done.
I have been a nail biter since before I can conceivably remember and having acrylics are great to combat that because I can fiddle with them all I want but they’re not going anywhere! So yay for nail art!
