Thursday 28 July 2011

Shake It Up Nails!

I decided to do another set of "Inspired Mani's"!
These nails are inspired from a music video called "Watch Me" by Bella Thorne and Zendaya which they shot for their TV show Shake It Up. I thought the nail designs that they had were cute and fun to do so i decided to give it a try!

Zendaya



Zendaya's nails were pinkish gold fading into green.


You guys kinda got a preview of this mani in my previous post.
I used Orly Luxe for the gold colour ( i didn't have any golds with a pink tinge) and sponged on Sally Hansen XtremeWear in Emerald City.  The green and gold combo makes me feel very Aussie haha.

Bella Thorne
 I thought Bella Thorne's Nails were really cool! I call it a Black and Red Accent Stripey Mani =)
Black and Red Accent Stripey mani
 I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blackout for the black base and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Diamonds and Rubies for the red accent nail. Then i used Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen in Silver to draw the stripes and Orly Luxe for the gold stripes.
Sally Hansen Xtreme Blackout, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds and Rubies, Sally Hansen Nail art Pen Silver, Orly Luxe
Usually, I really suck at using my left hand to do free-hand painting, but surprisingly my right hand turned out better than my left hand! I think maybe the messy lines adds character to the mani...?
I really like this Mani and had heaps of fun doing it and i took so many pictures of it, i thought i'd share some more with you!
Here's my attempt at imitating Bella Thornes pose from the screenshot of the music video!

I actually find the song quite catchy! Here's the music video if you want to check it out!

Sunday 24 July 2011

Blue Shatter!

Hey guys!
This is a quick post on OPI Blue Shatter.  i got bored of my mani (which you will soon see in another post) so i put blue shatter over it, and i quite like the effect. I don't know if it's just me, but i found the consistency to be a bit thin for my liking, i had to do 2 quick, messy coats to get the opacity i wanted.
OPI Blue Shatter (partial Sun)
 My camera couldn't handle the shimmer from the gold (Orly Luxe) underneath, these were the best i could get.
OPI Blue Shatter (Indoors, flash)
The Shatters seem to be my go-to polish when i want to extend the life of my mani and hide some chipped polish. =)

Do you guys like shatter/crackle polish?

Monday 18 July 2011

Nails fit for a Princess!

I was really loving my Hanna mani but it didn't match the dress i wore to mum's b'day dinner (and when i say "didn't match" i mean "CLASH CLASH CLASH!!). And so, after i said my goodbyes and many tears were shed, i reluctantly plunged my nails into the murky and spongy sea of Kwik-Off... *whelp*

ANYWAY, so i replaced the Hanna mani with this...




Which i am totally loving, but that might be because i love pink and i love love love OPI Teenage Dream!
So i started off with Sally Hansen Maximum Growth in Dreamy Pink, then i added a coat of OPI Princesses Rule! and topped it off with OPI Teenage Dream. Initially i was only going to use Teenage Dream for an accent nail...but i tend to go overboard with Teenage Dream because it's so SPARKLY!! (Imagine London Tipton from Suite Life of Zack and Cody saying that) so i had to add more SPARKLES to the mani =)

This shade of pink, along with the sparkles always reminds me of princesses don't you think?
(OPI totally nailed the name for Princesses Rule!)

Thursday 14 July 2011

Pretty Little Liar's Nails from S02E04 Blind Dates Part 2

Here's Part 2 of my Pretty Little Liars Nails!

Hanna



I absolutely love Hanna's mani. It's a red and black french manicure with a polka dot hearts accent nail. Red is such a sassy colour which totally suit Hanna's personality and once again the black gives it that edge. The accent nail, which i believe was done with nail polish strips adds a girly touch to the mani. In that episode Hanna went on a faux date with Caleb (and Lucas and his date), so maybe the love hearts suggest that she still has feelings for him?





I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Diamonds and Rubies and Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Black out to recreate this look. I did the hearts on the accent nail by hand which is why the hearts on the right hand look a bit dodgy..but hey, i think it's a pretty good effort using my left hand!

Spencer
Once again, it was really hard to get a good look at spencer's nails but from what i could gather from these pictures. she had a simple nude/beige mani. It's clean and classic, which really fits Spencer's no-nonsense attitude.

I used this old nail polish i found called Raffia by Estee Lauder.



I really hope you've enjoyed these mani's! Let me know if you want me to do more of these!

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Pretty Little Liar's Nails from S02E04 Blind Dates Part 1

A new episode of Pretty Little Liars is on today! yay!!

Pretty Little Liars is one of my favourite TV shows! Sheena and Marina are also hooked on it, and we probably spend a fair amount of time speculating what would happen next, who "A" is, how yummy the guys are and how pretty the "liars" are. My goal now is to get Shirley and Michelle hooked on it too hehehe!

Anyways last week, as i was cuddled up in bed watching the episode, "Blind Dates" i saw a glimpse of Aria's nails and i though "why not do a blog post on the Pretty Little Liar's Nails!". And so here's Part 1, inspored by the nail polish Aria and Emily wore on last week's episode "Blind Dates".

Aria
Aria wore a pastel green nail polish with black shatter. The pastel green is sort of mellow and a bit romantic while the black shatter makes it quite edgy and this whole ensemble really suits Aria's quirky style.
OPI Mermaid's Tears and OPI Black Shatter
To recreate this look, i used OPI Mermaid's Tears with OPI Black Shatter. I decided to add a coat of OPI I Juggle Men to add a subtle sparkle.

Emily
Emily's kind of a jock, she wears comfortable, casual, but stylish clothes so I'm not that surprised that she was wearing a dark, shimmery navy nail colour. It was really hard to find a nice screenshot of her nails, this was the best i could do.

If I had OPI Russian Navy i would have totally used that for recreating this mani...but i don't so instead i put OPI Ink over one coat Sally Hansen Xtreme wear nail colour in Black Out. I'm sure that if i just used OPI Ink and built it up it would have had the same result, but i was feeling quite impatient, and well, this mani only took 2 coats! =)
OPI Ink and Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Black out

I hope you've enjoyed these recreations! I'll be showing you Hanna and Spencer's nails in the next post. Now I'm going to go and watch this week's episode =)
Have you watched it yet?

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - It All Ends...

Well, it's finally here! Today's the premiere of the last Harry Potter Movie! So in celebration, i decided to do a "Harry Potter"  themed mani.



It didn't really turn out as i pictured it in my head, and i guess it's hard to see the connection between this and Harry Potter unless i show you the pictures that inspired the design. These were:



So my left thumb was pretty much my attempt at recreating the landscape HP7 poster, while the rest of my nails represented the final faceoff between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort =).


Halfway through painting my right thumb, i realised i'd stuffed up the orientation (if only my thumb was as long as my fingers =/) So this is only way that i could show you how this mani works (excuse my awful photoshopping skills).


I did a lot of sponging in this mani, laying colour over colour to get that "magical" look. The base was Sally Hansen's Xtreme wear nail colour in Black out, with one layer of OPI Ink and OPI DS Magic over it. This alone would have looked very nice and Harry Potter-y. Then i mixed and sponged on all these other colours that i can't be bothered naming here to get the "colours" coming out of the wands.

OPI DS Coronation, Sally Hansen Xtreme wear -Emerald City, Orly Luxe, Sally Hansen Xtreme wear-Black Out, OPI Ink, OPI DS Magic, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - Diamonds & Rubies, Rimmel Lasting Finish - London Clouds, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen - Silver. 

This is definitely not my best mani, but it was messy and lots of fun to do =)

My friends and i are probably going to watch it tonight or tomorrow! I'm soo excited xD xD

Are you going to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2? If so what are your thoughts?

Monday 11 July 2011

Priceline and Nail Polish Removers

I absolutely love Priceline! For me, it's the ultimate form of retail therapy, just being in the store makes me feel happy!
For those who have never heard of Priceline (shock horror!), it's basically an awesome health and beauty retailer! What would make it more awesome is if they sold OPI.

Anyway, when I discovered there was a new Priceline at the Westfield on Pitt St, i immediately dragged Marina to explore it! Westfield Pitt St is different to other Westfield's. Every store is bigger and more beautiful than its sister store at another Westfield. Priceline is no exception!They had two aisles dedicated to Sally Hansen!! Enough said!

I discovered these two items at the new Priceline and i had to buy it:
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Polish in Disco Ball 
Sally Hansen Kwik Off Salon Formula Nail colour remover

I'll probably do a post about Disco Ball at another time, for now, I really want to talk about Kwik Off.
Despite it's cheesy spelling, it's a really good nail polish remover! 



It's basically a sponge in a little tub filled with nail polish remover. There's 3 "holes" (more like slits) for you to insert your nails, twist them around..and voila! Almost all your nail polish is removed! I found that it had trouble removing the polish on the lateral edges of the nail, where the nail meets the cuticle, but since there was residual nail polish remover, one wipe with a cotton pad got rid of the remaining polish.
The only down side to Kwik Off is that it contains acetone, which is probably why the nail polish comes off so easily.
If you have no problems with some acetone in your nail polish remover, i'd definitely recommend keeping one of these handy! it's saved me a lot of time (and cotton pads).
I bought mine for $9.95 at Priceline, which is a bit more pricey than other nail polish removers, but It's way more effective and I'm expecting it to last a lot longer.

Have you tried Kwik Off?

-Adeline

Sunday 10 July 2011

OPI Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em and Water Marbling

At the moment, i'm wearing OPI Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em with a water marble accent nail on my ring finger.

Indoors with flash
Sunlight
Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em is is from OPI's Texas range and i would describe it as a hot pinkish red sorbet. it's hard to see the pink, but if you put it in direct sunlight (or under a very bright light), the pink undertones are definitely there!
I'm not really a red nail polish person, when i do have red nails, i feel like a dragon lady hahaha. But Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em is such a nice colour, it makes me want to eat strawberries!! I'm going to pass it off  as pink so i can wear it more often!

 I absolutely love OPI as the formula is always fantastic! I used 2-3 coats to get full opacity (the third coat was just to smooth things out)  and OPI Start to Finish for the base and top coat. 

If you're in Australia, you can find OPI at David Jones for RRP $19.95 or in most nail salons.


Now onto water marbling...
Can i just say, i love the look of water marbling but it's such a frustrating task! It requires a lot of patience, good nail polish and nail polish remover. I really admire Colette from My Simple Little Pleasures! She creates such beautiful water marbling designs and makes it look effortless!
This is my second (successful) attempt at water marbling and I'm pretty happy with the results. 
Left Hand, Indoors
Right hand, indoors
I used OPI Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em, OPI DS Sapphire, OPI Princesses Rule, OPI Not Like the Movies and OPI Sparrow Me the Drama for the marbling. It's not that obvious in the photos but i really like how OPI DS Sapphire adds a holographic shimmer to the nail.

 I think it's really important to have good quality nail polish. In my first kinda successful attempt, i used a few Rimmel 60 second nail polishes and i had problems with spreading, the polish dried before i could dip my nail in, then when i had a really nice design, i'd stuff it up by smudging it... it was quite a disaster!
I call this my first attempt but really it was like the 10th attempt that day and i gave up trying to fix them lol.


What do you guys think of water marbling?
I might do some more water marbling in the future...if i have the patience!!

-Adeline


Saturday 9 July 2011

A passionate (and perfectly healthy) 'lust-affair'.

Okay, so I was never a stereotypical I-need-retail-therapy-let's-wipe-out-my-bank-account kinda girl, and being a 'financially sensible person' , I figured I would forever be the iron-fisted master of my shopaholic urges (...most of the time xD).

This was until a few months back when we bought the O.P.I. Katy Perry Collection for Adeline on her birthday, fell instantly in love with them, and I tumbled head over heels into a 'lustlovewantneed!' affair that went down a little like this:

Savings in the bank.
Best friends who are obsessed with nail polish.
Reignited love for nail polish.
Discovery of O.P.I.
Fluttering heartbeats.
Online shopping for O.P.I. the night before my final exams.
Not so many savings in the bank.
Endorsing the bf's love for Starcraft2 so that he can't comment on my sporadic splurging on nail polish.
Spilling nail polish remover on my laptop and not even caring all too much because I'm too busy drooling over my new mani.
Facebook flaunting/spamming my nails (oh yeah baby, PDA ;D)
Painting nails at Max Brenner and flashing them at our waiter.
Nail polish party.
Everyone comes to an epiphany. WE NEED A BLOG.

PHEW. Yeah, I know, its kinda epic. You jelly? xD HAHA jks, I don't actually talk like that I'm just being random.

ANYWAY, enough words! PICTURES! =D

OPI - The One That Got Away - Part of the Katy Perry Collection, I love it! I used 3 coats for this mani.

SCANDAL - Glitter Polish, this was a fantastic find! You can buy Scandal polished for $5.95 AUD in several Asian fashion boutiques along Sydney's George St and Chinatown =) It drys quickly and is very opaque for a glitter polish.

Konad - Special Polish in white + Image Stamp, I've always known about these and seen friends wearing them but it wasn't until recently that I actually went and bought myself a set. I'm absolutely obsessed with the polkadot bowtie stamp!





PA - AA36 (black glitter) - this Japanese brand has stolen my heart! However, each bottle is very small and doesn't specify how many mLs, but I estimate it to be around 5-6mL. These retail for $7 AUD per bottle.

Rimmel - Blue My Mind - I have to say, Rimmel is not a quality polish. It stains, it chips, it dents while I wait for my polish to dry. But this was the only electric blue I had on hand at the time.

OPI - Last Friday Night - I'm surprised by how opaque this polish on my mani. It gave my nails a very obvious blue hue, but usually it is very sheer. Also, theformula on this is not fantastic, it's the thickest and gloopiest out of all my OPI's.




Kit - A bright Coral released in collaboration with Shop Til You Drop Magazine, Limited # for Shop readers only - I'm so glad I was lucky enough to get my hands on this! The consistency is a little on the thick side, but the finish is shiny, smooth and long-lasting. Plus, it looks great with shatter! As far as I'm aware, your go to place to get Kit polishes would be Sydey City Myer on Pitt St- Kit has their own area on the cosmetics level.

OPI - Black Shatter. I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE. How hot does this polish look? I applied one thick coat over dry Kit polish and it cracked just the way I wanted it too. You can experiment with different application methods- thinner/thicker coats or multiple directions during application to get your desired effect.




Okay wow, I just read this post and I think it's a little long haha, I think I might save a few pictures for later posts but here are two from aaggesss ago that I'll just pop in here at the end without comments =) Everyone likes pictures right right? *crickets chirping*




















YAY MY FIRST POST DONE! =D Hope you enjoyed reading as much I enjoyed writing hehe, there are heaps more to come!

- Sheena xxx

Five friends and some bottles of nail polish

Hi guys!
Recently, my besties and I became obsessed (or re-obsessed, for some) with nail polish. We would share our latest designs with each other on Facebook, go on MMASSive nail polish shopping sprees and let's not forget our nail polish party!!
our latest haul

Unfortunately, this was not enough to satisfy our nail polish cravings. We needed an outlet, an excuse to buy more polish and change our nail colour before it started chipping.
And so, inspired by all the wonderful nail blogs we've decided to start our own. It's going to be a fun little blog, and we'll be sharing our love for nail polish, nail art and probably other random things.

Here's a quick introduction to MMASS:

Michelle
coming soon...

Marina
Marina is wearing OPI My Private Jet
Adeline
Adeline is wearing OPI Sparrow Me The Drama
Shirley
Shirley is wearing Rimmel Green With Envy and OPI black Shatter
Sheena
Sheena is wearing OPI Elephantastic Pink and PA AA16
I hope you'll enjoy our posts!! =)

-MMASS