Shades Of Phoenix - Chaos Glitter Tips

Hey guys!

Guess what - today, at 9pm AEST, Shades of Phoenix is launching two new colours to her line! I am SUPER excited about this so I can't wait! :D Definitely head on over to her Etsy shop at 9 and get your hands on these beauties. :)

In honour of Teneil's new polishes, I did a mani using one of her old colours! In January I did a glitter tip mani using a different SoP shade and LOVED it so much. So I thought I'd do another!

I used Essence Sweet As Candy as my base just to make my natural nail colour look a bit better haha. Sweet As Candy is a really nice sheer pink that I like to use for manis like this one where you can see some of my natural nail. It's a LITTLE streaky but not too bad, it levels out by itself pretty well.

And then I created my glitter tips with Shades of Phoenix Chaos. 

Unfortunately this was a LE shade so it's no longer available, sorry! I have a video tutorial on Glitter Gradients which you can see HERE if you're interested!

I love doing glitter tip manis like this. Must find more polishes to do this with! It's really easy and a bit more interesting and flashy than a plain mani. ;)
I can't seem to make the glitter totally cover my tips, though, no matter how much I put on LOL. So yeah, I do realise that you can see my nail through. :P

You can see my first swatches of Teneil's polishes HERE. Be sure to head to her Etsy shop to snatch up her new colours! :) And follow her on Facebook too, she updates very regularly and shows a load of sneak peeks!

I'd love to know your fave SoP shades! Leave me a comment :D

Stamped Gradient Using OPI Euro Centrale Colours + QA28

Hey guys! Today I have a mani to show you that I did using my new OPI Euro Centrale mini set. :D
I skipped Aussie Nails Monday this week because I had a super busy weekend and then I just couldn't be bothered doing the theme this week LOL.

For the base colour I used You're Such a Budapest, which is a light periwinkle-ish purple. It's super pretty! :) It has a little teeny bit of a shimmer in it but it's not very noticeable at all! I did 3 coats of YSAB.

Then I used Can't Find My Czechbook with YSAB to create the gradient. I have a gradient tutorial video HERE if you are interested. :) This is a light sky blue colour.

Over the gradient on my ring finger I used Gloss n Sparkle "Cotinga" :) I've been looking for the perfect polish to use this with for AGES and I think it works over both these colours! :D Unfortunately I don't think Gloss n Sparkle sells this one anymore. :( I did get it probably about 6 months ago, though.

I then stamped over the gradient using plate QA28 from Born Pretty Store with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. :) How cute are the moustaches! :D I think the Born Pretty plates work great for the price! They're only around $3 each!

UMM LOOK AT THOSE GLITTERSSSSS!
Kinda fell in love with this photo ^_^

Bonus bottle shot of Gloss n Sparkle "Cotinga"

What do you think?! :D I love the moustache stamp, it's so funny and cute haha!

Shades Of Phoenix - Love From The Gods Glitter Tips! Mission Untrieds #9

Hi guys! Happy Friday and Happy Februrary! :) February is my second fave month of the year - my first fave is December FYI. My 20th birthday is this month! Woohoo! ;)

This is my 9th Mission Untrieds post! I'm glad I came up with a fun way to get me to use my untrieds! I have maaaany more untrieds to get through so I hope you like them!

This is Shades Of Phoenix's Love From The Gods on my tips! I've already shown this polish once before, HERE, but I just had to share it again after I did this manicure. I love it so much!
I wore these ultra sparkly glitter tips over 1 coat of Butter London Pink Ribbon which is the untried polish in this post. I have technically worn it before, but it was a long time ago and I tried to wear it alone. LOL. Pink Ribbon is definitely not made to be worn on its own. I tried to wear it with like 6 coats and it was still sheer haha (not to mention THICK as!).

I have a glitter gradient tutorial HERE if you're interested. :)

Hope you enjoyed! I think this mani would be so perfect to wear on V Day!

Pink Lemonade Gradient + Tutorial! - Mission Untrieds #7

Hi guys! Today I have my 7th Mission Untrieds post! Including a tutorial! :)

Sorry this is a bit photo heavy! I had a hard time choosing and narrowing my photos down LOL.

For this look I used Orly Lemonade (which is the untried, haha), OPI Pink Friday and a sponge!

This is definitely not my best gradient... The colours didn't blend together as well as I'd have liked but I hope you like it anyway.

Here's the tutorial! Hope it helps you! :)

Aussie Nails Monday - 17/12 Sponging

So another Aussie Nails Monday post going up later than expected. :( Eeeek. I'm sorry! Today's post was delayed because...well, to be honest, I couldn't be bothered. LOL. It was a really nice day so I sat outside in the sun most of the day! And then I took a chunk of skin off my thumb and sliced my middle finger, boooo! :( But that will not stop me from doing some hopefully cool sponged nails for ANM!

For my sponged mani I used two coats of Essie's Mint Candy Apple and waited for it to dry. If I were doing just a solid colour mani, it would definitely need a third coat because it was a bit patchy/streaky (as Essie pastels tend to be) but I was going to sponge over it so I didn't bother.
I then used a kitchen sponge and OPI Pink Friday for my gradient. I use this technique for my gradients and it works really well for me.
I added Emily de Molly's Black And White Love Affair over the gradient! I think it looks so cute!

I wish I hadn't changed my nail shape back to squares. :( I usually don't mind my nails no matter what shape they are and I'm all "it's okay, they'll grow back" but right now I hate them. :( *sigh*

Have a nice day/night!

Don't forget to check out the blogs/accounts of the gorgeous ladies joining me for Aussie Nails Monday:

Nail Gun XS - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse - Tales From The Makeup Bag - Shatter Me Claire - A Polished Prance - Tee Bee’s Nails - The Epitome of Superficiality - Lacquer Dreams - NananaisNails - Enamoured With Enamel - Pretty Polish Please - Adelle1985 - Kelly's Kolors - Polished Peripherals - Nicki - Every Little Polish - Mel My Issta - Walk In My Eyeshadow - JennLojko - The Polish Haven - Nails In The Desert - Erinzi - Strawbrie - Lovessweetas - Jas' Blingtastic Nails - Mckfresh - Jessica

Aussie Christmas - 9/12 Green

Hey hey guys. :) Hope your weekend's going well so far!

Today's Aussie Christmas Challenge prompt is 'green'. Pretty easy after all the difficult ones the past week.. I'm sorry to all the ladies doing the challenge! I underestimated how difficult some of the prompts are! :P Oh well, it's meant to be a 'challenge' right? ;)

I'm kinda loving gradients. For today's nail art I did another gradient! For the french base I used 2 coats of Essence Sweet As Candy. It was still a bit streaky at 2 coats, I probably could've done a third.
I then sponged on Piper Polish Peace, Love and Rainbows* a little more than halfway up my nail, concentrating it most on the tip. I then did another layer of sponging, only on the tip. It looked a bit less gradient-ish than I wanted it to but I still like it.
Then I topped the whole mani with Ulta3's Luck Of The Irish, a really pretty green glitter! :) I did one coat over the whole nail, and then added a bit more glitter closer to the tips.

Holding China Glaze Ruby Pumps - so Christmas-y :)

Have a great day! :)

Aussie Christmas - 7/12 Summer Sunset

Today's Aussie Christmas Challenge mani is gonna be kinda similar to my 'Pool Party' one... Sorry! I didn't really think about it enough. x)
I think almost all of us will do really similar manis for today's challenge prompt. :P

Before I show you the mani, I wanted to say that yes, I'm experimenting with a new nail shape. I have a more rounded shape now. I think it's a bit more flattering on my hands but I'm not totally sure how I feel about it just yet. My nails grow fairly fast anyway so if I end up hating it, it won't be long before I can file them square again. :)

So anyway, I chose to do a sunset-esque gradient accent nail! I don't think I did a super good job of it looking like a sunset but oh well, I still think it's pretty. :)
The polishes I used were Essence Break Through, Cotton On Neon Orchid and Ulta3 Frangipani with a regular kitchen sponge for the gradient. It actually worked a lot better with the kitchen sponge than previous gradients I've done, which I've used a cosmetic sponge for.

Have a great weekend! :)

Oh also - a reminder! My HTF China Glaze "OMG" auction ends tomorrow night at 11:59pm South Australia time! Go HERE to bid on it!

Aussie Christmas - 5/12 Pool Party

20 days til Christmas! :D WOO! Who else loves this time of year as much as me?!

Today for the Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge, the theme is pool party! Christmas and summer time in Australia usually involves going to the pool, or going out in your backyard if you're lucky enough to have a pool! Or running under sprinklers, which is what I did when I was a kid lol. I've never had my own pool but always wanted one and have always loved swimming at the pool. I'm not a massive fan of the beach, it's alright, but I prefer the pool!

My nail art today is inspired by my board shorts! I was going to use my tankini as inspiration but they're just blue, red and white, like the Aussie flag and I've already done Aussie flag nails before! ;) My boardies are a sunset sort of print, with palm trees all over.

My boardies

I used a base of Ulta3 Lily White, my favourite white. It's almost opaque in one coat! Perfecto. :P

I then did a gradient using Cotton On Body's Neon Orchid, Essie Fear or Desire and Ulta3 Frangipani. The technique I use for gradients can be seen in this tutorial by MissJenFabulous on YouTube. I drew a palm tree on my ring finger using my black BYS nail art striper (which I actually just dropped on the concrete outside and I'm surprised it didn't smash).

This is easily the most vibrant nail art I have ever done, haha! I love it!

Elissa xx

Aussie Nails Monday 19/11 Glitter

Hey hey! Happy Monday! If that's even possible :P Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was average, but oh well! Hopefully this coming weekend is much better!

Today is the second day of Aussie Nails Monday! You can see my first ANM post HERE. Or click on the tab in the navbar labelled 'Aussie Nails Monday' for more info. :)

Today's theme is 'GLITTER'! We all know I love me some glitter! I decided I'd try a gradient, starting at the cuticle. Yep, this is the first time I've done a glitter gradient starting at the cuticle. o.O When I first started seeing them, I thought it looked really weird but now I like the look of them better than gradients that start at the tip!

I used a base of Mirenesse Berry Boa. I got this as a freebie with Woman's Day mag! I've heard great things about Mirenesse polishes and I was not let down by this one! :)
Berry Boa was almost opaque in one coat but I had a few bald spots, so I did two. It's not really a berry colour to me.. At least it didn't look like that in person. I'd say it was more of a deep red. But still really gorgeous! It was perfect to work with. No issues here! Though I can't say I've ever had trouble with a red polish!

I then did a glitter gradient with Essence Gold Fever, one of the new style Essence polishes. :) I'm getting into small glitters lately so I picked this one up. (I used to HATE glitters like this and only bought chunky glitters). Gold Fever has small gold and sparse red glitters. I used a technique I saw in this post by Lucy's Stash. :) Her's look better though. :)

Hope you have a great week!

Elissa xx

Please go check out the other lovely ANM ladies nails! :)

Nail Gun XS - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse - Tales From The Makeup Bag - Shatter Me Claire - A Polished Prance - Tee Bee’s Nails - The Epitome of Superficiality - Lacquer Dreams - NananaisNails - Enamoured With Enamel - Pretty Polish Please - Adelle1985 - Kelly's Kolors - Polished Peripherals - Nicki - Every Little Polish - Mel My Issta - Walk In My Eyeshadow - JennLojko - The Polish Haven - Nails In The Desert - Erinzi

This is Halloween: 22/10 Gradient

Hey guys! :)

I have not had a good day and I am sooo tired so this post will probably be kept short.

For the Gradient theme of the This is Halloween challenge, I knew from the start I'd want to do a 'candy corn' inspired gradient! :) I think the colours on candy corn look so fun and bright and festive. But I do not like candy corn. :| My sister bought a packet of them from Jelly Belly last year and I was NOT expecting them to taste the way they did. I thought they'd be like gummy lollies or something but they weren't! In Australia I've only ever seen candy corn in the shops once and then the time when my sister brought them home.

Disclaimer! I didn't realise until I was about to take photos of this mani that I realised I'd put the colours in the wrong order. :( BOOOO. If you're not familiar with candy corn, I should've put the orange and yellow the other way around. I have not done very many successful manis for this challenge have I. :( Oh well, my boyfriend said it still reminded me of it.
Please also excuse the oily cuticles. I really need to make sure the pictures are fine before I remove my mani...

I used a base of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White, and then did a gradient with a makeup sponge and Face of Australia Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, and Essie Fear or Desire. :)

On the plus side, my nubbins don't look too bad here! Yay! :)

Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Elissa

31DC2012: Day 10 - Gradient

First of all I want to thank you, I have over 40 followers on my blog now! :) I never even expected to have 10 followers, so it's cool to have 40 people who read my blog! :D Thanks so so much for following me!

As you'll see from the post title, today's 31 Day Challenge theme is gradient. I have been dying to try a gradient manicure for ages! But I didn't think I'd do a good job so I just didn't... until now! :) I showed you a rainbow gradient for yesterday's challenge theme and I have another one today!

For this mani I used the following polishes:

• Revlon - Lily, a pretty pale lilac creme
• OPI - Do You Lilac It, similar to Revlon - Lily, but dustier/darker
• Rimmel - Pompous, a dark purple shimmer

I used many tips from tutorials I've seen for this look. MissJenFabulous (Polish and Pearls is her blog) on youtube has a good gradient tutorial (and many other awesome ones!) and also The Nailasaurus has another great one!

I don't like to wear purples that much but in a gradient I like it a lot more! :) I really like gradients and I'd love to do more of them! I'm really really happy with how it turned out!

I also took these photos before I filed my nails down, which is why they might look longer here than my previous post!

Hope you enjoyed this short, sweet post!

Elissa

31DC2012: Day 9 - Rainbow

I am super excited for the nails I have to show you today! Though I have a feeling that many other bloggers may have done a similar manicure to me for the challenge today. x)

By the way, I'm not sure if it's noticeable but I did file my nails down a bit. They were looking a little weird in photos and since I have a blog and like to take photos of my nails, I obviously want them to look nice in the photos. :P I do like my nails long though, and I probably wouldn't go any shorter than they are now (by choice anyway).

I saw a tutorial by a girl on Instagram called ohtammm for a rainbow gradient! It looked really gorgeous so I thought I'd try it for today. :) \
I wasn't super happy with it when I tried it, because I accidentally mixed up where I put two of the colours and when they blended together, they didn't look pretty. :( So it didn't turn out looking really rainbow-ish but it wasn't so bad.

I then decided to do a more traditional rainbow gradient on my other hand. x) I like it a lot better than the other one, but I'm going to show you both. :)

Sam @ The Nailasaurus has a good tutorial for a gradient if you're looking for one (you should be able to find it on her sidebar, it's one of her most popular posts).

The polishes used for both of these looks were:

• China Glaze - Dance Baby
• Essie - Fear or Desire
• China Glaze - Kinetic Candy
• NYC - Lemon
• OPI - Do You Lilac It

A tip I'd have to give is definitely to wet your sponge beforehand and ring it out, it helps for the polish not to sink into the sponge so much.

Elissa