... Aussie Nails Monday - Favourite Brand featuring Pretty Serious Golden Ticket ...

And another Monday rolls on around! Todays theme is favourite brand. Yeah right - like I can narrow it down to one!!! Pffttt!

So I've simply gone for my favourite Australian Indie ... which is still a tough choice but there is only one brand that I've loved every polish that's come my way and that's Pretty Serious.

Recently this pretty came to visit my place ...

OMG!!!!!!! GOLDEN TICKET!!!!!!! *inserts squeals of delight here*

The beautiful Kristy over at The Polish Haven kindly let me do a mani from her precious super dooper limited bottle and I thank her so much as it really is gorgeous.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not a huge glitter fan. I've tried to like it but have found that there are only a few that I love ... this is one of them! How can you not love that pretty gold colour!!

One of my big pet peeves with glitter polishes generally is making them smooth. I'm a picker and if my polish isn't smooth then I'll be there picking at it - I know it's naughty but can't help it!! Golden Ticket is not one of those at all. I was really quite impressed!

I dunno what to say that hasn't already been said - this polish simply is divine and I'd be encouraging you to buy if it was in stores! To those lucky 10 people who have original bottles! I'm totally jealous of you!

Also - speaking of Pretty Serious ... have you entered the Pretty Serious giveaway?? Just click on the pic on the right hand side to enter via rafflecopter!! ENDS THIS WEEK!!!! 

Want to read more Aussie Nail Monday posts?? Check these blogs out!

Lissa’s Polish Addiction

Nail Gun XS

Marie’s Manicure Madhouse

Shatter Me Claire

A Polished Prance

Shades of Phoenix

The Epitome of Superficiality

Lacquer Dreams

NananaisNails

Enamoured With Enamel

Adelle1985 (Instagram)

Kelly's Kolors

Polished Peripherals

Every Little Polish

Mel My Issta

Walk In My Eyeshadow

JennLojko (Instagram)

Erinzi’s Nails

Lovessweetas (Instagram)

Jas’ Blingtastic Nails

Mckfresh (Instagram)

Maedaynails (instagram)

Lili_Bete (Instagram)

The Reluctant Femme

Jibber Jabber

Messy Mansion

Nailovelogy

Ronda

It's All About The Polish

Pretty Polish Please

... Nyan Cat Nails ...

I meant to showcase this for Aussie Nails Monday but rain out of time! I still wanted to show it though as I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!!

Queue music that's guaranteed to get stuck in your head ...

I found this pretty easy which is odd considering I have zero nail art skills. I mainly used a dotting tool for the rainbow, cat body, feet and head and a fine brush for the face.

The base coat is piCture pOlish Cosmos, the cat is Ulta3 Plum Violet and Face of Australia Titanium and the Rainbow is entirely Jade Diamond polishes, Scarlet, Joy, Galaxy, Twist and Velvet.

And I'll leave this as a note to myself. My gels came off super easy and while I wasn't planning to shorten by such a lot, I broke numerous nails within 24 hours of them coming off. I think I got used to the super strength the gels gave me!! Oh well ... it happens and I'm still sold by the gel system!

... 7 days 7 ways - Day 7 ... Stamping

Final Day! Hoorah!!! I realise that I already did stamping but I forgot and this turned out so pretty it seemed a shame to waste it.

These designs are from the Konad m59 plate and I flipped the image on the pointer finger using the konad double stamper [I removed the rubber from one side and picked up the image and then transferred that to the remaining rubber side and then straight onto my nail. Ooh tricky! Well not really!]

And after 7 days [or really more like 10 days as I was showing these off for a few days before I started the series] since I got my gels put on we have come to an end. I have some obvious regrowth but apart from that  the colour is still strong and I have minimal tip wear and only one nail has a chip [my right hand pointer finger that always suffers when I have excess iProduct time!!]. Honestly I'm quite impressed and I can see myself investing in a kit/lamp in the near future as this has really helped with my nail art time and this week I didn't find myself getting frustrated or impatient as everything was so easy.


I hope this helps those considering gels [or even regular polish] some ideas to change a normal gel base to something totally different!

... 7 days 7 ways - Day 6 ... Flakies ...

Woohoo!!  Again really quick post time - I've been off celebrating my wedding anniversary this weekend so blogging has been at a minimum!! While I changed my polish I forgot to bring my camera so you'll just have to handle something different :)

 Now we are on the home stretch!! Day 6 is again something simple and I thought it worked quiet well.  Everyone loves happy Flakies!!!

I've used 2 coats of the always beautiful Essie Shine of the Times over my gels today and while they were soft compared to layering over black I still thought it was gorgeous. Subtle but colourful!

Now I'll be honest - removing these flakes was the hardest thing polish type I've removed all week ... but it was still the same removal time as regular polish. Everything else has simply wiped off with non-acetone remover in a single stroke - it's been fantastic.

See you tomorrow for the final day!!

... 7 days 7 ways - Day 5 ... Striping Tape

So Day 5 has rolled around and it's a really quick one today for you. I've done an accent nail using striping tape today and like other nail art that I've struggled with again this was super quick and easy!! If you make a mistake it's one wipe and start again! Easy!!!

It's not perfect but it beats my previous designs of pulling up the base colour!

And how are the gels holding up ... well I have some lifting on my pinky edge from where my nail meets my skin and my pointer finger on my right hand has had some slight chipping after a hard day swiping on the iPhone but apart from that we are holding up really well!

... 7 days 7 ways - Day 4 ... Layering

So Day 4 has appeared ... and we are still looking great!! Today I'm layering China Glaze Atlantis on top ... holy wowsers Batman! This is my best day to date in this challenge.

I'm loving this so much! Pretty pretty pretty!!

Just worked out the be the perfect colour combo and the sparkle holo just makes it all the better! 

Day 5 tomorrow ... hopefully we can pull something fantastic out the bag as these nails don't seem to stop giving!!

... 7 days 7 ways - Day 3 ... Stamping

And my thorough test of these Luminail gels continues! Day 3 and today I'm rocking some fantastic stamping! There are still no chips on the mani and they are still looking great!

This is Gosh Holo stamped with the Pueen 05 plate. Again it's super easy if you make a boo-boo! Wipe and redo without having to retouch your base! Fantastic!!

Ooooooh ... holo goodness!! Phoar!!! Really simple but I'm loving how it came out.   I'm looking forward to seeing what I can pull out for tomorrow for a new look!

... 7 days 7 ways - Day 2 ... Watermarbling

Hi ... my name is Sarah Claire and I'm the chick who cannot watermarble to save herself!!! Or so I thought!

OMG!! Why didn't anyone tell me about using gels for a base before??? This was SO easy!! If I made a mistake then one wipe with non-acetone remover took care of that for me and I could instantly try again!


I used Essie Aruba Blue, piCture pOlish Mellow Yellow and Ulta3 Plum Violet in this mani, over the blue gels I mentioned in my last post.

So if you are someone who is unable to get the watermarble working then you seriously need to try this out. Redoing fingers was so easy! No waiting for a base coat to redry and then getting frustrated when you stuff it up for the billionth time and repeating the process. This took under 5 minutes even with redoing fingers and honestly this is the way I'll be watermarbling in the future.

If you want to be picky I had a few water bubbles but apart from that ... awesome!!

... Aussie Nail Monday - Food ... [or 7 days 7 ways - day 1]

So it's Monday again!! Todays theme is food!!  Mmmmmmmm food!!!

Here's my take on smarties! Mmmmm. Cheating????

How about M&Ms???

Oh ok  ... here's a cupcake! [Made using Essie Jamaica Me Crazy and Aruba Blue and using this tutorial]

Obviously I'm looking rather blue today and I'll explain why. One of the most common blog questions I'm asked is about the "7 days in 7 ways" series that I've done in the past and wanting to know if I'd attempt it again. My most popular posts are from these series so I really wanted to give it another bash.

Over the weekend my wonderful and beautiful friend Margie kindly did my nails [aren't they pretty!!] with gels. I've been asked about gels a lot in recent months and I really wanted to try just so I had my own formed opinion on them. While I've had gels and acrylics in the past and hated them from the minute they hit my fingers ... this is different. It just feels like polish, super smooth polish!!   These hit my fingers Friday night and they are still looking pretty damn awesome.

This colour is Bermuda Blue and it's from the Luminail range. It's a very beautiful sparkly jelly. Loving it! So we'll see how we go trying to pull 7 different combos out of one base! Wish me luck!!!

Before you go ... check out some other Aussie Nails with a food theme!!

Lissa’s Polish Addiction
Nail Gun XS
Marie’s Manicure Madhouse
Shatter Me Claire
A Polished Prance
Shades of Phoenix
The Epitome of Superficiality
Lacquer Dreams
NananaisNails
Enamoured With Enamel
Adelle1985 (Instagram)
Kelly's Kolors
Polished Peripherals
Every Little Polish
Mel My Issta
Walk In My Eyeshadow
JennLojko (Instagram)
Erinzi’s Nails
Lovessweetas (Instagram)
Jas’ Blingtastic Nails
Mckfresh (Instagram)
Maedaynails (instagram)
Lili_Bete (Instagram)
The Reluctant Femme
Jibber Jabber
Messy Mansion
Nailovelogy
Ronda
It's All About The Polish
Pretty Polish Please

... Ulta 3 - Flower Nail Art ...

While being on my stamping kick lately I wanted to try some black and white designs. As you can see ... patience is still not on my side. I cannot put a top coat on without smudging which is annoying but something I'm determined to overcome!

This is Ulta3 Lily White stamped with Ulta3 Black Satin using the Lilic's plate A03. In all it's smudged glory! Woo!!

But I couldn't leave that alone! So I grabbed some colours and my fave nail art brush and got to work!

So basically I've coloured it in using Ulta3 Jelly, Ulta3 Bouquet, Ulta3 Mango Mayhem and NYC Color Lemon.  I actually didn't think it looked too bad on - especially from a distance but close up shots are harsh *sad*

Anyway I really like the concept and I'm sure I'll revist this again in the future for better results!!

... Pretty Serious - Claris ...

Pretty Serious - Claris

Available from Pretty Serious Cosmetics - $9.95AUD

Howdy readers! The sun is shining bright and how can you resist throwing on a pretty pink and showing the world? This is Pretty Serious Claris and she's a real beauty.

Claris is from the PS "In the Night" collection and it's well worth getting for your collection if you are a pink fan like me or if you just want a softer shade. 

It's a pretty soft pink with a hidden surprise with the golden sparkle appearing. This is 3 coats and it's fast drying and no lumps or bumps.

At the moment I very much love to stamp ... STAMP ALL THE THINGS!!! Here it is with some pretty stamping over the top.

This is the Konad m78 plate with Ulta3 Lily White. I really like this a lot!! Simple yet fancy!

Have you entered the Pretty Serious Giveaway yet?? No? What you waiting for!!! Myself, The Polish Haven and Nails in the Desert have combined to bring you this awesomeness. You could win pretties like Claris!! Enter here ---> CLICK ME TO WIN!!!

... Aussie Nail Monday - Color Club Kismet ...

Hello new readers! Howzit going? Sorry I've been absent but lets just say fingers + car door = no blog posts!!

Now ... back to it!!

Todays Aussie Nail Monday theme is "Bright" so I couldn't go past showing off another beautiful holographic polish!!

Bright enough for ya? *wink*  Now this stunner is "Kismet" and it's from the new Color Club Halo Hues collection.

Now I have nothing on the wheel of holo that's the exact shade but the closest I could find is FNUG Fantastica. The FNUG is more green and Kismet is more brown ... but nothing else matches! It's definitely a unique colour.

Inside it's not so "bright" but it's still a really pretty colour.

The only thing I was disappointed with is the fact it was prone to bald spots *sad* The other Halo Hue series didn't seem to have this issue and while it's easily fixed with patience and some aqua base it's worthwhile noting.

** Check out these blogs also participating in Aussie Nail Monday **

Lissa’s Polish Addiction
Nail Gun XS
Marie’s Manicure Madhouse
Shatter Me Claire
A Polished Prance
Shades of Phoenix
The Epitome of Superficiality
Lacquer Dreams
NananaisNails
Enamoured With Enamel
Adelle1985 (Instagram)
Kelly's Kolors
Polished Peripherals
Every Little Polish
Mel My Issta
Walk In My Eyeshadow
JennLojko (Instagram)
Erinzi’s Nails
Lovessweetas (Instagram)
Jas’ Blingtastic Nails
Mckfresh (Instagram)
Maedaynails (instagram)
Lili_Bete (Instagram)
The Reluctant Femme
Jibber Jabber
Messy Mansion
Nailovelogy
Ronda
It's All About The Polish
Pretty Polish Please