... Aussie Nail Monday - Flowers ...

Hurrah! It's AN Monday again. Todays theme is "Flowers" and I've been thinking about this design all week and I'm so glad that it worked out.

This is Pretty Serious Forbidden Fruit with pretty reverse stamp flowers using Pretty Serious The Pink One! YAY!  Originally I was going to go for a rainbow of colours but who can say no to the beauty of this pink polish! So pretty. So summer!

I had to take advantage of the Aussie sunshine for the top photos! It's supposed to be rather hot today but I've been couped up inside for a week now and I wanted to get some fresh air! I love how striking the flowers are against the background and I really like how summery it feels! And here is an indoor shot for you aswell!

The best thing about reverse stamping is that you don't have to do it in one sitting. I did the flowers over a few days and I chose to use MoYou Suki Collection 01 plate.

Now these giant image plates have been released from MoYou with the idea that you can get a whole different look from each section of the plate.  All these flowers are the 3 on the bottom left of the plate. All of them!  After stamping them onto baking paper (ie wax paper) and filling in the colour, I individually cut them out and placed on my fingers. It was a bit fiddly but if you have a good pair of tweezers life is easier! I really recommend painting your nails with a regular top coat to hold them down when placing and when you are satisfied, go over the whole lot with your fave top coat (I used Seche Vite)

I'm glad I gave this a go as this is probably my fave mani this year! I'm definitely going to give the rest of the designs on this plate a go soon!

Wanna see more Aussie Nails? Check out these links or check out #anmonday on Instagram!

Lily Jinks - @lilyandjinks

Ann - Nailovelogy

Tracy - @oliviajade19

Holly - @nails_by_holly

Naomi - @nadeekay and Nananaisnails

Erin Wu -  @erinzi and Erin Zi’s Nails

Elissa -@tenlittlenubs and Ten Little Nubs

Kate - Pimped Out Nails

Astrid - @lovessweetas

Sarah Claire - @shattermeclaire or Shatter me Claire

Julia - Fancy Nails and Cups of Tea

Sylvie - @smudgedpolish

Relle - @lazylacquerista or Lazy Lacquerista

Tammy - @ohmygoshpolish

Christinemay - @xtinemayyy or Nails at 2am

Tash Birch - @tashisdead

Nicki - @celestialcosmetics

Briana -

Loz - Polish Patterns

Kelly - @kellyskolors and Kelly's Kolors!

Tara - @lokislacquer or  Osiris and Loki paint their nails

... Tour Down Under Nails ...

Every year around Australia Day there is a massive bike race in the areas surrounding Adelaide called the Tour Down Under.  It makes an appearance in my part of SA at least once in the week and it depends on your views on cycling to whether it's a great thing or annoying!  Most of the towns put on a show and make it a carnival atmosphere which does make it a good day out even though if you blink, the cyclists have already past you and are heading along the road. Also if you are planning to be somewhere you need to keep an eye on the rolling road closures as they really can muck up your plans!

I've chosen to use the beautiful Lilypad Lacquer Sweet as a Peach for the base for today. One because it's a holographic and who can resist (!!) and two because the leader of this race is given a "Ochre" coloured jersey instead of a yellow one.

I've stamped the bikes using the Cheeky Jumbo Plate 7 "Home Sweet Home" using China Glaze Frostbite. I know they don't use Pennyfarthings in a professional cycling race but hey! It was as close as I could get.

And here's an inside shot to show that this polish is really pretty even indoors. I promise I'll upload some unstamped swatches in the future with a proper review so you can see the true beauty!

Now if you want to see more Australia nails in time for Australia Day! Check out the links below or #anausday on Instagram

.... Australia Nails ...

Really quick one for you today! I've just wanted to do something simple in green and gold and I thought I would just write the word Australia. Yesterday I received Illamasqua Omen in the post as a part of my present from the tooth fairy for having my wisdom teeeth recently removed and it looked devine so I had to muster up enough energy to use it straight away!

The yellow "Australia" is just acrylic paint but I think it's quite effective! It also makes me wonder why I didn't jump over to using paint years ago for this type of stuff! Lesson learnt!

Oh and Omen is a part of the Illamasqua UV range. Under UV light it goes this awesome yellow glowy colour! Fantastic!!

Now if you want to see more Australia nails in time for Australia Day! Check out the links below or #anausday on Instagram

.... Aussie Kangaroo Sun ...

Welcome back for more Aussie loving! I had to miss a day due to dental pain but I've managed to put together for today.

I stumbled across a beach scene while looking through Google Images and thought I'd try and recreate it. Considering the past few days I think it's pretty fab!

I've used a handful of Ulta3 polishes for this mani including Black Satin, Calypso Holiday, Block it Out, Sunkissed, Lemon Tart, Exotic Canary and Snazzle.

The sky, water and land have all been sponged on with the kangaroo coming from the MoYou Explorer Collection 05 plate.

And for reference and credit, the original photo was seen at this site and looks like this!

Now if you want to see more Australia nails in time for Australia Day! Check out the links below or #anausday on Instagram

... Glitter Gal - Andamooka Blue ...

I'm currently out of action for a few days due to the fact I'm having my wisdom teeth removed :( Anyway I found this gem half completed and hidden in the draft section of my blog! Whoops!!

So today I'm going to show you Andamooka Blue by Glitter Gal! Now anyone who knows me knows that I have a soft spot for flakies! I have quite a few and while many are dupes I still need them all!!! Andamooka Blue is from the GG "opal effects" range which I believe sadly has been discontinued :(

I decided to layer Andamooka Blue over black and have an accent finger stamped in Essence A Piece of Forever using the MoYou Explorer Collection 06 plate. In hindsight I should have made sure that nail was flakie free but at the time I thought that texture underneath would give Australia a rugged look!

Now as you can see I like my flakies packed on! If you are like me then you will find that painting your nails normally will not do this unless you want to put on a billion coats. I've found the easiest way is to paint a blob of polish onto a makeup sponge and then wait for the liquid part of the polish to soak in and then dab onto the nail. This way you get maximum flakie coverage!

Oh and incase you were wondering - Andamooka is actually a town of South Australia where they mine opals.

If you are seriously liking this flake and can't find it in any blogsales near you, the closest dupe I have in my collection is Inglot 204 which is another blue flakie. The only differences I can find is that 204 doesn't have any random flakie shards of orange/green like Andamooka seems to and also Inglot 204 is WAY smaller in size.

Now if you want to see more Australia nails in time for Australia Day! Check out the links below or #anausday on Instagram

... AN Monday - Australian ...

Bit of a triple whammy today for you!! Firstly I have a review of a beautiful Orly polish, secondly it's Aussie Nail Monday and thirdly like last year, I'm hoping to get into the Aussie spirit and get some Australiana themed manis out there for the week! So make sure you scroll all the way down this post.

So this is Dare To Bare from the latest Orly Blush collection which is described as a musk pink creme and honestly it's a beautiful natural colour.

This is three coats and it's fast drying but you just need to make sure you don't apply too much at once or you'll end up with streaks. So slow and steady!

Now Aussie Nails Mondays theme is "Australian". Aussie Aussie Aussie ... Oi Oi Oi!! To make this into a simple Australia themed mani, I've just gone for a green and gold dot look. I've used acrylic paint for the dots and I think it looks rather striking.

I found Dare to Bare to be such a great base colour for nail art. I need more neutral colours in my helmer!

It's been a long while since I was happy with my dotting attempts. Hoorah! I think it looks great.

The Orly Blush collection consists of 6 pretty colours and you'll be able to find it on Aussie shelves from February 1. This collection is limited edition so don't wait too long to go check them out. To find out your closest stockist or more information, you can visit the Orly Australia website or via Facebook or Twitter.

Polishes were provided for review but all opinions, Aussie humour and dodgy photography are my own!

Wanna see more Aussie Nails? Check out these links or check out #anmonday on Instagram!

Lily Jinks - @lilyandjinks

Ann - Nailovelogy

Tracy - @oliviajade19

Holly - @nails_by_holly

Naomi - @nadeekay and Nananaisnails

Erin Wu -  @erinzi and Erin Zi’s Nails

Elissa -@tenlittlenubs and Ten Little Nubs

Kate - Pimped Out Nails

Astrid - @lovessweetas

Sarah Claire - @shattermeclaire or Shatter me Claire

Julia - Fancy Nails and Cups of Tea

Sylvie - @smudgedpolish

Relle - @lazylacquerista or Lazy Lacquerista

Tammy - @ohmygoshpolish

Christinemay - @xtinemayyy or Nails at 2am

Tash Birch - @tashisdead

Nicki - @celestialcosmetics

Briana -

Loz - Polish Patterns

Kelly - @kellyskolors and Kelly's Kolors!

Tara - @lokislacquer or  Osiris and Loki paint their nails

And want to see more Australia nails in time for Australia Day! Check out the links below or #anausday on Instagram

... piCture pOlish - Abstract Nails ...

Something a bit different from me today. I'm not sure exactly what to call it so I'm just going to go with "abstract"! (If anyone else has a different word that describes them better I'd love to hear it!)

I've used a combo of piCture pOlish polishes for the base including Mellow Yellow, Bright White, Candy, Jade and Mad Magenta.

I kind of dabbed them on in patches of colour which made an interesting effect.  Then on top I've used black polish and the MoYou Artist Collection 03 plate for the design. If you haven't jumped on the MoYou train then I'd highly suggest getting your hands on some! It's worth the wait and definitely worth the money!

The stamping design is a bit of everything. Dots, stripes, patterns and I think it doesn't look too bad against the colourful backdrop of the 5 base colours. It's not something I usually put on my nails but I'm really glad I did as I got quite a few comments on this manicure as it was so striking!

I think I need to use a lot more of these happy summer colours this year. I really liked how they looked against my skin when combined.

... Lilypad Lacquer - Peita's Potion ...

So a few days ago I posted this post featuring Lilypad Lacquer Peita's Potion. Well here are the super droolable pics of the "before", that is before I stamped over the top of it. It's sooooooo pretty that it's definitely entitled to it's own post dedicated to it's awesomeness.

As the hot weather has settled in (and I mean hot! *melts*) these shots are taken in full summer sunshine. Sparkle sparkle! It's also 3 coats which I found fast drying which is a bonus, especially in this weather!

Nicole from Lilypad has stated that she made this polish especially for Peita over at Peita's Polish which is one of the main reasons I wanted it so badly. Peita is such a sweetie and has always been super kind to me plus anything that combines purple and pink is a winner in my book! Look at that shimmer! *drools*

If you are after some pretty Lilypad Lacquers you are best of stalking them on Facebook HERE to find out when her store is open.  If you ever see Peita's Potion for sale, I'd grab it! It's definitely one that's a keeper!

... Aussie Nail Monday - Stripes ...

Hey Ho! It's been awhile and I've definitely enjoyed my holiday break and I hope you all have had a great start to the new year. Now it's back to business with my favourite thing about the beginning of the week, Aussie Nail Monday!! YAY!

Todays theme is stripes and after various fails, I ended up with this pretty combo which I quite like and think is striking.

The base purple is the beautiful Peita's Potion from Lilypad Lacquer and I've stamped over the top with Konad White and the stamping plate is QA3 which is an octagonal plate that I've picked up somewhere in my travels.

I still haven't quite got the hang of stamping perfect horizontal lines but it's definitely a lot better from last time I attempted stripes! Why must something that looks so simple be so difficult??

While I just can't seem to go totally square, this is the most square I've been in a long time so it's a change. I wanted to try something different this year and set some challenges (note to self put up a proper post on goals!)

Wanna see more Aussie Nails? Check out these links or check out #anmonday on Instagram!

Lily Jinks - @lilyandjinks

Ann - Nailovelogy

Tracy - @oliviajade19

Holly - @nails_by_holly

Naomi - @nadeekay and Nananaisnails

Erin Wu -  @erinzi and Erin Zi’s Nails

Elissa -@tenlittlenubs and Ten Little Nubs

Kate - Pimped Out Nails

Astrid - @lovessweetas

Sarah Claire - @shattermeclaire or Shatter me Claire

Julia - Fancy Nails and Cups of Tea

Sylvie - @smudgedpolish

Relle - @lazylacquerista or Lazy Lacquerista

Tammy - @ohmygoshpolish

Christinemay - @xtinemayyy or Nails at 2am

Tash Birch - @tashisdead

Nicki - @celestialcosmetics

Briana -

Loz - Polish Patterns

Kelly - @kellyskolors and Kelly's Kolors!

Tara - @lokislacquer or  Osiris and Loki paint their nails

... Shatter Me Claire in Twenty Fourteen ...

Excuse the out of character post if you are reading the full page but I wanted to transfer over my goals for this year so that I can have a look back on them in December and realise that I haven't done any of them!

This year I'd love to be able to say I've done the following at some stage!

* Blogged 52 times (that works out to once a week! Totally doable! Go Team!)

* Have an up to date stash list

* Have an up to date stash list of stamping plates!

* Sorted out my Wheel of Holo page and keep my holo swatch sticks up to date

* Have 12 "Things I love" posts

* Keep to only 2 Helmers

* NO MORE OVERFLOW!!!!

* Keep helmer areas tidy!

* Have a massive blogsale!

* Sort out an area for my salon items

* Master how to sculpt beautiful stiletto nails

* Figure out how to use Arabella Forms