... AN Monday - Winter ...

I wanted to showcase things this month that make me happy! Aussie Nail Monday always makes me smile. Even though I don't always find the time to showcase nails on Monday, I do give it a go and I always love to see what the other Aussie ladies come up with weekly. There are so many creative souls out there!! So  ... Happy Aussie Nail Monday everyone! Todays theme is "Winter" being that down here in the southern hemisphere, June signals the first month of winter.

I was rather excited about doing todays manicure. Mainly because I really wanted to use my MoYou London festive plates at Christmas but simply ran out of time between the day my order arrived and the big day itself!

I've gone for a simple black and white festive sweater look using OPI Alpine Snow and Black Onyx. The design is from the MoYou London Festive Collection 04 plate

I was really pleased with how these turned out and I love the contrast accent finger. Plus the design itself is extremely cute and I had a really hard time narrowing down which to use since this plate seems to have some gems on it.

I will definitely give these sweater designs another go in the future!

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

... Aussie Nail Monday - Free Choice ...

Free Choice Aussie Nail Monday today! I thought this would be a great idea but then I sat forever trying to work out actually what to do?

In the end I've gone for a simple splatter mani that I think works quite well with the Halloween theme of this month!

The red splatter is NYC Color Fire Hydrant over OPI Alpine White in GelColor. As always, I recommend the tiny straws from kids fruit boxes/juice boxes for these! They seem to work 10000% better than anything else.

I'd forgotten how much fun these are to make. Nothing like making a pretty mess in the name of art! I'll definitely be splattering again in the near future!

Wanna see more Aussie Nails? Check out these links!

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

... OPI - The Impossible ...

OPI - The Impossible

Gifted but available online

Today I've got one of the OPI Liquid Sands polishes to show you. I brought this really to have my own opinion on it. I don't like textured polishes in general but I like to form my own opinions on things instead of just trusting the internet ... and I don't regret buying this one at all!

This is 3 coats without a top coat and while it was gritty it wasn't "pick at me" gritty. I've definitely worn worse glitters in the past. I was surprised on how much I liked it even though it wasn't silky smooth.

Close up of the glitter goodness. Can you see the star shapes? Hot!!! I always like the hidden surprises and any glitter that isn't the standard ol' hex is loved by me.

These polishes were a part of the Mariah Carey collection and while I'm not a huge fan of hers, I definitely am a huge fan of this colour! It's gorgeous!  Also I must say the wear on this was fantastic! I didn't have any chips or flakes from it in days except for some tip wear which is to be expected.

** Final Verdict **
This really surprised me. I was expecting to hate it since I'm a fan of things that aren't smooth but wow! I don't regret buying this at all and while I totally understand that it's not for everyone, if you want to try for yourself the liquid sand trend then get your hands on this one!

... OPI - I Lily Love you ...

OPI - I Lily Love You

Gifted from Jen

I can't believe I hadn't got around to photographing this beauty yet. I've worn it a few times but always forgotten to capture it until after it's chipped - whoops.

This is 2 coats of I Lily Love You over OPI Lincoln Park at Midnight. I Lily Love You is a gorgeous super pale pink jelly polish that includes lots of glitter and mica flakies. And man ... there is a lot of colour appearing on those glitter/flakie pieces!! Red, Gold, Blue, Purple, Green, Orange - really it's just a fantastic collage of colour all coming together.

I found it easy to apply. Being a nearly clear polish it is extremely easy to layer these glitter and flakie pieces. It also dries quick and without streaks - bonus!!

** Final Verdict **
I'm such a flakies girl! I think they are beautiful and combined with the sparkle filled glitter it's sure to bring a smile to your face. It's an easy layering polish that is extremely pretty and brings something special to the party.

... OPI - DS Classic ...

OPI - DS Classic

Gifted from Jamie

 I recently came into possession of a few OPI DS polishes - and they are so lovely. The first one I've tried is DS Classic which really is a classic neutral polish ... but with extra holo goodness!

It's a beautiful warm brown with a scattered holographic surprise and the colour is just gorgeous. This is 3 coats and I found it dried quick and without any unsightly bits. It also dries super smooth - hoorah!

Neutral Indoors

Scattered bling outside

** Final Verdict **

When I go back to work this is going to be a favourite polish. Seriously. It is just so cool and neutral inside but it's so beautiful in the sun when you least expect it.

... Cate Ruby - Tate plus OPI - Gone Gonzo ...

And now for something completely different *queue Monty Python music*

This is yesterdays mani of Cate Ruby - Tate with OPI - Gone Gonzo glitter over the top. I think it's quite striking and I'm pleased with how it turned out. The pink seems to work really well with the blue and I've had to put a thick layer of top coat on to smooth it all out or I sit and pick at the hex pieces!

From what I've been reading you are either a huge fan of the Muppet Glitters or you aren't. I quite like them and they look great layered. I can understand being disappointed if you wanted it to be a polish you can wear by itself though.

This is 2 coats of Gone Gonzo. I probably could have gone for 3 but I quite like how scattered the glitter pieces are so I left it. Do any of you guys have Gone Gonzo? What colours do you think it lookgs good layered over?

... fake OPI mini bottles...

I received some 100% fake OPI minis during the week from eBay [luckily I had a decent seller who is happy to refund in full without a fight- hoorah!] and I found that there are plenty of sites via google to look at to give you handy advice on what to look out for on full sized bottles but I really struggled to find much on minis at all.

Most of the information given out on "how to tell if your OPI is fake" doesn't even apply to minis as the mini bottles don't have a serial number on the top and they don't have a label on the bottom [recent ones at least have serial numbers printed on the bottom glass]

As soon as I opened the packet I thought they were fakes but still asked a fantastic polish loving friend to confirm for me [thanks Reece ♥ ]

So here are a few photos of what I received in hope that it will help someone else out there in the future if they receive something similar and are unsure if they've got the real deal or not.

Fake bottles around a genuine OPI mini - notice the bottom glass is a lot bigger on the fakes compared to the middle bottle.

Dodgy bottom sticker complete with Asian text.

[I also found if you peeled the label off the the bottles were engraved with single or double digit numbers]

It's a shame that they were such poor quality polish [and disgusting smell] but fortunately they all looked a million percent better in the bottles then they do on nails - that definitely makes me feel a whole lot better about returning them!

Here's the colours I tested out ... see they look ok in the bottle but in real life ... yick! Definitely nothing special and nothing to write about. [These are all shown over my favourite black - Coral Colours in Black Sateen]

Exciting stuff hey ... probably the worst thing I've ever put on my nails.

So there you go - lessons here are ... don't buy polishes off eBay [even if they do slug you a small fortune for it] and that Google is your friend in regards to finding out more if you are thinking that your polish isn't genuine.