... Mani Swap with Natalia from @Cats_n_nails ...

I've always wanted to do a Mani Swap and this month really seemed like a great time to have one! I've teamed up with Natalia from over at @cats_n_nails on Instagram and Cats-n-nails on blogger, and we are each doing our own take on a mani that each of us has done in the past. I've chosen to try and recreate this pretty mani while she has chosen to recreate one that I've previously done.

Dots, dots and more dots! Now, frequent visitors to Shatter me Claire will have realised that dots and myself have only recently decided to be friends. Before that it was failures of epic propotions. So I was really looking forward to being challenged!

So I've done dots in Illamasqua colours, Jo'mina, Devotee Optimist and Collide over OPI Alpine Snow. Really I should have found a darker orange/light red to match closer but I think it worked out ok. The main point is that I had a lot of fun doing it!

'

Again I was really pleased with how the dots turned out. I'm so happy that I finally can say that I can dot! YAY! Possibly the only thing that I wasn't happy with is the fact that the orange decided to bled slightly but that's my fault for not testing out the polish before hand.

Tomorrow I'll post up what magic Natalia created as her part in the mani swap. In the meantime if you want to see more maniswaps, head to instagram and look for the hashtag #maniswap

... AN Monday - Bridal Nails ...

YAY! Aussie Nail Monday! Todays theme is Bridal Nails and I was quite looking forward to trying these. I hate to say it but when I got married, I don't think I had anything on my nails. I was 21 and definitely not in a polish phase. I do regret this but I'm making up for that period!

I decided to use Illamasqua Pink Raindrops with stamping from Konad plate m82. I'm happy with the results. Simple yet classy. I'll definitely have to try Pink Raindrops again in the future as it was really pretty.

I think next time I need to line up the stamping a little bit better but I'm happy that I managed to get the image all the correct way around! Hoorah for small steps!

Now ... speaking of wedding! Have a selfie of moi after attending a wedding over the weekend for my cousin!

Super rare treat for you right there! Aren't you glad you checked the blog! I only appear every 12 months or so as I usually just keep to the nails. Feel the love!!

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

.... 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 Nail Monday - Snow ...

Hello and welcome to Aussie Nails Monday!! Todays theme is Snow or Snowmen! I've gone for the snow aspect as I've been really jealous lately of all the beautiful winter pics appearing online. I would say it's summer here but that has been rather non-existent so far this year. I'm sure it'll warm up soon enough though.

The blue is a subtle gradient of 3 Illamasqua pretty polishes called Noble, Muse and Phallic. I really liked how it worked out although I possibly could have gone darker on the tips a bit more so it would stand out further.

I've used Konad White polish for the snowflakes and I've used a few different stamping plates for them as I wanted lots of variety (although I think I could definitely use some more snowflake stamps!) The ones I've used today are Konad m59, Konad m69 and Gals GA41.

I really like how the blues seem to change depending on the light and I spent most of today looking at my nails just to see the colour shift! It's been awhile since I had that fantastic feeling.

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

... Fave Horror Monster - LacquerDreams Halloween Challenge ...

Quick one tonight from me!! Todays Challenge is Fave Halloween Monster. Now I'm not a big horror fan but I do like Frankenstein. Well Frankensteins Monster!

So here is my super simple take on it. I've used Illamasqua Nurture and the Lilic's A03 stamping plate.

I thought it worked well but those zigzags are a bit of a pain to place correctly. Oh well. Try, try, try again! Hurrah!    I'll add the inlinkz when it appears so you can check out all the other funky monsters!

... This is Halloween Nail Art Challenge - Jack-O-Lanterns

Whoops! It seems a missed a challenge but I'll try to catch some ghosts later this month! Todays challenge was Jack O Lanterns. I'll be honest - I've never carved a freaky jack o lantern face before ... but I did carve a decent one last year that I blogged about here.

RAWR!!!!!!!

Anyway ... here's my take. It's nothing special but it was worth trying! The base is Illamasqua Optimist, the black is Color Colours Black Sateen and the beautiful holo on the thumb and pinky is actually Layla Flash Black layered over the Illamasqua for a bit of a different look.

** Check out these other challenge blogs **