... Celestial Cosmetics LE June 2014 & Giveaway Post ...

Bit of a double post today people but bare with me! Firstly, I want to share with you the beauty from over at Celestial Cosmetics.

This LE June 2014 and obviously from it's name, it is the monthly limited edition polish! There have been some stunners from the Celestial LE range in the past and this is no exception.

I'm always on the lookout for beautiful holos that fall into the nude/light pink category. Apart from being super pretty, they are fantastic for events and occasions where I want to wear something that's gorgeous but not overpowering or distracting.

 

Sunshine seems to be rather very limited here at the moment but I managed to get a few quick shots in! Enjoy!! Also Celestial is currently having a sale on until the end of June so why not head over and grab this beauty along with a few bargains!

And now I couldn't turn the big 3 without having some sort of giveaway!! So here it is! YAY!! The lucky winners will win this prize pack of lots of things that I love!!! Holos, Flakies, Pink Polish, Fantastic Cuticle Balms, Awesome Nail Files and Chocolate Biscuits!! What's not to love!!!

YES!! THIS IS OPEN INTERNATIONALLY!!! 

(but please check out the fine print below!!)

** FIRST PRIZE **
Celestial Cosmetics - LE May 2014

Celestial Cosmetics - LE June 2014

Love Thy Polish - A Beautiful Mistake *

Love Thy Polish - Shangri-La

piCture pOlish - Shocked by Shatter me Claire

Australis - Speck-tacular

Help Me Ronda cuticle balm - Limited Edition Coco Love

Czech Glass Nail File in a hard plastic case

Treat Pack of Tim Tams (om nom nom)

** SECOND PRIZE **

Help Me Ronda cuticle balm - Limited Edition Coco Love

Caramello Koala


** Ugh - It's the Fine Print!!! Please read before entering!!!! **
Open Internationally
All items are brand spanking new
Items with a * were donated for this giveaway. All the rest were purchased by myself.
Shatter me Claire is not responsible for any lost post or opened parcels.
Any customs duties need to be paid for by the winner.
Multiple entries may be removed
Giveaway will end 1st July (Australian Central Time)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

... AN Monday - Welcome to the world! ...

Hiya! Welcome to another episode of Aussie Nail Monday. We've had a few newly baked additions arrive recently so today theme is "Welcome to the World" for baby Ella and Asher. YAY!

I've chosen to do a pink and blue mani. The pink is Lollipop from Cate Ruby and I've stamped over the top using the turquoise stamping polish from Mundo de Unas.

The stamping design is from the Cici & Sisi 05 plate which I really liked. I can't believe I've had these plates for awhile and never used! They are fantastic.

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

.... Guest Post by Sparkly Vernis ...

Todays super awesome guest post is written by the beautiful lady behind the blog Sparkly Vernis. I am so lucky that I have been able to meet awesome people online like her. I have enjoyed her fantastic swatches for a long time so I hope that you love them too! If you like what you see, swing on by her blog and check it out! It's worth the look :)

*** *** ***

Claire and I started blogging around the same time, and we know each other from a bit before that.  I am really happy to have been invited here, to celebrate these three years with her.

I chose an Emily de Molly lacquer, because if I recall correctly, this was one of the first, if not the very first, Aussie Indie maker that quickly gained popularity in the US.  I remember when it all started, I used to ask Claire to send me chunky EdM glitters and other goodies from her beautiful country.  Thanks to her, I have a really nice collection of Aussie nail polish.  I am very lucky to have her as a friend, and I wish her many more years of blogging <3

Layering Order:

2 coats Emily de Molly Head over Heals

no basecoat or topcoat in these pictures

... Lego Wyldstyle Nails ...

I recently went to a birthday party with my youngest son and wore nails featuring Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie. There is a reason why I flunked art in high school and it's because I make things look like a 2 year old with a crayon has been past but I've been trying extremely hard lately so I hope that I can continue improving this year!

I've used my favourite yellow for the base which is ChiChi "Walkin on sunshine" (woahhhhhhhh-ohhhh) and I've used Zoya "Jewell" for the lips and the pink hair, Nails Inc "Baker Street" for the blue hair and the rest is acrylic paint.

It was looking really good actually until I smudged it with topcoat *sad face* I'm still not used to using the acrylic paint and forget to make sure it's super dry. Just pretend it's her mascara after she gets sad cos Batman leaves her hanging.

Smudges and all I think it looks fab. I'm definitely getting better drawing in minature and honestly, if my kids (and all those at this party) could work out who it was then it's a plus in my book! I'll definitely give other lego characters a go in the future as I very much enjoyed these!

... Mani Swap with Natalia from @Cats_n_nails - Part 2 ...

Yesterday I featured my part of my Mani Swap with Natalia from @cats_n_nails on Instagram and Cats-n-nails on Blogger. Now it's her part!

She chose to recreate a manicure I did last year which featured stamping over a gradient. I think she's done a fantastic job capturing this. It looks awesome!

Definitely looking better than the originals from way back then! I really do like this design though! I'll have to whip it out again in the future!

I'll leave you with both comparison shots. I really had a lot of fun attempting a Mani Swap for the first time. I had been wanting to do something like this for a long time but had been putting it off. I can definitely say I'll be giving it another go in the future and if you get the chance, give it a go! 

... 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

... Glam Polish - Dancing In The Moonlight ...

Todays pretty is from the April edition of the Aussie polish subscription box "What's In-Die Box". It's called "Dancing in the Moonlight" and it's from Glam Polish.

 

This is a gorgeous polish that has a lot going on. I definitely don't think my photos give it enough credit but it's seriously pretty.  Firstly it's a shade of blurple but there is also pinky purple and blue shimmer going on in the background which is a pleasant surprise.

This was the "hint"  photo given for this shade and I think it really capture the colour quite well. Unlike some of the other polish boxes out there, What's In-Die Box is super secret until you get your box in the mail. It's always nice to get a surprise and I honestly haven't been disappointed with the boxes that I've received.

Sadly I had zero natural sunlight come my way while the camera was out to showcase it's beauty in the light.

If you want to find out more about What's In-Die Box, check out it's Facebook page here and you can find more beautiful Glam Polish polishes here!

... Guest Post by @LilyandJinks ...

Continuing on with the months theme of "Things I like", it's time for a Guest Post!!! Now it's been a long while since someone came over to do one but I've definitely missed showcasing the fantastic work that others create for the world to see!!! Todays post is the fantastic nails that is lilyandjinks over on Instagram. Seriously clicky click click and check out her work as it is divine!! Her link is http://instagram.com/lilyandjinks

*** *** ***

My name is Sylvia and normally I post my manis solely on my Instagram account, @lilyandjinks. I was very excited at the chance to write a guest post for Sarah Claire, whose blog I’ve been enjoying
immensely for the past year and a half. So, welcome to my first official nail related blog post!

I wanted to do something special for today’s post, so I’ve opted to combine two of my favourite nail
art techniques, stamping and water marbling. I discovered this combination around Halloween last
year when a marble went terribly wrong. Rather than removing it and starting over, I tried stamping
over it and was delighted with the result.

The great thing about this technique is the marble does not need to be uniform or precise. To start
with, I marbled two fingers at a time using China Glaze Escaping Reality, Happy Go Lucky and Shore
Enuff. On the whole, I’ve found China Glaze crèmes to be excellent for marbling.

After applying top coat (I use HK Girl Glisten and Glow) I then stamped with one of my all-time
favourite images, MM20 from Messy Mansion, using Konad White. I really like how the openness of
this stamping image lends itself to a myriad of different colours, backgrounds and techniques.

Finally, a big Happy Blogiversary to Sarah Claire. Three years is quite an achievement! Thank you for
having me as a guest. Can’t wait to see all the other exciting things happening this month

... 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

... Happy 3rd Blogversary plus Ozotic 504 ...

"I had a dream last night that I had a pretty blog about nails and polishes. Dreams intrigue me - especially ones that I can actually remember."  - Shatter me Claire, June 1 2011

Wow. Just Wow! I can't believe my blog is now the big 3!! More importantly I can't believe I've actually managed to still be motivated enough to update it. Generally I lose interest with blogs and journals pretty quickly even though I have good intentions but I'm so pleased that I managed to stick it out even though I have massive hiatus periods.

While visitors (and posts!) have dwindled over the years, I am thankful for friendships that have been made via SMC and also that I can clearly see where I've come. My skills still have a long way to go but it's clear that my painting, nail art (and my photography!) have come far over the years. Also I was clearly following the crowd in my early posts and I like to think I've found my own style now.

I decided to go back to where it all started for me. Ozotic 504 was the first polish I featured here and it seemed right to go back to the beginning. That and the fact that I wanted to make amends for the cringefactor that was my first post.

504 was one of the first polishes I brought from piCture pOlish. Sadly they no longer carry the Ozotic range but back when I first received this, multichrome polishes weren't as common as they are now so it was such an exciting time to see something that changed colours before your eyes.

Back in the day, Ozotic 504 was called "Twilight" and it's so easy to see why. The colour shifts from that orange/brown/red right through to a purple/blue. 504 is also quite sheer so I've layered it over a black polish.

I highly doubt I'll ever EVER be able to take a shot like this again with a clear split of colour down the middle. I haven't mastered underwater shots so natural light it is!!

As I mentioned earlier, 504 has been discontinued but you can still find bottles popping up on blogsales and on storenvy if you are super wanting it but there are many dupes now on the market that don't require layering which is handy for those lazy people like myself!

Thanks for popping by and if things go to plan then June should be a great month. Hope you pop your head back in to see what's happening! :)