Freestyle Friday - Mint Daisy

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Hey ya'll this is my first attempt at freehand nail art since I was 12 and used bobby pins as a dotting tool. Is it still freehand if you use a dotter? Anyway here goes...

All of the photos were taken in the great outdoors. Some are a bit more sunshiney than others! I didn't do any clean-up either - my major shortcoming when it comes to posting pics!!!! I'm lazy. The 'inspiration' or should I stay template for these came from a manicure that the ladies at WAH did for Peaches Geldolf. I even used the same colours haha but I thought they looked pretty together and they did.

I used two coats of OPI Mermaid's Tears as a base. Then I used a dotting tool to do my flowers with OPI The 'It' Color & Alpine Snow. I used the bigger dotting end for the centre and a really small dotter for the petals. I did the whole middle flower of each nail first, then the yellow centres for all the border flowers and lastly the petals for all the border flowers. To finish it off I put on a layer of  Seche Vite & voila! I read on someone's blog (sorry can't remember whose) that dotting works better if you put some of the intended colour on tinfoil (like a paint palette) and dip the dotter into it as you go. Surprise, surprise it worked fantastically. If you leave your blob for a few secs on the tinfoil it kind of thickens and you end up with quicker drying and more opaque flowers. It's especially good if you're using thin polish like I was.

I was quite happy with the results especially since it was a super easy pattern & my first time!!! I didn't refer back to the WAH photo while I was doing though which might have helped me make it less uniform. I didn't think I could fit more than 5 flowers on my narrow nails, but turns out I could have. Next time I'll know better :)

Do you think it looks sehr sehr pretty & spring like? Wish it was Spring already! Next month...
Can't wait to try out something else next week!!!!!!!
xxx NPA

Stampy Stamp: Orly Frolic + BM 204

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 My Bundle Monster plates showed up the other day & I finally got a chance to try them out.

Here is 2 coats of Frolic + a flower pattern from BM 204 in Konad SP Pink.

 I'm so bad at stamping full nail designs! My nails seem too curved for the stamp to go all the way to the sides. I know that's crap & I just need to practice more but it's so messy that practising isn't too 'fun'. I like the solour combo though.Cleaning up my cuticles would have helped too...middle & ring look kind of straight and presentable.

Lisa over at Never Ending Obsession has spotted the new OPI Touring America Collection out in Farmers now. I like a lot of the colours but too many of them are really dark and I think they'll turn out black looking unless in really bright light so will pass on those & the greys. They just look bad on my skin and I already have enough for my liking!!!

Looking forward to Freestyle Friday?!
xxx NPA

'On Wednesdays We Wear Pink' - CG 108 Degrees & OPI I Lily Love You

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Wahoo my first PW post

Indoors

Close Up

Flash

 For this little beauty I slapped on 3 coats of 108 cos its a wee bit sheer, yeah? Then I rocked a thick layer of Lily Love. And to top it off 1 coat of SV
I don't love it, I don't hate it. If I were to turn back the clock I would have put a very thin coat of Lily on cos those opalescent flakes are kind big and in your face on some of my poor nails. With such a loud pink, subtlety in glitter would have yielded a far more pleasing result.

My language is a wee bit baffled today. It usually is anyway but I am particularly enamoured of Jane Austen this week - rereading Persuasion last night in fact. (Tidbit on the side: if you would like to read a bit of Jane but her novels seem a bit long, especially with all the confusing old english writing style-aka Pride & Prejudice- try Persuasion first because it's a bit shorter than the rest). Sol the point is half the things that come out of my mouth/out of my finger tips have a somewhat affected air to them. See?! You have to relearn word meanings when you read her, but thanks to the endnotes I don't need a dictionary to find out what such a word meant back in 1790s-1820. God I love Jane. Even when I thin what she's written seems to mean the complete opposite of my understanding, the romance and manners are so enchanting!!!
I hope I one day fall in love with a Captain Wentworth/Mr Darcy/Mr Knightly - oh Mr Knightly swoon!!!!!


Nighty night dear readers!

I Got 'SCRUMPED'

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Even though I knew it looked dodgy I ordered some OPI polishes off a random website. They turned up today from China & they are so fake they didn't even attempt to hide it!!!!

The bottles themselves looked genuine but almost all had fake 'Funny Bunny' labels on them and the colours were not even in the same colour group as what I ordered!!!!
That being said, I actually like some of them as it turns out. Down side is based on the smell they are certainly not 3-free & take ages to fully dry :(
Does anyone know if using non 3-free polishes is actually bad for you? I wore them all the time as a kid and if they affected me at all it was only by stunting my growth upwards - didn't prevent me growing outwards!!!!

I did a skittle swatch of 10 of them so you can see what some fakies look like

Sun + flash

Shady sun?

This is what I think they are meant to be - all 3 coats
thumb-pinky: DS Coronation (3 coats), Show It & Glow It, An Affair In Red Square, Crepes Suzi-ette, Merry Midnight

The guttering part is that I really wanted almost all of these colours & they are mainly HTFs!!! The 'Coronation'  is a pretty cool silver glitter + holo top coat

'Show It & Glow It' in the bottle looked just like It's My Year but was super sheer with small glitter pieces on the nail
'An Affair In Red Square' a sheer red jelly with glitter flakes kind of like in Ali's Big Break
'Crepes Suzi-ette' just like I'm Fondue of You but creme instead of the shimmery finish
'Merry Midnight' is a winey purple creme and I likey. It might be a similar hue to Overexposed on South Beach again without the shimmer

Sun

Shade

Again 3 coats on all & pinky - thumb
OPI on Collins Ave, I Vant To Be A Lone Star, Kreme de la Kremlin, DS Treasure, Lunch At the Delhi
'OPI on Collins Ave' is just like Hot & Spicy only a bit more muted
'I Vant To Be A Lone Star' is a very sheer baby baby blue creme & so pretty!!!! I may condescend to wear it as 2 coats or see if 4 makes it look even & opaque cos it's a bit streaky here oops
'Kreme de la Kremlin' is a pinky coral creme nothing exciting, looking at it makes me go "blahhhhhhhhhhh"
'DS Treasure' is a god awful sheer orangey metallicy shimmer thing with a few bits of silver glitter in it. I wana throw it in the trash. It might look alright on top of a similar coloured opaque polish but I'm not too hopeful.
'Lunch At the Delhi' is a pretty bright pink coral that I'd totally wear

I'm pissed off and all but at the time I ordered them I knew I was probably making a mistake and I did it anyway so I can't be too angry (it would have to be at myself!!!!) Pros: They were like $7 each, I'd wear most of them. Cons: Not 3-free, STINK, stay tacky for ages, NOT WHAT WAS ADVERTISED


Where NOT to buy: www.opinailpolishsale.com
See even the website name made me think FRAUD haha. I have learned my lesson.

Has anyone else had a really bad online purchase experience? What did you do about it?

xxxxx

Misa Soup, por favor?

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Is anyone else having just another Manic Monday?
I have some more Misa lovelies from my last couple of hauls to show you all.
The formula & application was a dream yet again - I wish they sold these in NZ!!!! But they are fairly cheap to buy online - US$3.75 + shipping - so I can't complain can I?

First Kiss

Two coats First Kiss artificial lighting

First kiss flash

This is a simple neutral pink that leans blue (the 2nd photo shows the true colour), with a kind of purple flash of shimmer in it. A nice staple & it has enough warmth in it so as not to make my hands look hideous as a lot of blue pinks tend to! Surprisingly opaque compared to what I anticipated from the bottle.


Shake It To The Samba

2 coats Shake It To The Samba in low light

From the Mardi Gras Collection this is a peach pastel creme - nearly a dead on dupe with China Glaze Peachy Keen - must do a comparison of the two for you & myself! This one is definitely my favourite though due to the formula & application. Peachy has the consistency of real water based paint & I find it a nightmare use. My camera really hates any kind of orange so it has taken all the pretty peachy pinkness out of this guy. Rest assured it is much prettier in real life.


Shop Till You Drop

2 coats STYD in sunlight

STYD in shade

I think the name of this lavender shimmer alone, makes it worth owning! Same kind of finish as First Kiss but the shimmer has a blue flash to it. Another nice staple to have in your collection. The bonus with these shades is they are very soft, feminine, work appropriate shades (perfect for Spring!!!!)& I bet you more mothers/grandmothers would be into them than your bold cremes or glitters!

Do you like?

xxxx NPA