Artsy Wednesday - Cartoon Nails

Hey everyone! It's time for AW and it comes around so quickly! Today's theme is cartoon and I decided to go with the very cool look that I originally saw by cutepolish! It is literally where you outline your nails with black and add white to one side to make it look cartoon-esque. I also mattified the look to really make the effect stand out! The colours I used are all Zoya flakies. I used 2 coats of each colour (from pinky to pointer were); Mimi, Ivanka, Alegra and Charla (Charla stains soooo bad!). Then I used Orly - Black Vinyl to border each nail with a paint brush and used OPI - Alpine Snow to paint on the white shiny effects. I then mattified it all down with LCN - Matte top coat.

Make sure you check out these awesome girls for their AW design!!

 

Michelle - Lab Muffin
Maria - Marias Nail Polish Blog
Jessica - Beauty Gnome 
Emily - An Accent Nail
Catrine - Unnakednails
Ameerah - Valiantly Varnished 

Wendy - M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E.

Haylee & Anna - Makeup and Masala  

Rose -  Every Little Polish Anna - Makeup n' More

 

Contrast French Tips Using OPI & Zoya

Hello again!! Today's look features *OPI - Eurso Euro (shown here) and Zoya - Phoebe (shown here). I decided to do contrasting french tips and I love the end results! I painted my nails with Zoya - Phoebe and waited for it to completely dry then I used some striping tape to outline the shape of my tips and painted it with *OPI - Eurso Euro. I finished it off by adding Wicked Fast to the tips only.

This look only lasted a few days. . . I had a bit of chipping on the tips quite quickly but I really liked the look while it lasted! What do you think of this? I love using striping tape for crisp, neat lines! Thanks for reading and see you all soon!!

Zoya - Phoebe

Hello! Today's post is Zoya - Phoebe a gorgeous shimmering sky blue polish that dries matte. It is a little tough to work with so you have to move fast when applying it otherwise you will have bald spots. I did 3 thin coats in the photos, with no top coat.

This colour is so gorgeous! So vibrant and makes me happy! Do you own this colour?? Thanks for reading and have a great day!!

Artsy Wednesday - Inspired by Current Season

Okay. . . so today's nails aren't entirely "Spring-like", but nonetheless, they are pretty and they do look super cute with a spring outfit . . close enough?
For this look I started with 2 coats of Zoya - Caitlin (a simple yet sweet lilac toned grey) and then dotted on Zoya - Layla (pink satin...amazing!) on each nail but for the thumb I just changed the colours around. (Swatches and full descriptions of these colours can be found here

 Make sure you check out these lovely ladies and their design for today's theme right here:

Michelle - Lab Muffin

Alanna - Pretty Purple Polish

Maria - Maria's Nail Art

Tif - Polished Genius 

Catrine - Unnaked Nails

Jessica - Beauty Gnome
Emily - AnAccentNail
Ameerah - Valiantly Varnished  

 

I always seem to come back and use these 2 colours together, they look so perfect together! :) Also, I am holding a giveaway! If you want to win a $30AUD Beautybay.com gift voucher then enter here!

*Products provided for review

Artsy Wednesday - Dotting Tools Only

It's Artsy Wednesday again and I am super excited for today's theme! Dotting tools ONLY! (excluding painting on a base colour) This manicure was inspired by Katy @ Nailed It! Check out this tutorial here. The colours I used are:

OPI - Black Onyx (base colour)
OPI - Fiercely Fiona (off pastel yellow)
OPI - What's With The Cattitude (pastel blue)
Zoya - Caitlin (purple/grey creme)
Zoya - Layla (pink satin)

I alternated the colours on each nail. If you check out the above link for the tutorial I used you'll see how easy it is to do! I'm going to wear this mani for a good solid couple of days! Or until I get a more exciting idea in my head lol.

Here are the pics!

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies who are doing today's theme!

Michelle - Lab Muffin

Alanna - Pretty Purple Polish

Holly - Hooked!

Maria - Maria's Nail Art

Tif - Polished Genius

Lyndsey - Nails by Ms. Lizard
KaKa - KAKA Beauty Blog 

Catrine - Unnaked Nails

Jessica - Beauty Gnome

 

Thanks for reading and have a great day/night!

 

 

*Some Products Provided For Review

Zoya - Caitlin & Layla

Hey guys! Today I have for you two amazing colours by Zoya! Caitlin is a stunning purple based medium grey creme and the formula is so good! I only previously owned 1 Zoya before I received these two. . and they are such good formulas!!! I can't wait to try more! Layla is a hot magenta pink creme that dries to a lovely satin-matte finish. This colour is so gorgeous! I used 2 coats for each of these and they dried really quickly!

Check these out!

Do you own any of these colours? I love them both! Can't wait to use both in a mani and try some contrasting dotting! Watch this space!

Thanks for reading! Have a lovely weekend!

 

Products Provided For Review

Brush Types - A General Overview

Hello there! Today I will be showing you a post on the different types of nail polish brushes I own. Now, I am aware that I don't have ALL the popular brands (my first China Glaze polishes are on their way!) BUT, I do have a typical sample collection to show you! Enjoy :)

The real stand outs for me personally are brushes that are thick, E.g BK, KIKO, OPI and Estee Lauder. These brushes are the easiest for me to work with as I naturally have long nails and find it great at applying colour evenly.

The hardest brushes for me to use are Revlon and Bloom. They leave my nails looking streaky and can't cover the nail quickly enough before the polish begins to dry.

All in all, I generally don't have too much trouble with application. It really depends on how i'm feeling that day and if i have a steady hand.

What's your opinion? Anyone else having similar issues and success??

Thanks for reading!

Love Mel.