Browsing Tag:

NYC

Uncategorised

Game of Girly Thrones

4th April 2014

Leave a comment

It feels like we’ve been waiting an age for Game of Thrones to come back and now it’s so close I can almost taste it! A thoughtful friend got me these House Sigil water decals from Tentacle Studios on Etsy for my birthday last week and I don’t think there will ever be a more perfect time to wear them. I did try to match the colours up to the real thing but because the decals are all black, it was kind of tricky so instead, I turned the whole thing topsy-turvy and went for a girly skittle colour scheme.

My base colours are Barry M Dragon Fruit (which, in hindsight, would have been the perfect colour for the Targaryen Sigil!), China Glaze Tart-y For The Party, NYC Raindrop, Sally Hansen Green Tea and NYC Lexington Yellow.

The decals are from Tentacle Studios on Etsy.

I finished it with a top coat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl and then a coat of Rimmel Matte Finish.

Stamping, Uncategorised

Done is Better Than Perfect

17th March 2014

Leave a comment

They say that ‘Done is Better Than Perfect’ and it’s a mantra that I’ve been trying to adopt recently. I’m a perfectionist to the core which can be a great thing but also means that I procrastinate whenever I doubt my ability to complete the task at hand to ‘perfection’. I have so many ideas scribbled down for this blog but because of that mind block, I’ve been putting them off for too long.

This weekend, I told myself that enough is enough – my blog has become too formulaic, too predictable and it’s no fun for anyone! I want to start mixing things up and I think the best way to do that is to proclaim my intention to you guys. If I say it, I have to do it right? And I figure that the best way to do it is to push forward with a new set of ideas. Even if it’s not perfect, it’s better than nothing!

I won’t be doing anything too drastic. There will still be a lot of my ‘regular’ posts like this one with some nail art and a bit of chat but I want to splice in some other types of posts too, like little extra treats to fill things out at least once a week!

I used Kriston 05 as my base colour as it’s a very light shade of mint.

Using the Saran Wrap technique, I created the mottled effect with the Kriston shade, NYC Water Street Blue, NYC Blue Sky and Rimmel Aqua Cool.

I added some of the Silver Triangle embellishments from She Sells Seashells. I gently curved them first using a pair of tweezers so they’d sit flush to my nail.

The stamped designs are from MoYou Plate Fairytale Collection 06 and I used BK Matte White.

It’s all topped off with a Color Club Top Coat.

Freehand, Uncategorised

The Lego Movie Nail Art

14th February 2014

Leave a comment

Since I’m single this Valentine’s day I’ll be spending the evening at the cinema with my girlfriends in what has kind of become an annual tradition for us. The plan this year is to watch the The Lego Movie but there are quite a few good picks showing so it could go any which way! I do like a good movie mani and I thought it would be totally awesome to do some nail inspired by The Lego Movie.

I started with a base of Barry M White on every nail.

The character details were all freehanded using a nail art brush. I used mainly black and white acrylic paint with Essie Glamour Purse, Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue and Sally Hansen Lively Lilac for the pops of colour. NYC Lexington Yellow is the perfect yellow for the Minifig faces.

To get the effect of lego blocks, I had to create some 3D pieces to attach to my nails. I did this by stacking up some small, round pieces of glitter. I sandwiched them 10 high with a dot of clear nail polish between each layer. It took ages but it was totally worth it! The glitter I used was these white glequin-like sheets from Born Pretty Store.
I painted on two coats of the colour and then stuck on the glitter stacks before it dried. Then I used a small nail art brush to paint over each stack in the same colour.
The colours I used for the bricks are No7 Poolside Blue and Rimmel Heart on Fire.

I finished it all off with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top and added Rimmel’s Matte Top Coat to the character nails.

Before I go, I want to leave the ladies with this stellar bite of Leslie Knope wisdom. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Glitter, Uncategorised

MoYou Fairytale Collection Nail Art

14th December 2013

Leave a comment

When I ordered my Fairy Dust, I popped a few extra polishes in the cart too. This purple beauty, China Glaze Cowgirl Up, was one of them. Multi-dimensional polishes like this don’t normally catch my eye unless they’re purple. It reminds me of my old favourite W7 Purple Paradise with an extra hint of fuschia and if you get up really close, you can see tiny blue specks in there too.

The purple base colour is two coats of China Glaze Cowgirl Up.

The stamped designs are from MoYou’s new Fairytale Collection on Plate 02. I used NYC Power of Elements to stamp the design.

The glitter accent is two coats of Cirque Queen Majesty over one of Cowgirl Up.

It’s all topped off with one coat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl (which, by the way, is currently on sale for $4.50!).

Freehand, Glitter, Studs, Uncategorised

My Name Necklace

12th November 2013

Leave a comment

Press Sample

I’ve been wanting a personalised necklace for the longest time. I remember having a ‘Samantha’ necklace when I was in my teens which quickly turned green on the underside but I kept wearing it until I eventually lost it – which was probably for the best! I have a bit of a history of falling in love with necklaces. You may remember my T-Rex necklace from Slashpile designs which I posted about back in February and am still head over heels in love with but now there’s a new kid on the block – my ‘Sammersaurus’ necklace!

This necklace comes from a company called My Name Necklace who offer a huge range of customised jewellery including some Tatty Devine style pieces (at a fraction of the price!). This particular design is the sterling silver ‘Carrie’ style name necklace and I decided to get my online moniker, Sammersaurus, instead of something a bit more traditional like my real name! Once again, I’m in love. I also want to mention how amazing the delivery time was. I was told to expect a wait of 2-3 weeks which is more than reasonable because of course items are made to order but my order arrived in just over 7 days.

If you want your own personalised piece (or maybe you want to drop some heavy hints at someone else before Christmas comes around!), My Name Necklace have been kind enough to offer a code for 10% off any purchases. Just enter NAIL at the checkout!

For the nail art, I used No7 Just Black as my base colour. On my pointer I added two coats of NYC Smokey Top Coat and then added some 1.5mm Silver Studs from The Nailasaurus Emporium near my cuticles.
For the finishing touch, I monogrammed my ring finger using a nail art brush and Barry M Silver Foil.
It’s all topped off with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.

Uncategorised

Blue Nimbus Nails

4th November 2013

Leave a comment

Another day, another Nimbus manicure! I created this blue nimbus as a base for some white stamping as blue and white is one of my favourite colour combos. The plan was to stamp on some chevrons but I messed up that part so you don’t get to see it! Why is it that whenever you spend a long time on nail art, it gets messed up at the last opportunity… after all your hard work! Why couldn’t I have made a mess in the beginning and put the finishing touch on just perfectly?!

For this manicure, I used NYC Raindrop as my base colour and created the nimbus effect using NYC Water Street Blue, Barry M Blue Grape and H+M Midnight Mystery. See here for a tutorial.
It’s all topped off with two coats of Color Club Top Coat.

Gradient, Halloween, Uncategorised

Halloween Grungy Gradient

31st October 2013

Leave a comment

Here’s my second Halloween manicure of the day! I saw this look on Brit Nails last week and thought it was just perfect for the holiday. The technique for the distressed look comes from Chalkboard Nails so you can jump over there to read all about it. It was a bit trickier than it sounds – I messed up at first when I didn’t wipe the brush enough before painting on to my nail but I got the hang of it after a few tries.

I sort of wish I’d used a more icky green than this but I still like it. Mint just isn’t as menacing as slime green!

I used NYC Mint Macaroon as my base colour and created the gradient (tutorial here) using Collection 2000 Minx.

For the distressed look I used A-England Dorian Gray and followed Chalkboard Nails’ instructions on the technique.

Finally, I used two coats of Color Club Top Coat to smooth things over.