IndieAna- In Search of the HolyGrail

A cold and rainy afternoon sounds like the perfect excuse for me to fill in some time by doing my nails. I wanted an ombre style mani, but using a brush instead of a sponge. I used a fine tipped nail art brush. I used OPI Designer de Better for my base colour. It's a gorgeous champagne shade.  On an old plastic drink cup lid I placed drops of Sally Hansen Life, a very yellow gold, Sally Hansen Antique Bronze and Sally Hansen Save The Date, a deep plum.  Using a nail art brush, I dipped into each colour, starting from lightest to darkest, painting strokes of nail polish across my nail. I also added a star embellishment on my middle fingers.  To finish off the nails I applied LA Colors Sassy Sparkle, holographic shimmer in a clear base, it's so pretty. I think this look has a beachy vibe to it, I'd love to try blue and green to go with the yellow next time I try this technique.

Of course I couldn't let December go by without creating some Festive nails. Rather than a design, I wanted to incorporate some colours that came to mind when I thought of the Christmas season. Those colours being gold, silver, red and green.  Alternating each nail I applied gold and silver base colours, Naturistics "Chrome Crazy" and a gold polish that has no label whatsoever on it, helpful! Lol. With a small fan brush on each nail I painted stripes of green and red polish, Illamasqua "Viridian" and Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in "Dazzling".  As much colour as I had going on, I couldn't resist a little sparkle so finished with a coat of LA Colors "Glitter Bomb".  Do you do something special on your nails for Christmas?

As you know, I am a nail polish junkie. I enjoy most colours and there are some that just catch me by surprise when I apply them to my nails. This is how I felt when I decided to try on LA Colors "Flamenco". I adore pinks, corals and reds, so I knew I was going to like the shimmery orange-y red shade. Oh my, when this colour was on my nails, I couldn't help but stare at them, especially outdoors where it sparkled in its sizzling glory. Without further ado, here she is! "Flamenco" is stunning. After 2 coats it is barely opaque, which normally I don't like, but for this colour I can forgive :)

 A nail polish that I had been meaning to try for a while is Color Craze "Baby Blue" from LA Colors. Not only is it true to its name, it also has a lovely frosted shimmer that runs through the polish. Blue isn't my favourite nail polish shade, but I think this colour is so pretty. A beautiful soft shade for Spring.  I hope you are having a fab weekend :)

I'll start by saying that this was not the mani I had in mind, but, thankfully it still turned out ok. I thought it would be such a great idea to apply nail polish using a toothbrush for a different effect. I assumed I'd get a pattern made up of tiny dots. Nope.  OPI "Passion", Ulta3 gold polish, LA Colors "Live" and Essie "Pure Pearlfection". I thought a natural colour would be a good choice to apply gold and silver over. Using an old toothbrush, I dabbed both gold and silver on my nails. It seemed to give a gold leaf kind of effect to these metallic shades. I then applied Essie "Pure Pearlfection" to tie both shades together. In future, I think I will stick to using my old toothbrushes as little scrubbing brushes for cleaning the bathroom, lol.

Obviously when it comes to St Patrick's Day the colour green comes to mind. So, I thought I would play with some green nail polishes to create a nail look. I began with a white nail polish base, using Models Inc."White". Then with 3 different shades of green and a dotting tool, I created a fun dotticure. Well, the Irish are a known to be a little"dotty", right? Kidding, of course!  Beginning with a darker to lighter green, I used Australis Nail Colour "Endless Star", Ulta3 "Jelly" and LA Colors Color Craze "Mint". For some sparkle I applied 2 coats of Kleancolor Nail Lacquer, which I bought in a set, and doesn't happen to have a label with name. I don't actually celebrate St Patrick's Day, but I do love an excuse to create a theme based nail. Thanks for reading! :)

I'm not great at precise nail art. There is the option to stamp, as much as I love it, I've had many disasters. Enter nail stencils!  It's fairly simple. Begin with a base colour, wait for it to dry, place the stencil on the nail, paint with another polish, then before it dries, remove the stencil. The stencil removal step needs to be done quickly.   For my base colour I used Avon Nailwear Pro in a deep purple colour, which I seem to have misplaced so can't tell you the shade name! With the wave design stencil slanting across my nail, I applied LA Colors Color Craze "Live". I then topped the complete look with Glam Polish "Dreamscape". I think my nails would have looked better without the flakies over the silver, just the purple. I think it would have given it a crisp look by showing the design lines off better.  What do you think? Are stencils something you would consider using on your nails?

Hot weather, celebrations, I'm getting a little tired. So I was in need of some bright, fun and cheerful colour, with a little bling.  LA Colors "Orange Crush" is such a great colour to contrast with the fuchsia, white and silver threads running through LA Girls Feather Frenzy "Flamingo".  I just love this fun look! What do you do to brighten your day? :)

I don't have anything planned to celebrate NYE, but I was sure going to at least create a celebration on my nails. To create my nail look, I began with the dark blue colour of Models Inc "Midnite Blue" as my base colour. This was to represent the night sky. I then used Ulta3 "Honolulu" and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "White On" to paint on designs to represent fireworks.  Being New Year's Eve, I needed some sparkle, so two coats of LA Colors "Sassy Sparkle" finished my look. Well, I might not be doing anything exciting, but at least my nails look like they are having a party! What are your plans for NYE? Whatever you do, I hope you have a good one! xx

Wow, yet another light colour on my nails! "Blue Paradise" is a gorgeous pale lilac with a gold reflect.  I used 3 coats of polish for this mani, because it is so sheer. Totally worth the extra "effort", though. It is such a delicate, pretty colour. I believe it would be a perfect polish for a bride-to-be. 

Duo chrome shades are such gorgeous nail polishes. The problem is photographing them. I struggle to truly capture their beauty. But I'll give you a taste of what the aptly named "Enchanted" looks like.  This shade is divine. Changing from copper to a magenta, Always maintaining a beautiful golden glow.  Magical is what comes to mind when looking at this polish on my nails.

So many ideas came to mind when Beauty Heaven chose the theme black and metallic for their nail comp. It conjures up so many wonderful combinations and designs. I knew I wanted to incorporate silver, gold and black. Water marbling did come to mind, these colours would look amazing done well, hmmmm, the done well part is the bit I struggle with, so I soon forgot that idea.  I began the mani with LA Colors Color Craze "Live". Such a beautiful chrome silver. I used french manicure stickers to create the silver stripe that I wanted. On my tips I painted Orly "Liquid Vinyl". Then used Milani 3D Holographic shade "510". Whilst the polish was still wet, I quickly removed the stickers. As you can see, I added some black dots to finish off the mani :)

I am really enjoying this palette series, it's like I've got new goodies to play with and I'm not spending a dime!  This time around, I used LA Colors "Wildflowers", a beautiful palette that the lovely Kat from Kats Colourings very kindly sent me. Sorry hun that it's taken me this long to use it, but I sure do love it! The palette delivers some bright colour, probably suited to the warmer months, but meh, I just generally wear whatever shades take my fancy, no matter the season. The shadows are so easy to work with, having a nice texture and easy blendability. Just as a side note, I did use shadows other than the palette to contour, however the main focus is on the palette, as you'll see. Look 1. I just love that orange colour! I wasn't sure that I would, but it wasn't as pigmented as it looked, which made it so wearable! Look 2. I couldn't wait to try the deep pink colour on my lids. I was going to the movi...