Polkadots and Florals

I couldn't have picked an easier combination to do than polkadots and roses! These were the first designs I practiced when I received my nail art brushes from eBay last year. Took me a few trials to finally master the technique.

The colours I used were China Glaze Tree Hugger, Essie Play Date, To Buy or Not to Buy, and Turquoise and Caicos.

I also used L'Oréal I Will (behind the four bottles) to highlight the roses. It's really simple, I applied little blobs of Play Date, then less blobs of I Will, swirled the colours together with a dotting tool (can be replaced with a toothpick), added Tree Hugger for the leaves, et voilà!

And finally, both hands! I used Essie Good to Go as my top coat cause it dries almost as fast as Seche Vite without the extra thickness. There's something great about the formula of Good to Go that somehow hides any flaws, like air bubbles or visible brush strokes, and I can go to bed a few minutes after and find zero bed sheet marks in the morning!

NYE nails

I got a new camera for Christmas (Nikon J1) and thought it'd be a good idea to start blogging my nail designs for the new year. So, I chose a glitter manicure to say adiós to 2012, and to start off 2013.

The polishes I used were CHI Ferry to Lady Liberty and China Glaze Champagne Kisses. I never knew there were CHI polishes until a lovely friend of mine gave me a couple as a gift. Ferry to Lady Liberty is a beautiful dark blue creme, although it looks black in some pictures. I love, love, love this CHI nail polish mostly because the formula made application a breeze.

These two were taken with my iPhone 4.

China Glaze Champagne Kisses immediately caught my eye when I saw a swatch in a salon, but I didn't buy it until I saw the blog post of The PolishAholic with several comparisons. Champagne Kisses wouldn't be my ideal glitter for gradients, but I couldn't resist its beauty! The name itself proved it was suitable for New Year's Eve. The glitter also matched my phone clutch for the evening.

I used Seche Vite top coat to finish since it's thick and works perfectly with glitter. I previously had almond shaped nails which explains the round corners on my index finger nails, so kindly ignore that! Here's both hands.

Testing 1, 2, 3

Yay, first post!!
I'm not making any promises that this blog will only be about nails.
I started this because I love painting nails and take too many pictures of each design.
Here's to hoping those pictures will be put to good use!