Hi lovelies,

So I've been making a good head start on my New Year's resolutions and done another member of the Avengers as part of my Avengers Assemble series. Today, we have Thor, Norse God of Thunder...

While I was pretty happy with them overall, and very happy with some elements, I do think it could have been done a lot better. I was really quite proud of my lightning bolts and I reckon I've improved since I last tried them. It was just a pity that the pink bled through into the white when I applied my top coat...

Because these aren't the most straightforward 'Inspired By' nails I've done, here's a little run down on what each nail is meant to be.

Holly Berries Nail Art

Hi there everyone,

Big surprise, I'm back with more Christmas nails, although this time at least they aren't overwhelming red like the other two designs I've done. They just are slightly red, which I think shows that I'm branching out a bit in terms of Christmas colours. :)

These turned out so much better than I was expecting. When I started these, I didn't really have a plan in mind so I was pleasantly surprised when these turned out as well as they did. Also, they did look a lot better in real life - I was once again very frustrated at how the photos of these came out.

Christmas Presents Nail Art

Hi there everyone!

So, I'm a little behind schedule on my Christmas nail art designs for this year, so here's my second one. I had hoped to have many more by this time but then I made the decision to completely overhaul my blog's look and layout and name and everything in December. Nice work Dani. (I probably should have thought about how busy that decision was going to make me before I started). Oh well, live and learn.

To be honest, I'm not that enamoured with these nails. I did them late at night, when I was very sleepy and wanted to go to bed but wanted to have polish on my nails more.

Gold and Silver Leopard Print

Why hello to you all

Today's design is a simple, but lovely one (in my opinion anyway). However, I couldn't quite manage to capture it on camera very well and so unfortunately it looks a bit sub par in my photos...

Spider-Web Halloween Nail Art AKA I'm Not Dead and Have Crawled Out of my Hole for Halloween

Hi everyone,

I've got some very average nail art for you today, but you know, it's better than what I had before (which was nothing).

It's also my first set of Halloween nails for this year! Yay! Last year I kind of forgot about it and had a very late and somewhat half-hearted contribution, but this year is different. I have started early and have some many designs to do. If fact, I have way too many ideas than I have reasonable opportunities to paint my nails but whatever, I'll think of something.

Inspired By: Avenger Assemble - Black Widow

Hi lovelies,

So, I went on a bit of a nail painting spree over the last couple of days and did my nails a lot as well as plan out many other designs. These were probably my favourite ones, mostly for the reason that I've been planning to do some Avengers themed nails for ages.

These, in case you hadn't got it from the pictures or the post title, these were inspired by the Black Widow. In hindsight I probably should've started with an easier Avenger to translate into a nail design, but oh well. Actually, I did think about that before I started, but disregarded that nugget of my own advice. Pretty much because I just really love the Black Widow and Scarlett Johansson.

Peacock Nails

Hi lovelies,

These nails are beyond doubt one of my favourites I've done this year. They didn't quite go down as well as my Rainbow Butterflies (the photos of which were not that great and I haven't actually sorted through yet, so you might see them on here and you might not), but then again, they are a little more muted than a giant rainbow gradient across my fingernails. So, lets have a look, shall we?

Please excuse the less than great pictures, I desperately need to sort out my photography set up. Before I just went outside and took pictures in the sunlight because hey, it's Australia, and it was summer. And that means sun. Plentiful supplies of sun for pretty consistent pictures. But we've had lots of rain and clouds recently and now my garden looks like this.

What a lovely shot right? Would you look at that artistic angle? Maybe I should give up photography nails and instead just take regular photos? No? Fine... But I think I have potential talent. :P

I mean, don't get me wrong - I love the rain and I am totally happy with this rainy and colder weather at the moment, but unfortunately, it also highlights how much I need to get my photography stuff set up..... So, if any body has any suggestions, please let me know in the comments! I did have a home-made light box, but me mum accidentally put her hand through the top and broke it and I never had huge success with it so I never repaired it.

A Very Purple Dotticure

Hi lovelies,

In case you hadn't already figured out by now, I really like purple. I think it's a beautiful colour, it's really versatile and it looks great on me (which would explain my large amount of large toned clothes and accessories). So, when I realised I had bought a purple polish weeks ago and had never used it, I immediately set out to rectify the situation. Lilac Pastille is a Revlon polish and when I took it out to look at it, I realised why I hadn't used it - it's soooo pale! Really, really very pastel. And very not me. And with that in mind, I have literally no clue why I bought it. But now I was determined to use it. I pretty much figured that if I banked it up with some other purple, it couldn't be too bad, right?

And so, this was born.

I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would and the kids a work loved it. I got lots of comments on how good it looked and many questions on where I got them done. Ahhhh.... That's the best question.... I love turning around and saying that I do them myself. It makes me feel so happy and proud inside. :)

Inspired by: Sculptures By The Sea

Hi there everyone!

So, I've decided to start a new series on my blog here where I do nail art that has to be inspired by something. (Actually, I think that was fairly self explanatory, but, oh well).

I've done a couple of inspired designs (like my dress ones (here) and my more recent Lily Allen ones), but I really think doing a more regular ones will help my technique and design execution. Or at least, that's what I hope.

Anyway, this one is inspired by the Sculptures by the Sea, which is a annual art exhibition and competition that's held at Cottesloe Beach in Perth. It was the first time I've gone and I really liked it, although I will admit I was a little tired, crotchety and over it by the end. It was really windy, there was a lot of walking in the sand, and I just don't get a lot of art. I mean, I can appreciate it for it's beauty and construction, but I can't look at it a see it as representation of something or read meanings into stuff or whatever it is that Opinionated (my art student sister) sees when she looks at them.

Fake Tattoos Nail Tattoos Review + Birthday Nautical Nails!

Hi lovelies,

A couple of weeks ago, I received my order from Fake Tattoos, which is a Scandinavian based company that sells, obviously, fake tattoos. I hadn't even known you could get nail tattoos until I saw this post over at More Nail Polish. I immediately went, 'that is so cool I want some!'. Luckily, I was able to get some on sale and guess what?? They do free shipping worldwide. :)

I bought the Ocean Design and Bird design, both of which I am very happy with.

Summer Strawberries, On my Nails

Hi lovelies,

Why is it that no matter how many posts I write, titling them never gets any easier?? It's really hard to think of something that tells people what the post is actually about, but without sounding ridiculous or boring. I suppose out of the two, I'd go for ridiculous over boring though...

Anyway, onto the actual post. As you may have guessed, it's just another nail post. Today's theme is strawberries, which you've probably also figured out. (I'm not very good at being eloquent today either).

Vines and Flowers in Albany

Hello lovelies,

Man, nearly another week has passed and I have not posted at all... My weeks seem to go so fast! Between my nail course (two days a week), a lot of practice and homework for said course and lots of work, I never seem to have any time. Isn't that ridiculous? I used to blog more regularly when I was at school five days a week, with days starting at 7:30, sometimes 6:45 and not ending till 7-8 at night (after homework and study), plus all saturday morning band... I need to start getting organised. :)

Happy Australia Day

Hello lovelies,

Here in the land of Oz it is Australia day, so I celebrated by going to the beach this morning and coming back for brunch - is that 'aussie' enough? I think so. Especially when combined with the Australian beach ball, inflatable ring, wind socks and umbrella hat my family and I own. (We didn't actually buy them because we are extremely patriotic, but rather because Opinionated had an Australian themed birthday party a couple of years back and we still have a lot of stuff left over). :)

I also got into the spirit of patriotism with some Aussie themed nail art...

Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 11

Woooo! Look at me go! Two posts in one day. :)

How about we ignore the fact that the only reason I'm posting two in one day is because I was so late in posting the first one of today..... That sound good?

Anyway, day 11 was Christmas sparkle and so I, of course had to do the bling-y-est Christmas nails I could think of. :) I was also excited to do this one because I got to use one of my (many) new nail polishes that I got for Christmas. :) Yay!

Anyway, this is what I came up with.

Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 10

Hello lovelies,

I hope you all had an excellent Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a lovely day anyway. :) I had a really, really nice Christmas. We visited friends in Bunbury a couple of days beforehand, which was really nice, and then Christmas Day itself was very relaxing and low key. We went to the beach and had a brunch and generally kicked back and relaxed.

Anyway, because I was away and then I was feeling very relaxed, I am totally late with Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. It was meant to be on the 24th.... Oh well.

The prompt was 'Santa and Friends' and I think that this one is potentially my favourite out of all of the challenges. Here it is...

Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 6

Hello there beautiful people,

It's the 12th today and it was time for me to attempt 'Santa's List/Workshop'. I was not looking forward today - I was totally stumped as to what to do.

After much deliberation and many episodes of Torchwood, this is what I came up with.

Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 2

Hello lovelies,

Right, it's the 3rd of December, meaning it's time for day 2 of the Christmas Nail art challenge. Today's theme was wrapping paper/presents, and this is what I came up with.

A little apology and Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 1

Hello there everyone!

Sorry about last week. I was away on holiday (yes, I had a lovely time, thank you for asking) and I thought that I would have access to internet - although, when I think about it, it seems quite obviously that I probably wouldn't.... Oh well. I'm back now and just in time for day 1 of the Christmas Nail Art challenge - Christmas tree. I'm sorry about my lack of creativity in this one - I was on a bus for about 9 hours today and so was feeling less than enthusiastic about this challenge. But I will forge ahead anyway and push forward through my exhaustion. :)

Nails to Commemorate my Last School Social Ever

Hi all,

As you no doubt can tell, the nails that I had for my Dinner Dance last night is going to be the focus of my post today. :) Fun fact - these pictures were taken at 6am the morning after, as for some unknown reason, we had to be at school the day after at 7:15 for a breakfast. It was ridiculous. The dance didn't end until 11 and it was like a 30min drive home. I had like 5 and a bit hours sleep. :( That is not cool. Especially for me, who needs 9-10 hours nightly... But moving on and away from my lack of sleep.

Blue Flowers on Nails

Good evening my lovelies…

Just another quick post today, unfortunately… School has been such a bomb recently and I have been up to my ears and nose in studying, tests and assignments so no time to do anything. Which really sucks… Especially because I have many recipes to try and lots of nail designs to try…

Anyway, I got so many compliments on this design today, which totally made my day! For this design I used Royal by Revlon (pictured) and Silver Dollar, also by Revlon. While I remain super impressed by the drying speed of Royal, it unfortunately is not made to last as it is already chipping… After only one day. And it had three coats and a top coat. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to do some more nail art. :) What a shame…