Ombré Nails

I've come across some awesome nail art on Instagram and Tumblr lately , in particular the ombre effect. After searching around online a bit is seemed easy enough so I gave it a go. Here is my first attempt.

With terrible lighting at night.

In natural light.

I have to say I love it! I mean this is only a iPhone quality picture so doesn't really capture the true awesomeness that has me staring at my fingers constantly but you get the idea. 

Here is how I went about it, and I promise it is just too easy!

STEP ONE | Choose a base coat. You can't really tell but I have done two coats of Essie Au Natural which basically looks like 'your nails but better'. Next time I will step up the base coat intensity a notch. Wait for the base coat to be reasonably dry. 

STEP TWO | Choose a colour for the top of your nails. I wanted a sparkly natural/gold effect so I've gone with a BYS fine glitter gold polish which is opaque in one coat. You will need a paper plate ( or similar) and a makeup sponge. Pour a tiny amount of the polish into the paper plate and dab a bit onto the edge of the makeup sponge. At the very tips, gently sponge/ wipe on the polish being sure to make the coat quite thin. Wait for this to dry a little.

STEP THREE | Using the sponge, apply a little more polish further down the nail, covering the tip and extending further down. This will intensify the colour you've already put on the tops of your nails and subtly graduate down to your base coat. 

STEP FOUR | Choose your favourite flaky glitter nail polish. I used BYS Gold Glitter which is clear with gold glitter and flakes. I again poured a little onto the paper plate but only because I wanted to be able to pick up as much flakes as possible for the tips. I simply dabbed into the very tips of my nails and that was it!

See - easy! As this was something I did on a whim I didn't really prep my nails properly ( hello red polish stains) and some of the layers went a little too far down my nails but I already have plans for trying this again next time, possibly with a purple/gold combination. 

Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Lady Luck

I saw an advertisements for these new nail polishes recently in a magazine and I was instantly attracted to this colour, so when I needed a bit of a cheap and cheerful pick me up I headed to Priceline for a fix! 

I believe these usually retail for around $10.00 but it was on sale for $6.00 which is pretty reasonable. 

I don't wear much glitter polish as it doesn't tend to 'go' with the outfits I tend to wear and it is super hard to get off but I really liked the look of this colour. 

Unfortunately this isn't a 'two coat and you're good to go' kind of polish which I soon found out after one coat. 

In the end it took FOUR coats for it to look anything like what it looked like in the advertisement. Ahhhh, the power of marketing! 

 PROS:

-Nice colour once you build it up.

-Relatively cheap

-Large brush

- Easy to find in store.
-A bit of fun.

CONS:

- Need a multitude of coats to make this work. 

- The finish doesn't stay glossy at all so I had to add a top coat which didn't really do much, and meant I had 6 coats of polish together with the base coat I put on underneath!

-Thought this was a purple polish with glitter but it's really a clear polish with fine purple glitter and flakies.
-Seems to chip easily.

I think next time I will put a purple base coat of polish underneath and that should fix most of my problems. Overall, I don't hate it but I'm not head over heels for it either. 

Have you tried any of the other colours in this range? Are you a fan of glitter polish?

They Tried To Make Me Go To (Nail) Rehab....

And I said NO NO NO!

My nails are a hot mess. A flaky, split mess to be more specific. It really is the bane of my existence. Luckily I have quite a long nail bed so they look pretty long even when I keep them short. 

Over the last month or so I have been trying out Revitanail. I'm not convinced it has helped too much but then again am I really surprised? It is pretty much a given in my life that if it a product is raved about, I will be the one exception that it does not work for. 

After a month of NO NAIL POLISH ( cue gasp of horror) I finally finished the Revitanail cycle. It was time to mark my glorious return into the land of polished nails, but as usual I was crippled by indecision. 

At first I thought I would go down the nude route. Turns out it looked super boring. So I added some gold. Then it looked super not what I felt like. I then decided I could wait no longer to wash my hair. You can guess what happened to all those little dots. Smooshed beyond recognition!

Sometimes you just have to go with the classics. Enter OPI Big Apple Red. 

What can I say? Perfection. 

Tell me, what is your go to nail polish colour?

Ultra 3 Wild Berry Polish

I finally brought my first Ultra 3 nail polishes! The colours all look great and I've been told the quality is good too. They are so cheap, I paid $2.95 at Terry White Chemist. I haven't let myself buy any nail polishes for months so it was about time!

Ultra 3 Wild Berry

I really like this colour, though it doesn't exactly remind me of wild berries! These were taken with my iPhone in the afternoon so the colour isn't exactly true to life. 

I painted two coats and the colour and finish was flawless. I then decided to use an Essie top coat and as you can see it ruined it with bubbles! Argh! Have to say I have not been impressed with the performance of Essie nail polishes in general and will be giving them a miss from now on. 

Here are some pictures I took whilst bored out of my mind in Bunnings. I'll give it to them though, they do have great lighting. Too bad going there bores me out of my brain, and sosososososoooooooo much walking wah!

My cuticles are a hot mess. They have been neglected of late, for shame. 

I love this colour, I loved the ease of application! I see more Ultra 3 coming into my life in the near future. 

Do you like Ultra 3?