South African tribal nail art

If I'm going to be done with the Where In The World-challenge this year I'll better hurry up and go to the next country on the list which is South Africa. Sadly almost the only african country in the whole list (we have Madagascar too), but it would have been fun with more African countries..think of all the wild animals, flags and cultural stuff that could have been a great inspiration to cool nail art. A country with a cool flag is South Africa, it's filled with nonetheless than 6 colors and the pattern is pretty graphical and cool. I decided to make the actual flag on two nails and then I did the pattern with a black fine liner because I figured that it looked graphical. I was in a bit of a hurry when I did this so I'm not content with the green nails but this is what it looked like. :)

Polishes used:
HM - Green Street
L.A. Colors Art Deco - Black
Claudia - 607
Isadora - Surfers Paradise
BK nail art color

Have you missed a country? Then click on on it below.

1. Australia  
2. Canada
3. Spain
4. Israel 
5. Poland
6. USA
7. Denmark
8. Sweden
9. United Kingdom
10. Russia
11. Hungary

Catherine Arley - 666, swatch

It's Holo Friday and of course I want to join. This time with this purple berry like scattered holo. I must say that the color accuracy isn't perfect this time, in my pictures it looks so.. dull and maybe too pink but still not far from this either. But who knows, maybe it comes out correct at your screen!? From what I remember the formula was good and it was easy to paint with. This holo is of the "jelly type" if you know what I mean? And I think I used 3 or even 4 coats for this, the uncertainty is because I for some reason I haven't made any notes about this polish. About the name; 666, I thought that it should have been black or red, you know to make the number at least some fun but I guess that it just was coincidence. At the end of this post I've also included a photo of how it looks in the shadow. My final opinions about this then; I think it could have some "old lady feel" to it which I try to shake off, but I like the color, both when it's holo and in the shadow. I think the color is very berry like, the holo subtle and elegant and I will wear it more times but it's not my favorite holo, I prefer the non purple/pink shades.

So, what do you think about this?

Mustache Movember nail art in pink

I'm pro themes, I like to encourage them and participate in them as long as I got time and feel inspired. Princessemma is a blog which have a theme day called Pink Thursday every thursday, obviously. ;) And for some days ago she announced that she had come up with a bunch of themes that participants could do. And today it's mustaches, basically one could show any random pink polish or any random pink nail art or a some how pink inspired mustache nail art. What can I say, I felt inspired. I've also wanted to show a mustache nail art since it's "Movember"; prostate cancer awareness month. The color of prostate cancer awareness month is blue, but this awareness nail art is in pink, and that's pretty nice too, right?

Let me present you to Mr. Mustache; he comes in a pale pink, there's both a matte and shiny version and he has a mustache. Check out the pictures and you'll see. ;)

Polishes used:
Nordic Cap - NP13
Nordic Cap - NP12
Kleancolor - Pastel Pink
L.A. Colors Art Deco - Black
Dotting tool

Tutorial of Needle Dragging Christmas Tree nail art

For some days ago I showed a Needle Dragging Christmas Tree nail art and at the same time I was able to do a tutorial of it. Needle dragging nail art or needle nail art is a very simple and fun nail art which basically only requires somewhat opaque polishes and a needle or dotting tool.

I've done a more detailed tutorial of the technique of needle dragging HERE which I recommend you to check out if you haven't already. There I show the technique more in detail, what I mean with swirls and that you should be gentle and don't scrape the polish away. For the Christmas trees it's possible to do pretty much the same as before except that I start doing my swirls from the tip of the nail and up and place the polish in another way which you'll see at the pictures.

Instructions:

• Open the two colors of polish you'll use (here green and black)so that you're prepared. Remember to work quickly and that it's best to do ONE nail at the time, especially if you're new to this technique.

1. Use your base coat of preference.
2. Paint one thick layer of a base color of your choice (here black) on ONE nail, remember to be quick and...
3. ..rush onto color no.2 (here green) and make three dots with the brush (no need for dotting tools, this don't have to be perfect at all). I've tried making my dots so they increase in size.
4. Immediately after the dots, use a dotting tool/needle or anything pointy and start making swirls/movements back and forth starting from the tip of the nail and moving up towards the top of the tree and towards the cuticles.
5. Optional: make decorations and put on top coat. Below are two examples, one with random dots made with a dotting tool and the other one with rhinestones and metal beads.

Click picture to get to the original post.

Last year's version. Click picture to get to the original post.

And of course, if you think anything was unclear or if you have any questions, please ask and I'll do my best to answer. :)

HM Matte Metallic - Purple Metal, swatch

Here I have the last of this matte collection from HM which is Purple Metal. Purple Metal is very similar to the blue and the silver, it's matte, metallic and takes two coats and drying time is normal considering there's no top coat. BUT, the difference is that this polish is duochrome, the base color is of course this vibrant purple but in some lights the color shifts to a brown tone. It reminds me a bit about China Glaze's No Plain Jane, except that this polish actually is duochrome. For me personal I really like the duochrome effect, it feels special. However, in some lights the brown can look a bit dirty and disguise some of the vibrancy in the purple. However in many lights (especially with long/curved nails) the brown is visible in the edges of the nail and also enhances the color of purple on the top of the nail. So, if I recommend this? Oh yes.

The picture above and below have one nail with top coat and it indeed look great shiny too!

Needle Dragging Christmas Tree nail art

As I said earlier today I'm joining a Christmas nail art challenge which Sara from Loving Cosmetic has arranged. Sara shows amongt other things amazing nail art and writes her blog in spanish, and the original title for the challenge is El Gran Reto de Navidad Nail Art which would translate into something like; The Great Christmas Nail Art Challenge. I'm not that good in spanish (I understand the basics in written language) but who cares? the language of nail art is universal, right? ;) And when Sara asked if I would join I wanted to join I thought it sounded fun, and especially since this isn't a daily challenge. The first theme which is "Christmas Tree" lasts from the 25/11-1/12 so there's still time if any of you want to join. ;)

The actual nail art I decided to do is something I did last year, which is a Needle Dragging Christmas Tree nail art. Last year's version which I actually think came out greater than this one was in "daylight" so I decided to make this version in "darkness". I've also prepped a tutorial of this which will come out any day. :)

Edit: TUTORIAL HERE.

Polishes used:
Nordic Cap - NP12
HM Nail Polish - Green Street
Claudia - 607 (red)
Sure Promise (yellow)

Sorry about the inlinkz being allover the screen, but I guess my blog is to slim for it. Hope you can live with it. :/

What do you think about this nail art? Is it too early for Christmas nail art or good to be inspired in advance? If it would have been me I would have done the snowman theme as the first challenge theme just to get a soft start but then again I don't mind. :D

HM Matte Metallic - Silver, swatch

Here I have another one from HM Matte Metallic Collection, yesterday I showed the blue one and basically this has the same features as the blue one. This one is only called Silver, which is weird since the other two have the word "Metal" after the color. It's matte and metallic, takes two coats and I remember it to dry fast considering there's no fast drying top coat on top. I just love this and recommends it! It reminds of the actual metal paint my grand father used to paint details on his tractor when I was a tiny little girl.

And an announcement, I'm joining Loving Cosmetics Christmas Challenge. I'll give you more details about that later today because I'm planning on posting my first post in the challenge, I should have done it yesterday but I was too tired even though the photos were done and all that! lol :P

Sunlight.

Sunlight.

Sunlight.

Sunlight.

Sunlight.

Natural light.

Flourecent light.

And yea, sorry for the picture spam but I couldn't decide which one's to remove ;)

HM Matte Metallic - Blue Metal, swatch

Sorry for the late post but I've been occupied with an assignment/exam which was supposed to be handed in at 13:00 hours, I sent the papers in at 12:58..At least I was done in time. :) After that I've just been chillin' and "celebrating", I also went for some shopping; clothes, hair color and one(!) new nail polish.

The polish I'm showing today is HM Matte Metallic - Blue Metal, which is one of the limited edition collection HM got. I just adore the bottles, some how I find the square shape to be luxurious. I know some people will say that they think that the cap is too big but I can't help liking it anyhow. Everything about this polish is also great, the color is awesome, it only takes 2 coats and dries matte in no time. I bought this earlier this year (which you'll see from the summer like photos) and I've worn it several times since the photos and also in several nail art's. I definitely recommend it! :)
Tomorrow I'll show on of the others from this collection. :)

This photos are from august,
the same time I was at my parents and was picking currants,
This time Black Currants.

And if you're in on blue colors I suggest you'd check out Blue Monday where you'll find a bunch of bloggers linked with their blue posts. :D

Black and white glitter gradient

Pretty stoked I realized that I had two black and white manicures in the archive and I decided to take one of them for this Nail Art Sunday at Lelack where the per-determined theme was black & white. I love B&W nail art's and I'm looking forward to see what everyone has come up with.

My nail art below is pretty simple. Just some dabbing with glitter, trying to create a gradient. I've also used some loose hex glitter and tried placing them random enough to fit the gradient. As you see I have two accent nails which are color inverted, looked pretty cool to me. :)

Left hand.

Right hand.

Polishes used:
Nordic Cap - NP12
Nordic Cap - NP13
Oopsie Daisies - Zeus
Ninja Polish - Sticks n' Stones
Black loose hexagon glitter.

And the reason why I use archive today, of all the days of the week, the weekend is (always) the time when I have the least time for anything blog- and nail related.  How is it for you? Is it some days you have more or less time to do nail related things; painting, blogging, reading blogs, comments etc? Or do you just take the time to do what you want no matter what?