Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 9 Inspired by your Favourite episode....


Hey All

Last Once Upon a Time Challenge - woohoo I made it an entire challenge (and month) without being a day late or not having a mani ready (was a close call at times, I can tell you!). It also coincides with my road trip which starts tomorrow - driving around the South of England with a friend from back home, can't wait to check out the English beaches (have heard they are all pebbles and coldness).

Anyway I digress. The topic of today's challenge was Inspired by your favourite episode - of which mine is the "Stable Boy" where Regina is forced to watch her true love, Daniel die by the hand of her Mother and she takes the first steps to becoming the evil Queen.  It's a pretty tramatic episode for Regina, but it shows where she gets her Evilness from and helps explain why she hates Snow so much - not only did she cause her own Mother to kill the man she loved, Snow always seems to find her true love - no matter how much Regina tries to keep them apart.

I used essence nail colour 3 (from Kradvat) for the base coat and Konad Special Polish in White.



 I went for a simple design with an accent nails. The main design represnts Regina's tears and also the lacy look is how she is sweet looking on the outside until you go against her decision.  The base coat colour is because it's a royal-ish blue and Regian's worn it a few times (and it really suits her).  The accent nail is orderly with the lines and flowers and I felt it fit with the rest of the manicure :)

Here's the final result:


And here's a close up of the designs:


accent nail. Plate: BM18.


Other nails.  Plate: BM-315.

And another whole had shot, a bit closer.



Hope you all like it and have enjoyed seeing the mani's I've come up with as much as I've enjoyed creating them. This challenge was just what I needed to kickstart my nail blogging again so thanks heaps of Taya for coming up with the idea.

And as usual make sure you check out the other girls blogs and their manis.



Till next mani
Nikki x

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 8 The Princess....



Hi all

Day 8 of the Once Upon A Time Challenge today and the theme is The Princess. Naturally I went for Pink, crowns & royalty inspired designs. The particular Princess I was thinking of was Snow and her quest for True Love (as long and rocky as it has been, she's always stuck to it and finding her true love).


For colours I used essence Miami Roller Girl (which I brought in Salzburg simply because it said Roller Girl and appealed to me as a Roller DERBY Girl haha), Konad Special Polish in White & a cheap nail art pen in Black from the Face Shop in Korea.

And here is the final result:


Left Hand (this is the only pic that shows the true colour of the polish, think the Camera didn't like the late night shots). Plates: m61 & BM-215. Plus nail art pen for the dots.


Right Hand - played around with a few more designs off the OMG Salon Pro 4 plate including the Crown & Head shot of girl. Also used Konad for the lace. Plates: OMG Salon Pro 4 & m71.


But the left hand was definitely my favourite :)

Hope you all enjoyed this mani, make sure you check out the other girls mani's and blogs.

Till next challenge,
Nikki x

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 7 Mirror Mirror, On The Wall....

Hi all

Day 7 of the Once Upon a Time challenge - Mirror Mirror, On the Wall. I decided to go for a pretty simple mani cure as Wednesdays are my busy day (as have no free time until 7pm, tonight it was 8pm, lucky me!).

I used Black and Silver for base coats (came in a £2 pack from a super store round here, completely unbranded bottles) plus Konad Special Polish in Black & White.


I then attempted to create a Frame on each nail to represent the mirror (with the idea that I would stamp a picture in each mirror). After a lot of experimenting with different stamps, I finally found a pattern and square shape that I thought would work.


But it still didn't look as good as I'd imagined so I scrapped the mirror idea and just stuck with the faces.


Thought they turned out pretty cute :)

Here's a close up of each nail.








The idea behind it is the mirror has a face - and I'm showing all it's possible faces and emotions :)

Hope you liked them - thinking I'll start my princess nails early so can plan them out & get something I'm happy with.  Also apologies for bad photography - it's almost 10pm here and I can't get good pics in the darkness!

Make sure you check out the other girls (they are doing all sorts of free handing - way harder than the stamping I stick to).



Nikki x

Monday, February 18, 2013

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 6 Magic Comes with a Price....


Hi all

Challenge time again - Day 6 of the Once Upon a Time Challenge, over half way - phew! I have really enjoyed doing this challenge but finding the time to do my nails is proving a challenge itself - think I'm a once a week kind of girl :)

Today's challenge was Magic comes with a price. Naturally I thought of Regina, Rumplestiltskin and Snow & Charming.  I've gone with a turquoise which aptly enough is named Timely Turquoise - its also a Maybelline Express Finish (50 second) which meant fast drying base coat = faster mani :)  For the stamping I used Konad Special polish in Wine Red and White.


Here's how they turned out - I'm pretty pleased with them (excuse the messy edges, I really need to learn how to paint to the edges but not get it on my skin:)


I stamped a different design on each nail.


A star representing the magic on my pinkies. Plate: BM-311.


An apple on my ring finger - the whole Snow vs Regina thing. Plate: m55.


Middle finger was snakeskin (again) to represent Rumplestiltskin. Plate: BM-215.



Pointer finger - a heart trapped behind shattered glass. The idea was Regina rips out hearts and also a consequence of dealing with Rumplestiltskin (and his magic) is usually those in love don't get their happily ever after (or if they do it takes a REALLY long time;). Plates: BM-208 & BM202.


Thumb - the idea with this nail was Regina - she's gone from a queen to a witch through the choices she made about magic. Her consequence is she is feared and hated by all those she used to rule. Plates: BM08 & BM-209.


And a few final shots - this was before I painted on the top coat (now the heart looks like it's in front of the shattered glass due to the white fading).




Different light makes it look green - promise it's blue.

Until next mani and challenge - hope you all have a good week next week and don't forget the other girls.



Nikki x

Friday, February 15, 2013

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 5 True Loves Kiss....


Hi again
Today is day 5 of the Once Upon a Time Challenge with the subject being True Love's Kiss (if you're addicted to the show like me, you'd know there was a whole episode based around it featuring Mary Margret and Charming). Today is also Valentines day so Happy Valentines to you all and hope you're getting something nice from an admirer:)

As I was thinking about what I would do, the colour pink is the first thing that came to mind. Luckily I have a few to choose from.  The colours I used were:


Klean Colour Metallics (mini) in Metallic Pink (Postie Plus in New Zealand), Cosmiss fashion colour 006 in white (from a cheap subway shop in Prague) & Konad Special Polish in White.




I've put a different stamp on each finger, with my thumbs with a white as a base coat and stamping with the metallic pink (best thing about these Klean colours, they work as normal or stamping polish).






 I went with a dancing couple on my pinkie - usually in fairytales the couple in True Love get a dance as well as a kiss:) Plate: OMG Nails Salon Pro 4.


My ring finger was lips - stamped twice.  I've re-stamped the bottom lips, but not the top - see what my stupid top coat did :(. Plate: BM02


Middle finger was the world love with two mini hearts.  Plate: M18 & BM09.


Pointer finger was a simple rose, like what beauty was holding when Phillip awoke her with a kiss.  Plate: B41 (random knock off).


And lastly my thumbs are a whole nail heart pattern.  Plate: BM-317.

 I was all done, looking good (nice and pink;) when I added the top coat forgetting one thing - the pink tends to bleed! My white faded to a hot pink - still able to be seen but not as much of a pop as I liked! Luckily I was able to re-add the stamps on top - hardest thing was lining them up.



Hope you like the final product (I'm such a sucker for pink, I keep seeing them out of the corner of my eye when I'm doing things hehe) and make sure you check out the nails from the other bloggers doing the challenge :)



Till next challenge
Nikki x

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 4 Favourite Male Character in Once Upon A Time....


So it's challenge time once again - this time my favourite male character in Once Upon a Time.  I struggled with this one - even watched the two episodes I was behind and finally decided upon Rumpelstiltskin.

It didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted - think what I had in my head was waaay too complicated and was a bit busy for the nails but the end result wasn't too bad.

I used La Femme Beauty in Emerald (Kruidvat), Konad Special Polish in Black, Barry M in Chameleon Lilac (Boots) & Klean Colour in Metallic Gold (Postie Plus, NZ).


After a day of painting ceilings my brain was a bit scrambled so I forgot to take pics along the way - sorry guys :( But I painted the Chameleon Lilac first then the emerald on top over half the nail.  I then added a snake skin pattern to the lilac side and the world 'Gold' to the emerald side. I was happy with this but unfortunately the Metallic yellow was running low and while adding nail polish remover to thin it out a little, I accidentally dumped in a whole lot - waah! So I had to change the idea slightly and the rest of the nails have a gold speckled look (added with a cotton bud) with the word 'Gold' stamped on top in Konad Special Polish in Black. 

Anyway here's the result:


This is the first nail I did, with the stamped word Gold.


And the right hand - showed up pretty well in the pic:)




Left hand.


And close up.

The idea I was going for was the two identities Rumpelstiltskin has - the dark one, hence the snake skin and shiny purple he has in the Fairy Tale world and the Gold over green with the letters gold for Mr Gold, his identity in Storybrooke.

Hope you liked them and make sure you head over to the other blogs doing the challenge.




Till next post (valentines day & true loves kiss - can't wait!)
Nikki x


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Once Upon a Time Challenge - Day 3 Favourite Female Character in Once Upon A Time....


Today's another Once Upon a Time Challenge - yay! This time it is your favourite female character. Mine is Bell - possibly cause the actress is Australian and that's close to New Zealand? haha I really have no idea why she's my favourite, but she's the one I've chosen.

I've only used two polishes - Klean colour mini in metallic Yellow (so gold in other words) and Konad Special Polish in Wine Red.  Gold because Mr Gold is her beloved and red because it reminds me of her (think it's all the red lipstick she wears, not as much as ruby but close!).


So here's the mani.



I used BM-314 for the flower/leaf design on three fingers - figured it looked elegant like Bell is.



Then used BM12 for the chains - representing her being held prisoner for so long by Regina.


Finally on the Thumb I used another image from OMG salon Pro 4 plate - Bell herself - looking worried, as she usually does whenever she's around Mr Gold as he's usually up to no good and she is usually trying to stop him.

Hope you like it and make sure you check out the other girls doing the challenge

Till the next mani
Nikki x