Bridal Nail Polish Picks.

(Alright I totally messed up Love Month. I decided that the schedule was way too much for me to keep up with - I should've known that - so I decided to stop Love Month here.)

I have been posting some bridal nail art ideas recently, but I figured that a lot of brides out there would be more likely to wear a more subtle manicure for their big day.

Here are my top nail polish picks for brides.

If you want something traditional, subtle, feminine, you can go for a classic sheer pink or white. Some of my favourites are all from OPI, including Don't Burst My Bubble, I Theodora You and Don't Touch My Tutu. Or for a more opaque finish, you can go for a rosy nude like My Very First Knockwurst.

If you're on a tight budget, Cotton Candy or Sweet as Candy by Essence are also a nice choice.

If you'd like to add a little bit of sparkle to your mani, some of my favourite glitters are OPI Crown Me Already, which will give you an opaque bling-bling finish, Twinkle Toes from Ulta3 (another great budget buy) is pretty over any colour, or for a glitter gradient, and China Glaze Glistening Snow which would work for an opaque look or glitter gradient.

If you're looking for your something blue I have two recommendations. Essie's Borrowed and Blue is an opaque almost-white baby blue, and obviously perfect for a wedding. Or perhaps you need a colour to go with your Tiffany's ring, if you happen to be so lucky. ;) You can't go past For Audrey from China Glaze. These colours would also make a cute wedding pedicure!

Last but not least, I have a few indie polishes that would make a great wedding day mani.

Pretty Serious Bloody Bride is a unique and different pick, but so incredibly beautiful and would be pretty on anyone.

If you're looking for a little bit of subtle sparkle to go over any colour you choose, you can't go past Fairy Lights by Love Thy Polish.

Another adorable romantic glitter topper that features super cute hearts is Gloss n Sparkle's Hearts Aflutter. This would look very cute as an accent nail over a subtle pink polish.

You may notice that I also showed some of these polishes in my Valentine's Day Polish Picks post a couple weeks ago. They're just perfect romantic shades so that's why! :)

What polish would you (or did you) choose for your wedding? I would love to know some of your recommendations!

Love Month. Day 17: Pink & Gold Chevrons.

Hi friends!

I am so sorry. This post was supposed to go up yesterday. I thought I'd have time earlier today to get a post up, but my fiancé and I ended up spending the whole day getting wedding things done! I'm really glad that we were able to do that, though. :)

Today will be a quick post to show you a manicure from about two weeks ago that I didn't share here! I can't believe I didn't, because I really loved this mani.

For this manicure I used OPI's Mod About You - one of my all time favourite pink polishes. 

I paired that with a chevron accent nail using China Glaze's I'm Not Lion, a gold holographic glitter. I have a picture tutorial on how to do a chevron nail here, but I actually used a different method for this manicure which is a bit less time consuming. Nailsofjessiek on Instagram has a video tutorial for the method I used, which you can see here. I find this way to be a bit easier & less time consuming.

Hope you enjoyed. :) ♥ Hopefully I will be able to get back on track with my posts tomorrow.

Love Month. Day 8: Gold and Pink Valentines Mani.

I've had my DSLR camera for about 2 months now and I only just figured out how to use the live view function (so you don't have to look through the little viewfinder thing). Yep, took me 2 months to figure out how to turn it on. All I was doing wrong was that I didn't press the 'ok' button. Seriously?!
Anyway. Nevermind that. Today I have a short post to show you another Valentine's Day nail look. I really like this one.

My skin colour looks fairly alien-like in these photos... Please excuse that.

For this manicure I used China Glaze Something Sweet (baby pink), Loki's Lacquer Scrooged (glitter) and OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips (hot pink).

I really like the pink and gold colour combination right now!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. ♥

Love Month. Day 3: V-Day Polish Picks.

Hi guys! For the third day of Love Month, I thought I'd share my favourite polishes for Valentine's Day with you. I have quite a few to share, so I'll get right into it!
Pink and red are obviously the most popular colours for Valentine's Day, and I think OPI does pinks and reds the best.

Three of my favourite light pinks from OPI are Mod About You - a very pale, opaque baby pink, Pink Friday - a classic lighter Barbie pink, and Chic From Ears to Tail - another pastel pink, but with a subtle silver shimmer (I only have a mini - I need the full size!).

If you're into a more sheer pink, my favourite is I Theodora You, also from OPI.

If you're into textured polishes, OPI's Liquid Sand in Magazine Cover Mouse is a pretty red with a gold shimmer.
A classic hot pink that I love is Kiss Me On My Tulips. Or if you're more of a lavender girl, you can't go past Lucky Lucky Lavender.

Another beautiful hot pink, with a purple undertone is Flirt by piCture pOlish (appropriate name for V-Day! ;)). This one also has a flawless formula. You can get away with just one coat!

February is summer time here in Aussieland, so I had to include a nice neon pink. My favourite is Bottoms Up by China Glaze. The formula on this one is less than perfect, so it will take a bit of patience, but the end result is awesome.

A classic bright red option is Ever Reddy by Covergirl, from the Outlast Stay Brilliant line. This one is available pretty much everywhere. It has a jelly-ish sort of finish.

For the glitter gals! Ulta3 Disco Fever is a great red glitter that's pretty easy to find, and only $2! It would look cute over any of the light pink polishes I mentioned above, or a red.

Haley Good Lookin' is a pretty rosy pink glitter from Nicole by OPI. NOPI is now available at most Target and Woolworths stores here in Australia, so it's fairly easy to get your hands on, if you come across a well stocked stand! This would go well over any colour, really. It has great coverage with just one coat, also.

If you prefer a purple look, China Glaze's Put a Bow On It from the 2013 Holiday collection is a nice full coverage glitter.

Last but not least, some indie glitter options!
Hearts Aflutter is a cute glitter mix that Gloss n Sparkle released for Valentine's Day last year. It's an assortment of pink, lilac and silver glitters in a clear base. It includes cute shapes like hearts and butterflies also. Ruby Soho by Emily de Molly is a nice red glitter in different sizes that would look pretty over a baby pink. And for the hot pink lovers, Blossom by Love Thy Polish is a great mix of hot pink holographic glitters.
I hope this post helped you decide what polish you might wear for Valentine's Day, or just gave you some new polishes to add to your wish list. ;)
What are your favourites for V-Day?! Let me know in a comment. :)

Beachy.

Hi there! Hope all my fellow Aussies are staying cool at the moment. It's gotten pretty hot again here in SA.
I have a quick post about some fun beachy nail art to share with you guys today! Perfect for the super hot week we're having. I wish I were at the beach.

I added some cute shells from Born Pretty Store to this beachy coloured gradient. These little shells come in a pack of 20 and you can choose between silver/gold, and 3mm/5mm for $2.78. I placed the shells onto the nail when my polish was still a bit tacky, and then topped the nail off with a layer of top coat.
Polishes used: Glints of Glinda by OPI, Once in a Blue Moon by Face of Australia & My Favourite Ornament by OPI.

Born Pretty also sell super cute accessories, like this bright turquoise coloured rubber watch! These watches only cost $5.99 and come in 9 fun colours.

You can get 10% off your Born Pretty order using the code CAL91. They do free worldwide shipping all the time.

*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review.  For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

Dandelions. {Nailz Craze plate NC01}

I have my last Nailz Craze stamping plate to show you today. I've absolutely loved using them. They're amazing quality.

This is plate NC01. It has some awesome butterfly wing images, a peacock feather, hearts, something that looks like a four-leaf-clover (but perhaps they're just supposed to be hearts too), and a cute dandelion. I decided to use the dandelion image for my manicure. My stamping isn't great for this manicure so please excuse that. I used Ulta3 Black Satin to stamp with, and my Winstonia Stamper and Scraper.

Polishes used: Essie Bikini So Teeny, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Ulta3 Black Satin. I added some of these cute little black star glitters to the base of the nail. I bought them from Cherry Poppin' Nails.

The inspiration for this manicure came from Marta/ChitChat Nails. I loved what she did with this plate, here. I've adored using the Nailz Craze stamping plates, and I think that if you like stamping or even want to try it, these plates are great. They have some of the cutest designs I've seen on stamping plates! *Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review.  For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

Bridal Nail Idea #2 {ft. Nailz Craze Stamping Plate NC 04}

Hi guys! I have my second bridal nail idea to share with you today! If you didn't see my first one, you can check that out here.

I was provided with a few stamping plates from the lovely Natalie from Nailz Craze a few weeks ago, and it's taken me a while to get around to completing my reviews which is quite pathetic on my part, so sorry about that, but I did show you one of the plates last month here.
Today I've used plate NC 04 to create this bridal nail art. I chose this plate specifically for the cute diamond ring image! So cute! I thought this plate would be absolutely perfect for some cute bridal nail art. It would also be cute for Valentines Day, which is less than a month away!

The polishes I used for this manicure were OPI I Theodora You {one of my absolute favourite pinks. It's a jelly but builds up pretty much opaque in three coats, which is what I did} and It's Frosty Outside, which I talked more about here.

I stamped the images using China Glaze Devotion, from the Romantique collection. It's a metallic chrome, and it's technically a purple colour but it almost looks silver to me. The whole Romantique collection is amazing for stamping. Along with this I used my favourite Winstonia XL squishy stamper and scraper to stamp with.

So far I have found that the Nailz Craze plates are amazing quality, and actually work better than some more well-known brand plates that I have tried! I find I get a much crisper image with Nailz Craze. Even the images with large areas are amazing!

I'm not sure that I would actually wear this on my nails for my wedding day... It's more of a novelty for me. It would be fun to wear for something like an engagement party, or maybe a bridal shower or hens party, however!

What do you guys think? :)

*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review.  For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

Bridal Nail Idea #1

Over the next couple of months I am going to be bringing you a few posts {ok, more than a few} about all things nails for weddings!

My wedding is coming up quickly so I am trialling some different polishes and nail looks so that I can pick the perfect one for the big day! :) Because you know, the nails are the most important part, right?! ;)

Today I'll be sharing my first option for bridal nails. I actually wore this manicure when I went to look at dresses! :D

This manicure is a simple glitter gradient. Easy to do, but gorgeous and looks like you tried harder than you actually did.

For the base colour I used OPI Don't Burst My Bubble, which is a white-leaning pink jelly. I used three coats.

Over that, I created my glitter gradient with Savvy by DB's Razzle & Dazzle. I have a glitter gradient glitter tutorial video which you can see here if you are interested. :)
These types of glitters are really popular at the moment and you can find them in a few different brands. I'm sure they'll start popping up everywhere soon.

I really like this look. It's very girly and feminine. And it's glitzy without standing out too much. I think if I did this again, I would use a sheerer base colour {or just less coats}.

What do you think of this manicure? :)

I can't wait to share more bridal looks with you guys! I have many more ideas in mind!

PS. As you may have noticed, my square nail shape is back. But after I took this manicure off I actually went back rounded because I missed it! Sorry if any of you really prefer my square nails. I'm just loving the roundies at the moment. :)

OPI It's Frosty Outside

I thought for my first official post in 2014 {and under a new name} I'd show you the manicure I wore for New Year's.

I didn't do any nail art and opted for something easy and quick for my nails as I was in a bit of a rush. But I was super happy with what I chose.

OPI's It's Frosty Outside is a frosty silver textured polish. When it dries, though, it sort of loses the frosty effect and just looks ultra glittery. This polish is from OPI's Mariah Carey Holiday '13 collection, which was full of awesome shades, by the way!

{ Note: Aussie girls - I saw the OPI Holiday sets on sale at David Jones last week for 30% off! Definitely check your DJ's to see if they still have them if you're after any of this collection. }

I thought this polish would be absolutely perfect for New Year's. It's really sparkly and fun. The formula was great. Opaque in two coats, and dried very fast. I love that about the OPI Liquid Sands.

Sorry that my photos for this post aren't the best. I only took a few. And for some reason, on my computer, the quality looks awful. Let me know how they look on your screen. I know that the lens I'm using on my camera at the moment isn't great for nail photography. I'm looking into possibly getting a macro lens some time this year.