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 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. :)

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*

Born Pretty Store Neon Stud Wheel {Review}

Hi lovelies! Today I have a nail art product to show you from Born Pretty Store that is perfect for summer. We've been experiencing a few days of cooler {but still warm} weather the past few days, and it has been so nice. I love when the weather is sunny and warm, but not hot, in the day time, and then cool, but not too cold, in the evening. Perfect. But we're about to have a heat wave here, so there goes that!
Anyway, let's get into the nail art!

I received this nail wheel including 400 x 2mm neon coloured studs ($4.19 USD) from Born Pretty Store to show you guys. You get purple, green, yellow, orange, blue & pink studs, in both square and round shapes.

I've only used studs on my nails a couple of times, so I definitely would not call myself an expert. You can apply them by picking a stud up with tweezers and placing on your nail while your polish is still wet, and then add a top coat over or around the stud, or you can apply them with nail glue after your polish is dry.
I have tried to apply studs on my nail with top coat before and they only lasted an hour or two before falling off, but I don't have any nail glue handy at the moment so I applied them with top coat for the review. I painted my nails a few different neon colours, and white, to go with the studs. I think they'd also look cool over a black manicure.

The colours I've used are China Glaze That's Shore Bright, Highlight of My Summer, Bottoms Up and Too Yacht to Handle {all from the Sunsational Collection from 2013} and Ulta3 Lily White.
You can get 10% off your Born Pretty order if you use the code CAL91 at checkout. They also have free worldwide shipping.

What do you think of these neon studs? I think they are so fun!

*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*

Christmas Cuties ❅ {Nail Art}

I'm finding myself super busy lately, leaving me little time to do my nails at all, let alone do any nail art. But I recently made some time to crank out some cute Christmas nail art.

I've included lots of standard Christmas things in this manicure. Santa Claus, a snowman {although it doesn't snow here and I have never seen snow!}, a Christmas tree, a pudding and a Christmas jumper pattern!

My nail art skills are kind of rusty, so I made each nail pretty simple. {It may not look that simple to some, but I promise you, it really was. The whole manicure only took me about an hour to do. A normal one-colour-manicure usually takes me about 30 minutes for reference.}

Polishes used in this manicure:

• Sinful Colors Rich In Heart
• Ulta3 Lily White
• OPI My Very First Knockwurst
• China Glaze Winter Berry
• OPI Big Apple Red
• Ulta3 Black Satin
• Essie Fear or Desire
• Revlon Jaded Night
• OPI My Favourite Ornament
• China Glaze Be Merry, Be Bright {'ornaments' on Christmas tree nail}
• Rubi Shoes Taupe
• Rimmel Acid House
• B Squared Lacquer Glitzy {one star glitter used on Christmas tree nail}

Sooo, as you can see, I used a darn lot of polishes in this manicure. LOL.

Oh, and the weird red & green lines on the tip of the Snowman nail? That's supposed to be a scarf, k? ;)

On my thumb nail, I stamped over Sinful Colors Rich in Heart with Nailz Craze plate NC 03*, with Ulta3 Lily White polish. Despite Lily White not being completely opaque, it stamped pretty well!

I have had my eye on this stamping plate for a while because of this adorable Christmas jumper pattern image! A few stamping companies have similar images now but I think Nailz Craze was definitely one of the first to do it.
I used this squishy XL stamper from Winstonia to stamp with, by the way.

I have some more Nailz Craze plates to share with you soon {I cannot wait!}, and I'll probably use this one again in a full manicure because I love it so much. :)

Thanks for visiting, my lovelies. :D I hope I have some time to do more Christmas nail art before Christmas is here but I'm not sure if I will. I have a lot of posts planned & a whooooole lotta swatching to do!

*Products marked with a * were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review. For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

Top 10 Nail Polishes For Spring '13

Hi guys! I've never done anything like today's post before, so I hope you like it. :) I'm going to be talking about nail polish trends and some polishes I love for the spring season! It's just about spring here now. Well, technically it started over in September but the weather here in Adelaide was cool and miserable for the majority of the month. :(

Typical nail polish colours for spring are probably my favourite colours to wear all year, honestly. Pastels are my love. ♥ I don't really wear any shimmery polishes in spring, I love creme finishes mainly. :) Of course I love wearing my indies & glitters all year round, but I won't be mentioning any of those in this post, because I could pick like fifty!

Remember, these aren't 'rules' for what colours you can wear in spring. You can wear whatever colours you like! I usually go for whatever I feel like at the time or what I saw on someone else, but I know that a lot of people like to match their nails to the season!

Essie Bikini So Teeny
Bikini So Teeny was a favourite among nail polish lovers last year when they released this in their summer collection. I won a mini bottle in a giveaway sort of thing a bit over a year ago, and I used it all up very quickly. I only just recently purchased a full size bottle and I am so excited to rock some Bikini So Teeny on my nails. :D The formula on this defintiely leaves something to be desired, but I cannot get over how pretty this amazing periwinkle blue is.
{You should be able to pick up this polish at Priceline if yours stocks Essie! They only recently started stocking them so if they aren't already, it might be worth asking if they will be at your Priceline! I didn't think that they would stock this amazing colour but they do! Better be quick before they sell out. ;)}

Essie Mint Candy Apple
I love a good mint polish in the spring time! My favourite is definitely Mint Candy Apple! I love pairing mint with a silver accent nail, I think it looks stunning. Not the best formula, Essie isn't really known for a great formula on lighter colours, though. The colour is just so nice I can't help but love it.
{This is another one that you can find at Priceline!}

OPI Mod About You
I have to have a pretty pastel pink in spring. One that I love is Mod About You by OPI. It's very very very very light, and more of a blue toned pink. It definitely makes your skin look more tanned, if that's something you like. ;) It's very pretty for a pedicure, too.

OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips
You have to have a hot pink, right?! :) Kiss Me On My Tulips is one of my all time favourite hot pinks. It's got a great formula and is just the right tone of pink for my taste. I believe OPI has now put this in their permanent line, but I could be wrong so don't quote me on that.

Sinful Colors Unicorn
Unicorn is one of my favourite pastel yellows! I don't tend to wear yellow often, but when I do, it's definitely going to be this pretty buttery yellow. The formula is pretty good for a yellow, and Sinful Colors is a pretty affordable brand.
{In Australia you can pick up Sinful Colors at Target, Kmart & some Pricelines.}

OPI You're Such a Budapest
This has been a very popular colour this year. You're Such a Budapest is a beautiful periwinkle that leans a little more on the purple side of periwinkle. It's just beautiful. The formula isn't the best, it's a little thin and watery but the colour totally makes up for it.

Ulta3 Fruit Tingle
Towards the end of spring when it's starting to get hot, I love to wear neon colours. Fruit Tingle by Ulta3 is a great super bright pink. It has a jelly formula so you can either layer it over a white base, or you can wear it alone with 3 coats. For $2 it's a great polish.
{Check out Ulta3's Stockist Locator to see where you can pick up some of their polishes.}

Covergirl Lav-endure
Another pastel purple. I can't get enough. Lav-endure is a really great colour. It's very pale, and it has an amazing formula. These Covergirl polishes are pretty affordable too. You can even get them on sale sometimes. This colour is a tad more blue toned that Ulta3's Lilac Bloom {which I also love}, and it's a tad more pale too.

China Glaze For Audrey
A classic China Glaze colour. This is one of my faves all year round, but especially in spring. For Audrey is the perfect Tiffany blue colour. It's another one that looks amazing with a silver glitter accent nail. :D This is a tad darker than Mint Candy Apple from Essie.

OPI Do You Lilac It
Well, you can tell this polish is well loved! ;) This was my first ever OPI polish and this polish started my obsession. Do You Lilac It is just that, a creme lilac. It's not exactly a pastel to me, it's closer to a mid-tone purple but it's not dark, if that make sense. I was obsessed with this when I first bought it, which would explain why it's half empty! I don't wear it that often now, mainly because it's kind of hard to get the brush down into the depths of the polish haha but I think I will be pulling this pretty out this spring. :)

So, those are my favourite polishes for spring! I hope you enjoyed this post. If you'd like me to do this type of post for every season, let me know because I'll be happy to do that.
Let me know what your favourite polishes for spring are! :)

Also - if you got to the end of the post! I would love if you'd check out my new 'personal' blog, Lissa's Loves! I launched it yesterday and posted about my 'engagement photos'. Please check it out & follow if you'd like. :)

Thanks for visiting! ♥

Ulta3 The Big Book of Nails + Nail Art Kit Review

Hey lovelies! Happy Friday! :) I'm excited because the Royal Adelaide Show starts today. I'll probably go this weekend! What are you getting up to this weekend?

For today's post I have something I think is really awesome and exciting to share with you.

In August, Ulta3 has released something awesome for all the nail art addicts as well as polish newbies. The Ulta3 Big Book of Nails. This is a kit that includes 16 of Ulta3's polishes, all in a really cool book-type of box! There's also a new Nail Art Tool Kit available to accompany the Big Book of Nails.

The polishes included in the Big Book of Nails are: Pink Peony, Pale Dahlia, Lilac Bloom, Corsican Rose, Fresh Squeezed, Fruit Punch, Tahitian Lime, Tangello Twist, Black Satin, Sizzling Red, Lily White, Hollywood, Over the Rainbow, Twinkle Toes, Gold Rush Fever, Silver Grey. So many great nail polishes, and pretty much all the essential colours for some fun nail art.
Lily White and Black Satin are my holy grail black & white polishes! They're fabulous for nail art and very opaque.

On the left side of the book you can see tutorials on how to create gradient, tape, dotticure and glitter manicures using the polishes included and the tools in the Nail Art Tool Kit.

The Nail Art Tool Kit contains 2 nail art sponges, 1 mixing plate, 1 double ended dotting tool and 1 nail art brush. The essentials for any nail art, basically!

(Please excuse the messy looking sponge! I forgot to take a photo of the kit before using it!)

I created a nail art manicure using the polishes from the Big Book of Nails and the Nail Art Tool Kit to give you guys an idea of what you can create using these kits! There are countless other looks you can create with both kits, however!

I used Lilac Bloom, Pale Dahlia, and Corsican Rose as the base colours on my pointer, middle & pinky fingers and used the dotting tool from the Nail Art Tool Kit to dot on some Lily White polka dots.
I really like the dotting tool that comes with this kit. It's a good size for creating polka dots.

On my ring finger and thumb, I used Lily White as my base, and using a sponge from the Nail Art Tool Kit I created a gradient with Lily White, Pale Dahlia and Pink Peony.
The sponge from the Nail Art Tool Kit is fairly similar to a kitchen sponge. I'm not quite sure if I would use it again to create a gradient (I usually use makeup sponges) because I didn't find it made the cleanest gradient and it also left some bubbles in the polish. Thankfully, my top coat smoothed out the bubbles a bit. :)

This kit would be perfect for someone starting their nail polish collection and wanting to start doing some easy nail art. Or any nail polish addict who can't resist a bargain, like myself. ;) It would also be a great gift idea!

The Big Book of Nails costs $21.95, so by purchasing it you're saving $10.05! (Ulta3 nail polishes retail for $2ea). The Nail Art Tool Kit costs $9.95.

Ulta3

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*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*