How's everyone enjoying their holidays? It's been a hot week for us here in Perth, averaging around the mid 30s. I've just checked the weather forecast and it's going to be a steaming hot Monday next week, tops at 40 deg.c!!!

My red Smitten With Mittens Holiday Nails were looking a little bit tired and I thought of creating a new design. This design was inspired by the talented Asami's Winter Trees design. Asami created a series of amazing holiday nail designs. They were all so pretty, but I've always loved the look of bare winter trees.

Being Jin, I just can't stop with just tree branches :), I've added snow on the branches and big floating snowflakes everywhere! Although it's hot, I hope I'll feel cooler just by looking at the snow on my nails. hehehe



 

 

 

 

 
 
I'm so happy to create this set of nails for my friend who's getting married in 2 weeks time! Her favourite colour is orange and her summer wedding will have lots of orange tones throughout all the decorations and flowers.

Without even seeing what type of orange she's chosen, I went ahead and bought this nail polish from The Face Shop.





I was shocked when she handed me the wedding invite, because the orange colour from the invite is nearly a perfect match to the nail polish colour! Most importantly, the bride loves this colour.



We've decided on a gorgeous romantic lace nail design. It's also a great opportunity for me to revisit applying fabric lace onto nails. I think it looks a lot better this time compared to my previous attempt - See: Would You Wear Lace on Your Nails? Due to the bride's work, she's unable to have long nails. We've decided on a full cover fake nail this time as she can remove them easily herself and possibly reuse them again when she goes back to Japan for the second ceremony!





 

 

 

 
Heart shapped pearls were used instead of round ones. They're so pretty!

 

I love this lace look so much that I'm already planning to do a set for myself with black lace and a Tiffany blue nail polish!
1 and a half weeks into my 3 weeks break from work and I'm totally loving it! My relatives are visiting for 2 weeks and we've been busy shopping, eating and watching lots of dramas. It's so relaxing to have holidays like this! Only if everyday can be like this...sigh....hehehe

Look what I found! A Magical Tray for flipping rhinestones the right way up just by shaking it! All you have to do is to pour some rhinestones onto the tray, give it a few shakes sideways and all of them will face upwards! It's so convenient using this especially if you're putting on lots of blings onto your finger nails or if you're into deco art.







I don't know if you can see the tiny bumps on the try. I think those bumps helps to flip the rhinestones over when you shake the tray.  It really is magical!



Oh and my very first set of Konad plates and nail polish arrived! As you can see, I went crazy with buying the plates. Can't wait to start stamping!

 
This must have been the most frustrating nail art experience ever. The previous full cover acrylic overlay took me more than 1 hour to remove! This week's nail art was meant to be snowflakes and snowman (although it's 37 deg.C now in Perth).  However, my snowflakes were a big failure. I think I've chosen a way too complicated design and my free hand drawing skills are not up to speed. After drawing on 3 fingers, I took them all off. Sigh...

I decided to do some Konad stamping next, however that was a big failure too. My nail polish was not completely dry and it smudged everywhere! It was 1a.m. and I was about to give up. This is what I've completed between 1a.m and 3.30 a.m. Quite happy with the end result and I'm totally in love with OPI's Smitten With Mittens!



 



 

 
It has been a very tiring weekend because I had to work till 12am on Friday night! To make matters worse, it's extremely hot as well. Next Saturday is going to be pretty much the same with the mercury hitting 37 deg.C.

I was lazing around the house feeling very lethargic the whole weekend not wanting to move or go out. I feel like a sloth! Luckily, by Sunday afternoon we had heaps of cooling sea breeze and I was finally motivated to redo my nails.

I don't even want to think how long it took for me to create this set. It's by far the longest time spent ever. Reason being, it's the first time I've ever tried using acrylic to create a full cover overlay. It's also the first time I've tried using glitter powder to create a gradient effect and it's the first time I'm making these gel cherry blossoms.



These are all the nail art materials I've used to create this look. I really love this glitter pot. If you look closely, you'll see that it's not just purple glitters. There's a mixture of a lighter shade of purple and some silver bits.



To get the gradient effect, I mixed 2 batches of glitter with clear acrylic powder, each with different concentration of glitters. I've never done this before and my hands were so busy with the mixing I've totally forgotten to take photos of the process!

Anyway this is the final result. I think in total it took me 6 hours or more, because I had a dinner break inbetween!


 

 I Really Love This Glitter!


 Under Warm Light



I've bought this OPI colour called 'Teal The Cows Come Home' for a long time, but did not have the chance to try it out. I kept getting distracted by other colours and nail art ideas that I've cold storaged this colour until this weekend. This evening,  I 've got a dinner picnic at the beach and the thought of the glittering blue ocean suddenly reminded me of this colour! It took me quite a while to think of what nail art to do with this colour and finally thought to pair it up with lots of gold!



 

Before applying  any nail colour, I always put on 1 coat of Ridge Filler, followed by a base coat.

  
After  the base coat is dry, place the manicure guideline stickers near the top the of nail and apply the top half with a white glitter nail polish. I'm using The Face Shop nail polish inWH003 for the first time. The above photo is showing 1 coat. As you can see its really sheer. I eventually layered on 4 coats to get to the desired coverage I like.



Remove the guidelines and apply 2 coats of 'Teal The Cows Come Home'. Allow to dry completely and seal it with top coat. After the top coat dries. Apply the following on the nails with nail glue. This time round, I've used lots of gold leaves, gold bullions and clear rhinestones. Always work from the centre of the nails outward so as to ensure that it's even on both sides. You can apply another layer of top coat when complete but this will make the rhinestones less bling.



 

 

 

 

 



I discovered a shop in Perth City's Piccadilly Arcade called The Face Shop. It's got heaps of face, body, hair and nail care products from Korea.


I bought quite a few nail colours to try out. They are currently having a promo where you buy 3 bottles and get 1 free. The cost of 4 bottles is $12! You can't see from this photo, but some of these colours have very fine silver sparkles in them. I cannot resist any nail polish with nice sparkles in them hehehe.

I also bought these other products. They have quite a few different types of face cloth masks that address all sorts of different needs. I got a few to try out.  Not sure if they're any good. Has anyone tried these masks before?



 
 

Look what I found after going to the hardware store! I've seen people using hooks and blue tags to hold nail tips like this. It's a great way to prop them up so that you can have both hands fee. It's especially good when applying air brush artwork.





This is another way of holding the nail tip. I've improvised this holder by using a non-slip furniture cap and a plastic hook. Holding the round cap in your palm creates less stress on the fingers and it's great when you need to rotate the nail tip to face the right direction. This is also good when you need to hold the nail tip up close for all those intricate 3D art work.

 

Did this pedi for my mom this week. I really like the this silver Striping Tape against the dark purple background.