Where am I? - Just departing Mare island, where I probably spent the day relaxing, swimming, watching the kids play, playing games on my ipad and eating (of course)

Tonight's guest blogger is Jas from Jas's Blingtastic Nails. I love braided nails, and really love this look with them on the tips.  Jas, show 'em what you've got.

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Hello everyone, my name is Jas from Jas's Blingtastic Nails and tonight I have the honor of guest posting for you whilst Cathy is away. Today I have for you a twist on a couple of trends that have been floating around for a little while. This is the love child of the Fishtail Braid manicure and the Chevron tip look. I guess it's the half braid look? For this look I used a color I have been meaning to use for ages, Nubar Pasadena Purple. Of course, AFTER I used it I realized how hard it is to photograph, ah well, I loved the color so I hope I did it justice in the pics!

The finished look. Pic taken in lightbox

To start I did a base color with 2 coats of Nubar Pasadena Purple, this was a little tricky to apply.

Nubar Pasadena Purple in fading light.

Then starting around halfway down my nails I started to freehand the Fishtail Braid, which you can see an awesome tutorial at Lucy's Stash Fishtail Braid. I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and Millennium for the braid as I was going for an elegant look.

Pasadena Purple Half Braid. Ring accent with Nfu Oh 51. Full Sun





Gorgeous red flakies from Nfu-Oh 51


 I had to throw in a pic of what I saw when I looked down at my nails! :)

This look was reasonably easy to do if you have a steady hand and follow the tutorial from Lucy's stash step by step. With starting half way down the nail you don't have to worry about the polish building and thickening the more layers you apply which can be a downfall in the full fishtail look. The three different polishes you chose are best if they are reasonable opaque to cover each layer as you go along, and, you could also add the half braid look to a slightly older manicure to extend the life of manicure and cover any tip wear/chipping oh-so-easily.

I did add a top coat to make sure there were no lumps and this also helped with the streakiness I had in the first pic :)

Hope you found my post interesting and thanks for reading

xox
Jas

Where am I today? - Arriving at the tropical island of Mare in New Caledonia - currently sleeping or eating.

Guest blogger #4 for you tonight is Bec from Lacquer Dreams sharing some colour block nail art. I love colour blocking, especially seeing different ways to tape of the nail. Thanks Bec and over to you.

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Hi guys! My name is Bec and I reside over at LacquerDreams. I am super excited to be posting here, More Nail Polish was one of the very first blogs I started reading, and gave me the courage to start my own!

Today I have a nude and neon combo for you. I love contrasting colours, and what better than this?! I used 2 coats of ButterLONDON Yummy Mummy, let it dry and then applied striping tape to the nail. Once I (eventually!) had the tape in place, I applied a thickish layer of the ultimate neon, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy. As soon as I had the FFF on, I removed the tape, let it dry a little, and then added top coat.





I really hope you enjoyed this post, and a HUGE thanks to Cathy for the opportunity!

<3 Bec

Where am I today? - still off the east coast of Australia on a cruise ship, probably eating.

Tonight's post is from Natalia from Cats-n-nails and she is sharing a detailed post about applying full nail water decals.  I've never tried full nail water decals, but these look stunning and I really want to after seeing these.  Go for it Natalia.

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Many thanks to Cathy for inviting guest posts – makes me feel very privileged to write for such a well-known blog! I hope you enjoy my contribution ;)

Pictorial for applying full nail water decals

Ok so here goes, a couple of steps involved, but it’s a great quick and easy way to spruce up nails without spending too much time/money/effort. I have only done this about 3 times, so that just shows how easy it is.

First of all I recommend you have all the supplies ready.



I used a tiny little container for water, because the only thing you’ll be dipping is the decal. Plus essentials like paper towel, tweezers, scissors and a nail file.

I like to start with choosing a base colour to match the decals best, this way even if the application isn’t perfect or you get a little tear – no one will ever find out (shhh!).

 

I picked out a few that could be a good match, swatched them on a wheel and compared to the decal.



If you are wondering why I didn’t just use the bottles to see the colour – it’s because bottle colour can differ a shade or two.

Now that you’ve got everything ready, time to play! Paint your nails with a regular base coat (in my case I chose Duri).


Then add the base colour – here I used OPI Mermaid’s Tears



While your nails are drying, carefully cut the decals and roughly choose the sizes you’re going to use (there will most likely be more than 10 decal sizes). See how even the smallest one was a bit too large?



I used the scissors to trim a little bit to fit better.

Using the tweezers, drop the first decal into the water and leave for 15-20 seconds. After the allocated time, carefully take the decal out and blot on the paper towel.




Now you are ready to lift it onto the nail, being careful not to fold it.



It is quite delicate, but once it’s on the nail - you will have a little bit of time before it dries - to slide the decal into position and press down gently.

Once the decal is dry to the touch and does not move around, cut most of the excess off and gently file the remainder in a downward motion.



After you have done all of your nails – add a top coat (nothing fast drying, just a regular one – I used a Color Club clear polish in fact)

That’s it! The whole operation takes around a minute per nail. And to show you how easy it is I even did my right hand (I am right handed).



I do hope my little pictorial helps you and maybe you will try it out, if you haven’t already. Feel free to share with me at cats-n-nails!

Where am I today? - Somewhere off the east coast of Australia, sipping a cocktail watching the kids play in the water park on the top of the cruise ship.

Guest blogger #2 for you tonight is Michelle from Lab Muffin sharing a drag marbling tutorial.  I've never tried this technique, so it's great to share something new on my blog. Take it away Michelle.

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I'm Michelle from Lab Muffin and Polish or Perish, and I'm very excited to be posting a tutorial here that many people have asked me about - drag marbling.


If you love the random swirly patterns of water marbles, but don't want to deal with the mess and frustration, you might want to try out one of my favourite techniques, drag marbling. The effect isn't quite as spectacular in my opinion, but to me it's got its own special charm, and it's much less trouble.
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The specific design I'll be showing today is a tortoiseshell design. It was the first nail art I ever posted on my blog, and I recently redid it here. Despite having a year more experience, I don't think it turned out much better (although my photography has improved a lot!), so I'd say it's a pretty foolproof technique!



You'll need:
- Base and top coat (Nails Inc Caviar and Seche Vite in my case)
- Two polishes, one creme and one metallic - I used ulta3 Black Satin and Sunkissed
- Pointy toothpick

First, prep all your nails with base coat and let it dry. It's easiest to work on one nail at a time through the next steps:

1. Paint a thick coat of your creme polish.

2. Immediately dab a stripe of your metallic down the middle of your nail. It doesn’t have to be neat, it'll soon be unrecognisable!

3. Grab your toothpick and quickly draw a messy zigzag down the middle of your nail (I've indicated my zigzag in purple).

4. If you worked fast enough, your nail should now look like this! If there are lots of bald patches, you can try working faster, making sure only the point of the toothpick is in the polish, or using slower drying polishes.

Clean up the edges and add top coat to finish.



I love this look because it's so easy to create interesting patterns with this technique! If you try it, I'd love to see the results :)

Right about now myself, Mr More Nail Polish and the two little kiddos will be sailing out of Sydney Harbour enjoying the vivid light festival as we leave the city for our south pacific cruise.

Tonight I get to share with you the first of 15 guest posts that I have scheduled while I'm away.

Please welcome my first guest blogger - Jen from The Polish Project.  I have a huge crush on her nails and her photography is always stunning. Over to you Jen.

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Hi Cathy's Readers! I'm standing in today for Cathy while she is off on holiday. This is my very first guest post so I thought I would do a skittlette manicure inspired by another first of mine - Emily de Molly Ego Friendly which was both my first EdM and first Australian indie polish. Ego Friendly is a gorgeous soft pale blue creme with turquoise, silver and green hex glitter and turquoise shards.