Cosmetic Cupcake

Happy Easter everyone! I haven't been in the mood for nails or blogging lately and I finally feel like getting back in to it so I'm back today with my Easter mani. The best thing about Easter manis is the excuse to break out the pastels! Not that one really needs any excuse for them haha. I'm pretty happy with how my nails turned out so I think I've got my mojo back!


Here's what I used:


Thumbs: I used 2 coats of Orly Snowcone as my base. For the grass I applied thin stripes of China Glaze Entourage and Nail Star two way nail art pen & brush in Green and created clouds using Cult Nails Tempest and a medium dotting tool. I finished it off by adding butterfly and dragonfly fimo.


Index finger: I used 3 coats of Models Own Speckled Eggs Dove which was a birthday present from my lovely friend Aysh. It's such a great pink and speckled polishes are so darn cute! 

Middle finger: I used 2 coats of Cult Nails Tempest and freehanded the carrots using Bloom Bettina I and Kester Black Peach Melba*. For the leaves I used Revlon Parfumerie Lime Basil.


Ring finger: I used 2 coats of China Glaze Lemon Fizz and Cult Nails Tempest for the polka dots.

Pinky: I used 2 coats of Barry M Gelly and made a decal using bunny design from Bundle Monster plate BM-H10 using Konad Special Polish in white and filled in the ears using Kester Black Lilac and the eye with Cult Nails Nevermore. 


I hope you're all having a lovely Easter! What are you all up to this long weekend?  I've done nothing but eat so far haha.  Thanks for looking as always!

* Product(s) provided to me for consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion. My Disclosure Policy can be viewed here.

Hi ladies I have for you my first Christmas manicure of the year! Well not exactly the first as I've done a few plain Xmas skittles but I didn't bother taking photos of them because they were't super exciting. I haven't done a santa suit mani before so thought I'd give it a go! Not the neatest job because I haven't done any nail art in ages so I'm rusty but oh well! I threw in some trusty glitter so you get distracted LOL.


What I used:

Thumb: I used 2 coats of China Glaze Poinsettia and 2 coats of China Glaze Ring in the Red. Excuse the broken nail! =(

Index finger: I used 2 coats of China Glaze Poinsettia and 2 coats of Lynnderella Happy Holo Daze! which is a perfect Xmas glitter. Oh I wish Santa would bring me more Lynnderella's for Christmas!!


Middle finger: I used 2 coats of China Glaze Poinsettia and 2 coats of Lush Lacquer Santa Baby. Unfortunately I couldn't get any of the black hex glitters out of the bottle doh.

Ring finger: I used 2 coats of China Glaze Poinsettia as my red base. For the white trim on Santa's suit I used Orly White Tips and for the black buckle I used Kiss nail art striper in black. I used China Glaze Midnight Kiss for the belt buckle.

Pinky: I used 2 coats of China Glaze Ruby Pumps. Ruby Pumps is still one of my absolute favourite reds of all time! Such gorgeous glittery goodness x)



I hope you're all getting into the festive spirit! Thanks for looking as always =)

Hi ladies! Just a super quick NOTD for you today. I'm absolutely knackered! I used 2 coats of Orly Sweet Peacock* which is a gorgeous shimmery blue foil. I stamped full floral design from Bundle Monster plate BM-221 using China Glaze Millenium and then added 1 coat of Essie Matte About You. The stamping looks white for some reason but it's silver!




I hope you're all doing well =) Thanks for looking as always!

* Product(s) provided to me for consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion. My Disclosure Policy can be viewed here.

When I got home from HK, one of the packages I had waiting for me was a lovely New Year package from my dear friend Christina! She ALWAYS spoils me rotten if you've read my blog for a while and this time it was no different!! Not only did she include amazing polishes (and makeup!) for me she also included a few pieces of her beautiful jewellery for my sister and I. I ADORE her Etsy store - she makes the most amazing jewellery, cute deco items and hand painted nails ♥


I have the most awesome friends seriously *cries*


Tommy G magnetic polish and some duochrome goodness from Stargazer and Models Own!!!!! My 1st Stargazer polishes and I'm so glad I now have some backups of the Models Own Beetle Juice polishes!


A Catrice Prismatic Effects topcoat, 2 STUNNING hard to find Beauty Line flakies and Orly Fowl Play. I am such a sucker for flakies and special top coats x)

I've been trying to master freehand rose nail art like in the Japanese nail mags without success for ages now. It's so frustrating as you can probably tell I LOVE rose manicures and the manis I've seen in the mags look so good. Every time I tried, the roses ended up looking like multi-coloured blobs! I was determined last week to try and make the roses work but in the end they still looked crap, just big and awkward =( I guess they looked somewhat alright from far away so don't look too closely at my pictures haha.


For this mani I used:

Pinky, middle and index fingers: I started off with 3 coats of Orly Lemonade. I then used a dotting tool from Born Pretty to place dots using China Glaze Grape Pop. I then used a small brush (also from Born Pretty) to add small lines using NARS Pokerface and China Glaze Sugar High. For the leaves I used OPI Jade is the New Black.

Ring finger: I used 2 coats of NARS Pokerface and then added a glitter half moon using Art Deco nail striper in gold glitter.

Thumb: 2 coats of OPI Glitzerland.



I loved the combination of yellow, purple and gold but I just wish I could get the hang of freehand roses! What nail art do you love but can't seem to get right?

Thanks for looking as always!

Unless you've been living under a rock I'm sure you know that the royal wedding is on today! I don't care too much about the royals (OK maybe I secretly do have a fascination with them) but I am such a hopeless romantic and I absolutely adore a good royal wedding. Weddings are such beautiful events and especially with all the pomp and ceremony it's such a show! Of course I had to do a mani to celebrate the wedding of the year!


I've wanted to do a Union Jack mani for ages so of course this was the perfect opportunity! My mani was a huge hit at work today which was a nice way to brighten up my day =) My British workmate ABSOLUTELY adored it and even took a pic to send home to friends and family which was awesome! xp

I started off with 1 coat of "underwear polish" in Icing Rebellious to prevent staining. I then applied 2 coats of Orly Royal Navy to all fingers except my ring finger.


For my ring finger I wanted to replicate the gorgeous engagement ring. I used 3 coats of Ulta 3 lily white as a base and used Born Pretty dotting tool to dot an oval using China Glaze Up All Night for the sapphire. I then applied silver rhinestones to replicate the diamonds.


For the Union Jack I used Kiss nail art paint striper in white to freehand the white lines and CM nail art striper in red glitter over the white.



I've recently discovered the joys of Instagram so here's a bonus pic which I tweeted last night. Follow me on Twitter for preview pics of my manis as I don't always post about them straight away ;)


Obviously royal weddings aren't for everyone but who doesn't love a fairytale love story?!! Off to watch the ceremony now!! Will you be watching?

Thanks for looking!!

Time has just completely run away from me this last week leaving me barely enough time to complete the normal everyday things let alone leave me any time to enjoy myself! I've been polish-less for 3 days (OMG!) and today a patient asked me "Are you ok 'chelle? You don't seem yourself" whilst looking at my bare nails lol. It's kinda weird when people try to gauge what kind of mood I'm in by the state of my nails hahaha.

One thing that really brightened up my week was an AWESOME swap package I received in the mail from the very lovely Alice from Absolutely-Alice! I was so lucky to be able to swap with her, she is such a sweetheart and I'm so fortunate to have met her through the beauty blogger community =)


Look at all the wonderful goodies!! Alice - you included so many polishes from my wishlist eeeeeeeek! Thank you!


Everything was wrapped so nicely that I didn’t want to unwrap the goodies! It only lasted about a minute though and then I ripped into it lol. How cute is the silver and white heart paper??

Essie Petal Pink, Pillow Talk and In Stitches.

OPI Ali’s Big Break, Orly Thorned Rose and Snowcone.

American Apparel Echo Park, Peacock and Office. My 1st American Apparel polishes!!

elf Plum and Berry Pink.


So many wonderful extras and yummy treats! I've always wanted to try the Yes to Carrots range. The milk candies were delicious!


Alice makes wonderful handmade items and she very kindly sent me some! I love how she added the bows to make the hair clips more girlie. I now have even more bow accessories yay! Alice hand crafted the beautiful bracelet below from rose quartz and it is EXACTLY the type of bracelet I would snap up for myself in a shop! I am in love with the heart detailing and the heart clasp. And it's pink yay!


Thank you so much for swapping with me Alice! I look forward to our next swap =) Check out Alice's blog here! She does cute manis and has great tutorials for DIY projects. Please post more often Alice as I always enjoy reading your posts!

I have so many wonderful polishes from all my swaps that I haven't tried yet so I'm determined to get my untrieds down to 1 helmer drawer before I am allowed to buy anymore nail polish. But that's going to have to start from Monday because I'm heading to the city tomorrow to take advantage of the Illamasqua amnesty woot!

Thanks for looking! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend =)

Today's manicure is inspired by a pedicure design I saw in Nail Max Collections magazine Vol. 7 which I picked up in HK late last year. As soon as I saw the design I knew it would be the perfect manicure to try out polishes from the Orly Sweet collection I recently received in swaps!

The inspiration:


Isn't it cute?!! And perfect for Summer too. Too bad Sydney is having some very wet weather at the moment! I used 2 coats of Orly Gumdrop for thumbs, 2 coats of Cotton Candy for index fingers, 3 coats of Lemonade for middle fingers, 2 coats of Lollipop for ring fingers and 2 coats of Snowcone on pinkies.


I then applied 1 coat of Essence Space Queen which I received in my Xmas package from Christina for a glittery finish. I finished off with some floral Pa nail stickers on my thumbs as I don't use acrylics and added some silver beads which you can just see. Topped it all off with a coat of Color Club Vivid Intensifying top coat for a glossy finish.


I seem to be doing a lot of skittles manis at the moment! I hope you don't mind but it's Summer here Down Under so I thought it would be fun =) I want to scan my nail mags but I've got such a huge backlog of posts and things I need to do, including organising and photographing items for my blog shop! Hopefully I'll have some scans up soon for you all. I'm trying to coerce my sis into scanning the mags for me haha.

Thanks for looking!

Today I have for you the last swap package that arrived on Christmas Eve. This is the 3rd swap I have completed with the awesome franken queen Chris from Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes!


It is always such a pleasure swapping with Chris. She takes so much care in selecting polishes for me and she also writes thoughtful notes about each polish for me as many of the brands I haven't tried before. You have spoiled me!!


From L - R:
Nubar Absolute, Petunia Sparkle and Vino. My camera is being funny in these photos and not showing the colours properly. They are all so pretty!


Chris' franken Magenta Madness.


From L - R:
Orly Sweet Collection Snowcone, Gumdrop, Lemonade, Cotton Candy and Pixy Stix. These polishes have been on my wishlist for MONTHS and Chris very kindly sent me her own bottles so that I could have the collection! I now have them all (yay!) as Jess sent me Lollipop before!!!


From L - R:
Hard Candy Mushroom, Fabuluxe and Limited Edition set. OMG my first Hard Candy polishes!! The heart rings are so cute and girly and the colours are just gorgeous. Fabuluxe is soooo glittery!


Some very thoughtful extras! California Mango Mango Extreme hand lotion and LA Splash nail art glitter. The hand lotion is Chris' favourite and I can see why! It smells divine and is very moisturising.


As usual my family devoured these within seconds! My mum tells me they tasted really good lol.

Thank you so so much Chris for yet another wonderful swap package! Thank you for crossing off so many polishes from my wishlist in one go and introducing me to some awesome brands I have no way of sourcing here.

Thanks for looking!

I completed another awesome swap this week! Swapping is so much fun – I love meeting fellow polish lovers and the process of shopping and choosing polishes is very enjoyable =) This time I swapped with the lovely Jess from polish insomniac. She answered my call for swap buddies a few months back but I couldn’t swap til a few weeks ago. She managed to cross a few things off my wishlist which I am SO grateful for! Here are the goodies she sent my way:


The colours are just so pretty and include some brands I haven't tried before!


From L – R:
Sally Hansen Complete Manicure Hidden Treasure, Lagoon, Kook-A-Mango and Thinking of Blue. HIDDEN TREASURE!!! Need I say more? *dance* Lagoon is so so pretty, it reminds me of Gosh Ocean actually. I've very much wanted to try the Complete Manicure range however the prices down under are just ridiculous.


From L – R:
Wet n Wild Lust, Saved By The Blue and Orly Lollipop. My 1st Wet n Wild polishes and an Orly polish crossed off my wishlist - thanks Jess!


From L - R:
Jordana Mint Candy, Sinful Colors Mint Apple and China Glaze Metallic Muse. Some wonderful greens that I'm so excited to add to my collection! I've had Metallic Muse on my wishlist for aaaages now for konading so yay!

As soon as my exam is over next week I am going to have to polish my nails daily or at least 2nd daily! I have so many gorgeous polishes to try it's not funny. Thank you for these wonderful polishes Jess!

My Polished Pink for October giveaway ends in 3 days so don't forget to enter here.

Hi ladies! This post is a little late but earlier this week was the 25th anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros in Japan. I would have done these nails sooner but I didn't get time unfortunately. The boy absolutely looooooves Super Mario Bros and he converted me when we first started dating many moons ago! I love the characters in Mario Bros but I especially love the mushrooms. I have 3 mushroom plushies and these were the inspiration for todays manicure to celebrate.


I used the tutorials by the talented CutePolish and Nikki from Askmewhats version as a guide. They looked simple enough but my lack of polishing lately has seen my skills slip!


I used Orly French Tip to freehand white tips. I then used the striping brush from Nail Star Two way nail art pen & brush in red to draw a thin line just below the white tip, then I topped the red line with CM Nail Art striping polish in red glitter on all fingers except for accent finger and thumb. On my thumbs and accent finger I used the pen from Nail Star Two way nail art pen & brush in red to draw a half oval shape and drew 5 dots using Nail Star Two way nail art pen & brush in white. I then used Kiss Nail Artist Paint & Stencil Kit in black to draw eyes and topped it all off with a coat of Nailene Acrylic Strong topcoat for a glossy finish!


Hope you like it! I'll leave you with a piccie of my family of Mario mushroom plushies =)