Cosmetic Cupcake

HELLO!!! How have you all been? It's been a crazy few weeks and I can't believe it's nearly halfway through May already. What the heck?!! The husband and I are off to Japan in October (SQUEEEE!) so in preparation we're doing Japanese classes which is giving the old noggin' a good workout. I started yoga classes too which I'm really enjoying and I"m trying to be more active especially as we're heading into Winter and all I want to do is vege out. I also got the AMAZING opportunity to have lunch at The Fat Duck Melbourne last week and flew down just for the day so it's been a little exhausting!

I have a very simple stamped mani today that I did a little while ago. I used 3 coats of Models Own HyperGel Pink Veneer and stamped different designs from Nailz Craze plate NC 04 using China Glaze Millennium.


I love the Nailz Craze plates and I really wish Natalie would release more designs! They stamp so well and the designs are so cute. Who doesn't love a bit of bling right? Thanks for looking!

Today I have some inspired negative space daisy nails! It's a (poor) recreation of the nails created by Sophie Harris-Greenslade from the The Illustrated Nail in this tutorial for Barry M. I really enjoy her tutorials for Barry M but watching them makes me soooooooo wish the brand was more readily available in Aus as I adore their polishes! Unfortunately I don't own the polishes she used in the tutorial so I used Models Own HyperGel White Light for the petals and Catrice Team Lucky Mustards for the centre of the daisies.



Even though it didn't turn out as neat as I wanted I think the mani turned out ok especially if you don't look too closely haha. Thanks for looking!

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.

I'm back after spending the last 3 weeks in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year and the post holiday slump has well and truly hit. Combined with jet lag and catching a cold off my nieces I am so not liking being back. It was great to just relax, spend time with my family and mainly just eat lots and lots!

I didn't really shop too much because the exchange rate isn't crash hot at the moment so this is probably the smallest HK haul I've done over the years. I did of course purchase a few items I've been lusting after but lately I haven't been blown away by new products so I'm mainly finishing off products in my stash which my wallet is happy about.


I thoroughly regretted not purchasing Les Merveilleuses Ladurée cosmetics when I was in Paris last year so when Christina told me they had launched in HK I had to rectify that immediately. I bought 2 of the blushes, the cheek brush and brush holder along with some gifts - plus an item to give away shortly too! I'll be swatching the gorgeous blushes soon too.


Gucci Beauty launched in HK late last year so of course the nail polishes were on my wishlist. It was hard deciding which of the shades to get so I went with some of the iconic shades - Red, Gold and Ottanio.


So technically I didn't purchase these while in HK but I did bring them home with me from HK so I've included them in this post. I can never resist a good sale and the Models Own 50% off sales are pretty epic! Sadly they don't ship to Australia anymore but they do ship to HK so I got my order shipped to the in-laws and they arrived just as I got to HK. Absolutely perfect timing! I hauled the entire Colour Chrome collection which are perfect for stamping.


The Dolly Wink mascaras are my Holy Grail so I stocked up on a few to last until my next trip. They've been my favourite for the last few years and they don't budge on my oily lids.


My first Ferragamo piece! I've been after a small coin purse for my Chanel wallet on chain and the Vara bow coin case in Macaron is so sweet and exactly what I was after. It fits neatly into my wallet too!


I also bought a few phone cases for my new iphone 6 and a replacement Longchamp bag but that's it for this year! Very tame compared to previous years haha. What have you guys hauled lately? Thanks for looking as always!

I've been stamping my nails since about early 2011 but I've never actually done a houndstooth manicure before can you believe?! I thought it was about time to rectify that but I went with something different from the usual black and white. Please excuse my crappy photos in this post though - I really need to get my artificial lighting situation sorted so I don't have to wait for daylight to swatch and take NOTD photos.


I applied 2 coats of Models Own HyperGel Lilac Sheen on all fingers except my ring finger where I used 2 coats of NCLA Elegantly Punk. I stamped houndstooth design from Moyou London Pro plate 07 using Konad Special polish in white and then topped them off with a coat of NCLA Party Favourite.






Thanks for looking as always!

I don't think I've mentioned it on my blog yet but I'm currently doing my nail technology certificate II so I can become a fully certified nail tech!! Most days I still enjoy being a nurse but I thought it was time to take my skills and my little business (Cosmetic Cupcake Nails!) to the next level and see where it'll take me. I'm learning so much and loving the course but it's 2 nights a week and all day Saturdays leaving no time for much else including working on my blog. I wore this mani for a full day at work before I even got a chance to take photos! Only when I went to edit my pics did I realise that it was all scratched up. FAIL. To the naked eye my mani still looked fresh but my trusty macro lens doesn't miss much which is unfortunate in this situation!


I used 2 coats of Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer Charleston's Flame from the Feathers & Pearls collection on all nails except for my accent nails where I used Discreet from the Thrilling Me Softly collection. I added random spots of Charleston's Flame onto my accent and then outlined the spots and added random c's using Models Own nail art pen in black.



I'm off to crash x) thanks for looking!

My eczema and contact dermatitis have been playing up so badly this winter that I've had to sport naked nails most of the time since coming home from warm Europe and HK unfortunately. But naked nails make for a sad 'chelle so I had to brave some nail art! I've been following a heap of celeb nail artists on Instagram and one of my faves is Steph Stone Nails and I couldn't go past her adorable summer drippy ice cream nails. I absolutely LOVE drippy nails and I've done them quite a few times but it was time for a proper ice cream looking mani! I followed her tutorial to create them but my version doesn't look anywhere near as polished obviously. Please excuse my terribly haggard looking hands and cuticles!


I started off with 2 coats of Kester Black Butter Cream* as my base for all nails except my accent nails where I used 3 coats of Etude House Dear My Party Nails PPK001 and added criss cross lines using Hello Darling Say No To Cameltoe using a striper brush. For the ice cream drips I decided to go colourful and I used Kester Black Fairy Floss* for my pinky, Hello Darling Ganache for my middle fingers and Cult Nails Tempest for my index fingers.


For my thumbs I used Hello Darling Mint Slice* for the ice cream drip and I used a large dotting tool and OPI Big Apple Red* to create the cherries. For the sprinkles I used China Glaze Tart-y for the Party, Keep Calm, Paint On and Life is Rosy and Models Own nail art pens in yellow and blue.


I love a bit of summer during winter and who doesn't enjoy ice cream in the cooler months?!! What do you think? 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.

HELLOOOOOOOO everyone!! I am back home and it feels weird after being away for a month. I just want to continue honeymooning! It is nice to not live out of a suitcase but the worst thing about returning home is all the unpacking and laundry that needs to be done! URGH. We had an amazing time and I'll try to post some pics later but for now I have some of my hauls for you! We didn't really do too much shopping as we spent most of our time eating, sightseeing and doing more eating but I did buy a few polishes (of course!) and 2 big ticket items in Paris =D

Happy weekend everyone!! I'm off to Europe for my honeymoon in less than a week (EEEEK!) so I've been holding off on beauty purchases for quite some time so that I can go crazy over there. But as usual I couldn't resist a few things here and there! I can't go past a good sale ;)


Some gorgeous Hello Darling shades! From L-R: Georgeous, Cakefight, Trophy Wife, Sir English, Ballerina La La and Over topcoat.


Models Own had their awesome 50% off sale a while back so I took the opportunity to stock up on polishes for my kit and also pick up some lemmings! There was no way I was going to let such a good sale go even with the crazy shipping fee. I picked up the entire Hypergel collection and some cremes and glitters.



Illamasqua Raindrops has been on my wishlist ever since I saw swatches of it and I finally picked it up along with Destiny as a birthday pressie to myself! I had Myer vouchers so I only paid $14.50 for them both!


I picked up Revlon Parfumerie shades in Autumn Spice and Lime Basil when Priceline had their last 40% off sale (swatched here) and of course I couldn't go past the Ulta 3 speckled egg collection (swatched here) for Easter.


Chevron nail art is so cute but it's such a hassle with scotch tape I hardly ever do it. I thought I'd try out some Nail Vinyls to make it easier and they are definitely worth the price! I also bought some mini chevron, heart and straight vinyls too.


Bundle Monster had a 20% off sale so I took the chance to add the 2012, 2013 and Holiday plates to my stamping plate collection. It was also time to update my plate storage so I also bought 2 of their pink organisers which are fantastic - I should have upgraded my storage ages ago!!


I had to stock up on my HG makeup remover Clinique Take the Day Off Makeup Remover so I took advantage of the Clinique Valentines Day offer and scored myself a free Chubby Stick in Two Ton Tomato with my order woot!


I hope you liked seeing my recent hauls!! What have you hauled lately?

Soooooo I am officially another year older! Not sure if I'm really wiser though haha. I got spoiled by the hubby this weekend and had a lovely lunch in the mountains and basically spent most of the time eating! I did a simple birthday mani because I had no idea what I wanted but had to have some gold glitter in the mix!


What I used:

Pinky: 2 coats of Cult Nails Tempest and added bunting using Bundle Monster BM-H19 using China Glaze Passion.

Ring finger: I used 2 coats of Kester Black Fairy Floss* and created the chevrons using Nail Vinyls and Face of Australia Midnight Fireworks*.

Middle finger: I used 1 coat of Face of Australia Calypso Gold* and 2 coats of Models Own Gold Finger.

Index finger: I used 2 coats of Cult Nails Tempest and sponged Kester Black Fairy Floss* to the tip for a subtle fade.


Thumb: I used 2 coats of Kester Black Fairy Floss* and stamped balloon design from Bundle Monster BM-H20 using China Glaze Passion.




I have a love hate relationship with birthdays - I love the fun aspect of them but the whole growing older thing not so much haha. What do you guys get up to on your birthdays?

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! 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.

Besides nail polish and makeup my other love is food. And what better way than to put both loves together for food nails! Seriously I don't think there is any better combo ;) This mani is inspired by the burger nails by The Illustrated Nail. I love their nail art and when I saw the pic of this mani I had to try it out myself!!


Unfortunately I don't have the right "burger" shade in my stash which means I'll have to buy more polish clearly haha! xp


I used 2 coats of OPI Van Gogh* as my base for the bun. For the tomato I used Nail Star 2 way nail art pen & brush in red and for the lettuce I used the green. For the meat pattie I used Ulta 3 Chocolate Cake and I used a small nail art brush to draw the cheese using Bloom Emily Green Ochre*. Lastly I used the Models Own nail art pen in white for the sesame seeds.


Food inspired nails are always so much fun!! Any recommendations for other food manis? 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.