Aussie Christmas Challenge 11/13 - Gold

I've been falling a bit behind with these Aussie Christmas Challenges due to a combination of being really busy, and laziness. But mostly laziness. Isn't it amazing how little time you actually have to do anything when you're working? I went through this thought process when I finished high school - I thought, heck yeah, now that I'm just working 9-5 and don't have to do assignments I'll have heaps of time to be all productive! Yeah, right. And then I went to uni, finished a 3 year degree and went through the whole thing all over again. And here I am, sitting on the couch watching MTV and writing this post, pretending to be really busy.

I borrowed this mani idea from More Nail Polish for today's Gold theme. I used a base of Gloss n Sparkle Above Deck (review post coming soon!) with a gradient of Lynnderella Golden Rules. Unfortunately the sun wouldn't come out to play so I couldn't take a fabulous holo shot.

I really love this mani. I want to wear it on Christmas day but we're heading down to Melbourne for Christmas with my boyfriend's family. That means I can't wear glitter because I need to be able to change my polish without using litres of acetone. What manis do you do when you're travelling?

Aussie Christmas Challenge 3/12 - Pool Party

Today's Aussie Christmas Challenge theme is Pool Party. I practically live by the pool in the summer. Even though I live a 5 minute drive from the beach, I'd rather stay at home and sit by the pool with an icy glass of Pimms and a kindle book, because there's no sand, and if I get hungry food is much more accessible :p

I went to a friend's 21st on Saturday, which was a pool party. She lives in Towrang, a 3 hour drive from anywhere. It was actually pretty cool because she lives on a 100 acre property in the middle of the bush, and has an infinity pool with an amazing view:

For this mani I chose to do a sort of jelly sandwich. I aimed to capture the depth of sparkling water. I used one coat of China Glaze First Mate, one coat of Zoya Maisie, and one coat of Revlon Royal.

On a side note: Argh reflections! I can't wait to get my new daylight bulb and go back to using my lightbox.

Aussie Christmas Challenge 2/12 - 6 White Boomers

I have a confession to make... I have no idea what "6 White Boomers" is. I think that's supposed to make me un-Australian. But I asked around my friends and none of them have any idea what it is either. So maybe we're just in the wrong generation, or it's not very well-known by people who grew up in the city, or something. 6 White Boomers is an Christmas song by Rolf Harris about how Santa uses white kangaroos to pull his sleigh instead of reindeer for the Australian leg of his trip.

If I was any good at nail art or stamping I would try and do a kangaroo on my nails, but I'm not, so I decided to go for something a bit more abstract. I did undies to represent a night sky, and then taped off white stripes for the white kangaroos. The night sky was created with two coats of Ulta3 Midnight, a midnight-blue crelly. I used one coat of a Japanese polish I picked up for $2.80 from Daiso, Winmax Delicia 192, a sheer grey with a dusting of tiny holo and iridescent glitter, to mimic the look of stars. It was the best I could do without having Essie Starry Starry Night!

Actually now that I listen to the lyrics again it says that they're riding through the blazing sun... But whatever :p

Aussie Christmas Challenge 1/12 - Red

It's December! And we all know... that means searing heat and Christmas! I love seeing all the indie Christmas collections and seasonal manis created around this time of year, but I always feel a bit disconnected from all the 'wintery' polishes because, obviously, it's summer in Australia. So to stop us Aussies from feeling left out, Elissa from Lissa's Polish Addiction has created an Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge with a different theme every two days. I probably won't be able to keep up with all of them but I'm certainly going to try!

To me, Christmas is all about barbecues, beer, and LOADS of seafood! We always go to my aunt's place for a big family lunch and although the menu changes slightly every year, there is always guaranteed to be mountains of prawns. But I realised just yesterday that because my family is Chinese, I've never actually had Christmas ham. This year I'll be spending Christmas with my boyfriend's family down in Melbourne so fingers crossed that they'll be having more traditional Australian food and I'll finally get to experience my first Christmas ham!

I'm a little late to this challenge, but today's theme is Red. I chose A-England Perceval with a coat of OPI DS Coronation as an accent nail. Perceval is a glowing one-coater red (but this mani uses two coats). I know I've been raving about the sun and the heat during our Christmas, but I like that delicate snow-y look that DS Coronation gives. It's made up of tiny irregular holo silver shards rather than glitter. I used one coat over Perceval for the accent nail.